Renaissance Woman Online

Parenting is the toughest, most important job most people will ever encounter and yet there is no license required, no training required, and no 24/7 hotline. This is rather short-sighted on the part of society as the cost of bad parenting is immense, but in truth the situation is not as dire as it seems. While no training is required for new parents, it is very easy for parents to learn the ways and means of good parents as well as the traps and pitfalls of bad parents. All it takes for parents to learn more about parenting is to watch, listen, and learn.

Watching is a key element to learning more about parenting. Watch the parents around you and you can learn all sorts of lessons about how to interact with your child, how to discipline your child, and how to teach your child. Almost everywhere you take your child there will be other parents and their children. Watching means observing but also listening. Hear the tone of voice as well as the words those parents use. Some parents use the right words but their tone and physical manner contradicts those words. Watch the children to note their response. Some children respond more readily to their parents. Why? What is different about that parent-child relationship? What can you take away for your own parent-child relationship?

Listen to advice. You don’t need to take every piece of advice that is offered to you. After all, there are many people who are free with advice and yet have clearly demonstrated they are in no position to offer it. However, there is often some really good advice shared by people you know and trust as well as good advice offered by passing strangers in the supermarket checkout line or in the stands at a soccer game. Be a sponge. Keep your ears open. You don’t have to take that advice but keeping your options open gives you the chance to sort out the jewels and benefit from them.

Be an active learner. Seek out information when you face a parenting challenge. Perhaps your child is acting out in a new way and your old discipline technique isn’t working. Search the internet, flip through parenting books, and ask some experts in your circle of friends. Sometimes great advice will come to you but other times you will need to seek it out. The more proactive you are about finding solutions to your parenting problems then the better parent you will become.

Parenting is a challenging job, no question about it, but it also comes with wonderful built-in rewards. Some times parents are forced to take a tough unpopular stand but in the end good parenting comes with its own rewards. Those rewards include a happy, successful child and a warm, loving relationship that will extend long past childhood and span the rest of your life. So who needs special training. If you watch, listen, and learn then you can be the parent you want to be and your child deserves.

You can find good parenting advice at http://answersforyourfamily.com/

There is a huge market for parenting classes in this busy world. Many people find that they do not know how to balance their jobs as parents with their occupational goals, so they attend parenting classes to get some advice and to get some grounding in terms of parenting. These people meet regularly with other parents to share tips, get advice and to gain information in terms of parenting so that they can take what they learn in class home with them to create a better working family.

One of the things people learn about in a parenting class is parenting style. There are virtually thousands of options and many people vary their own parenting style several times during the life of the child. Some maintain a nurturing style throughout and display affection and lavish caring towards the child at all ages. Others maintain a more distant style of parenting, preferring to let words promote the parenting style as opposed to actions. Whatever the parenting style is, parenting classes offer a glimpse into the variations between these notions.

Parenting education is another important aspect of parenting classes. Many people go to parenting classes because of the sharing of information. People find, in talking about their issues, that they are able to learn more about parenting. This sharing of parenting education is prosperous for parents and for the children that benefit from new pieces of shared information about raising a family. With the right education, many parents learn how to treat sickness with their child or how to handle a tough psychological problem with their teen.

There are, of course, options for those parents that are parenting baby. A babies needs tend to be more specific and involve a greater amount of care in terms of parenting needs. A baby needs a great deal of attention, so parenting baby training picks up on that and works with tons of valuable information to create the best possible parenting skill-set. From these types of parenting classes, people are finding more confidence to continue parenting baby.

Regardless of the age group of the children, many parents are finding that attending parenting classes is an incredibly helpful way to go about learning more about the troubles and trials of parenting. It is also a great way to communicate and form a network of other supportive parents. One of the major benefits at most parenting classes tends to be the notion of treating each parent, each member of the relationship, as the same and as equal partners in parenting classes.

There are many options for parenting classes. They are typically offered in community centers or within church groups and run year-round on all of the days of the week to accommodate the busy schedule of the average working parent. Finding parenting classes is typically just a matter of looking in a phone book or contacting local representatives for community information. Parenting classes can make all of the difference in the world, even to the most seasoned parenting veteran.

Find more parenting advice at http://parentslearnmore.com/

There are many different aspects of parenting that qualify as alternative parenting, including Christian parenting, gay parenting and surrogate parenting. All of these are somewhat normative in that they involve loving sets of parents that take care of their children, but many of the details can create a stir in the hearts and minds of detractors. Whether or not the debate surrounding Christian parenting, gay parenting and surrogate parenting is necessary is irrelevant because it exists and we are inundated with it.

As the world changes, so do parenting rights. What once was regarded as being purely for a man and a woman under legal definitions has now been spread to meet the changing needs of our evolving society. Gay families now have equal parenting rights in most North American areas. Marriage rights for homosexuals is another can of worms, however.

While Christian parenting and gay parenting may seem to be polar opposites, they are often greeted by opposition in the public arena because of the controversial viewpoints that exist. While on the one hand, Christian parenting detractors vocalize their opinions on the notion that Christian parenting involves teaching children a “mythology” at a very young age without offering choices, they also advocate that this parenting approach traditionally expresses solid value systems in children.

The same perplexing two-pronged sentiments are expressed towards parents of the homosexual persuasion. One the one hand, many people seem to intrinsically doubt the notion that two homosexual people can be parents. On the other hand, people also think that the only requirement of a marriage and a family relationship is for the two people to be loving and capable of compassion in regards to one another. In that respect, one would assume that the viewpoint in terms of gay parenting seems a little bit contradictory.

Surrogate parenting is another topic that often gets thrown into the mix that affects Christian parenting and gay parenting. Surrogate parenting is the controversial practice of seeking out a vessel to carry a child until childbirth and then passing the child over to another parent. Many people object to this practice because they view it as being “baby farming”. This objection typically comes right on the heels of the statement that a surrogate mother is one of the most tenderly giving women in the world because she gives of her own body. This confusing point of view is more evidence as to the perplexing arena of debate surrounding the various types of controversial parenting.

Christian parenting, gay parenting and surrogate parenting all face an enormous amount of criticism from the general public in terms of what is required as ethical parenting. These issues are typically not ethical issues, however, and instead stem from a very basic and primitive paranoia about the raising of children in the Western world. Christian parenting, gay parenting and surrogate parenting are all important aspects of parenting that should be noted for their loving compassion before any social issue gets in the way of good sense.

Find more parenting advice at http://officialfamily.us/

The best parenting books tend to be the ones written by those with actual parental experience. It seems that this qualifies them to write and discuss parenting, but it may not always make them the best authors. Still, when it comes to taking the advice of either a parent with a little dirt on his or her fingers or the advice of an “expert” with no children, many parents would select parenting books written by the former.

As parents, it is common to wonder how a person with no child-raising experience is at all qualified to write parenting books. Instead, most parents want a book written by someone with knowledge of parenting and all of the trials involved in the most harmful and dangerous of life’s professions.

Many parenting books tend to take a viewpoint that looks at it as parenting from the inside out. This simple philosophy refers to the notion that authors of these books are reflecting on their own personal experience as a parent and are, therefore, offering parenting advice from someone experienced with parenting from the inside out. As someone who has been down many of the same roads before, parenting advice can typically be well-founded when it comes from an experienced parent.

Of course, not everyone that writes a parenting book needs to undergo systematic training for effective parenting. Often in lieu of systematic training for effective parenting, an author of parenting books may have a degree in pediatrics and may be experienced in child psychology. The author can then approach the prospect of writing parenting books from a position of expertise and not necessarily a position of experience. In this matter, the advice and words from an author with such expertise would be well-founded, but the matter of whether or not it would be as broadly accepted as the same advice from an author that was an actual parent is another matter altogether.

Various BBC parenting specials, for example, often utilize the advice of several of Britain’s highly trained pediatricians in their construction. These BBC parenting specials ask for advice from several of the UK’s top experts on parenting and piece together a feature documentary based around that qualified information. The BBC then also asks the advice of parents. In many of these specials, it is often amusing to examine the differences in advice given from the childless experts in comparison to the seasoned veteran parents. While both pieces of advice are typically genuine and can be considered “right”, it seems that the advice from the actual parents in these cases is generally more realistic and based on actual experience as opposed to potential theory.

Parenting books are constructed in the same fashion, but other times a parenting book may be written by a parenting expert based on theories that they are aware of. A parent is more than capable and more than experienced when it comes to knowing about parenting, so trusting their ideas when it comes to parenting books is probably a good idea. Whether you decide on parenting books from so-called experts or from regular parents, both can contain good ideas and great advice for the ultimate task of parenting your children.

Parenting books are often very helpful to parents, especially in terms of getting answers to the load of questions most parents have. Seeking out advice can be difficult, but most of the books on the market contain great advice that is easy and rather pleasant to read. Parenting books can be really helpful in many situations by developing a good understanding of the life-long job of being a parent and tempering it with some good advice.

Find more parenting tips at http://officialfamily.info/

Many students have a certain mindset when it comes to taking distance learning programs or signing up for online learning courses. Some mindsets are correct and some are not. Here is a look at the advantages and disadvantages of taking distance learning online courses.

A better focus and concentration is a huge advantage of distance learning programs. Wasted time commuting and the distractions of listening to lectures amidst a group of shuffling people are gone. Distance learning courses can be worked on when the time is right and when the student can sit down to fully direct his or her attention to the course material.

Everyone in an online classroom gets a chance to contribute. Many times, students grouped in traditional classrooms are reluctant to raise their hand to either ask or answer a question. In a room full of fellow students, pressure to avoid embarrassment is high. With distance learning programs, students are able to think through a question carefully and can post the answer online to the distance learning school website or message board, when they are ready to do so.

Being taught online leaves very little room for cheating or slacking off. As with live classrooms, quizzes and exams through distance learning programs are timed. Through discussion boards of the distance learning school, it is easy to tell whether or not a student understands the ideas in a lesson. There is actually little chance for people to get by unnoticed while competing a distance learning course.

With online courses, there is no such thing as a 7 am class. There is no driving across town and having to hunt down a parking spot that is close to campus. Distance learning programs give students the ease of learning at their own pace and at their own convenience. Students can study their distance learning course in the comfort of their own home.

With that being said, working at home can have its own set of distractions. The sound of the television, the telephone, or the noise coming from kids or pets can be major distractions. Working online can also lead to temptation of doing something more fun, such as chatting via instant messaging or surfing the web. It may not apply to every student, but things like browsing can take out a chunk of time in your day that could have been used towards your distance learning program.

Distance learning courses involve independent learning, with very little physical contact with the teacher or other students. Everything must be done on your own. Taking online classes from a distance learning school usually means things like study groups are nonexistent, due mostly to time or distance constraints. While some students thrive on working independently, other students find difficulty in going at it alone.

When a student has a problem while working on homework or on an exam, the student taking a distance learning course can directly ask a teacher for help. With distance learning programs, though, the teacher and students may not be together at the same time, meaning that an instructor cannot give a student immediate feedback and must communicate differently.

Distance learning programs are taught through a computer and a student must uphold a minimum level of computer knowledge. Knowing just the basics of computer technology is usually not enough for a student to excel within an online class.

Some people don’t fully grasp a new lesson or concept on the first explanation, or when given only one example. Distance learning programs assume that the student will understand the material presented, but many people may need the material presented a different way (or in other words) for the idea to truly sink in. For some individuals, the lack of discussion to be able to thoroughly understand the distance learning course material, might be considered a disadvantage of distance learning programs. However, other means of getting extra help are usually established by the distance learning school and students can find other ways to communicate with professors or assistants.

Learn more about online degree programs at http://learn-more.info/

Accredited distance learning is a great way to work towards changing careers or to give you the edge when working your way up the corporate ladder. Good education from a reputable distance learning school may help you to improve your skills and finally obtain your dream job that provides a better income. The choice of education facilities that offer distance learning is vast. Here are some things to help you make your choice about which distance learning school is best for you.

In fact, there are so many distance learning programs out there that it is easy to see why one can be overwhelmed when attempting to choose one. People interested in medicine can take a distance learning nursing program. Some pursue a distance learning engineering degree. Others sign up for computer technology or criminal justice. The top schools in the nation with solid reputations offer accredited distance learning programs to satisfy almost every educational need, from psychology to golf.

Accredited distance learning programs and online education promise to assist with future goals, but you need to note that you will be investing time and your hard-earned money to obtain a distance learning degree. Considering that, choose wisely. Which ever distance learning school you choose, be forewarned. They are not all created equal. Do some background research to ensure that a potential employer will view your qualifications as viable, due to the credibility of the institute you have chosen.

In order to establish this type of credibility, you will need to be particular about the distance learning school you choose. When looking at potential distance learning programs that interest you, note if the school is a reputable one for distance programs and how applicable or transferable their degrees are. An accredited distance learning school ensures that all the curriculum they offer is keeping up with the changing times. The world changes very quickly as new technology comes out and this increases the demand of many different types of jobs. It is essential that the accredited distance learning school reflect this trend in their organization. Good facilities offer distance learning programs that enable students to graduate with a degree that provides fully transferable and applicable skills.

When looking at specific distance learning schools, make sure that you perform a solid background check as reputation is important. Accredited distance learning is a fairly new concept and therefore some schools are substandard. Does the facility have a long-standing history with traditional classroom teaching? Schools that have been around for years and that have a good reputation usually offer worthy accredited distance learning. Have you heard the name of the school before? When researching potential schools, do you keep finding the name of the accredited distance learning school on different websites or does it seem to be a school lost amongst the pack of bigger facilities?

Accredited distance learning is important, if you wish to show potential employers that you are serious about your chosen career. There are many distance learning schools that offer courses without providing any sort of credit for the instruction you receive, So, you must be aware of this ahead of time. These distance learning courses can be fun ones to explore new skills or to brush up on existing ones, but unless you receive certification of completion or some form of credit, they may not be courses that employers find valuable. If you’re serious about a career boost, find a distance learning school that will provide you the credentials you need.

Find more about learning online at http://howyoucanlearnmore.com/

As an experienced conversationalist who has been wielding verbal words since toddlerhood, you easily move from one group of people to another adjusting your tone, your vocabulary, and your syntax accordingly. Often without thinking about it, you speak differently to your parents than you do to your teachers and differently from both groups when alone with your friends. You would not dream of using the same speech patterns in the locker room and the church sanctuary.

Most writers understand the concept of audience and why it is important to understand who their audience is when composing. Yet simply understanding the “who” of your audience is only the beginning for experienced writers. Effective writing, writing that works and delivers the intended message and effect, must fit within the discourse community it is destined to serve.

What is a discourse community? A discourse community is a group of people who “speak the same language” or in other words people who share an interest in certain topics, share a body of knowledge about those topics, and possess a common vocabulary for discussing those topics. Have you ever been around a group of people who shared a common passion that you knew nothing about? Perhaps it is a particular sport or activity, an artistic talent, or a job, but it is likely that without sharing that same passion you find it difficult to follow their conversation. That is because you are not a member of that discourse community. While they are speaking the same language as you — English — the context of the discourse community changes the way language is used as well as the content of that language.

You already belong to several discourse communities as a result of your family, ethnic, and religious background as well as your personal interests and activities. Students enter the larger discourse community of the instituion they attend as well as numerous smaller discourse communities within that institution including specific classrooms, clubs and organizations, and majors and programs.Workers enter the larger discourse community of their employer and depending on the size and focus of the institution may also enter smaller discourse communities within it as well. For example, in a hospital a nurse might belong to the discourse community of the hospital, the nursing staff, and the Emergency Department.

So why is it important for writers to consider discourse community?

Discourse is a conversation or more extended and more formal discussion of our ideas in either speech or writing. Discourse is important as this is how we communicate in the social world that we live and work in. The social groups we communicate within are called communities. A community is a group of people connected for a common goal or purpose. So then a discourse community is a social group that is involved in discourse.

When you participate in a discourse community you must understand what language is used, how language is used, what knowledge is generally possessed within the community, and what motivated and interests the community. Understanding discourse community extends beyond simply knowng your audience and purpose — it means understanding what words to use, how to frame those words into units (sentences, paragraphs, etc.), and what information is already possessed by community members.

Once you understand the concept of discourse community and begin to apply it to your writing you will immediately see a rise in the effectiveness of your writing. Then you can begin to make informed decisions about every aspect of your writing from the word choice, grammar, and sentence/paragraph construction to tone and level of formality.

Deanna Mascle is a professional writer as well as a teacher of writing. Find more of her writing tips at http://deannamascle.com

Developing an individual writing process is key to your success as a writer. Studies of struggling writers show that one of the reasons they struggle is that they focus on only one aspect of writing.

So what is the writing process? First it is important to note that there is no such thing as “the writing process”. Yes, there is a writing process that embraces the notion that there are certain essential steps that successful writers employ when writing but that process varies greatly depending on the writer and then individual writers also vary their process according to the writing task at hand. That means that there is no such as “the writing process” but that a personal, individual writing process which you adjust to the varying circumstances of your writing can be tremendously helpful.

However, before you can begin to individualize your writing process and then adjust it to different tasks, you must learn more about the theory behind the writing process.

The theory of writing process begins with prewriting or invention stage. This is when you may need to do brainstorming, research, and planning to get started with your writing project. This is the stage that struggling writers spend the least time on and experienced writers spend much more time as they know that more attention and thought at this stage can save time and effort later. This stage may have a lot to show for it in terms of prewriting and research or it might take place primarily inside the writer’s brain. This depends on the individual writer, the complexity of the task, and the familiarity of the writer with the task.

Only after spending time at the prewriting stage do writers move on to drafting. This is where the actual writing takes place but encompasses more than one draft and several sessions of writing spread over time. Drafting focuses on simply getting words on paper and emptying the brain of ideas for this project.

Writers move on to revision after those early drafts have filled out and developed some substance. It is during the multiple drafts of the revision stage that the writing project shapes into something resembling the intended final project. The paper is not yet done but it looks and feels like the intended genre, the ideas are fully developed and the organization is functional.

Then writers move on the editing stage where they attend to correctness issues including cleaning up spelling, grammar, word choice, and polishing the writing. This is the correct time to deal with these issues as concentrating on them earlier in the writing process will slow down the development of ideas.

After editing, writers should seek out feedback for the final stage of the writing process to determine what further revision or editing might be necessary to complete the writing project. Feedback should be sought from skilled readers familiar with either the subject matter or the type of writing project so they can offer more informed review.

While each individual writing process will include some general variation of these elements it is important for writers to recognize that an effective writing process reflects their own individual strengths, weaknesses, and work habits. The writing process should also vary according to the project as well. Obviously a new, complex project will demand much more during prewriting and invention than a familiar topic and comfortable project genre.

Deanna Mascle is a professional writer as well as a teacher of writing. Find more of her writing tips at http://renaissancewomanonline.com

Do you Squidoo? Perhaps you are not familiar with that little orange creature with one big blue eye, but Squidoo is a social networking site utilizing a different system and framework than many free social networking sites. Squidoo allows each account to create as many unique web pages as they like and then individualize each page to reflect the unique topic and individual personality of the creator. The pages are visable to anyone browsing the web and the creator determines how much interaction will be allowed by viewers and other Squidoo registered users. For example, some pages allow anyone to leave a comment or vote in a poll while others allow only other Squidoo users to do so. So far that doesn’t sound all that drastically different from the proliferation of free web hosts, free blog hosts, and other social networking options so why do I Squidoo?

Traffic. I started out with Squidoo simply to promote my various internet ventures — web sites, blogs and ezines. Due to the way Squidoo is organized it makes a great system to capture and redirect traffic. Traffic arrives both from search engines and internally generated traffic. I have found this to be a great traffic generation tool. I have some profitable web sites that I do nothing else to promote except through Squidoo.

Money. While I started out simply to drive traffic to my other money-making enterprises I soon realized there is a number of ways to benefit financially from Squidoo. I can earn income directly from Squidoo based on the internal rank of my Squidoo page as well as from a variety of internal and external affiliate programs. Squidoo has several different affiliate programs programmed in and you are welcome to add as many other income sources to your lens as you want. I earn income every month from Squidoo and I have not even begun to fully capitalize on all my options.

Addiction. I fully admit that I am a Squidoo addict. I check in several times a day on the various lenses (the Squidoo term for a web page) and groups I maintain, I eye my dashboard stats, I haunt the Squidoo forum, and I’m constantly creating new lenses. I don’t think there is a 12-step program for Squidoo addiction yet but there might need to be. I am constantly tweaking, fixing, adding, and altering my existing lenses as well as creating new lenses. Do I have a problem?

Friends. Squidoo is a friendly place. While there are certainly people here ready and eager to make a buck they don’t seem to dominate this network as much as some of the others. Perhaps it is because Squidoo makes it so easy to donate all or a portion of your proceeds to a charity of your choice — and so many Squidoo lens creators are dedicated to supporting a huge range of charities — that makes Squidoo people a nicer group as a whole. Yes, there are people like myself using Squidoo to support or promote a business, but it is not all about money. It is about people and ideas and community. That is what keeps me coming back day after day. I find myself not just checking up on my projects but the projects of various people that interest me — and Squidoo makes it super easy to do just that!

Fun. This could be why Squidoo is so addictive. It is a lot of fun. Last night I created a fan lens for an actor my son likes. We learned things, laughed at some jokes, and sang along with some songs. It didn’t take that long to create and we had fun doing it. How cool is that? I often lose all track of time while creating a lens because it is so much fun. It is very creative and can make a great hobby as well as a business.

Easy and free. Perhaps these are really two separate reasons but I lump them together because while many types of social networking sites are free not all are easy as well. This semester I introduced my college students to Squidoo to create their web presentations and a lot of them thought it was just great. I’ve been requiring web presentations for some time but so many free systems are not easy to learn on the fly — Squidoo can have you up and running very quickly. Also Squidoo doesn’t have the restrictions to the size of accounts or bandwidth use that so many free sites have. The more visitors the merrier according to Squidoo!

So that is the six (or seven) reasons why I Squidoo and I think you should too. You owe it to yourself to check out Squidoo today if you are interested in either a fun new hobby, a great new business, or a way to promote a special interest.

Learn more about why I Squidoo at http://www.squidoo.com/whyisquidoo and find tips to get started with Squidoo yourself!

The pursuit of learning doesn’t come without effort.  Whatever success in education you receive will be due entirely to you.  Consider getting an education as your chance to learn and improve yourself.  Learn to form good study habits now to ensure that you optimize your time in school and reap the rewards of your hard work.  Here’s how:

Don’t cram.
The last minute always seems to be an attractive way to meet a deadline or throw in that extra experimental touch.  If this is your idea of a study habit, better drop it.  Cramming puts unnecessary pressure on you.  You may not feel its bite at first but your mind can only do so much.  Later on, you’ll find yourself slipping and losing valuable information.

It’s best to begin studying well in advance especially before a major examination.  Review your notes and complete whatever assignments you still have.  If you pace yourself, you’ll have more time to relax and enjoy studying.

Use a study schedule.
Having a schedule helps you save time.  Make a schedule you can use on a daily basis to help you establish a strong study habit.  A good schedule should be something you will follow, not something you can revise.  Once you have a schedule in place, you will notice that you have extra hours to spend as you like.  This should be enough to convince you that taking control of your time has its rewards.

Read ahead.
Don’t wait for the last minute before reading your notes.  Try to read at least a chapter ahead, more if you can.  By reading ahead, you will be more prepared for the next lessons and won’t feel pressured to keep up or to cram.

Do the SQ3R.
SQ3R is short for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review.  It can be a very valuable tool in helping you get through any problem, regardless of its difficulty or the amount of your background knowledge.

Look beyond the box.
Don’t just stop with just one source of information.  In this day and age, lack of information is no longer an excuse.  Find out more and learn more.

Use your time wisely.
Time can be your enemy when you’re studying but if you use it well, it can be a very good friend.  It is an extremely valuable resource which  is why it is so amazing how many students actually waste it.  Learn to recognize time wasters and avoid them or at least minimize them.  If you’re wasting too much time trying to understand a concept in mathematics, move on to easier subjects.  Once you’re done with them, you can then begin focusing your attention on the harder topics.

Learn more about self improvement at http://www.squidoo.com/helpselfimprovement