My oldest daughter is 9 years old, and, for those who don't know, we homeschool our children.

She has a running assignment to report on a news story every week from the newspaper. She has, typical for her age, been careless in the completion of these assignments, and so she knows there will penaties if the article isn't turned in on time. Saturday, I read her latest report.

Now, my daughter has an advanced vocabulary, but it was quickly clear to me from reading the piece that the writing was NOT her style. I called her into the room casually, and asked her for the newspaper article. She shuffled away slowly, confirming my suspicions before I even viewed the paper. She had, of course, changed the order around, but every word was verbatim from the source article.

I had talked with her before about not copying the article, but I explained to her that it was plagiarism, and the equivalent of stealing. For this offense I gave her two additional days to complete the article, but assigned her a 2 page report on plagiarism and why it is wrong. I also told her that the next time I see plagiarism, the same penalties will be effected as if she didn't complete the assignment.

I'm hoping the lesson sticks.