Today I’m deep in editing articles for the magazine. A time consuming bit is dealing with getting companies’ names, products and trademarks the way companies want them. Checking each company website and correcting or confirming the proper usage can be tedious, but it’s something editors do.
Among today’s discoveries and confirmations are these: LEGO(R) is always all caps and never ends in “s.” If you want a plural, you must be looking for the phrase “LEGO bricks” because LEGO is an adjective rather than a noun. Likewise, LEGO’s associated terms MINDSTORM(TM) and TETRIX(TM) are all caps, no plurals. On the other hand, another company, fischertechnik(R), is all lower case. Then we have the mixed marriage of eBay(R), which has its inital letter lower case, but its second letter capitalized.
LEGO provides a web page that helpfully explains its requirements, and I’m doing my best to wrangle all the letters into the necessary forms. With some other companies, it’s a matter of seeing how they write their own names and trying to be consistent with their style.
Don’t get me started on dealing with the symbols for trademarks. I’ve learned how to do the beautiful ones in Word. Looks like I’ll be consulting WordPress to figure out how to make them beautiful for the blog.
I admit it’s more fun reading and writing about homeschooling than some side trips editing sends me on. But when I’m edited by others, I appreciate knowing someone else is also following up on my work. And when I’m the editor, I often learn tiny pieces of information that help me play at home with Jeopardy.
Tags: trademarks, writing for HEM
Lissa has posted the Summer Carnival of Children’s Literature over at The Bonny Glen. Those of you who include book reviews on your blogs may be especially interested in her first category, which includes some posts about how the FTC is looking at bloggers who review books and other products when financial or other incentives are involved. An interesting line of thought. There are lots of other good posts in the Carnival, including book recommendations, interviews with authors, and writing about writing. This installment of the Carnival marks Lissa’s last as its manager; thanks for organizing so many previous carnivals and their hosts, Lissa!
Tags: blogs about books, Bonny Glen, book reviews, Books, children's literature, kidlit
Homeschooling toward college? Plan now to attend the Nov. 11, 2009 Homeschooling and College Entrance Seminar sponsored byThe Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers.The day-long seminar will include sessions on homeschooling the high school years, creating high school transcripts, Q & A with admissions representatives from colleges and universities, financial aid, and community college opportunities for homeschoolers.
Registration will open September 1, but you want to go ahead and get the date on your calendar. The event will be held at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond – a captivating destination for homeschooling families even when there’s not a seminar or conference there.
I’ll be there and would love to visit with you. VaHomeschoolers is a nonprofit and inclusive state-wide homeschool organization. One reason I love working with this group is this statement: VaHomeschoolers appreciates that homeschoolers are diverse in their beliefs and backgrounds, but united in loving our children, valuing their education, and treasuring our freedom to homeschool. For this reason, VaHomeschoolers is an inclusive organization and is neutral in matters of politics and religion.
Tags: college, college admission, high school, Higher Education, homeschool conference, homeschool seminar, homeschool to college, post secondary homeschooling, The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, transcripts, VaHomeschoolers
I’m launching into blogging again, and this time I’m also launching my 11-year-old son into blogging. He’s had a blast posting his beach and soccer pictures, as well as video of his performance singing and playing guitar at the VaHomeschoolers Talent Show. So far, we’ve made his blog available only to family and friends, but he’s enjoyed the process so much. He’s learned new computer skills and has a sudden urge to get apostrophes and capitalization right. He’s also documenting some of the important passages in his life: a back flip on the trampoline, being buried in the sand by his cousins.
A lot of homeschooled kids are blogging. Information about kids blogging and a regularly running Homeschooled Kids Blog Carnival are over at Julie’s Homeschooling-Ideas.com. The June carnival features great photos and pictures of a kid-created Five Star Chicken Hotel, dead honest book reviews of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and a little girl’s news about having horse camp at home. These and many other posts reveal a vibrant and literate community of homeschooled kids having fun, learning a lot, and using technology to share their lives.
Julie’s going to keep entries open for the July Homeschooled Kids Blog Carnival a few extra days, if your children want to add their blogs. She’ll add anyone who gets a post in before August 3.
Of course I’m thrilled to have my son on a parallel blog course with me, but we all know that I have a secret motive: now that I’ve gotten him started, he’ll quickly outpace me technologically, and I’ll soon have him to turn to as a source of html and trouble shooting.
Tags: Homeschooled Kids, Homeschooled Kids Blog Carnival, homeschooling, kids blogging, VaHomeschoolers Talent Show
