Our education systems are shortchanging far too many teenagers. This book is brimming with insights on how to change that. It's an engaging, evidence-based, and practical read about how to develop a generation of lifelong learners.--Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential and Think Again, and host of the podcast Re: Thinking

A powerful toolkit for parents of both checked-out and stressed-out teens that shows exactly what to do (and stop doing) to support their academic and emotional flourishing.

Adolescents are hardwired to explore and grow, and learning is mainly how they do this. But a shocking majority of teens are disengaged from school, simultaneously bored and overwhelmed. This is feeding an alarming teen mental health crisis. As kids get older and more independent, parents often feel powerless to help. But fear not, there are evidence-backed strategies to guide them from disengagement to drive, in and out of school.

For the past five years, award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson and the Brookings Institution's global education expert Rebecca Winthrop have been investigating why so many children lose their love of learning in adolescence. Now, weaving extensive original research with real-world stories of kids who transformed their relationships with learning, they identify four modes of learning that students use to navigate through the shifting academic demands and social dynamics of middle and high school, shaping the internal narratives about their skills, potential, and identity:

- Resister. When kids resist, they struggle silently with profound feelings of inadequacy or invisibility, which they communicate by ignoring homework, playing sick, skipping class, or acting out.

- Passenger. When kids coast along, consistently doing the bare minimum and complaining that classes are pointless. They need help connecting school to their skills, interests, or learning needs.

- Achiever. When kids show up, do the work, and get consistently high grades, their self-worth can become tied to high performance. Their disengagement is invisible, fueling a fear of failure and putting them at risk for mental health challenges.

- Explorer. When kids are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve their goals.

Understanding your child's learning modes is vital for nurturing their ability to become Explorers. Anderson and Winthrop outline simple yet counterintuitive parenting strategies for connecting with your child, tailoring your listening and communication styles to their needs, igniting their curiosity, and building self-awareness and emotional regulation.

The Three Melissas: The Practical Guide to Surviving Family Homelessness by Diane Nilan and Diana Bowman, two long-time advocates for families experiencing homelessness, is a one-of-a-kind practical guide for dealing with the unrelenting hardships that parents endure while keeping their children safe during homelessness. Featured are three mothers named Melissa who doggedly faced the day-to-day hardships of being homeless. The book offers their tips, strategies, and inspiration for parents who are homeless., and creates a window into the struggles parents face that could help improve supports and services for families who are homeless.

You will experience the Melissas' frustration over facing daily barriers that kept them from becoming stably housed. You will share the emotional toll as they struggled and doubted themselves as parents. You will realize that you never get over homelessness. The Melissas still experience what one of them called Post-Traumatic Homelessness Disorder. Yet, the Three Melissas offer inspiration and hope to parents. They emphasize do the best you can for your kids and give yourself a break. They exhort parents to reach out, and keep reaching out, and use their voice to help people understand what they need.

The Melissas also recommend changes in service systems from the perspective of those who sought help and found services inadequate for the real needs of families experiencing homelessness. They address ways that service providers, government, and nonprofits could more effectively help parents and children survive homelessness. Finally, the book offers practical tools, including a tip sheet to help people who host families in their home on how to communicate and set boundaries. Their advice can also guide professionals in support systems to better tailor services so that when families lose their housing, they can move quickly through the devastation of homelessness and attain lasting stability.

With more than one million copies sold, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a remarkable step-by-step, phonics-based program that teaches your child to read in just twenty minutes a day--with love, care, and joy a parent and child can share. Now fully revised and updated with a Practice Guide for parents and an extra section with supplementary material!

[A] magical book...I've seen this method work in my own home, having used it with both of my children and watched that light go on. --John McWhorter, The New York Times

Countless parents have told me they used this book to teach their child how to read when their child wasn't being taught in school. --Emily Hanford, host and lead producer of the APM podcast, Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

Is your four-year-old or even three-year-old child expressing interest in reading, constantly pretending to read, and asking questions while you are reading? Do you want to develop a young reader but are unsure of how to do it? Is your child halfway through kindergarten and unable to read simple words without memorizing or guessing? Do you want to teach your child to read using the most research-supported method with a long record of success?

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is an adaptation of the most successful beginning reading program written for schools. More than 100 formal studies using the highest-quality research methods have documented the superiority of the Direct Instruction approach to phonics and other essential beginning reading skills.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a complete, sensible, easy-to-follow, step-by-step program that shows simply and clearly how to teach children to read. In 100 lessons, color-coded for clarity and ease of delivery, you can give your child the basic and more advanced skills needed to be a good reader--at about a second-grade level.

Twenty minutes a day is all your child needs to become an independent reader in 100 lessons. It's an enjoyable way to help your child gain the vital skills of reading. Everything you need is here for you and your child to learn together. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons will bring you and your child a sense of accomplishment and confidence while giving your child the reading skills needed now for a better chance at tomorrow.

Training videos and additional supplementary material are available for free at StartReading.com.

Get Your Child Hooked on Books
Reading can become a favorite part of any child's life--even children who think they hate to read. And, with the help of this unique book, it's easy to put your reluctant reader on the path to becoming an enthusiastic reader. Inside are 125 books that are certain to ignite your child's interest in reading. You'll find a variety of titles with real kid appeal--the best of the best for children of all reading levels. These books will captivate your child's interest and create a passion you never thought possible. So, for the love of reading and your child, come inside, explore all 125 books, and discover:
-Complete descriptions and synopses
-The appeal of each book to reluctant readers
-Suggested audience and reading levels
-Recommended readings if your child enjoys a particular book
-And much, much more
By developing a love of reading and an emotional connection to books and ideas, your child can develop and maintain a high level of interest in reading--and get a head start on life.
An excellent resource for parents and educators interested in promoting literacy among children, with practical tips on how to make reading a fun, educational, and rewarding experience for children of all ages.
--Stephen Green, Ph.D., child development specialist, Texas A&M University

With lessons from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and examples from the acclaimed education network Remake Learning, this book brings Mister Rogers into the digital age, helping parents and teachers raise creative, curious, caring kids.

Authors Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski know there's more to Mister Rogers than his trademark cardigan sweaters. To them, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood isn't just a children's program -- it's a proven blueprint for raising happier, healthier kids. As young people grapple with constant reminders that the world isn't always kind, parents and teachers can look to Fred Rogers: an ingenious scientist and legendary caregiver who was decades ahead of his time.

When You Wonder, You're Learning reveals this never-before-seen side of America's favorite neighbor, exploring how Rogers nurtured the tools for learning now deemed essential for school, work, and life. These tools can boost academic performance, social-emotional well-being, and even physical health. They cost almost nothing to develop, and they're up to ten times more predictive of children's success than test scores.

No wonder it's been called a must-read for anyone who cares about children. With insights from thinkers, scientists, and teachers -- many of whom worked with Rogers himself -- When You Wonder, You're Learning helps kids and the people who care for them do what Rogers taught best: become the best of whoever they are.

How to achieve a 10/10 relationship, this book is exactly what it sounds like, I'm a relationship coach who has coached thousands of people over the years. My goal in life is to help as many people as possible achieve a 10/10. This will help you achieve a 10/10 with your ideal partner. Carefully study the book and try to read it at least 10 times.

It's the deadliest combination going: bullies who terrorize, bullied kids who are afraid to tell, bystanders who watch, and adults who see the incidents as a normal part of childhood. All it takes to understand that this is a recipe for tragedy is a glance at headlines across the country. In this updated edition of The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander, which includes a new section on cyberbullying, one of the world's most trusted parenting educators gives parents, caregivers, educators and most of all, kids the tools to break the cycle of violence.

Drawing on her decades of work with troubled youth, and her wide experience in the areas of conflict resolution and reconciliatory justice, Barbara Coloroso explains: The three kinds of bullying, and the differences between boy and girl bulliesFour abilities that protect your child from succumbing to bullyingSeven steps to take if your child is a bullyHow to help the bullied child heal and how to effectively discipline the bullyHow to evaluate a school's antibullying policyAnd much more

This compassionate and practical guide has become the groundbreaking reference on the subject of bullying.

BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE AWARD WINNER - An enlightening guide to how infants and toddlers learn and why play is the key to enhancing your child's development.

A smashingly good book.--Edward Zigler, Ph.D., director, Yale's Center in Child Development and Social Policy, and the father of Head Start programs

In Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, highly credentialed child psychologists, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D., and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D., with Diane Eyer, Ph.D., offer a compelling indictment of the growing trend toward accelerated learning and the cult of achievement that pressures parents to help their children to get ahead. It's a message that stressed-out parents are craving to hear: Letting tots learn through unstructured play is not only okay--it's a better way for children to learn than drilling academics.

Drawing on overwhelming scientific evidence from their own studies and the collective research results of child development experts, Kathy, Roberta, and Diane explain the process of learning from a child's point of view, addressing how play helps boost learning in key areas of development such as math, reading, verbal communication, science, self-awareness, and social skills. To help parents foster creative play, they offer forty age-appropriate games. These simple, fun--yet powerful--exercises work as well or better than expensive enrichment programs and high-tech educational toys to teach children what their ever-active, curious minds are excited to learn.

Packed with insights from fascinating studies and thoughtful advice, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards reassures and empowers parents with knowledge that helps their children grow and thrive.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In the tradition of Paul Tough's How Children Succeed and Wendy Mogel's The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, this groundbreaking manifesto focuses on the critical school years when parents must learn to allow their children to experience the disappointment and frustration that occur from life's inevitable problems so that they can grow up to be successful, resilient, and self-reliant adults.

Modern parenting is defined by an unprecedented level of overprotectiveness: parents who rush to school at the whim of a phone call to deliver forgotten assignments, who challenge teachers on report card disappointments, mastermind children's friendships, and interfere on the playing field. 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 children succeed.

Draw out the best in your children--by understanding the way they learn. If you're frustrated that your child isn't learning the way you did, chances are they are too In this practical resource, Cynthia Ulrich Tobias explains that understanding how you both learn can make all the difference.

Using expertise in education and learning styles, Tobias offers practical guidance for teaching to your child's strengths--both at home and in school--even when his or her learning style is very different from your own. Enlightening and informative, this book will help with these issues:

• The different ways children perceive and order information
• Four learning styles and how your style and your child's may differ
• How to bring out your child's greatest strengths
• Ways to help your child grasp and remember what's being taught
• Tips for advocating for your child with teachers
• How your involvement can increase your child's success at school

Whether you're a parent, grandparent, or teacher, this book offers concrete help for guiding the children in your care onto their very best path to learning--now and for a lifetime.

Could it really be okay to let kids eat whatever they want? Sleep whenever they want? Watch whatever they want? If kids are completely free to make their own choices, won't they develop damaging habits that will haunt them into adulthood? Surely parents have a duty to set a few limits.

What if a philosophy from the 20th century explains why this conventional wisdom is wrong?

In The Sovereign Child, Aaron Stupple carries the torch of Taking Children Seriously, a parenting movement whose cornerstone is the idea that children's reasons, desires, emotions, and creativity all work precisely the same way that those of adults do-in short, that children are people.

Using examples gleaned from his experience as a father of five, Stupple takes a close look at the unavoidable harms of rule enforcement and the startling alternatives available when parents never give up on treating children as if their reasons for their choices matter as much as anyone else's.

An invaluable resource for parents wishing to arm their children with the life skills necessary to succeed in a STEM-driven culture.
In today's world of STEM, all children--even those with interests outside of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--need to develop specific skills in order to flourish in a complex landscape. Parents want to help their kids but are often overwhelmed by all the STEM products that aren't necessarily as valuable as they claim.
In STEM SMART Parenting, educators Alan Zollman, Lisa Hoffman, and Emily K. Suh unpack the research on STEM learning into a reader-friendly, practical guide for parents and caregivers. It introduces activities and resources that help kids of all ages build the necessary STEM mindset, includes no-cost ideas that parents can use with their children to promote STEM thinking, and shows readers how to evaluate which STEM games, toys, and activities actually deliver what they promise.
With real-life examples, daily activities, and key takeaways, this book shows parents how to help their children, from toddlers to teenagers, cultivate critical thinking skills and become intellectual risk takers, prepared for a world where STEM proficiency is essential.

Colleges Worth Your Money: A Guide to What America's Top Schools Can Do for You is an invaluable guide for students making the crucial decision of where to attend college when our thinking about higher education is radically changing. At a time when costs are soaring and competition for admission is higher than ever, the college-bound need to know how prospective schools will benefit them both as students and after graduation. Colleges Worth Your Moneyprovides the most up-to-date, accurate, and comprehensive information for gauging the ROI of America's top schools, including:

• In-depth profiles of 200 of the top colleges and universities across the U.S.;
• Over 75 key statistics about each school that cover unique admissions-related data points such as gender-specific acceptance rates, early decision acceptance rates, and five-year admissions trends at each college.
• The solid facts on career outcomes, including the school's connections with recruiters, the rate of employment post-graduation, where students land internships, the companies most likely to hire students from a particular school, and much more.
• Data and commentary on each college's merit and need-based aid awards, average student debt, and starting salary outcomes.
• Top Colleges for America's Top Majors lists highlighting schools that have the best programs in 40+ disciplines.
• Lists of the Top Feeder undergraduate colleges into medical school, law school, tech, journalism, Wall Street, engineering, and more.

No one is immune to the byproducts of compulsory schooling and standardized testing. And while reform may be a worthy cause for some, it is not enough for countless others still trying to navigate the tyranny of what schooling has always been. Raising Free People argues that we need to build and work within systems truly designed for any human to learn, grow, socialize, and thrive, regardless of age, ability, background, or access to money.

Families and conscious organizations across the world are healing generations of school wounds by pivoting into self-directed, intentional community-building, and Raising Free People shows you exactly how unschooling can help facilitate this process.

Individual experiences influence our approach to parenting and education, so we need more than the rules, tools, and bad adult guilt trips found in so many parenting and education books. We need to reach behind our behaviors to seek and find our triggers; to examine and interrupt the ways that social issues such as colonization still wreak havoc on our ability to trust ourselves, let alone children. Raising Free People explores examples of the transition from school or homeschooling to unschooling, how single parents and people facing financial challenges unschool successfully, and the ways unschooling allows us to address generational trauma and unlearn the habits we mindlessly pass on to children.

In these detailed and unabashed stories and insights, Richards examines the ways that her relationships to blackness, decolonization, and healing work all combine to form relationships and enable community-healing strategies rooted in an unschooling practice. This is how millions of families center human connection, practice clear and honest communication, and raise children who do not grow up to feel that they narrowly survived their childhoods.

Why America's sons are underachieving, and what we can do about it.

Something is happening to boys today. From kindergarten to college, American boys are, on average, less resilient and less ambitious than they were a mere twenty years ago. The gender gap in college attendance and graduation rates has widened dramatically. While Emily is working hard at school and getting A's, her brother Justin is goofing off. He's more concerned about getting to the next level in his videogame than about finishing his homework.
In Boys Adrift, Dr. Leonard Sax delves into the scientific literature and draws on more than twenty years of clinical experience to explain why boys and young men are failing in school and disengaged at home. He shows how social, cultural, and biological factors have created an environment that is literally toxic to boys. He also presents practical solutions, sharing strategies which educators have found effective in re-engaging these boys at school, as well as handy tips for parents about everything from homework, to videogames, to medication.

At last Practical advice to help your child's success at school and at home. In this simple, easy-to-understand guide, Marydee Sklar explains how brain development is to blame for children's poor time-management, planning, and organization behaviors. You'll find solutions to day-to-day challenges so you can: - Overcome resistance to starting homework and projects - Let go of micromanaging your child's use of time - Ensure assignments are transported safely to and from school - Manage time spent on smartphones and video games - Forget nagging about chores and homework Written with compassion, Marydee's tips will enable the whole family to calm down and get work done. As an educator, Marydee Sklar has helped families struggling with time management for almost twenty years. She is the author of the Seeing My Time books.

In a sunlit meadow where the grass swayed like a sea of green, there lived a very special lamb named Billy. Unlike the others, Billy's wool was as dark as the midnight sky but shimmered with a beauty all its own. Yet, being different left Billy feeling lonely and out of place, his heart weighed down by the longing to belong. One day, a magical wind swept through the meadow, carrying whispers of change and a lesson Billy would never forget: the power of embracing who you truly are. Through courage and self-love, Billy's journey transforms not just his own life but the entire flock, forever changing the meadow he calls home. A heartwarming tale of self-discovery, kindness, and the magic that comes from celebrating what makes us unique. Perfect for children and the young at heart!

How small children begin to read, write, count, and investigate the world, without being taught

The essence of John Holt's insight into learning and small children is captured in Learning All The Time. This delightful book by the influential author of How Children Fail and How Children Learn shows how children learn to read, write, and count in their everyday life at home and how adults can respect and encourage this wonderful process. For human beings, he reminds us, learning is as natural as breathing. John Holt's wit, his gentle wisdom, and his infectious love of little children bring joy to parent and teacher alike.

To Unschoolers, Learning Is As Natural As Breathing
Did you know that a growing percentage of home schoolers are becoming unschoolers? The unschooling movement is founded on the principle that children learn best when they pursue their own natural curiosities and interests. Without bells, schedules, and rules about what to do and when, the knowledge they gain through mindful living and exploration is absorbed more easily and enthusiastically. Learning is a natural, inborn impulse, and the world is rich with lessons to be learned and puzzles to be solved.
Successful unschooling parents know how to stimulate and direct their children's learning impulse. Once you read this book, so will you

Ainsley Arment has emerged as one of the most prominent voices in [this] grass-roots community. -- New York Times

Your family was made for connection, wonder, and adventure, and this essential parenting guide is your map to create the family culture you deserve--from the founder of Wild + Free.

As parents, we dream of creating a magical childhood for our kids, yet it can be so easy to slip into autopilot. Ainsley Arment--a mother of five, founder of the thriving community Wild + Free, and bestselling author--is no stranger to the barrage of decisions, opportunities, and daily tasks that each day brings. But what Ainsley has discovered is that the magic of life isn't found in the hustle and bustle of constant activity but in the intentional ordinary decisions of our days. And when we assume that a family has to look or act a certain way, we miss the opportunity to build a meaningful and fulfilling life together.

Drawn from her family's stories and those shared by the Wild + Free community, The Wild + Free Family explores how to create a family culture that breaks the mold by seeking to connect with our children, unleash their gifts, pursue a shared vision together, and redeem generational brokenness, among so much more. Inside these pages are Ainsley's words of encouragement, honesty, and wisdom, guiding all parents to create a home where families can forge their own path to love stronger, live more fully, and grow closer to each other.