Homework HELP!!! - The Secret of Learning

Some of the best homework help links on the web are in the Link Library at Florahome USA, but the 'Secret to Learning' part of this post is probably why your reading it. The desire for some secret or magic formula to make us smarter, thinner, richer or whatever, is what we all long to discover. The real magic though, is in the way we think. Early in life we had a natural curiosity about the world and wanted to know what everything was and how it worked. We learned by asking, by observing, by comparing new things with things we already knew. We used our senses - touching, listening, tasting to find out about the world at our own pace all through the day and not in one great cram session at night. We did all this without being forced because we considered it fun. We used our imagination to make up impossible stories constantly comparing this thing to that eventually using our crayons to share it all with others. Unfortunately as we got older, WE became the ones being observed, tested and compared and finally graded by how we measured up to the rest of the class. The REAL secret to learning though,is to return to that natural way we went about it in the beginning. It starts with the imagination. In today's digitized world, facts are but a mouse click away, but it's our imagination that still gives us an edge over the computer. In those early days when we did all that comparing and observing and listening, we really didn't have enough experience to make the distinction between what was possible and what was not - like a car being able to drive itself. But as we became too old for such make-believe nonsense our early self-motivated joy of learning turned into work, which of course when done at home is called homework. Learning or making new discoveries can still be done the same way we did it all those years ago - by comparing things we know with the things we don't. Florahome USA'S 'Where is Florahome' post is a simple but convenient example. Most people have at least heard of Gainesville, Florida and have some idea where it is, but they've probably never heard of Florahome let alone being capable of pointing it out on a map. But by comparing the two - the known with the unknown, the new information can easily be linked to and filed away in our brain. Even math as complicated as it may seem is no different being perhaps the supreme example of this principle. To illustrate in a way that also demonstrates the idea of comparison, math may be likened to constructing a house with each part connecting and building upon the other until a solid structure is achieved. If along the way however, some of those pieces are left out, you wouldn't want to be inside that house when a Florida hurricane blows. Likewise, it is crucial in the world of mathematics that each concept be thoroughly understood before moving on to the next or that numerical depression will become a full blown hurricane raised to the tenth power. If you're already there, you best go back and fill in those missing pieces. Go back to 2 + 2 = 5,... uh,... 4 .. if you have to - it will pay off in the end. But whatever new thing you want to learn, find some little bit of it you already know - no matter how tiny it may be, and build on it from there. Ask questions, use all your senses, study for a while and come back to it later - the mind works best with a little bit of rest. Draw or write out what you think you know as if teaching it to someone else. If you can't, you don't fully understand it yet yourself. One thing NOT to compare, is yourself with someone else - we are all different, each with our own strengths and weaknesses and our own unique way of percieving the world, work at your own pace in whatever way works best for you. Above all, use your imagination. The imagination can turn learning into a game - and learning is a game we all can win.