Friday 25 November 2011

Using Educational Learning Books for Homeschooling Education of Children

Educational and learning books or also known as educational learning books are an important part of the curriculum materials for kindergarten and primary school level age children who are educated through the homeschooling or home-based learning approach. Homeschooling or also known as home education is the education of children at the home and they are either taught by the parents or private tutors. In recent years, home education has been adapted by many parents in educating their children because they believe that the formal public or state school system has many disadvantages especially for primary school age children.

Education learning books that serve the purposes of educating the children and letting them in learning at the same time have become an essential part of the curriculum materials used by the parents or tutors who teach home schooled children. In a home schooling setting, an educational and learning book is usually described as a book that is used by the parent for teaching his child in a person to person approach.

When the parent is finished in teaching his lesson based on the book, he would usually give the book to his child because there are chapters or sections in the book that would enable the child to learn by himself or engage in self-study. Therefore, an educational learning book for the home schooling setting could be summarised as a two-in-one book, which could be used by the parent for teaching a lesson to his child and then, the child could use the book in self-study or learning by himself.

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Benefits of Using Educational Learning Toys For Children

Educational learning toys are toys or playing objects that have been purposely designed and built for helping in teaching children about a particular subject or in learning about a new skill. The primary categories of learning toys include building toys, construction toys, electronic toys, models of real objects, musical instruments, robot kits, and science kits. Those toys could also be specified for certain age groups such as toddlers, preschool children, kindergarten and specific age groups in the primary school level.

The effects and impact of educational learning toys on children have become very significant so that playing with those toys are now incorporated in the official classroom activities. In addition, many educational experts have stated that parents are encouraged to provide their children with learning toys and make them a part of their playing activities at home. The primary reason that learning toys have been included in classroom activities, and parents are encouraged to provide their children with learning toys would be the benefits for the children.

The benefits of using educational learning toys for children in the classroom and at home would involve the enhancement of skills such as cognitive skills, fine motor skills, creativity and innovation, language, and social skills. The learning toys such as puzzles, and numbers, shapes and patterns would develop a child's cognitive skills because he uses his mind to solve problems and bring out his ability for reasoning. Toys such as puzzles, blocks and clay modes would develop and improve fine motor skills because the child is repeatedly using hands and fingers to manipulate grasp, pick up and manipulate objects.

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Tuesday 22 November 2011

Educational Learning for People Skills

Educational learning is not only applied in academics and in professional life; it is also applied in practical and daily living. When talking about practical application of learning from educational materials and environment, we talk about daily personal and social life.

In daily living, educational learning serves as a basis for personal beliefs and convictions. It also helps in guiding you in dealing with different situations and different people. For example, you can be a very nice person to your housemates or neighbours if you have the lovable characteristics of being emotionally stable and emotionally intelligent. You can learn about and develop these traits by reading different materials like published books and internet articles. Doing so is one form of educational or academic learning.

To further illustrate this educational learning, we can consider a person who wanted to be a salesman. Towards this goal, he read lots of books about marketing and sales. One particular book taught that to be able to get the sales you have to get the heart of your prospective buyer. One best way to do this is by being interested in your buyer's big and small stories and accomplishments. Along the way, the aspiring salesman was not able to become one but was able to learn how to get the sympathy of other people which is by being interested in their stories and accomplishments. He was able to apply this in his daily life and became one of the most admired persons in his neighbourhood and wherever he goes.

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Wednesday 8 December 2010

Determining the Learning Style of My Child

As a mother to a five year old son who would enter kindergarten school by next year, I was curious how my son would learn in a formal school setting after I educated him in his preschool age through the homeschooling method. In all the time that I used the homeschooling method for him, I would observe if he displayed any particular learning style and I wondered if he would use the learning styles he displayed in his preschool age and use any of them when he enters the kindergarten level.

It was a good thing I had a good memory, took notes and made video recordings during the time I was homeschooling my son. I researched the Internet about different learning styles of children and compared those styles to any particular learning style that my son showed during his homeschooling years. From the Internet, I learned that there are three basic types of learning styles displayed by children, which are the auditory, kinesthetic, and visual styles.

The auditory style is displayed by a child who prefers to listen to his lessons rather than reading them. The child with a kinesthetic style learns by doing and touching, and acting out the lessons he learned. The visual style is preferred by a child who learns by reading, looking at visual aids, and observes demonstrations.

In studying the three basic learning types of children, I found out that my son has the auditory learning style because during the time I was homeschooling him, he preferred in carefully listening to the lessons I gave him and I noticed that he would usually sit down and only occasionally moved in his chair.

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Monday 6 December 2010

How I Prepared My Child for Kindergarten Class


The kindergarten is the educational level when the formal schooling of a child starts and for my six year old son, it was also a time of anxieties and worries for him. As a mother to a six year child, I could understand his worries because I used the home education approach in educating him during his preschool years. Now that it is only a few months before he starts in kindergarten, I decided to do some research in preparing him for his kindergarten education and on how I could make him ready.

So I am sharing about the tips or guides I learned from my research and I hope other parents with children entering kindergarten would also use the same guides or tips that I learned. The guides are:

  • Instructions for using the bathroom – Many kindergarten classrooms are set up with their own bathrooms so you could just tell your child that he could politely ask his teacher on where the bathroom is located. You should also reassure him that his teacher would explain to the class on when and how to use the bathroom. If the classroom does not have its own bathroom, tell him that the teacher would explain to the class on where the nearest bathroom is located.
  • Social skills – Since I home educated my child during his preschool years and his contact with other children was mostly with the neighborhood children, I was initially worried if he had the right social skills for interacting with children from different backgrounds. However, I told him that kindergarten is an enjoyable place and it would give him a chance to meet, learn and play with new friends.

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Sunday 5 December 2010

The Best Toys of Educational Learnings

When my son turned one year old a few months ago, he was already walking on his own and he was more active than before because he was able to walk and move around much better. Since anything he could observe, touch and feel could contribute in the start of his learning process, I decided that it was time for him to have educational and learning toys or toys of educational learnings that are appropriate for his age.

So I researched the Internet about the educational or learning toys that are appropriate for the age range of my 11 month old son. I found out that there were several types of toys that are applicable for his age and those toys were readily available in all the major toy stores or in the toy sections of many department stores. After comparing several of the toys I found in the Internet, I compared all of them and took notes for the types of toys that I should first buy for my son.

Based on the notes that I took, I decided to first focus on buying three types of educational learning toys that were appropriate for my 11 month old son. The three types of toys that I bought are wooden blocks, sorting toys, and bouncing balls. I learned that ten to 11 month old babies could  already stack from four to five wooden blocks, which could help in developing their skills for hand coordination and manipulation. The sorting toys come in various shapes and sizes and develop the skills for comparing and decision making.

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Friday 3 December 2010

My Learning Tips in Studying For High School Final Exams

The most unforgettable part of my senior year in high school is studying for final exams. I was lucky that several weeks before the final exams, my mother gave me some learning tips on studying for high school final exams and she told me to get more tips from the Internet.

So I researched the Internet about learning tips on studying for high school final exams and I found many websites that offered many tips on how to learn and study for high school final exams. Now that I am about to enter my freshman year in college, I decided to share the tips that I learned from the Internet and from my mother so that senior high school students who are preparing for their final exams would know how to overcome their difficulties in studying for finals.

The learning tips on studying for high school final exams include:

Time management – Having an effective study schedule is important because you would have to set certain times of each week that is solely devoted to studying. Make a plan or mark in a calendar the specific time and duration of your studies. Before you begin your studies, you should already have all the handouts, books, notes and other study materials you need.

Join a study group – Joining a study group consisting of your close classmates or just one study partner would help you in sharing ideas, notes and materials for studying. The study group should have a specific time of once or twice a week, and you and other members of the study group should remain focused on studying and not be distracted.

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