With clear text, appealing cartoons, and a focus on common errors and how to correct them, this little volume is a real gem that should find a permanent place with companies, universities, and anyone seeking a user-friendly guide to style and usage.

    Cohen points out, play is children’s way of exploring the world, communicating deep feelings, getting close to those they care about, working through stressful situations, and simply blowing off steam. That’s why “playful parenting” is so important and so successful in building strong, close bonds between parents and children. Through play we join our kids in their world–and help them to• Express and understand complex emotions• Break through shyness, anger, and fear• Empower themselves and respect diversity• Play their way through sibling rivalry • Cooperate without power strugglesFrom eliciting a giggle during baby’s first game of peekaboo to cracking jokes with a teenager while hanging out at the mall, Playful Parenting is a complete guide to using play to raise confident children. Written with love and humor, brimming with good advice and revealing anecdotes, and grounded in the latest research, this book will make you laugh even as it makes you wise in the ways of being an effective, enthusiastic parent.

    Parents will be inspired to break free of conventions, unleash their child's unique creative genius, cultivate determination, and create an authentic atmosphere of learning.

    The things your child does and says flow from the heart. Luke 6:45 puts it this way: "...out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Written for parents with children of any age, this insightful book provides perspectives and procedures for shepherding your child's heart into the paths of life.

    They don't think of themselves as pioneers, though that's what they became. Unhappy with the public schools, the Colfaxes wanted the best education possible for their four sons: a program for learning that met the evolving needs of each child and gave them complete control of how and what their children learned. The results? A prescription for excellence-Harvard educations for their sons Grant, Drew, and Reed. (Their fourth son is still too young for college.)Now the Colfaxes tell how all parents can become involved in homeschooling. In a straight-talking book that reads like a frank conversation among friends, they tell what they did and how they did it: their educational approaches, the lessons they learned, and what materials-books, equipment, educational aids-proved most useful over the years. Best of all, they show you how you can take charge of your children's education-in an invaluable sourcebook that will help you find a rewarding and successful alternative to our failing schools.

    Turn on a single lamp and read it while you're alone in an otherwise dark room or while someone sleeps next to you. Say it over to yourself in a place where silence reigns and the din of culture-the constant buzzing noise that surrounds you-has momentarily stopped. This poem has come from a great distance to find you." So begins this astonishing book by one of our leading poets and critics. In an unprecedented exploration of the genre, Hirsch writes about what poetry is, why it matters, and how we can open up our imaginations so that its message-which is of vital importance in day-to-day life-can reach us and make a difference. For Hirsch, poetry is not just a part of life, it is life, and expresses like no other art our most sublime emotions. In a marvelous reading of world poetry, including verse by such poets as Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, Pablo Neruda, William Wordsworth, Sylvia Plath, Charles Baudelaire, and many more, Hirsch discovers the meaning of their words and ideas and brings their sublime message home into our hearts. A masterful work by a master poet, this brilliant summation of poetry and human nature will speak to all readers who long to place poetry in their lives but don't know how to read it.

    Pieper shows that the Greeks understood and valued leisure, as did the medieval Europeans. He points out that religion can be born only in leisure - a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture.He maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure, and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for nonactivity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture - and ourselves.These astonishing essays contradict all our pragmatic and puritanical conceptions about labor and leisure; Josef Pieper demolishes the twentieth-century cult of "work" as he predicts its destructive consequences.

    Surveying dozens of classic and popular works for the young—from Heidi and The Wizard of Oz to Beatrix Potter and Harry Potter—Griswold demonstrates how great children's writers succeed because of their uncanny ability to remember what it feels like to be a kid: playing under tables, shivering in bed on a scary night, arranging miniature worlds with toys, zooming around as caped superheroes, listening to dolls talk.No softheaded discussion of kids’ "cute" convictions nor a developmentally-focused critique of their "immature" beliefs, Feeling Like a Kid boldly and honestly identifies the ways in which the young think and see the world in a manner different from that of adults. Written by a leading scholar, prize-winning author, and frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times, this extensively illustrated book will fascinate general readers as well as all those who study childhood and children's literature.

    As teacher and writer Jessica Lahey explains, even though these parents see themselves as being highly responsive to their children’s well-being, they aren’t giving them the chance to experience failure—or the opportunity to learn to solve their own problems.Overparenting has the potential to ruin a child’s confidence and undermine their education, Lahey reminds us. Teachers don’t just teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. They teach responsibility, organization, manners, restraint, and foresight—important life skills children carry with them long after they leave the classroom. Providing a path toward solutions, Lahey lays out a blueprint with targeted advice for handling homework, report cards, social dynamics, and sports. Most importantly, she sets forth a plan to help parents learn to step back and embrace their children’s failures. Hard-hitting yet warm and wise, The Gift of Failure is essential reading for parents, educators, and psychologists nationwide who want to help their children succeed.

    Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999 -- and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it -- fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.(back cover)

    "We all have need to be trained to see, and to have our eyes opened before we can take in the joy that is meant for us in this beautiful life." Charlotte Mason ~~~~~~~ "Composition books and blank journals are readily available at every big box and corner store, available so inexpensively as to be common and ironic as we reach that digital dominion, the projected 'paperless culture.' Shall we despair the future of the notebook? Is the practice an anachronism in an age where one's thoughts and pictures, doings and strivings are so easily recorded on a smartphone or blog,and students in even the youngest classrooms are handed electronic tablets with textbooks loaded and worksheets at the ready? Or is there something indispensable in the keeping of notebooks without which human beings would be the poorer?" THE LIVING PAGE invites the reader to take a closer look in the timeless company of 19th century educator, Charlotte Mason.

    Schall has written a delightfully odd book about books, because he believes that (1) to be educated is to confront the great questions about what is; that (2) many modern students, in or out of school, never learn to raise, much less answer, the great questions, thus are uneducated in the deepest sense; and that (3) great books, past and present, which wrestle deeply yet non-technically with these questions rather than passively mirroring popular culture with its myopia and prejudices, can fill this vacuum for anyone, in or out of school. It contains unusually sane reflections on education, unusually reflective reviews of books, and unusually discriminating booklists. Just the book I have wanted to give my students for years." - Peter Kreeft, Boston College "For years I have meant to write such a book as Another Sort of Learning, suggesting how the rising generation might acquire some measure of wisdom despite the intellectual vices or indifferences of the Academy; but I am happy that Schall has forestalled me. It is full of much valuable wisdom." - Russell Kirk, Author, The Conservative Mind "Few teachers can match Fr. Schall at conveying a sense of the life of the mind, few would have the audacity to write about 'what a student owes his teacher', or the charm to carry it off, or the wisdom to make it memorable. He never forgets that 'to learn' is a transitive verb, and that its object is truth." - Joseph Sobran, Editor, National Review

    Grounded in the latest neuroscience and behavioral research, and drawing widely from literature, The Enchanted Hour explains the dazzling cognitive and social-emotional benefits that await children, whatever their class, nationality or family background. But it’s not just about bedtime stories for little kids: Reading aloud consoles, uplifts and invigorates at every age, deepening the intellectual lives and emotional well-being of teenagers and adults, too.Meghan Cox Gurdon argues that this ancient practice is a fast-working antidote to the fractured attention spans, atomized families and unfulfilling ephemera of the tech era, helping to replenish what our devices are leaching away. For everyone, reading aloud engages the mind in complex narratives; for children, it’s an irreplaceable gift that builds vocabulary, fosters imagination, and kindles a lifelong appreciation of language, stories and pictures.Bringing together the latest scientific research, practical tips, and reading recommendations, The Enchanted Hour will both charm and galvanize, inspiring readers to share this invaluable, life-altering tradition with the people they love most.

    If you have ever felt this way, you’re not alone! Most of us need to be reminded of the “why” of homeschooling from time to time—but The Unhurried Homeschooler takes parents a step further and lifts the unnecessary burdens that many parents place on themselves.Drawing on twenty years of homeschooling her eight children, Durenda Wilson gently reminds parents about the things that really matter, as she offers a clear portrait of what a life-giving home life can be during the homeschooling years. Reading The Unhurried Homeschooler is like having coffee with a trusted friend. You’ll be encouraged as you learn to do what God has put before you. This book will lighten your load while helping you learn how to raise life long learners and ENJOY the homeschool years with your kids.

    Instead, she became the first woman to run for U.S. president on a major party ticket.Veteran political journalist Anne Michaud knows the hidden agendas women employ to gain and cling to power. Working as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and awarded “Columnist of the Year” by the New York News Publishers Association, Anne has researched the women behind some of the most notorious men in the public eye.She discovered a surprising pattern as old as the dynastic maneuverings of England’s medieval queens.Today, women married to the “royalty” of our times – politicians – make bold decisions to keep their “thrones” and their family’s history-making potential.Why They Stay reveals the inner lives of eight political wives as they fight to maintain a grip on power and pursue personal ambition:Melania & Donald Trump: A foreigner’s desire to live the American dreamHillary & Bill Clinton: One masterful decision launched her political careerJackie & John F. Kennedy: Coping in bed and all the way to the bankEleanor & Franklin D. Roosevelt: A lifeless marriage sparks a social championMarion Stein & Jeremy Thorpe: Riding out British scandal to provide for her sonsWendy & David Vitter: Married to the Party versus married to a manSilda Wall & Elliot Spitzer: Real-life drama spawns TV show The Good WifeHuma Abedin & Anthony Weiner: How to win against a man and the MediaThese political wives aren’t powerless pawns. They are shrewder than you expect. Why They Stay pulls back the curtain to reveal why women throughout history stand by their man … for better and for worse.