Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for any Child


Cheryl Swope - 2013
    Cheryl is an advocate of classical Christian education for special-needs students. The love of history, music, literature, and Latin instilled in her own children has created in Cheryl the desire to share the message that classical education offers benefits to any child.- Increase your child's academic success- Restore your child's love of learning- Regain confidence to teach any child- Renew your vision of hope for your special-needs child- Receive help navigating the daunting process of receiving a diagnosis- Learn how to modify existing resources for your child's needs- Find simple stategies any parent or teacher can implement immediately- Appreciate a spiritual context for bringing truth, goodness, and beauty to any child

The Restorative Practices Handbook: For Teachers, Disciplinarians and Administrators


Bob Costello - 2009
    The handbook discusses the spectrum of restorative techniques, offers implementation guidelines, explains how and why the processes work, and relates real-world stories of restorative practices in action. Contents: Introduction New Thinking, New Practice, New Result; Chapter 1 Restorative Practices in the Classroom; Chapter 2 Restorative Practices and Discipline; Chapter 3 Leadership and School Change

Unicorns Are Real: A Right-Brained Approach to Learning


Barbara Meister Vitale - 1982
    These simple yet dramatically effective ideas and activities have helped thousands with learning difficulties. Includes an easy-to-administer screening checklist for parents and teachers which enables them identify individual learning preferences and determine hemisphere dominance. Learn how to utilize colors, shapes, movement, visualizations, touch and sound to help students of all ages learn to read, tell time, add, subtract, and even spell correctly. Included are engaging instructional activities that draw on the intuitive, nonverbal abilities of the right brain, a list of skills associated with each brain hemisphere, and much more.

Simplify Your Homeschool Day: Shorten Your Day Sweeten Your Time


Tamara L. Chilver - 2013
    These tips have also directly impacted her teaching to make it a much more effective process. Now her family is able to spend more time focusing on their passions.In Simplify Your Homeschool Day, you will learn:*Practical tips that can save you hours of teaching, planning, and grading each week;*Effective communication techniques that can eliminate frustration and dramatically impact your child's learning;*When you should enlist help;*Creative learning strategies that can be applied on the go; and*How to pursue your own passions.These time-saving tips will increase your child's enjoyment of learning by reducing the time it takes him to complete school work without decreased learning. Put some extra time back into your day right away!

Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination


Vigen Guroian - 1998
    Now, in this elegantly written and passionate book, Vigen Guroian provides the perfect complement to books such as Bennett's, offering parents and teachers a much-needed roadmap to some of our finest children's stories. Guroian illuminates the complex ways in which fairy tales and fantasies educate the moral imagination from earliest childhood. Examining a wide range of stories--from Pinocchio and The Little Mermaid to Charlotte's Web, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Wind in the Willows, and the Chronicles of Narnia--he argues that these tales capture the meaning of morality through vivid depictions of the struggle between good and evil, in which characters must make difficult choices between right and wrong, or heroes and villains contest the very fate of imaginary worlds. Character and the virtues are depicted compellingly in these stories; the virtues glimmer as if in a looking glass, and wickedness and deception are unmasked of their pretensions to goodness and truth. We are made to face the unvarnished truth about ourselves, and what kind of people we want to be. Throughout, Guroian highlights the classical moral virtues such as courage, goodness, and honesty, especially as they are understood in traditional Christianity. At the same time, he so persuasively evokes the enduring charm of these familiar works that many readers will be inspired to reread their favorites and explore those they may have missed.

Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in Public School


David Pritchard - 2008
    Taking this verse at face value provides the perfect opportunity to prove it in the educational setting of our children, say the authors of Going Public. By nurturing the life and power of Christ within them, students will be ready to stand against negative influences no matter the environment, even bringing light to a dark place. They will also benefit from many of the services that the often well-financed public school system has to offer. Readers of this practical guide will learn how moms and dads have a strategic role to play in the ongoing development of their school-age children. Discover what the Bible says about education, the three most important things to teach your public-school child, how to shape your child through teachable moments, the importance of getting involved at school and why everyone should “home-school,” in addition to public school.

Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write or Add


Charles J. Sykes - 1995
    Dumbing Down Our Kids is a searing indictment of America's secondary schools-one that every parent and teacher should read.Dumbing Down Our Kids offers a full-scale investigation of the new educational fad, sometimes called "Outcome Based Education" -the latest in a long series of "reforms" that has eroded our schools.* Why our kids rank near to, or at the bottom of international tests in math and science* Why "self-esteem" has supplanted grades and genuine achievements* How the educational establishment lowers standards and quality in our schools - while continuing to raise their budgets and our school taxes* The dumbing down of the curriculum so everyone can pass - but no one can excel* How parents, students, and teachers can evaluate schools and restore quality learning

Laying Down the Rails for Yourself


Sonya Shafer - 2007
    It’s never too late to cultivate good habits! This compelling combination of vivid word pictures and descriptions from Charlotte Mason, helpful insights from modern research, and practical ideas from life experience will show you how you can successfully instill habits in your own life.

The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined


Salman Khan - 2012
    Today millions of students, parents, and teachers use the Khan Academy's free videos and software, which have expanded to encompass nearly every conceivable subject; and Academy techniques are being employed with exciting results in a growing number of classrooms around the globe.Like many innovators, Khan rethinks existing assumptions and imagines what education could be if freed from them. And his core idea-liberating teachers from lecturing and state-mandated calendars and opening up class time for truly human interaction-has become his life's passion. Schools seek his advice about connecting to students in a digital age, and people of all ages and backgrounds flock to the site to utilize this fresh approach to learning.In THE ONE WORLD SCHOOLHOUSE, Khan presents his radical vision for the future of education, as well as his own remarkable story, for the first time. In these pages, you will discover, among other things:* How both students and teachers are being bound by a broken top-down model invented in Prussia two centuries ago* Why technology will make classrooms more human and teachers more important* How and why we can afford to pay educators the same as other professionals* How we can bring creativity and true human interactivity back to learning* Why we should be very optimistic about the future of learning.Parents and politicians routinely bemoan the state of our education system. Statistics suggest we've fallen behind the rest of the world in literacy, math, and sciences. With a shrewd reading of history, Khan explains how this crisis presented itself, and why a return to "mastery learning," abandoned in the twentieth century and ingeniously revived by tools like the Khan Academy, could offer the best opportunity to level the playing field, and to give all of our children a world-class education now.More than just a solution, THE ONE WORLD SCHOOLHOUSE serves as a call for free, universal, global education, and an explanation of how Khan's simple yet revolutionary thinking can help achieve this inspiring goal.

iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us


Jean M. Twenge - 2017
    Born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s and later, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person—perhaps why they are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality. iGen is also growing up more slowly than previous generations: eighteen-year-olds look and act like fifteen-year-olds used to. As this new group of young people grows into adulthood, we all need to understand them: Friends and family need to look out for them; businesses must figure out how to recruit them and sell to them; colleges and universities must know how to educate and guide them. And members of iGen also need to understand themselves as they communicate with their elders and explain their views to their older peers. Because where iGen goes, so goes our nation—and the world.

A Little Way of Homeschooling


Suzie Andres - 2011
    Drawing from St. Therese, St. John Bosco, John Holt (How Children Learn and How Children Fail), and ancient philosophers, the families paint a picture of authentic education without the constraints and pitfalls of typical modern education. Andres admirably addresses the question of whether a Catholic can happily and sanely unschool by explaining it as a sensible approach to the mystery of learning, not as an ideology in competition with her faith. The heart of the book is the honest and humble description of home education by twelve homeschooling mothers who have embraced unschooling in varying degrees. Anyone interested in education and particularly home education will be inspired by their narratives.

Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three


Paula Polk Lillard - 2003
    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.

The Educated Child: A Parents Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade


William J. Bennett - 1999
    Combining the goals that William Bennett enumerated as Secretary of Education, key excerpts from E. D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge Sequence, and the latest research, it sets forth clear curricula and specific objectives for children from kindergarten through the eighth grade, including: -What children should be studying and the kind of work they should be doing -Important facts to learn and essential reading lists -When children should master specific math skills, spelling and grammar basics, and scientific facts -Test preparation, homework, and other areas that require parental involvement The Educated Child also examines timely issues such as school choice, sex education, character education, and the phonics/whole language debate. Perhaps most important, it encourages parents to become advocates for their children by learning what to look for in a good school, how to talk to educators, and how, when necessary, to push for needed changes. For parents concerned about their children's current education and future lives, it is the ultimate handbook.

Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children


Angela J. Hanscom - 2016
    Today’s kids have adopted sedentary lifestyles filled with television, video games, and computer screens. But more and more, studies show that children need “rough and tumble” outdoor play in order to develop their sensory, motor, and executive functions. Disturbingly, a lack of movement has been shown to lead to a number of health and cognitive difficulties, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion regulation and sensory processing issues, and aggressiveness at school recess break. So, how can you ensure your child is fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses? Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program—that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis—author Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help your child thrive, even if you live in an urban environment. Today it is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, or spinning in circles just for fun. We’ve taken away merry-go-rounds, shortened the length of swings, and done away with teeter-totters to keep children safe. Children have fewer opportunities for unstructured outdoor play than ever before, and recess times at school are shrinking due to demanding educational environments. With this book, you’ll discover little things you can do anytime, anywhere to help your kids achieve the movement they need to be happy and healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

Sleeping Like A Baby: Simple Sleep Solutions for Infants and Toddlers


Pinky McKay - 2006
    Are you obsessed about your baby's sleep? Do you feel "weak" because you can't leave him to cry himself to sleep? Do you need to relax more and enjoy being a parent? Parenting expert Pinky McKay offers a natural, intuitive approach to solving your little ones' sleep problems and gives practical tips on how to understand your baby's tired cues, create a safe sleeping environment, gently settle babies and toddlers, and feed infants to encourage sleep. Sleeping Like A Baby is a must read for stress-free, guilt-free parenting, and offers down-to-earth and heartening advice on helping babies (and their parents!) to sleep better.