Getting Your Children Ready for School

 In Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child's Education, author Susan Wise Bauer highlights the failure of our modern education system. "Our K–12 school system is an artificial product of market forces. It isn’t a good fit for all―or even most―students. It prioritizes a single way of understanding the world over all others, pushes children into a rigid set of grades with little regard for individual maturity, and slaps “disability” labels over differences in learning style. Caught in this system, far too many young learners end up discouraged, disconnected, and unhappy. And when they struggle, school pressures parents, with overwhelming force, into “fixing” their children rather than questioning the system. With boldness, experience, and humor, Susan Wise Bauer turns conventional wisdom on its head: When a serious problem arises at school, the fault is more likely to lie with the school, or the educational system itself, than with the child. In five illuminating sections, Bauer teaches parents how to flex the K–12 system, rather than the child. She closely analyzes the traditional school structure, gives trenchant criticisms of its weaknesses, and offers a wealth of advice for parents of children whose difficulties may stem from struggling with learning differences, maturity differences, toxic classroom environments, and even from giftedness (not as much of a “gift” as you might think!). As the author of the classic book on home-schooling, The Well-Trained Mind, Bauer knows how children learn and how schools work. Her advice here is comprehensive and anecdotal, including material drawn from experience with her own four children and more than twenty years of educational consulting and university teaching.
Rethinking School is a guide to one aspect of sane, humane parenting: negotiating the twelve-grade school system in a way that nurtures and protects your child’s mind, emotions, and spirit." (from Amazon.com)

"Angela C. Santomero, MA, the award-winning creator of children’s television phenomena like Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Blues Clues knows this better than anyone and has spent decades working to instill confidence in her young viewers. In Preschool Clues: Raising Smart, Inspired, and Engaged Kids in a Screen-filled World, she breaks down the philosophy behind her shows—educating, inspiring, and empowering kids—into concrete strategies that parents and educators can incorporate into their family and classroom to set their preschoolers up for success, such as:

• Intentionally pausing to foster bonding, independence, and resilience
• Developing empathy and confidence through soliciting preschoolers’ help
• Becoming “fluent” in the language of preschoolers: Play
• Igniting your preschooler’s curiosity
• Being an involved co-player everyday
• Designing a healthy media diet

In Preschool Clues, Angela shares the latest research from top thinkers in child development and education. Through her practical, straightforward advice and inspiring, conversational approach, you will not only understand exactly what your children are learning from the shows they watch and why these shows are so effective, you’ll know exactly how to apply these same proven approaches in your daily life and with the same powerful results." (from Amazon.com)

Sarah Mackenzie teaches parents to connect with their children through storytime with The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids. "Connecting deeply with our kids can be difficult in our busy, technology-driven lives. Reading aloud offers us a chance to be fully present with our children. It also increases our children's 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." (from Amazon.com)

Authors Richard L. Simpson and Ellen McGinnis-Smith help parents who have children on the autistic spectrum with Social Skills Success For Students With Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism."Provide students the social skills instruction they need to succeed in school and in life! This practical resource provides evidence-based strategies for enhancing social skills of children and adolescents who have Asperger Disorder and other forms of high-functioning autism. Case studies, vignettes, classroom materials, checklists, and templates will help you:

• Deliver interventions that model desirable behaviors and provide opportunities for students to practice
• Support students in navigating social situations, forming relationships with peers and adults, and following rules and routines
• Develop, implement, and evaluate social skills intervention and support programs" (from Amazon.com)

In How to Raise Kind Kids: and Get Respect, Gratitude, and a Happier Family in the Bargain, Thomas Lickona helps parents to teach their children not only how to be kind, but why they should be kind. "We all want our kids to be kind. But that is not the same as knowing what to do when you catch your son being unkind.  A world-renowned developmental psychologist, Dr. Thomas Lickona has led the character education movement in schools for forty years. Now he shares with parents the vital tools they need to bring peace and foster cooperation at home. Kindness doesn’t stand on its own. It needs a supporting cast of other essential virtues—like courage, self-control, respect, and gratitude. With concrete examples drawn from the many families Dr. Lickona has worked with over the years and clear tips you can act on tonight, How to Raise Kind Kids will help you give and get respect, hold family meetings to tackle persistent problems, discipline in a way that builds character, and improve the dynamic of your relationship with your children while putting them on the path to a happier and more fulfilling life." (from Amazon.com)