What works best for one child is often counterproductive for others. By trying to force all children into the same learning mode we unfairly short-circuit their education as well as their intellectual development. Discover Your Child's Learning Style shows you how to assess and nurture your child's individual learning potential based on his or her talents, interests, disposition, preferred environment, and more. Inside is a step-by-step program of self-awareness tests that guide you to a better understanding of your child's unique strengths and weaknesses, goals and interests, and inner peace. You'll discover how to create the right atmosphere for learning in the home. Most important, you'll help your child excel not only in school but in life as well. "An excellent tool for discovering how a student learns best. Teaching children according to how they learn ensures optimum education for all; it's an approach that could help make remedial literacy programs obsolete!"—Patricia Flanigan, California State Library Literacy Task Force "Essential for any parent or teacher who works with children."—Suzanne Lopez, psychotherapist and author of Get Smart with Your Heart "A powerful tool for increasing your child's self-esteem. At last, there is a simple solution for every child to become a winner."—Nancy L. Chaconas, M.A., educator, author of HELP-Esteem "Parents who understand the principles in this book will be better parents!"—Richard and Linda Eyre, authors of Teaching Your Children Values

    Reading aloud offers us a chance to be fully present with our children. It also increases our kids’ academic success, inspires compassion, and fortifies them with the inner strength they need to face life’s challenges. As Sarah Mackenzie has found with her own six children, reading aloud long after kids are able to read to themselves can deepen relationships in a powerful way.Founder of the immensely popular Read-Aloud Revival podcast, Sarah knows first-hand how reading can change a child’s life. In The Read-Aloud Family, she offers the inspiration and age-appropriate book lists you need to start a read-aloud movement in your own home. From a toddler’s wonder to a teenager’s resistance, Sarah details practical strategies to make reading aloud a meaningful family ritual. Reading aloud not only has the power to change a family—it has the power to change the world.

    Millions of children have benefited from the acclaimed Core Knowledge Series, developed in consultation with parents, educators, and the most distinguished developmental psychologists. In addition to valuable advice to parents, including what it means for a child to be ready for kindergarten, special sidebars throughout the book help parents make reading aloud fun and interactive, suggesting questions to ask, connections to make, and games to play to enrich their preschooler’s learning experience. Discover:Favorite Poems and Rhymes—all beautifully illustrated. Read and recite together— from Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “At the Seaside” to limericks by Edward Lear and tongue twisters by Jack Prelutsky, plus fun “clap along!” and “fingerplay” verses that parents and children can act out together.Beloved Stories and Fables—read aloud from stories like “The Three Little Pigs” and the African folktale “Why Flies Buzz” —and open whole new worlds of learning and discovery.Visual Arts—help your child appreciate and talk about art. Beautiful full-color reproductions of great works of art will foster early appreciation of art history while igniting discussions about shapes, colors, and different styles and media. Music—dozens of songs to sing and dance to, including “move around” songs like “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “The Wheels on the Bus” History—a delightful introduction to American history—from the first Thanksgiving to Martin Luther King, Jr., —with activities and stories parents and children can enjoy together Science—from the wonder of animals to exploring physical properties of light, air, and water—fun activities that will let children observe, experience, and enjoy the natural world

    Toddlers can be tricky. On one hand they can be lovely. On the other hand they can be really hard work. They'll make you laugh. And they will probably bring you to tears. Or at least a high level of frustration.I felt the same way when my children were small and I was struggling to get them to do things. I felt enormous empathy for them, but wasn’t sure what the alternative was to threatening, bribing or putting them into time out.It’s been my mission since then to find another way. I’ve now been working in Montessori education for nearly 15 years and love to learn from the 100 toddlers and parents I see every week in my classroom. I am so happy to share with you what I have learned and help you understand your toddler better too.This book is the result. Your comprehensive guide to raising toddlers in a Montessori way.A quick aside for those of you that don't know Montessori. It is an alternative education system where, instead of the teacher standing at the front of the classroom telling the kids what they need to know, the children are free to explore a classroom of well-designed materials covering language, mathematics, daily life skills and more. The result is that the children are able to follow their unique natural rhythm and development as well as learn with concrete learning materials to make discoveries for themselves. But that's it. It's not just for school aged children - you can apply exactly the same ideas in your home and with your toddler.And when I say toddler, I'm talking about children around 1 to 3 years, give or take a few months.Each section of the book is super practical and it is beautifully designed to make it even easier to read. It’s perfect if you are a busy parent, carer or even grandparent. And it doesn't matter if you are brand new to Montessori or have been using Montessori for a while - or even if you aren't planning to send your children to Montessori school. You can read it from cover to cover. Or just open up the book at a page that interests you and you will find something practical you can try today.You’ll learn how to set up your home to get rid of the chaos and bring back some calm into your lives. You will get the tools to work together with your child. How you can lead, guide and support them, especially when they are having a hard time (and throwing themselves on the ground in the most inconvenient of places). You’ll also get ideas to create Montessori activities at home that are just right for your toddler. You will find answers to your questions. To see there is another more peaceful way to be with your toddler. To help you plant the seeds to raise a respectful and responsible human being. To work on a relationship with your toddler which you will be building on for years.So are you ready to say goodbye to frustration and hello to peace and calm? It’s time for us to learn to see through our toddler’s eyes - The Montessori Toddler.

    Now this new edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook imparts the benefits, rewards, and importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research, The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies—and the reasoning behind them—for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.

    New studies show that young kids learn best through play and need at least 30 minutes of structured physical activity each day. There’s no better way to engage your child than through the simple practice of yoga. Yoga can help your 18-month to five-year-old child have: Fewer tantrums Better and longer sleep Increased motor coordination Improved listening and ability to follow directions Better self-expression Higher self-esteem Easier relaxation A healthy and physically fit lifestyle Named the “Baby Yoga Expert” by Newsweek, Helen Garabedian, a certified yoga instructor, created her program with 8-minute sequences easy to fit into a young child’s day. Fully illustrated with beautiful photos, Itsy Bitsy Yoga for Toddlers and Preschoolers features more than 50 simple poses and games kids love, offering creative ways to get active. Yoga can even help your child throughout the day-from taming tantrums to teaching cooperation-On the Go advice and Super Duper Poses show you how. Enjoy the fun of yoga with your child today!

    This Special Collector's Edition celebrates 100,000 copies or the book in print, and the book's on-going importance and popularity.

    "Don’t Waste Your Time Homeschooling: 72 Things I Wish I’d Known" features concrete suggestions to help you: • Discover ways to take your family’s pulse and maintain a peaceful household. • Realize how easy it can be to sidestep the isolation trap. • Find creative ways to maintain your own identity amid a sea of others’ needs. • Learn the one easy habit to help avoid conflict with busy teen drivers. • Explain to others how your children are being properly socialized.

    A commonsense, disciple-based biblical approach to home schooling using real books and real life. Filled with Scriptures, anecdotes, insights, ideas, methods, lists and charts to make living and learning at home natural and enjoyable.

    This practical, insightful book is essential reading for any parent.

    These skill areas include sensory perceptions, body coordination, language, understanding of numbers, and movement. This practical, color-illustrated parenting book is filled with activities and instructions for overseeing children as they carry out a variety of learning activities. Most activities will seem simple to parents, because once mastered, adults perform them automatically. However, toddlers experience a sense of accomplishment and self-worth when they learn to perform them independently. The many activities start with dressing and personal hygiene, then go on to include . . .Pouring activitiesThreading and sewing activitiesPeg activitiesCutting with scissorsSorting activities by touchA color matching gameMaking musical scales with bottles and waterUsing alphabet tiles to make wordsGrowing things in a window boxMaking finger puppetsActivities are described in detail and include checklists of needed items, as well as variations and related activities for children to try.

    We call this imprisonment schooling, yet wonder why kids become bored and misbehave. Even outside of school children today seldom play and explore without adult supervision, and are afforded few opportunities to control their own lives. The result: anxious, unfocused children who see schooling—and life—as a series of hoops to struggle through.In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray argues that our children, if free to pursue their own interests through play, will not only learn all they need to know, but will do so with energy and passion. Children come into this world burning to learn, equipped with the curiosity, playfulness, and sociability to direct their own education. Yet we have squelched such instincts in a school model originally developed to indoctrinate, not to promote intellectual growth.To foster children who will thrive in today’s constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development. Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history, Gray demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient. This capacity to learn through play evolved long ago, in hunter-gatherer bands where children acquired the skills of the culture through their own initiatives. And these instincts still operate remarkably well today, as studies at alternative, democratically administered schools show. When children are in charge of their own education, they learn better—and at lower cost than the traditional model of coercive schooling.A brave, counterintuitive proposal for freeing our children from the shackles of the curiosity-killing institution we call school, Free to Learn suggests that it’s time to stop asking what’s wrong with our children, and start asking what’s wrong with the system. It shows how we can act—both as parents and as members of society—to improve children’s lives and promote their happiness and learning.

    Based on Dr. Maria Montessori's instructions for raising infants, its comprehensive exploration of the first three years incorporates the furnishings and tools she created for the care and comfort of babies. From the design of the baby's bedroom to the child-sized kitchen table, from diet and food preparation to clothing and movement, the authors provide guidance for the establishment of a beautiful and serviceable environment for babies and very young children. They introduce concepts and tasks, taking into account childrens' ''sensitive periods'' for learning such skills as dressing themselves, food preparation, and toilet training. Brimming with anecdote and encouragement, and written in a clear, engaging style, Montessori from the Start is a practical and useful guide to raising calm, competent, and confident children.

    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.

    Most Christians believe God doesn’t care, one way or the other, how our children are schooled or what methods are employed. This book will use Scripture to prove otherwise. What you read in this book will radically challenge your assumptions and preconceived ideas. - Discover the true purpose of an education and how this affects and influences students - Explore a truly Biblical philosophy of education and how it compares to traditional schooling - Learn to apply a Biblical worldview strategically and systematically to core subjects of education There is almost no topic that is as relevant to the future of Christianity or as controversial as the education of children. Students in school classrooms spend thousands of hours being instructed by people who are not their parents. There is almost no way to calculate what a powerful force this is for influence. From rules to help students reason to information that will help you be a more effective teacher, this book shows the vital importance of “why” in asking students to learn the “what” and “how” of any subject. The future of your child’s education and, therefore, his or her life is ultimately in your hands as a parent. Open your mind and your heart to God’s Word and His truth. Much is at stake. Ask Him to give you discernment to help you understand how He sees the issue of education.