Monday, August 16, 2010

The Fall, The Smack, The Birthday, and The MLA

Yesterday, DH offered to shampoo the carpets. I was more than happy to teach him how to use the carpet cleaner. He's a lot more thorough than I am. I speed clean our entire house EVERY day. Load/unload the dishwasher, do some laundry, cook a meal... you know, you are women too :). But, when Zach does something he does it really well. So I knew the carpets would look GREAT when he finished (and they do). But, while I was filling up the tank that holds the water and the cleaning liquid, I had to lay the handle on the floor for a second and some water leaked out onto Bailey's bathroom floor (that's where I was filling up the carpet cleaner). I didn't know water had leaked out so when I tried to stand up, I fell and look what I got...
I know, pretty huh? So, yes, it hurts and I hope it heals soon!
Then, this afternoon (after Bailey and I spent a lot of hours working in my classroom and are both tired) we came home and Bailey ran SMACK into the dining room table. You can't tell so much in this picture but she has a nice goose egg above her right eye. :( Really sad. She said "Mommy, I'm crying." Poor baby, I felt so bad! But, I'm GLAD it wasn't her eye!

Now, something happier. Yesterday was Dora the Explorer's birthday. Yes, really! I don't make this stuff up. They had a birthday movie on TV last night too. Zach decided that he and Bailey would make a birthday cake for Dora. SO CUTE! I love when he does stuff like this with her.

Lots of fun and very delicious! :)
And finally, THE MLA! For those of you who don't know, MLA is a type of formatting in writing. (I teach English so I care about this stuff, lol). Anyway, if you are SUPER curious about MLA, you can check out THIS website. We use MLA a lot at school because our students have to write a research paper and we teach them MLA in order for them to format it correctly. It has to do with spacing, how to citation page, and how to put headers and footers on your paper. well, the LOVELY people at MLA have now decided that instead of putting 2 spaces after a period in a sentence, you should only put one. I don't even know if I physically can do it. I am SO trained to put 2 spaces at the end of a sentence that I don't even think I can do it. I am honestly debating teaching my students the new way or continuing with the old way. Now, to some this doesn't seem like a big deal but think about it this way. When you use a comma, you space once, and then move on with your sentence. A comma is NOT an end of a sentence. A period IS the end. In my opinion, the visual is helpful to the students. It lets them see the difference between using a comma and using a period. Maybe it's just me but sometimes these "educational decisions" are made by people who haven't been in a classroom since they graduated. They make a lot more money than me to make my life harder. EERR!








7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh I agree. I can't do one space after a period. See...I can't do it!

Mee Maw Janet

PS I'm sorry my babies are hurt.

The Anglin Family said...

No way. Two spaces. It's like learning to do math one way, them when I went to nursing school you had to start over.

Sorry about your boo boos. Yours looks awful!

COUNTRY MOM said...

Hope you are feeling better.

Anonymous said...

They told us in college that it was more acceptable to space once after periods rather than twice. It drove me nuts at first but I eventually learned to embrace the new ways. Ugh! Except that after my first sentence, without thinking I spaced once. When I just finished typing my second sentence, without thinking, I spaced twice. Evidently I haven't yet FULLY embraced this new teaching. :) I do love MLA though. I do I do.

That bruise looks TERRIBLE. I'm so sorry you and B got hurt. :( It was a bad day all around yesterday. I had to get blood drawn and almost passed out. I dry-heaved. Gross. Bad bad Monday.

-Sheri

twondra said...

Ouch! That looks terrible! I'm so sorry you guys got hurt.

Absolutely love the cake!! So cute! :)

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Anonymous said...

Can I just say, "Thank God for home school!" I know, I should teach my girls some mainstream ideas so they can fit in with everyone else. But seriously, what is the reasoning for only one space? I won't do it. I refuse. Even when the girls are printing I have them use extra space after their periods. I agree with you, it just helps them visualize that is the end of the sentence. When they are reading it helps them make a complete stop, as opposed to just a pause.

Okay, enough ranting. So sorry to see your boo-boos. Tell Dora we said happy birthday. How old is she now anyway?

-Angel