With all the homeschool curriculum choices, the lesson plans, the organization, the planning of the calendar, you know, putting the whole homeschool program together, the time involved, my goodness the time involved, the one area of education that cant be overlooked is teaching the child to read. Get them to develop good reading habits. Reading is the lynch pin of all education. When a child masters reading and gains an enjoyment of this powerful skill, they have built a foundation on which they can learn any subject. When you have learned to read, you explore any subject your mind takes you to.

Think about it, reading is the basis for understanding any subject matter. Even learning mathematics is based upon the ability to read each chapter and its instructions. Reading and comprehension is a must. Even beyond the classroom, reading instructions on operating or assembling something, to navigating with a map involves this skill.

If you are having trouble getting your child interested in reading, try first to find out what interests them. What you think they should be interested in may not be what they are necessarily interested in. Early on, take them to the library and just watch what section and types of books they gravitate to. Remember, I said just watch. No need to suggest. Just watch.

Encourage, encourage, encourage. Everyone likes to be praised for successes they have. Your child is no different. Teaching reading is no different.

Also, oft overlooked when working with children and reading is the lack of vocabulary development. Be sure to combine vocabulary building with their reading and match the childs vocabulary level with the books you want them to explore. Many times children get discouraged from reading because they get frustrated by not knowing the meaning of words. Vocabulary building is fun and can be very humorous. Taking words and putting them into funny and ridiculous sentences helps the child learn.

Reading is a foundation worth building. A foundation that carries the child through all subjects, and all their life. Take some time to know how to teach reading. Its a good investment.

Mary Joyce is a former educator, successful homeschool parent, and has written many articles on teaching your child at home for the Homeschool-Curriculum-4u website. Please visit (http://www.homeschool-curriculum-4u.com) for more of Marys articles, resources on homeschool, ideas, and curriculum information.

“Quit Smoking” is the slogan of the hour. We all know that smoking is hazardous to your health. It has very severe ill effects, such as respiratory problems, lung cancer, breast cancer, bronchitis, emphysema, etc. It is thus the need of the hour that we should free ourselves from the clutches of this deadly disease. But it is not an easy task to actually quit smoking completely once a person has started it. Smoking makes a person its slave and he or she becomes addicted to its use.

It is difficult but not impossible to quit smoking. The most important attribute that a person needs to have to quit smoking is self-belief and persistence. It is difficult to stay away from smoking in the initial stages, but with the help of proper medical aid and strong will power - you can overcome the initial stages.

Here are 11 ways to kick off your journey and finally overcome smoking:

1. First sit down and write down why you want to quit (the benefits of quitting): live longer, feel better, for your family, save money, smell better, find a mate more easily, etc. You know what’s bad about smoking and what you’ll get by quitting. Put it on paper and read it daily.

2. Ask your family and friends to support your decision to quit. Ask them to be completely supportive and non-judgmental. Let them know ahead of time that you will probably be irritable and even irrational while you withdraw from your smoking habit.

3. Set a quit date. Decide what day you will extinguish your cigarettes forever.

4. Talk with your doctor about quitting. Support and guidance from a physician is a proven way to better your chances to quit.

5. Begin an exercise program. Exercise is simply incompatible with smoking. Exercise relieves stress and helps your body recover from years of damage from cigarettes.

6. Do some deep breathing each day for 3 to 5 minutes. Breathe in through your nose very slowly, hold your breath for a few seconds, and exhale very slowly through your mouth.

7. Have your teeth cleaned. Enjoy the way your teeth look and feel and plan to keep them that way.

8. Drink lots of water. Water is good for you anyway, and most people don’t get enough. It will help flush the nicotine and other chemicals out of your body, plus it can help reduce cravings by fulfilling the “oral desires” that you may have.

9. Learn what triggers your desire for a cigarette, such as stress, the end of a meal, arrival at work, entering a bar, etc. Avoid these triggers or if that’s impossible, plan alternative ways to deal with the triggers.

10. Find something to hold in your hand and mouth to replace cigarettes. You might try an artificial cigarette.

11. Finally, believe in yourself. Believe that you can quit. Think about some of the most difficult things you have done in your life and realize that you have the guts and determination to quit smoking.

About the Author:
Melvin Holloway
Columbus, GA
For more information visit http://tinyurl.com/hc847

Whether you’re going to stop naturally which I recommend or using medication of some sort. It’s important that you stay focused and plan before you quit smoking.

Why? I hear you ask. Let me tell you why…

I tried to stop smoking once a few years ago. It was the first time I had tried. I didn’t plan or prepare, I just decided I was going to quit. I believed the hype about patches so I just brought a couple of packs to do me the week and smoked my last cigarettes that night. In my mind it was, ‘I’ll quit from Monday’, I’m sure you’ve all done that even if it wasn’t with stopping smoking. Maybe it was something like ‘I’ll start the diet Monday’ or ‘I join the gym on Monday’. Why’s it always Monday anyway?

Getting back to the story. Monday morning came and I was confident I would succeed. I stuck a patch on and went to work. Through out the day I felt bored and anxious. I carried on for another day but at lunch time I just cracked and had to beg for a cigarette off a work mate.

I only went for a day and a half and this wasn’t down to will power but not planning and preparing myself. I could have planned for the boredom and anxiety making sure I had something to keep me busy. I could have also planned to keep away from other smokers so I couldn’t get a smoke.

Here are a few things you should plan for:

Some of these can easily be overcome. Boredom can be overcome by keeping busy. Stress and Anxiety can be overcome by doing exercise (I found this to help greatly). You also aren’t likely to be near other smokers when exercising. Try and keep out of the pub because when drinking your more likely to have a smoke and you’ll also be around other smokers.

To calm your cravings I recommend you try hypnosis like I did when I finally quit smoking for good.

Rob Mellor helps normal people quit smoking in less than 40 minutes. Please visit the site for more information to stop smoking

Hi !
I’m glad you stopped by and I hope you will find something here to help you to Quit Smoking Now.

You’ll find many articles, both old and new that offer lots of good advice to help you quit, as well as many webwsites devoted exclusively to helping you to quit smoking and some that will hold your hand while you try.

But try you must. If you want to quit smoking you should and can quit. And you can quit now. And we will show you how. Sit back and relax. You are about to quit your most unhealthy, expensive, debilitating,and filthiest habit.

You know you need to quit smoking. Please don’t give up.

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