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Fall is for festivals, be sure to check them out

Downtown Parkersburg will be filled Saturday with not only runners and walkers taking part in the News and Sentinel Half Marathon, but also thousands of other people taking part in the Parkersburg Homecoming. From now until around the middle of October area residents can find a festival of one sort or another just about every weekend in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Every one of those festivals is made possible because of the tireless work of the organizers and the selfless contribution of the volunteers that help stage it. Every event has its own unique set of challenges. As you read this ...

Hitting the Books: Note-taking in school

Note-taking is an important study skill that your child should possess, especially for the scholastic academic subject areas. Of course, it is also essential for success in college and technical schools. Unfortunately, many students have not received any formal instruction on how to take good notes. The following should help you, as parents, to solve this problem for your children. It is divided into two sections: textbook and lecture note-taking. You would be very wise to share this information with your sons and daughters. Textbook Notes Taking notes on materials read for your ...

Getting ready for school

Those things that were important to us when our children were young have made some major changes since then. It is our duty to guide and teach them. It becomes our duty even before they attend school. Even though we are not educated teachers, the parents are the ones they come in contact with first and must listen to. Having children is a big responsibility and an entire life of guiding, teaching and advising them in every respect possible. Hopefully when they get older they will appreciate what we did for them. When we have children it is not only the excitement and anticipation of ...

Know Before You Grow: Tips for homegrown tomatoes

“Only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” (Guy Clark) As the song says, “Wha’d life be without homegrown tomatoes?” Of all the vegetables that can be grown in the backyard garden, I suspect that tomatoes are the most popular and for ...

The Biblical standpoint on gender

Five-year-old children often believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. Adults indulge, sometimes even promote, these harmless childhood fantasies. Those same children may also dress in their parent’s clothes to play fantasy games. At that stage of development, boys occasionally play with Barbie dolls and girls may enjoy toy dump trucks and bulldozers. Gender differences don’t mean much to children. Imagination and role playing are normal processes of development. Curiosity and exploration lead to learning and growth. A bill currently working its way through the ...

A Teaching Song

“We sing when we are happy, we sing when we are sad, We sing when we are falling in and out from day to day. There is singing in a shower as when we are getting in and out of bed. However, the song that rings within me is for learning English tongue instead. I heard it on a radio, oh so long ago though the words did not make sense to me. Yet the sound so sweet and gentle caused me to repeat them repeatedly. Soon they were on my tongue and in my heart, until I knew the meaning of them. The simple song thought me how to enunciate with ease. The song that some of you ...