Boomerang Guidelines

Julie Bogart; Brave Writer

Welcome to the Boomerang!:
This guide will help you maximize your use of the Boomerang, so keep this copy
with your issues and remember to refer to it throughout the year.
!
Attention::Limits to the use of The
Boomerang
This is your subscription. Please do not forward, Xerox,
copy or resell the contents of the digital issues of the Boomerang.
Direct your friends to Brave Writer so that they sign up for
their own subscriptions or to purchase Already Published Issues. You may direct
friends to the website to download a free sample of the Boomerang if they are
interested in how it works. You may not print and resell the Boomerang at
homeschooling curricula fairs or on cyber networks that recycle homeschool
curricula. You may not duplicate the Boomerang for members of a co-op class,
though you may use your personal copy to teach in a co-op setting. You are free
to print copies for your own use and for your children. I trust you to follow these
restrictions.
Boomerang Guidelines

Recommendations for how to manage your subscription:
We recommend that you remind yourself (via calendar notifcation with an email
alarm) to pick up your issues the frst week they are posted each month. We also
suggest printing the issues immediately, three hole punching them, and saving them
in a notebook. Save the PDFs to an external hard drive in addition to your computer
hard drive for double protection.
?
If your hard drive crashes or you forget to
pick up a Boomerang and youre a monthly
subscriber, what should you do?
You can contact Brave Writer at: subscriptions@
bravewriter.com or click here. Send a copy of your Paypal receipt
(if you have it) or information about how you paid and what kind of subscription
you ordered (monthly, yearly or part of a Writers Jungle package). Well verify
your order and then do our best to help you get the issues you missed or lost
(they will be sent via email).
Reference materials::
To aid you in teaching things like punctuation, I recommend that you purchase a
copy of Nitty Gritty Grammar and/or More Nitty Gritty Grammar by Edith H.
Fine and Judith P. Josephson (Publisher: Ten Speed Press). You dont need to own
both and if I were to choose between them, Id pick More Nitty Gritty Grammar
because the book alphabetizes the grammar principles making it an easy-to-use
reference. I do own both of them though, and like having both. These two books
have very helpful explanations for grammar terms and punctuation conventions,
which are also easily understood by children. When I cite the page numbers for
specifc concepts in the Arrow, I abbreviate which book they come from, like this:
(NGG14) or (MNGG167-168)
You dont have to have these books to teach punctuation. If you feel confdent in
your own explanations, or already have grammar reference books you like, simply
ignore these recommendations. Both of these books are widely available online and
in major bookstores.
- 2 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

Intended audience for the Boomerang
The Boomerang is written to both parent and student. The comments on the
passages for dictation are directed at the student though it is expected that mom or
dad is looking over the students shoulder. In addition to grammar, spelling, and
punctuation notes, the Boomerang also comments on the content of the story and
asks questions to stimulate thinking as you read particular passages together. Please
answer these orally. They are not intended for writing.
Dictation::
There are several practices that help dictation instruction. If you own The Writers
Jungle, you may reread them in Chapter 1. For the purposes of this newsletter, here
are some tips to help you succeed.
1. For kids who dont like writing (dont like moving a
pencil across a page):
Begin with copywork (simply looking back and forth between the presented passage
and the students own paper, copying the passage word for word, punctuation mark
for punctuation mark, onto the students own page). Dont bother using the passages
as traditional dictation for at least the frst month. Use the passages as copywork
only.
Set the timer for seven-ten minute intervals. Explain that you want to see perfect
(beautiful) transcriptionno errors and beautiful writing, in the designate minutes
of writing. You can slowly lengthen this period from seven to ten to twelve minutes,
as you see progress and confdence grow.
If your teen is a reluctant writer, feel free to start with a shorter time frame.
You know your child. Be sure to balance challenge with sustainability. We want
teens to participate at a level that helps them grow, but we dont want to cause them
to hate the work they do.
Charlotte Mason (education philosopher from Britain, well-known in homeschool
circles) states that the goal of copywork is to write legibly (beautifully) and
accurately. Share these goals with your teens. We want to encourage the habit of
attention and excellence. That is done by only completing work of which the student
- 3 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

is proud and to which he or she has given full attention. If it means shortening the
time frame for copywork so that the child stays fully attentive and engaged, then do
so. The goal here isnt quantity but full attention and quality reproduction.
2. For beginning dictation:
For some students, moving from copywork to full dictation is too swift a transition.
The following practice is a way to help your teen make that transition.
When I lived in France, I discovered that the French use a gradual method of
dictation training for their students (of all ages, right into university!). Ive labeled
one of those strategies, French Dictation and explain it here.
Instead of requiring your student to transcribe every word of the dictation after
getting used to copywork, start with the French dictation method (as practiced in
France). Type out the passage on the computer in a large font with triple spaces
between sentences. Choose to leave blanks for several of the words in the passage.
When you frst try French dictation, leave words blank that your child already knows
how to spell. Heres an example:
As regards actual evidence, such as is necessary in court, I admit that I have
none (And Then There Were None, Christie 157).
Retype it like this:
As actual , such as is in
, I admit that I have none.
Hand this sheet to your teen and read the passage aloud (saying all the words) in
its entirety, slowly. As your teens hear you speak the words regards evidence
necessary and court, theyll read their sheet of paper with the sentence and
blanks, and notice that certain words are missing from his paper. Theyll then fll in
those words (regards, evidence, necessary and court) in the appropriate blanks.
This method helps train your student to read, listen and write all at once, but
without overwhelming the teen with too many words and punctuation conventions
to keep in mind at the same time. By starting with a graduated process, you can
rehabilitate a teen who is not comfortable with dictation and needs a more gradual
approach.
You can use this method to isolate homonym misspellings (here and hear, or
theyre their and there, or our and are). This method helps your teens hear the
words in context and is then allowed to process what they have heard while making
- 4 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

a specifc choice. Homonym misspellings are frequent with kids under 15 so dont be
alarmed by them. Just practice differentiating.
3. Transitional Dictation:
After using French dictation, the student can transition to full dictation. Begin by
using the designated passage as copywork the day before, and then using the same
passage for dictation. Potentially, this could last four days if the passage is long
(as they sometimes are in the Boomerang). Use two days to copy it and two days
to dictate it, breaking it in half. This procedure is effective at getting high quality
dictation products, but can become tedious if done this way every single week. The
purpose of the transitional phase is to help your kids study the passage through
copying it in order to gain familiarity with the punctuation and spelling. If your teen
can simply read and reread the passage and then reproduce the passage with fewer
than four or fve errors in full dictation, the step of copying over the passage on the
day before dictation is unnecessary.
4. True Dictation:
To ensure success, try this approach:
Let your child review the passage before you do the dictation. Orally quiz the
vocabulary words for spelling that you think will be diffcult. Ask your child to
fetch a clean sheet of lined paper. The student writes his/her name in the upper
right corner with the date underneath. Centered on the top line is the name of
the book (underlined) and the page number. Skip a line and indent.
When you (parent) read the dictation passage, begin by reading through the
entire frst line (until an end mark). Then pause and begin again reading the
frst clause or several word chunk (no more than three or four words). Wait
for your kids to fnish writing that segment. Reread it if necessary. Continue
to the next chunk. Do this until you have completed the frst sentence. When
you reach the end of the sentence in chunks, go back to the beginning of the
sentence and reread the whole sentence with proper infection to indicate
commas and periods. (At this point, your kids will simply be reading along
checking to be sure they got all the words onto their paper and that they are
satisfed with the spelling and punctuation choices they made.) I usually pause
for a comma and keep my voice infected as though the sentence isnt over.
When I come to the end of a sentence, I make sure that my pause is longer and
- 5 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

that the intonation goes down.
Keep dictating in this manner, going sentence by sentence. Sometimes I will
reread a section or a couple of sentences together to help the student catch up.
I also help students by rereading several times if asked. No hard and fast rules
here. At the end of the passage (when your students have put their pencils
down), reread the entire passage using proper infection and pausing at all end
marks. Your child should feel free to make adjustments or corrections as s/he
listens to that fnal reading.
Hand the original passage to your student in order to make a comparison
with the students handwritten work. The student is to correct all punctuation
mistakes and omissions by inserting the proper mark and then circling it. The
child should underline any misspelled words and then rewrite them at the
bottom of the page correctly. At the end, tally up the number of mistakes and
spelling errors and write 5 (or whatever amount of errors) at the top of the
page in a circle. The goal is to make fewer than fve errors. 100% correct should
be rewarded with something fun - TV, time off, candy, big hugs, or high fves.
Really.
Dictation practiced regularly will over time teach punctuation and spelling more
effectively than any other tool. The trick is to do it regularly. We recommend once
per week in Brave Writer, but you are free to do it twice per week as well. The only
danger is that it can become tedious. When it does, try mixing it up with copywork
(let them pick their own passage to copy into a copybook of famous quotes) and with
Reverse Dictation (below).
5. Reverse Dictation:
For a change of pace, its nice to let your kids act as editors rather than transcribers.
Type the dictation passage (onto a Word doc) without any punctuation or capitals.
Misspell a couple of key words, triple space and use a large font (16). Print the
passage out and hand your kids a red pen. Their job is to insert as much punctuation
as they can and to identify and then spell the misspelled words. They will underline
the misspelled word and then rewrite it correctly at the bottom of the page. At the
end, tally how many corrections they made that were indeed correct. Count how
many words they identifed that were misspelled. Then count up the number of
words they spelled correctly at the bottom of the page.
Add the number of corrections (punctuation) to the number of words that they
were able to spell correctly, to the number of misspellings they identifed (count
- 6 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

bothone for identifying the wrong spelling and one for spelling it right). Add all
these together and put the number at the top of the page (i.e. 56). Then pay your
student a penny for every correction made correctly: 56 cents. Trust me: even teens
love this reward.
Theres no need to correct mistakes and tally the wrong marks. The purpose of
reverse dictation is to evaluate how much your kids have learned about punctuating
and spelling. It can be fun to tell your kids in advance how many errors there are
(be sure you count two points for each misspelled word since your students have the
chance to earn two pointsone for identifying the misspelling and one for correcting
it). That can be an incentive to keep working after they think they are fnished. On
the other hand, it can be pressure for some kids. So only tell the total in advance if
you have a child who enjoys that kind of competitive work.
Also, in some cases, kids will make punctuation choices that work even if they
arent the ones the author made. For instance, if your child used an em dash
instead of parenthesis, that choice is likely to be just as effective in punctuating
the passage. No need to mark it wrong. Check NGG or MNGG to consider whether
the choice made is acceptable. (Same goes for semi-colons and periods followed by
capitals. Both of these achieve similar results and would be acceptable).
Practical Tips for Correcting the Reverse Dictation Product:
Once your kids have completed their reserve dictation, its important for them to
discover what they missed. One way to do that is for you to help them zero in on
their oversights without telling them what they missed. (This also works for regular
dictation too, if you choose to try it.)
You will frst reread their work to see what errors theyve overlooked. Do not
show the original to your child yet. You want them to stay engaged with the
editing process a while longer.
If there is a punctuation mark or misspelling they overlooked, start by simply
mentioning that there are still X number of outstanding errors that they
missed. (So for instance, you might say: There are three errors you missed.)
Then your students will return to the page rereading the whole passage looking
for those errors.
If the student does not fnd all of them even with that urging to reread, you can
help narrow the scope of the investigation to a single line. Put a check in the
margin of the line with the missing punctuation or misspelling (right or left
depending on which side the error is on). Then the student will only look within
that line.
- 7 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

If that isnt enough help, next tell your student whether the error is in
punctuation or spelling (to narrow the search).
If the student still cant fnd the mistake, run a squiggly line under the missing
punctuation or misspelling (or missed capitalization, etc.) and ask your student
to make the correction on the spot. (This is a great moment for a conversation,
for modeling the way a comma might work better than the period currently in
that space, etc.)
Finally, if none of these works, then you can compare the corrected page to
the original and let your student tell you what is different about the original
compared with the printed passage he or she just edited.
This step-by-step process of editing does more to help your child internalize the
lessons the passage has to teach, than if you simply make the corrections yourself.
So take the time to make reverse dictation a real learning opportunity.
Practice reverse dictation about once a month or once every two weeks, at most.
Think Pieces::
Peter Elbow (writing expert and Julie Bogarts guru) offers some helpful ideas
about levels of writing that are worth noting. He tells his faculty (who he trains
to teach writing to college students) that we can assign three types of writing as
educators: low, middle and high stakes writing. Low stakes writing is very familiar
to Brave Writer families. Freewriting and exercises like Keen Observation and
Powerful Association are the essence of low stakes writing. Students are free to
explore their thoughts and ideas in writing without scrutiny of the mechanics or
organization. Risk-taking is encouraged.
High stakes writing is the type most of us know best from our years in school.
High stakes implies that the writing will be evaluated for both form and content.
Students demonstrate what theyve learned in a selected format that they follow.
Format writing means that students are both creating insight and applying a format
simultaneously. This kind of structure, if introduced too early, can stife natural
writing voice and original thought because students spend more time trying to
match the format than thinking about what they want to say. Mature writers do well
with formats.
Middle stakes writing, then, strikes some kind of happy medium between
these two ways of writing. He calls this kind of writing a think piece. Elbow says,
These are exploratory pieces that ask students to think through a topic on paper.
- 8 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

They are not essays and dont have to be organized around a single point, but they
are not just messy freewriting either. They need to be cleaned up enough so they are
not unpleasant to read. He describes them as thoughtful letters to an interested
friend.
For our 7th-9th grade students, then, it is helpful if they develop this middle
stakes kind of writingthat halfway house between freewriting and essays. They
will develop their thinking muscles that help them to hone a point, to examine and
compare one idea with another, to explore an evolving insight, and they will have
the chance to get it into writing so that someone else can comment and engage the
idea. Using the study questions from the Boomerang as catalysts for middle stakes
writing, your students will be more prepared for the high school academic formats.
How to use the Think Piece questions:
Each month, 8-9 Think Piece questions will be included in the Boomerang. These
make excellent, in-depth conversation starters for book discussion or think piece
writing. It seems unlikely that any student would be able to (or want to!) answer
them all. We offer enough questions with some analysis of the story so that students
can easily select four per month (one out of two per week). Here are some ways
these Think Piece questions have been used by other Brave Writer families:
1. Host a literary discussion group in your home. Invite other teens to
read the novels and come prepared to discuss the book. Assign one TP question
to each student and ask that student to then lead a discussion based on that
topic. Bring the exploratory writing to read to the group to get the discussion
going, then talk about it. (Always include brownies.)
2. Keep a literary journal. In it, write the title and author of the book, month
and year it was read, and then select one TP question per week to answer. At
the end of the month, add the Golden Line (explained below). By years end,
youll have a nicely developed reading journal that chronicles your literature
insights from an entire school year!
3. Use the TP questions for Friday Freewrites. Each Friday, instead of
using the prompts on the BW blog or simply writing about any topic, evaluate
whether or not there is a TP question that would be worth exploring. Freewrite
about it on Friday. Then on Monday, clean it up just enough to make it
presentable. You may want to do these TP freewrites on the computer to give
yourself greater facility in revising and editing. No need to overly revise them.
Simply clarify ambiguities, eliminate redundant ideas, fx spelling, and get rid
of run-onsthat kind of thing.
- 9 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Boomerang Guidelines

4. Read the book with a parent and use the TP questions for a dialog
journal. You and your mom or dad can each write your insights and then
exchange them, commenting in the margins on each others ideas. This is a
great idea for kids who have yet to discuss literature with anyone. Dont read a
book by yourself. Find some way to discuss it.
5. Teach a co-op literature discussion. You can host a literature discussion
class using the Boomerang. Read the book together, assign the dictation to the
students, and use the TP questions for class discussion and eventually turning
some of those ideas into essays.
Golden Lines::
Each month, the Boomerang encourages your student to choose one representative
passage (line) from the novel of the month. Record that favorite line in a notebook.
With the line, record the date, the novel title, author and location in the book. Also
include a sentence or two about why that line is meaningful to the student. It doesnt
need to be profound. Over the course of the year, however, your kids will fnd that
the lines theyve chosen will speak again when they reread them later in the year.
Golden Lines can be a wonderful habit to develop as a way to recall and remember a
loved book. For many kids raised on coypwork, Golden Lines is the logical evolution
and leads to a lifetime of savoring great quotes!
- 10 - 2011-2012 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer