Good Reading

Here are Universal Preschool's suggestions for books that give you powerful answers about how preschoolers learn best, and what you can do to insure your children have the foundation to achieve their full potential -- without sending them to government preschools!

Warning: The opinions of this diverse group of authors are exactly that. Some of what they say will appeal to you, some will jar you, some are about as politically incorrect as it gets. We trust you, as a thinking person, to temper everything you read with your own innate intelligence based on your experience, personal beliefs, knowledge of the world, and gut reaction. Use information gleaned from this thought-provoking material and your own wisdom and instinct to guide you in determining what's best for your own child.

Miseducation: Preschoolers At Risk
by David Elkind, professor of child studies at Tufts University. Elkind claims (and backs it up with research) that, "No authority in the field of child psychology, pediatrics, or child psychiatry advocates formal education, in any domain, of infants and young children. In fact, the weight of solid professional opinion opposes it." (Published by Knopf)

Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn -- And Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less
by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D. The book jacket proclaims, "After decades of research, scientists and child development experts have come to a clear conclusion: Play is the best way for our children to learn. Children who are prematurely pushed into regimented academic instruction display less creativity and enthusiasm for learning in later years." (Published by Rodale, Inc.)

Your Child's Growing Mind: Brain Development and Learning From Birth to Adolescence
by Jane Healy, Ph.D. The renowned educational psychologist and authority on brain development in children explains that it's true, the early years are when the most significant brain development occurs. Her advice to parents does not point to enrollment in preschool. Instead, she says, "Give your child the gift of patience for the broad-based mental experiences that will underlie joyous learning throughout life...Childhood is a process, not a product, and so is learning. In a society that often respects products more than the processes of creation and thought, it is easy to fall into the trap of anxiety over measuring achievement in isolated skills. Have faith - in childhood and yourself. Children's brains generally seek what they need, and nature has given you the instincts to help them get it." (Published by Broadway Books)

Home Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs and Other Parent Substitutes
by Mary Eberstadt, research fellow for Stanford University's Hoover Institution. The author makes a case for why parental absence in the lives of children has created a whole new crop of social ills. She offers hard data that opposes the institutionalization of young children and warns of the potential damage psychologically, emotionally, socially and physically to them and to society at large. (Published by Sentinel)

Who Will Rock the Cradle?
by Phyllis Schlafly warns that daycare and preschool programs can make a frightening difference in children's lives. As an example, it points to the 1970 White House Conference on Children that explained: "Daycare is a powerful institution. A daycare program that administers to a child from six months to six years of age has over 8,000 hours to teach him values, fears, beliefs, and behaviors." (Published by W Publishing Group)

The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteacher's Intimate Investigation Into The Problem of Modern Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto. A brilliant expose of how corporate and special interest groups in cahoots with the government have conspired to stamp out the everyday genius of ordinary people through compulsory goverment schooling. Everyone should read this book -- especially parents who send their kids to school. (Published by Oxford Village Press)

The Epidemic: The Rot of American Culture, Absentee and Permissive Parenting, and the Resultant Plague of Joyless, Selfish Children
by Robert Shaw, M.D. with Stephanie Wood. The author, a child and family psychiatrist calls for parents "to take responsibility for their children and give them what they truly need in order to grow, thrive, and love." (Published by Regan Books, a division of Harper/Collins)

What's Going On In There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life
by Lise Eliot, Ph.D. This book, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Psysiology or Medicine in 2000, blends state-of-the-art science with a mother's insight and experience to help parents understand how a baby's brain grows and what they can do to really help their children become smarter and well-adjusted people. (Published by Bantom Books)

Exceptional Returns: Economic, Fiscal, and Social Benefits of Investment in Early Childhood Development
by Robert G. Lynch, published by the Economic Policy Institute. The book's introduction says, "...this study illustrates the potential benefit to the solvency of the U.S. Social Security system from ECD [Early Childhood Development] investment." Government funded preschool programs will be an exercise in social engineering to make sure we have human resources -- a guaranteed work force -- that will assure future generations get their Social Security checks! Download the book for FREE.