How Macbeth Became the Beginning of LitPads

For most of our 12 years of homeschooling, my children and I were always in the middle of a novel.

I loved reading aloud to them. As we read, I naturally stopped to ask questions, talk through unfamiliar words, and make sure they understood what was happening beneath the surface of the story. Those conversations helped bring the books to life.

But as my children grew older and began reading more independently, I noticed something: they could finish the assigned pages without fully comprehending what they had read.

I began looking for literature guides that could help. I bought several, but most of them felt like little more than lists of questions and answers. They could confirm that a student remembered what happened, but they rarely encouraged the student to think critically, analyze a character, explore an author's purpose, or make meaningful connections within the text.

I wanted something deeper—but I didn't want literature to become overwhelming or take away the joy of reading.

That was the need that eventually led me to create LitPads.

Why I Started With Macbeth

Three years ago, I decided to create my first guide. I intentionally chose Macbeth.

It was an ambitious place to begin, but that was part of the reason I chose it. I had enjoyed Macbeth in high school, and I knew that if I could help my students understand a challenging Shakespearean play, the same approach could work with other works of literature.

At the time, we were homeschooling alongside another family, with students ranging from ninth through twelfth grade. Because the language was difficult and unfamiliar, we read the play together. Then the students worked through the guide I had created.

Their first reaction was exactly what you might expect:

"Why do we have to read this? We don't understand."

Instead of rushing them through the plot, we slowed down and explored the play from several directions. We studied vocabulary, worked through act-by-act questions, analyzed the characters, and examined important quotations. We also explored the historical context surrounding the play and considered the original audience Shakespeare was addressing.

The guide included writing assignments and discussion prompts designed to move the students beyond simply recalling what happened. I wanted them to ask why the characters made certain choices, what Shakespeare might have been communicating, and how the play's ideas developed from one act to the next.

Gradually, something changed.

Once the students began to understand the context and language, they discovered humor they had initially missed. They became interested in the backstory and invested in the characters. Famous quotations were no longer isolated lines they were expected to recognize—they understood who said them, where they appeared, and why they mattered.

By the time we finished, students who had never read Shakespeare before had developed a genuine understanding of Macbeth.

That was the moment I realized this could become something more.

From One Guide to a Larger Idea

After Macbeth, I created a guide for Lord of the Flies and began developing guides for other books.

I was excited by what I had seen. A thoughtfully designed guide could help students approach challenging literature without doing the thinking for them. It could provide enough structure to prevent frustration while still leaving room for curiosity, conversation, and individual interpretation.

My experience teaching my own children to read also led me in another direction. I remembered what had worked, what hadn't, and what I wished I had possessed during those early reading years. Many of my homeschool friends still had younger children, so I created Sam and Pip, my first children's book, along with a companion activity book.

The name LitPads was suggested by a friend when I first began exploring the idea, and it stayed with me.

However, homeschooling and running a business left little time to build LitPads into what I imagined it could become. After creating those first resources, I put the idea on the shelf.

But I never stopped believing in its value.

Why I'm Returning to LitPads Now

My 12-year homeschooling journey has now come to an end, giving me the time and space to return to LitPads in a serious way.

I'm returning because the need I saw in my own home still exists. I have spoken with many homeschool mothers who feel nervous about teaching literature. Some don't consider themselves strong readers. Others aren't sure which questions to ask or how to tell whether their child truly understands a book.

I want those mothers to feel seen.

You do not need to be a literature expert to help your child become a thoughtful reader. You do not necessarily need to have read every book your child is studying. You need a resource that gives your child meaningful work and gives you the structure and support to guide the conversation and evaluate their understanding.

That is what I want LitPads to provide.

LitPads guides are secular by design. They do not tell students what they should believe about a story. Instead, they encourage students to look carefully at what the author wrote, examine the evidence in the text, and develop thoughtful, well-supported conclusions. A student's or family's worldview may naturally become part of those discussions, but the purpose of the guide is to help the student understand what the author was communicating.

LitPads began at our homeschool table with a difficult Shakespearean play and a group of students who initially believed they couldn't understand it.

Then they did.

That experience showed me that students are capable of going much deeper into literature than they may realize—especially when they have the right guidance.

Now I'm excited to see where LitPads can go and how it can help other families approach literature with greater confidence, understanding, and enjoyment.