ABSTRACT

Parents who are also educational researchers have access to a domain that is highly complex and not always available to other scholars.  In this book, parent-researchers provide theoretical and practical insights into children’s learning in the home and at school.  Readers are given a window into learning in the home context and how all family members organize or engage in that learning.  Working on two levels,  the book develops scholarly discussions about learning in the home (how is it organized, who the participants are, and what children are learning), and  it illustrates the impacts that outside institutions, in particular schools, have on families  It is unique in showcasing parent-research as a type of research paradigm with particular aspects and challenges.  Both teachers and researchers can learn from these studies as they show the impact that schooling has on families and how institutional discourses and beliefs can both positively and negatively affect the dynamics of any family.

chapter 1|15 pages

Introduction

section 1|32 pages

Everyday Families, Everyday Learning

chapter 2|15 pages

What Do Those Marks Really Mean?

A Semiotic Perspective to Writing in a Bilingual Context

chapter 3|15 pages

Whiteness, Discourse, and Early Childhood

An Ethnographic Study of Three Young Children's Construction of Race in Home and Community Settings

section 2|71 pages

Families and Schooling

chapter 4|15 pages

The Struggle for Literacy

Leo's Story

chapter 6|12 pages

My Gift to You is My Language

Spanish Is the Language of My Heart

chapter 7|15 pages

“I Already Know How to Read!”

Home and School Perceptions of Literacy

chapter 8|13 pages

At Home at School

Following Our Children

section 3|47 pages

Parent–Researchers As Archeologists in Daily Family Life

chapter 9|15 pages

“They Don't Really Know Me”

Mother–Daughter Insights for Researchers and Teachers

chapter 10|14 pages

Looking Backward in Order to Look Forward

The Enduring Contribution of Parent Research