The apples don't fall far from the tree

For Christmas last year, TM gave his younger siblings tablets. Since you all know my views on screens, you can imagine I had mixed feelings over this, but they were ecstatic. Despite my misgivings, they have proven to be a pretty good thing. There is the game that we got for R. They have all been good about waiting to get them out at the end of the day after everything is picked up. And just a few days ago, G., L., and Y. have discovered DuoLingo.

This first came up because Y. expressed a desire to brush up on her Mandarin since she realized that she has lost quite a bit. Putting DuoLingo on her tablet seemed like an easy way to start this process. (To our Mandarin speaking friends in Evanston, boy, we wish we lived closer. And not just because your language skills!) It's not perfect, but it is a start.

Of course, once Y. had it on her tablet, G. and L. needed it on theirs. L. is currently working on Spanish. I'm not sure what G. decided on, but I've heard mumblings about Icelandic (which I'm not sure is even available) and Polish. Both girls have expressed a desire to learn all the languages on DuoLingo. It's a job to rein them in a bit and convince them to focus on just one.

I realize that this is a wee bit hypocritical of me since at one point I was working on three languages at the same time. I'm also the person who took French IV and Beginning Intensive Italian my senior year in college for fun. (Please do not ask me to use Italian. I have forgotten 99% of it, and there wasn't a huge amount to begin with.) I completely understand the desire to learn all the languages.

No, DuoLingo is not a complete foreign language program. But it is great for a younger student who wants to try out language learning. there are certainly worse things to spend screen time on.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
( Sorry, the contest is now closed .... though you're welcome to leave a comment if you like.) It's Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway time again.  I love bias tape.  It is so useful and so easy to use... finishing edges ... finishing seams ...  And while the pre-packaged stuff has it's place and I use it often, I really like to have patterned bias tape as well.  Enter one of my favorite little tools: the bias tape maker.  This one make 3/4 inch bias tape and I will be giving one away at the end of this post.  But first, I thought some of you might like to see what it does if you've never used one before. I don't have a rotary cutter, nice cutting mats, or even a proper cutting table (I cut-out things on my floor), so if I can do this, so can you.  Here is my admittedly quirky method. Step 1:  Lay out the fabric and fold a corner over to find the bias.  The woven threads should be at right angles to the part you turned up. Step 2:  Using a ruler and some sort of mark
Read more

Apple picking in the rain

Image
Today was our planned day to go and pick apples.  It was raining off and on, but when it comes to fruit, we don't let a little water get in our way so off we went.  We met our friends and enjoyed their company and picked a lot of apples (3 1/2 bushels).  We also ate quite a few. G.  L. K.  (with an apple nearly as big as his head) P8, TM and L. Now, I don't know about you, but even picking 7 bags of apples does not take us very long.  It's a shame to drive so far only to turn around and go home, so we packed lunches, headed to a park, and enjoyed the now sunny weather. TM and P8 A good day all around.  Of course now I have to do something with all these apples...
Read more

Kenzie on the beach

Image
We have made it back home. I am feeling a little more balanced, but it was hard saying goodbye to a house we've created such meaningful memories in for the past 34 years. I'll write more about both later.  In the meantime enjoy pictures of Kenzie living his best life as a beach dog.  Note the ears blowing in the wind (Photo credit TM) (Photo credit for the rest MC)
Read more