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Grading Essays Made Easy |Homeschool Life | Literature | Miscellaneous
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Want homeschool writing tips? Encouragement? Help grading those essays? Practical advice for your homeschool writing class? Insights into literature? Free writing prompts and tutorials?
Whether your student is reluctant or brimming with excitement, you’ll find solid, proven ideas here that will make your teaching life easier. And take advantage of the many writing prompts and tutorials posted here.
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His Hands Were Bigger Than Shovels: Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a lot of fun to read and to write.
But what is it?
Hyperbole (hi PER bo lee) is exaggeration, as in “He was as hefty as a whale” or “Her whining voice so electrified the air that it knocked migrating geese off their course.” To read examples of this figure of speech, click here.
Just so you know, this figure of speech is also called a writer’s device and a literary device. And, just so you also know, “writer’s device” and “literary device” mean the same thing. The first is from the writer’s perspective; the latter is from the perspective of a student studying literature.
Here’s an example of hyperbole from Lee Child’s Personal in which he describes one of the bad guys: (more…)
Writing Is Better When . . .
Writing is hard. My students tell me this, and I believe them.
Writing makes their hands hurt. They don’t know what to write or how to write it. They have trouble coming up with topics. They’ll write if someone gives them a topic they are interested in. Or if someone gives them a topic, they don’t want to write.
Can you identify with any of these? If so, let’s make it easier on you.
Writing tip: When you are writing, be aware of your environment.
What do I mean by that? I mean be a detective and find out where you like to write and what you like around you when you write. Do you enjoy being in a room full of people, your favorite pet, or solid quiet when you write? Would you rather be at a desk . . . or slouched in the beanbag in the corner? (more…)
Make Your Life Easier—Use This Writing Schedule for Students
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? (more…)
Never Do the Following
Rules, rules, rules! You find them everywhere.
I even found some in a guide book to a Florida vacation area.
But these weren’t strictly rules. They were more like advice. In Emerald Coast Guide, I found all sorts of advice and things to avoid.
Quirky Beach Rules
For instance, in their “NEVER do the following” column, they mention some obvious things and some funny things: (more…)
