Choosing how you will educate your children is probably the biggest decision you will ever make for their happiness, their knowledge and their approach to life. "Rise Above School" is a tool to help you make this critical decision. It takes a candid and thorough look at what school is and does and explains the opportunities available through home education (i.e., homeschooling.) Jeffrey Till explains his views on schooling and education through the lens of years of study on the topic and from his own experiences home educating his own three children. The table of contents: CONTENTS Introduction1 Why you should rescue your children from school3 Making the decision is really, really hard6 The Complete Case for Home Education11 What do you want to be when you grow up?48 Having empathy for your children is critical62 My personal path to home education66 Talking about home education72 How to get started76 Conclusion82 Appendix: Media resources and acknowledgements 84 The Introduction: Introduction This book isn't about the act of home education, but rather making the decision to take your children out of school and begin home education. In my experience, learning about homeschooling was fairly straightforward and knowing the downside of public schooling was fairly intuitive, but taking my kids out of school was still a very challenging decision that took me about year to make. The biggest obstacles turned out to be that I was schooled myself and had a very hard time imagining not using public schools since they are everybody's default 'state of nature'. I also couldn't adequately develop empathy for my own children when it came to what they were enduring in public school and nor thought about what school would ultimately do to them. This book is to help inform the decision process to leave school and free your children to learn at home. What you do once you get those kids out of school is a topic for another book and luckily there are plenty. I chose the title "Rise Above School" because that's what children do when they opt out. The school and culture like to use the term "dropping out" to suggest that leaving school is a failure of the student somehow. We must abandon this victim language once and for all. School is not a nice place to succeed in, it is something that should be rejected, tossed to history's landfill and left to die. Ideally, we use the term "home education" instead of "homeschooling" because the later implies replicating "school" at home, which isn't desirable. Only school can be school. Instead, we want to foster intrinsic-inspired learning at home. This said, "homeschooling" is common vernacular and I use it interchangeably in this book to mean "home education." The initial basis of this book was several articles and podcasts I created at my blog site found at http: //www.fivehundredyears.org. As the articles came, common themes emerged and it seemed natural to put them together under one cover. As background, I've self-studied education, public schooling and home education for two to three years now. I unschool my three young children. I'm an entrepreneur and a husband. I'm an advocate for home education and ending public school. And I'm a radical for peace and prosperity. If you are new to home education ideas or new to even thinking about public school itself, I commend you for trying to learn more, regardless of what you decide. Despite education being the most important decision families ever make for their children, most people don't think about it for even five minutes. The choice you are making involves committing your children to 13 years of school, representing about 15,000 hours of work, all of which can set the direction of your children's entire lives. Put the time in to research, analyze and process this 15,000-hour whopper of a decision. Please.

Rise Above It: Spiritual Development for College Students is a textbook for a course in practical spirituality for young adults in general, and specifically for college students. In this course, "rise above it" refers to rising into higher states of consciousness through practicing universal spiritual principles. In these higher states, above ego concerns, students become more self-aware and gain a broader, deeper perspective on the issues that confront them. While this course does not deal directly with the pressing social issues of our day (violence, substance abuse, global warming, gender identity, poverty, etc.), it does encourage students to examine themselves in the light of universal truth. This leads to an awareness in which they can make decisions that are grounded in the highest human values. Using the Ten Commandments as a framework for universal spiritual principles, this book demonstrates how spiritual practice is the core of every major religion-regardless of differences in doctrine or ritual. Students will not only learn how the commandments occur in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, they will also have the opportunity to practice these spiritual principles in their own lives-especially in regard to the college experience. Each chapter has four parts: Part One: Introductory Story An opening story based on world history, famous literature, or current events, intended to introduce the spiritual practice to be discussed in the chapter. Part Two: World Scriptures A survey of the major religions, with a focus on how each religion contributes to a fuller and deeper understanding of the spiritual practice being studied that week. Many perspectives on the same truth reveal multiple facets of the same gem. Part Three: Journal Entries Excerpts from journal entries and weekly reports, selected from over 12,000 journal entries written by students who have taken this course over the past eighteen years. The book contains over 100 of these anonymous journal entries, reproduced with permission. Part Four: Suggestions for further reflection and practice. Many participants in this course have described themselves as "spiritual but not religious," "evangelical," "agnostic" and even "atheist." Regardless of how students initially describe themselves, they find this course tremendously useful in becoming a finer version of themselves. This course has been taught in a variety of formats for both undergraduate and graduate credit at Bryn Athyn College, the Graduate Theological Foundation, Lincoln University, Mercer University, and the Pacific School of Religion. It is recommended for courses in Practical Spirituality, Religious Ethics, Comparative Religion, Professional Ethics, Moral Life, and Ethical Decision-Making. It could also provide the framework for a First-Year Studies program. A 22-page index, along with a bibliography that includes multiple web sources is designed to help students pursue further research interests.

Aaron Brooks New Orleans Saints star quarterback Aaron Brooks takes us on his life journey from starting at The Bottom-the name for his childhood neighborhood in Newport News, Virginia-to being one of the elite 32 NFL quarterbacks. Aaron emphasizes the positive vision he had about his future and details how he, step by step, achieved his dreams. Aaron's story portrays the true perseverance he had in creating a path up and out of a tough existence. He also reveals that underneath his steadfast exterior burns the heart of a determined winner who lives the motto rise above.

Rise Above reveals the story behind Jeff Dase's rise above obstacles in every chapter of his life to become a successful man in the city of Chicago. This book explains how Jeff Dase remained grounded to his culture and beliefs while navigating the street life and professional life to become an awarding winning contributor to the city of Chicago communities. Offering motivational advice in a spiritual and down-to-earth style, this unique book will give the reader heartfelt insight into the life of survival and success as a black male growing up in the city of Chicago. This book provides wisdom, guidance, and insight to help the reader chart their own path to success. This book addresses tough issues facing Chicago men. A successful man in education, Jeff Dase has risen through the ranks of the third largest public schools system in America, Chicago Public Schools, as a tutor, teacher, assistant principal, principal, Chief of Schools and Operations Manager to being selected as the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning for Decatur Public Schools in Decatur, Illinois. Despite that success, he has endured challenges along the way. This book addresses the challenges men in education face. This book is intended to provide young men with stories and words of encouragement, guidance and inspiration. Dase's deep-rooted passion to ensuring the success of all children that cross his path, men in education and black males in life drove him to write this book. This book is sure to motivate and inspire the lives of all readers. Rise Above will serve as a conversation starter to address issues many men face and avoid talking about. The first step to improvement is to get it out and talk about it. After reading this book, many readers will want to reveal those hidden issues. Most importantly, this book will help readers RISE ABOVE those issues.

Young girls will get encouraging words from the Bible and from courageous, young surfer Bethany Hamilton to see them through their day in this devotional book. Both “hot” and “cool” topics that every young girl faces will be addressed. An extra, tucked-in feature will give the girls the “inside scoop” on what Bethany’s life is all about.

A detailed look at the worst M&A deals ever and the lessons learned from them It's common knowledge that about half of all merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions destroy value for the buyer's shareholders, and about three-quarters fall short of the expectations prevailing at the time the deal is announced. In Deals from Hell, Robert Bruner, one of the foremost thinkers and educators in this field, uncovers the real reasons for these mishaps by taking a closer look at twelve specific instances of M&A failure. Through these real-world examples, he shows readers what went wrong and why, and converts these examples into cautionary tales for executives who need to know how they can successfully navigate their own M&A deals. These page-turning business narratives in M&A failure provide much-needed guidance in this area of business. By addressing the key factors to M&A success and failure, this comprehensive guide illustrates the best ways to analyze, design, and implement M&A deals. Filled with in-depth insights, expert advice, and valuable lessons gleaned from other M&A transactions, Deals from Hell helps readers avoid the common pitfalls associated with this field and presents them with a clear framework for thinking about how to make any M&A transaction a success.