http://www.oureducationalbooks.com Helping your children learn more quickly and easily Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:46:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Wanna’ save a bundle and be environmentally greener, too? Break the habit of using a clothes dryer. Or at least, stop using it to dry thirsty items like towels.  There’s a continuous buzz about using solar energy, right? It’s a snap to begin harnessing the sun’s energy by using a clothes line or an inexpensive folding drying ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/48/cut-back-on-the-clothes-dryer-save-a-bundle/ Here is a primer on how to take fascinating subjects—that we adults are passionate about—and make them deadly dull for schoolchildren. Assign a large number of homework questions and make children answer them in full sentences. Full sentences? Toward what end? Let’s say the homework question is: What is the capital city of ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/33/stop-turning-kids-off-to-learning%e2%80%94hw-answers-don%e2%80%99t-always-need-full-sentences/ "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." These are our sentiments, but not our words; they belong to Albert Einstein. If the words speak the truth, then why has imagination been allowed to slip so far down in the educational scheme of things? We feel strongly that the ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/26/bring-back-imagination-in-children/ Getting homework assignments on-line from teachers' websites is wonderful. However, overusing the service has a down side—it erodes responsibility. The old-fashioned way of copying assignments from the board, legibly, and gathering the books and materials, requires a variety of valuable life skills. It also requires responsibility, the ‘R’ on our acronym ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/19/overusing-teacher%e2%80%99s-websites/ Don’t leave your children’s creative thinking up to schools and teachers; they can’t handle it. This is not to put down teachers or schools, but it is a fact of life. Think about it; there are 25+ children in the classroom, each with lots of needs and each vying for the ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/17/another-job-for-parents%e2%80%94creative-thinking-coach/ We received an email from a mom that begins “My 9 year old son flips out when he has to do math homework. I’ve tried many things to help him get through it.” She goes on to say that by accident, she stumbled upon something that worked. She was doing the ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/8/tips-for-helping-with-math-homework/ “What do pies have to do with math? I looked up ‘pie’ in the math book and couldn’t find it.” This was a frazzled parent talking. It sounds like a cute math joke, but it’s true. The word is spelled pi. It is a cute Greek letter that stands for a ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/46/what-do-pies-have-to-do-with-math/ Remember geometry proofs? For many students, they are the basis of recurring nightmares. Here is good news; they don’t have to be. Just do them as if you were telling a story. Huh? Bear with me. If you were telling a story about your trip to a beach, is there any way ... http://www.oureducationalbooks.com/39/geometry-proofs-made-easy/