STRIVE TO LEARN MORE

People sometimes find it hard to keep up and learn everything they are supposed to. This is especially true when they are learning about things that they have no interest in. Here are some tips to take you out of the they category. First, you need to not give up and use various methods to learn more.
Get a mentor/tutor
Whenever you see you can’t handle an assignment or you can’t get any further with it, you should consider getting a mentor/tutor. Many environments are meant for all and the group cannot wait for a few to catch up. The structure just does not allow it even if the individual falling behind is gifted but just slower.
Do not get mad
You are probably already upset if you have failed. To keep yourself from losing all interest in learning don’t get mad but sad. This change of emotion to a positive one is a step in the right direction. Focus on making yourself and others happy by improving your performance not dwelling on past failure.
Reward good performance
This has a good and a bad side. A good one where you gain interest partly because you realize it gives you and others pleasure and a bad side where you will become motivated in all things because of material rewards. You need it be careful when rewarding yourself so it does not become your only motivation.
Live a healthy life
A healthy life is good for us all. If you get enough sleep, eat right and are emotionally balanced the chances are that you will perform better.

People by nature. desire and need competition and, learning is a competition. You are not up against someone else as much as you are competing against yourself.

Methods of Home Schooling

The controversy of home schooling vs. traditional classes might never be resolved. Similarly the correct method of home schooling might not find a definitive solution but the more we know the better it will be to make an informed decision. Maybe if look at them with an open mind we might able to apply a little of these methods to ourselves.

Many people believe home schooling is two or three children sitting at a table, writing in their workbooks, while mom or dad stands nearby. The truth is there are different methods of home schooling that differ greatly from this notion. Below are some of the most influential and popular home schooling methods.

The Charlotte Mason method:
Known as the founder of the home schooling movement Charlotte Mason was a home schooler herself. Her passion was to lay out the foundations for an effective home schooling program. A need to be both fun and educational at the same time was essential. This method encourages a passionate awareness of literature, so beginning at the age of six the child is read to daily from a variety of classical literature. After this, the child is asked to narrate what they have heard. Then by ten the child is expected to write their narrations in a book. Mason believed that development of good character and behavior was essential to the complete development of the child's personality. With this in mind she advocated the use of 'Nature Diaries'. After each lesson the child is asked to go to nature and draw observations. This way the child gains a sense of respect for the environment.

The Eclectic Home schooling method:
A mixture of various home schooling techniques where the innovative parents trust their own judgment. Curriculums are improvised in most Eclectic home schooling Parents pick out the topics that make the best curriculum for their child. These parents are constantly looking for the best products to meet the needs of their home schoolers. The basic curriculum is ready-made but parents make changes to accommodate the individual needs and interests of their children. The child's gifts, temperament, learning style and interests are all considered when deciding the curriculum. Eclectic programs include visits to the museum, libraries and factories.

Unschooling method:
The most unstructured of the various home schooling techniques this method is a hands-on approach to learning. John Holt, a Boston public educator, believed that children learned best when they are free to learn at their own pace, guided by their own interests. His message was the beginnings of the unschooling method. The parent takes cues from the children with no definite curriculum, schedules or materials.

The Montessori method:
Starting in Italy, it was observed that children have acute sensitive periods, during which they undergo periods of intense concentration. During these periods, a child will repeat an activity till he gains a measure of self-satisfaction. This method depends on a prepared setting to encourage learning. All the materials used in the Montessori method are designed with the goal to satisfy the inner desire for spiritual development of the child. The materials used range from simple to complex, and are rather expensive.

No matter what method is used, the underlying factor is flexibility and a keen interest in the desires of the student. In any stage of our life we can adapt these methods not only for others but ourselves. The desire for knowledge should be the guide to further education.

Speed Reading Basics

by: Jonathan Mayheart

Speed reading is vital in today’s business and academic world, with the vast information that the internet offers, and the huge amounts of reading tasks an average manager or student faces, there is really no choice but to try and increase the intake of information.

In the last forty years there has a been an explosion of information, we are living the information revolution and that requires a lot of young professionals a great deal of effort in digesting this information and making good use of it.

Most of the people who attend speed reading courses and classes have some kind of problem, or believe they have some kind of problem, with their reading, here are a few of these potential problems.

Lack of concentration or partial/impaired concentration is an obvious problem for speed reading, the effects of the environment on ones reading rhythm and the general tendency of some people to be able of acceptable reading rate only in ideal situations. This problem is one of the basic speed reading problems and is usually dealt with in most courses.

Poor eye movement may cause some readers to shift their eyes to other directions and than go back to the book or paper to relocated the last point read. This problem also correlates with poor mechanical skills, which can be a real problem in speed reading.

Short attention span is a clear problem, almost everyone knows this problem, you start strong and begin to slow down as you read on. This kind of problem typically creates a situation of going back to re-read some lines over and over again, or a need to read the same sentence a couple of times for lack of understanding or loosing the line of thought altogether.

Reading by heart, when a person reads to himself (muttering the words or even reading out load) is an obvious problem since speed reading is much faster than talking, the reading out load inhibited the ability to read fast and also regulates a slow input of information into the cognitive.

Delayed reaction to information and material – This delay often comes from inattention, reading ahead or distraction. Desire to remember every word – This is loosely related to the tendency to re-read or slow down.

So what can you do to increase your reading skills? Do you really need to try speed reading you should you consider just eliminating some of these problems. The answer is most likely dependent of what you need, no matter what you problem is, you need to address the problem.

To try and read faster, here are a few tips that would get you going. Think of reading as a ‘pick and choose’ activity, where you can choose to read the words and phrases that are critical to comprehension, and skip over the connective tissue.

One major key in speed reading is filtering out all the words that has nothing to do with the subject and naturally, there a lot of them. All the connecting words, basically words that are there to connect one word with the other to make a sentence (TO make A sentence) the “and” “it’s” and “and’s” have got to go, just make yourself blind to them, go over these words and do not dwell on reading or noticing them.

Practicing time reading is also good, set up a timer and see how much you read in one minute, and in five minutes. Try and honestly estimate how much did you get from the text (make sure this is something you read for the first time), and try to beat yourself at this over and over again, until you start to feel that you have moved up one level. Experiment with different texts, and try to find books with text that has some questions about what you just read so you can apprise your understanding. Evaluate your situation every time you do this, reading faster sometimes mean that you will make more mistakes on understanding the subject, you should start making “mental notes” while reading so you will not fail answering the questions.

Train yourself to read more quickly by forced timing. If you are a runner, training for a race, you go out and run every day and you try to improve your time or your distance.

Set a timer and run a reading race every day for two to four weeks. You do not have to spend more than five minutes on this exercise. You may become frustrated, at first, by the fact that you cannot read as fast or remember as much as you would like.

Practice makes perfect, and this is the most basic thing you can do to increase your reading speed, in two weeks you should see some improvement, and you should work on the weaker aspects of your reading skills. This is the start of speed reading, and once you master the basics you will be on your way to becoming a speed reader.

About The Author Jonathan Mayheart has been writing speed reading tips and advice for internet sites in the last few years. Jonathan currently writes Speed Reading http://speedreading.zupatips.com articles for the tips and advice website ZupaTips.com.

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