An Idea is Born and Transformed...

Education is reforming itself for our strife-filled global world, and families also need to reform or renew themselves as they prepare their children to live better in that same world. Few books help in this regard, except for this innovative and holistic guide that offers clues to the complex issues of living and learning through educational and home contexts.

"You Are Your Child's Best Teacher (c) 2015  recognized that families need help in becoming the best teachers for their children in our uncertain and confusing world. Many excerpts and rewrites from that book became the more recent Our Children and Future: Lessons in Family and School Engagement.  It was written for parents and families who want to improve family well-being and their children's academic achievement - while improving their engagement with children and with each other. It is also written for advocates who help support children and families through community initiatives and in in-and out-of-school-time programs.

Clues in the revised Our Children and Future (c) 2019 guidebook may help families and advocates move from where they are right now - (the status quo) to hope for more positive future plans and goals. When families are well and searching for balance, they are more apt to do those things that are needed so their children become more satisfied and capable - both in and out of school.

In my writing, the sections and chapters introduce many concepts as clues to families who want to improve family well-being, relationships, student achievement and their engagement with their children and schools. At the same time teacher  engagement has to improve .

I try to make sure that my writings are  practical with explanations of the latest school reform issues, such as the Common Core and ESSA. I try to make them  thought-provoking as it links issues of our nation with family well-being and what’s taught at home with school outcomes.  My books will be used repeatedly as children and their families grow and develop!

Contents include:

1. Family Engagement Links Home and School
2. Our Families Are Up to Us!
3. Family and School History Impacts the Future.
4. Our Schools Are Up to Us, Too! 

This holistic guidebook can empower families to engage better with children, schools and society. The following 2 books are excerpted from this edition:  

Contents include: 

1. What's Needed to Make Sense? 
2. The Personal Becomes Political
3. Schooling and Quality of Life

For adults, older adolescents including Millennials, Gen Z - this book may be what you need to be Woke to history's impact on our nation and families with suggested next steps.   

Contents include

1.  The Preparation of Next Generations with planning tips; 
2. Our Families Are Up to Us with clues from birth thru high school graduation and beyond (for parents too). 
3. Family and School History Impact the Future.

The Prepare Our Children Spiral-bound Companion Workbook/Book is a little more expensive than the book, but if you need to work through some things to parent better while healing yourself, you may need this book rather than the briefer edition.   

The First 40 Page Book

(c) 2012 was intentional

The first book began formulating when a young man I met at a conference in New Jersey told me that I needed to share what I knew with others. It began as a four page Back to School fact sheet I wrote for families at a church event in 2009. One of my sisters (Angel) read it and told me that it should be developed into a book. It became this 40 page full-color booklet. During that writing, I learned new skills with the computer and the craft of writing!

And now for the continued excerpts from that first book into  the 2020 editions.  The first book  was highly regarded by a national authority - Dr. James P. Coleman of Yale Child Study Center and others.  

Getting to this point with this book and my business are full turnarounds for me! I learned to be a better business person from the writing and publishing of my first two revisions! I'm learning how to thrive rather than just survive from a friend, and enjoying that journey.  

Now I'm trying to find the business card given to me by John Robbins in 2010 when I ventured to a writers conference in San Francisco (Writing to Change the World) to learn more about my new craft. I met an editor who introduced me to Mr. Robbins who told me to look him up after completion...

My theme at that time was "Speaking the Unspoken" which got his attention! I have added to that a call to action.... Speaking and Acting On Unspokens as a theme running through my presentations and books where usually unspoken topics that need to be discussed are linked to topics of interest.  

It's serious - school stakeholders have to learn more about our misconceptions and contradictions so we can collaborate together to Challenge our Expectations when we regard something that may likely happen without firm evidence.  We have to move beyond the status quo that is hurting our families, communities, cities, states and our nation! We're all connected in this and we all have roles to play. The pandemic taught us that we are all in this together - though history and present actions relegate some to better outcomes than others.