What’s Your Story?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Have you lived through an illness? Been in an accident? Are you stuck in the middle in your family? Do you have a tendency to lie? Are you afraid of what others think about you?

Can you imagine putting your trouble, weakness, or sin on a piece of paper for all to see?

Cardboard story

That’s just what teens in one group did. They wrote the negative or troubling thing about themselves on one side of a large piece of cardboard and showed it to viewers. Then they flipped the cardboard around to show how God helped them or to reveal a truth about themselves that God showed them. You can view their “cardboard testimonies” here.

Change Nouns to Verbs for Clear Writing

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

change nouns to verbs Ever wonder why some writing is so confusing? You read it once. It makes no sense. You read it again and hope for the best.

Most business, legal, and government writing rely on lengthy and unclear sentences and plenty of nouns.

Nouns stop the forward motion of the sentence and often make the sentence longer, like this:

The addition of a 10-minute warm-up routine made the winning of the gold medal possible for him.

Why not punch up the sentence with specific, active verbs? This generally makes sentences shorter, and it definitely makes them easier to understand, like this:

How a Tiny Tick Almost Stopped Her

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Angeli Vanlaanen has had it rough. When she was ten years old, she fell ill and continued to experience symptoms until she was twenty-four: headaches, sore muscles and joints, fatigue, fainting, blurry vision, and so forth.

The diagnosis

Still, she pushed herself to learn how to ice skate and snow ski. Her sport of choice is women’s halfpipe skiing, which she competed in despite the severe pain in her joints and her other physical ailments.

Doctors had long ago given up trying to diagnose her illness. Maybe she was making up the symptoms. Maybe it was all in her head—that is, until her aunt

The Enumerative Essay: Parking Spaces and Baseball

SHARON’S BLOG

My husband Terry gave me the idea for this writing prompt though he didn’t know it at the time.

A love of lists

Last summer we drove to our local grocery store, and as Terry pulled into a spot, he said, “I like to park here because . . . ,” and he listed four reasons why he likes to park in that particular place. Now that you know how exciting our lives are, you’ll be happy to know that his love of lists surfaced yet again—at the ball park.

We were watching the Indianapolis Indians play the Rochester Redwings when one of the Indians smacked a ball and headed toward first. Terry leaned over to me and said, “There are nine ways to get to first safely.” Or was it seven?

Terry was halfway to writing an enumerative essay because he began with a number (four or nine) and had a secure idea of a list.

A Moving Description?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Aren’t descriptions those portions of books that you skip? Aren’t they boring? Don’t they stop the forward movement of the plot?
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Sometimes they do. But when you are the writer, you don’t have to stop the movement even if you are describing something.

Make something move.

An effective writer makes a description move. Wind blows the curtains. The sea surges on the shore in frothy waves. The train plows through fields of ripe winter wheat. You get the idea.

Read the following description of an abandoned cabin from Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire and figure out what is moving:

Maya Angelou and the Smile

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

When Maya Angelou, author of the moving autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was eleven years old, she was reunited with her birth mother, whom she hadn’t seen in eight years. Young Maya was unhappy.
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After two weeks, her mother still had not seen her smile. Here’s the exchange between Maya and her mother, recorded in Mom & Me & Mom (Random House, 2013):

3 Best Proofreading Tips for Homeschool Writers

SHARON’S BLOG

Proofreading is painful for students. They feel they’re through with the writing process when they write their first draft and then want nothing more to do with that essay. Students tell me that writing the first draft and proofreading it is like writing their paper twice.
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However, the skill of proofreading their own papers is essential to the writing process.

Why proofread?

First, by catching their mistakes or finessing the points or flow of the essay, students learn to write more effectively.
Second, they show respect for their teachers by handing in a well-thought-out paper with few mistakes.
And third, students begin to understand through the editing process that there is an audience at the other end of their essays. They aren’t writing simply to keep themselves busy; they are writing to communicate, educate, explain, persuade, or entertain.

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What methods can we teach our students so they can proofread their work by themselves?

Opinion Writing: Professional Matchmakers

SHARON’S BLOG

Students who have a hard time writing about wars, politics, gender issues, and other heavy topics really warm up to writing opinions, so let’s give them something engaging to write about. After all, everyone has opinions.

It’s Just Lunch is a dating service for businessmen and businesswomen. According to their Website, they’ve provided over two million dates in major cities in the United States since 1991.

This is how it works:

‘Tis the Season for Giving

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Charitable organizations need help and often ask for money around Christmas and at the year’s end. You may be familiar with the bell ringers of the Salvation Army and their red buckets near store entrances.

The Salvation Army, the Red Cross, police and firefighter organizations, local food pantries, and local homeless shelters are all worthy causes that ask for contributions near Christmas.

Will you or your family be giving to a charity this year?

Gather Around the Campfire . . . or the TV

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Gathering around the campfire as a family or with your friends in the summer at camp or during the crisp fall days can be fun. Whether you’re singing or roasting marshmallows for s’mores, it’s a unique experience.

Gathering around the TV to watch a movie or show with your family or friends can feel very different from circling the campfire. The blue glow from the TV may not warm you up, but its content may be more entertaining.

What’s Your Story?

Cardboard story

Change Nouns to Verbs for Clear Writing

How a Tiny Tick Almost Stopped Her

The diagnosis

The Enumerative Essay: Parking Spaces and Baseball

A love of lists

A Moving Description?

Make something move.

Maya Angelou and the Smile

3 Best Proofreading Tips for Homeschool Writers

Why proofread?

Opinion Writing: Professional Matchmakers

‘Tis the Season for Giving

Gather Around the Campfire . . . or the TV

Looking for something?

High school prompts

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