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

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Proofreading: It’s Not Just for Cheerleaders

Proofreading: It’s Not Just for Cheerleaders

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Proofreading. What a pain.

You finish your essay and think you’re through with it, but, no. Now you have to proofread it.

It turns out that writing and proofreading are two separate skills. In fact, they use two different parts of your brain and should be done at different times.

To take this a step further, when I proofread, I

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Stained-glass Butterflies and How to Write a How-to

Stained-glass Butterflies and How to Write a How-to

SHARON’S BLOG

Students will follow along as I guide them through my experience with making stained-glass butterflies. As they read, they’ll be learning how to write a how-to and then insert transitions into the essay to move their readers easily through the process.

Suitable for students in 5th – 12th grade.

My stained-glass how-to essay

Last week I attended a class on how to make stained-glass butterflies. You know, the kind you hang up on a window with little suction cups.

butterflies image for how-to

My stained-glass butterfly and my mom’s. Hers turned out better than mine!

The teacher was very clear on how to do each step. We practiced cutting glass first, listening for the “hiss” that showed we were scoring the glass correctly with our cutters. After we had cut a line and a circle (both of which I messed up), he moved us to the next step.

I chose what I thought would be a simple butterfly design and found out how wrong I was.

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How to Complain Constructively

How to Complain Constructively

SHARON’S BLOG

True story: I was eating dinner in a restaurant recently when I heard a woman in the booth behind me state, “This is an abomination!”

My ears perked up. My curiosity was piqued. I rarely hear the word “abomination” any more and wondered what could be so horrific as to need that word. I imagined she and her dining partner were reading a magazine article on human trafficking or perhaps watching a YouTube video about persecution in Indonesia.

I strained my ears to learn what she was referring to.

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Storywriting: Put Your Character into Hot Water, Part 1

Storywriting: Put Your Character into Hot Water, Part 1

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

You have an idea for a story but don’t know how to get it going. Or you would like to write a story but are out of ideas.

When you write a story, you have to throw a lot of things at your main character, things he or she would rather not have to deal with. In this prompt, you’ll learn two proven methods to get ideas and plunge your character into hot water. In this prompt, you’ll explore three more.

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A Sonnet: Be the Shakespeare

A Sonnet: Be the Shakespeare

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Today you get to be Shakespeare and write a sonnet.

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. The last two lines, however, are separate and either sum up the rest of the poem or provide a new twist, as does the sonnet below.

Let’s look at Shakespeare’s Sonnet 62. The letters at the end of each line are Shakespeare’s rhyme scheme, but ignore that for now. Take a few moments and read the sonnet. Then I’ll explain it:

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National Poetry Month: Do You Haiku?

National Poetry Month: Do You Haiku?

 

April is National Poetry Month. What a wonderful time to try your hand at writing a poem!

Haiku (high KOO) is a beautiful poem form that comes from Japan. It is usually about nature and can be spoken in one breath.

Syllables are important in a haiku. Words can be broken into parts based on their vowel sounds. Those parts are syllables. Tree has one syllable. Forest has two. And timberland has three. When you speak these words out loud, you can hear their syllables.

Haiku poems have another feature: They do not rhyme.

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5 Powerful Persuasion Strategies for Your Writers

5 Powerful Persuasion Strategies for Your Writers

SHARON’S BLOG

I love to bring you examples of effective writing so your students can use them, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint meeting of the U. S. Congress is an excellent example of persuasive writing. He used many powerful strategies in his speech, five of which we’ll delve into today.

Your students will better understand the intricacies of writing when they have the chance to learn from professional examples of published authors and speechmakers, so, to that end, let’s explore the persuasion tactics Netanyahu used.

Below are five powerful persuasion techniques. After the list, you’ll find a family writing prompt that involves one of them.

To read the complete transcript of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, click here. .

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