The latest homeschool review that I am wrapping up with Isaiah is Creative Freewriting Adventure which also includes Creative Freewriting Adventure Coloring Book Edition from Home School Adventure Co. This creative writing review has opened up the creative floodgates for both Isaiah and myself.
Creative Freewriting Adventure
We received two different products this time from Stacy Farrell, owner and creator of all of the awesome products at Home School Adventure Co.
- The book was Creative Freewriting Adventure: a journey into freewriting. This book is based off of the series The Philosophy Adventure that is offered at Home School Adventure Co. The original series is a writing course that requires much rewriting over several weeks. By developing this Creative Freewiring Adventure, Stacy allows students to “take a break” and simply enjoy the fun side of writing. No prep is required, just taking some time to read a short paragraph, setting your timer for 15 minutes, and writing whatever comes to mind from the short prompt.
- The book was Creative Freewriting Adventure: a journey into free writing Coloring Book Edition. This book is based off of the series The Philosophy Adventure as well that is offered at Home School Adventure Co. The original series is a writing course that requires much rewriting over several weeks. By developing this Creative Freewiring Adventure (Coloring Book Edition), Stacy allows students to “take a break” and simply enjoy the fun side of writing. No prep is required, just taking some time to read a short paragraph, setting your timer for 15 minutes, and writing whatever comes to mind from the short prompt. The bonus of coloring the scene of the writing prompt adventure makes this a cool addition to writing.
Both of these were digital downloads. I printed off the PDFs and went to my local office supply place and had them spiral bound. It makes my life easier because every thing is contained in one place. It also makes it easier to flip the pages over and tuck them under the book when you are coloring or needing to write.
How This Worked for Us
Creative Freewriting
Isaiah used the Creative Freewriting Adventure: a journey into freewriting for this review. At first he was reluctant to begin because let’s face it, writing can some times be so very tedious work. (Ask me how I know this!) But once I encouraged him to take a look, and reminded him he ONLY had to write for 15 minutes, he was a bit more enthusiastic.
As a mama, I always want my children to do the best they can. As a homeschool mama I want my children to do they best they can, and then some! So as you can imagine, I was completely surprised and pleased when Isiah completed the first assignment. The writing prompts provided give you just enough information without piling too much, allowing for the creative nature to come out. (This is a wonderful class!)
This is a portion of his “creative writing”:
Star Gazer
I wake from a deep and dreamless sleep with the taste of cotton in my mouth. It had been a long, scorching day in the marketplace and it taken it’s toll on my body. I roll onto my back and look at my wife peacefully sleeping beside me, she was not doubt also exhausted from her laborious sewing.
“I need water.”
I get out of my bed and walk over to the water pitcher ion the veranda. Empty, I thought. I would need to go to the community well to draw more water. I sighed, resigning myself to the monotonous task. I quickly wrap myself to hide my nakedness and grab the pitcher as I walk out of my house. The streets are quite as I softly pad my way through the four back alleyways to the well. None were about and all was silent. The moon shined brilliantly.
As I approach the reservoir in which the water I craved so much pooled I saw a figure already at the well, peering intently inside.
Most likely an old drunk, I thought as I drew nearer to the hunched figure. While I was pondering this the man suddenly leaned forward to seemingly look farther into he well. All in an instant he lost his footing not he ground and pitched forward, flipping headlong into he well.
I heard a small pitiful yell from inside that was quickly cut short by a loud, far off sounding splash. I dropped my water pitcher, it hit the cool stone ground with a smash. I ran forward, covering the raining distance to the well in a matter of seconds. I reacher the well and peered into the inky darkness, “Hello?” I called, “Are you alright?”
At this point of the exercise he had to trail off because he ran out of space to continue his (short, 15 minute) exercise. He moved from the book to loose leaf paper to finish his story. Needless to say, this story goes on to be way longer than the allotted 15 minutes required. The writing prompts are wonderful which allowed Isaiah to really come up with a more than decent short story. He said that even though he loves to write stories that some times is is hard to actually begin. He loves these writing prompts because they gave him a “jumping off point” that he normally doesn’t have.
Creative Freewriting Coloring Book Edition
The exact same thing is given in the coloring book edition. Using the writing prompts for the stories makes this (in my opinion) so much more fun! I used the coloring book myself and noticed that if I sat down to color the picture that went with the writing prompt exercise I was more apt to generate more creativity. For instance, the Purple Planet exercise begins with Democritus “The Laughing Philosopher” and a parallel universe. After reading the short beginning of the journey, I then went to the coloring page and colored “what I saw”. This made it a bit easier for me then to go write the “rest of the story”. Coloring opened up the creative floodgates for me and it could work that way for others as well.
Overall, these two books require no other curriculum, they are stand alone products for Creative Writing. If you are apprehensive about this class for your high schooler, please worry no more. Grab one or both of these books from Home School Adventure Co. and jump right in. No need to wait, as there are no restrictions or prep work required, just get to writing!
One thing that Isaiah would have appreciated was having lines to write on in the book. Even slightly faded lines; just something to help him not write all over the page. Which in his mind makes his work look incredibly sloppy.
Since using these books, I have seen an increase of creativeness from Isaiah. This has encouraged him to begin drawing again as well as story writing. I don’t think I could ask for more than that. Stacy does just an incredible job of making school more fun for everyone involved with Creative Freewriting Adventure books. I am grateful for her products and I cannot wait to see what else she comes up with next!
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Check out what my fellow Crew members reviewed form Home School Adventure Co.:
I hope you enjoyed this review and that you come back soon to see what the kids and I have to share with you!
In His Grace,
Callie
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