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

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Make Your Life Easier—Use This Writing Schedule for Students

Make Your Life Easier—Use This Writing Schedule for Students

SHARON’S BLOG

Is there copious weeping when you say, “Write an essay”?

Do your students get a pit in the bottom of their stomachs when faced with a writing assignment?

When I was a little girl (yes, this was a long, long time ago), I had the same reactions when I was told to clean my room. I shared a bedroom with my two sisters who were just as neat-challenged as I was, and blackness would always descend upon us as a truly physical weight when the edict came down to clean our room.

Why was it so gut-wrenching?

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Fire Prevention Day—Narrowing Down a SubjectTopic

Fire Prevention Day—Narrowing Down a SubjectTopic

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Note: This is part one of the Intro to Writing series. Find links to the other tutorials here.

What do you do when your teacher gives you a subject to write about, but that subject is too broad?

For instance, what if your teacher says, “Write about natural disasters”? Right off the bat, you know you are in trouble. That subject is too large; there are too many possibilities. It would take a few books to cover everything, and your essay is due in two days.

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Proofreading Marks and How to Use Them

Proofreading Marks and How to Use Them

SHARON’S BLOG

This tutorial shows your students the universal proofreading marks and how to use them. Plus, you'll get examples and an exercise to reinforce the information.Do your students waste endless time erasing whole sentences? Do they become discouraged when they look at their rough drafts filled with arrows, illegible notes in the margins, and ugly lines of scratched-out writing?

Let’s save them the pain by teaching them these handy, easy-to-use proofreading marks.

I’ve watched students in my writing classes scratch out whole sentences and rewrite them. They draw lines through words. They burn up their papers and crumble their erasers just to change something.

This is totally unnecessary.

There’s an easierand quickerway to proofread that doesn’t require a lot of rewriting, which should be good news to our students.

But first, the other grammar tutorials

This is the last in a series of tutorials on grammar. In this one, you and your students will learn how to use these helpful proofreading marks.

If you’re dying to know what the other grammar tutorials are about, click here for one on punctuation in dialog. (Tarzan and Jane help out on that one.) Click here if you yearn to know how to handle commas in compound sentences with coordinating conjunctions.

And click here for the hard-hitting exposé on where to put the comma, period, colon, or semicolon when using quotation marks.  Here’s a tutorial on a question I suspect you’ve heard from your students about using question marks and exclamation points with end quotation marks (you know, do they go inside or outside?).

For the tutorial revealing the crazy fact that the word “everyone” is singular, click here. And to finally put to rest your students’ confusion about it’s/its, you’re/your, and others of that ilk, click here.

 

Proofreading Marks

As with all the other tutorials, you get a super-duper package today: an infographic to teach the proofreading marks, an example of how to use them in a real paragraph, an exercise so students can fix someone else’s mistakes, and the answers.

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Apostrophe or no Apostrophe: It’s Confusing

Apostrophe or no Apostrophe: It’s Confusing

SHARON’S BLOG

confusingThis week’s grammar tutorial puts to rest some confusing words like “it’s” and “its.”

You can use the infographic below to teach your students about some confusing word usage. After that, there’s an exercise to reinforce the material with your students, and you’ll find the answers below the exercise.

Now, on to the tutorial . . .

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It’s True: “Everyone” Is Singular!

It’s True: “Everyone” Is Singular!

SHARON’S BLOG

everyone is singularIt is hard to believe, but the word “everyone” is singular.

It sounds as though it should include a lot of people; in fact, it should include everyone—and that sounds plural.

But “everyone” is in the list of singular indefinite pronouns, which are listed here: each, every, either, neither, no, one, no one, everyone, someone, anyone, nobody, everybody, somebody, anybody, nothing, everything, something, anything.

I grouped them by their endings: -one, -body, and -thing. You also could list most of them by their beginnings: no-, every-, some-, and any-.

This week’s blog, which is another in a series of grammar tutorials, includes the following:

  1. An infographic to teach the material
  2. An exercise for your students
  3. Answers to the exercise
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Too Many Question Marks and Exclamation Points?

Too Many Question Marks and Exclamation Points?

SHARON’S BLOG

question marks and exclamation pointsWelcome to yet another of biting, incisive grammar question like this one: “Mom, is this sentence supposed to have one question mark or two at the end?”

Other grammar tutorials

If you’re dying to know what the other grammar tutorials are about, click here for one on punctuation in dialog. (Tarzan and Jane help out on that one.)

Click here if you yearn to know how to handle commas in compound sentences with coordinating conjunctions.

And click here for the hard-hitting exposé on where to put the comma, period, colon, or semicolon when using quotation marks.

End Punctuation

I’m fully aware that the heading “End Punctuation” could be the heart’s cry of your struggling students.

However, this week, your students will wrestle with the thorny problem of what to do if a sentence is a question (interrogative) but there’s already a question mark to the left of the end quotation mark.

Take a look at the infographic, which is the lesson.

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Punctuation in Dialog

Punctuation in Dialog

SHARON’S BLOG

punctuation in dialogWelcome to the third in a series of grammar tutorials! You can find the first one on commas in compound sentences here.

The second one teaches the position of commas, periods, colons, and semicolons when used with quotation marks. What could be more exciting?!

Dialog punctuation tutorial

Do you have students who love to hide in their bedrooms and write story after story?

Most likely, they are hoping to be published one day, their stories read and loved by millions, their names on the covers of sought-after books.

One thing editors look for in a new writer is proficiency in grammar and punctuation. Granted, it’s not a huge thing; it’s more important to know how to write a great story. But grammar is an indicator of how well the writer knows the language and its conventions, and it is something that editors take into account when determining whom to publish.

Let’s make sure our students have access to the skills they need to get published.

A tiff between Tarzan and Jane in this fun tutorial will guide your students through the punctuation-in-dialog jungle.

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Where to Put the Comma, Period, Colon, and Semicolon When Using Quotation Marks

Where to Put the Comma, Period, Colon, and Semicolon When Using Quotation Marks

SHARON’S BLOG

punctuation This compelling grammar lesson answers such thorny questions as this one: “Mom, does a period go before or after the last quotation mark?”

You can find the first in the series of grammar tutorials here; it’s all about compound sentences, coordinating conjunctions, and commas. And if that doesn’t create some excitement in the classroom, I don’t know what will.

Punctuation and quotation marks tutorial

This week’s tutorial includes the following:

  1. An infographic to teach the material
  2. A set of sentences your students can correct to reinforce the material
  3. The answers to the sentences

There are only two rules (can you believe it?), and they are easy (again, is it to be believed?).

This lesson does not cover quotation marks in dialog. Tarzan is in charge of that here.

As you’ll notice by the infographic,

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How to Use Commas in Compound Sentences with Coordinating Conjunctions

How to Use Commas in Compound Sentences with Coordinating Conjunctions

SHARON’S BLOG

commasOkay, so the title of today’s article isn’t the most exciting. In fact, you might find it downright boringor intimidating.

I’ve been known to zone out when my husband tries to explain football lingo and rules to me. My eyes glaze over. My ears stop working. The same might be true for your students and the subject of commas.

Commas, Compound Sentences, and Coordinating Conjunctions

You can use the infographic below to teach students when to use commas in a compound sentence that is joined by a coordinating conjunction.

In this tutorial, you’ll find the following goodies:

  1. An infographic to teach the material
  2. A free, downloadable exercise
  3. The answers
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