Chaucer: Character Charts and Social Media Profile

 The kids are working in Chaucer.  We’re reading the Prologue and Pardoner’s Tale.  Each teen was assigned to characters to chart. Here is a character chart or map based on the Wife of Bath.  Additionally, the kids are creating social media profiles, similar to this one.  I used a simple resume template to make this social media profile for the Wife of Bath.  The kids are including a playlist for their characters.  I added a number of wedding songs to the social media profile for the Wife of Bath, who was married five times.  Hey!  I’m trying to make this fun.

Family Science, Gifts, and Economics—All in One Lesson

 One of the lifestyle blogs, A Beautiful Mess, has a post about How to Make Statement Hair Clips, with a Resin Kit and liquid Sculpey, a polymer clay.  Better Homes and Garden, BHG, has resin barrettes instructions, too.  Here are hair clips instructions using E6000 Craft Adhesive.  Here are instructions using polymer clay.  Ask your kids to decide what make a good hair clip?  Would it be cheaper to just buy Resin Hair Clips?  Could you make and sell hair clips profitably? See all of the lessons—even if you decide to forego making hair clips at all!  My husband is teaching Personal Finance to the local Co-op.  He has issued a challenge for the teen’s to come up with a business idea: podcasts, chicken farming, dog breeding, etc.  Capitalizing on a fad might be an idea for your family.  What are the capital costs?  Fees to Etsy?  Marketing on social media?  Shipping?  Your kids might want to skip the Economics lesson and make hair clips as Christmas gifts.

Canterbury Tales

 We launched the Canterbury Tales today with Character Charts.  The kids each picked two characters.  I assigned some historical events, too: the Hundreds Years War, instances of Black Plague, the Crusades, and  the life of St. Thomas Becket.  Two students are comparing Beowulf to the Knight.  The kids researched the origins of their surnames; surnames first emerged in the Middle Ages.  I used this slideshow as an introduction.  So far, so good.

Beowulf’s Resume

 Brit Lit is creating resumes for Beowulf.  Here is a sample guide.  Here is the sample resume I made.  Below is a resume from one of the students.  We used the Project Gutenberg’s translation of Beowulf.  There is a Table of Contents with helpful links to specific sections of the poem, such as ‘Beowulf Receives Further Honor’ or ‘Beowulf Seeks the Dragon’ to help flesh out the resume.  I’m trying to make Brit Lit fun.  Take a look.