Writing with Sharon Watson-Easy-to-use Homeschool Writing and Literature Curriculum

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Unlocking the Secrets of Writing and Literature

Practical, easy-to-use writing and literature courses for homeschools, Christian schools, and co-ops by Sharon Watson

Signs of Spring

Signs of Spring

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby (former Major League baseball player)

A sure sign of spring is baseball.

No, sure signs of spring are crocuses and violets popping up. And don’t forget spring peepers and sighting the first robin.

Or how about that first

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Motif: Don’t Say Goodbye to Winter Yet

Motif: Don’t Say Goodbye to Winter Yet

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Let’s celebrate one of literature’s coldest motifs: ice queens.

What is a motif?

A motif (mow TEEF) is like a symbol on steroids. It not only appears in one story but in many stories through the ages and often in stories from many countries.

A deep, dark woods is a good example of a motif. The blackened forest can be symbolic of confusion or a time of testing. What stories can you think of that include a patch of dark woods? (I’ve listed a few at the end of this prompt, but try your hand at listing some before you read mine.)

A motif can be an item (like dark woods or a magic ring), a recurring event (like being sent on a quest or conducting a contest to find a spouse), or a

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How to Develop an Almost Painless Reading List for Teens and Tweens

How to Develop an Almost Painless Reading List for Teens and Tweens

SHARON’S BLOG

 Do you hear that thunder? It’s the crash of schoolbooks all over the country slamming shut for the summer.

As a parent, you want your children to continue using their reading skills. You know there are so many wonderful books they would enjoy reading now that it is summer and the distractions are fewer. Treasures await them. Do you have a plan to make it happen?

If not, you can use mine.

Use a Topic or Theme

A summer reading list is more fun for your tweens and teens if it’s

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Writing Prompts to Celebrate Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss

You are familiar with Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel or “Ted”) through his popular stories such as Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Cat in the Hat. But did you know that he used to write very different kinds of literature? Read on to find out!

Below you’ll find 5 writing prompts to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s accomplishments.

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3 Election-themed Prompts

3 Election-themed Prompts

SHARON’S BLOG

Election-themed Prompts

Elections are fraught with anxiety, tension, and maybe even crying, but election-themed writing prompts do not have to be.

Your 5th – 12th graders will cast their vote for any of these interest-grabbing ideas.

No matter your political party, these prompts are winners, and you will be, too, when you share them with your students.

Stepping into the booth . . .

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A Speech without an “I”

A Speech without an “I”

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Caucuses. Primaries. Stump Speeches. Elections. Acceptance speeches. Inaugurations.

It’s that time of year again.

When newly elected president Theodore Roosevelt gave his inaugural address in 1905, he didn’t use the word “I.” You can read it here. When I read his short address, I was surprised that so many of the things he said were still true today.

To date, he is the only U. S. president to give an inaugural speech without the word “I” in it.

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National Reading Month: 10 Must-Read Classics for High School

National Reading Month: 10 Must-Read Classics for High School

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.)

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Your New Dr. Seuss Book

Your New Dr. Seuss Book

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Dr. Seuss postage stampDr. Seuss’s real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel, and he’s the author of The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who, and many other books.

A commemorative postage stamp, which you see here, was issued by the United States in 2004 on the anniversary of his 100th birthday.

And now, more than a quarter of a century after his death, Dr. Seuss was published again! The complete manuscript and sketches for What Pet Should I Get? was found in an old box and was published in 2015. It became a #1 New York Times Bestseller!

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Brrr! Writing Prompts for Winter

Brrr! Writing Prompts for Winter

SHARON’S BLOG
Snow-softened landscape. Frozen lakes. Sledding. Hot chocolate.

Blizzards. Ice-slick streets. Cancellations.

Winter—it’s all in there. Here are a few prompts about winter that your students will enjoy, giving them a chance to write their opinions, a short story, a TV script, and more.

Just right for your 5th – 12th graders.

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