Friday, February 01, 2008

Don't mention the P word!

It looks like I made the second clue way to easy and you were all right but my mother was the first to guess correctly so I think I'll have to blackmail her. Mum when you come and visit us I will present you with your prize!

Once a year the dreaded P word is mentioned in our house.

The dreaded P word is Project.



While I understand that children have to write projects they cause a lot of stress and tension. Ben was looking forward to his first project until Mollie started telling how boring they were then it was moans and tears all the way.

Yesterday there were smiles of relief as he finished it.

Lucky Ben.

Mollie's project starts on Monday and she has two and a half weeks to produce twenty pages on Luxembourg. The children were all given an EU country and guess what? The school library has a book on every single EU country except Luxembourg. The children have to write to their countries embassy for information and guess what? There is no Luxembourg embassy in Ireland so Mollie wrote to their UK embassy, it could take a week for her letter to get there which leaves a week and half to receive their reply and use their material in the project.

I'm really not looking forward to the next two and a half weeks!

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is her prize an iron and a pile of ironing? lol

Lovely post. And what a great project Ben! Well done!

Molly said...

Maybe Mollie can find a wealth information about Luxembourg on the Internet. As a teacher, I usually forego written reports because students tend to copy something from the Internet. I guess that would not be so bad if they read what they copied and actually learned something. Oh well, I wish you and Mollie the best with the P-word.

FH said...

Google!! I am sure there is wealth of info on Luxembourg. Ben's project looks great.
I don't know why sisters always "offer" their opinion even before it's asked!!;D
Good luck to Molly.

katy said...

Well done Ben an your lovely project. and I don't envy Molly on hers!

Unknown said...

Oh the P word! Yeah, haven't heard that one for a while but I remember the rush of adrenaline of frenzy of flying paper. Yeah, can't say I miss it.

Good luck, you survived one, you cane make it through the next two weeks. :)

Alix said...

Ben's project is great very impressive. I know the Fco www.fco.gov.uk does country profiles so maybe Mollie can find some info there rather than waiting for the letter or try emailing them.

ChrisB said...

Beccy remembering the trouble I got into with Sam~ you can give the prize to someone else~you could put names in a hat and do a draw, I shall not mind or just give it to the person after me!

I could not get those photos to enlarge~ I wanted to see the photos Ben had used for his project close up. Maybe you could send me copies!

Tell Mollie Grandpa has been to Luxembourg~ I don't know if he has anything that would help with this project!!

Sam said...

Me for one - I absolutely LOVE projects. Tell Ben not to listen to Mollie - she is wrong on this one. Ptojects are so much fun. Maybe I love them because I am a true multi media artist at heart. I think that is why i love blogging so much - it's like one big project to which I kind add pictures, recipes, musings, facts, fiction, information, resources, research, the whole lot.

Could the kids make blogs of their projects and then print them out instead of doing them by hand? Would that maybe make it more fun for them?

Anonymous said...

I hope the Luxembourg embassy doesn't take any delay in their response!

Times like this is when the internet might come in very handy!

Yvonne said...

Dear Mollie! I grew up in Luxembourg and speak the language, so if you want me to answer any questions I will do the absolute best I can, and I have family and friends who live there who might be able to speed up any info. The Irish embassy in Luxembourg is excellent - perhaps they could help too? I can make some enquiries if you want and pull some strings! ;)

Barbara said...

I'll do Ben's project for him. I loved doing projects at school. I loved it when the boys did projects at school.
I just knew there would be a reader out there who would be from Luxembourg and offer to help. THe power of blogging.
I have no idea what the exercise is you are doing Beccy.

willowtree said...

That's a tough one, I don't think there are twenty pages on Luxemburg...anywhere. (sorry yvonne, just kidding)

Yvonne said...

Willowtree - no problem, you just up the font. Hey presto! 20 pages!

Jill said...

i agree with MJD.,. there should be a lot of info from the internet, AND you might be able to find a phone number for the embassy and get some stuff FAXED to you or EMAILED instead of written maybe?

frannie said...

poor Mollie!!! what a lot of stress that must be!!!

Alison said...

Bummer..I missed your contest!! I love contests!!

My Michael had his first project last week. I was very proud of him..he did a wonderful job!! Cassie has projects all the time now, but thankfully she can do them independantly!!

Kila said...

Oh, I HATE projects like that. The other parents are so much more creative than I am. (The parents end up doing more work than the kids do.)

Had to laugh at Mollie ruining it for Ben--siblings are great for that!

la bellina mammina said...

Good job Ben! My boys love projects and they're always full of ideas!

Good luck with Mollie getting a reply from the embassy - let's hope she doesn't have to wait too long.

Anonymous said...

What a chore for school project in the circumstances you mention. Should be very hectic. Hope he gets the required info in time. Good luck anyway.

Pamela said...

It's good to see the children being encouraged to do "projects"

I can't remember that far back.

Hope the info has been found by now

my4kids said...

Ben did a good job on his project!
I think they should give Molly some extra time or something since she got a place that will be so much more difficult to get the things she needs. Those things are out of her control.

Unknown said...

Ugh...projects. One of the many things I so dreaded as a child. Looks like Ben did an excellent job on his though!
I agree with the google suggestion for getting info for Mollie, especially the bit about finding an email, phone or fax for the embassy. I remember the resources I had as a child to research projects. Didn't involve internet, that's for sure. I would say our kids have it easier, but I think WE have it easier too :) (Thank you whoever created internet)

Anonymous said...

I don't envy the mom of a project doing kid. How terrible she doesn't have the means to do what she is assigned. However, when all is said and done, she will have gone through the biggest hurdle.

Debbie said...

Oh yes. The tears that come along with writing. Sad, heh? Because I love it so much. But my son doesn't. Frustrating.

Good luck!

~ej said...

ahh, ben's project looks good, reminded me of the one my 7 yo has due beginning march. best of luck to mollie getting her info!!

Unknown said...

I hated doing projects. I hated GRADING them more. Poor Mollie. A report on a country you can't research is brutal. I wish you guys luck. Especially you B!

Steffi said...

Ben did a great job on his project!Good look to Mollie!Her project is really interesting and good to learn more about other countries!Unfortunately Nathalie has on her school not such projects !And it´s not a wonder because the german school system is one of the worst in europe.

Anonymous said...

Ben's project looks fab :-)

Good luck Mollie. Hope she can find lots of information elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

I would think if there's no book on Luxembourg that Mollie could get the right to look up information online, especially when she has to wait extra long for the embassy to provide the information and cutting her preparation time!

Good luck with it! I'm sure the kids' projects also mean lots of work for mom and dad!

Amy W said...

I fear the P word stuff!!

Sam said...

P is also for PANCAKE. no pancakes until the P-words are finished.

sallywrites said...

Children's projects are definitely not my favourite occuption!!