Sharon's Blog Archives - Page 16 of 34 - Writing with Sharon Watson-Easy-to-use Homeschool Writing and Literature Curriculum

Proof of Alien Life Beyond Earth

Famed physicist Stephen Hawking and others launched a $100 million program called Breakthrough Listen in their search for alien life beyond Earth. The search will begin with the one million stars closest to us in the Milky Way Galaxy and then expand into neighboring galaxies.

“We believe that life arose spontaneously on Earth, so in an infinite universe, there must be other occurrences of life,” Hawking said.

They have a lot of listening ahead of them. That’s a lot of area to cover!

Would you like to win a cool million?

Story: This Tool Is Powerful!

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Do you want to influence your readers? Do you want to grab their hearts?

Use the power of story.

There are two kinds of stories: the true ones and the fictional ones. People have been using both kinds forever, and so can you.

Planned Parenthood and an Organic Teaching Moment

SHARON’S BLOG

I am sickened and saddened by the news that Planned Parenthood is dealing in baby parts. I imagine you are troubled as well.

Whether they are truly selling them or, as they say, making them available, there is no defense for these actions.

This exposé is an organic teaching moment for us and our teens. How can we help our teens understand what is godly and debunk the “humanitarian” argument?

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:.

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?

How Will You Get Your Message Out?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

You learn important skills in essay writing that you can apply to other forms of writing, but are essays always the best way to communicate ideas to others?

When Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wanted to save a piece of American history in 1830, what did he do?

Did he write his senator? Take out an ad in the local papers? Write a letter to the editor? Make protest signs?

Although all of those things are legitimate ways of communicating with people, he did none of them yet still succeeded in saving the USS Constitution, an old warship that had fought in the important War of 1812.

How did he do it?

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?

What Are You Waiting For?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Former U.S. presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson used to be hot rivals but became close friends later in life. In fact, for the last twelve years of their lives, they wrote to each other almost daily. In one letter about a year before his death, Jefferson wished the ailing Adams “nights of rest” and “days of tranquility.”

Near the end of their lives, they wrote to each other that they wanted something very special. Do you know what they wanted?

Declaration of Dependence: Teen Maturity

SHARON’S BLOG

Your son is eleven years old. He wishes he could play ball as well as his dad does, and he hugs you freely. Your daughter is ten. She loves to look through your jewelry box, and she plays up to her dad.

Now jump ahead a few years to a time when your kids will no longer regard you as perfect. Your son is 17 and chafes at having to obey you and do his school. Your daughter is 16 and spends more time on her mobile device than it took you to deliver her.

These can be painful days for us—days when we feel our teens pulling away from us in their quest for independence.

They have a surprise coming.

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.