Homeschooling and Rote Learning

Today academicians look down on rote learning or learning by repetition, for they believe that this type of learning prevents understanding the subject. However, they forget that rote learning is required to memorize the alphabets and numbers. If you go by the definition of rote learning that appeared in the 1850 edition of Noah Websters dictionary, To fix in memory by means of frequent repetition, you will discover that rote learning is in fact a very vital element of education, including homeschooling.
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Rote learning, these days, is often disparaged, terming it as blind learning, or learning like a parrot. However, most complex subjects can only be mastered by first memorizing the basics. For example, if a child is not made to memorize the alphabets, how in the world will he/she read a verse from Shakespeare? Rote learning helps in creating an automaticity that helps children to solve advanced problems on the basis of the basic learning that is etched in their mind.

Memorizing something by repetition is one of the easiest ways of learning. Math, as a subject, is especially done best by rote learning. Everyone knows that there is no substitute for the four basic functions of math: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Some people can argue that a calculator can aid the students to perform these functions, but can a calculator help the students to verify the answers? Knowledge of numbers and the principles by which any function is done is very important to decide whether the math answer calculated by the calculator is correct or not. Rote learning gives the student the power to perform all these mathematical functions in his/her head, and even verify the answers on the calculators.

Rote learning is especially useful for learning to read, because along with memorizing the alphabets and mastering the method of writing, it is important to develop a phonetic reflex as well. Phonetics is the sound that an alphabet or a word makes when it is pronounced. These phonetic sounds, which a young child learns by memorizing with frequent repetition, remain a part of his/her memory for life. And when the same child reaches the high school level of curriculum, and starts reading prose and passages from textbooks, the same memorization helps him to read and understand with ease.

Many people will even maintain that while they accept rote learning on an elementary level, it is irrelevant at higher schooling levels because the topics get complex and have to be understood thoroughly to be mastered. However, rote learning is still the only way in which a student can perform advanced mathematical calculations. A student wont be able to solve an algebraic problem with confidence, if he/she does not remember the formulas. The same applies to other subjects as well. For example, to be able to perform experiments in chemistry, a student has to memorize the periodic table to learn about the properties of chemical elements along with their scientific names and other related matter.

It is imperative for a child who is going to give an exam that he/she retains what has been taught to be able to transfer it on the answer sheet. To be able to pass in any examination a child will have to repetitively learn all the topics in most subjects. A student may have understood all the complexities of the topic, but if he/she cannot write them to the examiners satisfaction, the understanding will be fruitless, as far as passing an exam is concerned. Rote learning is, therefore, very much a part of homeschooling, and if done properly, i.e. first understanding the topic thoroughly and then memorizing it by frequent repetition, will make the topic stay permanently in an individuals knowledge bank. This permanent memory can be of great use in future, and a person can always rely on it, to draw upon it whenever required. Read More...

Practical Homeschooling Methods

There are various methods of teaching that are employed the world over. Usually, both private and public schools concentrate on textual content. As the guardian or parent, you have the right to choose the teaching method based on your philosophy or religious belief. According to various studies conducted on this issue, a single method may not be applicable for all. The teaching style, belief systems, and the learning and grasping ability of the child plays a major role in their learning and development.

Tutors or parents should check out the current syllabus followed in schools and other homeschooling institutions. Support groups, which have homeschoolers as members, usually provide assistance to new homeschoolers. . .

After you decide upon homeschooling your children, the next question that arises is what method you should choose to teach. The following are certain guidelines you can use to ensure you make the right decision.

. Read everything possible on homeschooling. It will not only give you a general idea about the present homeschooling scenario, but also inform you about the teaching methods you could opt for.

. Join a support group to get a better understanding of the minute details you may have missed in your background research. Support groups also give out study material according to the syllabus of the student. These support groups can be on the neighborhood level or state level, depending on the geographical and educational rules.

Practical Homeschooling

Children are by nature very curious about many things. It is their tendency to ask questions and say things out of turn. Usually, parents tend to discourage this, which stifles the childs natural curiosity and urge to learn. Although a childs questions may seem irrelevant, or make no sense, if parents continue to be discouraging, it may hamper a childs educational and intellectual growth.

Parents are sometimes overzealous about their child. They often force their children to focus on certain subjects, because those are what they consider important, or have an interest in. Parents should not forget that it is the childs education, and it is their interest that should be determined and followed up upon.

Home schooling is a broad term, and there are many techniques that fit under the term. There are many different styles of homeschooling that you can choose from. Or, you could devise your own using the broad principles of several methods.

The following are some of the common methods of homeschooling:

Scheduled and Structured- According to this, the parent devises a subject wise schedule, like a regular school, which is complied with through the day.

Interest- This is based on the events occurring at each moment. For example, if it is the winter, you could devise the curriculum around the season, or if a friend drops by from abroad, the days curriculum could be a geography lesson. These can be either structured or unstructured, according to your requirement.

Learning- This is based on the learning style of the child.

Philosophical- Implementing educational philosophies and studies to create a curriculum is the basis of this method.

Accommodating- Families with special needs use this approach.

Community- Using outside groups and learning areas as teaching methods.

By utilizing available resources and learning material, the tutor and student should work as a team for the latter to excel in education. This can create deep bonds, and keep the environment at a friendly and open level. Read More...

10 Steps To Developing A Quality Lesson Plan

This guide is not meant to be the one and only way to develop a lesson plan. It is a general overview that highlights the key points of creating a lesson plan. Below is a list of the steps involved in developing a lesson plan as well as a description of what each component should be. You may also find this new Lesson Plan Template to be useful for creating your lesson plans!

1. The first thing to consider, obviously, is what you want to teach. This should be developed based upon your state (or school) standards. You also need to be aware of what grade level you are developing the lesson plan for (and keep that in mind of course), and also record a time estimate for your lesson plan to help in time budgeting. Once you have your topic, you can begin determining how you want to teach the topic. If you didn't use the state standards to help in developing your topic, refer to them now to see what specific standards your lesson plan can fulfill. Having your lesson plan correctly aligned with state standards helps to prove its worthiness and necessity. It also helps in assuring that your students are being taught what your state requires. . . . . If you are able to correlate your lesson plan with standards, record links to those standards in your lesson plan. If writing this lesson plan for a website (The Lesson Plans Page) be sure to include a title that properly reflects your topic.

2. To make sure your lesson plan will teach exactly what you want it to; you need to develop clear and specific objectives. Please note that objectives should not be activities that will be used in the lesson plan. They should instead be the learning outcomes of those activities. As an example, if you wanted to teach your class how to add 2 + 3, your objective may be that "the students will know how to add 2 + 3" or more specifically "the students will demonstrate how to add 2 + 3."
Objectives should also be directly measurable (we'll get to this in assessment / evaluation). In other words, make sure you will be able to tell whether these objectives were met or not. You can certainly have more than one objective for a lesson plan.
To make objectives more meaningful, you may want to include both broad and narrow objectives. The broad objectives would be more like goals and include the overall goal of the lesson plan, i.e. to gain familiarity with adding two numbers together. The specific objectives would be more like the one listed above, i.e. "the students will demonstrate how to add the numbers 2 and 3 together."

3. You would probably find out exactly what materials you are going to use later, but they should be shown early in your lesson plan. This way if someone else were going to use your lesson plan, they would know in advance what materials are required. Be specific here to make sure the teacher will have everything they need. For the addition lesson, you should make sure you have 10 or so unifix cubes per student, paper, and pencils.

4. You may also want to write an Anticipatory Set, which would be a way to lead into the lesson plan and develop the students' interest in learning what is about to be taught. A good example deals with a lesson on fractions. The teacher could start by asking the students how they would divide up a pizza to make sure each of their 5 friends got an equal amount of pizza, and tell them that they can do this if they know how to work with fractions.

5. Now you need to write the step-by-step procedures that will be performed to reach the objectives. These don't have to involve every little thing the teacher will say and do, but they should list the relevant actions the teacher needs to perform. For the adding 2 + 3 lesson, you may have procedures such as these:
A. The teacher will give each child 2 unifix cubes.
B. The teacher will ask the students to write down how many unifix cubes they have on paper (2).
C. The students should then write a + sign below the number 2, like this:
2
+
D. The teacher will then pass out 3 more unifix cubes to each student.
E. The students will be asked to write down how many unifix cubes they were just given. They should write this number below the number 2 that they just wrote, so that it looks like this:
2
+3
F. Students should now draw a line under their 3.
G. Now the students should count how many unifix cubes they have together and write this number just below the 3, like this:
2
+3
----
5
H. Ask students how many unifix cubes they had to start, how many they were given to add to that, and how many they had total after the teacher gave them the 3 unifix cubes.

6. After the procedures have been completed, you may want to provide time for independent practice. For the example of above, students could be given time to add different numbers of unifix cubes together that a partner would provide them with.

7. Just before moving on to the assessment phase you should have some sort of closure for the lesson plan. A good idea for this is to return to your anticipatory set, i.e. ask students how they would divide up that pizza now that they know how to work with fractions (refer to the example in step 4).

8. Now you want to write your assessment / evaluation. Many lesson plans don't necessarily need an assessment, but most should have some sort of evaluation of whether or not the objectives were reached. The key in developing your assessment is to make sure that the assessment specifically measures whether the objectives were reached or not. Thus, there should be a direct correlation between the objectives and the assessments. Assuming the objective were to be able to add two single digit numbers together, an example would be to have students approach the teacher and add two single digit numbers (that the teacher provides via unifix cubes) on paper using unifix cubes as a guide.

9. Adaptations should also be made for students with learning disabilities and extensions for others. Examples would be adding 1 unifix cube to 1 unifix cube for students with learning disabilities and adding 9 unifix cubes to 13 unifix cubes for gifted students. This is best done with specific adaptations for specific students, to take into account their individual differences.

10. It's also a good idea to include a "Connections" section, which shows how the lesson plan could be integrated with other subjects. An example would be to have students paint 2 apples, then 3 more apples below them, etc. to integrate Art into the lesson plan. A better integration would involve creating 2 or 3 different types of textures on those apples, assuming texture was being studied in art class. Putting a lot of work into this can develop complete thematic units that would integrate related topics into many different subjects. This repetition of topics in different subjects can be extremely helpful in ensuring retention of the material.

That's it! If you followed all the instructions above, you've successfully written a very thorough lesson plan that will be useful for any other teachers wanting to teach such a topic. One of the most helpful tips in writing your first lesson plans would be to look at lesson plans that are already fully developed to get a better idea of what needs to be in the lesson plan. You can do this by looking at the lesson plans on this site! Be sure to email comments on this guide to the !

Also, consider developing an advanced teaching skill-set at an accredited online university. Read More...

General Eating Habits Of Snakes

There is no limit to the food items that you can even think of a snake might eat. Different species have different preys that they prefer to have. There are common preys that most of them like to have. According to season they might change their prey. Whatever is available in abundance would become the prey for the snakes. Depending on their growth their diet also varies. A simple search on the Internet for the phrase what do snakes eat would reveal a lot of interesting things to you. Some of the snakes prefer to have a particular prey alone. Even if there is irregular supply of prey in a particular place they could survive that condition since they are cold blooded. 

Some of the snakes like the tentacles snake eat aquatic plants apart from eating fish. Do not think that a snake might catch any prey that passes it. They would evaluate the prey they are planning to catch. If the prey is too small for it to be the meal then it might not even consider hunting. Some of the prey might be bigger for them to swallow. So they might even pass it without attacking it. Rodents serve as the important prey for most of the snakes. Note that it is a mammal. Snakes use their venom and constriction to kill the mammals and this method is well suited to kill the mammals before they eat. That could be one of the reasons for them to eat mammals mostly. 

The other food that they prefer to have is other snakes. It is easy to swallow other snakes since they easily fit their long body. For example the King Snake will eat snakes like rattlesnake by constricting them before eating. They also have other prey other than snakes. It is a wonder that some of the snakes that eat other snakes are harmless. One of the other snakes that also prey on snakes is the King Cobra. 

There are snakes that are considered snail specialists. They eat snails tactically without eating the shell. Snakes like the Brown snake, the thirst snake, and the Southeast Asian Snail eating snakes use different methods to extract the snail from the shell so that they can eat more snails without eating the shells. 

On searching the web for some more content on what do snakes eat you might wonder when you come across other weird things that snakes eat. Centipedes, Ants, termites, Crabs, Toads, crayfish, spiders, carrion, grasshoppers, and skinks are some of the weird items that the snakes eat. Some of the snakes are good in eating the eggs of fish, reptiles, and frogs. Snakes also drink water from the pools, ponds, and the dewdrops using their split tongue.

Read More...

DNA Testing - An Overview Of This Revolutionary Scientific Breakthrough

What is DNA testing? It is specified testing that searches for the absence or presence of DNA sequences. It makes use of molecular methods like DNA chips, arrays, or polymerase chain reaction. Your genetic makeup is carried inside your cells nucleus, which contains the DNA material.  . . .

Deoxyribonucleic acid is the scientific terminology for DNA. DNA determines the cells behavior, function, and structure. What is great about DNA is that not only can it tell the identity of a person, but it can also give information about four thousand genetic conditions and diseases.

There are a variety of samples that DNA testing can be conducted on. For example, semen, tissue, cheek cells, and blood cells all contain DNA. Every person has DNA that is both distinct and unique to only him or her. There is one exception however, and that is with identical twins. DNA can be compared to our individual fingerprints, thanks to the specific nature of DNA testing, paternity can be established. The courts use this method because the results of the tests are generally ten to one hundred times the accuracy required by the courts.

There are advantages and disadvantages to undergoing DNA testing. For example, DNA testing is typically not covered by insurance. Even though we have laws in place that are designed to protect us from health insurance discrimination, many people believe that the results of genetic testing may affect their chances of obtaining insurance coverage. 

Family dynamics is an area of major concern for many people. For most families, the genes within the family are considered to be an heirloom. Therefore, this revolutionary testing might have some negative impact on the family. Furthermore, the testing might reveal relationships that were previously unknown, perhaps paternity, or maybe even reveal family secrets.

This testing can have different types of effects on people both before and after the tests have been conducted. Therefore, it is wise to obtain professional help to deal with these issues and feelings.

The government and courts rely on DNA testing in solving crimes and finding leads. The method of DNA collection have proven guilt in crimes, as well as proven innocence in some wrongly accused of serious crimes or felonies.

You might likely see some advertisements for home DNA testing kits. It is important to remember that they often make promises that they cannot keep. The internet plays host to some of these sales and you could look at paying between $100 and $1,000 to purchase the kits. The General Accountability Office (GAO) states that these tests essentially create predictions that have been unproven medically and fail to provide meaningful information.

The United States FBI is wanting to keep a database nationally of DNA. There is a large amount of controversy surrounding this; many feel that obtaining DNA from any person without first gaining permission is going too far. It is far too easy for them to obtain DNA from a coffee cup or toothbrush.

Summary: 

There are advantages and disadvantages to undergoing DNA testing. The government and courts rely on DNA testing in solving crimes and finding leads. The method of DNA collection have proven guilt in crimes, as well as proven innocence in some wrongly accused of serious crimes or felonies.

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The Debatable DNA Testing - Discovering The Role Your Genes Play

How do you define DNA testing? It is specified testing that looks for the absence or presence of DNA sequences. It makes use of molecular methods like DNA chips, arrays, or polymerase chain reaction. Your genetic information is carried inside your cells nucleus, which contains the DNA material.  . . .

Deoxyribonucleic acid is the scientific terminology for DNA. DNA determines the cells behavior, function, and structure. What is great about DNA is that not only can it tell the identity of a person, but it can also give information about four thousand genetic conditions and diseases. Because DNA testing is becoming cheaper, this is the most popular form of testing. 

There are many uses of DNA testing. For example, to establish paternity DNA is often used. Paternity can also be established in an unborn child. This is done with amniocentesis or CVS (Chorionic Villi Sampling). The latter test is generally done in the early stages of a pregnancy between ten to thirteen weeks along.

To conduct the tests, the obstetrician will insert a needle into the abdomen of the mother. Another method is to vaginally insert a catheter with the aid of ultrasound, to collect the cells. To conduct the amniocentesis test, the obstetrician must collect fluid via the uterus, with the aid of ultrasound to guide them. This test is typically performed at weeks fourteen through twenty-four. Because these procedures are invasive, they should be thoroughly discussed with the obstetrician. 

Breakthroughs with DNA testing happen regularly. For example, now DNA tests can be useful when trying to determine your ancestry. You see, our DNA comes from both of our parents. In general, most areas of our DNA go through dramatic changes. However, there are some areas of the DNA do not change at all. Because of the changes and the things that do not change, the testing is able to link many generations together and reconstruct the history of families.

DNA testing has also become popular with those who have been adopted. This allows them to trace their ancestors and find biological parents. To perform this kind of testing, a doctor will typically rub a cotton swab on the inside of the patient's mouth. It is painless, easy, and quick, so this means even a baby can undergo this testing. The cheek contains DNA within the skin cells and after rubbed in the mouth, it will be on the cotton swab. Then the swab is sent to the laboratory to test the cells, analyze the DNA in the cells, and determine if there is a match within that family.

DNA is also used to solve crimes of a serious nature. DNA testing has been used to prove guilt or innocent in those that stand accused of felonies and serious crimes. DNA is also used, thanks to new technology, to determine an unborn child's sex. This test uses the DNA in the blood of the mother to define the sex of the child, because of the genetic fetal chromosomes found within the blood. This test can be before from week five and on in a pregnancy.

Lastly, DNA testing has been used to conduct an evaluation of health risks and health. The tests can even aid a person in weight loss by defining foods they crave. 

Summary: 

Deoxyribonucleic acid is the scientific terminology for DNA. DNA determines the cells behavior, function, and structure. What is great about DNA is that not only can it tell the identity of a person, but it can also give information about four thousand genetic conditions and diseases. Because DNA testing is becoming cheaper, this is the most popular form of testing.

Read More...