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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Poem

Monday, May 20th, 2013

a-midsummer-nights-dreamMy 11-year-old son Stephen Evans wrote a poem to summarize A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare:

I will tell you a hilarious comedy,
The best I ever said.
Four lovers ran into the woods
And everyone ended up wed.

Theseus was the duke of Athens,
He would marry his love with grandeur.
Hermia’s father wanted her to marry
Demetrius, but she loved Lysander.

Theseus gave Hermia four days
To marry Demetrius or die.
Hermia begged her father with tears,
“Why must I marry Demetrius? Why?”

Lysander said to his love, Hermia,
“I have a plan to become your spouse.
To be free from Athenian law,
We’ll run away to my grandma’s house.”

The plan was set in motion,
But Hermia told her friend.
In turn, her friend told Demetrius,
Who wanted it to come to an end.

Demetrius followed Lysander and Hermia,
Trying to win Hermia’s love.
Helena ran after Demetrius,
But Demetrius gave her a shove.

The forest was inhabited by fairies,
And King Oberon ruled them all.
He noticed Helena’s rejected love
And decided to rectify the gall.

Oberon ordered Puck to put love juice
On the young Athenian’s eyes.
Puck mistook Lysander for Demetrius,
And Helena was scandalized.

Puck realized his mistake
And put love juice on Demetrius.
Both men ran after Helena,
But poor Hermia was treated like pus.

They all fell asleep in the forest;
Oberon made Lysander’s eyes okay.
Now everyone loved their true loves
And married the very next day.

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Macbeth Poem for Kids

Monday, April 8th, 2013

Macbeth-poem-for-kids

This Macbeth poem for kids was written by my 11-year-old son when he was given the assignment to write a summary of Macbeth. He decided to do the summary as a poem. My kids said that Macbeth was the worst story they ever read, and we talked about how ambition led Macbeth to take matters into his own hands. I’m doing a Bible study on the life of David, and we compared Macbeth to King David. Both men had predictions that they would be king. But David waited on God. He did not take matters into his own hands, even when he had the chance twice to kill Saul. David was a man of integrity, whereas Macbeth thought he had to keep killing people to cover up his previous murders. Macbeth even had his best friend Banquo killed, and after he won the crown, he couldn’t even enjoy it but was miserable. All sin ends in misery.

Macbeth – by Stephen Evans (age 11)

I’ll tell you a gruesome tragedy,
The worst you ever read.
Three witches caused Macbeth to act,
And everyone ends up dead.

Macbeth had won a victory
Against the thane of Cawdor.
Lady Macbeth contrived a plan
That was so full of gore.

Macbeth was to kill King Duncan
And take the crown for himself,
Framing the sleeping guards,
And sneaking away with stealth.

Banquo thought he was a friend,
But Macbeth had him killed.
Banquo’s ghost showed up at a feast;
With insanity Macbeth was filled.

Macbeth revisited the witches,
Who told him, “Beware Macduff
And watch out for Birnam Wood.”
Then they disappeared with a puff.

Macduff, Duncan’s son, and an army
Made camp in Birnam Wood.
When Macbeth looked over the battlements,
At once he understood.

The soldiers hidden by branches
Marched against Macbeth.
Macduff sank his sword into his foe,
And Macbeth fell down in death.

*Artwork above poem by Bryan Evans (age 12)
“Macbeth Sees Birnam Wood Advancing”

 

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Homeschooling Reluctant Writers: Scrapbooking Supplies

Friday, March 8th, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarrggghh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-10Writing Idea #10: Scrapbooking Supplies

  •  You can use scrapbooking supplies! For example, you can find stickers in the form of robots, and you can write a story around that sticker. Here is another robot story. Very nice. Here’s another robot story, and another robot story by a 5-year-old. Lots of robots, eh?
  • There are pirate stickers, and there are scrapbooking papers that are like outer space and cool stuff like that. Or you can have bugs and insects and write a poem. For example, “In the midnight dark sky/ Insects are fluttering by./ The crickets are chirping./ Everything is quiet.” This was written by a 5-year-old boy. Yes, he’s good, isn’t he?
  • Take a look at more scrapbooking supplies (at your local craft store). There are so many scrapbooking papers. Look at them all! Camouflage paper, pirate paper, monkey paper, race car paper, autumn paper. There’s paper that looks like wood, and paper that looks like rocks. There’s paper that looks like burlap, paper that has music on it, football paper, corkboard paper, patriotic paper, girly paper.
  • You could write on a sheet of paper, and then glue it onto one of these scrapbooking papers as a background. You could also decorate a journal with one of these papers.
  • There are many, many stickers as well. Here are some stickers for theater, movie stickers, camping stickers, crown stickers, forest stickers, bird stickers, 3-dimensional flowers. We have cowboy stickers, pirate stickers, more pirate stickers, fishing stickers, bike riding stickers, Paris stickers, music stickers, beach vacation stickers.

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaarrggghhh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full page story, using scrapbooking supplies to decorate your writing..
  • Read your story  into a video camera, and upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!
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Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #9: Mysterious Picture

Friday, March 1st, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarggh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-14Writing Idea #9: Mysterious Picture

  •  Cut out pictures from magazines like National Geographic or any other magazine that might have a picture that gives you ideas on some story that might be behind it.
  • (Showing 1st picture) Here we have a picture of someone pulling something out of the water. What is it? What could it be? Has he been looking for it for years? Is it pirate treasure?
  • (Showing 2nd picture) And here we have people who haven’t seen each other for years. Why haven’t they seen each other for so long? Tell the story behind this picture.
  • (Showing 3rd picture) This woman is saying good-bye to someone. Who is she saying good-bye to? Is it her son? Why is he going away?
  • (Showing 4th picture) The people in this classroom are very upset. What are they upset about? How come? Are they going to cause a riot? What are they going to do next?
  • (Showing 5th picture) Why is this woman being pulled out of a car? Is there something wrong? Is she being kidnapped in that car? What’s going on here? What’s going to happen next? Is she going to fall?
  • (Showing 6th picture) And what’s this woman doing with a crocodile on her head? Did the crocodile just jump down on her head? Did she go hunting for it, and is she going to have it for dinner? She looks very brave. But what on earth is going to happen next?

So you see, any picture could have a story behind it that is interesting and exciting. You could even write a novel based on one picture.

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaaarrrrggh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full one-page story based on a magazine picture.
  • Dress up as a pirate, and read your story into a video camera. Upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!
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Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #8: Ideal Summer Vacation

Friday, February 22nd, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarrggghh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

ideal-summer-vacationWriting Idea #8: Ideal Summer Vacation

  • You can plan your ideal summer vacation any time of year. Grab a sheet of paper and write a full page of what your ideal summer vacation would be. For example:
    • Would you go to the ocean? (Look at ocean pictures and describe why it’s so calming to you.)
    • Or perhaps hike through a forest to a waterfall? (Describe the waterfall.)
    • Or maybe you just want to go to a lake and go swimming, build sand castles, and float on a big ol’ rafty thing that looks like a banana. (You can come up with other ideas, like traveling to Europe!)

I’m sure you can come up with some plans for your ideal summer vacation. This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaarrggghhh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Plan your ideal summer vacation. You can look at brochures from your local tourist office, or just make something up out of your head.
  • Write a full page description of your ideal summer vacation.
  • Read your description  into a video camera, and upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!
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Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #7: Invention

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarrggghh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-7Writing Idea #7: Invention

  • Go ahead and create a new invention that’s never been invented before. You can use building sets like K’nex, or Erector sets, or Robotic Legos, or anything you have around the house. Or you can use wood, pulleys, ropes, and things like that.
  • Watch the explanation of a fun invention. (“This is my invention. Let me show you how it works: I will pour water into this small bucket. The water will load down the bucket, pulling the middle bucket up. This will pull the string, making this rope free to move over the pulley. Gravity will then pull the last bucket down to land on these two wires. This will turn the light bulb on, completing the circuit.”)
  • Make sure you describe how your invention works in many paragraphs. You might want to invent something that’s useful to society. You could get a patent for it and earn bucket loads of money. Yeah…

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaarrggghhh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Make an invention. Use materials from around your house.
  • Write a full page description of your invention.
  • Read your description  into a video camera, and show us how the invention works. Upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!
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Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #6: Conversation with Yourself

Friday, February 8th, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarrggghh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

Writing Idea #6: Conversation with Yourself

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-6“What do you mean?” you say.

  • You can write a script of you talking to yourself. What you’re going to do is dress up in a costume (or have a hat or a certain hair style), and say something. You’re sitting on one side of the table, and you go ahead and say something.
  • Then you quickly stop the camera, and you go run to the other side of the table. Put on a different costume because you are a second character. And then respond to yourself. Oh, yeah.
  • As you go back and forth like that, you can film it. Take a look at how fun that can be. (Watch the conversation between a car mechanic and a race car driver.)
  • To make it easier to record, you can record all of one character’s lines first, and then record the other character’s lines second. Put it onto your computer and cut and paste it together into a conversation. Fabulous idea, huh?

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaarrggghhh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full page conversation between two characters that you will play.
  • Dress up as those characters.
  • Read your lines (or memorize your lines for better acting), and record it on a video camera. Upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!
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Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #5: Write-A-Go-Round

Friday, February 1st, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarrggghh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

Writing Idea #5: Write-A-Go-Round

  •  Grab a journal and line up some people.
  • Have the first person write one sentence and then pass it to the next person. The second person writes a sentence and then passes it to the third person.
  • You can do this in a circle or in a line, and go back and forth. Things can be quite hilarious.

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-5“Once upon a time, there was a giant who lived in a castle. The giant ate marshmallows. The marshmallows turned into balloons and floated away. The giant screamed, ‘Come back, marshmallows!’ He built a catapult and flung himself into the air…” (continue the story for a full page)

So you see, a Write-A-Go-Round would be a fabulous idea for a party or for any other time that you get together with other people. Make sure you have at least three people.

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaarrggghhh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full one-page Write-A-Go-Round story.
  • Dress up as a pirate.
  • Read your Write-A-Go-Round story  into a video camera and upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!
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