50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families (2nd Edition)

50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families (2nd Edition) Review

50 Early Childhood Strategies for Working and Communicating with Diverse Families is a practical and easy to use book.  It presents key concepts, discusses them in research-based, accessible prose, and provides useful strategies to facilitate communication and collaboration.  The book focuses on family-centered care and education for young children and emphasizes partnering with families.  Many of the strategies in this book address ideas about how to create a climate of trust by communicating in a collaborative way.  The goal is to create inclusive programs that respect and honor differences in families and individuals.  Teachers will love the fifty short chapters with information they can apply immediately.  At the heart of all these strategies lies the welfare of the child.

 

FEATURES:

• Emphasizes the importance of partnerships between teachers and family members.Stresses the integral components of communication between diverse families and teachers or administrators.
• Raises the important issue of respecting the various diversities and cultures that exist in today's classrooms.
• Reader-friendly writing style and the alphabetic arrangement of the strategies-interesting, understandable, and easy to find what the student or teacher is looking for.
• Interwoven, cross-referenced strategies-integrity throughout the book as the relationships between the strategies are highlighted; one strategy often mentions several other strategies that pertain to the same subject.
• Broad coverage: spans ages 0-8 in a variety of different care and education settings-applies to early childhood educators at all levels-not exclusive to Pre-K; also includes child care, but not exclusively.
• Goes beyond mere parent involvement and education-closely examines how a partnership may include both, but is different from the more common approaches early childhood educators often take to working with parents; promotes a family-centered approach instead of a child-centered one that is common practice.
• Photos and artifacts illustrate the messages-these visual images are designed to help readers grasp information and enliven the book.

 

New to this Edition!

 

Strategies organized by categories, rather than alphabetically.

Emphasis on kindergarten and primary grade teachers.

Diversity theme at forefront of strategies.

New subjects covered include: working with families to maintain home language, holidays in the classroom, media issues, improving child nutrition, children playing outdoors, and dealing with death in the family.

The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons

The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons Review

Many of us with busy families yearn for a slower and simpler life with our kids—one that is connected to the seasons and the natural rhythm of the year, one that has our children spending more time out of doors rather than in, one that balances out some of the busyness of our lives—the computers, the televisions, the cell phones—with a deeper connection to the Earth and an appreciation for and understanding of the natural world. The Rhythm of Family is a guide to living such a life for any family.

Following the course of a year through the passing of the seasons, this book explores the ways we can create deep family connections and meaningful memories through living in tune with the cycles of nature. From stomping around in mud boots in the spring to gathering around the woodstove in winter, our activities naturally change from season to season—from the rhythms of the seasons comes the rhythms in our homes, our hearts, our families, and our every day. Paying attention to these changes slows us down, inspires new types of creative play and exploration, instills a sense of family togetherness, and deepens an awareness of nature and self that can make our lives, days, family, and earth grow stronger.

The Rhythm of Family explores what we learn and can gain as parents and families by encouraging and experiencing creativity and nature exploration with our children, the seasons can provide us with a rhythm that brings us close to the earth, and closer to our children.

2012 Mom's Home Plan-It Plus calendar

2012 Mom's Home Plan-It Plus calendar Review

Mom's Home Plan-It Plus

Additions: Your Guide to Planning and Remodeling (Better Homes and Gardens)

Additions: Your Guide to Planning and Remodeling (Better Homes and Gardens) Review

Leads readers from the dream stage through execution of their own additions project.

Includes information on where to shop for materials and how to work with design and building professionals.

120 gorgeous color photos of additions—from small dormers to entire second stories—will inspire readers with beautiful designs and help them visualize their own successful remodeling projects.

“Don’t Do That!" tips throughout the book help readers avoid planning and design pitfalls.

Sidebars offer quick-to-read basics, such as: "The Top Ten" elements of a good floor plan and the "Money-Saver Top Ten" tips for keeping costs in line.

Questionnaires guide readers through their own planning stages.

Question-and-answer segments offer solutions to common problems.

Taste of Home: Comfort Food Diet Cookbook: New Quick & Easy Favorites: Slim Down with 380 Satisfying Recipes!

Taste of Home: Comfort Food Diet Cookbook: New Quick & Easy Favorites: Slim Down with 380 Satisfying Recipes! Review

Third in the series, following the best-selling Comfort Food Diet Cookbook, The Comfort Food Diet Cookbook: Quick & Easy Favorites offers an all-new collection of recipes for hearty all-time favorites with fewer calories than expected. This new cookbook includes a bonus section of recipes that are extra quick and easy to suit today's busy lifestyle. Realistic portions combined with exceptional taste put pleasure back into healthy eating without sacrificing quality or satisfaction. Recipes include:

• Colorful Cheese Omelet
• Hearty Chipotle Chicken Soup
• Raspberry Chicken Salad
• Lemon Mushroom Chicken
• Parmesan Pork Medallions
• Creamy Tuna Noodles Casserole
• All-American Beef Stew
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Coconut Cherry Cream Squares

Also included are tips from followers of the diet on how they get the most from the program, their weight-loss strategies and advice.

Sustainable Living Made Easy: Creating a Healthier Future for Your Family and Protecting the Planet One Step at a Time

Sustainable Living Made Easy: Creating a Healthier Future for Your Family and Protecting the Planet One Step at a Time Review

It’s hard to turn on the news or pick up a newspaper without reading stories about our planet in peril. Many years of industry and irresponsible management of Earth’s resources have led to major issues with pollution, toxic waste, and climate change.

How can we combat what’s happening to the globe? Sustainable living is the answer that many people are turning to in order to make the world a healthier place. But for many people, sustainable living seems like an unattainable lifestyle.

How this guide can and will help you:

Before you become overwhelmed you should know that you can work toward sustainability in small steps. It might help to really understand what sustainable living means. In the introductory chapter we’ll look at an overview of sustainable living and help you to see the big picture.

In future chapters we’ll look more in detail at specific aspects of sustainable living and what steps you can take to implement them into your lifestyle. Before you can decide what’s right for you, it helps to know the basics.

Sustainable living is not a set of “rules” to follow. Rather it’s a way of thinking that can help you to guide your life choices. It's a philosophy for life.

While it’s difficult for one not to have any impact on the environment, sustainable living practices can help you to make sure you don’t leave a bigger footprint than you want to leave for future generations.

Equally important is the fact that this lifestyle can and will help you to cut back on expenses, which a is bonus given the challening times we live in.

This guide provides a critical overview of sustainable living and how you and your children can benefit greatly by making small but meaningful adjustments, which ultimately leads to ...

Creating a Healthier Future for Your Family and Protecting the Planet One Step at a Time

Table of Contents - What you can expect to learn

1. Sustainable Living 101: What to Expect from Sustainability

2 .Why Choose a Sustainable Lifestyle: Improving the Planet’s Health – and Yours

3. Getting Started with a Garden: Taking the First Steps toward Growing Your Own Food

4. From Chickens to Cows: Taking Care of Livestock in Your Backyard

5. Waste Not Want Not: Producing and Conserving Energy in Your Home

6. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Sustaining the Earth by Managing Waste

7. Getting Rid of Toxic Waste: Keeping Poisons Out of the Landfill

8. Fun for the Whole Family: Getting Kids Involved with Your New Lifestyle

9. Sustainable Living Tips: Small Choices that Make a Big Impact

10. Taking the First Steps Toward a Fresh Way of Life: Making a Plan and Getting Started


A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. In a very similar way working towards a sustainable lifestyle and protecting the planet can only be accomplished one step at a time. Practicing the principles and ideas shared in this guide, can and will make a difference not only to your pocket, but also in living a healthier and more meaningful lifestyle.

May this guide serve you, your children and planet earth well.

Family Shepherds: Calling and Equipping Men to Lead Their Homes

Family Shepherds: Calling and Equipping Men to Lead Their Homes Review

It’s hard to overestimate the importance of the family, and that of fathers in particular. We’ve heard it said, “As the family goes, so goes the nation.” But it can also be said that “as the father goes, so goes the family.” Consequently, Voddie Baucham has set out to teach men how to faithfully shepherd their families.

Derived from Baucham’s monthly meetings with men in his church, Family Shepherds calls men to accountability for their God-given responsibilities in their homes. Baucham’s clear style and practical approach will spur men to protect their marriage, raise kingdom-minded children, value the synergy between church and home, and navigate difficult family dynamics.

Family Shepherds is a book for any husband or father looking to lead well, and it will serve as an excellent resource for churches looking to equip the men in their congregations.

Cluttered Homes, Cluttered Minds 2 - Living Rooms and Family Rooms

Cluttered Homes, Cluttered Minds 2 - Living Rooms and Family Rooms Review

This book, the second in a series, offers suggestions to help you and your family gain control of the chaos that follows when a family living space is plagued with clutter. Follow the suggestions within this book and discover the freedom that comes from creating order in a formerly cluttered environment.

A short read, this book can be read in one sitting, allowing you to get started with your de-cluttering goals.

The author owned and operated an interior decorating business for several years. She shares her experience with the reader, offering solutions to some of the most common clutter issues that families deal with on a regular basis.

Taste of Home: Busy Family Favorites: 363 30-Minute Recipes

Taste of Home: Busy Family Favorites: 363 30-Minute Recipes Review

"Hey, Mom. I'm hungry! What do we have to eat?"
It's the shout from down the hall that can stress out the time-starved cook. Not to worry. You can save time-and your sanity-with Taste of Home Busy Family Favorites. This collection of 363 family-pleasing recipes will help you stock up on homemade snacks and get a delicious dinner on the table fast. There is also a chapter on breakfast that appeals to hurried households, and appetizers to keep kids quiet while you prepare dinner.
Try tempting dishes such as:

Tortellini Soup

Italian Patty Melts

Pork Chops with Apple Dressing

Apricot Chicken Drumsticks

Best Chicken 'n' Biscuits

Fantastic Fish Tacos

Potato Wedges

Creamed Corn with Bacon

Banana Split Shortcake

Gingersnap Pears

Each recipe features a short ingredient list, simple prep techniques and easy cooking methods. Plus, there are over 200 full-color tempting photos!

Family-Sized Minimalism: Simplifying Life at Home

Family-Sized Minimalism: Simplifying Life at Home Review

Family-Sized Minimalism brings the message of minimalism to families tired of living in chaos and clutter. It shows you how to put "Less Mess…More Life" into action.

The pages of this book will share both my story and the stories of several other minimalist families. Whether you’ve been living a minimalist lifestyle for awhile now, or you’re just curious what it means and if it could really work for your family, this book has a message for you.

Family-Sized Minimalism covers a wide variety of topics including:

• What is Family-Sized Minimalism?
• The Less & More Benefits of Minimalism
• Applying Minimalism to Your Family Schedule
• Ways to Save Money as a Minimalist Family
• The Practical Side of Minimalism
• Dealing with Kids & Their Clutter
• How to Cope with Roadblocks to Minimalism
• Advice from 12 Minimalist Families

For more resources and articles on simple living and minimalism for families, visit the author's website at http://minimalistathome.com

Mayo Clinic Family Health Book

Mayo Clinic Family Health Book Review

Since its initial publication in 1990, the "Mayo Clinic Family Health Book" has become a classic home medical reference, selling more than 1.5 million copies. Now in its fourth edition, this updated and abundantly illustrated volume offers the latest in medical knowledge, with a strong emphasis on self-care. From prevention to treatment, from infancy to old age, this comprehensive health guide offers reliable, easy-to-understand information in five convenient sections: Part I - Injuries and Symptoms; Part II - Pregnancy and Healthy Children; Part III - Healthy Adults; Colour section; Part IV - Diseases and Disorders; and, Part V - Tests and Treatments.

Refresh Your Home: 500 Simple Projects and Tips to Save Money, Update, and Renovate

Refresh Your Home: 500 Simple Projects and Tips to Save Money, Update, and Renovate Review

Isn't it about time to put the "you" in do-it-yourself? Refresh Your Home is filled with hundreds of easy, smart tips, techniques, and projects that will save you energy, money, and frustration. And if you are a seasoned DIYer, you'll find plenty of inspiration and useful information. Did you know that you can protect your car door with a pool toy? Or preserve open glues and sealers by storing them in glass jars?

The expert editors at The Family Handyman magazine will guide you step- by-step through a wide range of DIY improvements including:

Interior Projects and Repairs: Stop drafts, fine-tune a thermostat, dry up a wet basement, revive woodwork trim, make a carpet last longer, upgrade a bathroom on a small budget, add beams and panels to a ceiling, remove wallpaper
Electrical and High-Tech: DFix wobbly outlets, repair a remote control, install a larger electrical box, monitor power outages while you're away from the house
Plumbing, Heating, and Appliances: Repair a water-heater pilot light, replace a toilet, unclog a vacuum cleaner, tune up a gas grill, fix your dryer, connect a gas line, save on new appliances
Woodworking and Furniture: Rout perfect edges, build a super-simple workbench, apply a smooth polyurethane finish, put together a window planter, avoid common injuries from tools
Exterior Maintenance and Repairs: Quiet a noisy garage door, repair a leaky frost-proof faucet, make your lawn chairs puddle-free, fix slippery steps
Outdoor Structures and Landscaping: Sharpen a lawn mower blade, know when to rent power tools, prune for healthier bushes, build a campfire bench in just two hours, find buried cable
Auto and Garage: Replace burned-out dash lights, put the brakes on high car insurance, change your own oil, prevent license-plate theft, burglar-proof your garage

"New Tools and Gear" and "Great Goofs" features point you toward useful new products and let you learn from others' mistakes. You'll also find bonus sections on painting, cleaning, and storage as well as a collection of the experts' favorite shortcuts and hints. With Refresh Your Home you'll be ready to tackle any home improvement project head-on.