Kalmia Records Blog

A lot of teaching your child to read is first instilling in your
child a desire to read. It’s so very important for the child to
know that reading activities and learning to read is fun. Early
on, for instance, if you haven’t yet, set aside an area of your
home where your child can have their very own reading area and
little person library. This will get most all your reading
activities off to a great start. Having their own special place
for reading activities will encourage the child to spend time
reading.

Encourage them to begin to find their favorite spot within their
area for their reading activities. Grab yourself a comfy chair
and join them and you’ll be amazed how much your child will want
go into their reading area and have you with them for a reading
session. And an added bonus to the reading area is a great place
and time for you to spend with your child reading to them and
vise versa. Reading is nothing more than a practiced skill.
Practicing being the operative word. Instilling good reading
habits in your child early on with consistent and daily reading
and practice sessions is laying the bricks to a solid learning
foundation no matter what the subject matter.

Books from bookstores, garage sales, flea markets and such are a
great way to begin building your child’s reading library
content. Grab a cardboard box, and old milk crate or two and
decorate them with your child so they can have their own library
and take pride in how it looks and help them organize their
reading materials. If you already have bookcases, then clear of
one of the shelves and make that special place for your child’s
books. It’s fun to do and your kids will have fun too. Build
momentum early with how much fun reading and exploring books can
be.

Also make good use of your public library. Teaching reading
skills begins with developing in your child an interest and love
for reading. As your child’s library grows along with their
reading skill they will understand that books are important,
enjoyable, and always filled with new things to learn.

A good reading activity can involve very little actual reading.
Use picture books with very few or no words and ask your child
to describe the picture or tell a story about what the picture
is about. This will allow you to monitor the child’s vocabulary
and the use of the words they have been learning. Don’t overlook
the importance of vocabulary building along with building
reading skills. A strong vocabulary goes well with understanding
what you’re reading which, in turn, keeps the frustration level
down, and the fun factor up.

Encouraging your child to verbalize to you a story or even a
couple pages of something they have read about gives them great
pride (while you listen for accuracy) and makes them feel like a
reader! And when kids feel good about their reading skills they
naturally strive to learn more.

In past, online learning programs suffered high dropout rates and poor satisfaction of students because of the tedium of endlessly sitting alone at a computer working through exercises without social stimulation. But with the advent of inexpensive, robust and feature rich Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and video conferencing software that situation is very rapidly changing.

More and more frequently, institutions are brining an animated, personal element to their electronic learning programs through the use of voice to voice communication of electronic video conferencing. With the continuing growth of faster, less expensive video-conferencing hardware and software and the rapid expansion of broadband access has made video conferencing for educational purposes more accessible than ever before.

The equipment requirements of online learning and video conferencing continue to drop, giving the flexibility of using a $30 web camera or the most expensive networked video camera that a user cares to purchase. This technology is now being utilized by many other sectors, but its broad applicability in the online learning field is very clear.

Giving the ability to co-operate in new and unique ways, through new concepts such as “Wiki’s” which allow users with correct access to edit and re-edit information on a subject, as well as virtual whiteboards on which many users can work at once, technology is providing online learners with engagement and co-operative learning advantages not even presently available to institutional students.

Because of the new methods of collaboration offered by distributed internet technology, video conferencing, “Wiki’s”, and other advancements, some believe that online learning is becoming more relevant than institutional coursework for many kinds of graduate and post graduate studies. Time-crunched business people trying to juggle family, career and learning are increasingly making use of online MBA programs as well as online language courses as a way to simultaneously hone their technology skills and to accomplish more in the small windows of time that they have available for study.

Many students of online learning institutions are interested in pursuing education while maintaining a career, family, or both. Because of these technological advances, electronic learning is coming to be regarded as highly as institutional education despite early resistance from traditional bricks-and-mortar educational institutions. As technology continues to advance, the lines between online and offline worlds continue to blur, with full-time institutionally enrolled students taking electronic courses over the summer or in addition to their regular courseloads as a way of fast-tracking through a degree program. Online learning is definitely the wave of the future, and as technology advances it becomes more accessible and more enjoyable for potential students the world over.

David Madison is a regular contributor to onlinelearning101.com - a highly informative and authoritative website specializing in online educational resources, such as Online Associate Degrees, Criminal Justice Degrees, information about studying abroad and more.

In continuation of Part I, we now plunge more deeply into the
Quick-Add Method and show how this makes doing addition quite
easy. This procedure hinges on two key ideas: 1) the method of
complements; and 2) the Quick-Add Conversion. To refresh your
memory (also see “Teach Your Kids Arithmetic - The Quick-Add -
Part I), complements of a number are those numbers, which when
added to the given number, yield a sum of 10, or some multiple
of 10. For example, the 10-complement of 8 is 2, since 8 + 2 =
10. The 10-complement of 4 is 6, since 4 + 6 = 10. The Quick-Add
conversion is simply the way in which we convert our given
addition problem into a “quick-add;” for once done, the problem
becomes–well, what the method says: a quick-add. That is, the
addition can be done quickly and easily. As mentioned
previously, the Quick-Add works as follows: in analyzing 10 + 7,
we rewrite this example as 10 + 07. We insert a 0 in front of
the 7 as a placeholder for the empty “tens column,” and to bring
the numbers into parallel structure. The brain performs 1 + 0 in
the “tens column” and 0 + 7 in the “ones column,” thus
capitalizing on the “Additive Identity Property” of 0.

Whenever we are confronted by an addition problem, we are going
to convert it to a “quick-add.” For example, take the addition
of 7 + 5. This is 12, but some children might not get this
straight away. Ask them what 10 + 2 is, however, and the answer
is for the most part immediate. Nobody struggles with the latter
addition problem because it is in “quick-add format.” Now to get
the problem into this format, we simply do the “Quick-Add
Conversion,” and this is when the idea of complements comes in
to play. We always work with the bigger number, which in this
example is 7. We take the 10-complement of 7, which is 3. We
reduce the smaller number, 5, by 3 to become 2. Now we have the
converted example: 7 goes to 10, and using its complement 3 to
reduce 5, 5 goes to 2. We now have the “quick-add” 10 + 2 = 12.
Let’s look at another example: 8 + 9. In this case, the
10-complement of 9 is 1; thus 8 is reduced by 1 to 7, and we
have the “quick-add” 10 + 7 = 17. A snap! If both numbers are
the same, no problem. Look at 6 + 6. The 10-complement of 6 is
4, thus the other 6 gets reduced by 4 to 2. We now have the
“quick-add” 10 + 2, which is 12.

This method can be extended to larger and larger numbers, using
the idea of 100-complements, 1000-complements, and so on. For
now, I will examine just another two examples, using additions
with numbers bigger than 10. Take 18 + 8. We break down 18 into
10 + 8, and observe that the 10-complement of 8 is 2; 18 then
becomes rounded to 20, the next 10 up from 18, and 8 becomes
reduced by the 2 to 6. Thus we have 20 + 6 = 26. For the example
of 19 + 17, we have 19 is 10 + 9 and 17 is 10 + 7. The
10-complement of 9 is 1, so 19 goes to 20, and 17 is reduced 1
to 16. So the converted example is 20 + 16, which can be further
broken down to 20 + (10 + 6) = 20 + 10 + 6 = 30 + 6 = 36. In the
last example, I was using some forgotten rules of arithmetic,
such as the Associative Property of Addition, and breaking down
the example quite extensively; however, I think the point is
made and the procedure is now established.

Try looking at addition problems from this perspective by using
the idea of complements and “Quick-Add” conversions. I don’t
think you or your kids will be having trouble with addition
anymore. Stay tuned for more arithmetic magic in my future
series of articles on this most important topic.

Today, life is very busy and competitive. If you are working and have no time to attend university or college to get an additional degree but are yearning for it then this article might be of some help to you. This article will outline the basics of online diplomas and online degrees; we’ll use the two interchangeably if you don’t mind. Than we’ll share the one big advantage and disadvantage to watch out for.

Exactly what are online university degree programs?

Well, basically some colleges and universities have created a new era of online education for today’s busy people and for people residing in small towns and locations too far away from the campus. It’s called distance education and allows a person to receive their high school diploma at home or get a college diploma online from world-class colleges or universities without sitting in a classroom for eight long hours a day.

With an online university degree you can enroll for a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, diploma or doctoral degrees. Online degrees and diplomas are great for furthering your current career or launching into a new one. Did you drop out of high school? No problem as you can even get an online high school diploma.

There are many universities and colleges in the US and all around the world, which are now offering their diploma and degree programs online. If you are interested in a distance education diploma or degree course, you can find many prestigious and well-established colleges and universities with needed information online. Available courses will permit you to obtain your degree in your own specified time and at your own pace. Your degree or diploma is just a click away.

To get success in any profession, you’ll need the right qualifications and with a diploma or a degree you’ll be two steps ahead to fetching a good salary from your professional life. Report and studies have shown that studying at home and in your own time is more productive for many people. This leads us into the big advantage and disadvantage.

What is the big advantage to online university degree programs? With most online colleges and universities you can enroll at any time of the year, this is the biggest advantage to joining any online degree or diploma course. All courses are structured in manageable, small units so that you can find studying enjoyable and easy to work into your current lifestyle. This of course leads us also into the major pitfall and some things you’ll need to consider before dedicating your valuable time for however long your course will be.

The major pitfall with online university degree programs. Too many people the idea of studying in your spare time and holding that piece of paper in your hand after a certain amount studying from home or online somewhere makes for a great fantasy.

The reality however may not be so dreamy. There are some major reality points to consider here. How much alone time will you have each day? Studying takes time and if you’re a single mom or a person with commitments to allot of other things already let’s just begin to be honest here, finding the time may be difficult. It can be done of course and if you’re determined you will do it for sure but just know that you’ll have to sacrifice many things in life that you might currently be enjoying. The list of sacrifices is too long to list but you’ll know what I mean.

So the major pitfall of studying at home is finding the time out of your current busy life (if it is busy) and finding a way to not be distracted by all the little things that can crop up from being at home. Many people know this is not possible for them and this is one reason you’ll often find a mature crowd going through nearly every course imaginable at your local college or university.

Well anyway, no matter what you decide to do the most import aspect to think about for distance education is whether the university selected by you is accredited by other institutions or not. First of all collect all information about the courses and the universities you’re interested in.

If it’s not a state university or college you will want to ensure you phone the place, request a package in the mail even but do make sure it’s accredited. With such a large population looking for online education these days you can know for sure that there’s also allot of scams willing to take your hard earned money and run with it. Hence, we hope this article has helped you in more ways than one and be cautious while choosing your online college or university of choice, it will pay off big-time.

Written by Chad McDonald for people wanting to get a high school diploma and looking all over for more home school diplomas information.