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!

Teachers, and for that matter all school districts, need to begin to integrate technology into all classrooms and this article will tell you how.

Computer education for teachers should not be that big of a deal because all teachers who have just began probably already know how to integrate technology into the classrooms, so you should only have to teach those who have been teaching for awhile.

How do you integrate technology into your classrooms though? That is the question all teachers are asking and here is the answer. Research is the number one thing students use the internet for. Many school libraries and even some public libraries do not provide students with the information they need on certain topics but the internet will almost always have the information they need. The only problem with this is the quality of the information but teachers are able to check on that by looking at the foot notes of the article to see where the information came from.

Many schools are now having students take tests on a sheet called a Scantron or other forms of it. A Scantron is a sheet where you have 50 questions on each side, a total of 100 questions, and are given multiple choice questions A-E. The teacher will hand you a Scantron which is where you answer the questions and a test sheet, the Scantron is only a sheet where you bubble in either A-E. The teacher then puts the answers in a computer and a special machine reads the Scantron and automatically grades the test off of the answers the teacher put into the computer.

Besides research and test taking there are many other ways to integrate computers into your teaching. There are now projection screens that allow you to write on them turning them basically into a white board. You are able to watch movies on the white board, stop the movie, and draw over the movie. This is very helpful for History teachers as it allows them to teach the battles and etc.

Not everyone is a fan of fast online bachelor degree programs, as they argue it’s too compressed to learn everything you would in a normal program. Others argue though that accelerated courses are simply the best, easiest and most convenient way of earning your bachelors degree as an adult.

A basic online bachelors degree program may take a student up to five years to complete. This is because the flexibility of online courses allows students to take as little as one class at a time so they can fit their study into their already hectic life schedule.

It is now possible to minimize the time it takes to get a degree by doing an online accelerated bachelor degree program. The fastest online degrees are possible from accredited distance learning colleges, and credits can be transferred if you have earned them from another accredited college. Fast online bachelor degrees are possible in as little as two years through some of the accelerated online degree programs that offer a concentrated year round schedule.

The biggest advantage of taking an accelerated program is obviously that you can get the degree you want as quickly as possible. For most people that need stems from wanting to get a better job and maximize their salary in a position that requires a degree that you don’t yet have.

The other thing to consider is that they have flexible scheduling which means you can organize your study schedule around your current job and lifestyle and you can complete the fastest online degrees from the comfort of your own home.

While this is a great benefit, there are disadvantages as well. Some of these may be that with an online program you don’t get the true college experience of a traditional university. It can also be hard to cram everything into such a tight amount of time. While online programs utilize new technology to offer the best experience they can, for some it doesn’t replace the face to face interaction with teachers and other students.

Taking an online program will [save you money|cost less versus a traditional college program. This is not to say that they are cheap, considering that anytime you get a degree from an accredited university there’s going to be a hefty bill attached. That’s why its advisable to keep your eyes peeled for fraudulent schemes on the internet that offer a degree in a few weeks or a month and want to charge a one time fee on your credit card on day one.

There are plenty of resources available to a prospective online student when it comes to selecting the program that makes the most sense for you personally. Don’t make your selection based on how much something costs. Take into consideration factors such as what career you want to pursue, what types of subjects would you like to take and how fast you can finish the program.

If you’re in a rush to receive your degree, then there’s no time to waste. You need to start planning and researching immediately to find a fully accredited program that suits you best. Getting your bachelor degree is possible in two quick years, so are you ready to discover a fast online degree program?