Because no one is every going to tell what they really mean, or what’s really happening. It’s up to you to infer, to gather clues, to notice what’s irrelevant, to draw conclusions.

If someone is outright telling you what “it all means,” I can guarantee that 99% of the time they’re being dishonest.

That’s just the nature world we live in now. (Yep, I can be misleading you too, right now. You decide!)

So, having given you all that bleak lead in, allow me to introduce some of my most favorite stories and authors, because this is actually a very entertaining unit, with a wild range of stories, all asking you to FIGURE IT OUT!

You’ll notice how authors also THWART EXPECTATIONS, meaning, they purposefully surprise you. Those are the best stories.

Below you’ll find all the readings and assignments, as well as a document of answers, for the four authors described above.

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And what if your best friend discovered your deception, and jumped into the identity you were trying to destroy because HE realizes he wants to get married, too?

And what if you discovered that telling the truth was going to destroy your chances of happiness?
And keeping up the lies would also destroy your chances of happiness?

Ah, the complexities and paradoxes of Oscar Wilde! He was the master of the contradiction, because he saw far too well the hypocrisies we all live with, even if we can’t see them.

This is one of my all-time favorite plays (and the 2002 movie was also marvelous!).

Below is the introduction to the play, and for subscribers, you can download all the assignments:

•Vocabulary words, activity, and quiz;

•Victorian Slang activity (got the morbs yet?);

•Paragraph practice. This may seem unnecessary, but it’s been my experience that about half of all high school students somehow missed learning how to write paragraphs that are clear and direct.
So for each of the acts, you will get to write some focused paragraphs addressing specific prompts. I’ll give you guidance on what should be in those paragraphs as well. Let’s make sure you can write paragraphs!

•You’ll get to write a Character Essay at the end. Choose two of your favorite characters to compare, contrast, and decide who you would most like to have in your life. (I’m not wanting Lady Bracknell, that’s for sure.)
REMEMBER—If you want me to grade your essays, join my Founder’s Level!

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Truly, some people take this very, very seriously:

However, I’m not superstitious, so I’ll keep writing and saying Macbeth. (Although I’ve had a lot of technical troubles with creating homework answer videos, so who knows—maybe I’ve brought upon myself the curse?)

Here’s the introduction video for this play, explaining some of the history behind it, and the characters involved:

I also recommend using Good Tickle Brain for reviewing the Acts and Scenes you read. Mya Lixian Gosling does a marvelous job of distilling the play into disturbingly cute stick figures:
https://goodticklebrain.com/macbeth

Below you’ll find homework questions for each Act, then a page of answers for the questions. (It was going to be a video, but I’m on day 3 of technical issues getting it to record properly . . . that curse thing, I’m telling you.)

Then there are details for creating a theme essay from the play. As always, if you want me to GRADE your essays, give you feedback, allow you to revise, etc. join my Founders Level and we’ll arrange for me to grade your work.

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Obviously I needed to catch up to my kids.
Aaaannnd I got a little lost. Did I mention my daughter is an engineering major? That her brother wants to go into nuclear science? That the older brother is a math genius?

I’m none of those things (English major instead of biologist because I couldn’t handle the math). So I started to skim the very technical (and accurate, or so I’ve been told) details to get to the plot.

And then I realized my favorite Hero’s Journey plot was definitely there, but scrambled.

Last week I went to the movie theater which shocked my family. I hate the theater experience (can’t pause the movie to use the bathroom). I go maybe once very five years to a movie. But I wanted to see “Project Hail Mary” on the big screen. And boy, it did NOT disappoint!

Here’s my take on how it fits the Hero’s Journey. Let me know what I got wrong, where you agree, and what else I should have included:

Maybe sometime I’ll create a homework activity so you can count this as an assignment, once the movie hits streaming.

Coming up next I’ll have a unit on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Very different vibes! (Although I think Eva Stratt and Lady Macbeth have a few things in common.)

Medieval Times are such a fun time to read and write about! From bizarre illustrations, to people walking to see where a man was killed, to a dragon eating people in Lebanon (?!?), we have some great readings and assignments. I expect this unit to take 2-3 weeks to complete, but go whatever pace you want—faster or slower.

Here is the Introductory Video to Medieval Times.

Then below you’ll find:

• vocabulary words/quiz

• Knights’ Code of Conduct activity

• Medieval Art Create the Context story activity

• Text and reading questions and answers for “St. George and the Dragon”

• Text and reading questions and answers for “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” and “The Pardoner’s Tale.”
  

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In the video below, I’ll talk you through all the stages and elements you need to compose your own Epic Narrative such as:

• creating a strong hook,

• including details and descriptions,

• how to punctuate dialogue,

• incorporating epic elements,

• writing a satisfying conclusion.
  

Here are many of those details in document form for easier reference:

Beowulf Style Epic Narrative Essay Mrs

308KB ∙ PDF file

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And a reference page for how to punctuate dialogue:

Punctuating Dialogue Mrs

253KB ∙ PDF file

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Download

Do you want me to grade your essay?
I will!
Subscribe to be a founding member, and I’ll arrange for you to share with me your essay in Google, then I’ll give you feedback and the opportunity to revise. We can chat in the margins so you can refine your writing skills. I can be your one-on-one teacher.

I hope you enjoyed free access to all of Lesson 1 in British Literature. These readings and assignments should take students 2-3 weeks to complete. But the glory of homeschooling is that your teen can set the pace, moving however quickly or slowly they need to.
Next will be Medieval literature covering “St. George and the Dragon” and selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Those will be available for those who subscribe.

They know someone is going to step in and do the work for them.

The little punks.

We’re talking about reading one page during class, not five chapters of Dostoyevsky by tomorrow. (Because no one reads novels anymore in high school.)

Let me give you a typical example, from an 11^th grade class. (And why I’m no longer there.)

Teacher: Everyone, we’re going to read a passage and write a paragraph about—
[five male students immediately start groaning out loud, as if afflicted by hernias]
Helpless Boy (HB1): Do I have to read?
Teacher: Of course you do. We read every day.
HB2: But I’m tired, Miss.
Teacher: Tragic. Pull out a pen or pencil—
HB3: I don’t have a pencil. Or a pen. Can I borrow one?
Teacher: Remember at the beginning of the term when I had you write a statement promising you’d always be prepared in class with a writing utensil?
HB3: Yeah, but it’s hard. I keep losing them. Hey, [he says to the class in general], who will give me a pencil? [This happens daily, even after an email home to parents.]
Teacher: As I was saying, after we read, you’ll write a paragraph—
HB2 [read with toddler-level whining]: But I’m tired! How long does it have to be?
Teacher: Five to six sentences.
HB1: What?! This is too much, Miss!
[Repeat for five more minutes until Teacher gives up, hands out the assignment, sits down at her computer, and asks ChatGPT what kinds of jobs former teachers can find.]

Here’s what may happen next:
a) HBs won’t do the work, but pout, sleep, or continually pester their neighbors so no one else can work;
b) They get someone else in class to give them the answers—usually the girl who gave in and offered a pencil, yet again;
c) They pull out their laptops, even though the teacher has stated no computers are allowed, and they ask ChatGPT. Then they watch videos of themselves in the last game;
d) The counselor in office will take pity, again, and practically write the paragraph for them, now that it’s three weeks late and they can’t play on the team unless they are passing the class with a 60% and they’re at 58%, and counselor really wants to see Team X get to the playoffs this season;
e) The teacher emails parents about son’s refusal to work, continued whining, and even his swearing at the teacher for assigning too hard of work (It’s 5 freaking sentences, kid!), which means HB is now failing (counselor hasn’t stepped in just yet to finish the assignment for him; she will next week when the parents email her about how to get their son eligible to play) and parents respond to the teacher with . . . nothing.

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Current school teachers, what have I missed?

(While this is NOT a Helpless Boy, he did fall sound asleep on my floor a few years ago. So, of course, I’m going to take advantage of that.)

When I first started teaching eight years ago, (before Covid—maybe that makes a difference?) the Helpless Boys were smaller in number, maybe only a couple who were accustomed to whining to get out of work.

My first experience was with a 10^th grade boy who loudly gave up because it was “too hard” when he hadn’t even started the short assignment. Filled with motherly concern for his discouraged spirits (the poor lamb), I rushed over to him and spoke earnestly. “You don’t have to admit your weakness to everyone, and I’m sure that’s not true! Come on, let’s work on this together!”

I had fallen into his trap. I didn’t notice his small smile until later.

His schtick didn’t work on the biology teacher, a retired marine, who made him drop and do pushups until he found his will to read two pages about cell division. Apparently this boy worked every day in biology, all on his own, whereas motherly types like me felt the need to talk him through every last sentence until his work was done.

I started to toughen up after that, once I realized I was manipulated by boys who liked to game me and the system.

But the problem has expanded in the past eight years.

More recently I’ve been teaching at private schools, first in the deep south, then in the west. Both schools had very affluent clientele, and the amount of Helpless Boys has been astonishing, up to half the boys in every class.

It’s so weird to me.

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I’m so old I graduated in the 1980s, when we were focused on our future success. We couldn’t wait to date, to drive, get to college or better, get our own apartments at age 18 (that rarely happened, even though we desired it).
We were ambitious, naively and even dangerously so.

Boys today, however, have zero ambition, zero drive.

And I don’t know how they’ve become so broken.

I should amend that to clarify that they have ambition to become rich. Every one of them thinks they’ll make it big in athletics (even though their high schools don’t even make the playoffs and no college team will ever scout them), or they’ll make a lot of money as an influencer (as if the market isn’t oversaturated already).

So why worry about history, or chemistry, or writing, or algebra? They’ll be rich, and if not, they’ll just work for the family and get money that way.

R. P. Shanahan wrote about these boys’ futures in “Men Without Direction.”

Rewired

Men Without Direction

The Morning I Thought About Giving Up…

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3 months ago · R.P. Shanahan

He cites Eberstadt’s description of young adult men. “This is not about joblessness—it’s a retreat from adulthood, responsibility, and purpose . . . “They are refusing to leave the nest. Resorting to what is easy instead of choosing what is hard. [emphasis mine] It’s not all their fault. It’s a society-wide issue. It starts with parenting and continues with education.” Shanahan describes the dreary work future for young adult men, with AI taking entry-level jobs, among other issues.

Maybe this is why they “can’t even.” I’m seeing teenage boys who have already given up on doing hard work, not even trying to do easy work in school.

And yes, high school is far, far easier than you remember it. Students won’t read. Not that they can’t read, they won’t read. They don’t care about ideas or the future.

How do you teach students who are so apathetic they don’t care about failure?

Which leads me back to my Helpless Boys. I have no answers, merely observation. I’m hoping others might have more insights.

What I noticed in my very-limited scope was that these boys wanted attention. One-on-one, sit next to me, talk me through this attention. They can’t do anything alone.

Kelsey Piper suggests that teenagers’ lack of agency, of being allowed to walk to the store on their own, discover their own strengths, may be holding them back. I think she’s right.

The Argument

How getting richer made teenagers less free

In 1913, journalist Helen Todd talked to hundreds of 14- to 16-year-olds working in American factories. Most of their fathers were dead or had crippling health issues thanks to decades of work in unsafe factories, and their mothers were supporting an average of five children on low wages. By doing pieceme…

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5 months ago · 450 likes · 40 comments · Kelsey Piper

My colleague suggested these boys have learned already how to weaponize incompetence, to claim inability so someone else steps in and rescues them. She suggested they learn it at home, perhaps watching their fathers’ ineptitude get them out of doing housework.

Another colleague wonders if this “too weak” attitude is propagated in social media reels. As one student confessed (in private), “It’s cool to be an idiot.”

While I agree with both, I wonder if there might be yet another reason. This is the first group of kids to have grown up on iPads, which took from them the connection to parents and bonded them to technology instead.

Might these teens have been so distracted by technology as a younger child that they now crave what they missed? Did mom or dad sit with them and read books before bedtime? Did they talk about their day for a few minutes? Did they giggle and laugh together?

Or did the iPad lull them to sleep?

Might these boys, who need someone next to them to talk them through every little thing, be looking for the nurturing they missed out on as preschoolers?

Or am I just projecting on to them the most gracious possible reason these teenagers are manipulating adults so they can be forever lazy?

And if you know a teenage boy who is NOT one of these Helpless Boys, congratulate him. Encourage him. Assure him it’s not cool to be the idiot in class. In a couple years, he’ll never interact with those idiots in class again.

We need boys like him.
So how do we create more?
I hope one of you has an idea.

I’m creating English content for homeschooling high schoolers. Each week I’ll release new videos and assignments so you can get a full curriculum without the others in the class room making your life miserable. You’re welcome. Subscribe to get all the added features. Thank you!

You’ve seen all of these in books and movies, but WHY they show up so often?

Because we love them!
But more importantly, these are the stories that connect us to the past, even to ancient times.
Sometimes history feels so remote, but when we realize that for thousands of years we’ve been going through the same plot with similar characters, suddenly the past is right here, with us.

And when we see that for thousands of years people have had the same struggles as we do now, we’re inspired to slay our own dragons, find our own allies, and climb out of that deep abyss once more.
Because they did it.
And so can we.

These videos below and assignments work for any grade level in high school, because if you’re studying The Odyssey or reading Hunger Games, these plots and characters appear everywhere, reminding you to not give up hope—there is help!

ASSIGNMENT:
Watch the videos below,
1) The Hero’s Journey, then
2) common Archetypes, then
3) complete the projects linked below: “Hero’s Journey Poster Project” and “List of 201 Archetypes—which ones are you?”

NOTE: These videos and activities will always be a wholly FREE ASSIGNMENT here because I believe literature—especially the Hero’s Journey—can inspire readers of all ages to keep going, despite the trials and enemies we encounter. We’ve got this!

Full details on how to do the projects are on the links below:

List Of Archetypes Mrs

525KB ∙ PDF file

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Hero's Journey And Archetype Poster Mrs

349KB ∙ PDF file

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1) START HERE!
Below is the introduction video explaining all you need to know before you start reading.

Here’s a good version of the Beowulf text designed for high school age teens that goes along with some of the assignments created for the reading:

Beowulf Pdf

1.81MB ∙ PDF file

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To access writing assignments, vocab words and quiz, and an essay description, please upgrade to paid. For $8 a month, you get a full English class curriculum. I’m updating content each week, starting with British Literature. I also provide videos that talk through the answers to some of the assignments, and go into depth about how to complete the essays.

But if you want me to grade your essays and give you feedback through Google docs? We can do that! Subscribe to my yearly Founder Member Level, which means that for the equivalent of $12/month you have a real high school teacher at your disposal! I’ll grade up to three essays a month, and chat through Google docs with you to improve your writing and build your confidence.

Below are the links to the assignments for Beowulf.

For each assignment, I STRONGLY recommend that you PRINT the .pdf assignments below and complete the answers by hand. Yes, good old pen/pencil and paper.
Why?
Because every study on the subject shows your understanding and memory improves dramatically when you write by hand, rather than just typing (or worse, copy-and-pasting).

Build those hand muscles! And build that brain muscle as well—HAND WRITE!
It’s ok if your handwriting is terrible. You’re the one reading it, correct?
Find pens or pencils that you really like to use, in different colors, etc. to make the experience more enjoyable. For example, these are my favorite pens: Pilot, Precise V5 RT Refillable & Retractable Rolling Ball Pens:

Do these assignments below AFTER you watch the Introduction to Beowulf video above, and BEFORE you actually start reading. These will help you with the language, words, and style of the text.

2) Vocabulary Words and Quiz (if you want to test your memory)

Beowulf Vocabulary Mrs

249KB ∙ PDF file

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Beowulf Vocab Quiz Mrs

221KB ∙ PDF file

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3) Beowulf Boast and Kennings—Do before reading the text to understand how the language works.

Beowulf Boast Mrs

327KB ∙ PDF file

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Epic Epithet Kenning Mrs

303KB ∙ PDF file

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4) Let’s start reading! Here again is the text connected to the assignments you’ll complete:

Beowulf Pdf

1.81MB ∙ PDF file

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Download

5) Below are assignments to complete after each of the three parts. If you’re struggling with the answers, or want to check your responses, watch the video below where I talk you through the answers.

For Beowulf Part 2, you’ll need to watch “The Hero’s Journey” presentation and do that chart so you can plot it for “Grendel’s Mother.”

Beowulf Part 1 Grendel Mrs

331KB ∙ PDF file

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Beowulf Part 2 Grendel's Mother Mrs

261KB ∙ PDF file

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Beowulf Part 3 Last Battle Mrs

274KB ∙ PDF file

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6) And when you’re done with the assignments, below is my explanation about the answers, so you can check your work and hear some more insights.

Next you’ll go on to the Narrative Essay with Epic Elements, to be posted soon!

All of that means that buckling down and getting to school work just doesn’t happen without tears and tension.

So here’s my recommendation: Disruption!

Hey, you’re already feeling out of sorts, unable to get your feet under you again. Don’t fight it; roll with it!

Try a Two-Week-Disruption in your homeschool (or three weeks, if you need it) then reset for February.

Here’s what Disruption looks like: Doing anything BUT regular school work.

Think about what you’re trying to teach your kids, then sneakily work it in to more interesting activities.

Make January the month you go EVERYWHERE! Then, when you get back, do an activity or homework project that relates to both what you did and what you need to do.

Here are some ideas:

MUSEUMS! Natural History, Art, Children’s, aquariums, zoos, whatever you can find/afford locally.
And by “local” I mean be willing to drive up to two hours. The drive is part of “going.” Don’t be afraid to travel a little, provided the weather holds. That distance can open a whole new range of places to visit.
Museums may be large and elaborate. But also check universities. Many colleges have smaller, specialized ones (sometimes free!) that can be very interesting. Check for deals online in the winter months.

TAKE TONS of PICTURES of their favorite exhibits, strangest creatures, even the dullest items. These photos will be the basis of your schoolwork.

Schoolwork: choose a project to do, based on those photos. For example:

• Have your kids make a poster for their favorite exhibit. For younger kids, get out the markers and some poster board from the dollar store. For older kids, let them practice on Canva, or let them color posterboard as well!

  —For younger kids, have them draw a picture and write a couple of words about what they liked.

  —For older grade school kids, they can include a couple of facts. “Sea stars don’t always have just five arms, because we saw one with seven! Here’s why it can have more arms.” Then have them look up online or in a book why they can have more.

  —For middle school kids, encourage more details, maybe 3-5 that they can look up on the internet about something they saw and liked. “There are several kinds of penguins, and the smelliest one is the Emperor penguin. Here’s why . . .”

  —For high schoolers, have them slant their poster into marketing to get new visitors, or create a poster based on a logical fallacy, or even propaganda or a conspiracy theory. “They say dinosaurs are extinct, but are they really?! Here’s three reasons why that may not be true!” Let them make up facts, have some fun with it. Creativity is learning!

• Write a short story about some object at the museum.

  —For younger kids, make a picture book with a few sight words that they illustrate and write. Why was that painting of the ugly hat in the museum? What’s its backstory?

  —For middle school kids, have them write maybe 250 words about something they saw. For high schoolers, aim for 500 words. Again, let them have fun. What’s the dumbest thing they saw? Do they really want to write about the broken faucet in the bathroom? Yes, let them! What’s the object’s history? Why is it in the museum/zoo/etc.? Maybe it’s there by mistake, and has to leave! How would you get it out? “There was this beautiful crystal, and it spoke to me! Now I need to sneak back in and rescue it. This is how I’d do it,” etc.

• Categorize objects, based on your photos.

  —For younger kids, focus on shapes, things that are alive, things that aren’t, etc. Look through the photos and see if you can find patterns of what you took pictures of. Observe how to categorize.

  —For older elementary, have them make a chart and plot what they found in the pictures. How many mammals? How many statues? How many other visitors in the backgrounds? Create some kind of chart with 3-5 columns and 3-5 objects they keep track of.

  —For middle school to high school, they can also create a chart but look for more sophisticated—or silly—objects. Again, having fun is part of the task. It really doesn’t matter what it is, just have fun with it.

FOREIGN FOOD MARKETS/CAFES! These are marvelous places to go to explore. You can do a little research before you head to the Asian market, the Polish bakery, the Mexican store, or the French delicatessen. What kind of food might they find there? You could watch a video about the country of origin, or just be brave and go with no insight at all. That’s daring! Be sure to remind your kids to be respectful of the new culture you’re exploring. That means not holding up a dragonfruit and making a weird face at it.

• Have a budget to give each child, maybe $5 or $10 or whatever is comfortable.

• Explore the entire store thoroughly before letting them spend their money, looking at different fruits and vegetables, analyzing boxes of goods, taking pictures of items (Be sure to ask the store owners first; sometimes they may be a little sensitive about photography.) What kind of breakfast foods do they have? Cookies? Candies? What are their sauces? Read some ingredients, keep track of flavors you’ve not heard of before.

• Let each child purchase some food item they want to take home to try. It’s ok if it looks like it might be a bad choice. This is part of the adventure, seeing what it is!

• Also look for some items to make for dinner, and let the kids give feedback on what you get. They may have some great ideas.

Schoolwork: Once at home, lay everything out and start sampling:

• Have someone document reactions to the food. This could be a good way to practice the scientific method as a group. Create a graph and plot:
  —Each person’s reaction
  —Flavor of the food
  —Rate the texture of it (firm, soft, squishier than expected, etc.)
  —Rate the smell of it (flora, sweet, sour, repulsive, delicious, etc.)
  —Taste: sweet, salty, savory, what does umami mean?
  —Overall reaction: Good? Bad? Love it? Hate it?
  —Healthy or not?
  —Would we buy it again?
  —Etc.

• Afterward, find some videos on YouTube about that country, or culture, or someone cooking with that food. This is a great way to get in some geography lessons and develop understanding about other people.

NATURE HIKE! Yes, in the snow, in the cold, or in the sunshine. Dress appropriately, and call it P.E. But also give it a goal. Have your kids try to find things, either physically or photographically. Depending on where you live and what the weather is, try finding:

• Natural objects to bring home to later identify, such as pinecones (what specific kind of tree? Write down three details about that tree), flowers/weeds (what kind?), rocks (what kind?), gravel (source?).

• Take pictures of objects, animals, birds to try to identify.

• Make the hike pleasant in that you bring along hot cocoa and snacks (from the foreign food store?), or make plans to pick up a lunch somewhere.

MUSIC! Here’s some evening activities to include the whole family. You may be surprised:
—how many community orchestras there are;
—that universities have choral performances (and dance reviews) in the dead of winter;
—that some cathedrals have weekly organ/choir recitals; and that
—some family-friendly cafes and restaurants have live music on certain nights.

But this isn’t the kind of music your kids normally listen to?

Perfect! That’s the whole point, to expose everyone (parents included) to something new.

—Spend just 10 minutes at a jazz performance, see what you think.
—Attend a musical at the local high school.
—Maybe there’s a drum circle in the park.
—Maybe there’s a touring group from another country performing at a small venue.
—Maybe there’s a street performer. Pay attention for a few minutes, toss him a few bucks.

Take a chance on something unusual. This is a good way to teach children to be respectful of different tastes and ideas, and maybe they get interested in something completely new.

Schoolwork:

• Let the kids write a review of what they heard, from a couple of sentences to a couple of paragraphs, depending upon age. What was good, what was . . . not the favorite.

• Make a pros and cons list about that style of music they experienced.

• Draw a picture of how the music made them feel. Not of the performers, but of their emotions as they listened. Be ready for a variety of responses!

ARCHITECTURE! This is something you could do in conjunction with the music option, since often both are found in a larger city. If you don’t live near a city, make it your destination for that day. Study beforehand some basics of buildings—Greek columns, craftsman style, modern architecture, etc.

• Then head to the city and take a walk looking at buildings in a safe area. Take pictures of what the kids like and don’t like. Zoom in on details of buildings, the brickwork, a window detail, a pigeon doing rude things on a ledge.

• City halls and state buildings frequently have beautiful structures, marble floors or statuary, etc. that are open to the public. Explore those, looking for interesting details. If there’s a statue of someone, find out who it is and consider researching them a little once you get home.

• Find a cathedral or two. They’re usually open to the public, and explore (respectfully) the areas you’re allowed access to. Look for artwork and statuary, and try to understand its significance, especially if it’s a religion that’s not yours.

  —There may be a priest or caretaker nearby who may be able to answer questions for you. Ask if there will be an organ or choral recital (or a rehearsal) you could attend.

• Public libraries can have interesting architecture, art, and activities in larger cities. Plan to spend an hour in one, exploring what you can find. There may be old maps or an art display to examine, and sometimes some great stairwells!

• Cemeteries—yes, cemeteries—can be fascinating places to walk through, if there’s no snow. Research ahead of time to see if anyone famous is buried nearby, and find their headstone. Then go on an explore/scavenger hunt (respectfully, of course):

  —find the earliest headstone and see how long people have been buried there.

  —Look for unusual names, or names that are the same as each family member (fun and a little spooky).

  —Sometime headstones have interesting details like recipes, quotations, or even funny statements. See who can find the most interesting.

Schoolwork:

—From your walks, explores, etc. have your kids look up history about the most interesting building/structure/location. If it’s new, maybe they can find out who built it, who owns it, etc. If it’s older, see if they can find the history of the building and write a few sentences about that.

—If they’re interested in a certain style of building, they can research other places in your state or country or the world that also has buildings the same shape. Just why are there gargoyles on cathedrals and some state buildings?

—Think about who has statues of themselves in buildings. What could your child do to maybe have a statue of them someday in there? Have them write a paragraph about what they could do in the future to deserve a statue.

TAKE A DRIVE FOR TWO HOURS IN ONE DIRECTION! Consider other kinds of places you can drive to in two hours’ time, and what you can do there. Sometimes a completely different place can spark some interest and creativity:

• For example, drive to a ski resort with tape measure, yard sticks, etc. and try to measure snow depths, look for animal nests in trees, and just walk around to feel the area. If you’re a “car” family, look for the most exotic or expensive cars in the lot. Also look at license plates—how far did people travel to get there?

• Maybe there’s a state or national park in driving range. Get there, see what you can do for 2-3 hours, then drive home (bring a lunch, enjoy seeing the place in winter time). We’ve gone to parks we’ve hiked in the summer and were surprised how different it looked in the winter.

• Explore a new town nearby. Find their town library or a book store and browse a while. Find the quirkiest storefront. Find a local greasy spoon restaurant and get some ice cream for the drive home. (Yes, ice cream in winter—we’re being disruptive, here!)

I think you get the idea.

Here’s the trick—if you do something new EVERY day for two weeks, everyone is going to:

A) Love the changes!

B) Be exhausted of all the activity after two weeks, and

C) Be ready to do regular school work again when it’s over!

Realize that it is NOT necessary to be daily drilling your kids in math, English, science, etc. If kids miss a few days, or a couple of weeks, it’ll be ok. Education happens in spurts and plateaus, and it’s ok to think of learning from different angles. Education is much more activity based than rote based.

Sometimes disruption is exactly what everyone needs.

Here’s the most important thing to remember: If you’re frustrated, and the kids are frustrated, no one will learn anything.

Instead, the kids will remember how angry they are with mom, and mom will remember how frustrated she is with kids.

Skip all of that.

Go have fun in educational ways instead!

Then, exhausted, get back to work in February.

Let me know below what Disruptive Activities you’ve done with your homeschoolers!

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Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, The Little Prince, Long Walk to Water, All But My Life, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1984, The Taming of the Shrew . . .
These are the texts high schoolers should be reading and writing about.
They have solid values, tested morals, and depth of thought.
And they’re NOT BORING! (At least, not the way I’ve been teaching them for the past ten years.)

Oedipus Rex, The Odyssey, Beowulf, St. George and the Dragon . . .
They’ve stood the test of time because they demonstrate honest lessons and morality that we’re missing in society. (I’m not advocating behaving like Ulysses on Circes’ Island, but analyzing the consequences of all his actions.)

Even modern books like The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson can be “elevated” to the high school curriculum, getting reluctant readers to pick up the next in the series. (Reading for pleasure? Yep, it still happens!)

This is my goal: to provide parents and teens English literature curriculum that reinforces their values and beliefs which public schools have neglected.

Over the next several months (honestly, probably years, because I have a lot of content) I’ll be posting videos to introduce texts; give you links to book-related activities, questions, and vocabulary words; and walk you through how to write text-related essays.

This curriculum is not about just filling in blanks. It’s about getting teens to think and write, to make them into truly thoughtful (read: dangerous) young adults.

Everything I’ve been teaching in academy/private schools for the past decade, I’m going to publish here.

Eventually there will be full year-long curriculums—novels, short stories, and poetry—for:

• English 9,

• World Literature,

• American Literature, and

• British Literature.

• (I may even throw in some more rigorous work from my AP Literature courses for those teens who want to really stretch their minds. Deep dives into Emily Dickinson, anyone?)

Why is a teacher doing this? Because I believe in homeschooling, and was a homeschooling mom for many years.
But when my kids were high schoolers, I didn’t know what to teach them, so I let them go to the public school. Twenty years ago, that was still fine.

And when I started teaching high school a decade ago, the schools were still mostly “ok.”

All of us now know that the schools are rarely “ok.”

So here I’ll be posting free content to give parents strategies for their homeschool teens.

For subscribers (I believe in keeping costs affordable) there will be:

• full lesson plans which students can follow without a parent’s help,

• videos to introduce the texts and talk through the reading questions, and

• a wide range of writing activities to get teens the skills they need to do more than thumb responses on TikTok.

• (If there is interest, I might open a premium subscription where I will grade submitted essays as well. But I refuse to read anything generated by AI, which is predictable, boring nonsense.)

Consider me the private tutor you wish you could afford, with the traditional, conservative, Judeo-Christian content you want your child to have.

So watch this space. Solid, real content for solid, real teenagers is coming soon.