The Writer's Jungle: A Survivor's Guide to Writing With Kids

by Julie Bogart

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Writing, Parenting

218 pages, 3-Ring Binder

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Julie Bogart is the popular voice of common sense and compassion for home educators. Her online coaching community, The Homeschool Alliance, her podcast A Brave Writer's Life in Brief, and her YouTube channel are lifelines for tens of thousands of weary homeschoolers all over the world.

Julie’s the creator of the award-winning, innovative online writing program called Brave Writer and the fast-growing weekly habit called Poetry Teatime. She home educated her five children who are now globe-trotting adults.

Her newest book, The Brave Learner tackles the conundrum of parents who want their children to have academic success, and children who want to be happy.

Can’t we get these two desires together: learning that develops skill and creates joy? Creating a love of learning in your family is as easy as lighting a fire. You just need a book of matches. The Brave Learner is that book.

Today, Julie lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and can be found sipping a cup of tea, planning her next visit to one of her lifelong-learning kids.

Reviews

[Tamara York · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for content, but it lost a star for organization. This is not set up in the most helpful way for future reference. My organized brain is struggling with the structure. No index. No helpful headings. Printing it myself was also super frustrating. The content is fantastic though. I feel so much more prepared to teach my kids writing...and we might even enjoy it with this approach. Gasp!

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a day-by-day manual for teaching writing. It is aimed at the parent (educator) and explains to us HOW to teach our kids writing, what to call their attention to, what to concentrate on.


I love this book. The underlying message I got was to RELAX, ENJOY the process, and LET our kids grow as slowly as they need to. She has some great ideas for teaching writing (lots of free-writing, attention-to-detail assignments, editing, etc), but it was the tone I appreciated. Some kids naturally write and love to do it. And some kids don't and won't.. and that's ok!

She makes a point about letting our kids express their own voices, tells us not to squelch silly or creative passages in favor of 'elementary school'-ish writing. And I appreciate that, too (it's also something I strongly believe in).

Great resource I'm sure I'll reread and re-reread.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea behind this, and highlighted several parts of it. But overall it felt too long and rambling. (Which is why it took me almost a full year to read it!)

I keep hearing about the "BraveWriter lifestyle," but I didn't feel like this did a very good job of describing it. Apparently this is better explained on her website?

I looked at a friend's copy of Jot It Down, and that seemed to be a much more concise, clear explanation of "what to do." (Does this one even mention poetry teas? If it does, I missed it.)

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I’ve become a Julie Bogart super fan this year. What a breath of fresh air to have advice and exercises that focus on the joy of self-expression and communication. When you teach a struggling writer, it seems the advice is always to focus on mechanics, bring it back to the most basic forms. Instead, this book encourages us to start with the ideas, focus on getting the words down on paper, and then sometimes take the work through a full revision and edit. Topic Funnels and Free Writes are the two exercises I think will especially stick with us.

Loved it! Now we’ll move on to Faltering Ownership.

[Christina]

I may return to this as a reference, but I think it's too structured for our methods. That said, we are generally fans of Julie and Brave Writer and and using her materials elsewhere/elsehow.

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the very first edition of this book, right after Julie first published it back in 2001 as her language arts business, Brave Writer, was just getting off the ground.

I have to confess to being extremely biased as I've worked for Brave Writer since 2002 and have known Julie since the mid-'90s. She's a dear friend as well as an amazing teacher and a great boss, too!

Putting all that aside as much as possible, this book revolutionized the way I looked at writing. I started my academic career by teaching Freshman Comp and other writing classes at a local private liberal arts college, so when I quit to home educate our four kids, I started to teach them how to write in a very rigid, academic manner...until I read The Writer's Jungle. This approach totally turned my writing world upside-down and topsy-turvy--in the best ways possible.

It was exactly what my kids needed. And more than that, it was exactly what *I* needed.

You see, The Writer's Jungle is not a writing manual. It's not really even a writing guide...or a writing curriculum...or a reference book...or a handbook...or a set of writing exercises.

It's a guide to teach us parents how to guide our kids into expressing themselves via the written word. It's a way to build the parent-child relationship almost more than it is a guide about how to write. It--and all Brave Writer products and classes--seek to address the heart and mind of children, showing them how to express their thoughts on paper in a practical way that helps young writers--and especially reluctant writers--to learn how to transfer the ideas in their heads into words on the page/screen.

Julie is often asked the question, "So how do I teach my kids to write using The Writer's Jungle? There's an online class that families can take--parent and child(ren) together--at bravewriter.com called "The Writer's Jungle Online." Or, as Julie says to parents, "Read the first chapter. Do it. Then read the next chapter, and do it. And so on until you reach the end of the book."

I recommend reading the whole book first so that we understand the whole concept, then going back to the first chapter and proceeding as Julie says.

That's what I did for our own four kids...and then I applied the philosophy and some of the exercises from The Writer's Jungle to the co-op classes in writing that I was teaching at our private school program's Class Days, whether I was teaching junior high or high school students.

And celebrate every milestone: copywork, freewriting, dictation--all of it! Copywork became a mainstay of our homeschooling: every morning I joined the kids at the big table, and we all pulled out our journals and copied something meaningful to us in our best handwriting. As well as practicing neatness in our penmanship, the kids learned spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar...and the power of the written word. That words were worth keeping. That writing can be powerful.

I can't recommend this writing book highly enough. It changed my entire outlook on teaching writing, even to college students. Even if your kids are not educated at home, this book teaches so much more than just how to write. It was exactly what our family needed.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super helpful. I am thankful to have read this so early in our homeschooling life, before I kept pushing and accidentally taught my kids to hate writing as I saw I was on the path to do. Learning from a writer who has taught her kids to write is inspiring and motivating. She told me that what my gut was telling me about writing was correct: Kids will write better when they write what they care about, are affirmed in their efforts, and are exposed regularly to good writing. She gives practical advice for how to implement this approach to writing at each stage of development. Her style is easy to read too; this book was a pleasure to read for more than one reason.

[Angie Libert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing! I'd give it more stars if I could! :)

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent insight on how to teach a child how to write. I really love the way she gets to the point and brings the entire writing experience alive. To me the way Julie teaches just makes sense and it baffles me that more aren’t on point with this. Highly recommend this to anyone looking to teach their child a meaningful way to write!

[Linette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not technically finish this book. I grew out of it not long after I had bought it. This was in the sense that the student I was using it for went to school.

For this who need it, there is some great stuff in here.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

small minds seem to like to use big words. survivor for living a rich life, and having to be bothered about your favorite how going on at 7:30, instead of 7:45.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great informative read prior to using any of the Brave Writer curriculum. Some of the information was redundant. While most of it was fulfilling.

[Jenifer]

Not far past the introduction yet, but so far I love it! This is the first book about teaching writing that I haven't put down after only a few paragraphs. Others I have tried were not compelling enough to make me want to learn from the person who wrote them. I am both learning and enjoying the lesson.

[Kathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This should be on every homeschool bookshelf. A great read about writing as a lifestyle, and getting our kids to love writing. There are lots of wonderful ideas to look back at when needed (an excellent reference book), and I found it inspiring and reassuring.

[Krystal 🦢 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide on how to teach writing to kids. Mostly ideas for older kids, but after reading it, I feel like we are on the right track and can progress from there as the kids get older.

[Mandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! A philosophy on how to teach writing.