Designing Your Own Educational Board Game

With a little time and effort, you can design classroom activities which are fun and educational. Creating your own educational board game is not difficult, and it doesnt cost very much. And it will be well worth the effort when you see your students engaged and enthusiastic about learning, when they think theyre just playing.

The easiest educational board game to create is bingo. Bingo can be used for just about any subject you can think of. All you need is paper. Create bingo charts for your students which contain grids. Ideally grids should be about 5 squares by 5 squares. Then, of course, youll need bits of paper which youll draw and call out. Only, instead of calling out numbers and letters, in this educational version, youll call out something related to the curriculum. For example, if the students are learning phonics, youll call out words which use the phonics principles youre studying. Or if you want to create an educational science game, you might call out questions about biology. The students will check their bingo boards to see if they have the correct answers.

Another very easy way to create a fun classroom game is to use an old trivial pursuit game and make up your own questions and categories. Regular trivial pursuit has several categories organized by color; all you have to do is make up your own categories and match each one to a color. For example, if you want to create an educational board game specifically for math, your categories could be fractions, operations, algebra, graphs, etc. Or, you could make a cross-curricular educational board game, with categories like math, science, social studies, English, and art. Then, of course, you must come up with questions and answers for each category and lots of them. The nice thing about this board game is that you already have all the component parts. You just need to make up the questions.

Of course you can always be more creative and construct your own educational board game from scratch. Take a large piece of poster board and create a game board with consecutive squares. Have students roll a pair of dice, and move the requisite number of squares just like in Monopoly. On each square, students will find different instructions on where to move or what to do next. You can incorporate trivia cards with subject-area related questions. Be as imaginative as you like. In fact, if you have advanced students, have them make up their own educational board game. You might be amazed at what they come up with!

Eating Disorder Help for Teens

As a high school teacher, I spend close to eight hours a day around teenagers. I get to observe them in their most natural setting, and see how they act around their friends. This is quite different from how they are at home with Mom and Dad, which allows me to pick up on things that parents might never notice. That's why whenever I see a student in need of eating disorder help, I'm sure to let our guidance counselors know right away so they in turn can inform the family.

Unfortunately, anorexia and bulimia are still very problematic in today's society, particularly among teenage girls. I won't bother speculating where the issues start, because in all honesty it doesn't matter if it's Hollywood's fault or Vanity Fair's fault or the parents' fault. The bottom line is that lots of girls are suffering and need eating disorder help from qualified professionals in order to achieve change and turn their lives around.

Because we encounter these disorders more than you can begin to imagine, the school has a list of safe, private facilities that can provide proper treatment in a supportive environment. Many of the students we talk to aren't even aware that eating disorder help is available, which I think is sad ... and dangerous. Some of the girls feel so alone in their troubles that they end up suffering from severe anxiety and depressing, and a few have even confessed to having suicidal thoughts. That's why getting the word out by letting people know about eating disorder help options in their area is a critical step in the right direction.

For teachers, parents, and others interested in steering teens towards eating disorder help, the first step is to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of anorexia and bulimia. There are many, but some of the most prominent include: obsessively worrying about calorie and fat content of food, use of over-the-counter or prescription diet pills or laxatives, frequent lamentations about being fat or overweight (even when that's clearly not the case), rapid or excessive weight loss, highly restrictive food consumption during mealtimes, and frequent or prolonged trips to the bathroom after meals. If you notice any of these signs, it could signal that the person in question needs eating disorder help immediately.

Once the problem is recognized and acknowledged, the treatment and healing can begin. Most programs work on changing the patient's attitudes towards food, stressing the need for healthy choices and a positive body image regardless of what they might see on TV or in magazines.

If you or someone you love needs eating disorder help, the time to act is right now. Find a clinic or treatment center in your area, and begin the healing process today.

Back Up Your Collection with DVD Burner Software

I am a huge movie and television buff. I watch at least three movies a week, and I spend far more time in front of the tube than the average person. I'm completely unapologetic about my habits, too. I don't care if people think I'm a slack-jawed idiot or that I'm wasting my life. I like being entertained, and Hollywood comes through more often than not.

In order to feed my addiction, I buy all my favorite shows and flicks as soon as the DVDs are available. I have tons of box sets from old series like The X-Files, Seinfeld, The Sopranos, Veronica Mars, and The O.C., as well as current hits like House, Grey's Anatomy, Entourage, and CSI. These DVDs are very expensive, which is why I also bought DVD burner software so I can make backup copies of all my discs.

Today's DVD burner software is very easy to use. I can remember just 10 years ago that copying a disc was a very long, complicated, time-consuming process that took forever for me to learn. What's more, there was a lot of room for error back then, and I ended up with one trashed disc after another. It was very frustrating, to say the least. But those issues are over now that I finally have some good DVD burner software.

There are lots of different options available, but all the programs do more or less the same things. Basically, DVD burner software simply copies everything that's on the original disc, and rewrites it to a new, blank disc that you can then save as a backup. When I say the program copies everything, I mean everything. All the menus, chapters, and extras are included, which is another major step forward from DVD burner software of a decade ago.

Many people wonder if DVD burner software is legal. This is a tricky issue, as the major television and movie studios are of course against such products. After all, if you can make backups, then you won't have to buy more copies of the exact same DVDs, which means they're losing out on some cash. But thus far, the law is on the side of consumers, which is why you can buy DVD burner software at retail stores instead of having to scour the black market to find the stuff. And yes, technically you can make copies of discs that you've rented from Blockbuster or Netflix, but this sort of action is definitely illegal and could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in fines for copyright infringement.

If you have a sizable collection of DVDs, then there's no question in my mind that you need to have DVD burner software. It's far too easy for your discs to get scratched, marred, scarred, or otherwise damaged, so backups are an absolute necessity.

Dry Erase Boards for Home or Office

I've been homeschooling my kids for three years now. At first, I was worried about how well I'd be able to prepare myself for each subject and how well I'd be able to teach, but I got the hang of those things fairly quickly. After all, second grade arithmetic is a far cry from calculus, so I've been ok in that respect. In fact, one of my biggest challenges is making sure I have the right materials and equipment on hand to facilitate learning. You might think that fancy laptops and other high-tech devices would be necessary, but I've found that a simple dry erase board is the best tool I have.

Dry erase boards are great accessories for any home or office where conveying information is important. Unlike the old-fashioned chalk variety, dry erase boards are not messy at all. There's no chalk dust to deal with, you don't have to bang the erasers together to get them to work, and your hands don't get gritty and dirty from the markers. Plus, the writing surface is always smooth and perfect, and there's no need to worry about that awful sound of fingernails screeching down a chalkboard.

I bought three dry erase boards to use during my homeschooling efforts. There's a large one that I use for writing out examples when I'm teaching, and then each of my kids has his own smaller dry erase board to write out answers, copy sentences, and so forth. This greatly reduces the amount of paper we use, and is a lot easier on the environment as well.

Offices can make great use of dry erase boards as well. I know that when I was working full-time, we had a dry erase board in every conference room. These were top-end models that had a scrolling surface for continuous writing, and had a printing mechanism that could copy whatever was written and turn it into a physical document. I doubt that any home users would need something so elaborate, but I know this was a big hit with all the clients we had at our meetings.

This type of equipment can easily be found at any office supply store, or you can order online as well. There are all different sizes available, and you can get various easels and stands if you don't want to drill mounting holes into your walls. Markers can of course be ordered from anywhere too, and are not at all expensive when purchased by the box or carton.

Dry erase boards are terrific for a bunch of different applications, ranging from business meetings to homeschooling to memos. If you want a versatile piece of office equipment that's affordable and environmentally friendly, then order your own board today.

Dolphins Tickets

For years Dolphins tickets have been among the easiest to come by in the National Football League. This is in spite of the team's long-standing tradition of success and litany of famous Hall of Famers who've worn the teal and orange.

The problem is that Miami simply isn't a great sports town. In fact it's one of the worst in the United States, up there with Atlanta and Los Angeles. My theory on this is that all three of those places have an inordinately high number of transplants - people from other parts of the country, or other countries entirely - that already have established rooting interests and therefore don't care as much aboutt the home team.

So Dolphins tickets can be had for a song. Compare that to Giants or Jets tickets, and it's a whole different ballgame. Those two teams have combined to build a new stadium at the Meadowlands and tickets are in such high demand that the teams aren't just charging for the cost of the ticket, they're charging for "Seat License" rights. That means if you want to buy season tickets, you have to put down $2000 additional dollars up front if you're a Jets fan to get ahold of them. For the Giants it's even more - $10,000. And people are snapping them up left and right. It's a remarkable lesson on supply and demand, even in this battered economy.

As I've said, Dolphins tickets aren't even in the same league. Miami's high percentage of transplants - either northerners who've moved to Florida for the weather and lack of state income tax, or foreigners (usually from the Caribbean) who have no rooting interest in American Football - limits the fanbase. Sure, some may go to a game or two a season, but rarely are there sellouts and there's never the same, sixty-thousand strong base of lifetime season ticket holders like there are for the Giants and Jets, or Redskins, Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots, and a half dozen other teams.

This also applies to baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer in Miami. All the franchises in these sports have struggled to attract and maintain fans in spite of producing championship level teams in the recent past. Again it's the transplant theory at work.

Interestingly, though, the new soccer franchise in the city, Miami FC, has tried to turn that dynamic around and capitalize on it by marketing heavily in Caribbean and Central American immigrant neighborhoods, as well as in those countries themselves. And it looks like it's begining to work, as the crowds have started to increase for their home games and they've created a hispanic/haitian/jamaican/american identity. It remains to be seen whether this is a viable long-term strategy, but for the time-being it appears to be a step in the right direction.

Save Money with Discount Designer Shoes

I used to be a huge fan of the HBO comedy series Sex and the City, which aired from 1998 until 2004. While most women watched the show for its realistic portrayal of the New York singles scene or for the terrific depiction of the strong friendship between the four lead characters, I watched it because I was in love with Carrie Bradshaw's shoe collection! She had a closet full of the latest Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Gucci, and Prada styles that were absolutely to die for! Seriously, the main reason I watched that show was to get an idea of the latest fashion trends.

Of course, Carrie Bradshaw could afford all that fancy footwear because she wrote a prestigious column for a New York publication and because she was dating millionaire Mr. Big. Those of us in the real world, however, have to shop around for discount designer shoes if we ever hope to wear the same items. There's no way I would be able to afford any of these name-brand sandals, heels, or flats right off the shelf at Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus. At $400 or $500 a pair, I would be bankrupt in no time. Instead, I've learned to shop online for discount designer shoes and take advantage of some amazing bargains.

Finding a good website that sells discount designer shoes takes a lot of time and effort. I have tried dozens of different web retailers in the past 10 years or so, and have had both good and bad experiences. For example, on the bad side, I have run into places that sell knockoffs or replicas rather than the genuine article. That would be fine if the sites were up front about their policies, but they were actually trying to pass these things off as authentic. Needless to say, I ditched those stores as soon as I figured out their scam.

Fortunately, there are some places that offer 100% authentic discount designer shoes to the public. These stores carry a wide selection of all the top name brands (like the ones I mentioned above) at tremendous savings. These aren't factory seconds or "irregular" merchandise. The discounts are possible because the footwear is often out of date by a season or two. But if you don't mind wearing last year's models, then you can purchase discount designer shoes at very reasonable prices. This is how I have been able to amass my own modest collection of the most popular name brands out there.

I used to think that all footwear was more or less the same, and couldn't imagine spending a couple hundred dollars on a pair of pumps. But after trying some luxury brands, the difference is like night and day. There's no way I can go back to wearing the cheap stuff again, which is why I'm glad I can buy discount designer shoes online!

The Most Effective Way to Discipline Children

Every parent has been there. It doesnt matter if youre the best parent in the world. It doesnt make a difference if youre strict or lenient, distant or nurturing. At some point your child will not behave the way you want him to. She will not obey your clear verbal command. He will not respond to your simple instruction. And you will need to lay down the law.

So what is the best way to discipline children? Of course theres no right method; every parent has to find the approach that works best for your family. And every child is different, making a one-size-fits-all approach impossible. But there are some simple guidelines which can help any parent to discipline children more effectively.

The foremost rule of discipline is to think preventively. If you can avert a behavior problem before it happens, you will always be better off. Start noticing the moments when your childs behavior begins to deteriorate. What is setting him off? Maybe your child turns grumpy in the afternoons when coming home from school. That could be caused by hunger or fatigue. Just getting him to bed on time the night before and packing him a snack to eat in the afternoon might prevent the bad attitude later in the day. The trick is to anticipate and avoid problems. If your daughter has a fit because she doesnt want her broccoli touching her mashed potatoes, then rather than arguing it with her, serve the broccoli on a separate plate and the misbehavior is averted. (Sometimes you have to choose your battles.) It is always better to circumvent opportunities for bad behavior than to let the misbehavior happen and then have to discipline children.

Another key rule when you discipline children is that you must always always! be firm and consistent. Children need security and certainty. Though they will protest, they dont really want to be in charge. They want to know that the adults have everything under control including them! So when children defy adults, understand that they arent really trying to get their way. What theyre really doing is testing your boundaries, to see if those limits really exist. Children want to know for sure that youre in control, and they will find out by challenging your control at every turn.

This is why its crucial, absolutely essentially, that you remain consistent when you discipline children. Set up clear rules and expectations. Communicate your rules and expectations to the kids. Provide simple rewards, like verbal praise, when rules are followed and expectations met. When rules are broken, consequences must follow. If threats are made (If you dont stop hitting youre sister Im going to turn this car around and go straight home!) then the threat must be followed through. The moment you allow a rule to be broken, allow a boundary to be crossed, or make a threat which you dont follow through on, youve failed to discipline children correctly. You may not see the failure right then and there, but it will come back to haunt you in spades. No, to discipline children effectively, you must never go back on your word. Be clear, firm and consistent, and the children will know that you mean business.