Education

Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent, Member Book

Takes a look at the pilgrimage theme found in Psalms 120 134 and explores the major feasts of Israel. For the ancient Israelites, pilgrimage was a three-times-per-year journey to the temple in Jerusalem; for New Testament believers all of life becomes a journey together toward the new Jerusalem. Contains homework for six sessions. Leader Kit, Leader Guide, and Audio CDs available separately. (7 sessions)

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

The old Quaker adage, "Let your life speak," spoke to author Parker J. Palmer when he was in his early 30s. It summoned him to a higher purpose, so he decided that henceforth he would live a nobler life. "I lined up the most elevated ideals I could find and set out to achieve them," he writes. "The results were rarely admirable, often laughable, and sometimes grotesque.... I had simply found a 'noble' way of living a life that was not my own, a life spent imitating heroes instead of listening to my heart."

Thirty years later, Palmer now understands that learning to let his life speak means "living the life that wants to live in me." It involves creating the kind of quiet, trusting conditions that allow a soul to speak its truth. It also means tuning out the noisy preconceived ideas about what a vocation should and shouldn't be so that we can better hear the call of our wild souls. There are no how-to formulas in this extremely unpretentious and well-written book, just fireside wisdom from an elder who is willing to share his mistakes and stories as he learned to live a life worth speaking about. --Gail Hudson

With wisdom, compassion, and gentle humor, Parker J. Palmer invites us to listen to the inner teacher and follow its leadings toward a sense of meaning and purpose. Telling stories from his own life and the lives of others who have made a difference, he shares insights gained from darkness and depression as well as fulfillment and joy, illuminating a pathway toward vocation for all who seek the true calling of their lives.

Calm My Anxious Heart: A Women's Guide to Finding Contentment

Although many Christian women say they trust God, their lives are filled with worry and anxiety-about their children, their finances, their relationships, their jobs. They know their lives should be characterized by faith in God, but they're unsure of how to get that kind of faith. This book and twelve-week study helps women grow in contentment as they address the barriers to contentment and how to overcome them. Companion Journal available.

My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts

Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. --Psalm 119:11

Knowing the Bible can help you know God better. Here is a colorful, story-filled way for even the youngest child to take God's Word to heart--and learn the alphabet too!

Presented in an easy-to-use story format that applies individual Bible verses to real-life situations, this illustrated book for 3- to 7-year-olds is perfect for reading to your children or grandchildren, and great for use in churches, Christian schools, Bible clubs, or home schools. It can also be easily adapted for family devotions with young children.

The ABCs are building blocks to your child's formal education. And these verses are the building blocks of the soul--the building blocks that can lead to eternal life.

Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses

Today's college students are fascinated by religion but they are also more sexually active than previous generations. How do these young people reconcile their spiritual longings with sexual freedom on campus?
Based on dozens of face-to-face interviews, Sex and the Soul explores the sexual and spiritual lives of today's college students. Donna Freitas crisscrossed the country, visiting a range of America's colleges and universities--from public to private, Catholic to evangelical--to find out what
students had to say about these highly personal subjects. Their stories will not only engage readers, but, in many cases, move them with the painful struggles these candid young women and men face. Indeed, the book uncovers aspects of college life that may unsettle some readers, especially parents.
Many campuses, for instance, are dominated by the hook-up culture of casual sex. Moreover, a surprising number of students see little connection between sex and religion. Indeed, these observations hold true even at Catholic schools. Only at evangelical colleges is religion an important factor when
deciding whether or not to engage in sex. But Freitas's research also reveals that, even at secular schools, students are not comfortable with the prevalence of casual sex, and that they do want religion to speak about what they should do and who they should try to be--not just what they should
avoid doing.
Sex and the Soul will offer readers the chance to hear college students speaking honestly about extremely sensitive topics, in a book that will be of great interest to students, parents, clergy, teachers, and anyone who wants to know what's happening on today's college campuses.

The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 4: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR

Discover the marvelous stories of the world's modern nations with the newest volume of this read-aloud series.

Where was the Crystal Palace? Who was the Sick Man of Europe? And how did cow fat start a revolution?

Now more than ever, other countries and customs affect our everyday lives—and our children need to learn about the people who live all around the world. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of modern nations all around the world. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, the final volume of the popular Story of the World series weaves world history into a storybook format, covering major historical events in the years 1850-2000. From the Middle East and China to Africa and the Americas—find out what happened all around the world in the last century and a half. Designed as a read-aloud project for parents and children to share together, The Story of the World includes the stories of each continent and people group.

Becoming A Contagious Christian

This proven action plan will show you how to impact the spiritual lives of friends, family members, co-workers, and others.

Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive

One of the most effective and influential Christian teachers of this century reveals how all teachers -- from parents to Sunday school leaders, from pastors to professors -- can make the most of their priceless opportunity to inspire, to instruct, and to permanently impact lives for the kingdom of God. Based on seven proven, easy-to-grasp laws any teacher can apply, Howard Hendricks's classic teaching manual is a must-read for anyone who wants to teach with power and passion, excitement and excellence.

This insightful book conveys the author's passion for communication and gets to the heart of how to do it. Discover the thrill of applying the seven proven concepts and seeing the results! Also contains sample lesson plans.

The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life

As a spiritually inspirational book for teachers, The Courage to Teach is one of the best. The premise is concise and unarguable: good teaching comes from the identity and the integrity of the teacher. Teachers are encouraged to turn their inquiring minds inward--developing a deeper understanding of what it means to fulfill the spiritual calling of teaching. Good teachers share one trait, says author Parker Palmer, they are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students, so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts--the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self. --Gail Hudson

"This book is for teachers who have good days and bad -- and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts, because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life."
- Parker J. Palmer [from the Introduction]

Teachers choose their vocation for reasons of the heart, because they care deeply about their students and about their subject. But the demands of teaching cause too many educators to lose heart. Is it possible to take heart in teaching once more so that we can continue to do what good teachers always do -- give heart to our students?

In The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer takes teachers on an inner journey toward reconnecting with their vocation and their students -- and recovering their passion for one of the most difficult and important of human endeavors.

For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School (Child-Life Book) (Child-Life Book)

For the Children's Sake is a book about what education can be--for your child, in your home, and in your school. It is based first on a Christian understanding of what it means to be human--to be a child, a parent, a teacher--and on the Christian meaning of life. At the same time it is deeply practical. Many of the central ideas have been tried and proven true over a century in almost every kind of educational situation. The ideas are in fact so true that they can be applied equally at home, in different schools, in Africa, in the inner city, and in your own community. But they are also ideas which Susan and her husband Ranald Macaulay have tried and proven in their own family and school experience.