HOMONYMS

Happy New Year! 2009

Our first lesson for the new year is Homonyms. Let me refresh your memory about these fun little gems. Homonyms - same name, different meaning.

In case you forgot all of the Linguistic beauties of Amelia Bedelia, here is a helpful little chart.

	Same pronunciation	Different pronunciation
Same spelling
Different spelling

Homonym Homograph

Homophone Heteronym/ Heterophone

Now for my Homonym story:

I was cleaning up our magnets on the refrigerator (which are used to designate a child's schedule = pictures & words like clean up toys, get dressed, help mommy, go potty, etc.) when I had an idea. I called to Conor, "Come here. I want to talk to you about setting some goals for the New Year." He came into the kitchen and asked, "What are goals?" I explained, "Well, they're like trying to do something better ----- like trying to be a better chess player." Conor said something like this, "Oh, I thought it was like a person scoring a goal with a soccer ball." I smiled and couldn't help but think of my pal, Amelia Bedelia. I then tried to describe the other meaning for the word "goal." And, I tried to coerce him to set a couple of goals: 1. Be a good tooth-brusher 2. Help mommy more. I could tell he wasn't listening so I asked him to repeat his goals. He said, "Brush my teeth and not run away from you." (close enough) About 15 minutes later, I asked him if he remembered what a goal is. He said, "It's like a person heading for a goal, like in soccer. That's what a goal is for me, but that's not what a goal is for you!" How cute is that? I love the stuff this child says.

(I have a similar funny story about the words "Adam" and "atom" -- homophones -- with Conor.)

So, a few of my goals (according to MY definition) are:

1. Continue to de-clutter, de-junk the Edmund Inn. Make space for us instead of for our stuff.

2. Continue to exercise & increase the number of vegetables on my plate.

3. I'm still working on my list for 2009.....