1. Leaving a certain wonderful past behind
2. Transforming into a better person
3. Returning to a familiar place, but this time, with a brand new status.

A well-known graduation ceremony that includes a graduation cap is when students start to attend the Baccalaureate Ceremony. The very first ceremony was witnessed at Oxford University. Each of the students was required to say a speech in Latin. This was actually a part of their requirement to graduate and to make the ceremony more elegant.

A number of people are asking about the origin of the graduation cap. It actually came from the hoods that were worn as head-wear by the Celtic groups. Druid priests wore these hoods, and by wearing them it showed a sense of hierarchy and higher intelligence. These hoods also had tassels like the cap. These tassels represented the achievement of each priest in education.

During the 1950s, you could witness that the graduation cap and gown were colored gray in the United States. As for other countries, they were seen in many various colors. These colors are used to represent which college department the student was graduating from. Today, there are many different colors of caps along with different graduation accessories.

The graduation cap is not just for college graduates; did you know that they can also be for high school and even kindergarten graduates? There are even technical vocational training programs that have graduation ceremonies, such as plumbing courses. You can even make your very own for your graduate:

How to Create Your very own Graduation Cap

Materials needed:

-22 inches by 22 inches of felt

-Piece of heavy card stock

-Sewing machine

-Yarn

-Little piece of elastic (1”)

Here are the instructions:

1. Cut 9” x 9” 2 pieces of felt. For each felt cut about 21/2” x 22”.

2. Use the sewing machine and sew together a 2.5” x 22” with the shorter side using about a ¾ inch seam. For the seam to not be seen, turn it inside out.

3. Get a piece of a 9” x 9” square and fold it in half so that you can create a triangle. Do it again so that you can make a smaller version of a triangle.

4. Get a measuring tape and measure the triangle 3” from its corner. Make a tiny mark on a side. Do this again in the center part and on the other side. Cut the middle part so that it will make a cone shape. Use the 3” as a guide.

5. Get a pin and pin the square together with a cutout circle of the long band. Use the sewing machine to sew the square and the circle together with a ¾ inch seam.

6. Put the square on top of the cap and sew together all the 4 sides.

7. Cut a small piece of the elastic. It should be about an inch long. Sew the elastic inside the cap and over the seams. When you start sewing, make sure that the elastic should be very tight.

8. Create a tassel with the use of your yarn and your card stock piece.

Online colleges are becoming more and more popular. People seem to have less and less time, so the convenience that online universities offers is appreciated. Check out the top five reasons why you should start your education online.

1. No more commuting. It doesn’t matter if you live next to a college or an hour away. Commuting is annoying and a hassle. Just think about all of those things that you could get done in the time that it takes you to commute to school. What if you could simply roll out of bed, walk to your computer and start learning? Now you can when you take online courses.

2. No more strangers. The first few days of school are always awkward because everyone is trying to get to know their schedule, the professors, and each other. Online courses take the awkward out of learning. You can learn from the privacy of your own home and don’t have to worry about weird glances from those sitting around you!

3. Lighter loads. Many online courses either provide an e-textbook or traditional textbook. E-textbooks are convenient because all of the course material is online. But, even if you are required to purchase a hard-copy textbook, you don’t have to worry about taking it to class everyday. Your loads will be a lot lighter as you can simply leave your textbook next to your computer.

4. Convenience. Life always seems to get in the way of studying, doesn’t it? Online courses are extremely convenient because you have the luxury of studying when you have time. There is often a reasonable amount of time to complete homework, quizzes and tests as well. Everything can actually work around your schedule.

5. Cost. Online college courses are more affordable than traditional college courses. Each college or university is able to offer online classes at a reduced price because there isn’t overhead to worry about. Online college courses are an affordable way to go.

It is time to take your education to the next level. Check out the thousands of online univesities and sign up today.

A successful icebreaker game will make it easy for everyone to get to know a little something about each person, even if it is just their name. The easiest game to start off with is the bean bag game. The person throwing the bean bag says the name of the person he’s throwing it to, then that person tosses it to someone else and says their name, etc. Once everyone is comfortable with one beanbag, toss in another one and see what happens!

This game is popular and successful for two main reasons. One, the physical action of throwing and catching the beanbag is fun, and it gets everyone moving around and active. And when someone throws awkwardly or doesn’t catch the beanbag, people will start to laugh. Once a handful of people are laughing together, they have truly started to become a group. And two, everyone who is participating now knows what everyone’s name is and won’t be forgetting their names anytime soon because they have this game to remember them by.

This is only one example of an icebreaker game that would be helpful in creating a sense of being a group and breaking the ice for the new members. There are many other icebreaker games that are helpful in a lot of other ways, but a successful icebreaker game should above all, be fun!

If you are considering becoming a life coach it is essential that you have the proper training. Just like no one will trust a doctor who has not gone through medical school, or a manager how has not management training, no one trusts a life coach who has not put in the hours of study to become adept at his or her profession. Life coaching is a challenging job, one that puts you in contact constantly with the problems of others. You need to be able to define the problem and offer a workable solution no matter what area of life coaching you specialize in. A good solid base of training is necessary to give you the foundation from where you will build your career.

There are many life coaching and mentoring programs available both on the internet and in colleges that can teach you how to become a life coach. Taking an accredited life coaching course is a big decision. It can cost up to 15,000 dollars and up to three or more years to get the credentials needed to be a certified life coach. You must be absolutely committed to your profession, just like a doctor is committed when going through years of medical school, or like a engineer getting his masters in engineering.

Typically once you sign up for a life coaching course within the first semester you will be expected to start providing personal coaching services for real clients. Because you do not need a license to become a coach you can start right away and charge whatever you are comfortable with charging as you are going through the course. When you complete the course you may want to bring your prices up and establish an office to start your career.

V- Validate

You have to remind yourself that anger is a natural emotion and no one has the right to stop anyone from feeling this. Do not squash your kids’ anger because it may only get worse next time. You must validate their feelings, but never condone any misbehavior.

I- Investigate

Anger always has a friend; it can’t rise just because. More often, when a person is sad, frightened, or fearful, he or she becomes angry. Children are no exception. When your kids are angry, ask them what the reason is and investigate on which “friend” is with their rage. Be objective as much as possible.

E—Expression

Let your kids express what they are feeling. Encourage expression. This is extremely crucial in anger management for children. Let them tell you how sad, frightened, or hurt they are. When these feelings are voiced out, the problem is half-solved. After all, the heaviest burdens are the ones you are carrying inside your heart.

W—Working

Anger management for kids is a long and delicate process. Muster all your patience and work continuously. When one issue has been resolved, be there when the next arises.

The best way to teach your children how to deal with their anger is to live by example. If you know how to handle your anger well, chances are they would also grow up knowing how to. Do not expect a mango tree to bear an apple. It just won’t happen.

Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Are you so thoroughly engrossed in what you are reading that surrounding noises will not disturb you or make you look up?
2. Are you disciplined enough to stop exterior thoughts from creeping into your mind while reading? If thoughts creep into your mind about a phone call you need to make, or a chore you forgot to do, than it is not thoroughly engaged when you are reading.

Most people remember only a fraction of what they read because their minds are only partially engaged and they are reading aimlessly. Concentration however is a technique that can be learned, and you can train yourself to concentrate fully while you are reading. Until you train yourself to concentrate fully when you are reading, you will not retain nearly as much of what you read as you are capable of remembering.

Creating the proper environment will help you engage your mind fully while reading. Good lighting is an essential item you can easily control. Reading in sunlight or under very bright lights will enhance your reading experience.

Lying on a sofa or curling up in a soft chair is usually not a good idea. It is much harder to concentrate if you are too relaxed. A chair that is comfortable but causes you to sit upright has been found to keep you more alert.

Shutting out distracting noises will help a great deal. Reading in a room where you can close the door and shut out surrounding noises such as conversations in another room, or voices on a radio or television will help. Once you relax from everyday tensions you will find it much easier to fixate on what you’re reading. This is not always possible of course, but practicing in such an environment will help you learn to concentrate and make it easier to engage your mind while reading under less comfortable conditions.

Have you heard the latest term that’s been thrown around lately that is “crunchy”? As in, “crunchy mama”, or “crunchy family”? I hear that it refers to the granola that crunchy people like to eat. But what exactly are they getting at?? It’s to do with lifestyle choices, and values that underpin why we do what we do. And apparently if you make green choices with your family and if you do things like attachment parenting, self-sufficient landholding, cook organic foods, put your babies in terry nappies etc you can be called “crunchy” because these kinds of people often eat a crunchy granola for breakfast!!

So I don’t hesitate to say that I am a crunchy mama, although tomorrow’s granola is actually soaking in the fridge right now with some yogurt per Weston A Price recommendations – that’s a good one to google if you’re into healthy foods. So, I do organic foods… I grow some vegetables in my own garden… I do attachment parenting with my kids and plan to unschool – that’s like homeschooling, but instead of using a curriculum, you follow the children’s interests and guide them to learn reading, writing, maths, science etc through the topics they are currently interested in. I used terry nappies and MCN’s on my babies – if you are unsure about what MCN’s are, they are Modern Cloth Nappies! (And they are super cool and come in cute prints these days!) We don’t even have a TV – but a lot of crunchy families will, I am sure, because it is kind of the norm. We are a bit out there, on the more hardcore end of the crunchy spectrum, I guess!

The nice thing is though, you can be varying degrees of crunchy. Maybe you don’t do everything alternative, but you are open to trying a few things. Buying terry nappies is a good place to start if you are looking at green choices for your baby. (MCN’s can be more expensive so you may be shy at first.) And, babywearing, is a fun and traditional thing that gives people a real boost to know how to “wear” your baby. If you are a family with older kids, consider trying some natural learning styles on the weekend, and you never know, you may find that you all enjoy it so much that you pull them out of school!

A college education is important to get a good job. Unfortunately, college tuition is expensive. This is a problem if you are an adult woman who wants to go to college so that you can find a good job. Fortunately, you can find and apply for grant money for women to pay for your undergraduate degree. There are three main methods to find these grants and scholarships.

The first is to look at the federal government’s FAFSA website. All the federal government grants awarded by the Department of Education can be found here. More accurately, it is the gateway to all DOE grants, scholarships and student loans. Fill up your college course details, your family details (including income) and wait for your data to be processed. Then take the results to your college’s financial aid office and they will get you started on the next step.

The second way to find school grants for women is to check with your state’s Department of Education. Many state governments award additional grants to their residents who study in colleges located within the state. Even if your state is not known as an economic or intellectual powerhouse, do not write it off too early. Even an agricultural state like Nebraska offers grants for college education, so even your state may have something to offer.

The third source of information on student grants is your college’s financial aid office. We previously mentioned it with regards to FAFSA. In some states, their (state-level) grant applications also have to go through the college financial aid office. However, most important of all, this office also acts as the gateway to all grants and scholarships offered by the college’s partners and alumni associations. It should also collate the bigger non-governmental charity grants.

Getting a college degree is a pre-requisite for a good job in the modern economy. With the high cost of college tuition, grants and scholarships are necessary. Fortunately for women determined to improve the lives of their families, such grants are available.

While parents put great effort into structuring their children’s lives so they will become productive successful adults, they are neglecting a very important aspect of a child’s life. Children need to play!

I am the first one to say parenting is serious business. After all, I’m not only a mother and a grandmother, my work as an author is based on parenting as well. And like most parents, I focus on how and what my children learn, especially during their formative years. The formative years are the most important years in terms of the characteristics and traits they obtain and carry into their adult lives.

Parents place an enormous amount of energy on their children’s academic education, their social skills, and on providing a wide range of opportunities to broaden their scope of experiences to be sure they become well rounded people.

In addition, it has recently come to the attention of millions of parents who are implementing the principles of the law of attraction into their lives that it is equally important to also teach these principles to their children. They understand the benefits are enormous, the least of which being confidence, a positive mindset, and a healthy self-esteem.

Combining these important principles with a wide variety of experiences and a sound formal education, parents believe they have created the perfect recipe for their children to grow up to lead successful lives.

And by all accounts they have.

Through my work coaching parents I have become aware of the intensity by which many parents attempt to fill their children’s lives with the structured activities to accomplish this goal. I know their hearts are in the right place, they are doing what they feel is best for their children’s futures.

However, another extremely vital ingredient in raising a well rounded emotionally healthy child is being neglected…the opportunity to simply “play”.

Children are innately fun seeking, imaginative and creative creatures! Parents need to understand the crucial role “play” serves in the successful development of their children. Playing provides children with opportunities to exercise their minds in a non-structured environment, formulate ideas of their own making, and make choices without set criteria.

If every minute of a child’s day is scheduled they will learn to expect their lives to be orchestrated from outside sources without any effort or input on their part. On the other hand, when a child has “open or unscheduled” time to fill he learns to rely on his own thoughts and creativity. Children need to experience their imaginations.

Amid the daily structure of school work, homework, ballet lessons or piano lessons, and soccer or basketball practice, parents need to be sure their children have time to just be children.

Many parents make the mistake of viewing unstructured play time as a waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth. Children need time to create, imagine and explore according to their own internal framework.

It is during these play times they will develop their creative side which is necessary for them to eventually discover their passion. It is through these experiences they will learn about themselves and begin to connect with who they are.

They also need “down” time to just “be”. Think about how you feel at the end of a long day of doing all the things you are required to do. Then consider how you feel when you realize you have an extra couple of hours to do whatever you want…read a book, watch a television show…paint…or write the next best selling novel!

This “free” time is when you are able to re-connect with yourself and recharge your creative energy batteries. Children need this too.

Allowing your children to be children when they are children is the normal order of our development as human beings.

Robbing them of this important time is robbing them of something that can never be replaced. Your children only get one childhood…along with the best preparation for a successful adulthood, parents must also be sure they have the best childhood.

Let them play in puddles, run in the rain, climb trees, chase butterflies, build a “fort” in the living room out of the bed blankets…and sleep in it if they want to!

Let them create the experiences that will not only provide them with a childhood they will look back on with feelings of joy and happiness; it will also allow them to begin to develop important skills that they will use throughout their lives.

Once you reach your adult years there isn’t much that doesn’t fall under the “do-over” category. If you find yourself midway through your college years and decide to change your major from Psychology to English literature, it can be done. If you decide your job isn’t fulfilling…you can change jobs. Even if you come to realize that you have married the wrong person, you can get a divorce and marry someone else!

But if a child misses out on that magical time of being a child… playing, investigating, exploring and developing their creative side, it is lost forever. There is no “do-over”.

Parents must value and respect this time in their children’s lives as the treasure that it is.

They only get one childhood.

About the Author: Denny Hagel is co-author of “The Law of Attraction: The Next Generation” and co-owner of Innovative Parenting LLC, a company dedicated to helping parents teach the principles of the law of attraction to their children to provide them with the skills to live their best life! For more information and insights click on: => http://www.InnovativeParentingLLC.com

So, how do you make it fun? And how do you make it stick?

Not knowing how to spell can really make you look foolish but it is true that some of our brightest minds out there are also pretty bad spellers, so if your children aren’t on a course to win any spelling bees, don’t worry about it. Having at least a basic knowledge of how to spell is a necessary evil.

The first rule of spelling is that kids must understand what the word means and how to use it in a sentence. This will help children build a semantic meaning for why words mean what they mean.

Mistakes are not all created equally

There are some mistakes that make sense. As I have already said english doesn’t make much sense so if your children are following spelling rules that are leading them to make mistakes, good for them. Now you just have to teach them that the rules don’t always apply.

Here are some additional ways to teach your homeschoolers spelling using a variety of different learning styles. As you will notice none of these focus on rote memorization.

1. Use different internet sources to play spelling games and make things fun. There are lots of options out there and you should always be on the lookout for new ideas.
2. Make words out of candy or other good stuff and allow your kids to eat the words when they are finished.
3. Take it to the sandbox or into the mud. Giving your kids things to associate memories with will help things stick.
4. Let your kids make codes out of different words that correspond to the actual letters.
5. Practice writing with your non dominate hand. This will give your kids some good laughs and force them to slow down and think about what they are doing.
6. Make a play of about different problem words. Once again this gives them something to remember and associate with.
7. Get them on the computer again and this time teach them how to do power point presentations about words. Or you could even have them make some type of a video about their words. Kids love video cameras.
8. Write your words with duct tape.
9. Side walk chalk is always a winner. Let them get outside and get dirty.
10. Make a ransom note out of newspaper clippings for different words. Fabricate a plot and make it fun.
11. Create riddle or joke about your words.
12. Play scrabble with your words and try to come up with different words from the letters in your words.
13. Write your words in glue then color the glue with glitter to make things fun. For boys glitter may not be the best. Dirt works too.
14. Write your letters in invisible ink then use lemon juice to make the words appear. Black lights are also a fun way to make words pop out.
15. Record yourself spelling the words out then listen to the recording. Kids are always amused by the sound of their recored voices.
16. Let your kids read through magazines or books they like and find their words. This teaches them to identify meanings and gets them reading.
17. Bake letter shaped cookies and spell your words with the cookies.

You will notice that all of these are fun and many of them integrate other aspects of learning into simply teaching spelling but writing lines. Be creative in the classroom and your homeschoolers will appreciate it and learn more.