A few days ago I made mention of a new writing product from  Homeschool Adventure Co.  named  Creative Freewriting Adventure, a Journey into Freewriting. I’d like to share our initial experience with you today.

I received a pre-release PDF of the Creative Freewriting Adventure (CFA) to use with the boys. The product was pitched to me as “10 creative freewriting assignments based on other resources from HSA – Philosophy Adventure, Mere Christianity Critical Analysis Journal, and The Wise Woman.”  They said it would bring joy and excitement to the writing of my middle school and high school sons with no preparation required from me. Well, who would turn that down?

I quickly downloaded and registered my PDF Copy of CFA.  It wasn’t quite what I expected. So far, writing prompt curriculum tidbits have been a list of leading questions. What do you think about  . . . . What would you do if . . . .  Some days it is hard to just start out with those questions.

What is different about these creative writing prompts is that it leads with history and philosophy infusing critical thinking to bring the student into the creative writing mode.

The PDF would be simple to print as each exercise is 1-3 pages long, with a following blank page. We start by reading about the person, story or event. The first is Thales. We learn a bit about him, and then dive into an interesting story. There is a graphic on each exercise to let you know which product this links back to. If you are using their other curriculum, especially in a co-op, this would be a wonderful group activity tie in.

Next,  paragraph or two to guides the reader into thinking that they are a part of the action. On this particular day – the last two sentences are:

“Suddenly, he loses his balance and tumbles in. What do you do?”

Oh, wait. I said that the other writing prompts lead off with the What Do You Do question. Ok, hang with me –

Introducing Your Assignment. On this day you have 11 questions helping you to create the Background, Dialogue and help Incorporating Your Senses into your response.

What do you know about Thales? What kind of reputation does he have? Does he cry out when he tumbles? Do you speak with him? Do you speak with anyone else? What do you see? What do you hear? What temperature and textures do you encounter? What does it taste like?

Once all of these elements are brewing in your mind, you get your challenge:

You have 15 minutes. Set the timer, turn the page, and W R I T E!

Uh, ya. That’s it. We were lucky enough to be sent a Print Pre-Release Review copy as well this week and it is fun to see that the following page is blank. No lines. A few of the lessons have two blank pages.

I could see my youngest son drawing out his response with captions. My oldest would draw lines on his page and fill out every blank space of lines.

Since it is still summer vacation around these parts, we read the story out loud as a family and continued the story as a team. I could see us continuing this on our car trips to Portland as well.

I plan on using this as a starter to our days during September. Since there are only 10 exercises, it would go too fast to do it each day. I am going to keep it with our breakfast basket to help turn on their critical thinking brains when I see that they need to re-focus away from thinking of surf and swell and waves.

The exercises are:

Thales, Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Democritus, The Wise Woman, Beasts, The Gallery, Winged Pony, Eternity and The Ultimate Christmas Party.

The Instructions?  One paragraph of three sentences on the first page:

Set the timer for 15 minutes and invite students to write spontaneously – without pressure of having to spell or punctuate perfectly. Let them have fun! The point of these freewritings is to be playful and simply to delight in the writing process.

Click here to see a Sample.

Digital Copy $18.95

Print Copy $21.95

Free Shipping Promo Code:
cfa-ships-free Expires 9/22/14

I am excited to use this with the teens this year. It is well suited for Middle and High School students. The adults in our family enjoyed the first two lessons as well. When the boys agree to it, I will share our results with you this year. They are a bit shy about me sharing their writing online.  I will be sharing a Facebook Party in the next week or two where you’ll get to hear from Stacy Farrell and the folks at Homeschool Adventure Co.  – Hope to see you at the party!

Disclaimer: I was able to bring this product to you through my prior relationship with Homeschool Adventure Co. with my review of Philippians in 28 Weeks. I received a free PDF pre-release copy and a free bound Review copy of the book to keep. My opinions are my own and I am free to share if we did not like it. We were given a short review period, and did not have the standard 4-6 week review time frame. I am sure, that as we continue through the next 8 lesson, that our experience and opinion will only grow more fond of the product.