If your life were a video game, what kind of game would it be? How would someone play it?
New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.
Poetry Teatime Inspiration
Need some Poetry Teatime inspiration? Listen to the Roadschool Moms’ podcast where we talk about the magical combination of tea, treats, and poetry.
Plus here are some of our favorite entries from the last month of Poetry Teatime blog posts! Below, you’ll find
- poems that tickle your senses,
- activities to set your spy radar on high alert,
- and even tips to help clean up and reuse your teatime messes.
Sensory Teatime: One of the best parts of poetry is how it tickles your tastebuds, nudges your nose, enchants your eyes, ruffles your fingertips, and makes your five senses come to life! In this post, you’ll discover poems packed with sensory imagery. Don’t miss out on all the action-packed ideas for activities that appeal to all of your senses.
Espionage Themed Teatime: Ever wondered what James Bond felt like while scoping out a glittering party for criminals? While not always so glamorous, spying does require Bond-like observation skills and an eye for both the familiar and the strange. Poetry is the perfect way to sharpen your spy-related skills—even a few famous authors have had a career as a spy. Throw an espionage-themed poetry teatime to sharpen your skills and maybe even prepare you for a lifetime of spying!
Teatime Leftovers: So you’ve had your teatime for the week. You’ve sipped tea, enjoyed some poems, and all you have left are a few crumbs and a lot of soggy teabags. What next? Before you throw out the mess, check out this post for some creative ways you can use your teatime leftovers!
Leaf Poetry: It’s fall! The air is crisp, apples are starting to thump to the ground in orchards, and bats are swooping around in the dusk. For today’s teatime, we’d like to offer plenty of ways to use the multitude of leaves now littering your yard. So go outside, scoop up a handful, brew some hot apple cider, and enjoy a leafy Poetry Teatime!
Podcast: The Homeschooling Paradigm Shift with Rita Cevasco
Today’s podcast features Brave Writer colleague and dear friend, Rita Cevasco!
Rita is the original creator and architect of the reading and writing program, The Wand, designed for early readers. She’s got 30+ years of experience working with children who struggle with reading, writing, and language processing challenges.
In this episode, we talk about
- homeschooling,
- the latest trends in special ed,
- and how to help foster the right environment for your children to flourish in language arts.
This is a long, joyful conversation filled with practical tips and helpful anecdotes!
Rita and associates have their own website called Rooted in Language. You’ll find all kinds of workshops and tools to help you face the challenges in your homeschool. I was so excited about one of them, we are now selling it through the Brave Writer store!
For years, Brave Writer fans have asked me to write a Glossary of Literary Elements. Rita has done it, saving me time and energy. And it’s great! This tool includes an annotation bookmark that is genius! So clever and useful for reading.
Annotating Literary Elements
I met Rita at our local homeschool co-op 17 years go. Her passion for literature and mine for writing created an instant bond. We discovered that my ideas about writing and hers about reading complemented each other’s work. We teamed up again and again over the years, including when she privately tutored my son Liam who struggled with symptoms of dysgraphia.
What I love about Rita is her spunk, her dedication to seeing all children receive the precious gift of literacy, and the way she values homeschool mothers. She told me years ago they were her favorites to work with because they always took her suggested practices and went straight home to implement them with their kids.
If you don’t know Rita yet, or even if you do, tune in! We had a great conversation on the podcast!
Listen to the Podcast
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Tune in to the Brave Writer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher (or your app of choice), and here on the Brave Writer blog.
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Help a homeschooler like you find more joy in the journey. Thanks!
Friday Freewrite: Chosen One
You’re a simple farmer living in the shadow of a large castle when suddenly a wizard shows up at your door. He tells you that you are the chosen one destined to rule. What happens next? What do you do?
New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.
Movie Wednesday: The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Amy Frantz, Brave Writer alum
Detective Sherlock Holmes is asked to investigate the mysterious and seemingly supernatural death of Charles Baskerville and to prevent the death of the new heir to the Baskerville estate, Henry. According to local superstition, the Baskerville family is cursed by a giant spectral hound, which always hunts down the head of the family. Holmes sends his good friend, Dr. John Watson, to the moors of Devonshire to investigate. But the case quickly proves much more complex and sinister than originally supposed.
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The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was first published in Strand Magazine in a series of installments from August 1901 to April 1902. It marked the return of Sherlock Holmes to publication after the titular character’s infamous “death” in the story The Final Problem. The Hound of the Baskervilles takes place prior to the legendary detective’s seeming demise and it was the popularity of this story that ultimately lead to the revival of the character.
The Hound of the Baskervilles has been adapted to screen many, many times (in fact, did you know that Sherlock Holmes is considered the record holder for most portrayed literary human character in film and TV?), but perhaps one of the most well known is the 1939 film starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. It’s notable for being one of the first known Holmes adaptation to be set in the Victorian era instead of a more updated setting and for beginning a long running series of Holmes films even though it was the only one in the series to be directly and strictly based on a story by Conan Doyle.
Discussion Questions
- One of the joys of detective fiction is that it invites the viewer or the reader to hypothesize on their own as the story progresses. Did you have any hypotheses while watching The Hound of the Baskervilles? Were they the same or different than the conclusions Holmes and Watson come to? Explain one of your hypotheses.
- Do you think it was acceptable for Holmes to mislead Watson and the others to believe he was staying in London while in reality he was out on the moor? Why or why not?
- The 1939 film takes several liberties with Conan Doyle’s text. If you’ve read the book, what was a change in the film that you liked and one you didn’t like? Explain you answers.
- In the book, the hound is doused in phosphorous to make it appear spectral, but in the film the hound appears simply as a large dog. Which do you think is more frightening and why?
Additional Resources
Learn language arts with the Hound of the Baskervilles Boomerang!
The Boomerang is a monthly digital downloadable product that features copywork and dictation passages from a specific read aloud novel. It is geared toward 8th to 10th graders (ages 12—advanced, 13-15) and is the indispensable tool for Brave Writer parents who want to teach language arts in a natural, literature-bathed context.
