Four Violet Reviews: Home School Adventure Co. ~ REVIEW

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Mahala has grown so much as a writer over the past year with the writing programs we have been using. She even notices her improvement as we frequently go over her past writing projects. She takes writing seriously because in her mind it's still a struggle and she constantly over thinks the process of writing. I always encourage her to write daily, her thoughts, opinions, gratitude, dreams... anything to get her feelings down and out of her sweet head. She attempts to do it when I remind her, but her writing is anything but freethinking, off the cuff, let your hair down kind of writing. But, I'm happy to report that maybe Mom couldn't get her to relax, write and possibly have a little fun while doing it. But, our next Review from Home School Adventure Co. sure did have the secret touch. For the past several weeks Mahala has been using their Creative Freewriting Adventure program. And we also had the chance to look at and try the Creative Freewriting Adventure Coloring Book Edition too. The difference between these two is the Coloring Book edition includes a coloring project page after each assignment. Nice, bold pictures that are perfect for the Kiddo that enjoys coloring or the Mom who wants something to do while her Kiddo writes. Shhhh, did I just suggest that? :)

Like I said earlier, Mahala struggles a little when it comes to writing. And for me I have 4 different journals I update daily, blogs, Bible journaling and I could write even more if I had more time. Creative Freewriting Adventure is a program that encourages the writer to just write for a short 15 minute period. Not to worry about spelling or grammar, just have fun and write. I will admit Mahala looked at me like I was crazy when I told her about a New Writing Program. But, I told her it was from Stacy Farrell and it was 15 minutes...no huge long commitment. :) She smiled and said she would look at it and without even having to tell her she started with the first exercise which was about Thales. We received both the Creative Freewriting Adventure and Coloring Book Edition as a download and the mega cool thing is it's type-able, so your kiddos can type right onto it and that makes my teenager real happy.

Each exercise starts off with a little background info about the subject. The very first exercise like I said was Thales, Father of Western Philosophy. Some of the other exercises were on Pythagoras, the Wise Woman and about Eternity. There are 10 exercises in all and we decided to work on 2 a week. In the first exercise with Thales after explaining a little about him and his Solar Eclipse Predictions along with stories about him, along with beautiful pictures. After you read then it explains YOUR journey in all this. YOU live in the same hometown as Thales and it's late at night, your thirsty but YOUR home has no water. So, you go out to the center of town where there is a well. And what do YOU see? A disheveled old man, shouting into the well...he looses his balance and falls in. What do YOU do?

Then comes your assignment to Describe the Scene. In this particular exercise it says-

Background: What can you tell us about Thales? Do you know him? Is there anything else you can share about the night?

Dialogue: Does Thales cry out or speak to anyone?

Incorporate Your Senses: What do you smell, hear and see. What's the temperature, do you end up drinking?

Now you have 15 minutes to Write!!!!

Isn't that exciting? Reminder here, I am not giving all the questions word for word. But, I wanted you to have an idea of the format and what to expect. All of the exercises are similar as in you are asked to describe the scene with Background, Dialogue and your Senses.

Our experience was every single time the 15 minutes were up Mahala was writing away. Wait Mom, wait....just one more minute, she would say. What? Who is this Kiddo and what has Stacy Farrell done with my Child? :) Would we continue this program? For sure....we would and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a reluctant writer or a writer that struggles to find the words they are looking for. With Mahala I have found that she just thinks too much and the pressure of a paper or essay was weighing her down. Now, she sees first hand that she CAN write, she has the skill. Her Dad and I are super proud of her and she couldn't be happier herself.