Shakespeare Around the World!

Our Shakespeare Scriptorium plays are traveling around the world! Please share your stories with us at mpclan@epbfi.com.

Teacher Resources for Creative Writing

I've had a few teachers ask about school visits, and I would love to visit your class! I enjoy talking about books, and I've also developed some materials that I use for writing workshops with young people. If you would be interested in hosting an author visit, please contact me at joyce.b.mcpherson@gmail.com.

You can preview my handouts here.

Support the Arts—

Buy a book!

Through December 31^st, all royalties from these books will support

Shakespeare Camp 2018!

Shakespeare Camp is completely run by volunteers, who make it possible for over 90 young people each year to experience Shakespeare’s work from the “inside” –as actors in the play. Every year the troupe performs two to three complete productions with free tickets for the community. In 2017, over 700 people enjoyed the art of Shakespeare at the Fine Arts Center at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. You can support our efforts through the purchase of these books for young people.

Amazon Link for the Pandora Device

Amazon Link for The Revere Factor

Amazon Link for The Dickens Connection

Amazon Link for Springs of Hope: The Story of Johann Sebastian Bach

Amazon Link for Beyond the Land of Narnia: The Story of C.S. Lewis

The First Clue to the Revere Factor!

Some of my readers have asked about the clue found in the attic of Longfellow House. It is based on an artifact found on the attic floor in the original Longfellow House.

What do you think?

The Camp Hawthorne series is released!

My new Camp Hawthorne series is released this month, and I thought some of my readers might enjoy pictures of the actual houses replicated for Camp Hawthorne:

Twain House

Longfellow House

Hawthorne House

Whittier House

Alcott House

(This house was called Hillside in 1845 and was the home of Louisa May Alcott's family and later Nathaniel Hawthorne's family.)

Some Open Education Resources for Homeschoolers

• Computer Science Education Resource Guide at http://www.smartscholar.com/computer-science-guide/)
• Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/ (Learn a language for free.)
• CodeAcademy: https://www.codecademy.com/ (Learn to code interactively for free)
• Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org (for math and SAT prep) 
• Homeschool Tools: https://sites.google.com/site/homeschoolingtoolbox/ (Resources: free worksheets, charts, flash cards, notebook materials, booklists & tips on getting started)
• Ambleside Online: https://www.amblesideonline.org/  (a free homeschool curriculum that uses Charlotte Mason's classically-based principles)
• Hillsdale free video courses: https://online.hillsdale.edu/ (Constitution 101, C.S. Lewis, Great Books and much more!)
• Shakespeare Tools: https://sites.google.com/site/shakespearetools/ (Everything you need to put on a Shakespeare play with young people)
• Donna Young: Donnayoung.org (free and subscription option available)
• IXL: https://www.ixl.com/ (limited number of free practice problems daily and a paid subscription as well.)
• Kuta Software: https://www.kutasoftware.com/ (offers free worksheets with answers for mathematics)
• All in one Homeschool: www.allinonehomeschool.com (A complete online, free Christian homeschool curriculum)
• Degreed: http://blog.degreed.com/42-sources-for-free-online-courses/?utm_content=20339432&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter (Free tracking of learning—this blog has 42 Sources for free online courses)
• Instructables: http://www.instructables.com/ (Great repository of inventive project ideas with step-by-step instructions for how to make it yourself. Good for hands on stuff.)
• Stack Exchange Mathematics: http://meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=mathematics (a general purpose place for posting educated questions and getting educated answers by intelligent people.)
• CrashCourse: http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/crash-course/ (a variety of courses in short segments—math, science, history etc. Note: some viewpoints may not match the views of homeschool families)
• Stack Overflow: http://stackoverflow.com/ (answers to computer science questions)
• OpenStax: https://openstaxcollege.org/ and http://openstax.org/ (a collection of free textbooks written by high quality authors—newest initiative is K-12 education)

Family Read-Alouds

    One of the great pleasures of life with children is reading books aloud. Over the years there are certain books that we read again and again. If we could only have 150 books on our shelves these are the books we would choose:

• Aiken, Joan: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Blackhearts in Battersea, Nightbirds on Nantucket, The Whispering Mountain, The Cuckoo Tree, Midnight is a Place
• Alexander, Lloyd: The Prydain Chronicles, Gypsy Rizka
• Barrie, James: Peter Pan
• Beatty, Patricia: The Nickel Plated Beauty, Something to Shout About, O the Red Rose Tree, By Crumbs, It’s Mine, Bonanza Girl, Hail Columbia, Eight Mules from Monterey, A Long Way to Whisky Creek, How Many Miles to Sundown, Master Rosalind
• Burnett, Frances Hodgeson: A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, The Lost Prince
• Carlson, Natlie Savage: The Happy Orphelines series
• Colum, Padraic: The Children’s Homer
• Cooper, Susan: Over Sea, Under Stone and rest of the Dark is Rising series
• Dahl, Roald: James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• De Angeli, Marguerite: The Door in the Wall
• Dickens, Charles: Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol
• Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Complete Sherlock Holmes
• Eager, Edward: Half Magic, Knight’s Castle, Time Garden, Seven Day Magic, Magic by the Lake, Magic or Not, The Well Wishers
• Eliot, T.S.: Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
• Estes, Eleanor: The One Hundred Dresses
• Fleishman, Sid: By the Great Horn Spoon, The Whipping Boy
• Foster, Genevieve: George Washington’s World, Abraham Lincoln’s World, The World of Christopher Columbus and Sons, Augustus Caesar’s World
• French, Allen: The Lost Baron
• Gilbreth, Frank B. and Carey, Ernestine Gilbreth :Cheaper by the Dozen, Belles on their Toes
• Henry, Marguerite: The White Stallion of Lipizza
• Jaques, Brian: Redwall series
• Kendall, Carol: The Gammage Cup, The Whisper of Glocken
• Konigsburg, E.L.: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• Lawson, Robert: Ben and Me
• Lenski, Lois: Strawberry Girl
• Lewis, C.S.: The Narnia Chronicles
• MacDonald, Betty: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books
• MacDonald, George: The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie
• Marshall, H.E.: Our Island Story
• McSwigan, Marie: Snow Treasure
• Milne, A.A.: Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, Once Upon a Time
• Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables
• Moody, D.L: Little Britches series
•  Mowat, Farley: Owls in the Family, The Dog who Wouldn’t Be
• Nesbit, E.: The Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Magic City, The Enchanted Castle
• Norton, Mary: The Borrowers books
• Parish, Peggy: Pirate Island Adventure
• Robinson, Barbara: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Best School Year Ever
• Rodgers, Mary: Freaky Friday
• Sharp, Margary: Miss Bianca series
• Snedeker, Caroline Dale: Theras and His Town
• Speare, Elizabeth George: The Bronze Bow
• Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island
• Streatfeild, Noel: Theater Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Ballet Shoes, Traveling Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Skating Shoes, Thursday’s Child, Gemma series
• Tolkein, J.R.R.:The Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring Trilogy
• Travers, P.L.: Mary Poppins and sequels
• Twain, Mark: The Prince and the Pauper, Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Tom Sawyer, Detective, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
• Washington, Booker T.: Up from Slavery
• White, E.B.: Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web
• White, T.H.: Mistress Masham’s Repose
• Wilder, Laura Ingalls: Little House series
• Williams, Ursula Moray: The Three Toymakers
• Winterfeld, Henry: Detectives in Togas and Mystery of the Roman Ransom

Just for fun, here is my Amazon Listmania link for:
Children's Books that We Read Over and Over