When I was in grade school, probably around the third grade, I absolutely refused to write in pencil ever again. I couldn't stand the way pencils smelled, wrote or erased (oh, those little eraser shavings were the worst!). I had a math teacher who was just as determined that I not do math in pen. I was stubborn.
When I asked her why I couldn't write in pen, she said because it would make my paper too messy when I made a mistake. I thought about her answer for a moment and asked her, "May I write in pen if I don't make any mistakes?" She took a moment to think and said, "Yes, you may write in pen as long as you have no scratch outs on your paper."
I am sure that she intended this experiment to be short lived. Instead, the perfectionist in me flourished and I turned in all my math work in pen and without a scratch out. If I found a mistake or needed to rework a problem, I would rewrite the entire page. I don't think I owned another pencil for twenty years.
However, somewhere along the way in our homeschooling journey, I gained a deep appreciation for pencils (though I still despise the eraser shavings). I give my kids pencils all the time, I doubt they can remember a Christmas or Easter without a new set of pencils. Everyone around here knew how to work the electric pencil sharpener by the age of two.
This year, my older two children are using The Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) and their DVD teacher insists on their using pen for their essays. So, with much reluctance, I gave them pens for doing their schoolwork. Well, specifically for their writing assignments, but I gave no official caveats.
Imagine my amusement upon finding my fourth-grader's math homework done completely in pen this afternoon and with no scratch outs. Immediately I laughed, and then called out, "Please only use pencil on your math homework!" I guess we will see if he heard me when I check his math sheets tomorrow. :)
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