Alternatives in Education Booklist

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Alternatives in Education

Featured Books in this Category / Main Booklist

Featured Books

Circle Time Sessions for Relaxation and Imagination. Tony Pryce, $34.95

A great book for teachers, parents and other adults who want to provide young people aged 8 and upwards with tools to assist emotional development. Circle Time Sessions for Relaxation and Imagination provides a range of exercises to promote relaxation, inner confidence and a positive sense of self through the use of visualization. Already well-established in other areas such as professional sports, these strategies will build on emotional literacy work and offer practical, real-life strategies. The exercises are accompanied by questions, discussion prompts and reproducible activity sheets.

College Without High School: a Teenager’s Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College. Blake Boles, $16.95

High school can be boring. High school curriculum can be frustrating and out of touch. So what is the answer for young people whose creativity, bright ideas, and boundless energy are being stifled in that over-scheduled and grade-driven environment?

College Without High School shows how independent teens can self-design their high school education by becoming unschooled. Boles shows how to fulfill college admission requirements by proving five preparatory results: intellectual passion, leadership, logical reasoning, background knowledge, and the capacity for structured learning. He then offers several suggestions for life-changing, confidence-building adventures that will demonstrate those results.

Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children REALLY Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, with Diane Eyer. $17.95

Reassuring to parents and educators, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards shows why - and how - to step away from the cult of achievement and toward a more nurturing home life full of imaginative play and love of learning.

An Encounter with Reggio Emilia: Children's Early Learning Made Visible. Linda Kinney & Pat Wharton, $460.95

This unique, accessible and inspiring book is based upon a documentary approach successfully implemented by Stirling Council in Scotland, whose pre-school educators experienced dramatic improvements in their understandings about young children, how they learn and the potential unleashed in successfully engaging families in the learning process. An Encounter with Reggio Emilia shows educators innovative ways to record and comment on children's learning through photos, wall displays, videos and a variety of different media.

The Gap-Year Advantage: Helping Your Child Benefit from Time Off Before or During College. Karl Haigler & Rae Nelson, $17.95

Taking time off before or during college or university can offer some students the opportunity to gain focus and discipline, learn to set goals, get real-world experience and ultimately get the most out of a college education. The Gap-Year Advantage provides parents with all the advice, tips and information they need to help students develop and implement a strategy for themselves.

How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way. Tim Seldin, $23.50

A practical parenting program to help build a calm, happy and creative home life for your children, from birth through age six. Based on Montessori methods, How to Raise an Amazing Child is packed with creative activities to help children discover more about their world and foster independence, concentration and respect for others.

In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia. Lella Gandini, Lynn Hill, Louise Cadwell, & Charles Schwall. $38.50

As the authors state in their opening chapter, “prepare to be amazed.” This beautiful book describes the revolution that the Reggio Emilia Atelier (art studio) brought to the education of young children in Italy, and follows that revolution across the ocean to North America. It explores how the experiences of children interacting with rich materials in the atelier affect an entire school’s approach to the construction and expression of thought and learning.

The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings. Ann Pelo, $37.50

Incorporate inquiry-based practices into your early childhood classroom or family child care home. Inspired by an approach to teaching and learning born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, The Language of Art emphasizes investigation anchored by drawing, painting, and other art activities. It provides:

advice on setting up a studio space for art and inquiry
15 studio explorations designed to give children a basic fluency in art
suggestions for documenting children's developing fluency with art media and its use in inquiry
guidelines for using children's newfound fluency as a tool for investigation

Learning Without School: Home Education. Ross Mountney, $29.95

Learning Without School is a practical handbook for parents who want to educate their children at home but are unsure that they have the skills and know-how required to give their child the best education possible. The book explains what home education is; the advantages and disadvantages of choosing this route; how to begin home educating; what you need to do and how to help your child adjust; and how home education affects children's social skills and friendships. The book also considers children with 'learning difficulties' or 'special needs' and how to approach home education differently for this group of children. Each chapter contains a summary of key points, useful websites, hints and tips and real-life case studies.

Montessori Madness: a Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education. Trevor Eissler, $22.95

We know we need to improve our traditional education systems, both public and private. Montessori Madness asks parents, administrators and politicians to take a look – one thirty minute observation – at a Montessori school and discover the reasons why all children deserve a Montessori education.

Multiple Intelligences Around the World. Edited by Jie-Qi Chen, Seana Moran & Howard Gardner, $36.00

Multiple intelligences (MI) theory has been introduced and implemented successfully in numerous countries around the world. This is the first collection to review, synthesize, and reflect on this unique cross-cultural and educational phenomenon. Through this synthesis and reflection, the book's authors provide a fresh and fuller understanding of MI theory. In addition, they develop more specific knowledge about why MI theory has been welcomed in so many countries, how its use can be appropriate in diverse cultures, and what has supported and fueled travel of the MI meme.

Next Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way: Accepting the Challenge to Change. Joanne Hendrick, Editor, $60.65

More than a presentation of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, yet not a 'how to do it' volume, this new text is a progress report of the steps American and Canadian teachers have taken in the last six years toward teaching the Reggio Emilia way. Comprising chapters by the leading advocates of the Reggio Emilia approach, it examines how real teachers in real classrooms are applying the principles of Reggio Emilia on an everyday basis. By combining discussion of Reggio Emilia concepts with examples of their application in American schools, it explores this emergent curriculum and helps future teachers see how to advocate for it in their own school or program.

Nurturing the Spirit in Non-Sectarian Classrooms. Aline Wolf, $17.95

The fundamental purpose of Maria Montessori's work was to bring about a more peaceful world by nurturing the spirit of the child. This book shares many practical suggestions for non-sectarian classrooms from Montessori teachers around the United States. Topics include: Cultivating Stillness, Nourishing Awe and Wonder, Cosmic Education, Care of the Earth, Children's Inner Peace and Love, Peace in the Classroom Community, School as a Family/Global Community, Spirituality and the Arts, and What About God? Ideal for teachers, parents, training courses, workshops, and in-service.

Possible Schools: the Reggio Approach to Urban Education. Ann Lewin-Benham, Foreword by Howard Gardner. $31.95

Possible Schools tells the compelling story of the Model Early Learning Center (MELC) in Washington, D.C. — the only school in a U.S. urban area to successfully implement the principles of the Municipal Preschools of Reggio Emilia. The author describes the origin of this school, which served impoverished urban families, and traces its evolution from a chaotic inception to its ability to apply Reggio practices.

Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child. Maja Pitamic, $19.99

Based on key Montessori principles of learning through experience, Teach Me to Do It Myself features simple activities to explore with your child and develop his or her senses, coordination, language skills, number sense and science interests. This fun and practical book will guide you … teaching children essential life skills and giving them a greater understanding of the world around them.

We Are All Explorers: Learning and Teaching with Reggio Principles in Urban Settings. Daniel Scheinfeld, Karen Haigh & Sandra Scheinfeld, $35.95

This is the first book to systematically examine a program-wide, multi-site implementation of the Reggio Approach in America. The authors provide a thoughtful, well-documented description and analysis of an entire early child development program serving low income, Latino and African-American children and their families in the city of Chicago. While focusing on the application, meaning, and value of Reggio Emilia principles in preschool classrooms, the authors also describe how those same principles and processes pervade relationships with parents, the professional development of teachers, and the overall organization of the program.

The Well-Trained Mind: a Guide to Classical Education at Home, 3rd Edition. Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise, $44.00

This educational bestseller has dominated its field for the last decade, sparking a homeschooling movement that has only continued to grow. It will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school. Two veteran home educators outline the classical pattern of education—the trivium—which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind. With this model, you will be able to instruct your child in all levels of reading, writing, history, geography, mathematics, science, foreign languages, rhetoric, logic, art, and music, regardless of your own aptitude in those subjects.

Newly revised and updated, The Well-Trained Mind includes detailed book lists with complete ordering information; up-to-date listings of resources, publications, and Internet links; and useful contact information.

Complete Booklist

Considering Alternatives

The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools. Alfie Kohn, $19.00

College Without High School: a Teenager’s Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College. Blake Boles, $16.95

“Doing School” — How We are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic and Miseducated Students. Denise Clark Pope, $19.95

Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. John Taylor Gatto, $12.95

Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children REALLY Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, with Diane Eyer. $17.25

The Exhausted School: The First National Grassroots Speakout on the Right to School Choice. John Taylor Gatto, $24.95

The Feel-Good Curriculum: the Dumbing Down of America’s Kids in the Name of Self-Esteem. Maureen Stout, $26.95

The Gap-Year Advantage: Helping Your Child Benefit from Time Off Before or During College. Karl Haigler & Rae Nelson, $17.95

The Heart of Learning: Spirituality in Education. Steven Glazer (ed), $23.50

How Children Fail. John Holt, $22.95

How Children Learn. John Holt, $19.50

I Won’t Learn From You and Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment. Herbert Kohl, $14.50

In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization. Deborah Meier, $37.95

Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk. David Elkind, $21.00

The Parents’ Guide to Alternatives in Education. Ronald Koetzsch, $23.50

Raising Lifelong Learners: a Parent’s Guide. Lucy Calkins, $20.50

The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards”. A. Kohn, $22.95

Schools That Do Too Much. Wasting Time and Money in Schools and What We Can All Do About It. E. Kralovec, $33.95

Standardized Minds: the High Price of America’s Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It. Peter Sacks, $25.95

What to Look for in a Classroom...and Other Essays. Alfie Kohn, $27.50

Who’s Teaching Your Children? Why the Teacher Crisis is Worse than You Think and What Can Be Done About It. Vivian Troen & Katherine Boles, $37.95

Learning Styles and Theories

Awakening Brilliance: How to Inspire Children to Become Successful Learners. Pamela Sims, $19.95

Awakening Your Child's Natural Genius: Enhancing Your Child's Curiosity, Creativity and Learning Ability. Thomas Armstrong, $23.50

Boys and Girls Learn Differently! A Guide for Teachers and Parents. Michael Gurian, $22.50

Discover Your Child’s Learning Style. Mariaemma Willis & Victoria Kindle Hodson, $29.95

Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children REALLY Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, with Diane Eyer. $17.95

Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ. Daniel Goleman, $25.95

Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It. Jane Healy, $21.00

The Growth of the Mind — and the Endangered Origins of Intelligence. Stanley Greenspan, $28.00

How to Raise a Child with a High EQ: a Parents’ Guide to Emotional Intelligence. Lawrence E. Shapiro, $19.95

How Your Child Is Smart: a Life-Changing Approach to Learning. Dawna Markova, $19.95

In Their Own Way. Revised 2000. Thomas Armstrong, $16.50

Learning All the Time: How Small Children Begin to Read, Write, Count, and Investigate the World Without Being Taught. John Holt, $22.00

Learning Without School: Home Education. Ross Mountney, $29.95

A Mind at a Time: America’s Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed. Mel Levine, $16.95

Multiple Intelligences Around the World. Edited by Jie-Qi Chen, Seana Moran & Howard Gardner, $36.00

Multiple Intelligences: the Theory in Practice. Howard Gardner, $29.95

Open Mind: Discovering the 6 Patterns of Natural Intelligence. Dawna Markova, $23.95

A Piaget Primer: How a Child Thinks, Revised ‘96. Dorothy Singer & Tracey Revenson, $18.99

Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child: the Heart of Parenting. John Gottman, $17.75

7 Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Multiple Intelligences. Revised Edition. Thomas Armstrong, $17.50

Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in the Head, 2nd edition. Carla Hannaford, $21.95

Teaching to the Brain's Natural Learning Systems. Barbara Given, $32.95

Your Child's Growing Mind: a Guide to Learning and Brain Development. Jane Healy, $16.95

You’re Smarter than You Think: a Kid’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences, Thomas Armstrong, $20.95

Home Schooling

The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook: the Essential Resource Guide for Homeschoolers, Parents, and Educators Covering Every Subject from Arithmetic to Zoology. Rebecca Rupp, $44.95

Deschooling Our Lives. Matt Hern (ed), $17.95

Early Years at Home: When Life Patterns are Set. Theodore Wade, $6.50

Educating Your Child at Home. Jane Lowe & Alan Thomas, $40.95

Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense. David Guterson, $21.50

Freedom Challenge: African American Homeschoolers. Grace Llewellyn (ed), $28.00

Homeschooling: a Family's Journey. Gregory & Martine Millman, $27.50

Homeschooling Almanac (2000-2001). Mary and Michael Leppert, $36.50

The Homeschooling Book of Answers: the 88 Most Important Questions Answered by Homeschooling’s Most Respected Voices. Linda Dobson, $25.00

Homeschooling Companion. Laura Saba & Julie Gattis, $31.95

Homeschooling for Success: How Parents Can Create a Superior Education for Their Child. Rebecca Kochenderfer and Elizabeth Kanna, $22.95

The Homeschooling Handbook: From Preschool to High School, a Parent’s Guide. Mary Griffith, $25.95

Homeschooling: a Parents Guide to Teaching Children. Samuel Blumenfeld, $16.95

Homeschooling: the Early Years (3-8 year olds). Linda Dobson, $25.95

Homeschooling: the Middle Years (8-12 year olds). Shari Henry, $25.95

Homeschooling: the Teen Years (12-18 year olds). Cafi Cohen, $22.95

The Home School Source Book. Jean and Donn Reed, $44.95

I Am a Homeschooler. Julie Voetberg, $10.95 (book for 6-10 year olds)

Preparing Your Homeschooler for College. Cafi Cohen, $26.95

Teach Your Own: the John Holt Book of Homeschooling. John Holt & Patrick Farenga, $23.00

The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12. Linda Dobson, $25.95

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling. Debra Bell, $41.95

The Well-Trained Mind: a Guide to Classical Education at Home, 3rd Edition. Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise, $44.00

Montessori

Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives. David Gettman, $18.95

Child's Play: Montessori Games and Activities for Your Baby and Toddler. Maja Pitamic, $21.50

The Discovery of the Child. Maria Montessori, $9.99

Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook: a Short Guide to Her Ideas and Materials. Maria Montessori, $18.00

The Essential Montessori. Elizabeth Hainstock, $17.50

How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way. Tim Seldin, $23.50

Montessori in the Classroom: a Teacher’s Account of How Children Really Learn. Paula Lillard, $19.50

Montessori Madness: a Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education. Trevor Eissler, $22.95

The Montessori Method. Maria Montessori, $21.00

Montessori Play and Learn: a Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play from Two to Six. Lesley Britton, $32.95

Montessori: the Science Behind the Genius. Angeline Stoll Lillard, $24.95

Montessori Today: a Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood. Paula Lillard, $16.95

The Secret of Childhood. Maria Montessori, $9.99

Teaching Montessori in the Home: the Pre-School Years. Elizabeth Hainstock, $17.50

Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child. Maja Pitamic, $19.99

Reggio Emilia

Authentic Childhood: Experiencing Reggio Emilia in the Classroom, 2nd Edition. Susan Fraser, $67.95

Bringing the Reggio Approach to Your Early Years Practice. Linda Thornton & Pat Brunton, $23.50

Bringing Reggio Emilia Home: Early Childhood Education. Louise Caldwell, $25.50

The Diary of Laura: Perspectives on a Reggio Emilia Diary. Carolyn Edwards & Carlina Rinaldi, Editors, $30.95

Emergent Curriculum in the Primary Classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia Approach in Schools. Carol Anne Wien, $30.95

An Encounter with Reggio Emilia: Children's Early Learning Made Visible. Linda Kinney & Pat Wharton, $46.95

Experiencing Reggio Emilia: Implications for Pre-School Provision. Lesley & Cathy Nutbrown, eds., $32.95

First Steps toward Teaching the Reggio Way. Joanne Hendrick, ed, $47.95

The Hundred Languages of Children: the Reggio Emilia Approach — Advance Reflections. C. Edwards, L. Gandini, G. Forman, eds., $62.95

In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia. Lella Gandini, Lynn Hill, Louise Cadwell, & Charles Schwall. $38.50

Insights and Inspirations from Reggio Emilia: Stories of Teachers and Children from North America. Lella Gandini, Susan Etheredge & Lynn Hill, $35.95

The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings. Ann Pelo, $37.50

Next Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way: Accepting the Challenge to Change. Joanne Hendrick, editor. $60.65

Possible Schools: the Reggio Approach to Urban Education. Ann Lewin-Benham, Foreword by Howard Gardner. $31.95

We Are All Explorers: Learning and Teaching with Reggio Principles in Urban Settings. Daniel Scheinfeld, Karen Haigh & Sandra Scheinfeld, $35.95

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Waldorf

Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out. Jack Petrash, $32.95

You Are Your Child’s First Teacher: What Parents Can Do With and for Their Children from Birth to Age Six. Rahima Baldwin Dancy, $19.50

Additional Resources

Brain Gym. Simple Activities for Whole Brain Learning. Paul & Gail Dennison, $15.95

Brain Gym. Teacher’s Edition, revised. Paul Dennison, $22.95

Circle Time Sessions for Relaxation and Imagination. Tony Pryce, $34.95

The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand & Foot Can Improve Your Learning. Carla Hannaford, $23.95

Dreamers, Discoverers, & Dynamos: How to Help the Child Who Is Bright, Bored, and Having Problems at School, Lucy Jo Palladino, $21.00

Edu-K for Kids. Paul & Gail Dennison, $20.95

Family Math. Jean Stenmark et al, $32.95

Family Math — the Middle School Years: Algebraic Reasoning and Number Sense. Virginia Thompson & Karen Mayfield-Ingram, $39.95

Family Math for Young Children. Grace Coates & Jean Stenmark, $32.95

Games for Learning: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Learn. Peggy Kaye, $18.95

Games for Math: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Learn Math. Peggy Kaye, $23.95

Games for Reading: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Read. Peggy Kaye, $18.95

Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children. Irene Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell, $61.75

How to Talk So Kids Can Learn at Home and in School. Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish, $18.95

The Learning Gym: Fun-to-Do Activities for Success at School. Erich Ballinger, $16.95 (Brain Gym activities)

The Read-Aloud Handbook —- Including a Giant Treasury of Great Read-Aloud Books. Jim Trelease, $20.00

Seven Times Smarter: 50 Activities, Games and Projects to Develop the Seven Intelligences of Your Child. Laurel Schmidt, $23.00

Smart Homes + SmartSchools = Smart Kids. Denise Overall, $19.99

The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child’s Classroom. Mary Griffith, $25.95

Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades and What You Can Do About It. Sylvia Rimm, $22.50

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