Supporting Parents

A hands-on guide for parents and caregivers to develop best practices in revitalizing and teaching Cree to young children.

In nēhiyawētān kīkināhk / ​Speaking Cree in the Home, Belinda Daniels and Andrea Custer provide an introductory text to help families immerse themselves, their children, and their homes in nēhiyawēwin—the Cree language.

Despite the colonial attacks on Cree culture, language, and peoples, Custer and Daniels remind readers that the traditional ways of knowing and transferring knowledge to younger generations have not been lost and can be revived in the home, around the table, every day.

nēhiyawētān kīkināhk / ​Speaking Cree in the Home is an approachable, hands-on manual that helps to re-forge connections between identity, language, family, and community—by centering Indigenous knowledge and providing Cree learners and speakers with a practical guide to begin their own journey of reclaiming and revitalizing Cree in the home.

Readers are guided through methods for language learning, the basics of reading Cree and Standard Roman Orthography, pronunciation of vowels, engaging language-learning games, and examples of high-frequency words and phrases that can easily be incorporated into daily routines and taught to children young and old.

Reviews
“This is a welcome book for all who are interested in learning the Cree language, either for themselves alone or for themselves and their families. The book offers good guidance on the best practices in language learning based on the authors’ personal experiences in their respective language journeys.” —Solomon Ratt, author of mâci-nêhiyawêwin / Beginning Cree

“A major contribution, this book will be a useful resource in Cree classes, at both high school and university levels. But it is also useful for home use, as it describes the practical application of speaking Cree in the home and provides in an easy-to-read format and details a hands-on approach too.” —Dorothy Thunder (Plains Cree, Little Pine First Nation), Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta

“The activity-based learning lessons that are presented here should serve as a model not only for teaching the language in a family setting, but in any other formal and informal settings, because they cover all aspects of teaching and learning; the content, variety of methods, appropriate timing and setting. . . . The pioneering in Cree language acquisition and revival has begun and hopefully this book reaches all interested individuals.” —Ken Paupanekis, author of Pocket Cree: A Phrasebook for Nearly All Occasions

Additional Information
122 pages | 4.72" x 7.27" | Paperback

Take your therapeutic practice with children, youth, and families out into nature.

The number of children, youth, and families seeking help for a wide range of mental health concerns is growing at an alarming rate, and many struggle to thrive despite well-intentioned interventions from skilled helpers. Unplugging from technology and reconnecting with the web of life is a powerful antidote to the highly technological and fast-paced realities of so many.

Nature-Based Therapy addresses this underlying disconnection between humans and their ecological home, exploring theories and therapeutic practices undertaken with children, youth, and families, including:

• Developing sensory awareness of outer and inner landscapes
• Navigating risk in play
• Case examples with a diverse range of settings, intentions, and interventions.

Nature-Based Therapy is for counselors, therapists, youth and social workers, educators, and parents working in educational and therapeutic settings who want to take their practice beyond the office walls and into the powerful terrain of the wild, partnering with nature as a co-facilitator to create lasting change.

Additional Information
304 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

How self-directed democratic schooling builds fulfilling lives and can lead the way back to a civilized society.

Education is ripe for democratic disruption. Students in most schools are denied fundamental social ideals such as personal freedom, public government, rule of law, and free enterprise. In our increasingly authoritarian post-truth world, self-directed democratic schooling offers a timely alternative: educating children in civilized society and showing that self-motivation outperforms coercion in its power to educate and fulfill.

When Kids Rule the School is the first comprehensive guide to democratic schooling, where kids practice life in a self-governed society—empowered as voters, bound by laws, challenged by choice, supported by community, and driven by nature. Through heartwarming stories and hard-headed details, this book covers:

• Democratic schooling philosophy, theory, and practice
• School governance by students and staff together
• Student self-direction and day-to-day life
• Deep play, cognitive development, and critical thinking
• Why democratic schooling is morally right and effective
• Model bylaws and guidance for starting a democratic school.

Created for educators, parents, and scholars, When Kids Rule the School will immerse you, heart and mind, in a promising new approach to education, and stretch your thinking about what school can be.

Educator Information
When Kids Rule the School lays out the theory and practice of self-directed democratic schooling.

Written by the co-founder of The Circle School, open since 1984.

Self-directed democratic schooling results in higher rates of college attendance, more undergraduate and graduate degrees, healthy relationships with authority, and unflinching self-responsibility. 

Intended for educators, parents (especially homeschoolers and unschoolers), and scholars of education.

Additional Information
288 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 10 illustrations

Creative ways to use the garden to inspire learning, for kids ages 4-8

Packed with garden-based activities that promote science, math, reading, writing, imaginative play, and arts and crafts, The Garden Classroom offers a whole year of outdoor play and learning ideas—however big or small your garden.

Every garden offers children a rich, sensory playground, full of interesting things to discover and learn about. There's a whole lot of science happening right before their eyes. The garden can also be a place to develop math and literacy skills, as the outdoors offers up plenty of invitations to weave learning into everyday gardening. The garden classroom is a place where plants grow, and where children grow too.

Additional Information
232 pages | 7.02" x 8.50" | Paperback

1 2 3 Kindergarten is a down-to-earth, practical guide to help parents, caregivers and educators ensure children's readiness for kindergarten. Written by a kindergarten teacher and parent, this award-winning book, has tips, explanations, short-cuts and fun. It includes ideas that use resources already available at home or in child care centers and strategies to incorporate learning time into busy, active days. An easy-to-use developmental checklist and rating scale, guidance for the this-year-or-next-year debate, and suggestions for home-school transition make this a birth-to-kindergarten resource.

Additional Information
114 pages | 5.98" x 9.02" | Paperback

Historically, social work and psychology professions have pressured and coerced Aboriginal peoples to follow the euro-centric ways of society. The needs of Aboriginal peoples have not been successfully addressed by the helping profession due to a limited attempt to incorporate Aboriginal perspectives and practices of helping. Michael Hart briefly discusses colonization from an Aboriginal perspective, ontological imperialism, social work’s role in colonial oppression, and the dynamic of resistance. Seeking Mino-Pimatisiwin encourages Aboriginal concepts, values and perspectives to be effectively incorporated by helpers trained in counselling, supporting, and teaching disciplines.

Micheal Hart uses his own personal and professional experiences and that of other Aboriginal helpers. Throughout the book he outlines ways of adopting an Aboriginal Approach to helping. The closing chapter examines one such approach, the sharing circle, and how it can be used to guide practice with individuals, families, and groups in several contexts.

Additional Information
128 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"