Murder and madness......

No doubt I am referring to Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart published in January 1843 (that 176 years ago this month).

This short story is one of a mentally disturbed man who is literally tormented by his employers eye issue to the point that he ends up murdering him and hides the man's body under the floorboards.

Of course, the story includes unreasonable components of paranoia and hallucination but the narrator insists this be understood as reasonable and completely sane.

It is possible the narrator was schizophrenic as evidenced by the moodiness, paranoia, unprovoked violence, and hearing things that are not actually there.

The Tell-Tale Heart is a perfect example of Gothic American fiction.  If you have not read this story, you simply must.  Click here to read it now.

Because it is a short story, I did not want to summarize the entire story.

I did discover a few lesser known and random facts that are too good not to share so here you go.

~With whom is the narrator speaking with?  Great question, unfortunately, critics have no definitive answer.  Basically, no one seems to know.  There are speculations that the narrator could be disclosing this story to a newspaper, judge, doctor, or a prison warden.  This will probably be an indefinite mystery.

~Literary critics disagree about the gender of the narrator.  Poe never used gender-specific pronouns but since the narrator had frequent, irrational, and emotional outbursts, it was concluded that the narrator must be female.  ACK!

~Some critics believe the man with the evil eye had a son, and he is the narrator. 

~Was The Tell-Tale Heart inspired by the creation of the insanity plea?  Some say possibly.

~Could a murder mystery committed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1830 have influenced Edgar Allan Poe to write The Tell-Tale Heart?  April 6, 1830, Captain Joseph White, a retired, extremely wealthy, 82-year-old, shipmaster was brutally murdered.  Captain White never married and had no children.

Initially, he had a will drafted leaving most of his wealth to his grandnephew, Joseph J. Knapp but after a falling out of sorts changed the will leaving him completely out.  This, of course, enraged Joseph.  After hearing the news of the will change, Joseph entered the Captain's house and stole the new will leaving the original will in place.  Captain White was not dying of natural causes quickly enough so Joseph decided to help him out.

On April 6, 1830, Joseph, John (Joseph's brother), and a local criminal named Richard Crowninsheild, climbed through a window, headed straight to the Captain's bedroom, and beat him to death.  They initially got away with the crime but their plot to murder Captain White and pay Richard Crowninshield to help them was discovered by a local petty criminal who in turn testified for the prosecution of the murder plot.

Unfortunately for the murderous trio, Daniel Webster was the prosecuting lawyer. Daniel Webster was a lawyer, a politician, and one of the greatest orators of his time.  Apparently, he was mesmerizing when he spoke.  Scholars believe that Edgar Allan Poe used the courtroom summation by Daniel Webster to write The Tell-Tale Heart.  

Most fictional murder mysteries are based on true events with the author changing the story up a bit.  The murder of Captain White is not exactly the same as the old man with the evil eye but it is a possibility it could have been Poe's inspiration.  What ever events inspired The Tell-Tale Heart its American Gothic at its best.

Click here for another free pdf for the story.
If you do not want to read it, click here for a narrated YouTube audio.
And if you just want a summary, click here, but really, just read the full story.
A short quiz.
Lesson plans for 6th-8th grade, 8th grade, and high school.
Click here for a free pdf of the trial.

Homeschool consulting.....lets give it a try!

As a newly single parent with two kids to support, I find myself trying to come up with various ways to make money and stay as flexible as possible so I can actually be a parent and available for my kids.

Someone a few weeks ago said that I really need to be a homeschooling consultant and thinking about it now, it just makes sense, right?  Why not me?

If you are a long-time reader of this blog you will see countless blogposts about how to homeschool, countless unit studies I have written myself, curriculum reviews, and school-related blogposts outlining experiments and great detail regarding the topics of study.

I already answer a lot a ton of homeschooling questions anyway, I give advice regarding homeschooling from my perspective when asked to, and I am half way through my 11th year of being a homeschooling parent from the beginning and while I really love talking to people and answering emails/twitter posts/texts/or blog comments, it is time consuming and like I said I am supporting two kids.

I am quite confident that I qualify for the job.  Just having made it this far alive and intact is proof of that.

My other qualifications besides being a veteran homeschool parent of 11-1/2 years include teaching in co-op for years and years, as well as doing admin work for co-op.  I am a professional proofreader and editor thanks to my medical transcription training and job.  

I have been there/done that when it comes to homeschooling.  I have used almost every curriculum there is.  I have written my own unit studies for co-op and my own homeschool. I have homeschooled on a budget and not on a budget.  I have homeschooled during sickness, during divorce, during complete uncertainty of what tomorrow might bring, through moving into a new place, and both my girls have made it to high school with +90% on all of their "standardized tests."  (Side note, I am not a fan of standardized testing as I have said many times.  I just do it because the law in GA requires it.)

I am also affiliated with some of the top names in homeschooling (see the sidebar on the left).

I have a very eclectic-style of homeschooling methods which include unit studies, project-based learning, nature studies, living math, Charlotte Mason, and gifted homeschooling.

If you are new to homeschooling, stuck in a rut, or just want to bounce ideas off of someone, please contact me through any of my social media outlets or via email.  You can also leave me a comment on this blogpost.  Let me know the best time to contact you and how.

As always, happy homeschooling............

Literature study, Edgar Allan Poe.

Don't miss out on this great deal from CurrClick/Connect the Thoughts.  Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe just in time for Halloween!  I love anything Edgar Allan Poe and anything and everything Halloween!

Follow this link to get your copy while it is at a reduced price.  The following is what your PDF will include.

"Quoth the Raven... Nevermore."

The works of Edgar Allan Poe, written over 150 years ago, continue to amaze, thrill, and haunt readers the world over. Few writers have ever written with more skill or passion. Few have been able to create a mood as Poe did. Few used words with more power and creativity. And few writers had the impact on literature that Poe did. The father of the horror story, the inventor of the detective story, and one of the first ever to write stories that could be considered science fiction, Edgar Allan Poe may be the most influential writer in the history of American literature!

Here's a complete guide that will help your student, ages 9-adult, understand five of Poe's works, as few readers ever do. Included are:

• The Tell-Tale Heart
• The Cask of Amontillado
• The Masque of the Red Death
• The Fall of the House of Usher
• The Raven

The history of the period of time is explained, so that the student understands why Poe wrote as he did, and what he was trying to say to his readers about their time (and ours). Poe's history is also explored, and the student relates what he's learned about Poe's life to the story, and how Poe's own experience helped to create his great works. The history of his books, their publishing success or failure, is considered.

Important tools of writing are explored and explained, such as the message of a piece (the idea the author wishes to communicate), plotting, characterization, conflict, language, irony, and the use of surrogates. The student then uses his knowledge of the tools of good story-telling to analyze and understand the story.

No additional materials are needed. The entire text for every story is contained in the course. Before reading each tale, the student looks though the simple, single definition that applies, for every key or difficult word used in that chapter. This will allow the student to understand what he reads the first time he reads it. (WARNING — This course does require some serious literacy. The student’s vocabulary is bound to grow, given the number of terms defined. The Poe course is particularly difficult in terms of vocabulary, and hundreds of words are defined.) Locations mentioned in each chapter are also listed before the reading starts, and they are located by the student on maps or globes. In this way, the student will know where those places are in the world when encountering them in the story.

After each story or chapter, the student is provided numerous exercises which demand cognitive and critical thinking on the student's part. The exercises help make the story more relevant to the student, and increase his understanding of the story and its unique values.

We even provide some links to film and/or other presentations of the pieces being studied!

This is a complete study guide, one that will bring these works to life, and which should help interest the student in literature, and in the great works of Edgar Allan Poe.

(Please note – Links and sites on the Internet come and go.  All links provided in this course were active when the course was published, but some of them may not be when you use the course.  These are generally easy pieces to locate other active links for.)

_____

There are a lot of literature guides out there. Most of them offer a few definitions of difficult or archaic terms found in the literary work being studied. Some offer ideas as to study, and even a few tips as to the ideas and tools the writer used. Some offer a synopsis of the work, occasionally making the reading of the work in question irrelevant. That's not really a good thing, by the way.

Connect The Thoughts Literature Guides are far more comprehensive and involving. We provide guides to works that are in the "public domain", meaning works that no one owns rights for. This allows us to publish the complete work by the author directly in the course itself, broken into parts that make the reading simpler. We also stick to shorter works, as a way of introducing the student to great writers that is not quite so "endless".

We then define every difficult or key word in each part of the work to be studied - before the student reads that part of the work! This allows the student to understand the story the first time it's read with a minimum of confusion based on words and their meaning. (It also enormously builds vocabulary and reading skills!) We also provide a list of locations mentioned in each story, which the student locates on maps and/or a globe before reading. Again, this makes the piece more easily understood the first time the student reads it.

Our guides go so much farther! Each guide starts with an explanation of literature. It explains important elements of writing such as what fiction is, plotting, the development of characters and conflict, the use of irony and surrogates in the writing, and other elements. The student will apply his new understanding of the elements of writing to each story he reads, providing a more profound understanding.

We also provide a history of the author of the piece, a separate history of the period of time the work was written in and how that history contributed to that particular work, and a history of the piece itself, from how and when it was authored and published, to its "track record' since that time, to a list of film and other media adaptations of that piece.

We follow each work read (and each part of the work) with questions and exercises which help develop the students understanding of the piece, and his understanding of the relevancy of the piece to the student's life today.

If you are looking for a thorough literature appreciation course, one that will bring classic literature alive and make it thoroughly understandable and relevant, as well as more enjoyable, you'll find our literature guides are winners!

Happy homeschooling!

Beowulf

Facts and information about the masterpiece poem, Beowulf.

~Did you know that Beowulf has over 30,000 lines? (Epic)

~Beowulf was written in Old English (Anglo-Saxon).

~The poem uses alliteration -i.e. repeats syllables or sounds.

~No one has been able to determine who wrote Beowulf, and it has not been proven either way that Beowulf was a real person or a fictional character.

~Real or not, Beowulf was a great warrior and hero.

~It appears that this epic poem was written no later than 1000 AD but most likely between 600 AD and 900 AD.

~The poem takes place in Denmark, Sweden, the Danish Islands, Germany, Poland, and the low countries in the 6th century.

~Stories about monsters and/or supernatural characters were common place in the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries.

So basically, King Hrothgar (King of  Denmark) needs some help slaying Grendel, a hideous monster.  Beowulf got wind of this and sailed to Denmark to save King Hrothgar from Grendel.  During a terrible fight in the mead hall, Beowulf rips off Grendel's entire arm.  Grendel fled the scene and goes to a nearby cave where he later bled to death.

The next night, Grendel's mommy came and launched an attack on King Hrothgar and the mead hall.  Beowulf fights with her and eventually kills her with a magic sword.

The king and his people were so pleased with Beowulf, they bestowed treasure after treasure on him.

Beowulf's next adventure was a Viking raid. After that, Beowulf  became the King of the Geats and was their king for 50 years.  At this point, he hears a tale of a dragon that is scaring everyone.  Beowulf sets out to kill the dragon in his old age and accomplishes the task.  Sadly, the dragon was able to engulf Beowulf's neck in flames before he died.

Realizing he was dying, Beowulf gave instructions for his funeral.  He wanted to be cremated and have his ashes buried with the dragon's treasure on the cliff top overlooking the sea.  This tomb was called Boeowulf's Barrow.

Click the pics for more.
Beowulf resources my earlier blog post.
Timeless myths
Great resource-lone-star.net

Beowulf

Barnes and Noble.

Just wanted to share a few great resources for our current literary study, Beowulf.  I will be adding to this once we get into the study and share our lessons.


Glencoe Literature Library PDF
Amyswandering.com 
Penguin Books
web.utk.edu Beowulf questions
Lit Charts Beowulf
Beowulf resources
Shmoop
Bookrags
Beowulf Pinterest

“Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.” 

“Fate will unwind as it must!” 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson
1850-1894

On November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland, a great novelist was born.  Robert Louis Stevenson is known the world over for more than a few great works of literature including Treasure Island (1883), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886).


As a younger child he had multiple private tutors and later attended The University of Edinburgh (1867).  He was the only child of Thomas Stevenson and Margaret Isabella Balfour.  He had a very active imagination. He also suffered from what is believed to have been tuberculosis.

Vailima, Samoa-Stevenson and family

He traveled worldwide and spent much of his life in areas with a warmer climate.


In 1876 while traveling, Robert met (Fanny) Frances Matilda Van de Grift Osbourne. At the time of their meeting, she was a married, American with three children.

After securing her divorce on the grounds of adultery from her then husband, Samuel Osbourne, she and Robert were married in May 1880.

He, Fanny, and two of her children settled in Vailima, Samoa, (the capital of Samoa).  Robert died in Samoa in 1894 and is buried on Mount Vaea overlooking Vailima.  Vailima is most notable for the estate of Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella.  A novella is a work of fiction that is shorter than a novel but longer than a short story.  Jekyll and Hyde is considered classic British literature further classified under the thriller/horror genre.  This novella has be published continually for over 120 years.

In a nutshell, the novella explores the idea of a mental condition known as a split personality.  This is when a person can possess more than one personalities at the same time.  These multiple personalities often involve a moral conflict between good and evil working against each other-i.e. living a double life, one good and one evil, so to speak, and getting away with it as if it were perfectly normal, allowing for the evil personality to carry on with complete lack of remorse.

Dr. Jekyll (jeekul) is a kind, well-respected doctor living in Victorian London.  He is engaged and is highly regarded in his professional life. He is a man struggling with good and evil within himself.  He is a rather large fellow of 50 years.  He is a man of principle and understands boundaries.  He is quite brilliant and invents a potion that would allow him to mask the evil that hides within.  This potion helps Jekyll transform his physical appearance slightly to reflect a smaller, weaker, younger version of himself that can do unspeakable acts without remorse.  This alter ego is known as the evil Mr. Edward Hyde.  Mr. Hyde is a complete lunatic and is out of control.  He is a murderous villain with absolutely no regard for anyone.  He does what he wants no matter what.

Dr. Jekyll is a nice man with many friends but when the evil Mr. Hyde is released by the potion, he becomes a menacing and violent man.  His power seems to strengthen as the transformations continue.  Eventually, he does not require the use of the potion to summons Mr. Hyde.  Dr. Jekyll's original personality begins to diminish, and he has to use the potion just to stay conscious.

Basically, Dr. Jekyll's original thoughts were that each man has a good and an evil side that can be separated.  He thought the evil side could be controlled allowing the good side to live without worry for the betterment of society.  He tested his theory on himself and obviously things got out of control as Mr. Hyde consumed Dr. Jekyll's life.  It is hard to go into further detail without given too many spoilers.  This is a classic tale that can leave you wondering about people living double lives.  It is a scary thought to realize that a person with this disorder can be so cruel and have complete lack of regard for others is just out there free to do whatever.  Thinking that a "Mr. Hyde" could be living down the street, working as a bus driver, or you could even be married to a "Mr. Hyde" is a pretty daunting thought with high impact.  Actually, if you think about it, the headlines are full of stories like these.  "He was such a nice young man" or "His parents did such a good job with him, we don't understand what happened."  You just never know.

I would recommend this book to 8th grade+ as part of the British Literature Studies.

Learn more from these great links.
We used the literature study found at Glencoe.
PDF

Robert Louis Stevenson
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
RLS website 
Study mode
Grade Saver online quiz
Grade Saver online themes
audio on youtube

The Hobbit, a unit study

“The road goes ever on and on” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

A lot has been going on in our lives lately but it is now time to get back to business as usually.  We are now working on a literary study of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I am going to prepare this unit myself, and we will follow whatever path of interest that the story takes us on.

Here is a brief summary of The Hobbit by Wiki answers
Bilbo Baggins is a well-to-do hobbit* who is respected by many and never dreamed of doing anything adventurous of unexpected. However, his perfect life is suddenly disrupted as Gandalf the wizard thrusts him into the wilderness with thirteen dwarves to find a vast treasure and slay the dragon guarding it. With a surprising amount of luck, Bilbo survives trolls, giant wolves, mysterious elves, and a strange ring, before finally arriving with his companions at the evil mountain wherein lies the treasure, and the dragon! The company awakens the dragon, who flies about the land, and soon elves, men and dwarves are all after the treasure! Will Bilbo's company be able to save the treasure from greedy hands, or be killed in the resulting Battle of Five Armies? Read it and find out! 

*Hobbit: also by Wiki answers
Hobbits are a small fictional people, shorter that dwarves, who live in a land they call the Shire. They all share a love of peace and quiet, things that grow, and food, and they don't like anything unexpected and dangerous.

Our copy of The Hobbit.  C13 has her own copy but will not let us use it because it is the collectors edition, and she  is a collector. 

We love trivia so we picked up this trivia challenge to see how Hobbit-savvy will really are.

This colorful book takes us through the world of the Hobbits, their unexpected journey.

And this is an activity book filled with colorful pages and a lot of fun, puzzling activities to try.

We also picked up the Movie Guide but I am hiding that until after we have completed reading the novel and then we will watch the movie.  Comparing the original novel and the movie version of a novel is always a lot of fun.  Usually the novels are better but on some occasions, the movies will outshine the books but not usually.  

I will also be adding more resources and update our lesson plans as we go.  

Here are a  few great resources to get you started:
Book Rags
The Tolkien Society
Quotes from The Hobbit

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit