My eight-year-old son Zachary *could not* (according to him) remember all the punctuation rules he needed for an upcoming test.

I said, “Can you remember PCC BED?” I will give you a dime if you say “PCC BED” one hundred times.

He did.

I said, “When the test comes around, ask for a piece of scrap paper and write down ‘PCC BED.'”

P stands for punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks.

C is for capitalizing the first word in someone’s quote.

C is for “comma separates Zachary.” That is, when someone is addressing you, they have to stop and put a comma before and after your name unless it’s the beginning or end of a sentence.

B is book titles are capitalized and underlined.

E is for “entire names.” That is, the words Mr. Zachary Hage all start with capital letters.

D is for double sentences are tricks. (Think second-grade level questions; it made sense for him.)

It worked. He understood and passed with flying colors.

Got any homework and test-taking tricks to share?

Good luck from a fellow dad,
::Joe Hage::