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

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The Hamburger Menu

The Hamburger Menu

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

McDonald’s Big Mac. Burger King’s Whopper. Hardee’s Thickburger. Rally’s and Checker’s Big Buford.

Is your mouth watering yet?

Let’s celebrate hamburgers and cheeseburgers with a menu of writing prompt choices.

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So Long, Pluto!

So Long, Pluto!

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Can you believe there’s a day named Pluto Demoted Day? It is August 24, when in 2006, Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet.

Recent photos of Pluto by NASA’s spacecraft New Horizons have been fascinating. Here’s one of them, with a lighter shape informally named “the heart”:

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Give Us a New Month

Give Us a New Month

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

There are twelve months in a year. How many months have you lived through?

By now, anywhere from 120 to 168 months.

January is named after the Roman god Janus. He had two faces and could look forward and backward.

March is named after the god Mars. July is named for the famous emperor Julius Caesar. September, October, November, and December are derived from the Latin numbers for seven, eight, nine, and ten.

I think it’s time to

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Feeling Twitchy?

Feeling Twitchy?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

It was a common practice long ago that travelers in inns slept in the same bed, even if they didn’t know one another. This seems strange to us and, yes, a little creepy now.

Here is a passage from Moby-Dick by Herman Melville in which the narrator Ishmael is telling us about how he decided not to sleep in the same bed with a harpooneer because Ishmael didn’t know how dirty the guy’s clothes would be (“his linen or woolen”) or even if he could trust him:

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What Do You Do for Fun?

What Do You Do for Fun?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Some people like to put puzzles together. Others like to build forts, take hikes, or go camping. Some kids like to read or play a sport.

Derek Jeter, a now-retired New York Yankee, played baseball to have fun: “You gotta have fun. Regardless of how you look at it, we’re playing a game. It’s a business, it’s our job, but I don’t think you can do well unless you’re having fun.”

What do you do for fun?

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You, a Huge Pile of Legos ®, and a Creation

You, a Huge Pile of Legos ®, and a Creation

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

I recently visited Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida, and enjoyed the huge Legos ® creations there.

Really, they are tremendously interesting. I kept trying to figure out how someone built them and where they put their first blocks to begin these fun displays.

Here are some of the Legos ® pictures I took:.

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Put Your Message on a T-Shirt

Put Your Message on a T-Shirt

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

You’ve seen your fair share of messages on t-shirts, and you’ve probably worn a few t-shirts with writing on them.

Sports teams, music groups, camps, and even hospitals put their messages or advertisements on t-shirts.

They are like wearable billboards, and everyone reads them as you walk by. What message do you want to tell people?

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Chasing Happiness

Chasing Happiness

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson writes that our “inalienable rights” are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“Inalienable” means you can’t sell your rights or transfer them to someone else. They’re yours to keep.

But what does “the pursuit of happiness” mean?

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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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What Would You Read to a Dog?

What Would You Read to a Dog?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Dogs and cats are going places they’ve never gone before. They’re visiting children in daycare, older people in assisted-living facilities, and patients in hospitals.

Love on a Leash  is an organization that is filled with therapy pets—pets that are specially trained by their owners to make people happy, reduce stress, and help educate people about the benefits of owning pets.

One fun thing these dogs and cats do is go to school so children can read to them. Children who have trouble reading out loud or who are shy enjoy reading to a dog or cat that will sit there and listen to them.

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