As believers we are exhorted to be good stewards of our time and resources. Your local public library and/or the Christian school library associated with your home school group are excellent ways to be in God’s will when it comes to stewardship. Libraries offer internet access for research, computer learning games, books, magazines, reference materials, DVDs, CDs, tutoring, special monthly activities, and so much more.

In my four years as a Christian school Librarian, I was amazed to see how little the resources we offered were actually used. I would get so excited when acquiring new materials and my elation would diminish when the students did not respond with the same enthusiasm.

So, how can we get our children excited about the library and all the treasures awaiting discovery? Here are some ways to spark their interest:

1. Make the library a regularly planned part of your home school routine. Using the library should be something your home schoolers anticipate as an exciting part of their week. Schedule weekly trips to exchange reading materials, to develop research and study skills, to use the online resources, to provide volunteer services, to work on a unit study or project, and/or to participate in a weekly library calendar item.

2. Know your librarian. According to Creative Homeschooling: A Resource Guide for Smart Families, “A home school family’s best friend is a good librarian.” (p.208) The Guide goes on to recommend developing a working relationship with the local librarian so that your children feel comfortable asking questions. Librarians are experts in the field of information. It is a science to organize information in a way that is most understandable and accessible to the user.

3. Plan to give back. Libraries need volunteers for various duties including: shelving books, leading book discussions, straightening, assisting new computer users, and reading to young children. The library is a great place for home school families to serve side-by-side.

4. Periodicals. There are many publications we as home school families will not afford ourselves at home. The library has tons! Plan a monthly library trip to peruse the magazine rack or assign a report based on current events best found in the newspaper. There are a variety of newspapers and journals, daily, weekly, and monthly, that your students can use to develop their research skills.

5. A change of scenery. Home school can get monotonous at times. Children are dynamic creatures with many interests. When the schoolhouse is your living room or your dining room table, boredom can creep in if we are not careful. The library provides another environment both literally and, within books, fictionally. It is a great place to feed their minds and stimulate their education outside of the four walls of your home. In addition, books introduce us to people and places we’ve never known before.

Plan some time at your local library. It’s a guaranteed learning adventure!

An exciting revelation of brain research is that educators get to rethink the long-standing “tabula rasa” theory. This refers to the thesis that individuals are born with no innate or built-in mental content, and that their entire resource of knowledge is built up gradually. Researchers now know that children are ready and motivated to learn, not by being fed knowledge, but by discovering the world around them. It’s up to the teachers, parents and caregivers in their lives to provide the inspiration and facilitation. And instead of a mandated curriculum, it’s creativity and individuation that will best ensure a student’s lifelong success.

Children’s curious nature and natural motivation to learn, instinctively facilitate them to walk, talk, master manipulative tasks and do numerous activities that others, from whom they learn, are doing. Educational experiences that allow students to continue learning in the ways that helped them master these important skills are far more beneficial and sustainable than standardized academic programs.

Parents can be erroneously concerned about children learning “the basics”. But what is meant by the “basics?” Sometime during the last century or so, a misguided theory of what is important for all students emerged. Perhaps this model was thought to be important during the industrial age when training people for the labor market was a priority. But we now know that the world is a fast-changing, increasingly open and global society where individuals need to be confident, flexible and independent thinkers and learners. The importance of nurturing these qualities cannot be understated. We’re finally beginning to understand that a child is not “behind” or “learning disabled” if certain concepts do not emerge in a specified timeline. It’s the teachers and parents that are “teaching disabled” when they believe this to be true.

One of the great detriments of current educational precepts is the idea that we compartmentalize information like ABC’s and language and reading in the early years, or as we mature, math and writing and geometry, etc.. This is contrary to recent findings, and challenges our notions of the way people truly learn. Academic subjects that are presented as interrelated can be synthesized in a more meaningful way, thus retained and applied appropriately and in context. According to David Whitebread, author of The Psychology of Teaching and Learning in School, “This natural and powerful way of learning is vastly inhibited when we are presented with new information or experience which does not relate to what we already know”.

Brain development research is confirming that allowing children to continue learning in ways that are organic and inspiring is what true education is all about. Imposing a curriculum with disregard for personal capacity and preferences is an outdated framework in education, parenting and training in general. It’s thrilling to see research support the benefit of fostering an individual’s innate capabilities through a holistic, rather than pigeonholed, approach.

Curriculum of your Choice:

Online nursing degrees are intended to prepare you for the mainstream job market. Online nursing degrees give you the advantage to learn at your own pace and also enjoy the comfort of your home. Since online nursing degrees involves a lot of clinical sessions, you need to undergo your training program at a near by clinic of your choice, or spend few months on the campus to complete the practical coursework. Online nursing degree programs are offered with various options to meet your interests and needs, but one common factor with all of them is that it requires you to complete your non-clinical portion online and the clinical part of the coursework wither on campus or in a near by medical center of your choice.

The practical competence of online nursing degrees should be particularly taken care of when you enroll for such programs. There are no online schools that will allow you to complete the clinical part of your nursing degree online. Moreover, many online nursing degree programs are structured like traditional course programs, which mean that you are given a particular date and month from which your online associate nursing degree program can commence. You do not enjoy the flexibility to start your online nursing degree whenever you want.

The commonly offered online nursing degrees are RN, BSN and MSN degrees. The RN program is a one-year program, which gives you the license to practice as a nurse in any healthcare units. Many online education providers also offer advanced certificate programs in nursing so that you keep pace with ongoing technological changes in different medical centers. You can also receive credentials for your work experience even while pursuing an online nursing program. However, it is not the same with all online institutions. In all, your syllabus for online nursing degree program will be designed specially to meet your specific goals and also handle the critical needs of the health care sectors.