Sharon's Blog Archives - Page 33 of 34 - Writing with Sharon Watson-Easy-to-use Homeschool Writing and Literature Curriculum

The Best Time to Make Friends

So, when is the best time to make friends?

The famous actress Ethel Barrymore (great-aunt to Drew Barrymore) has an idea about that:

Would you like to rent a room undersea? Then head over to Jules’ Undersea Lodge off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. Named for the famous Jules Verne and his early sci-fi story 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, this hotel caters to divers who like to live underwater. You can view a YouTube video of a humorous

Who Is on Your Team?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Ender's Game Young Ender Wiggin, in Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, is smallish for his age, smart, and a bit of a misfit. In the movie of the same name by Summit Entertainment, Colonel Graff wants Ender to remain a misfit and even manipulates events so the other young students will hate Ender. Graff doesn’t want Ender to rely on anyone and even cuts off his emails to and from home so the young boy can focus on his studies.

Despite the people in his life who try to keep Ender from forming relationships, he creates his own network of friends and allies as he moves through the classes and battle games. He realizes, as does the psychiatrist Major Anderson,

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Teachers in the Jiangdu District of China know how important it is to hug their students. In fact, they hug their kindergarten students twice a day . . . as long as the parents

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

You know that boring description in the last book you read for school?

No, wait. You didn’t read it. You skipped the description because it was so dull.

It’s time to fix that. Here’s a paragraph from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Notice the specific and powerful verbs he uses to keep this description of refugees moving along:

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

When was the last time you wrote a whole paragraph about how a piece of cheese tasted?

Here’s Michael Paterniti’s description after tasting an artisanal cheese in The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese:

You Live in a Shipping Container?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Yes, folks, some people live in old, repurposed shipping containers—those huge, metal, rectangular boxes used for receiving goods from overseas.

You can read more about repurposing shipping containers and see some cool pictures here.

They are also being used for restaurants, art galleries, and more.

Other people choose to live in micro-units (tiny, tiny apartments) as small as 250 square feet. That’s 25′ x 10′. Measure that out in your house and see how much space that takes up.

If you were to live in a recycled shipping container or in a space as small as these micro-units, how would you arrange your living space?

Problems . . . Issues . . . Troubles . . . Calamities

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Everyone’s got them. No one is immune to problems.

Here’s Michael J. Fox, a famous actor, with his take on his debilitating and life-threatening medical condition:

Parkinson’s has made me a better person. . . . Life delivered me a catastrophe, but I found a richness of soul.

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

What does it take to have a happy family?

“Families that eat together, stay together. It’s that simple,” writes Denise Mann in “15 Secrets of Happy Families” on WebMD.com. Do you agree? Is it really that simple?

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in the same article suggests this: “Have one or two unifying activities that the family does together on a nightly basis.” This could be reading a story or playing a game together.

Are You Proud . . . or Just Prejudiced?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Pride and Prejudice dancing and sniping Have you read or viewed Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

You’ll find a wonderfully ironic scene in chapter XVIII. The setting is an elaborate ball. All are dressed beautifully and are on their best behavior. The dancing is organized in lines or circles, much like square dancing but much more sedate.

Against this metered backdrop we see the two main characters, Elizabeth and Darcy, dancing with each other—and arguing the whole time: