Learn Doodling to Make You More Creative

Doodles are simple drawings of just a few meaningless lines. You add your own lines -and colour if you like - to create a sketch of anything you like. The point of doodles is not to create art, simply to use your creative vision.




These two picture show you how to do it.

Doodles are a terrific exercise to help you...

- think more creatively

- brainstorm design ideas

- unlock creative mental block

You can use it for:

- General creative exercise
- Getting started on a project when you lack ideas
- Developing into logos

doodles even make a great party game for kids

This is best accomplished by forcing yourself to complete a doodle no matter how inspiring or uninspiring it may be.

Doodles are great creative thinking exercises because they force you to use your creative vision in order to devise a completed picture from a few lines. In addition, they force you to think visually rather than textually as most people do at work. As a result you are thinking in new ways. You are thinking more creatively.

Doodles are also effective brainstorming tools for graphic designers. Designers looking for an image for a project, a logo or a design concept will find that working through a handful of doodles encourages taking a lateral approach to the problem. The result will almost certainly be new ideas and new images.

Art Doodles are more sophisticated doodles with colours and textures. They are especially designed for graphic artists to complete with their favourite graphics programme.

Link: JPB.com

-_Articles about creativity

What Is "Vision therapy" And How It Can Help in Visual Problems?

If your child is struggling to read or finding it difficult to remain on task, the cause may be an undetected vision problem, even if your child's eyesight is 20/20 and he's passed a routine eye exam.

Current research shows that about 20% of school-aged children have undetected vision problems which are hindering their school performance. Many of these children have passed their school's vision screening, which is only designed to check children's distance vision as measured by the 20/20 line on the eye chart.

Parents and teachers often have difficulty recognizing some visual problems because children don't necessarily know how or what they're supposed to be seeing, so it is the duty of teachers or parents to learn 'how to detect early visual problems of your child?'. Early detection can save years of struggling. We can help our child by identifying the underlying vision deficits that are hindering the child’s ability to perform at his or her potential. "Vision Therapy" is the process which can help resolve vision problems without any medication or surgical help.
As this term 'vision therapy'is new to us, so this post would help you understand 'what is vision therapy and why is is adviced?'

There are many visual skills which are important for academic success. One of the least important skills is termed visual acuity (clarity, sharpness). This is the so-called 20/20, 20/400, etc., eyesight. All that is meant by the notation 20/20 is that a person is capable of seeing clearly at a distance of twenty feet. Unfortunately, how well a child sees at twenty feet has little to do with how his vision functions at the reading and learning distance -- aproximately eleven to sixteen inches from the face. There are many other important visual skills that might not be developed even though visual acuity at distance is normal.

Vision therapy

It is a type of physical therapy for the eyes and brain. A highly effective non-surgical treatment for many common visual problems such as lazy eye, crossed eyes, double vision, convergence insufficiency and some reading and learning disabilities. Many patients who have been told, "it's too late," or "you'll have to learn to live with it" have benefited from vision therapy.

In the case of learning disabilities, vision therapy is specifically directed toward resolving visual problems which interfere with reading, learning and educational instruction.

Optometrists do not claim that vision therapy is a direct treatment for learning disabilities.

Vision therapy is:

- a progressive program of vision "exercises" or procedures;
- performed under doctor supervision;
- individualized to fit the visual needs of each patient;
- generally conducted in-office, in once or twice weekly sessions of 30 minutes to one hour;
- sometimes supplemented with procedures done at home between office visits ("homework");

(depending on the case) prescribed to --
- help patients develop or improve fundamental visual skills and abilities;
- improve visual comfort, ease, and efficiency;
- change how a patient processes or interprets visual information.

Vision Therapy Is Not Just Eye Exercise

Vision Therapy is not to be confused with any self-directed self-help program of eye exercises which is or has been marketed to the public. Vision Therapy is supervised by optometric vision care professionals and many types of specialized and/or medical devices are used in Vision Therapy programs,
such as:
- prescription lenses (regulated medical devices);
- therapeutic lenses (regulated medical devices);
- prisms (regulated medical devices);
- optical filters;
- eye patches or occluders
- electronic targets with timing mechanisms;
- computer software;
- vestibular (balance) equipment
- visual-motor-sensory integration training devices

The first step in any Vision Therapy program is a comprehensive vision examination. Following a thorough evaluation, a qualified vision care professional can advise the candidate as to whether Vision Therapy would be appropriate treatment.

To get more information: Vision therapy.org

Other articles on vision:
From: Optometric Extension Program Foundation

Free and helpful Resources:

* The Children's Vision Information Network is created to raise public awareness about potential vision problems in children. The goal of this website is to educate parents and teachers about frequently overlooked vision problems in the hopes of helping those children who struggle unnecessarily because of undiagnosed vision disorders.

Link: The Children's Vision

- This checklist shows common symptoms children with hidden vision problems can exhibit. It is an excellent screening tool to evaluate if your child is at-risk for vision-based learning or attention problems.
Sypmptoms checklist


* Child and family eyes

* Important information about why your child may be struggling: Vision and reading

Benefits Of Distance Learning And How To Upgrade For Your Career Opportunities

Distance Learning is named as Distance Education, Distributed Learning, or Remote Education. Distance education aims to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site". This post would help you learn the benefits and importannce of Ditance Learning and how to get information from online resources to upgrade for your career opportunities especially to learn about their online mba, online mba programs, online business degree etc.

A majority of academic leaders (57%) already believe that the learning outcomes for online education are equal to or superior to those of face to face instruction."

Distance or elearning has its own benefits including convenience, flexibility, effectiveness, and efficiency.

- Convenience: Distance learning technologies can provide convenient locations for both students and instructors. Many of the technologies, such as the Internet, videotape, and telephone, are easily accessed at home.

- Satellite transmissions can be viewed at specified sites, or the transmissions can be videotaped for later viewing at home or school.

- Flexibility: Many forms of distance learning provide students the option to participate whenever they wish, on an individualized basis. For example, some students may want to review a videotape in the middle of the night or read their e-mail during early morning hours. In addition, one student may wish to spend 30 minutes reviewing a Website, while another spends an hour.

- Effectiveness: Not only is distance learning convenient, it is also effective. Several research studies have found that distance learning is equally or more effective than traditional instruction when the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, when there is student-to-student interaction, and when there is timely teacher-to-student feedback. In a study conducted at California State University, students who participated in a Web-based course, achieved significantly higher test scores.

Affordability: Many forms of distance learning involve little or no cost. For example, over 99% of the homes in the United States have televisions and 65% are connected to a cable-TV service. For these homes, it is relatively easy for the students to watch a videotape or a public broadcast television show. In addition, almost all homes have access to a telephone, enabling the use of voicemail and audioconferencing.

Multi-sensory: One of the benefits of distance learning is that there is a wide variety of materials that can meet everyone's learning preference -- at least part of the time. For example, some students learn from visual stimuli, such as video, and others learn best by listening or interacting with a computer program. If distance learning courses are well designed, they will likely offer learners a wide range of choices, thereby providing the optimal combinations of interaction and media.

Interactivity: Distance learning courses can offer increased interactions with students. In particular, introverted students who are too shy to ask questions in class will often "open up" when provided the opportunity to interact via e-mail or other individualized meand. Through the increased interactions, teachers can better meet individual student's needs.

Distance learning is gaining popularity among adults who are keen to upgrade themselves for better career opportunities. "elearners" provides solution for people who want to earn online business degree, or want to get online mba, online mba programs, online business degree.
etc.

The business section of the site provides information about 174 online business & MBA certificates & online mba programs from 29 Training Providers.

You can not only find information for higher degree programs but you can search for 2000+ online degrees, online colleges & online universities at the site.

Benefits Of Recreational Activities For Children

Hobbies, leisure or recreation activities are not only beneficial for adults, but they are very important for children. Participation in recreation activities leads to well-balanced, healthy and physically-active children.

Recreation activies provides fun learning environments for children. I take Nursery year classes and more I am learning about the importance of play and recreation activities, more convinced I am, that recreation and fun activities play a positive role in development of a child.

The early years are critical. Considerable evidence exists that circumstances in the first years of a child’s life have lifelong impacts on their health, learning, and coping skills.

Participation in recreation programs and activities benefits children in many ways:

* Promotes good physical and emotional development in children; develops motor skills and stimulates intellectual, emotional and social growth

* Develops social skills; i.e. relating to others, learning social roles and reinforcing behavioral norms

* Builds positive self esteem and self worth; children gain a sense of achievement from mastering skills which leads to higher achievement and better results in school

* Develops life and leaderships skills by participating in team and sport activities, being group leaders, making decisions and solving problems

* Facilitates long term health benefits; i.e. physical activity

* Reduces the risk of disease such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis

* Stimulates children’s minds and creative thinking through play, games and creative
programs

* Fosters an awareness of the larger community and cross cultural understanding

* Enables children with disorders to achieve the same level of social, physical and
academic competencies as their peers

* Develops positive attitudes towards the importance of recreation and leisure in
contributing to healthy, active lifestyles

Other benefits to children and families include:

* Recreation provides positive role models for children

* Recreation is a strong mitigating factor in reducing child and family poverty

* Recreation contributes to a healthier, stable family life when parents participate in their children’s recreation activities

Providing recreation for children is associated with good outcomes for mothers
Subsidizing recreation for children who cannot afford to pay, pays for itself through reduced use of social and health services.

Read the full report from Canadian site 'toronto': Pdf version

- The Campus of University of Cincinnati provides some recreational program which can be adopted by schools: Recreation Enriches Children

- According to NSW Child Health Survey 2001 at Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health, 'Favourite activity among children aged 4-12 years', as reported by parents or carers, NSW, 2001 (per cent of parents or carers):

The question "What is [child]’s favourite activity when not at school or in day care?” was asked of parents or carers.

Just over 70% of parents or carers said their child’s favourite activity was
either:

- playing sport
- watching television, videos, movies and using a computer
- riding a bike, scooter, skateboarding or rollerblading


Related posts:

- Recreation, hobbies and leisures providing refreshment to life

- Benefits of hobbies and leisures

- The role of hobbies in our lives

Join the Social Network For Learning - 'ePals'

ePals is a community of connected classrooms, which is equally beneficial for students and teachers.

It is fastest growing K-12 online community for meaningful learning. More than half a million educators and millions of learners across 200 countries and territories safely connect, collaborate and build community.

It offers classroom e-mail, blogs, online literacy tools and Web-based collaborative projects on subjects like global warming and habitats.

EPals says 125,000 classrooms around the world are using at least some of its free tools, reaching 13 million students, and its ambition is to become a global “learning social network.”

What you can do at ePals:

1- Collaborate with another classroom
2- Find great projects and instructional materials at ePals
3- Chat with other teachers
4- Share your successful lessons and resources
5- Connect Your Families
6- Have a say! Cast a vote in the Polls
7- Connect with Email
8- Protect your students with Monitored Accounts
9- Create a Blog - We want to hear what you have to say
10-Ask an ePals Teacher

There are many forums where teachers or students where you can ask questions, read the other member's opinions and place comments.

I could see many posts which are about learning a foreign language. Especially for the people who learn English as a second language

Click on the "support" link to see what you can get from ePals and how to start discovering what ePal is.

Teachers and schools can now create blog at ePal.

"ePals is now making SchoolBlog available at no cost to schools, districts, and learners globally. ePal wants to partner with the education community to speed the rate of safe and collaborative learning around the world.

How to detect early visual problems of your child?

This post would help you understand how to detect if your child is having visual
problems. Earlier you notice vision problem, easier is to cure. I learned this important lesson from my life, because my vision problem was not detected earlier and I spent about one years without realizing it. Later my mother noticed my watching tv from a closer place and consulted an optometrist.

Parents and teachers often have difficulty recognizing some visual problems because children don't necessarily know how or what they're supposed to be seeing, so it's unlikely they will clearly describe visual problems. A child who has never known normal vision or depth perception doesn't know what he or she is missing.

Early detection of visual problems greatly increases the chances of successful rehabilitation. Children should be examined by an eye doctor during infancy and preschool years to detect potential problems with binocular vision. This is particularly important if any member of the family has had ambylopia or strabismus. Testing of binocular teaming skills should be a part of every child's comprehensive eye examination.

Children should be examined by an eye doctor during infancy and preschool years to detect potential vision defects

Look for these signs and symptoms!

You observe the following behavior in your child:

- one eye drifts or aims in a different direction than the other (look carefully -- this can be subtle). This is significant even if it only occurs when the child is tired or stressed.
- turns or tilts head to see
- head is frequently tilted to one side or one shoulder is noticeably higher
- squinting or closing of one eye
- excessive blinking or squinting
- poor visual/motor skills (often called, "hand-eye coordination")
- problems moving in space, frequently bumps into things or drops things

While reading or doing close work your child:

- holds the book or object unusually close
- closes one eye or covers eye with hand
- twists or tilts head toward book or object so as to favor one eye
- frequently loses place and fatigues easily
- uses finger to read
- rubs eyes during or after short periods of reading

Your child frequently complains of:

- only being able to read for short periods of time
- headaches or eyestrain
- nausea or dizziness
- motion sickness
- DOUBLE VISION!

If your child reports seeing double, please take your child for a binocular vision evaluation immediately.
Source: Children special needs.org A site from "The Optometrists Network" which educates the public about visual health and spreads the word about unique aspects of optometric care. Provides patient education free to the public.

Helpful articles:

* Parents' Guide to Children's Normal Visual Development from Infancy to Preschool

Time management tips for kids

Time management is an acquired skill. Parents can help their kids learn to be better managers of their time. The first step to help them learn is to accomplish your own daily task on time. Because you are the first role model for them.

"The difference between successful and unsuccessful people, a lot of times, is their ability to manage time," says Severson, who is a chemistry teacher in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. "Fundamentally, it's a learned skill."

Tips to learn time management for kids:

This report provides advice to parents on managing their child's time. It focuses on critical transition times across a child's daily life when parents say they have the most problems.

Most parents find that by using the following strategies, they are able to increase the amount of time spent on positive interactions with their children while greatly reducing the amount of time they spend punishing and scolding their children.

Most of these strategies require time and effort from parents in the beginning to get their children to follow a schedule. However, by following these strategies, parents often find that they end up having more time in the end.

Morning Routine

Here are some tips for establishing a more pleasant morning routine:

- Get up early. Make sure you wake up at least 15-20 minutes before your children so that you can focus on what you need to get done to prepare for your day.

Many parents find its easiest to complete the majority of their personal morning routine (e.g., shower, get dressed, etc.) before waking their children.

After waking the kids, parents work on making breakfast or lunches so they can easily check up on the kids' progress in their morning routine.

Make a chart. Parents often complain that their children always "forgets" to do something when they're getting ready in the morning. Truth is, many of us "grizzly bears" are forgetful in the morning.

Help your kids to remember by creating a morning routine chart. (Chart is included in full article.)

Include things like washing their face, brushing their teeth, getting dressed, making the bed, etc.

List all the morning activities you can reasonably expect your child to complete on the left side of a piece of paper.

List the days of the week across the top of the paper.

Give your child a sticker or a star for every morning activity they successfully complete on time.

- Reward them with praise each time you give them a sticker.

Give a bigger reward at the end of the morning, or for older children, at the end of the week, for successfully completing a number of morning activities on time.

- Some examples of rewards include:

- choosing a snack or dessert for lunch

- earning 5-10 minutes of free time before school

- and choosing a fun weekend activity (big reward).

Don't demand perfection, especially if your child has not performed many of these activities on their own before.

Reward them for improvements even if it just means completing one activity per day.

Focusing on progress rather than perfection encourages your children to become more enthusiastic and take pride in completing their morning routine.


This document is, one of a series of the Department of University of Florida.

Read the document in detail: Time Management for Kids

- Download 8 page-pdf version

More readings about the topic:

- Download another report from 'Indiana.edu: 'time management'

- Time management, have-to's, want-to's, and goals at: Pbs-kids

- At "Better homes and Gardens" magazine: (There are ads on the page, you can skip by selecting 'skip the page')Time Management for Kids

Download Free 'Help your child' e-books

Parents who help their child in studies need some guidance which is usually provided by the schools, but for good grades, students need to search for extra resources and helping books. Internet is a rich source of information regarding educational stuff. But the information are scattered in a way that usually it is difficult or time consuming to find or search the material. I hope that this blog would be helpful for teachers, parents, or students in finding relevant information or resource links.

You can download these 12- "Helping your child" series e-books FREE. These are not educational or teaching syllabus books, but these books are a guideline for specific subjects. First 9 books are in pdf format, and you would get the downloading instruction from the post. Rest of the 3 books are in brochure form.

These e-books are provided by ED.gov a 'U.S Department of Education" site, to promote student achievement.
"The "Helping Your Child" publication series aims to provide parents with the tools and information necessary to help their children succeed in school and life. These booklets feature practical lessons and activities to help their school aged and preschool children master reading, understand the value of homework and develop the skills and values necessary to achieve and grow."

1- Helping Your Child Learn History

The booklet is designed to help families prepare their children to achieve the lifelong task of finding their place in history by helping them learn what shaped the world into which they were born. Employing the latest research, the booklet is largely comprised of activities that can be experienced at home or in the community for children in preschool through grade 5, yet also features information about the basics of history; practical suggestions for how to work with teachers and schools to help children succeed in school; and a list of federal sources, helpful Web sites and suggested books for parents and children
Download link: To download, click the right mouse button and select 'save as':PDF (2M)

2- Helping Your Child Learn Science

Every day is filled with opportunities to learn science—without expensive chemistry sets or books. Parents don't need degrees in chemistry or physics to help their children learn science. All that is needed is a willingness to observe and learn with them, and, above all, to make an effort and take the time to nurture their natural curiosity. This booklet provides parents of children ages 3 through 10 with information, tools and activities they can use in the home and community to help their child develop an interest in the sciences and learn about the world around them.
Download link: PDF (1M)

3- Helping Your Child Learn Mathematics

Our increasingly technological world demands strong skills in mathematics, not only in the workforce but also in everyday life, and these demands will only increase over the lifetimes of our children. The major portion of this booklet is made up of fun activities that parents can use with children from preschool age through grade 5 to strengthen their math skills and build strong positive attitudes toward math.
Download link: PDF (776K)

4- Helping Your Child Become a Reader

Other than helping your children to grow up healthy and happy, the most important thing that you can do for them is to help them develop their reading skills. This booklet offers pointers on how to build the language skills of young children, and includes a list of typical language accomplishments for different age groups, suggestions for books, and resources for children with reading problems or learning disabilities.
Download link: PDF

5- Helping Your Child With Homework

Homework can help children to develop positive study skills and habits, improve their thinking and memory abilities, and encourage them to use time well, learn independently, and take responsibility for their work. This booklet helps parents of elementary and junior high school students understand why homework is important and makes suggestions for helping children complete assignments successfully.
Download link: PDF (508K)

6- Helping Your Preschool Child

How well children will learn and develop and how well they will do in school depends on a number of things, including their health and physical well-being, social and emotional preparation, and language skills and general knowledge of the world. This booklet highlights techniques parents can use to encourage their children to develop the skills necessary for success in school and life by focusing on activities that make learning fun.
Download link: PDF (725K)

7- Helping Your Child Succeed in School

Every child has the power to succeed in school and in life and every parent, family member and caregiver can help. This booklet provides parents with information, tools and activities they can use in the home to help their child develop the skills critical to academic success.
Downlaod link: PDF (1,600K)

8- Helping Your Child Through Early Adolescence

Learning as much as you can about the world of early adolescents is an important step towards helping your child through the fascinating, confusing and wonderful years from ages 10 through 14. Based on the latest research in adolescent development and learning, this booklet addresses questions, provides suggestions and tackles issues that parents of young teens generally find most challenging.
Download link: PDF (2,090K)

9- Helping Your Child Become a Responsible Citizen

Just as children must be taught to read and write, solve math problems, and understand science concepts and events in history, so must they be guided in developing the qualities of character that are valued by their families and by the communities in which they live. This booklet provides information about the values and skills that make up character and good citizenship and what you can do to help your child develop strong character. It suggests activities that you and your school-aged children can do to put those values to work in your daily lives and tips for working with teachers and schools to ensure that you act together to promote the basic values that you want your child to learn and use.
Downlaod link: PDF (1,687K)

Few more brochures:

10- Help Your Child Improve in Test-Taking
It suggests some simple techniques parents can use to help their children develop the ability to do well on tests.
Link: Help Your Child Improve in Test-Taking

11- Help Your Child Learn to Write Well
This brochure gives parents simple and fun strategies for helping their children learn to write well—and to enjoy doing it!
Link: Help Your Child Learn to Write Well

12- Helping Your Child Learn Geography
Offers many simple, fun activities to teach youngsters the fundamentals of geography—from creating treasure maps to helping children find pen pals.
Link: Helping Your Child Learn Geography