Bob and I were discussing the future of bound books with a college professor friend of ours. With the availability of so much on the internet, there seems to be no use for "old-fashioned" reference books like the thesaurus or an encyclopaedia. In fact, The Oxford English Dictionary will no longer publish new print editions, only online versions. So it's no surprise when students these days need to be taught how to properly reference sources when writing essays and papers.
Knowing this, however, doesn't make it any less frustrating for the parent helping her 10-year-old daughter with homework when translating comes into question.
"Mommy, I need to go on your computer to do my French homework."
"Why don't you use my French-English dictionary," I said, pulling out the one I've had since high school.
"No!" Uh-oh. Here comes the protest. "It's too confusing. I just wanna do it online!"
"How can it be confusing? The front half is English to French, the back half is French to English."
"But, there's too many words!"
Happy sweeping!
Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Dog Tired ...
Our 10-year-old daughter Neva has many friends at school and we've become aquainted with most of their parents. We were talking in the schoolyard the other day with one mother when her daughter approached and asked about their neighbor's dog.
"You can go to dog training with them tonight," our friend said. "And we can take the dog for a walk when we get home from school."
"No don't take him for a walk now," her daughter protested. "He'll be too tired for training and he'll sit on the Chihuahua again!"
Happy sweeping!
Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com
"You can go to dog training with them tonight," our friend said. "And we can take the dog for a walk when we get home from school."
"No don't take him for a walk now," her daughter protested. "He'll be too tired for training and he'll sit on the Chihuahua again!"
Happy sweeping!
Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Home Sweet Home?
We have been house-hunting the last few months and this past weekend we found one we liked enough to go back a second time. Since the house was vacant, and our agent is a good friend of ours, we brought the kids with us. They ran excitedly through the house, designating rooms as "mine", "yours", "office", "TV room".
Next was the backyard where they ran laps around the perimeter, testing out its kid-worthiness. The shed would hold their bikes, the garden could go here, a swingset there.
Finally we showed them the "secret" entrance to the loft, through the closet in the master bedroom. This was the height of excitement and they could no longer contain themselves. They started to run around and bump into each other. This turned to falling on each other, then tickling and wrestling and, finally, kicking and screaming.
Once I got them separated and downstairs, one at a time, I told Bob it was time to go. He asked, "Well, do we like the house? Is this the one?"
"It must be," I said, "they seem to fight in it just like home."
We'll let you know how we make out with the house...
Happy sweeping!
Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com
Next was the backyard where they ran laps around the perimeter, testing out its kid-worthiness. The shed would hold their bikes, the garden could go here, a swingset there.
Finally we showed them the "secret" entrance to the loft, through the closet in the master bedroom. This was the height of excitement and they could no longer contain themselves. They started to run around and bump into each other. This turned to falling on each other, then tickling and wrestling and, finally, kicking and screaming.
Once I got them separated and downstairs, one at a time, I told Bob it was time to go. He asked, "Well, do we like the house? Is this the one?"
"It must be," I said, "they seem to fight in it just like home."
We'll let you know how we make out with the house...
Happy sweeping!
Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com
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