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This parent-teacher workbook is a collection of articles that were originally published in The Christian Science Monitor.

Are you looking for a rich resource of more than 100 easy, timeless ideas on building strong families? Developing the academics at home? Supporting the schools and more?

A nationwide network of experienced teachers and parents contribute to making your home a nurturing environment. Ignite your children’s joy, creativity, success, and love of learning day by day! Classroom teachers, too, will find a wealth of practical lessons.

Reviews

Marian’s articles provide a blueprint for any parent to raise well adjusted, engaged and responsible children. Her guidance is inspiring and energizing.
 – Mother of five, Chatham, MA

These articles offer parents creative and insightful methods of child rearing with an emphasis on patience, encouragement, and love. A great reference to guide us in making the most of the precious early years we have with our children.
– Parent of three boys, Longmeadow, MA

I used your articles to help remind me of what children’s home life is like, such as “Morning rush: learning time.” I used ideas in this article to help me with a little boy given up by other teachers due to discipline problems. I used the writing ideas and many others in my classroom.
– Retired teacher, Mayfield Heights, OH

These articles are a wonderful concept. Teachers recognize parents’ support and the need to work with families. We need fresh approaches. The articles on conversation and reading are very important.
– Parent and teacher, Longmeadow, MA

These ideas about better learning in the home are needed. Parents naturally want to do a good job teaching and preparing their children for school, but many are at a loss not knowing where to begin.
– Teacher, Aurora, CO

Loved your article, “If kids could place a want ad for a mom,” in “The Christian Science Monitor.” I wish it could be sent all over the world. Thought I might write Reader’s Digest to see if they would reprint it.
– Teacher and businesswoman, Boston, MA

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Excerpt from

Parents, Our First and Lasting Teachers

“Her children arise up and call her blessed.”

Mothers have been celebrated in verse, prose, and song for thousands of years. Yet deep feelings for a dear mother are often hard to speak or write about.

Thanks to Anna Jarvis of West Virginia, people in countries around the world have this day in May to wrap up tributes, however simple, and deliver them to that special mother. In a desire to fulfill her own mother’s hope that “sometime, somewhere, someone will found a Mother’s Day,” Mrs. Jarvis quit her job, wrote letters, and campaigned for such a celebration.

Ever since May 9, 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation, families have gathered on the second Sunday in May. From Belgium and Denmark to America and Australia, homemade cards and meals, spring bouquets, or special treasures honor mothers.

As we prepare for this Mother’s Day, here are some tributes to mothers from some famous sources to consider:

“All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” – Attributed to Abraham Lincoln “Men are what their mothers made them.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson “Of my mother I cannot speak as I would, for memory recalls qualities to which the pen can never do justice.” – Mary Baker Eddy “According to my method of thinking, and that of many others, not woman but the mother is the most precious possession of the nation, so precious that society advances its highest well-being when it protects the functions of the mother.” – Ellen Key “… what DO girls do who haven’t any mothers to help them through their troubles?” – Louisa May Alcott “… mothers of the human race, the most important actors in the grand drama of human progress …” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton “Ah, lucky girls who grow up in the shelter of a mother’s love – a mother who knows how to contrive opportunities without conceding favors, how to take advantage of propinquity without allowing appetite to be dulled by habit.” – Edith Wharton “A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” – Dorothy Canfield Fisher “The best academy, a mother’s knee.” – James Russell Lowell “For the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” – William Ross Wallace “Her children arise up, and call her blessed …” – Proverbs 31:28

And from some not so famous sources: “You mean everything good to me.” – Julie, age 7 “I don’t love my mother just because she’s nice. I’d love her even if she were mean. I love her because she loves me.” – Siobhan, age 8 “My mom is always involved in so many things that I get to meet lots of new people. She always knows what I’m doing. We always need two more hours in a day to do things. We work together, on homework, on my bike.” – David, age 10 “Mother takes care of me and buys me things I like. She’s the best mother I’ve ever had!” – Tracy, age 7