by Sharon Watson | Mar 8, 2015 | Middle School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS
Some people believe they’re boring. They have no story to tell. They’ve done nothing interesting.
But a wise man named Ryter thinks they’re wrong.
In Rodman Philbrick’s The Last Book in the Universe, old man Ryter is talking to the young teen Spaz, the main character. Here’s what Ryter says to him: (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Mar 8, 2015 | High School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
Japanese scientists are hot on the trail of the extinct wooly mammoth’s DNA, which is available from tissue preserved in Russia. What do they want to do with the DNA?
They want to clone it and, in about five years, make a modern mammoth.
Ryan Phelan of Revive & Restore would like to bring back (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Mar 7, 2015 | Literature, Sharon's Blog
SHARON’S BLOG
I’ve had a long and strange relationship with the classics.
In 8th grade, our English class read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, but I could never figure out what the red “A” stood for.
As an Christian adult, I developed the inexplicable idea that reading fiction was a waste of time. I should read only religious or self-help books . . . until I became so ill that I was bored out of my skull for one month lying on the couch. Then I turned to the only fiction book in our tiny trailer: a complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, which seemed appropriate for someone with the last name of Watson.
I was hooked, and I never looked back.
(Well, there was that one time when I resisted reading George Eliot’s Silas Marner because I mistook “Marner” for “Mariner,” and I have a dislike for sea-going stories but then read it and it became one of my FAVORITES! But that is another story.) (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Mar 6, 2015 | Encouragement, Literature, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids
SHARON’S BLOG
Do you have children or students who like to read but don’t have time?
How can you engender a love of reading in your home, even with reluctant readers?
Let’s create an atmosphere in our homes in which reading is not only possible but also enjoyable. (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Mar 3, 2015 | Sharon's Blog, teaching aids
SHARON’S BLOG
Are your homeschool students completely and utterly bored with their writing lessons? Is it a struggle to get them to write again?
.
When it comes to writing essays, it’s easy for students to stall out. They need motivation. They need a change. They need some fun—and so do we!
3 Shocking Tips
Here are three shocking writing tips you can use in your homeschool—shocking because they are fun and because, to your children, they are totally unexpected. (more…)