"Neurolearning blog"- A blog about learning, teaching and brain

Eide Neurolearning Blog is created by the persons who are from education field, alongwith physician degree, so their posts are very rich informative source. Parents or teacher can both read the blog to know more about learning and brain related articles.

Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide, who are physicians and from education field. This blog is about brain, learning, teaching and more about these topics.

Few very useful and informative articles:

* In the article "What Today's Students Can Learn from IDEO " it says:
"IDEO is a world reknown and innovative design firm that helped develop Apple Computer's first mouse, the Palm V, the insulin pen, the first stand-up toothpaste tube, and overhauled the consumer experiences of Kaiser Permanente Hospitals and high fashion dressing rooms.

With the Information Revolution, facts and information base are not the essential commodity any more. It's no longer vital to "know that", but rather to "know why" and "how to make better." And these skills are right up IDEO's alley. What IDEO may help specifically with is a more systematic approach to teaching and encouraging problem solving."
To read in details:

* The Blessings and the Burdens of High IQ

* Your Brain with Time- What About Teen Brain?

* Timing is Everything - Dyslexia, ADHD, Auditory Processing, Sensory Integration.

* Research studies have shown video gamers who practice on action games like Medal of Honor have a wider visual span and greater sensitivity to visual detection. But the flipside of this visual sensitivity is increased visual distraction. More at the article: Are Computers Driving Us to Distraction?

Their one of the blog is Classical School Blog which is about resources, links, and lesson plans- including all aspects of the Trivium - Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, Latin and a little Greek, Ancient and Modern History, Great Books and Philosophy, Bible and Theology, and Classical Math and Science. For homeschooling and traditional schooling parents and teachers.

"Bad Credit Offers"-An online credit counseling guide

Money or finance is important to every person, but without any management and plan, we cannot lead a debt free life. Getting credit to repair bad credit is a difficult task. We need to consult credit counseling for the solution of our problems.

"Bad Credit Offers.com" is an online free resource for people with bad credit loans. It not only helps you in your bad credit management, but you can learn about your credit history and get advice from the site.

Mission:

"To provide consumers with the knowledge and resources necessary to help them find the best credit offer to fit their needs, regardless of a bad credit history."

Their experts monitor the credit market place to bring "bad credit" offers at the site. These are the best credit offers which can fit to your financial needs.



Link to the page: Credit counseling

There are many options at the site, which can be checked according to personal financial conditions like as
- Compare credit cards offer
- Credit repair
- Detbt consolidation
- home loans
- Auto loans
- Personal loans
- Credit report and score

Note: BadCreditOffers.com is not a lender, and does not issue credit cards. The site links to third party resources. And the stuff provided at the site is for informational and educational purpose only.

"Parenting.org"- A helping resource for parents

Parenting.org is a FREE resource for parnets. They answer your parenting questions with resources and guidance on how to successfully raise, praise, discipline, teach and love your child.

You can find parenting help, free tips, advice, resources and guidance at this site. There are many valuable resources, articles and stories offering parenting help. It is a site from Boys town.org, a non-profit, non-sectarian organization.
What more you can get from the site?
(In their own words)

"If you're a parent educator or professional who works with families, you've come to the right place.
Whether you work through a school system, a public organization, or private organization, you're expected to help parents. It's a challenge. There are single parents, stepparents, traditional and nontraditional families.
Each parent you deal with,-------

- Represents a different background and circumstance.

- Comes from a childhood of unique and varying degrees of problems and dysfunction.

- Have different parenting experiences and expectations.
- When the diversity is so great, how do you respond? Where do you find sound advice that parents can apply to their own situations? Where do you find affordable professional material and programs to help you on the job?

This is your source for information on things that concern family life. From parenting to child development, you'll find the resources you need."
More about the site:
They specialize in training, consulting, and researching parenting practices that will help you and others like you deal with the day-to-day care taking, guidance, and development of your child.

There are a lot of informative articles according to age group, and you are a parent or an educator, these useful and full of advice articles can be helping source.
- Caring and care for Kids and Children ages 0-4
- Caring and care for Kids and Children ages 5-9
- Help Parenting Tweens, Preteens and Young Adolescents ages 10-14
- Help Parenting Teenagers and High School Teens Ages 15 and Up
-

FREE e-books offers:

1- "What Every Parent Should Know"
(127k PDF File)
"It is about facts on dangers affecting today's youth. Whether you're a mom or dad looking for assurance or struggling to keep your kids free from trouble, this compact guide puts proven solutions at your fingertips.

Concise and easy-to-read, this booklet outlines the warning signs of kids who abuse drugs and alcohol, feel depressed or suicidal, are overly influenced by peers, confused by sex, involved in gang activity, are prone to self-injury, distressed by divorce, suffer eating disorders, and lack the values and the skills to set appropriate boundaries, solve problems, or build relationships."


2- "Rules for Unruly Children"
(724k PDF File)
Rules for Unruly Children, written by Richard L. Munger for use by Boys Town, is meant to change your child's problem behavior as quickly as possible, using simple techniques that will work with most children. This book offers parenting approaches that:

- Can be learned quickly
- Can be used immediately
- Gives quick results
- Work with most problem behaviors

Download link for both books:

Impact of computer use on child's vision

All about vision is a source of trustworthy information on eye health and vision correction options.

How long hours use of computer can effect the vision of our children, there are useful articles about the topic:

According to a survey report:

- 90 percent of school-age children have computer access at home or in school.

- 54 million children in the United States alone use a computer at home or in school.
Several recent studies provide evidence that computers can have a negative impact on a child's vision:

* 25 percent to 30 percent of computer-using children need corrective eyewear to work comfortably and safely at the computer at home or in school, says a study at the University of California at Berkeley School of Optometry.

* The percentage of first-graders with myopia has increased from 12.1 percent to 20.4 percent since 1995, according to a study by the Department of Health in Taiwan.

* A similar study in Singapore found that in three years the percentage of seven- to nine-year-olds with myopia had doubled, to 34 percent.

Sitting for hours in front of a computer screen stresses a child's eyes because the computer forces the child's vision system to focus and strain a lot more than any other task. Twenty years ago, most children played outside, and their distant vision was more important. Today, most children work at a computer either at home or school each day. Sitting in front of a computer and staring at a computer screen is causing vision problems that were not known years ago.

Today it is a "near-point world," and parents need to be aware of the vision problems associated with computer work. Computer use demands fine motor skills from young eyes that are not well developed. Only when the visual system matures is a child better able to handle the stress of a computer on that system.

According to the American Optometric Association, the impact of computer use on children's vision involves these factors:

Children have a limited degree of self-awareness. They may perform a task on the computer for hours with few breaks. This prolonged activity can cause eye focusing and eye strain problems.

Children are very adaptable. They assume that what they see and how they see is normal — even if their vision is problematic. That's why it is important for parents to monitor the time a child spends working at a computer.

Children are smaller than adults. Since computer workstations are often arranged for adult use, this can change the viewing angle for children. Computer users should view the screen slightly downward, at a 15-degree angle. Furthermore, as a result of difficulty reaching the keyboard or placing their feet on the floor, a child may experience neck, shoulder and/or back pain.
Five Tips for Preventing Computer Vision Syndrome in Children
Many pediatric eye doctors believe that environmental stress of the "near-point world" rather than heredity is creating the myopia (nearsightedness) epidemic. In fact, children using computers before their visual systems are fully developed are at the very heart of the public health problem called computer vision syndrome (CVS). To prevent your child from suffering from CVS, follow these five tips:

Before starting school, every child should have a comprehensive eye exam, including near-point (computer and reading) and distance testing.

Workstations should be arranged to suit a child — not an adult.

The recommended distance between the monitor and the eye for children is 18-28 inches. By viewing the computer screen closer than 18 inches, children risk straining their eyes. Read more tips for adjusting the monitor and room lighting to reduce glare.

Parents and teachers should be aware of any behavior that indicates potential problems, such as eye redness, frequent rubbing of the eyes, head turns and other unusual postures, or complaints of blurriness or eye fatigue. Avoidance of the computer may also be an indication of discomfort.

Most importantly, have your child's eyes examined by a computer vision specialist.
Link to the article: Children and Computer Vision Syndrome By Larry K. Wan, O.D.

For parents: (A lot of informative material at) Children's Vision: What Parents Need to Know

* A Guide to Children's Vision Problems

* Vision Therapy for Children

Get parent's advice and tips at "Minti"

There are a lot of message boards or forums for parents but "minti" is different in this sense that it is for parents and from the parents.
This is a social community, where parents can share and gain valuable advice. minti is about advice, friendship and community for parents.

Mainly the site contains articles about parenting and topics range from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, babies, early childhood, schooling, tweens, teenage years and beyond.
It all started in 2005, by Rachel Cook, who was inspired by "wikipedia" and felt the need for "parent to parent advice-opedia"

The story behind the creation of this site is interesting:

What prompted the creation of Minti?

"When becoming a mother for the first time, Co-Founder, Rachel Cook discovered motherhood was actually about trial and error. She sought ways of finding information to alleviate the downsides of this method. She discovered how little concise, detailed information was available to be passed down from experienced mothers and fathers, particularly on what methods worked and what didn't, in bringing up children. Gaining this tried and proven advice was a constant challenge. The really good advice appeared to be spread via word of mouth or on an ad-hoc basis. There was not enough advice and experience captured to choose alternatives from and it was tough to get the 'good advice' spread around the world to other parents.

Rachel researched the space for over more than a year and discovered that a single place where concise, clear advice and experiences from parents and targeted at the modern parent was lacking. The industry 'appeared' to be fragmented and she found mounting evidence of an influx of parents requiring more depth and understanding to the advice. Magazine articles and books were great sources of information but they could not be thoroughly discussed and expanded on. In many situations where serious help was required only those families with high disposable incomes could gain access to expert 'hands on' advice implemented in the home.

If this was the situation in Perth, Western Australia, then what was it like in the world's biggest economy, the U.S. Rachel searched for a site that offered parenting advice "first hand" from parents but could not find one that solved the problem without excessive advertising, "experts" rather than real parents and difficult to search information.

The desire to create a place for parents to share advice on a global footing fuelled the vision to pull a team together to make Minti happen."
Their mission is to create a “the world’s largest parent to parent advice-opedia”.
What site offers?

- Over 4000 parenting advice articles.
- Advice powered by parents, not corporations
- Over 600 interest groups to join
- Free profile page with blog and photo storage
- Membership is FREE

For fresh news and posts:
- minti blog
- The parenting advice page provides advice written by parents, for parents and ranked according to how useful it is.

Sign up at register page and after becoming member you can also write articles about your parent experiences.

Review: "Ashop Commerce"- provider of e-commerce software

As blogs are becoming popular to internet users, more blogs are being created. According to Technorati, currently there are 51.8 Million weblogs and the blogosphere continues to double about every 6 months. Bloggers are now interested in monetizing their blogs. Many bloggers prefer to place ads on their blogs, and many like to sell products at their blogs.

Now selling online has become very easy by using shopping cart software, which can help anyone to sell online. It is mainly a shopping cart software, offering you to create online selling place at your blog or site.

"Ashop Commerce" has provided this software, which is so easy to use that you don't need to know HTML language, or other IT related matters. Because you may get the full manual alongwith the software. You are provided live support from the site. And even you are a blogger or site owner with no previous selling online experience, you are guided well to create your online store with the help of this (shopping cart)ecommerce software.

Check the frequently asked question page for more details.

Site is offering a 10 day FREE trial for shopping cart software.

Role of educational toys and games in skill development

Educational toys are part of the modern educator's curriculum. These educational toys and games are fun to play while they help the child in skill development.

Wikipedia says:

Educational Toys In Child Development:
"Educational toys enhance intellectual, social, emotional, and/or physical development. Educational toys are thus designed to encourage reasonable development milestones within appropriate age groups.

For preschool age youngsters, simple wooden blocks might be a good starting point for a child to begin to understand causal relationships, basic principals of science (e.g. if a block falls from the top of a structure, it will fall until a surface stops its fall), and develop patience and rudimentary hand-eye coordination.

For a child moving towards elementary school, other, more sophisticated manipulatives might further aid the development of these skills. Interlocking manipulative toys like Legos or puzzles challenge the child to improve hand/eye coordination, patience, and an understanding of spacial relationships. Finally, a child in elementary school might use very sophisticated construction sets that include moving parts, motors and others to help further understand the complex workings of the world. Importantly, the educational value derived by the child increases when the educational toy is age appropriate."

In an article from "Creativity Institute" it says:
"Playing with blocks can be good for children with ADHD"

"Block play can be great for many ages. From simple stack-up and knock-over fun to imaginative building. Blocks teach problem-solving skills, because a child discovers how stacking and matching can produce different results. They can also become components of pretend play, because a child can fantasize what the structures are. There are also big foam blocks that are almost "life size" and let children create their own fantasy playhouses. These lightweight blocks are so versatile, they can be climbed on or tunneled under. Magnetic block and construction sets have pieces that connect in more ways than can conventional plastic snap-together blocks and allow even more imaginative opportunities. And don't forget the versatility of the classic wooden building blocks.
Blocks, like many traditional toys, have other educational advantages for a child with ADHD. The number of positive outcomes is limitless, so children can continue playing until they've reached a level of personal satisfaction."

* Nik Nak toys offers: Child Development Chart: It is Child Development Toy Guide for you to use when considering which toys to give to loved ones. This provides guidelines to development stages and then suggests appropriate educational toys.

Teachers can use this guide in kindergarten or pre-school stages, where you need to provide learning in a fun way.

Someone said "Education is what creates true motivated free thinkers." and there is no doubt that when learning is fun, you can get success in creating true motivated free thinkers.

* Find the right toy.com is online retailer of educational toys for all children. It guides you in finding the right toy for your child. This site is useful for both parents and teachers as it guides you to choose the toys, which might help in developing skill level in many areas like as "visual, sensory, social, emotional, and so on.

It showcases meaningful advances in child development and educational learning toys. From kids' mobility toys to visual learning and developmental toys, your leader in educational toys.
What they do?

"We do the legwork for you, sorting through the veritable litany of "developmental" toys and educational "learning" toys. We've taken professional experience in developmental therapy and put it to work, screening toys that make a difference in the lives of children and parents. When it comes to child development and occupational therapy toys, we're serious about success. From kids' mobility toys to sensory stimulation toys and improving hand eye coordination. Our collection of educational toys capitalizes on your child's strengths by using them to develop weaknesses. With developmental toys and more we've put the child back in child development."

* Creativity Institute deals in toys which bring out the creativity in your child. They believe that "Every child has creative ability just waiting to be tapped!"
What they say:
"We've selected toys we believe can help develop creativity in children, whether the creative process comes naturally to them or not.

Through our newsletter and articles featured on creativityinstitute.com, we do everything we can to try to help parents nurture creativity in their children with helpful hints, advice and suggested activities."
Their blog has many useful posts about creativity.

* Learning toy center says in "Why Educational Toys For Your Child?":

"Learning and developing new skills as a child grows can make a big impact on their life. Educational toys and games help stimulate a child’s creativity as well as their development. "

*** Sites providing educational toys and games for your child

Importance of time management in academic career

Every teacher or student knows that time management is very important to improve academic performance.
There are number of sites, which provide time management tips and techniques. A few links are given here:

* Academic Tips.org suggests these tips:

1. Personal Time Survey
2. Study Hour Formular
3. Daily Schedules
4. Don't be a Perfectionist
5. Learn to Say NO
6. Learn to Prioritize
7. Combine Several Activities
8. Conclusion
For the detailed article:

Time management

* www.vt.edu/(Virginia tech) suggests an interactive time management test:
-For the link: Study Skills Self Help Information

* The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are recognized Catholic liberal arts colleges, and they suggest these 23 time management techniques:

23 TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

STUDY WHEN:
- Plan two study hours for every hour you spend in class.
- Study difficult (or boring) subjects first.
- Avoid scheduling marathon study sessions.
- Be aware of your best time of day.
- Use waiting time.
- Use a regular study area.

STUDY WHERE:
- Choose a place that minimizes visual and auditory distractions.
- Use the library or empty classrooms. Get out of a noisy dorm.
- Don't get too comfortable. Sit (or even stand) so that you can remain awake and attentive.
- Find a better place when productivity falls off.

YOU AND THE OUTSIDE WORLD:
- Pay attention to your attention.
- Agree with roommates about study time.
- Avoid noise distractions.
- Notice how others misuse your time.
- Get off the phone.
- Learn to say no.
- Hang a "Do Not Disturb!" sign on your door.
- Ask: "What is one task I can accomplish toward my goal?"
- Ask: "Am I beating myself up?" (lighten up, don't berate self).
- Ask: "Is this a piano?" (or, "Are you a perfectionist?")
- Ask: "How did I just waste time?"
- Ask: "Would I pay myself for what I'm doing right now?"
- Ask: "Can I do just one more thing?" (Stretch yourself).

Article link:
Time management

* time management from study guide zone