Welcome to my E-Store!

Have fun looking around! I have been teaching for 17 years, and I am fully confident that you will enjoy my hands-on learning products. Each of my products has a 60-day money-back guarantee. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at castlesusan@gmail.com

How to Write a Mystery Story

This is a set of 4 one-hour classes for children on "How to Write a Mystery Story." It is for all ages, from 6 to 18 years old. I'm dressed up as Sherlock Holmes, and we write the mystery story in easy installments. Here is what is included:

  • Session 1 -- The setting and crime are woven together for a spectacular beginning. The mural behind me is a dark and stormy night with a mansion. Floor plans of mansions can be observed on mystery gameboards. At the end of the session, I do a brief demonstration of spy equipment.
  • Session 2 -- Fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, secret messages, and other clues are analyzed. The detective arrives at the scene of the crime to collect clues and interview witnesses. We make a ring of cards for the description of characters.
  • Session 3 -- A skit is performed with costumes to show dialogue and surprise endings. Suspects are interviewed. Lots of ideas are supplied to make the writing fun and interesting.
  • Session 4 -- Ideas for revision are given to make the stories come alive even more.

The cost for this class is $24.95 for four one-hour video classes. Each file is approximately 250MB, so if you have a fast internet connection, it might take about an hour to download. Once the video is downloaded to your desktop, your children can view it instantly any time that you want to have the class. The classes should be shown once a week, with the result of having a finished story by the end of the month. Fifth through eighth graders should be able to write 10 pages easily, given the guided lessons. First through fourth graders will be slightly less, depending on their age. High school students could even write a novel by expanding the plot based on the guided lessons.

Writing is a skill that is desperately needed and helpful for college and for life. Invest in something fun, especially if your children consider writing to be drudgery. Your children deserve a treat in an area where they can increase a skill.

I've taught this Mystery class successfully 15 times while I was a teacher. It has always been popular and well-liked. Children who hated writing began loving writing for the first time after taking this class. It is always a fun class for me to teach!

This is what one mother of two of my students said about the class: "I thought you did an absolutely wonderful job of organizing and carrying out the class. You helped the kids figure out, step by step, how to plan their plot, develop characters, and write a mystery! It was also fun for them when you talked about or demonstrated various detective techniques like fingerprints. I was so pleased at home to see the kids (without prompting from me) eagerly working away on their plot, or filling in their character cards... What a great approach!"

Early Childhood Education

This one-hour video workshop on Early Childhood Education was recorded at the Inland Northwest Homeschool Conference 2010. This lively workshop includes:

  1. A dramatic reading (using different voices to read stories to your children)
  2. Sandbox demonstrations (including battle tactics of soldiers in a miniature sandbox)
  3. Puppetry demonstrations (how to integrate puppets into your homeschool day)
  4. Use of costumes in your homeschool, as it relates to young children
You will also learn some easy and fun ways to jump-start your child's education. Children ages 0 to 4 have the highest potential to learn. Don't waste these precious years. Learn about open-ended activities that can develop creativity in young children, as well as easy ways to teach your child to read. I will give parents an exciting doorway through which they can have fun with their young children while teaching them. Come away with lots of practical ideas to use with your young children.

Many homeschooling mothers came up to me afterwards and thanked me for all the fun ideas. Lots of the mothers had at least four full pages of notes from my workshop. One homeschooling mother commented: “I enjoyed your workshop at the conference. I'm enjoying the fresh ideas. Thanks for sharing!!”

This video workshop costs only $9.95! The video file is approximately 250MB, so it could take a while to download, depending on your connection speed. (It would take me one hour to download the video on my high speed connection, just to give you a ballpark idea.)

Organizing for a Fun Homeschool

Come on a virtual tour of my home, where I will show you:

  1. How to organize each room in your house to maximize your space and streamline your time.
  2. How to organize art supplies for hands-on learning projects.
  3. How to organize baskets and bins for unit studies.
  4. How to set up fun learning centers for elementary-aged children.
These two one-hour workshops are packed with information where I show you how to organize everything in your house. Talk about hands-on! You could pause the video and go do it, organizing each section of your house to make next year the best year of homeschooling ever!

Each video file is approximately 250MB, so it could take a while to download, depending on your connection speed. (It would take me one hour to download each video on my high speed connection, just to give you a ballpark idea.)

Maybe your homeschool has become dull, and you want to incorporate more hands-on learning. But where do you store all the stuff without tripping on it? I'll tell you my organizational secrets for just $14.95!

So Your Son Hates to Write?

This one-hour audio workshop will give you ideas on how to get a reluctant writer to enjoy writing. The ideas can work with children ages 6 to 18. I will show you simple assignments that will get your child to build confidence in his (or her) writing ability. A “Wild West” story, written in simple installments, is fun to write. I give you all the details necessary to complete the assignment from start to finish. A fairy tale newspaper is another idea that is super easy and fun to write, and I give you plenty of tips on how to get started. This is the first audio in the “Homeschooling a Reluctant Writer” series. $5.50

Writing About Your Identity

This is the second audio in the “Homeschooling a Reluctant Writer” series. It is a one-hour audio workshop packed with ideas to give your children the opportunity to write about their identity. Many hand-on ideas are presented, and your child will have a packet of 10 (or more) original one-page stories that are memories of their childhood. I've taught this themed writing unit to teenagers, but there is no reason why a six-year-old couldn't write about the day he learned to write his bike, for example. So it is appropriate for all ages. These stories are easy to write because the child doesn't have to make anything up. I will give you tips on how to help your child recall more sensory details from these memories. You might also want to do a separate assignment on interviewing older extended family members. I give you instructions on how to help your child have a strong sense of identity to improve his (or her) confidence in writing. $5.50

Bath Time Fun: 49 Ideas for Homeschoolers

Homeschooling in the bathtub? Are you serious? Yes! I have 49 fun ideas for you to make bath time an extension of your homeschool time. From swim lessons to art activities to science experiments to history lessons – I've covered it all! (And some ideas are just purely for fun!) For parents with children ages 0 to 7, you will be sure to enjoy this one -hour audio session. $5.50

A Schedule that Works

How do you not burn out while doing unit studies? In this one-hour audio workshop, I will share with you some of my secrets. I show you the pros and cons of having a schedule, and I give you samples of schedules I've done in the past. I discuss how to make your schedule more simple. I also cover the planning of unit studies and how to consult God about what each child should be doing. You will come away having a stronger grasp of what to schedule into your day and what to leave out. $5.50

Early Childhood Art Projects

This one-hour audio workshop includes a 48-slide PDF of the most fun art projects we have ever done for ages 0 to 4. Out of the hundreds of art projects I've done with my small children, I've picked the very best and explained how to do them. Most of the projects are super easy and can be done in about 5 or 10 minutes, and the others have several easy stages that might take a few days (mostly for paint or glue to dry). The results are fun and will make your children proud of their great-looking work. $8.95