Successful Home Education - 5 Suggestions

When people first think about homeschooling their kids, the task can appear overwhelming. Numerous moms question if they truly can homeschool. Frequently, the prevailing mind-set in today's world tends to be that education is most appropriately provided by the "experts" inside the government and private schools, but this is absolutely incorrect. Parents can supply an outstanding education with academically excellent standards and are normally the best suited to teach their own children since they know them far better than just about anyone else.

For anybody contemplating home education, there are various steps that you need to take to get ready. Some of the benefits of homeschooling are it's overall flexibility, adaptability and tailored approach to education. Nonetheless that doesn't suggest that you ought to jump into homeschooling without careful planning and thought about what's involved in home educating your kids.

Commit to Homeschool

The initial thing inside the journey of home education would be to make a commitment to homeschooling. I know this seems basic, but homeschooling isn't some thing that is just an add-on to raising youngsters. It is genuinely a life-changing decision. If you are unsure about it, then there's nothing wrong with holding out and learning more prior to beginning. You should talk to others that are homeschooling and get feedback from both those that are just starting out as well as experienced homeschoolers. You will find their guidance and wisdom will be useful in making your decision. Attend local support groups or cover school group meetings to understand necessary requirements and the numerous activities and resources offered. Make certain you and your spouse are both committed to homeschooling. Whilst homeschooling might be one of the most fulfilling experiences of your life, it also comes with challenges and difficulties, and both partners must support one another. Like a wise planner, count the cost and be sure that you believe in home education prior to jumping in.

Be aware of the Regulations

Second, know the rules about home schooling in your state and municipality. Yes, homeschooling is legal in each state, nevertheless laws about home education differ from state to state and in some cases between localities. Your own state could have particular homeschool statutes or home education may possibly be addressed in compulsory education regulations. Be familiar with what the educational requirements are. For instance there may possibly be regulations about attendance required, regulations that affect curriculum, certain requirements of teachers, grading and attendance reports and oversight by a cover school or umbrella school. Your local homeschool support group will have data on laws and regulations. Additionally, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a fantastic source of regulatory info, including totally free state by state summaries of the relevant laws and regulations.

What's Your Educational Style?

You will need to pick a method to homeschooling. One of the greatest rewards of home education is the ability to pick your own philosophy of education and pick a style as well as a homeschool curriculum that uniquely fits your youngsters. Those new to home education may well not be aware of the a variety of strategies or approaches to education, nonetheless there are lots of resources available online to get familiar with the a variety of approaches. Examples include the conventional approach, the classical education approach, the Charlotte Mason method, the eclectic approach and what's called "unschooling."

Choose a Homeschool Curriculum

Pick the homeschool curriculum that's suitable for you. Homeschooling nowadays isn't what it was in the past. You will find quite a few wonderful, high quality curriculum resources on the market now that no matter what your school of thought or approach to schooling is, there will likely be something suitable for you. Homeschool curriculum runs from complete, pre-packaged kits that include all the resources that you need for both students and instructors to very specific resources for specific subjects that may be custom tailored to suite the unique requirements of your student. The growth of web based and interactive curriculum delivers even more wonderful resources to homeschoolers. The wealth of high quality curriculum,along with the availability of successful teacher resources, means that you'll be able to find the resources you'll want to effectively home school your kids even through high school.

Find A Support Group

Finally, get involved with a local support group. You've heard it said that, "it takes a village to raise a child." Well, it takes a community of support to successfully home educate. Whether or not you're required to be in a cover school, make sure you've got a support group. Along with basic issues like organizing field trips and providing details about local events and homeschool resources, you will find the relationships and encouragement to be helpful in your homeschool journey. It's frequently by means of local support groups that it is possible to learn about the different curriculum people are making use of and gain useful ideas about what's working for diverse individuals in different circumstances. Whatever the challenge or difficulty you come upon, you will find other people who have already been through it before you and can help support you along the way.

Yes, We Can Do It!

Home education is a whole family commitment and isn't something that ought to be taken lightly. It is a journey that will be filled with struggles in your own home and could be misinterpreted by people outside your household. Even so it is a pathway that can be one of probably the most worthwhile activities of your life and can have a powerful impact on your family members for generations. Yes, homeschooling can seem overwhelming early on, but with numerous resources available today, committed parents can indeed offer an excellent education for their children.

Ed Hart is an author and homeschooling dad and is a regular contributor to HomeschoolCurriculumHQ. For more information about homeschooling as well as great homeschool curriculum resources visit [http://www.homeschoolcurriculumhq.com].

Increase Your Learning Experiences Through Online Education

People value education. The things you learned from a formal or non-formal education creates a big impact to your life and in the future. Your educational attainment can help you in achieving your goals especially today that the demands in competitive workforce are increasing. With the high expectations and qualifications of employers today, they prefer to hire competitive employees. Once you are educated, you also have a bigger chance of getting a better job. Job promotions and high salary are expected with the acquired education you have. Education is a must if you want to achieve something worthwhile. This also explains why progressive countries have high literacy rate because of their educated human resources.

Acquiring an education today is different compare to education many years ago. We are now in the modern era where Internet rules the world. We were introduced to traditional education as well as the latest mode of learning which we call online education. It is the trend today that offers student from any part of the world to acquire education in a convenient way. It gains popularity among professionals and employed students because of its flexibility in terms of time and place. It is also seen as the latest way of educating students and considers as the cheaper way of obtaining a degree course.

Online education is web-based. Students here must be computer literate because they use computer and Internet in every class they have. Obviously, students are required to have a set of computer and Internet connection that are used in communicating to their Instructors, delivered exams, assignments and other tasks. The contents of their degree course are delivered in the form of texts, images, animations, videos or audio that can also be downloaded online.

The good thing about online education is that students can study at their own pace. There is no checking of physical attendance. You are not forced to study in a specific time and place. It simply means that you have all the liberty in studying online. Many students find this system very convenient that they can hold on to their present job and responsibilities at home and community.

Continuing your education through online education is a wise idea of a competitive worker. With this mode of learning, you are increasing your learning experiences as well as enhancing your skills. You do multitasking here because you manage to continue working while earning a degree.

I was sent to a nice school and at that time, after university, a woman was expected to become a teacher or a nurse - prior to marriage. I am currently employed, but I decided to get online education program to further my education. I never get tired of learning new things. I am enjoying my work and at the same time having an online degrees with no conflict on my schedule.

Science Can be Fun

In today's high-tech society it is important that children develop an interest in science at an early age and see that science is a part of our lives. By becoming comfortable with science at an early age, children can reap many long term benefits. Getting children interested in science does not take a lot of time and effort. Their natural curiosity will ease the way. Making it fun is the key element. The learning process in children happens through play. During play the world is not so threatening. Kids feel safe, secure and capable. They explore on their own. There is an old Chinese saying:

I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember

I do and I understand.

Information and knowledge gained from hands- on activities and self discovery remains in the long term memory.

There is no need for a special place or equipment for teaching science to kids. Most of the materials and equipment needed can be obtained in home, school, grocery store or local hardware store. Science activity can be carried out with a single kid or group of kids. It can be carried out whenever you want or wherever you want. For example when there is nothing to do and kids are bored. When the weather outside is not friendly. It can be carried out in the kitchen, in the garden, nature hikes, beach trips etc..

Science experiments in our house started in the kitchen. One day when I was baking cookies, my kids were helping. Curious as usual, they started asking questions. "Why do we add sugar?" "Why do we add eggs?" "Why do we have to add baking powder?" At that moment a bulb lighted in my head. We made some cookies without baking powder and compared. This became a hobby. We started experimenting with lot of things, sometimes purely on impulses. But we sure enjoyed that time. Some examples that quickly come to mind are: a) one day when we were folding laundry, some clothes had static. They made small cracking noises and stuck. We had fun learning and experimenting with lot of other things that produce static electricity. b) When we had gone to the beach we started talking about the sea/ocean water being salty and how salt is extracted from the sea water. Kids brought some sea water back home and placed it in sunlight in a shallow tray. In 2-3 days the water evaporated and they collected the salt crystals. The satisfaction in self discovery is incomparable. Without any prompting from me kids also experimented if saltwater freezes faster or tap water.

Looking at their interest, pretty soon me and my friend got together and started doing planned experiments with our children in a group setting. Kids enjoyed them and looked forward to the experiment days. Volcanoes and slimes were a lot of fun. When we did an experiment on coloring daisies, (white daisies if placed in colored water, pick up that color. In a few hours their petals start showing the color in the water) it did not end there. Pretty soon more flowers got experimented on and then came the question "Why some flowers pick up colors faster than the others?" One day while we were weeding in the garden we had an amusing finding. There were lots of Lady Bugs on one particular type of weed. That led us to the information on how and why certain bugs favor certain plants or animals. Similarly different kinds of rocks found in the garden piqued kids interest and we ended up doing a project on rocks.

I was happy to see that I had achieved what I was aiming for: 1) Questioning of observed events leading to finding information. 2) Promotion of independent thinking and reasoning process in the versatile young minds.

This first step "Science is fun" can be followed by the next more exciting step, where kids learn that "Science is also an adventure and challenge." It often requires some detective work and it requires learning of a methodical step by step approach to solve problems. This approach is called "The scientific method." The steps in a scientific method can be roughly outlined as follows. 1) If you have to solve a problem start by collecting data. Read books, talk to people, and make observations. 2) Brainstorm- Spend time looking over and understanding the information collected. Have discussions if you are working in a team. 3) Make predictions. 4) Design and carry out experiments. 5) Analyze your results and derive conclusions.

It is a lot more fun to do these activities in a group or as a team. Parents or friends can be very good companions. As kids grow up participation in "science fairs" can also bring a good learning experience.
So parents get involved with your kids science activities and share with them the excitement of being a scientist and an explorer. Kids will know that science can be fun. Once they get interested they will keep thinking, investigating and inventing for ever.

Dr. Kanchan Bodas is a caring parent and editor of Springboard Magazine. [http://www.springboardmagazine.com] is an online educational magazine for children 3-9 years of age. There are lots of fun educational games to learn math and language, Science experiments and essays, Stories with audio, art and craft projects, coloring pages, general knowledge and much more. The format is easy to use and designed to stimulate creativity and learning in children.The magazine is free. Past issues are archived in a database.

Forensic Science Colleges

Forensics is the shortened term for forensic science. The Latin definition of the word is "before a forum", this is because most forensics experts are called upon to present and prove evidences before judges and juries in court litigations. Their testimonies and reports on findings are extremely important in the court procedure, especially when the prosecution's case hangs solely on evidence.

The term forensics refers to the application of a wide range of knowledge; processes and methods used in the different scientific fields in answering or finding evidence form a crime scene to aid law enforcers to bring the right people to justice. This is where forensic science colleges specialize. People who master in forensics in forensic science colleges mostly begin as laboratory scientists doing research and experiments. They are perhaps lured into the law enforcement side by the more enriching experience of bringing to light the mysterious, the baffling, and almost unsolvable aspects of a crime. They usually have a solid background in chemistry, biology, physics, and psychology.

The police and other government agencies use forensics to collect and process evidences from crime scenes. With all the advancements in technology, forensics have also evolved into more complex processes that can now pinpoint the accurate time and date of death, identify burnt or decomposing bodies, or identify someone from a mere hair, fingernail, or saliva sample. Recent improvements in the equipment used in the laboratories have also helped correct some inaccuracies from the past. Previously convicted suspects are freed because new evidences show they could not have possibly committed a crime. Missing persons are identified from skeletons or even just from skulls.

Lawyers, law enforcers, and journalists sometimes enroll in forensic science colleges to augment their previous disciplines. There are several colleges and universities that offer electives in forensic science. Short courses are also offered online for graduate students. Forensic science students can get degrees in any of the Forensic Science disciplines, including criminalistics, engineering sciences, jurisprudence, odontology, pathology, physical anthropology, behavioral science and psychiatry, questioned documents, and toxicology. A solid background in chemistry or biology is often a plus for candidates.

Forensic Science [http://www.e-ForensicScience.com] provides detailed information on Forensic Science, Forensic Science Degrees, Forensic Science Colleges, Forensic Science Schools and more. Forensic Science is affiliated with Biotechnology Careers [http://www.i-Biotechnology.com].

Technology Acceptance Models

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is an [information systems] theory that models how users come to accept and use a technology. The model suggests that when users are presented with a new software package, a number of factors influence their decision about how and when they will use it, notably:

o Perceived usefulness (PU)
"The degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance".

By Fred Davis

o Perceived ease-of-use (EOU)
"The degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from effort".

By Fred Davis

The technology acceptance model is one of the most influential extensions of Ajzen and Fishbein's theory of reasoned action (TRA) in the literature. It was developed by Fred Davis and Richard Bagozzi. TAM replaces many of TRA's attitude measures with the two technology acceptance measures, ease of use, and usefulness. TRA and TAM, both of which have strong behavioral elements, assume that when someone forms an intention to act, that they will be free to act without limitation. In the real world there will be many constraints, such as limited ability, time constraints, environmental or organizational limits, or unconscious habits which will limit the freedom to act.

Theory of Reasoned Action

TRA posits that individual behavior is driven by behavioral intentions where behavioral intentions are a function of an individual's attitude toward the behavior and subjective norms surrounding the performance of the behavior.

Attitude toward the behavior is defined as the individual's positive or negative feelings about performing a behavior. It is determined through an assessment of one's beliefs regarding the consequences arising from a behavior and an evaluation of the desirability of these consequences. Formally, overall attitude can be assessed as the sum of the individual consequence x desirability assessments for all expected consequences of the behavior.

Subjective norm is defined as an individual's perception of whether people important to the individual think the behavior should be performed. The contribution of the opinion of any given referent is weighted by the motivation that an individual has to comply with the wishes of that referent. Hence, overall subjective norm can be expressed as the sum of the individual perception x motivation assessments for all relevant referents.

Algebraically TRA can be represented as B ≈ BI = w1AB + w2SN where B is behavior, BI is behavioral intention, AB is attitude toward behavior, SN is subjective norm, and w1 and w2 are weights representing the importance of each term.

The model has some limitations including a significant risk of confounding between attitudes and norms since attitudes can often be reframed as norms and vice versa. A second limitation is the assumption that when someone forms an intention to act, they will be free to act without limitation. In practice, constraints such as limited ability, time, environmental or organizational limits, and unconscious habits will limit the freedom to act. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) attempts to resolve this limitation.

Theory of Planned Behavior

TPB posits that individual behavior is driven by behavioral intentions where behavioral intentions are a function of an individual's attitude toward the behavior, the subjective norms surrounding the performance of the behavior, and the individual's perception of the ease with which the behavior can be performed (behavioral control).

Behavioral control is defined as one's perception of the difficulty of performing a behavior. TPB views the control that people have over their behavior as lying on a continuum from behaviors that are easily performed to those requiring considerable effort, resources, etc.

Although Ajzen has suggested that the link between behavior and behavioral control outlined in the model should be between behavior and actual behavioral control rather than perceived behavioral control, the difficulty of assessing actual control has led to the use of perceived control as a proxy.

Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology

The UTAUT aims to explain user intentions to use an IS and subsequent usage behavior. The theory holds that four key constructs (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions) are direct determinants of usage intention and behavior. Gender, age, experience, and voluntaries of use are posited to mediate the impact of the four key constructs on usage intention and behavior. The theory was developed through a review and consolidation of the constructs of eight models that earlier research had employed to explain IS usage behavior (theory of reasoned action, technology acceptance model, and motivational model, theory of planned behavior, a combined theory of planned behavior/technology acceptance model, model of PC utilization, innovation diffusion theory, and social cognitive theory). Subsequent validation of UTAUT in a longitudinal study found it to account for 70% of the variance in usage intention.

Conclusion

The recent development of information technology applications that target highly specialized individual professionals, such as physicians and lawyers, has proliferated substantially. Considering the rapid growth of these innovative technology applications that target individual professionals, it is important to examine the extent to which existing theories can explain or predict their technology acceptance. In this vein, the current study represents a conceptual replication of some previous model comparison by re-examining prevalent theoretical models in a healthcare setting that involves different users and technologies. Specifically, this study empirically tests the applicability of three theoretical models: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and a decomposed TPB model that is potentially adequate for the targeted professional context. Our investigative focus is the extent to which each model can explain physicians' acceptance of telemedicine technology.

Designing Technology: Making the Leap

Effective print design is laconic: no wasted ink; less is always more. A good designer can communicate a stunning amount of information with surprisingly few tools. Design is pervasive in our media-centric culture, and subsequently we are constantly absorbing information via color, line, shape and symbol. Likewise is technology pervasive. From cell phones, to handhelds, to PCs--technology has become a permanent and essential tool in our society.

But the way in which we interact with technology has yet to fully evolve; the connection often remains sterile and detached. The potential to improve this relationship lies with designers.

For starters, we need to acknowledge the lingering disconnect between print and tech design. The same minimalist ethos that drives effective print media seems lost amid a sea of bad websites and unwieldy technology.

First, the bad websites:

Affordable publishing software has enabled a host of amateur web designers to enter the fray. The benefits of empowering individuals to express themselves on the web are undeniable--indeed this is the living, breathing heart of the information revolution. What these recreational desktop publishers do to advance design, however, is questionable. With so many untrained hands at the helm, proper design is at risk of being run aground.

Now, the unwieldy technology:

Technology, by definition, is an enabler: it makes our lives easier, better, or both. Without thoughtful design, however, technology only partly lives up to its definition. An example: Multi-purpose cell phones. In theory, they enable you to talk, calculate an 18% tip, take pictures and videos, and surf the web. But what these phones gain in potential functionality, they lose in actual utility: you can't use the calculator while you're talking; the pictures are low-res; the videos are sub-par; and the web access is slow and requires very small, nimble fingers. Why not design a phone that, instead of all the bells and whistles, gets crystal-clear reception everywhere?

The desire to pack a lot of functionality into a little package is tempting primarily because we can: technology gets continually smaller and faster. The exponential growth in circuitry described by Moore's Law (which celebrated its 40th anniversary in April), has outpaced a concomitant understanding of how to humanistically design these extra circuits into our lives. The drive to harness technology's full potential should be tempered with restraint and good design.

Consider the iPod. Its success has little to do with Apple's unique or cutting-edge technology--it's a hard drive with earphones. iPod is successful because it conveys a big idea with what are essentially Kindergarten shapes: a rectangle and two concentric circles. By limiting functionality, the designers create a sleeker user experience and clearly articulate the product's identity and purpose.

This approach is the type that will humanize our relationship with technology. But how do we get there?

Ironically, the same advances that spawned an onslaught of poorly designed webpages also create the opportunity for systemic change. Technology has crossed a critical threshold. Just as you don't need to know HTML to create a website, you no longer need assembly code or binary math to approach tech development. The pieces are out there, we just need to put them together. Instead of viewing technology as something to design around, we should design with it, engaging technology not as a mechanic uses tools, but as an artist uses paint.

Interacting with technology shouldn't be taxing for the user--it should be fluid and intuitive. Good print design communicates ideas this way; doing the same in technology design requires but one courageous tweak in the way we embrace the medium. The time is ripe for a shift in paradigm.

Science & Religion

In the film Contact the relationship between science and religion is explored.

Jodie Foster plays the manically driven, ruthlessly logical scientific researcher searching for extra terrestrial life by wrangling time on some of the world's largest radio telescopes. However her driven nature, as is often the case, is partly as a result of a troubled childhood. She is really searching for answers having lost both of her parents to illness early in her life. An early interest, shared with her father, in amateur radio leads her to believe that the answers are out there and she is relentless in pursuit of this perceived truth.

Matthew McConaughey on the other hand is spiritually aware and writes about the impact of science and technology on our lives. He asks are we happier because of developments of science and technology or do we feel more alone. He is also searching for truth through spiritual discovery.

The interaction between these two characters provides the love interest and the film culminates with the scientist having a spiritual experience that cannot be scientifically verified as some of the evidence is suppressed. A leap of faith is required to trust our own experience over the scientifically verifiable.

In the modern world it is easy to assume that we know more than we do. As Sir Isaac Newton 1642-1727 famously observed after a lifetime of ground breaking scientific discovery "I seem to myself like a child playing on the sea shore, and picking up here and there a curious shell or pretty pebble, while the boundless ocean of truth lies undiscovered before me."

The Scientific Method

The method is designed for discerning the truth from delusions. The process is to observe some aspect of the universe, form a tentative hypothesis consistent with the observation, use it to make predictions and test them with experiments or further observations and modify the hypothesis in the light of your results. Repeat until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation. When consistency is obtained the hypothesis becomes a theory and provides a coherent set of propositions which explain a class of phenomena. A theory is then a framework within which observations are explained and predictions are made.

The modern world displays many of the benefits of scientific endeavor in healthcare, construction, farming, transport, technology and communications. The marvelous inventions that we enjoy were made possible through the application of scientific rigor. Understanding our environment enables us to manipulate it for our benefit. Science attempts to explain the nature of things and ultimately the nature of our existence.

However like most areas of human endeavor science has its limitations. Science hits its limitations at the quantum physics level where consciousness determines the reality as per the Schrodinger's cat experiment. Science helps us to determine the laws of nature and to put them to use. Science describes reality rather than creates it. The creation process is human endeavor putting scientific insights to use. Science is the how but not the why. So where is the initiator of the creation, growth and diversity of the universe? All things are encompassed by the creative process including ourselves. Consciousness creates the reality, science describes it. Science reveals the nature of creation, and the beauty of God.

The source of creation permeates all things and we are subliminally aware of this. Indeed we are participants in this creation and are co-creators ourselves. With this power comes responsibility. We are responsible for what we create. This is where religion comes in urging us to create good and wholesome realities by fostering and understanding of our true nature as spiritual beings. We are transient in this world and can never really own anything, merely controlling things for a while. Religion urges us to appreciate our true natures and the nature of the universe and to live our lives accordingly.