For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 05, 2024

“You’re disqualified!”

Well, it IS one way to get rid of yucky veggies! ;-)

Just a little assistance.

When my oldest daughter was in grade school she would do projects. We would go look at all of the work by her classmates. You could tell that the parents did the majority of them.

From Lynn’s Comments: One of the funniest projects my daughter was asked to participate in was a vegetable art show. What you see in this drawing cannot compare with the wonderful “sculptures” her grade 3 class made. As a cartoonist, I had the best time just wandering around the exhibits. I couldn’t laugh out loud, but my smile must have been audible!

My daughter had to decorate an Easter Egg, which she insisted on doing herself. IBut here was, I admit, pretty rubbish compared to the one that her class mate submitted. It was only later that we found out that one of her classmates father worked for a chocolatier and had hers done by the factory design staff. She won the competition by a country mile.

Lesson to children – cheating works.

One year my youngest had to make the solar system. All of the kids except for her and one other just did Styrofoam and they received Bs. My daughter and the other child both received As for innovation. The other kid had used balloons to illustrate the different sizes. We went to the farmers’ market and used stuff we found there. A watermelon was the sun. I don’t recall what most of the other things were. I know Neptune was a Brussels sprout. Pluto was still a planet. We used a blueberry for him. It was a fun assignment.

Ick! What is that monstrosity? That look like something Calvin would make!

This reminds me of a “Home Improvement” episode where Tim does his youngest son, Mark’s, science project giving all the planets of the solar system. Naturally, “the tool man” was found out by the teacher. How are kids supposed to learn anything with parents “helping” their kids?

This is why I don’t assign “at-home” projects. Everything has to be done at school by the kid.

Looks like a rude beggar.

Pre-K art assignments – homework to the kids, fun time for the parents.

I experienced something similar happen when I was a young kid. When I was in cub scouts, we had the pinewood derby race. Essentially, every kid was given a block of wood, and you were to carve/shape it into a race car and compete with other another car side by side down a ramp. Well, my dad took on the challenge and the only thing I was allowed to do was to sand the car by hand with sandpaper. I didn’t learn anything about building, cutting, carving, shaping, gluing, painting, wheel friction, axel alignment, etc., but as a kid, I thought this was what was supposed to be done, and I was glad to see my dad having fun. I never had even a hint that I was supposed to be building the car. Much, much later in life he admitted one of the hardest things for him to do was to allow his students (he taught auto mechanics at a vocational school) to work on projects without helping so they could learn from their mistakes. Since I had never built a model race car before, I’m sure I would have made plenty of mistakes…which was kinda the point.

I think the best thing the cub scouts could have done was to give each kid a block of wood to make their own cars, and then offer to sell another block of wood to every kid’s father for a couple of bucks. This would solve two problems. First, the kids could work on their own cars and have a fair race against other kids who built their own cars, and then all the fathers could have a race against one another! Secondly, selling another block of wood to all the fathers could be used as a pretty nifty manner as a fund raiser for the cub scout troop :0)

So Ellie turns out to be allergic to potatoes or turnips based on the glowing face?

There was a strip like that during the B.A. era (Before April). Michael and Elizabeth put a baby carrot on a gourd, then put sunglasses and a tweed cap. They laugh to themselves. Later, John comes in the house wearing an Irish tweed cap. He looks at this gourd without making any remark.

Projects like this need to be done at school. (Ss bring materials and teacher adds to them.) If done at home, the directions should give some guidance as to how much parental assistance is suggested.

I’m sure they all did, you just had better help.

If Opal from Pickles knew about this contest there would be a mountain of zucchini entry

You should be ashamed, Ellie.

I like Bean Face.

Way to go Helicopter Mommy ! ;-)

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November

What’s with Dean’s?

It looks like she was helped by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

This is the way

Bean face. pretty funny Becky!

Gee,I never would have guessed

That’s why I stopped judging Science Fairs.