The Importance Of Letting Your Kids Join After School Activities

If your kids are done with school for the day, what will they possibly do while they you are still at work? If you have planned something for them to do after school, they you may not need to be worried about your kids being idle, unsupervised, or perhaps likely to do something you won't ever approve.
Some of the things you can do is to let a nanny come over or maybe buy enough gadgets for your kids to pass away the time. Although there is certainly nothing wrong with having the supervision of a competent and reliable nanny, as well as technology entertaining your kids, the after school activities may engage their minds in the best way.
When enrolled in an after-school program, your kids can get a lot of benefits. First of these is improved academic performance - children who are enrolled in after-school activities will become more attentive and focused in their classes. Also, the will be less likely to misbehave and involve in all types of trouble. Your children will certainly be kept busy five times a week, a few hours a day after school, and perhaps even during the weekends.
An ideal after-school program will certainly be capable of complementing class learning, support socialization, as well as promote a positive emotional climate. An excellent private tutor will definitely provide such favorable aspects of the said program. In fact, high qualified tutors may even offer supplementary academic guidance from an established learning centre that delivers an effective and unique program. Your children can have this type of learning and obtain advanced education along with other kids, however, in an informal setting.
In order for you to make the most out of the benefits from your kids' after-school activities, you must determine which subjects they might be struggling with and get them the best tutoring they need. Furthermore, you have to locate a private tutor that utilizes unique yet proven strategies to such difficult subjects. Always remember that you must give your kids a fulfilling and challenging way in order to pass the time while you are still at your work. You have to keep their minds active and productive even after school. With such program, you will not just keep them safe from negative behavior, but also to make sure that they will have a successful transition from grade school to high school and towards college.

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The Four Cues of Non Verbal Communication

There are what studies refer to as Non Verbal Communication Cues. Body language being just one of the four, as we will get into shortly. The following are these four cues:
1) Paralanguage- This particular cue is focused on noises made from our mouths, however, these words are not words and are therefore not in the verbal communication category. Simply, these are the noises we make that
usually imply a certain mood or feeling.
Some examples of this may be the pitch of our voice or the volume. Another couple examples Of Paralanguage could be a sigh of relief or groan of discomfort or unhappiness. Then of course, there would be the more dormant Paralanguage examples such as screaming, crying, laughing or yelling, just to name a few.
2) Body Language- This cue, although silent, tells so many things. Considering this particular book focuses almost entirely on this cue, I really don't see much need to detail about this particular cue. However, it is the cue that involves the movements of our body.
3) Interpersonal Spacing- This particular cue is very simple however quite neat. It is quite basically the way, distance and angle, a person positions themself when choosing proximity among people. Touch and smell come into play under this cue when in close proximity to another.
4) Choice of Personal Items- I found this one extremely interesting while researching the four cues for several
reasons. Admittedly, this whole aspect of body language had not even occurred to me until now and it really is a very important aspect of body language and should definitely really be taken into consideration.
That said, this cue, in my opinion is, although interesting, probably the least reliable of the four cues. This cue, like its name, uses a man or woman's material possessions as a way to communicate non verbally. From the car a person drives, the clothes they wear, to their homes and right down to their preferred beverage all falls under this cue. For example, if we see a nicely dressed lady driving around in an expensive vehicle, our assumption of her will the that she is rich. A lady of high stature and a respected member of your local social society & unfortunately the general public associates money with a higher class or better person.
The reason why I believe this is the most inaccurate of the four cues is because of what I just mentioned, the stereotype or image we associate with money, drives (no pun intended) us to go Into debt buying nice cars or fancy cars, for example. We all want to be considered significant to our society, but too many live way beyond their means, even to the point of filing for bankruptcy, for this false images.

Online High Schools Are Ideal For Certain Students

Educators in this day and age understand that many students have different learning needs and situations that factor into schooling time. That is why it is important that every young person who wants to better themselves academically can do so at their own pace and on their own time. With advances in technology, curriculum development, and educational methodology, it is now possible for interested students to get their diplomas by attending online high schools.
The tutelage offered through online high schools is exactly the same as what you would expect a child to receive in a typical classroom environment. Teachers develop the virtual sessions, and the things that are taught meet all national benchmarks. The major difference is the environment. Some kids have a hard time adjusting to the typical classroom setting, especially those with physical disabilities or learning differences. These students often feel more comfortable when they can work in familiar surroundings with certain accommodations. There are fewer distractions to deal with, and they do not have to worry about how they are doing compared to everyone else. Instead, they can focus on personal growth and meeting certain goals.
Many parents whose children take classes via online high schools actually think that their students get more mentoring and personal attention than kids who attend traditional institutions. Students that work in the virtual classroom must communicate regularly with instructors and curriculum counselors. These people also provide regular progress reports to parents that allow their children to be schooled in this way. This, in turn, means that each student has at least three or four adults keeping track of virtual attendance and academic success. This is way more attention than some teenagers can claim to get from teachers and administrators, especially in our nation's more underfunded educational districts.
Do you think your child is an ideal candidate for an online high school program? If so, you should start to browse the Internet. See if there are any programs founded in partnership with the educational district where you live. In many cases, certain counties fund virtual institutions for people that are incarcerated, living in rural areas, or otherwise incapacitated. A potential student does not even have to fall into one of those categories to use the program. They just have to possess a desire to learn.
If you or someone you know wants to earn that high school diploma, it is time to seek more information about one of these valuable programs. It is never too late to pursue your education. Who knows? This could be that first step you take towards getting a college degree as well. One of the most important things a person can do is invest in themselves. The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

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Keeping Summer Fun and Educational

If you're wondering how to keep this summer educational but fun for your homeschooled kids without creating extra work for yourself as teacher, summer classes are a great idea to explore. Maybe you just haven't had time to squeeze in an art class and your child is really interested in art, or perhaps you've always wanted them to experience team sports, but it just hasn't fit into your school year--summer is the time! Perhaps you want your child to take a class to fill a specific hole in their learning. I talked to a mom recently whose child was not doing so well in their SAT math, and they decided that summer was a great opportunity to take an SAT prep class, because somebody else would do the actual teaching and mom would get a bit of a break. No matter your needs or your student's interests, there's sure to be an interesting class out there for you!
Summer is also a good time for your children to join or form some sort of club, or do some kind of volunteer work. My husband and I worked for a long time at a local clothing bank; but there are also food banks and vacation bible schools out there looking for volunteers. As an extra bonus, these things are really helpful for your student's overall portfolio when they start applying to colleges.
Another great summer activity is to encourage your child to keep a journal. I know a lot of people who are successful with this. While they might not have journal writing during the school year as a subject, their children are willing to journal every day during the summer. This can really help students with their writing skills, and is a fun idea if you're doing travel of any kind-- whether camping, visiting some different area of the country, or just staying home.
Whenever you do any form of summer school, remember to capture the learning your children do and turn it into school credit on their transcripts. Some common summer credits include physical education and occupational education (which simply means that they do some work). When you count these credits, remember that between 120-180 hours of work is one credit, and 75-90 hours of work is considered a half a credit. For instance, maybe your student is in an orchestra or a choir during the summer. You can just estimate those hours and say, "it looks like they're going to spend ten hours a week in class, for the eight weeks of summer, which would be eighty hours, which is half a credit experience."

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Home-School Writing: Help Your Teen Write Any First Draft

When home-schooled teenagers sit down to write their first draft of any paper, there are a few simple things to place before them to make writing that first draft an effective and enjoyable learning experience.
Find Examples:
Before they take the plunge into writing, have your teens look at how other people approach that particular type of paper, how they shape their own ideas. Have them write with the best! Look for examples that are short and meaningful. Long pieces as examples could tend to make the eyes glaze over. The purpose of examples is to place possibilities and further ideas before your writers' eyes. Do not let them think that they must "write like this."
Pre-Writing Material:
Next, they will need the pre-writing charts or whatever note-taking work they have prepared to help focus their thoughts and ideas. They will need the rubric (see my article on rubrics and rough drafts) for that first draft, of whatever type of paper it is, as well. Have them study the rubric carefully, first, and look over the pre-writing notes.
Their Own Rough Draft:
Now, it is important for your budding writer's success in learning to write well that they write any first draft in one sitting with no outside assistance. A short break is fine, but have them set aside the time so that they are not away from writing draft one for more than a few minutes. Your teen should feel free to correct little problems they see while writing, but the first draft MUST be their own ROUGH Draft. That is, it must be what your child writes when they write without worrying about ANY writing "rules."
Write in One Sitting:
Next, write draft one in one sitting with no outside assistance and little, if any, revision. Follow the rules of writing the rough draft. Rule 2: There are no rules; just write. Even forget about the requirements of the first draft rubric. Once your writers have finished writing, have them go back through and be sure they have met the few requirements from the first draft rubric.
I give my students about one hour to write their first draft. That should be plenty of time if the pre-writing work is sufficient. One of my students, Zach, had this comment to make: "I learned that writing can be fun. Mr. Yordy allowed us to let go of all the rules and to "just write!" as he would say."
Mark It High:
Finally, once the draft is completed, check it against the rubric you prepared. Make encouraging comments and give it as high of marks as you can. Point out what they did well. On draft two, your marking will be tough, really tough. But after writing draft one, any writer needs to know the potential and unlimited possibilities for writing effectively that lies (however dormant) inside them.
It is only after draft one is successfully completed that the hard work of writing begins. However, any writer's first experience with writing a paper should leave them with a sense of success and accomplishment. "Writing was not as hard as I thought!"

Daniel Yordy is Your Editor at The Writing Conservatory. He has taught writing to students - and learned writing - for almost 30 years. His effective writing course has been hammered out inside of junior high, high school, and college classrooms.
Maybe you have a student homeschooling high school and you want to know that they can write effectively both in entering college and for life. Or maybe you want to learn to write (and teach writing) well. Check out http://www.thewritingconservatory.com/WritingCourse/index.php?page=IsetA. Help yourself freely to anything you see.
Copyright 2012 by The Writing Conservatory. Freely use without changes, including links.

Glamorising English Makes It Difficult to Learn the Language

Glamorising English makes learners keep the language on a high pedestal. As a result, learners think that it is complex to learn. The moment you glamorise, it becomes three times more difficult to learn the language. You will develop a sense of inferiority and feel substandard. This will be the major obstacle to learn. But, in fact English is not that tough to learn. All it needs is a deliberate effort to pursue it.
Who glamorise English?
Only two categories of people glamorise the language. Firstly, those who are ignorant about it. Since they don't know about it, they unnecessarily think high about it. Secondly, those who have low competence (low IQ). Barring English, they do not have other strengths. They glamorise the language to feel good about themselves.
For them English is not a language, it is a style statement. There are people in certain walks of life with elitist mindset. They learn English not because of the language, but because they think it adds to their celebrity status if they speak the language with confidence. They do not make the right use of it.
Real English is plain and simple
The use of a language is to communicate thoughts and feelings, so that the person you are communicating with is able to understand you clearly. It's not about slang, phrases or foreign accent, it's all about being clear.
Highly successful people keep their language simple and straightforward. For example, Jack Welch, the CEO of GE uses plain English in all his writings and lectures, which is very much direct and easily understandable. As a result, he inspires many people to become successful.
Another famous personality from history is Cicero, a Roman Philosopher. People used to admire him when he spoke. He did speak in a glamorous way, but he was not a great achiever. Julius Caesar, a Roman emperor, used to speak in such a way that people used to march after hearing him, and he is considered one of the greatest heroes of all times.
Great personalities didn't use any tactics to attract people. They didn't glamorise the language. Instead they kept it simple. Real language is simple and straight. It is for this reason that English has been given the status of global language.
First, you need to change your mindset that speaking English is glamour, it is then you can learn it quickly and easily. Learning the language is nothing but a skill. Let us repeat, English is a skill like cycling, swimming or driving a car. You can learn only if you stop glamorising it.

Hyderabad-india-online.com (HIOC) is a website about Hyderabad city in India that publishes updates, information and opinions on Hyderabad markets, real estate, maps and other topics.

Tips For Understanding the Most Difficult Aspects of English

It is said that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn as a second language, and rightly so! For individuals whose native language is English, the language obviously appears very easy for them because they grew up with it and speak it naturally. For someone who speaks English as a second language, however, there are several areas that most people find very difficult to learn and master. This article will review and discuss some of the most difficult aspects of English, as it pertains to this population.
1. Pronunciation differences can be very challenging.
When a person learns English as a second language, they must learn some new sounds that are not in their native language. Each person brings with them some of the sounds from their native language that are most similar to American English sounds. But, because these sounds don't match exactly, these differences create accents. The heavier the accent, the more difficult a person's speech is to understand. Probably the most commonly used sound and the most difficult to learn is the "r" sound because it can be a consonant and a vowel. The America English "r" sound is also formed differently than in most other languages. Other sounds that tend to be challenging are "w", "v", "t", "d", "th", "ih" and "ee."
2. American English grammar has many exceptions to the rules!
English grammar has what we call "regular forms" which follow specific rules and "irregular forms" that don't. Both have to be learned, which makes English grammar very difficult!
Let's look at the following examples:
Regular plural words: To form regular plural words in English, just add an "s" or "es" to the end of the noun.
For example, the word "hat" changes to "hats", and the word "bus" changes to "buses". Easy, right?
Irregular plurals
That would be great if that's all there was to it, but wait a minute, not so fast! Just when you are thinking, "Hey, this isn't so bad", now you learn that there are just as many plurals that don't follow the rules. Irregular plurals can stay the same as the singular form or can change completely. These must be memorized.
For example, "mouse" changes to "mice", "goose" changes to "geese", and "ox" changes to "oxen".
Forming past tense verbs:
Verbs in English must not only agree with the subject, but are formed in specific ways to indicate tense.
Regular verbs
Regular verbs are verbs that follow the rules. For the past tense this means that they will always add "ed" to the end.
Let's take a look at an example:
The verb "to walk" is a regular verb. To form the past tense, add "ed" to "walk", forming "walked."
Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs are verbs that do not add "ed" at the end when forming past tense. These verbs may stay the same or change completely in spelling.
For example:
The verb "drive" changes to "drove"
The verb "say" changes to "said"
3. English is not a phonetic language.
In some languages, it is easy to sound out a word because the sounds that letters make stay the same. English is not one of these languages, which makes it very difficult to learn. In English, there are many instances when a letter or series of letters do not say what you would think they would say, and they may not even be consistent.
Look at the following example of the letters "ough" in words. So confusing!
"ough" can say several different sounds:
"ough" in "rough" says "uff"
"ough" in "ought" says "aw"
"ough" in "though" says "oh"
"ough" in "through" says "oo"
"ough" in "bough" says "ow"
Yes, English can be very challenging to learn. With patience and dedication, however, one can significantly improve their spoken and written English. Practice makes perfect!

To learn more about Cheryl Posey and her accent reduction services, please go to http://www.speakingyourbest.com and check out courses available. For self-study courses, go to http://www.speakingyourbestonline.com.