Homeschool Writing

I am SO excited about homeschooling this year! Not only are we continuing with Moving Beyond the Page (LA) and Life of Fred (math)...but we are starting a fabulous science program tomorrow called Supercharged Science....and now I just ordered a new writing curriculum that looks like it will be a blast, called---Cover Story:
"Create Your Own Magazine in One Year!
Cover Story writing curriculum takes middle school students on a guided tour through the universe of Story as they create content for their own magazine in one school year.

In this exciting curriculum from Daniel Schwabauer, the creator of the popular One Year Adventure Novel, students are led, step by step, on a fun, thought-provoking journey of exploration and creation.
Your student will write poems, short stories, non-fiction articles, letters, and many other short pieces. They also learn to notice and record their thoughts and ideas by following the creative structure of The Remarkable Journal of Professor Gunther Von Steuben.
A 12-lesson optional grammar component is included with purchase.
Cover Story also allows students the freedom of choosing a theme for their magazine, and a subject for each assignment. This approach gives the structure and guidance they need to understand the principles in each lesson, but allows them to create from passion rather than pressure.
This one-year program is appropriate for grade levels 6–9."
I plan on participating not only as their teacher, but as a student myself, and creating my own Magazine this year. I've had all these writing ideas, but so little opportunity to truly just sit and write..but now I found my opportunity!
If any of my homeschooling friends are interested in viewing or ordering "Cover Story," please consider ordering via the link below; will save you 10% through a homeschool buyers co-op; and give my family some "points" toward our next purchase. This is a fabulous website for learning about curricula options and saving some money.
link for Cover Story:
https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/cover-story/…
link for Supercharged Science:
https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/Supercharged-Science/…

"Marshmallow Madness" a short story written by our homeschoolers

Once upon a time, our family started a campfire for an innocent evening of relaxation.

Little Katrina said: "we need smores!"  So Mommy ran inside to get the smore stuff: graham crackers, chocolates, and of course (the star of the story), marshmallows!

Marie said, "Daddy, may I please have a marshmallow?"  Daddy hands over a marshmallow; Marie carefully puts it onto a stick, and toasts it to a perfect golden brown.  Daddy then carefully removes Marie's hot marshmallow.  Marie takes one bite of her perfect marshmallow, sets it on a plate to run in for a glass of water, and returns to find Daddy with a sticky, smiley grin.

Marie is VERY mad and throws a marshmallow at Daddy!  Little Katrina starts giggling and throws a marshmallow at Daddy too....just for fun:)

Marshmallows start flying everywhere!

...Until Marie comes out with her secret weapon.....the JUMBO MARSHMALLOW SHOOTER!

She prepares the shooter....1....2....3....BLAST OFF!

Everybody watches as the marshmallow flies, right into Fido's BUTT!  Fido gets this funny look on his face...then...

1....2.....3....BLAST OFF!!!   (Fido toots:)

and the marshmallow flies right into Daddy's face!!!  Everybody watches Daddy: "Yummy, that was really good, but it really needs graham crackers and chocolate!"

THE END

A "Tail" of Two Mer-Kingdoms

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom of Mermaids.  Deep under the sea, not a sliver of daylight, they saw two sea castles and decided to live there:  The Castle of Flowers and The Castle of Light.

Princess Fairy Girl lives in The Castle of Flowers, along with her royal mer-court: a mer-baby, Mana, with blue hair, a green fin--she was born out of seaweed.; a mer-mommy named Gama; a mer-daddy named John; a mer-dog named Sara (she's gold with a blue fin and a blue tail); and of course Mer-Grandma and Mer-Grandpa!

Princess Angel Girl lives in The Castle of Light, along with her royal mer-court: A teen-mer, 16, named Celena, tall with red hair and a pink fin; a mer-friend named Ola; and a black mer-dog with a blue fin named Shroca; and a sea-daddy named Michael.

Both Castles were beautifully decorated with colorful furniture, sparkly and soft chandaliers, pillows, and of course, magical rugs!

The mer-people grew flowers everywhere in their kingdom (to keep the kingdom not stinkie, of course:)  The neighbors all love it and decided to move into this mer-kingdom!!

Celena, the mer-teen, is all grown up now, and about to be crowned queen and be married!  A glorious ceremony is planned!

But the BIGGEST bubble appeared and a voice called from it, "SHARK ATTACK, SHARK ATTACK!!!"  The worst-ever creature came to ruin the ceremony.  It scratched and tipped everything!!.  This was an invisible shark that sneaked up to ruin the ceremony and kingdom!  To make matters worse, a sea-girl-monster with sting rays appeared and used her flipper to pull Princess Celena over to the Bad Queen; the flipper pulled her up the latter and she was on top of the castle; and weird black sand filled the kingdom's backyard!

Everyone was so disappointed.  Sting Ray was so sad and mad.  "What happened to this wonderful ceremony?"  But then, Nice Whale brought the sword of light to save Princess Celena and the long-awaited ceremony.  And the mer-king, from his lookout, declared, "make the sharks and all the bad animals of the sea--DISAPPEAR!  And, by the power of the Flower Power Sword, make the sea-monster---NICE!"

The mer-kingdom had been saved!! Princess Celena had a beautiful ceremony, marrying the handsome Prince Triton, where they also were crowned King and Queen of the kingdom.  And of course, the mer-people lived happily, ever-after!





                            THE "TAIL" END!

 Note from the editor:


Our little homeschool is going to attempt to develop, build and write a story each week, complete with illustrations.  I will come up with a very simple theme, based on other things we may be studying.  For example, this week, I selected the theme of "water."  The girls will come up with the characters, the scenes, ideas and story development, and the illustrations.  Each week we will take four days to build our story.  The editor will attempt to take their mostly random ideas (at this point anyway); some based off stream of conciousness (for example, I had trouble fitting Little Red Riding Hood, who came up this week, into this particular story:)--and build some cohesiveness; yet at the same time, the editor will try VERY hard to keep the story theirs, by preserving most of their words; just adding a few here and there for embellishment.

  I'm sure you can see how valuable this "weekly exercise" can be; not to mention fun!  So, thank you for reading our first story.  We hope you'll come back for more!  (and my even bigger hope, that my girls are able to develop characters who aren't all mermaids:D