Bardsy Creative Writing Program

The following is a sponsored post in collaboration with Bardsy Homeschool and MommyMaestra. All opinions are my own.

Creative writing. It's one of those subjects that homeschool parents either love to teach...or don't. The latter is because many parents aren't comfortable teaching the subject or just don't know where to begin. Fortunately, Bardsy Homeschool is here to help!

Some wonder why creative writing is even necessary. But there are numerous benefits to developing your skill for creative writing! It's not just about literacy. Creative writing improves your child's grades in other subjects, too, such as math and science. Sounds crazy? Read more about it and the other benefits on Bardsy's website.

Quick Overview

Program: Bardsy Homeschool
Religious Perspective: Secular
Format: Online - (Self-Paced) Recorded
Grades: 5 and higher
Price: $8.99/month

Homeschool Writing Curriculum

Flexibility. That's the word that I would use to describe this awesome creative writing program for students. Really, I think it is a young writer's dream program because there are so many tools and more than one way to use the program in a homeschool creative writing course.

Once you've signed up for Bardsy, you just login on their home page and are then taken to your dashboard (see above). Here, you'll find everything laid out for you in a nicely organized manner. There are three main sections to the dashboard:

1. Writing
2. Courses
3. Inspiration

Each section has three tools for your child to use. 

If you have a prolific writer in your home, they can jump right in and begin their next great story by going to "New Story" in the "Writing" section. There they'll find a simple writing editor that allows them focus completely on their new story. There's no fluff here. Just a basic writing program similar to Word. 

If they need to take a break and come back the next day, they can then click on "Latest Story" in order to pick up where they left off. Or maybe your kid writes several stories at a time because their head is so full of ideas! 

But really, the best tool in the "Writing" section is the "PROSPERO Story Wizard" that guides your child through the steps of creating a new story. Your student can click on the elements he wants to work on and then develop them before sending all of the information to the story editor. 

If you are looking for lessons, instead, then the section on "Courses" is what you'll need. These classes are set up more like a class and involve your child watching a short video about a specific topic related to writing, and then has them complete specific activities to create their own story. For example, as you can see from the image above, the "Writing Warmup" course has a story map that guides your child through the process from start to finish.

The final section - "Inspiration" - is a collection of tools, such as printable graphic organizers and videos, to help your student in the creation process. 

But perhaps my favorite part of this section is the "Story Spinner" which provides your child with a set of writing prompts by listing a character, a world, and a theme about which your child must then write a story. My oldest child, who is 16 and the story writer in our family, actually thinks this is absolutely brilliant.

Extras

The dashboard also has a Google Books search engine that allows your child to search for a particular title. Then they can purchase it or read excerpts, if they are available. Many books are actually available for free on Google Books. And then - this is the really awesome part - they can write down notes about the book AND/OR write a review of the book. They can also add titles to their wish list.

Also, if your child is serious about writing, the "Hot Tray" link at the top will take them to their personal "desk" where they can find places to write down Notes, a To Do list, write a Journal entry, or quickly pull up a calendar. 

Students can also personalize their account by clicking the "My Stuff" link at the top of the page.

Can you believe that you get access to all of this for only 8.99 a month!?!

If this sounds like the program you've been looking for to help your young writers develop their skills, visit their site today to sign up!

Free Downloadable Character Development Toolkit

Bardsy has SO MANY tools for your family to use as they plunge into creative writing... and one of those is FREE! The downloadable Character Development Toolkit is a mini course that guides your child through the process of creating super characters for their stories. Their multimedia approach and graphic style make the experience super fun. 

I do think that my favorite part of it is the list of printable character archetypes, which come with descriptions. But my 14 yo loves the video. Lots of goodness here for you to access!

I love how overall, the program breaks down all of the parts of writing an amazing story into manageable step-by-step activities. The online format is engaging for kids and makes the process more enjoyable. And the self-paced format is great for taking the stress out of writing - especially with reluctant writers.

Want to find this review again? Pin it!