December 27, 2003
December Photos
Christmas pictures - This afternoon I worked on 16 pictures from this past month. Many are silly -- kids in a box, standing on their heads -- others show the girls with their crafts and gifts.
No other major news to report. We ran an errand to Walmart late this morning. We also tried to bring some of the kids' recently unused toys to Goodwill, but the drop box wasn't there. I took Claire for lunch at a local greasy spoon in Milford known as Cafe on the Oval.
Gadget alert - I've been investigating the purchase of a Franklin Speaking Homework Wiz. They run $45-50 and are basically talking dictionaries/spelling gizmos about the size of a calculator with a small QWERTY keyboard and LCD display. We figured it could help Claire to read and write more independently of adult supervision. If while reading you come across an unfamiliar word, you type it in and it will pronounce the word aloud and give you its definition. If you're writing something and get stuck on the spelling of something, you can type it in phonetically and it will suggest some correct spellings along with definitions (useful for homonyms). The reviews at Amazon seem to indicate it may be a decent product and it's not overly expensive. Unfortunately, it seems like you almost have to mail order one. They're not at Staples, Best Buy, or Circuit City.