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Parenting Tips to Get Homework Done Quicker

School isn’t always fun, especially for the child who has a ton of homework and takes a long time to get it done. There are many parenting outlines that you can use to help your child, but this guide is what I personally use and what many of my friends and family use to get their child on the right track to getting their homework done faster.

The Ledger-Enquirer once wrote an article in March of 2009 about the importance of family and how each family played a role in the way each other developed. The article went on to talk about how the family attended an after school program that helped them succeed as a family and eventually helped them to get their children to do what they needed to do in school and at home. The article was useful since it showed that a child who is having trouble getting their homework done, might be doing so because of something going on inside the household.

Why families are important when dealing with homework

There are many things that a family can do to help a child to do their homework quicker. As a mother of six, I know how much children can argue and how sometimes the household can get louder than what you would like. A distraction like noise could be hindering your child’s ability to study or focus on an assignment. There are a lot of things that you can do to help your child to eliminate distractions and focus more, I will be going over these as well as giving you tips on how to bring their grades up.

Distractions from homework

A child can become easily distracted away from their homework if there is too much activity going on in the household. Try removing all distractions or locating your child’s work space in an area that is away from everything that is going on. As a parent who wants to help their child to get their homework done quicker you should also place pens, papers, and other helpful materials in reach of your child and near their homework area.

Is your child struggling?

If a child is struggling then they might not be getting it. If you are not sure if your child is struggling then you should start paying attention to their graded work to see how they are doing in school. If …

Food Drive Ideas to Feed the Hungry

Conducting a food drive is a great way to help your community. Foods collected can be given to your local food bank, soup kitchens, or church. However, people get confused about how to coordinator a fun and productive food drive. Look below for food drive ideas to feed the hungry.

Dance Party

Have a dance at your local hall or community center. This idea works best in small towns because the food drive dance isn’t competing with big city events, like fairs, concerts, and movie premiers. Admission fees can range from 1 can of food, 2 cans of food, or a couple of dollars and 1 can of food.

A friend of mine had a dance to raise food for the local food bank. She charged $2 and 1 can of food for admission. The D.J. donated his services, the owner of the building gave her a discount, and a couple of volunteers brought appetizers. It was a huge success. She had money left over from the drive, so she donated it to the local pre-school.

Competition

People get caught up in competition. It drives us to do our best no matter what it cost. This idea works best on your job. Each department can donate however many cans of food to you for your food drive. The department that donates the most can goods gets a prize.

Get your local businesses involved in donating services or items for your grand prize or second place prize. For instance, a local restaurant can hold a free lunch or dinner for the winning department. Convince the owner to see it as an opportunity to draw paying customers in the future if the food and service is excellent. Co-workers will tell their friends about the experience and dine there with their families.

Raffle

Get some friends together to sell raffle tickets to their friends, co-workers, and family members for 1 can of food per ticket. Get local businesses involved by asking them to donate prizes, like gift cards, electronics, women’s accessories, kitchen appliances, and tool kits.

If you can’t get local businesses to cooperate, talk to friends who make crafts. Blankets, jewelry, homemade rugs, and baskets are just a few craft items that women go crazy for. Look at the craft shows people swamp every year. People love crafts.

Online Donation

Set up an online food drive by going through yougivegoods.com. Donors …

I Hate the Gym

I hate the gym. It’s just a necessary evil I cannot stand but go because I know it helps me. I also have the luxury of not having to ‘work’ in the real sense of the word. I set my own hours and can hit the best home gyms between 10am and 2pm. Any visits outside this time-frame and I regret it every time. It just gets too crowded and you have to wait for machines etc. Groan.

My gym is big, and from what I can tell, the clientele is mostly male. I picked this gym because it’s five mins from my home, clean, has a great variety of machines, but mostly? Because my physical therapist recommended it. I’m usually one of the fattest women there but don’t let that bother me. I also don’t dress the part, so it bodes well together. I’m usually in some ratty t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants that are typically covered in some sort of animal hair–dog/cat/rabbit/goat–pick one. and I typically shower after the gym, so usually I’m in some sort of ball cap. Yes, i am quite the dish. Have I got your attention yet?

Anywho, the point I’m trying to make here is that I don’t consider the gym to be anything more than what it is; a large air conditioned torture chamber that I pay to use. Not a social club, not a place to meet and greet. And certainly, not a place where any mirrors are necessary.

So today, I’m on my favorite torture device, the dreaded eliptical machine. There was nothing on television and I find it difficult to read on those things, so I just kind of zone out and watch other people without letting them know i’m watching. (a talent by the way, that I have mastered to an almost science)

I watched this guy walk the length of the room. Much to my chagrin, most of the walls in this place are covered in mirrors. Fifteen feet of mirrored wall, and a doorway to the mens room. Fifteen more feet of mirrored wall and the ladies room. Fifteen more feet of mirrored wall and the sauna or water fountain, whatever. You get the drift here. So I watch this guy walk and he is totally checking himself out in each and every single mirror. Talk about narcissistic! And it’s not like he …

3 Seafood Sauces That Are Easy and Economical to Make

I traveled across Asia for two years exploring Asian culinary techniques, and I learned a lot about sauces. I also learned a lot about making them and have been doing so ever since. In the U.S. three sauces are very popular with seafood and are easy to make with ingredients you often have on hand. You can adjust the flavors as well to suit your tastes.

Seafood Cocktail sauce.

1 cup ketchup
1 tsp. horseradish
1 tsp. lemon juice

Blend together in a bowl with a fork. Taste and add more horseradish or lemon juice if you like. Great with all fried fish, shrimp, crab, oysters, and clams.

Tartar sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. chopped parsley
1 tbsp. chopped sweet pickle or pickle relish

Blend together in a bowl and once again adjust to your taste. Great with fried fish, on fish sandwiches, as a sauce for tuna salad and salmon salad, fried shrimp, or as a glazing sauce for broiled or baked fish.

Dijonnaise

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup of Dijon mustard

Blend in a bowl and serve. Great with more robust fish like salmon, mackerel and other oily fish. Also great as a baste or glaze for baked and broiled fish . Good with all shellfish.

I’ll often make two or three of these sauces whenever we have fish. It gives everyone a chance to explore; find their favorite and have all they want. You can experiment with ingredient variations from hot sauce to spices like paprika and develop a family favorite.…

Healthy Lunch Alternatives for College Students

Many things can cause an unhealthy lifestyle while in college. Late night cramming, grabbing junk food, running to and from classes and heavy homework loads may contribute to unhealthy weight gain. This can cause students to eat on the run or not eat at all.
www.freshman15.com/healthy-eating-guide.php

Keep in mind that going without eating is one of the unhealthiest things you can do to your body. Make healthy food choices throughout the day and always have healthy snacks on hand. Lunch is important during the afternoon, because this is when energy in the body starts to plummet. By eating lunch, you are telling your body that you need energy for the remainder of the day. If all your classes are in the afternoon, this makes lunch even more important. Stick to whole grains, fruits, and vegetables so that you retain energy longer. Healthy snacks are okay to eat a couple of times a day, as long as you are staying within a reasonable portion.

Instead of grabbing a sub or sandwich from a fast food restaurant, make something of your own. This way, you are saving money, time and making your sandwich the way you want. Choose cheese that is low in fat but keep it to a minimum. According to the USDA food guide pyramid website, by switching to whole wheat from white bread in your lunch, you will gain added fiber and essential vitamins such as vitamin B6 and vitamin E.
www.mypyramid.gov

Many teens and young adults crave deep fried foods–especially if they are under pressure or stress. French fries are a popular food among college students. If you are a french fry fan, choose healthy alternatives such as baked fries or baked sweet potatoes. Season them up with vinegar, garlic and pepper and stay away from salt which promotes bloating and water retention.
www.freshman15.com/healthy-eating-guide.php

Make your own tuna and chicken salad at home, ahead of time. Replace mayonnaise with a low fat salad dressing. Wrap your salad in a large lettuce leaf or low fat sandwich wrap. Enclose in a reusable container that will prevent excess waste.

Many college students enjoy potato chips alongside their favorite sandwich. A healthy replacement may be 10 to 12 small pretzels or 100 calorie low fat chip packs. A cheaper option would be to buy low fat snacks in large bags and portion control the right amount into small snack size baggies …

Bigger Muscles

Bigger muscle will happen if you give the body a reason to respond and time for it to grow. The other day I saw a routine for the back that left me scratching my head. Pull ups 4×10, rack pulls 4×5-8, lat pulldowns 3×5-8, bent over rows 3×5-8, seated rows 3×5-8, t bar rows 3×5-8, shrugs 3×12. Wow. How could anyone grow from all that. That is a lot of exercises. That is a huge waste of time. Pull ups and lat pulldowns work the same muscle group on the same plane. The same with the bent over rows, seated rows, and the tbar rows, same exercise plan all training the same muscles. You are doing the same exercise over and over again. Also that is 23 sets, not the back could not handle that, but not every back training day. With that kind of work no wonder this guy is not growing. You want bigger muscles then train for them. Use bigger exercises. You want bigger muscle, then lift like you want bigger muscles. Stopping training with a marathon work routine. Cut back on the sets, add some weight. Cut back on all those exercises, try something bigger. Big muscles call for big exercises. Big exercises call for big weights. Big weights equal bigger muscles. It works every single time.

Using the back as the muscle we want to train lets look at a simple routine. One exercise a day. One muscle group a day. The catch is that most of the big exercises that you will chose form for the chest, back, and the legs are going to involve other muscle groups and exhaust you, so you will not be training often. Giving your body time to grow. The exercises that you would chose from are the deadlift, the power clean, the snatch, the good morning, the bent over row, and the like. All will involve the hamstrings, lower back, traps, biceps, forearms, rear of the shoulders and the abs. That is a lot of muscle to be worked with one exercise. Now the routine itself is rather easy, start with an empty bar. Warm up with an empty bar doing rep after rep of the movement that have chosen. Now after each set add weight, in a basic pyramid. Add weight to each set and doing as many reps as possible. Next add more weight and keep …

3 Meals You Can Make with Farmer's Market Food

The farmer’s market has become a weekend ritual for many twenty-somethings. Meeting a friend for coffee and a food-truck breakfast is a great way to catch up and support local small businesses. Make a quick visit to the other vendors before you leave and you’ll have a fresh, healthy mix of local food and produce. Here are three meals you can make with farmer’s market food.

Breakfast: Ciabatta french toast with berries

Pick up a loaf of ciabatta from your favorite local baker at the market. Dip thick slices of the bread in a mixture of farm-fresh eggs and organic milk. Cook for three minutes on each side and serve with berries from your favorite fruit vendor (use what’s in season). Bonus points for using 100% real maple syrup.

Lunch: Farmer’s market salad

Start with a bed of local spinach or kale. Add in a variety of local, in-season produce. The United States Department of Agriculture has a list of what is best in each season (check here for summer’s list). Add in a hard-boiled egg (farm-fresh, of course) and top with a locally-prepared salad dressing. Many farmer’s markets sell fresh-pressed juice, which would complement this salad.

Dinner: Grass-fed beef or bison burgers and sweet potato fries

Depending on your farmer’s market, you should be able to find a beef vendor. Look for a local farm that produces 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef. Toast your leftover ciabatta for a unique bun, or pick up butter lettuce for a carb-friendly option. Serve with homemade sweet potato fries (slice organic sweet potatoes, drizzle with oil, and bake or grill for 25-35 minutes). Make your own ketchup with this recipe from Simply Scratch if you have time. Pair with beer from your local craft brewery and you’re set!

Eating healthy and local does not have to be difficult. If you’re not sure where your closest farmer’s market is, search LocalHarvest. Shopping at your weekly farmer’s market gives you a chance to connect with local vendors and eat real food grown in your area. Thanks to new smartphone software, many vendors even accept credit and debit cards. Don’t forget a reusable bag!…

Malibu Pilates Chair Workout System Review

My friends can see the gradual changes in my body brought on by The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system. They say that from an ugly fat duckling, I now evolved into a beautiful voluptuous swan. They cannot imagine how I got this figure in just a short period of time. Well, all I could say is its all because of the magnificent item I bought online – The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system.

The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system is a revolutionary exercising tool that makes my dream come true. I love doing workouts but because of the workload I have in the office, I have no time for it. I cannot handle hassles anymore like commuting to the gym and bringing huge sports bag in the office. Thanks a lot to Carroll Kreiff and Josef Pilates for having The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system available in the market today. With this unique and effective exercising tool, I was able to start a small personal gym in my house.

The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system is just one piece of equipment, but it allows me to do several types of exercises. It features adjustable springs that I can set depending on the kind of exercise that I want to do. From the first day that I had The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system, I started losing weight. With proper use of this exercising tool anyone can immediately have the sexy body that they are dreaming about.

Another feature of The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system that I love is the custom split-step pedals. This feature gives me the chance to have continuous calorie burning. I just followed the instructions in the DVD on how to use it properly. The exercises are centered on sculpting both the arms and legs. After using this product for several weeks I realized why celebrities and prominent people use this. The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system can satisfy anyone’s standard because of its efficiency and benefits offered.

When properly set, The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system is really a bulky item. It will occupy some space like a meter or two so that it can work properly. But, if your workout schedule is over, you can easily put it back in its box. The Malibu Pilates Chair workout system is lightweight and easy to store. If you will use it with proper care and maintenance, …

How Muscles Grow

You’re running from a lion, fighting the tribe down the river and hauling stones to build your hut. Your body says to itself, “this is really hard work. I could do a little better with more muscle”. The next time you engage in such activities your body has grown a little more muscle to make things easy on you.

Maybe we don’t run from lions, fight and haul things like we used to but we still have the ability to put on muscle. When we stress these muscles and give them time to relax they will continue to grow. Thus the more intensive we work out, the larger the weights we use and the more we get our blood moving the more likely we are going to be able to build these muscles.

The goal is to use the heaviest weights we can to recreate the stress we might experience while doing intensive physical labor or running from a lion. Many people wonder precisely how heavy the weight should be. The answer is so that you can barely stand it without hurting or ripping these muscles.

A trick that can be use is go get the largest weight that you can only lift with all of your strength. Then drop the about of the weight 10%-20% so that after five repetitions you are shaking to get it up all the way. Complete a few more repetitions and put it down. Give your muscles a little break before you try it again.

It is necessary to isolate each muscle as much as you can in order to get the maximum benefit. However, if you aren’t an expert in weightlifting you might consider starting with basic techniques such as bench press, squats, etc. As your knowledge of your body grows you can add techniques that help isolate individual muscles.

You will also need to give your muscles time to recover. Thus it is necessary to allow for a 48 hour break between weight lifting again. If you like to work out each day they you are going to have to isolate muscles so that you can do so. You switch around your muscles so that you can keep working out by alternating them on certain days.

Eating appropriately is also a benefit. These muscles will have a difficult time growing if they are not fed properly. Instead of becoming stronger you might …

What You Can Do to Cut Health Care Cost

The rising cost of health care is making headlines on a daily basis. It seems everyone from politicians to news anchors have a “solution”. Most of the solutions will have big impacts on the current group plans that employers offer. I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that I am trying to do my part to cut my health care cost. Since I have been faced with a mountain of medical bills for one of my children due to bad health, I’ve learned some valuable lessons.

The first step is to be informed. You need to educate yourself on what your health insurance covers, what your deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance is. Another important figure is your “Out of Pocket Maximum”. Go through your booklets and evidence of coverage on all your benefits to find this information. You shouldn’t assume that something will be covered, or have the same co-pays. Certain treatments and conditions will be covered differently.

If your employer offers more than one insurance option, and you have to pay for a portion of it, don’t necessarily go with the least expensive option. That option could end up costing you quite a bit. You need to plan for your situation. If you are single, and rarely go to the doctor, and have a good savings set aside, perhaps you can afford to take the option that has a $5000.00 deductible before it kicks in, but if you are covering a family with little ones, or planning on having a little one, then you might want to go with a plan that covers a bit more up front.

You also need to be informed of how insurance works, and what the different options mean. An HMO is a Health Management Organization, where you have to see one doctor, and any specialist of alternate doctors have to be approved by the insurance and your primary physician. A PPO is a Participating Physicians Organization, and you get to choose between a group of participating doctors who are under contract with the insurance company. You have the option under most plans to see an “Out of Network Provider” with lowered benefits (more out of pocket cost to you). Understand that your co-insurance is higher under most plans for seeing an out of network provider. This is because the in network providers have signed contracts to reduce their rates …

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