Friday, December 23, 2005

The Gift of Teaching

The Gift of Teaching

Parents are truly the first teachers that their children encounter. They are there in those very vital formative initial years of life, when the most basic functions and abilities are taught and practiced. Values, behavior, and living skills are in the process of forming and the child's environment and the examples of parents weight so heavily in this very delicate balance of becoming a fully functioning adult. When a child matures and reaches the age of attending school, something magical takes place. Interests expand, social skills are just beginning to blossom, and imagination and creativity are being explored and tested. Whether a child attends a home school or a local school (public or private) the next vital components in development are being put to the "max." Science, math, language, history, and all the other subjects that make up a curriculum are vying for the attention and abilities of the child. From printing their name for the first time to solving a complicated math process all add to the qualities and essence that will evolve, expand, and let them become a wonderful asset to the entire world. No longer is it correct to assume that this boy/girl should only fit in comfortably and capably in the goegraphical area he/she calls home, but with the advance of computers and other technological achievements, this child is most definitely a citizen of every other continent and country, and in the future, possibly of other galaxies and planets. With the approach of a new upcoming school year, may all the teachers (parents, educators, neighbors, writers, etc.) brace themselves for the wonderful task at hand. To further the education of any child is the richest, most rewarding experience in life. There can be no more noble undertaking than to lead a child to investigating, challenging themselves and their surroundings, attempting, and succeeding at skills and subjects that will let this child open doors to his/her future. From a parent giving an example of honesty, a neighbor pointing out the beauty of a newly born kitten, a teacher who brings a subject or book to life, and a writer who paints a "word" picture of a sunset, all these individuals play such an important role in the formation and the future of this child. When a child's environment is rich with caring, loving people who want only to bring the sunshine of knowledge and capability into this child's world, then the possibilities are endless, the potential without limit. A book contains written words, a fanciful tale, the recorded experiences of an individual, or the peculiarities of a location, but a "teacher" can infuse life and reality into the material. History becomes a wealth of evolvement and ancestry, science is a world of not-yet-discovered solutions, and the realm of language is transformed into building blocks to reach the stars.

Free Tips For Your Child's Success

Getting free tips for a child's success is something mostparents/guardians are interested in. Most want their child'sacademic growth to improve every school year. Most sincerelycare. Unfortunately some don't, but that's a completely differentarticle. For now, I want to focus on improving the readingabilities of our children immediately.This summer is flying by and soon our children will be back inthe classroom with the eager teachers and their fellowclassmates. My concern as an educator, with over twenty years ofinvaluable experience, is the loss of reading and comprehensionskills over the summer months simply due to lack of reading. Children need to read in order to keep up their skills. Theymust read on a consistent basis to not only maintain but to alsoimprove their skills. Just as any skill or talent, if it isn'tused, it will slowly diminish. Do we really need our children'sreading abilities to begin to waste away as they enjoy the summermonths? I don't think so. Our society can't afford this tohappen either.I frequently compare reading skills to that of a runner's skills. A person that wishes to maintain or improve his or her runningability must run almost on a daily basis. What takes much timeand effort to achieve however, can be very quickly lost if thatrunner takes some time off. Basically, to maintain the skills,the runner needs to run on a consistent basis. This is exactlywhat we are looking to achieve with our children and theirreading skills. We want them to maintain and even improve theirskills. This can be accomplished by reading consistently. Perhaps not every day, but consistently.OK, now I have opened up a very large can of worms, haven't I? Don't get discouraged. Many questions do arise, all of which canbe answered. Questions such as: How much time should my childspend reading? How many days a week? What should my child read? The most frequent question: What can I do to get my child to sitand read when he or she can be rather resistant to the idea? Contact me at mailto:frankw@eticomm.net and I will respond.

Kids and Computing

Kids and Computing

Computers can do much more than help children with their schoolwork - they allow them to acquire valuable knowledge and skills for their future careers.Buying a great multimedia home PC can kick-start your kids into a great career, and not just in accountancy. The new PC industry is looking for artists, writers, storytellers, publishers, games players and designers - but they need to start early.According to Plato, the most effective kind of education is that a child should play among lovely things. While he probably wasn't thinking digitally at the time, with the emergence of powerful and affordable multimedia PCs, children can now play among lovely things and at the same time acquire valuable knowledge and skills that will serve them well in whatever career or profession they may decide to pursue.Today, most children take computers like ducks to water. Even the youngest seem to be alarming clever at setting up and operating all sort of gadgets. Whatever they're using a popular game console or any of the other ubiquitous home or arcade systems, technology seems to be more naturally comprehensible to the average child than it is to the average parent or teacher.With an increasingly large percentage of children living in households with a computer of some sort, in many ways they're now becoming just another home appliance. But for parents who want to help their children at home/school, the apparent labyrinth of technological options can appear depressingly daunting.It's now possible to get great job in computers that isn't about science, maths programming or accountancy. Increasingly, `humanity-based' skills are often perceived as more valuable and computers can get you into a whole new range of professions evolving around games production, multimedia, digital video or publishing on the Internet. Within these, and even more traditional professions - such as journalism, film, television, publishing, advertising, design and music - computers and digital technology have become widespread. And there are probably very few jobs or professions in the future that won't require some degree of computer literacy.Ironically, the digital revolution is creating a market not for narrow specialists, but for `renaissance men and women' who have a broad-based education and a wider skill set that will allow them to change careers and move from field to field with an ease and efficiency that was unimaginable in previous generations. Today, perhaps more than any other time in recent history, education needs to be focused on learning how to learn and on development of study skills that will allow children to acquire the information they need as and when they need it.Remember, helping your child with a computer at home isn't exclusively about using so called `educational software' like they do at school to teach spelling, maths or geography. Parents can often provide more help by encouraging their children to simply use computers more actively and creatively as they are, or will be, used in the real world and to develop creative study and research skills that will complement and enhance their learning experience at school. To do that, you need to give your kids their best chance possible by getting them a really good multimedia PC.But to prepare your children for the future, you need more than hardware and software. The most important thing is to think about what they do with the PC and what you can do to help. Don't worry about starting children too early. As soon as they can control their hands, children will find things to do with a computer. It's not unusual to see three and four-year old happily working with paint programs and even creating and saving files. In many respects, having a computer at home can help older children with their school work in nearly every subject, just as having books at home helps them with reading and research. And because of its increasingly multimedia and interactive capabilities, a PC can provide a creative focus or outlet for even difficult children with no apparent interest in traditional education.This concern about `giving the kids the best' for their education is an emotion that computer manufacturers are more than happy to exploit, with many of them offering PCs that are hyped as the `ideal tool for education'. Then, of course, there's the fact that more than a few parents use their kid's education as a way to justify buying a PC so they can play Doom. But the hardware you buy is only half the story and where home computers are concerned, the bundled software is just as important as the hardware.It used to be that computer manufacturers interpreted the phrase `for educational use' as meaning `last year's leftover stock with a copy of Encarta chunked in'. However, as the home market has boomed, some manufacturers have come to realize that education has its own needs, and are producing systems that combine powerful hardware with a good range of bundled software with an obvious educational or informative bent.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Distiller Water Filters

Water distillers use electricity to heat tap water to boiling point. Generally the Impurities are left in the container and the purified contents go back to a clean container. They need a higher level of efficiency and cannot give immediate supply, because the boiling process must be over before water is present. There are a number of reports in that distilled water is not fit for health because it takes away nutrients from the body, being the most 'unnatural' of water.

Ionized Water Filters
These are generally filtered using an acid and an alkaline. They run between the positive and the negative ends of the electrodes and get the charged and acidic water. They are formed using 70% alkaline water and 30% Acid water. Alkaline and Acidic waters have unusual properties and benefits, but anyway their respective uses could not be more different.

Back flush Water Filters
They are costlier compared to charcoal filter units, but justify this by their claims of longevity. They are highly durable and efficient.