Preschool is a time in a child's life when adults can stimulate a child's brain to grow as they pass through the various stages of childhood. These changes should involve their motor and sensory functions through experiences in their environment. The purpose of a preschool should be to lay the groundwork to build on for the future. Certainly, it should not be to make little academic wizards of the children. Instead, there should be devices to help children refine the needed essential skills in life, opportunity to improve their motor skills, be introduced to some of the basics of the academic world, learn about the community in which they live, and yet remain a young child in heart and soul. Alaska's Children's House gives you ideas for all these.

During the Holocaust the young Hetty was rounded up by the Nazis and sent for 14 long months to Belsen Concentration Camp. Hetty and her two little brothers were forcefully separated from their parents. This is her story; how she as one of the eldest children had to become the ‘Little Mother’ not only taking care of her two brothers but also forty young children living in Barrack 211 known as ‘The Children’s House of Belsen’. At fourteen-years-old, an unimaginable task amidst the inhu­mane conditions of hunger, cold, sickness death and despair, she kept up her spirits. A truly remarkable story of a young girl’s determination.

An essential resource for all students and scholars of early childhood education, this book offers a rich array of material about Maria Montessori and the Montessori Method. Distinguished education scholar Gerald Gutek begins with an in-depth biography of Montessori, exploring how a determined young woman overcame the obstacles that blocked her educational and career opportunities in Italy during the late Victorian age. The author then analyzes the sources and influences that shaped the Montessori philosophy of education. After laying the foundation for Montessori's development, Gutek presents an annotated and abridged edition of The Montessori Method (1912), the seminal work that introduced her educational innovations to a U.S. audience. The book concludes with key historical documents, including disciple Anne E. George's notes on the Montessori lectures and William H. Kilpatrick's critique of the Montessori method. Preserving the historical context of Montessori's contribution, Gutek also shows the continuing relevance of her thought to educational reform in the twenty-first century.

In this report the Education Committee recommends that children in care should be found residential homes in their own areas and local authorities should ensure that they have enough suitable placements to make this possible. The Committee was concerned at the number of children being placed in homes far from their own communities and families, and the Government should look at the impact of introducing a 20 mile limit on placements to increase incentives on local authorities to develop more facilities. It is also a matter of great concern that children are being placed in homes located in unsuitable and dangerous areas. The Government must act if its latest reforms do not adequately address this problem. The report also calls for: better training and development of the workforce in children's homes to ensure that staff and managers have the skills and outlook to create a culture which promotes the safety and welfare of children living in them; a national protocol that allows children's homes to deal with incidents of challenging behaviour to avoid the over-criminalisation of children; children to be given a greater role in selecting residential care workers.