Recreation and Stress Reduction over the Holidays

Stress sometimes builds up with exams and holiday shopping coming before the holidays and financial woes afterward, however, there are ways to reduce stress. And, remember, holidays are not about spending away too much money, rather, they are about having fun with your friends and family and celebrating values you share, religious or otherwise.

Recreation is an important part of holiday time, too. One aunt may take the children for paintball or spyder vs3 while another bakes cookies with the smaller children. The main point is to get along and have fun, and...relax. Relaxation helps to reduce stress: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/relaxation-technique/

So, go for paintball (Ultimate Paintball: Tippmann, Spyder, Smart Parts, Dye, Empire, Draxxus paintball gear Tippmann A-5, Tippmann 98 Custom, Smart Parts Ion, Spyder Pilot ACS plus many more brands- See http://www.pntball.com for Ultimate Paintball: best prices with free shipping.) or go make cookies...or, read a book, or sit down and talk with Mom and Dad. What ever you do, have fun and keep your stress to a minimum.

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Edits-Jan 2, 2008:

There appears to be a lot of interest in this particular post so I have taken the liberty of adding more stress reducing sites:
http://www.coping.org/growth/stress.htm
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/stress.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stress.html

School starts bringing the Holiday Season

Whenever the holidays were approaching we would be very excited because we could get a book that we had been wanting all year. Careful selection went into the choice of each book. Now that we are grown, we still look forward to getting whatever book we want. That is just one of our family holiday traditions, amid the food and the festivities.

You must have traditions, too: Favorite recipes, special songs, sledding down the hill at Smith's farm, hot chocolate by the fire...

The holiday season is just a few months away! First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and before you know it, you'll be stuffing stockings! Christmas, Eid, Hannukah are special times families gather. Maybe you celebrate a special holiday that few others do. But, typically, the holidays are time to gather with family and friends, to think and reflect over the past year, and to look forward to the future year with goals and plans.

Many holiday traditions involve gift giving. It is important to pay attention to the family budget. No sense going into debt for the holiday gift giving. That will only bring stress. You can write a poem, or make drawings, or wash the car or bake a cake or in a million other ways let someone know you think he or she is special. Make jam, cook breakfast, keep your room clean without being asked. I am sure you can think of many ways. But if your budget allows for splurging a bit, don't worry, CouponChief* is here for you. Just remember not to over do it.

You can make a wish list of your household family members (and pets...) and think of the most amazing gift you would make or buy for them, if you could. These coupon offers may help:
Target

$5 Off $50

Email It More Target Coupons

The Children's Place

15% Off your entire order

Coupon Code: CHIEF77 Expires: Mon, Sep 3rd

Email It More The Children's Place Coupons

* CouponChief.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coupon Chief, Inc. They say, "Here at Coupon Chief, we strive to provide a one stop coupon deal and discount resource for our Web site visitors. Our focus on customer support and providing up to date coupon codes and promotional deals and discounts is unparalleled in the online shopping e-commerce industry."

Protect against Plagiarism

Dragonflies on a summer afternoon...

An article on dragonflies, by Dr J, discussing reducing the global mosquito population while providing topic for art, science, literature and entertainment appeared in TIBU today. Here's the opening and you can follow the link to read more.

Dragonflies offer something for everyone. From techies to artists, children to grandparents, scientists to mosquito-haters, poets to myth-lovers. Most cultures have some stories on dragonflies. Here is a sampling of dragonfly ideas that I have personally selected to share.

For example, the digital dragonfly museum offers a wealth of information on dragonflies (... Based out of Texas A and M University, the museum lists all of these sections: Image Gallery (photos and scans sorted by species) Photos (by photographer) Life History (Ron Lyons´) Emergence Sequence Collection Records Damselflies of Texas Digital Dragonflies Nothing But Butterflies Insects & More Center Home Entomology Home Bioinformatics Page TAMU Insect Collection Other Links Awards. Truly a wealth of dragonfly information, with lots of pictures.

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (996 AD) lists things that are better in pictures, such as a snowstorm, and, things that no picture could do justice, such as a rose. Similarly,dragonfly pictures are beautiful, however, do not compare to the alluring beautiful colors as these insects, of the order Odonata, flit about above rivers, ponds and streams in the summer sunlight. That is something to experience first-hand, like chasing after fireflies on a summer evening. In fact one author has linked these insects in the book, Animal Stories from Bellona Island (Mungiki) by Rolf Kuschel (pg 110-111 c 1975, National Museum of Denmark). In it, the firefly and dragonfly go together to get water. Mythical qualities enter the story and the dragonfly ends up losing it’s lantern (http://casswww.ucsd.edu/personal/ron/C VNC/odonata/cultural_odonatology.html, accessed July 18, 2007).
Read more:
Dr-J, a user of thisisby.us, thought you would be interested in this content:
http://www.thisisby.us/register.php?r=2818
the_enchanting_world_of_dragonflies

The Enchanting World of Dragonflies
Reducing the global mosquito population while providing topic for art, science, literature and entertainment

Sign Language Help

I came across this on Prosper but it looks like a good source of Sign Language Info...



(C)2007 J. S. Shipman

Summer is Homeschooling!!!

And, it's fun, too. Everyday life has much to teach us. Waves at the oceans. Kinds of plants in the woods and prairies. What lichens are on the city trees? What can I find in the zoo, botanical garden, science museum, or park? Enjoy. Reflect. Renew.

(c)2007 J. S. Shipman

You made it through the State Standardized Test

Congratulations. You've accomplished something just by taking the test. Now a word on failure and success. Just like for home runs, successful people have a lot of failures. Failures are the pathway to success. Do not feel bad if you don't pass. Feel great because you are one step closer to success. And, if you did pass, you are one step closer to success. Everyone completing the test is on the way to great success. Keep your goals and your vision in mind and move ahead!!!

Congratulations, again, one and all.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
– Thomas Edison, American inventor

(c)J. S. Shipman 2007

A Synthesis of New Research on K–12 Online Learning

A Synthesis of New Research on K–12 Online Learning (November 2005)
Rosina Smith, Ph.D., Alberta Online Consortium, Tom Clark, Ph.D.,TA Consulting and Robert L. Blomeyer, Ph.D., Learning Point Associates. Source: http://www.ncrel.org/tech/synthesis/index.html. Accessed May 27, 2007.

Here's an interesting article to read, "Online learning is an emerging but rapidly growing phenomenon in K–12 education. Although practitioners believe that online education is effective in reaching and serving a wide range of students, little empirical research has been performed to determine its effectiveness in elementary and secondary settings. Questions remain about the educational needs best addressed through online learning as well as its impact on school improvement and learner outcomes. Programs of research informed by early lessons learned are needed to inform the future development of online learning. "

What do you think?

Email to:
educationresponses@gmail.com

(c)2007 J. S. Shipman

Help a Teacher recover from ID Theft

Prosper

Look up and see the sky
And know that God is everywhere
Watching out for your prosperity.
Little birds are fed,
And, your soul, too. Prosper.
Be blessed knowing God is God.
Peace will find you.
Look up and see the sky.


Copyright ©2007 J S Shipman

Poetry on Science Education and Earth Sustainability

Calling on You
Caribbean Cool Jean
Mental Seeding

High School Aces

Students, Parents, Guardians...The school year is 3/4 of the way gone. It is time to buckle-down, if you haven't already, and study. A good resource: highschoolace.com

Parents helping teens

Standardized testing is a bit like playing a video game. You want to gather as much treasure as you can... To that end, parents can encourage teens and teens can self-motivate and study 15 to 20 minutes a day (or more) of science. What to study. Use your state's learning standards as a guide. But, also consider current events. What was that Nobel prize about? Oh, a winner was in our state...better know that one.

Work on math and vocabulary, too. Believe it or not you need English Language Arts and Math skills in science!!!

A good web site...HighSchoolAce.com
includes, for example:
High School Biology
# AP Biology Essay Questions - UGA
# AP Biology Topics by J. de Nuno
# Biology Corner by S. Muskopf
# High School Biology Review - NY Regents
# The Skinny: Biology Review by J. DiBar
# The Why Files: Biology, Health
(c)2007 J. S. Shipman

Prosper

Jumping Genes for Barbara, ahead of her time!!!

Barbara McClintock (Now famous for "jumping genes" (transposons). People plowed over her research fields to make a parking lot...("When the field behind the Library, which had been Barbara McClintock’s cornfield, was cleared to make the parking lot, I found quite a few points but they were not indigenous to that area. I asked Barbara McClintock about the field and she told me that the soil came from another location." (Source: http://library.cshl.edu/wp/vb/showthread.php?t=418) Barbara received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine which was awarded to her in 1983 for the discovery of genetic transposition)
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_McClintock)).

Plants that look like stones???

A fascinating point from nature is mimicry. The viceroy butterfly mimicking the monarch, for example. But, did you know of plants that mimic stones? Go to http://www.botany.org/planttalkingpoints/stone.htm and find out more. Report back what you think.

Popcorn Popping...That's Science!!!

"Of course you recognized that sound! It’s popcorn popping, and people in the United States consume nearly 17 billion quarts of popcorn each year. But did you ever wonder why kernels of popcorn explode when heated?"

Go to http://www.botany.org/planttalkingpoints/endosperm.php and find out more. What a good activity to share with your family: Having popcorn and talking science!

Parents, Have you been to your child's school lately?

Are you seeing that homework gets done? Does your student listen well and respect others? Is he or she ready to learn? Let your children know you care by talking to them, and by talking to their teachers. As a teacher, I call parents often. I suppose some students erase the tape messages. But, enough get through. Very few parents, however, make it a point to check in at the school. Want to improve education? Encourage your child to learn. Education improves with more parent and guardian input. Mentors are a big help and often parents are the main mentors. Education leads to understanding. Understanding leads to peace. What do you think about that?

Angry at Identity Theft

It takes a lifetime, it seems, to recover from identity theft. I support those who are trying to recover. As we become increasingly dependent on electronic communications, we need to up security and also help out victims. That's my opinion. What's yours?

Watch your money grow

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