As the United States transformed itself from an agricultural to an industrial nation, thousands of young people left farm homes for life in the big city. But even by 1920 the nation’s heartland remained predominantly rural and most children in the region were still raised on farms. Pamela Riney-Kehrberg retells their stories, offering glimpses—both nostalgic and realistic—of a bygone era. As Riney-Kehrberg shows, the experiences of most farm children continued to reflect the traditions of family life and labor, albeit in an age when middle-class urban Americans were beginning to redefine childhood as a time reserved for education and play. She draws upon a wealth of primary sources—not only memoirs and diaries but also census data—to create a vivid portrait of midwestern farm childhood from the early post–Civil War period through the Progressive Era growing pains of industrialization. Those personal accounts resurrect the essential experience of children’s work, play, education, family relations, and coming of age from their own perspectives. Steering a middle path between the myth of wholesome farm life and the reality of work that was often extremely dangerous, Riney-Kehrberg shows both the best and the worst that a rural upbringing had to offer midwestern youth a time before mechanization forever changed the rural scene and radio broke the spell of isolation. Down on the farm, truancy was not uncommon and chores were shared across genders. Yet farm children managed to indulge in inventive play—much of it homemade—to supplement store-bought toys and to get through the long spells between circuses. Filled with insightful personal stories and graced with dozens of highly evocative period photos, Childhood on the Farm is the only general history of midwestern farm children to use narratives written by the children themselves, giving a fresh voice to these forgotten years. Theirs was a way of life that was disappearing even as they lived it, and this book offers new insight into why, even if many rural youngsters became urban and suburban adults, they always maintained some affection for the farm.

Death is not a mere possibility but a certainty for all of us. Yet, today's society unrealistically portrays childhood as a time of unremittant joy and freedom. Unfortunately, the reality of life may suddenly bring children face to face with tragic circumstances such as the death of their pet, the terminal illness of their parent, their own struggle with life-threatening disease, the accidental death of their sibling, or the suicide of a friend. The gravity of any of these situations takes children beyond the innocence of childhood and plunges them into a world that is frightening and full of uncertainty. Unfortunately, our perceptions and attitudes toward death do not equip children with the tools to help them cope adequately with such overwhelming experiences. Beyond the Innocence of Childhood is a collection of forty chapters which are divided into three separate volumes. The overall purpose of this series is to answer the question: How do we as educators, clinicians, other professionals, and parents help children and adolescents deal with threat to their lives, dying, death, and bereavement? In this three volume set the editors have brought together a number of well-known educators, researchers, and practitioners who share their knowledge and expertise concerning the care and well-being of children and adolescents. SPECIFIC TO VOLUME 1 Children explore the world around them through spontaneous, and later, structured learning, acquire knowledge, learn to understand themselves, establish their role in the family, develop peer and adult relationships, and find their place in the world. However, today's society does not include death as part of this developmental process. Unfortunately, such avoidance may negatively influence children's ability to acquire an understanding of the concepts of death and to develop positive attitudes toward death. Highlights of this section include: Answering children's questions Children and death--past, present, and future Gender differences Teachable moments Perceptions of death, cognitive development, and children's artwork The second part of volume 1 examines influences in today's society that potentially impact on children and adolescents' perceptions and attitudes toward life-threatening illness and death. This volume offers readers valuable insights into the various factors which ultimately affect children's ability to achieve a mature understanding of death. Features include the following: Violent death in a popular culture and the media Political conflict and war The epidemic of AIDS Cultural differences in the management of life-threatening illness Death rituals and funeral ceremonies

This project contributes to our understanding of rural Midwesterners and farm newspapers at the turn of the century. While cultural historians have mainly focused on readers in town and cities, it examines Midwestern farmers. It also contributes to the "new rural history" by exploring the ideas of Hal Barron and others that country people selectively adapted the advice given to them by reformers. Finally, it furthers our understanding of American farm newspapers themselves and offers suggestions on how to use them as sources.

Rural spaces are connected with different cultural, economic, social and political codes and meanings. In this book these meanings are analysed through gender. The articles concretely show the process of producing gender and the ways in which accepted gender-based behaviour has been constructed at different times and in different groups. Discussion of gendered spaces leads to wider questions such as power relations and displacement in society. The changing rural processes are analysed on the micro level, and the focus is set on how these changes affect people's everyday lives. Answers are looked for questions like how are individuals responding to these changes? What are their strategies, solutions and tactics? How have they experienced the change process?

The past thirty years have seen an explosion of interest in Greek and Roman social history, particularly studies of women and the family. Until recently these studies did not focus especially on children and childhood, but considered children in the larger context of family continuity and inter-family relationships, or legal issues like legitimacy, adoption and inheritance. Recent publications have examined a variety of aspects related to childhood in ancient Greece and Rome, but until now nothing has attempted to comprehensively survey the state of ancient childhood studies. This handbook does just that, showcasing the work of both established and rising scholars and demonstrating the variety of approaches to the study of childhood in the classical world. In thirty chapters, with a detailed introduction and envoi, The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World presents current research in a wide range of topics on ancient childhood, including sub-disciplines of Classics that rarely appear in collections on the family or childhood such as archaeology and ancient medicine. Contributors include some of the foremost experts in the field as well as younger, up-and-coming scholars. Unlike most edited volumes on childhood or the family in antiquity, this collection also gives attention to the late antique period and whether (or how) conceptions of childhood and the life of children changed with Christianity. The chronological spread runs from archaic Greece to the later Roman Empire (fifth century C.E.). Geographical areas covered include not only classical Greece and Roman Italy, but also the eastern Mediterranean. The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World engages with perennially valuable questions about family and education in the ancient world while providing a much-needed touchstone for research in the field.

The purpose of this book is to bring about a general community awareness of ALREADY KNOWN CONTRIBUTING FACTORS and PRECAUTIONS that can be taken to prevent the constant re-occurrence of PREDICTABLE childhood accidents that occur to children aged from 0 to 14 years of age. PREVENTION is BETTER than CURE - SOMETIMES there is NO CURE When a baby is born, the parents are not magically bestowed with all the knowledge and skills of child rearing. This has to be learned. NOT the HARD WAY by TRIAL and ERROR Rearing children in such a way can lead to a child having to pay a very high price for his learning experience and the Carer at the time of the accident become deeply affected by feelings of regret and sorrow. It makes more sense for parents to FIND OUT BEFORE rather than AFTER an accident has occurred the precautions they could have taken. IF ONLY THEY HAD KNOWN.

Enrich language and literacy skills with special-education students and/or English Language Learners in grades PK–K using Sign Language Fun in the Early Childhood Classroom! This 64-page book helps students improve verbal communication, visual discrimination, spatial memory, and early reading skills. The multisensory approach helps all students (with and without special needs) improve language and literacy skills. This book does not require previous experience with American Sign Language, and it includes teaching suggestions, games, activities, songs, rhymes, literature recommendations, and reproducible sign language cards. The book supports NCTE and NAEYC standards.