If you care about the education of a child, you need this book. Comprehensive and easy to use, it will inform, empower, and encourage you.
Just as William J. Bennett's The Book of Virtues has helped millions of Americans teach young people about character, The Educated Child delivers what you need to take control. With coauthors Chester E. Finn, Jr., and John T. E. Cribb, Jr., former Secretary of Education Bennett provides the indispensable guide.
Championing a clear "back-to-basics" curriculum that will resonate with parents and teachers tired of fads and jargon, The Educated Child supplies an educational road map from earliest childhood to the threshold of high school. It gives parents hundreds of practical suggestions for helping each child succeed while showing what to look for in a good school and what to watch out for in a weak one.
The Educated Child places you squarely at the center of your young one's academic career and takes a no-nonsense view of your responsibilities. It empowers you as mothers and fathers, enabling you to reclaim what has been appropriated by "experts" and the education establishment. It out-lines questions you will want to ask, then explains the answers -- or non-answers -- you will be given. No longer will you feel powerless before the education "system." The tools and advice in this guide put the power where it belongs -- in the hands of those who know and love their children best.
Using excerpts from E. D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge Sequence, The Educated Child sets forth a state-of-the art curriculum from kindergarten through eighth grade that you can use to monitor what is and isn't being taught in your school. It outlines how you can help teachers ensure that your child masters the most important skills and knowledge. It takes on today's education controversies from phonics to school choice, from outcomes-based education to teaching values, from the education of gifted children to the needs of the disabled. Because much of a youngster's education takes place outside the school, The Educated Child also distills the essential information you need to prepare children for kindergarten and explains to the parents of older students how to deal with such challenges as television, drugs, and sex.
If you seek high standards and solid, time-tested content for the child you care so much about, if you want the unvarnished truth about what parents and schools must do, The Educated Child is the one book you need on your shelf.
Autorentext
Chester E. Finn Jr. is a scholar, educator, and public servant who is Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus of Fordham. His is an educational policy analyst and formally served as the United States Assistant Secretary of Education.
Dr. William J. Bennett is one of America's most influential and respected voices on cultural, political, and educational issues. Host of The Bill Bennett Show podcast, he is also the Washington Fellow of the American Strategy Group. He is the author and editor of more than twenty-five books. Dr. Bennett served as the secretary of education and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under President Ronald Reagan and as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George Herbert Walker Bush.
Inhalt
Acknowledgments
Before You Begin
Introduction
You Are Your Child's Most Important Teacher
Lessons That Good Schools Teach
Will Your School Educate Your Child Well?
Our Schools and Our Culture
Ten Principles for Parents of Educated Children
Part I: The Preschool Years
Chapter I: Fostering a Love of Learning
Your Love, Protection, and Care
Your Time
A Positive Learning Environment
An Attitude That Values Learning
Early Moral Training
How Young Children Learn
Chapter 2: Getting Ready for School
Kindergarten Readiness List
Getting Ready to Read
Making Your House a Book House
Choosing Books for Children
Thirty Great Books Every Preschooler Should Meet
Setting a Good Reading Example
Reading to Your Child
Reading Rules of Thumb
Checking Out the Library
Getting Ready to Write
Learning to Speak and Listen Well
Getting Ready for Arithmetic
Preschool Science
Building Motor Skills
Resources to Help Your Preschooler Learn
Chapter 3: Character Education in the Early Years
Forming Character for School Success
Discipline in the Preschool Years
Social Skills
Helping Your Child Learn Self-Reliance
Chapter 4: Day Care and Preschool
Day Care
A Word About Day Care Licensing
Preschool
Is Preschool Necessary?
Looking for a Good Preschool
Staying Involved
Part II: The Core Curriculum
The Importance of a Solid Core Curriculum
Checking on Your School's Standards of Learning
How to Use This Book to Examine Your School's
Curriculum
Ten Signs of a Good School
The Core Knowledge Sequence
Chapter 5: English
What Good Schools Teach -- and Why
Reading
Writing
Speaking
How Do You Recognize "Great" Literature?
How Are Schools Doing?
The English Curriculum
The Primary Grades
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Good Books for the Primary Grades
How Well Read Is Your Primary Grade Child?
Questions to Ask the Teacher
What If My Child Has a Reading Problem?
The Intermediate Grades
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Sixth Grade
Good Books for the Intermediate Grades
How Well Read Is Your Intermediate Grade Child?
Wellsprings of Western Literature
Questions to Ask the Teacher
Junior High
Seventh Grade
Eighth Grade
Good Books for Junior High
How Well Read Is Your Junior High Schooler?
Memorizing Poems and Prose
Questions to Ask the Teacher
Issues in Language Arts Education
Phonics Versus Whole Language
When Should Students Start to Read?
Should Schools Group Children by Reading Ability?
When Should Children Learn to Write?
What If the Teacher Does Not Correct Spelling?
How Important Is Penmanship?
What Is the Place of Western Literature in the English
Classroom?
Why Are Children's Classics Being Slighted?
Is My Child Really Learning to Understand Literature?
Should Children Study Much Grammar?
Should Schools Be Sticklers About Proper English?
Warning Signs of a Weak Language Arts Program
Teaching Reading, Writing, and Literature at Home
Helping Your Child Learn to Read
Help with Phonics
Building Reading Comprehension
Resources That Help Your Child Learn to Read
Helping Your Child Learn to Write
Gauging Your Child's Interest and Progress
Chapter 6: History and Geography
What Good Schools Teach -- and Why
The Intellectual Function of History
The Civic Function of History
The Moral Function of History
History Lessons That Good Schools Teach
The Place of Geography in the Curriculum
What About Economics?
How Are Schools Doing?
The History and Geography Curriculum
The Primary Grades
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Is Your School Teaching Historical Literacy?
Questions to Ask the Teacher
The Intermediate Grades
Fourth Grade
How Are American Fourth Graders Doing?
Fifth Grade
Does My Child Know the Map?
Sixth Grade
Is My Child Geographically Literate?
Is Your School Teaching Basic Economics?
Questions to Ask the Teacher
Junior High
Seventh Grade
Eighth Grade
How Are American Eighth Graders Doing?
Is Your School Teaching Literacy in American History?
Is Your School Teaching Literacy in World History?
Is Your Child Learning How American Democracy Works?
Questions to Ask the Teacher
Issues in the Teaching of History
What Happened to the Story in History?
"Expanding Environme…