Does Your Child have Ability to Link Letters and Sounds Together? We all know that letters of alphabet form words and that learning letters and sounds is usually predecessor to developing fluency in young children. But how can we stimulate an early interest in alphabet? To keep a child’s mind engaged in learning process, it is a good idea to use fun, exciting hands-on games. Many parents have had success arranging magnetic letters on their kitchen refrigerator and allowing children to touch, manipulate and sound out letters. Another variation is to work with one letter a week starting, for instance, with letter A. Place only letter A on refrigerator and then do a weeklong lesson that focuses on letter A. At end of week place three more letters on refrigerator. Ask your child to distinguish letter A from group, make sound of letter A, and pronounce two or three words that begin with letter A. Continue this learning technique for 25 more weeks until your child begins to recognize and sound out each of 26 letters of alphabet easily. A home-schooling mom who has had remarkable success with developing fluency in her kids has created a useful online resource that teaches children a letter a week. This free curriculum can be found at Brightly Beaming Resources - http://www.letteroftheweek.com/.

Is Your Child Familiar with Words that Form Opposites? Most kids enjoy learning about opposites since it encourages sensory and motor development while at same time developing their literacy skills. Children can recognize difference between sweet and sour by taste, hard and soft by touch, slow and fast by adjusting their motor play, and loud and quiet by altering their voice pitch. This interactive approach is not only enjoyed by toddlers and preschoolers but also provides a great foundation for development of literacy skills later on in life.

Can Your Child Build New Words from a Single Core Word? An important way to develop fluency is to provide children with a rich variety of words. One approach is to a take a familiar core word and build a web of related words around it. For example, using word bat as a core word help children find other related words such as baseball, base, batsman, catcher and umpire. Discuss word bat further using a completely different approach and inspire children to find new words such as nocturnal, caves, wing span and habitat. As children become familiar with related words they gain self-confidence needed to read aloud and to decode new words.

Can Your Child Sound Out Rhyming Words? Rhyming words have sound appeal to kids. Listening to nursery rhymes and poems allows children to appreciate beautiful yet comprehensive forms of spoken language. Encourage your child to sound out rhyming words, making sure to praise him even if words he creates may not necessarily be real words. The idea is that he has mastered listening technique that is required to reproduce similar sounds.

In looking at this rapidly expanding and viable form of education and training, there are a few basic things you need to consider and some decisions you need to make in order to create environment that will best suit your needs. You need to know what, why, benefits and how of various forms of distance learning.

Distance learning (correspondence courses) started in Europe in 1800’s and has evolved into a multifaceted term that serves many purposes. Some of forms of distance learning are: correspondence courses, online education, internet based education, electronic education, e-education, electronic learning, and e-learning. How these terms differ will depend upon how institution defines and labels programs which they offer. To simplify whole concept, let’s say that these terms represent ways of learning away from a "brick and mortar" facility. Some distance learning and/or online programs may or may not be connected to a university or college. There are many programs that are independent and are not affiliated with any institution.

Distance learning offers a variety of paths to personal goals which include: GED, associate degrees, bachelor degrees, graduate certificates, master degrees, doctoral degrees, non-credit training courses, and others. Whether a person is seeking a degree, keeping professional skills updated, or pursuing skills for an interest area or hobby, there is a program or offering that should work.

Why are so many people turning to distance learning? What are its advantages? On a personal level look at such pros as: maintaining privacy; provides convenience; enables a flexible schedule; allows for balancing job and family obligations; working at own pace, going slowly or accelerating learning; can be less expensive; great for homebound individuals; no unnecessary travel; no formal class attendance; and can "learn while you earn." These are a few of many things that are causing quite a number of people to take an entirely different approach to attaining knowledge/skills and/or earning a degree.