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How to Encourage Young People to Read Educational Books

As a child I remember how much I used to love reading fiction books and detesting non-fiction books. No matter how many encyclopaedia and education books my parents had bought for me, I would always have a strong desire to read my fantasy fairytale books. There was something magical about immersing oneself into the creative world of the author and sharing their imaginative made up story. This for me was escapism, before the age of games consoles and online RPGs.However, nothing is more important than getting your children into the habit of reading education books, not simply as a short researching tool or quick resource book that they can look up. Education books do much more than simply aid a person when researching a topic for a project or assignment. Many people will agree that we all prefer to read up on the subjects that take our interest, but for those subjects we care very little about we avoid.Books that are boring to children will not inspire them to read. In a recent study involving the observation of school children being instructed to spend a set amount of time quietly reading, most of the children reacted with a few moans and groans, and whispering amongst them instead of reading. This study showed the lack of motivation for reading, making the task almost pointless and less effective. The problem is the lack of motivation to read, resulting in a lot of children feeling bored. The trick is to entice or introduce the children to the books in an interesting way.There are ways in which children can be encouraged to read education books through some simple and methodical approaches. These approaches are much more practical and involve some work on the parent or teacher. These guidelines are based on what has worked for past individuals who have successfully been able to regain interest into their children for reading non-fiction and education books. The method is not an easier approach, but will nonetheless involve plenty of interaction.The first thing to do is to engage some excitement in the exercise you are about to undertake. If you want the children to take an interest in history, it might be work taking a field trip to the local history museum or going on an excursion to look at some historical and monumental buildings. This will require some preparation and planning, as well researching in your part to make this work. Be sure to take some pencils, pens and sketch pads so that when you take the children out they can be creative in what they had seen. Speak to them about the buildings and give them some insightful information about the place you are visiting.The next thing to do is to point out how you found the information out, through reading. You can demonstrate your passion for reading by introducing them to the books that you sourced the information from. The trip will have raised some questions from the children and in turn they will want to find out more. If they see you reading they will want to do the same thing.An important step to take is to read aloud to your children, even if it is an education book about Ancient Rome. As long as they can understand what is being read to them, keeping them engaged by changing the tone of your voice and being animated in the way you deliver the words will help them to continue learning and further give them some encouragement to continue reading on the own accord.You can then work with your child or with a class of children to make a collection of information. For instance if the aim was to have your child develop an interest and understanding on Roman history then they can perhaps draw pictures of the Roman period, costumes, equipments etc. This can be compiled together to produce a work book or project folder that they can refer back to when they like. The main method of succeeding in this is to keep it fun yet insightful.For classroom activities, teachers can refer back to the subject at the end of the month and distribute activity sheets, assign each student to write an article complete with an image or take a trip to the same location and a different one relating to the topic you had studied previously, where you can test their knowledge. Taking trips to the library at the end of each month will keep their exposure to reading and books consistent.

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Fitness Tips – How Much Exercise Should You Do?

Americans are always wanting to find a short cut. There is no quick fix. Attaining fitness requires a lifestyle change and making the right healthy choices. The most benefits come from cardio-respiratory fitness, and to attain this a regular exercise program is often needed. Failing this, making active choices, such as using a push mower rather than a power mower, and walking to each tee rather than using a golf cart on the golf course, will help one stay fit.

Those who promote fitness exercise are following along the more recent lines of nutritionists’ thinking, he says, which involves behavior modification. If you do not change your behavior and make it a lifestyle change, it’s not going to become a habit.

The message that many experts are starting to put out is: A little bit of exercise is good enough.

How little? All you need, is to expand 285 calories a day – 2,000 calories a week – in activities above and beyond your job.

But if it’s a healthy life you’re interested in, they write, all other things being equal, the gardener’s odds against heart disease are as good as the marathoner’s.

How much exercise you should do depends upon what you want to achieve. If you just want stress reduction, you don’t have to do aerobic exercise,… but you won’t get reduction in the risk of heart disease if you do not meet minimum standards of exercise. That means exercising at 60 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes at least three times a week. Do less than that and you will never achieve a level of conditioning. You won’t improve.

But being moderately fit is OK. In a paper based on data collected at the researchers showed that the largest difference in mortality – about 60 percent – was between the sedentary and people who were only moderately fit, as judged by performance on treadmill exercise tests.

It’s dangerous to do nothing and easy to do enough.

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Calories burned in a single hour
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The following figures are for a man weighing 180 pounds and a woman weighing 130 pounds.
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Activity Men Women
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Cooking 216 156
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Chopping wood 414 299
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Mowing lawn 486 351
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Scrubbing floors 522 377
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Trimming trees 630 455
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Gardening 576 416
(heavy chores)
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Painting outside 378 273
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Washing the car 270 195
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House cleaning 288 208
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Raking 270 195
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Stocking shelves 270 195
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Window cleaning 288 208
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Fishing 234 169
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