They created Acton Academy as a better school where learning is made practical and meaningful and where students begin a lifelong Hero’s Journey to discover their true potential.   Using the Socratic method, elements of the Montessori approach and state-of-the-art online instruction, Acton guides students toward independence and self-motivation, helping them find the courage to grow into the person they were meant to be. Soon, other parents wanted to start their own Acton Academies, and less than a decade from the seven founding students’ first Socratic discussion, Acton has spread around the world.​Courage to Grow is the Sandefer family’s personal quest for their own children’s education and happiness. Their story also contains a path for other parents who want to give their children the freedom to take ownership of their own education and to start their own school. The treasure at the end is much larger than Laura ever expected—a quickly growing network of dedicated, curious young people and parents who are not afraid to set them free.

    Now, for the first time, Waitzkin reveals the aggressive tactics and psychological techniques that have propelled him to the forefront of the chess world. His unique introduction to the game combines solid instruction with stories about his personal experiences that capture all the excitement and tension of playing chess at the championship level. Josh Waitzkin's Attacking Chess presents nineteen different offensive strategies, progressing from the most elementary, including forks, pins, skewers, and double threats, to the more advanced and sophisticated moves used by the world's best players. Chapters such as Minor Traps, The Seventh Rank and the Pig, Mating Nets, and Quiet Moves in Attack show how anyone can develop a more aggressive and creative style of play. Each strategy is illustrated with examples taken from actual games Waitzkin has played, described with all the gusto and competitive intensity this young master brings to his craft. You can feel the heat of battle throughout this action-packed manual -- it's guaranteed to entertain and inspire all students of chess who want to learn how to emerge victorious from the black and white jungle.

    Sound familiar? When the disorganized child meets the departmentalized structure of middle school, everything can fall apart. Even the academically successful child will start to falter if she misses deadlines, loses textbooks, or can’t get to class on time. This practical book is full of hands-on strategies for helping parents identify and teach organizational skills. Educational consultant Donna Goldberg has developed these methods by working with hundreds of students and in this book she provides: -Assessments to gather information about your child’s learning style, study habits, and school requirements -Guidelines for taming that overstuffed binder and keeping it under control -PACK—a four-step plan for purging and reassembling a backpack or locker -Instructions for organizing an at-home work space for the child who studies at a desk or the child who studies all over the house -Ways to help your child graduate from telling time to managing time -Special tips for kids with learning disabilities and kids who have two homes...and more The Organized Student is a must for any parent who has heard the words, “I can’t find my homework!”

    As Howard Falco learned, the answers to these questions can ultimately be found in the answer to just one: "Who am I?" In late 2002, in the middle of an ordinary life, Falco-a thirty- five-year-old investment manager with a wife and two children-sought the answer to this powerful question and remarkably this quest resulted in a sudden and all-encompassing shift in his awareness that revealed more about life and how we each create it than he ever imagined knowing. Startled by this new understanding and its implications for his own life and the lives of all others, Falco set out to share his discoveries. The stunning result is this book.I AM takes readers on a life-changing journey in which they will discover the incredible power they have over their experience of life, finding that the doorway to eternal peace, happiness, and fulfillment lies in one of the shortest sentences in the written word but the most powerful in the universe: I AM.

    And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection. Preeminent author and researcher Sherry Turkle has been studying digital culture for over thirty years. Long an enthusiast for its possibilities, here she investigates a troubling consequence: at work, at home, in politics, and in love, we find ways around conversation, tempted by the possibilities of a text or an email in which we don’t have to look, listen, or reveal ourselves. We develop a taste for what mere connection offers. The dinner table falls silent as children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones. At work, we retreat to our screens although it is conversation at the water cooler that increases not only productivity but commitment to work. Online, we only want to share opinions that our followers will agree with – a politics that shies away from the real conflicts and solutions of the public square. The case for conversation begins with the necessary conversations of solitude and self-reflection. They are endangered: these days, always connected, we see loneliness as a problem that technology should solve. Afraid of being alone, we rely on other people to give us a sense of ourselves, and our capacity for empathy and relationship suffers. We see the costs of the flight from conversation everywhere: conversation is the cornerstone for democracy and in business it is good for the bottom line. In the private sphere, it builds empathy, friendship, love, learning, and productivity. But there is good news: we are resilient. Conversation cures. Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do. The virtues of person-to-person conversation are timeless, and our most basic technology, talk, responds to our modern challenges. We have everything we need to start, we have each other.

    In Montessori, Angeline Stoll Lillard shows that science has finally caught up with Maria Montessori. Lillard presents the research behind eight insights that are foundations of Montessori education, describing how each of these insights is applied in the Montessori classroom. In reading this book, parents and teachers alike will develop a clear understanding of what happens in a Montessori classroom and, more important, why it happens and why it works. Lillard, however, does much more than explain the scientific basis for Montessori's system: Amid the clamor for evidence-based education, she presents the studies that show how children learn best, makes clear why many traditional practices come up short, and describes an ingenious alternative that works. Now with a foreword by Renilde Montessori, the youngest grandchild of Maria Montessori, Montessori offers a wealth of insights for anyone interested in education.

     Updated with new material -- including an all new introduction and expanded practices in the epilogue -- Everyday Blessings remains one of the few books on parenting that embraces the emotional, intuitive, and deeply personal experience of being a parent, applying the groundbreaking "mind/body connection" expertise from global mindfulness leader, Jon Kabat-Zinn and his wife, Myla Kabat-Zinn. Mindfulness is a way of living and there is increasing scientific evidence of its value for optimal health and well-being. A new field in psychology is devoted to mindful parenting, and mindfulness is being increasingly integrated into K-12 education. There has never been a better time for cultivating greater mindfulness in parenting and in family life.

    Staying in love—that’s the challenge! How can you keep your relationship fresh and growing amid the demands, conflicts, and just plain boredom of everyday life? In the #1 New York Times bestseller The 5 Love Languages, you’ll discover the secret that has transformed millions of relationships worldwide. Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr. Gary Chapman’s proven approach to showing and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy with your partner—starting today. The 5 Love Languages is as practical as it is insightful. Updated to reflect the complexities of relationships today, this new edition reveals intrinsic truths and applies relevant, actionable wisdom in ways that work. Includes the Couple's Personal Profile assessment so you can discover your love language and that of your loved one.

    Drawing from a broad spectrum of disciplines, he shows how many common models of reality err by confusing the three realms.

    Each piece compels readers to rethink not only how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs but also the extent to which they share them with others. Featuring a well-known list of contributors--including Isabel Allende, Colin Powell, Gloria Steinem, William F. Buckley Jr., Penn Jillette, Bill Gates, and John Updike--the collection also contains essays by a Brooklyn lawyer; a part-time hospital clerk from Rehoboth, Massachusetts; a woman who sells Yellow Pages advertising in Fort Worth, Texas; and a man who serves on the state of Rhode Island's parole board. The result is a stirring and provocative trip inside the minds and hearts of a diverse group of people whose beliefs--and the incredibly varied ways in which they choose to express them--reveal the American spirit at its best.

    When we are firmly established in mindfulness, the Buddha explained, these seven “treasures” serve to steer the mind away from delusion and the causes of suffering, guiding us to the realization of freedom. In Seven Treasures of Awakening, Insight Meditation Society cofounder Joseph Goldstein reveals how each one of these qualities of enlightenment sequentially develop and support each other as our practice of mindfulness matures. Program highlights:• Mindfulness, discrimination of states, energy, rapture, calm, concentration, and equanimity: the seven “treasures” of awakening• The four qualities of mindful attention• Dhammavicaya, or “knowing what’s what”• Viriya (or energy), the root of all accomplishment• Well-balanced effort• Pīti, the antidote to anger and ill will• Reflecting on the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha• The role of calm on the path to awakening• Jhāna and the four developments of concentration• Sīla, ethical conduct• Equanimity versus indifference• The “great way” of non-preferential awareness• The deep delight born of peace• Excerpted from Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, Joseph Goldstein’s masterwork on the Buddha’s instructions for a life lived consciously

    But you might not love what you think.In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps readers recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices. He explains that worship is the "imagination station" that incubates our loves and longings so that our cultural endeavors are indexed toward God and his kingdom. This is why the church and worshiping in a local community of believers should be the hub and heart of Christian formation and discipleship.Following the publication of his influential work Desiring the Kingdom, Smith received numerous requests from pastors and leaders for a more accessible version of that book's content. No mere abridgment, this new book draws on years of Smith's popular presentations on the ideas presented in Desiring the Kingdom to offer a fresh, bottom-up rearticulation. The author creatively uses film, literature, and music illustrations to engage readers and includes material on marriage, family, youth ministry, and faith and work. He also suggests individual and communal practices for shaping the Christian life.

    Although verbal learning offers a powerful tool for humans, this book explores ways of going beyond the purely verbal. An alternative to purely verbal presentations is to use multimedia presentations in which people learn from both words and pictures--a situation the author calls multimedia learning. Multimedia encyclopedias have become the latest addition to students' reference tools, and the world wide web is full of messages that combine words and pictures. This book summarizes ten years of research aimed at realizing the promise of multimedia learning.

    Covey presents a practical and philosophical guide to solving the problems--large and small, mundane and extraordinary―that confront all families and strong communities. By offering revealing anecdotes about ordinary people as well as helpful suggestions about changing everyday behavior, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families shows how and why to have family meetings, the importance of keeping promises, how to balance individual and family needs, and how to move from dependence to interdependence. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families is an invaluable guidebook to the welfare of families everywhere.

    Their closest soul brothers and sisters are Andromedans and Sirians. Often, they all join in beautiful ceremonies and work in unity with other star nations to ensure peace across the Universe. Pleiadians are Soul Healers. Sirians are Knowledge Keepers. Andromedans are Healers and Scientists. Together they create a beautiful trinity of energies that synchronize with the energies of our mind (Sirius), body (Andromeda) and spirit (Pleiades). In this book you will embark on a journey to learn more about these star nations, their home world, special places, and their unique abilities. You will also learn about the characteristics of starseeds that have incarnated on Earth from these star nations. Are you one of them? Do you carry their ancestral DNA? While you read about these star nations you will automatically connect with them. You may consciously ask to be DNA attuned to their energy. If they are your original ancestors, you may experience sudden memories while reading, and your spiritual DNA will be activated. If they are just your galactic neighbors, then you can receive their energy imprint. You will be attuned to the energy that will assist you in the highest possible way in your current life here on Earth. Enjoy!