Customer Reviews

The Call to Brilliance: A True Story to Inspire Parents and Educators

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For too long in our schools, "different" has been another word for "wrong." Yet, as we learned in school, some of the world's greatest thinkers and artists were different--didn't "succeed" in traditional schools and often were kicked out or dropped out. As Resa beautifully explains, the problem is not that children are being 'left behind.' The problem is a reluctance to leave behind an educational system that often crushes passion and medicates creativity. This book calls us as parents to reawaken our own brilliance, reminds us how to see brilliance in our children, and shows us how to keep that brilliant light shining and expanding. You will see yourself, your school, and your child differently after reading it.

I found the extent to which I could relate to this inspirational book amazing. It was so close to home that I wept throughout the book. It is an American Tragedy that all of our children must be educated according to an agenda - one-size fits all. Our educational system does not allow for a nuturing environment. Today each childs individualism is labeled as a disorder. My child's early report cards reinforced his failures and his self esteem suffered. By following the principles underscored in The Call To Brilliance my son began to excel. This "F" student will enter college on a full scholarship in the fall. The parent of every labeled child should have a Resa in their life.

Resa Steindel Brown's "The Call to Brilliance" is a rare life-changing work. As much a personal story about an amazing family as it is philosophical treatise about modern education, this book reveals what has gone so wrong in our schools and takes you on a journey that reveals how to uncover the light of brilliance that is inside our children. A practitioner and advocate of homeschooling, Brown points out that public schools were designed for an industrial society to produce conforming drones who don't mind endless tedium. She suggests that an entirely new model is needed in order to unleash children's native creativity and curiosity and help them become truly functioning adults. For parents, this is a must read.

-- Tad Cronn
[...]

Finally, a book has come along in the mainstream press that blows the lid off the grand illusion of our industrialized model of the public school education system. As a parent and trained educator I want to give my children a modicom of hope for their educational future. Resa's book infused me with a breath of fresh intellectual air and gave me support to follow the lead of my children's inherent brilliance. I recommend this book to anyone who has the wherewithall to dig deeper past the ease of comforming to the cookie-cutter approach to standardized education. It's far past time to offer children the freedom to learn what uniquely inspires them and to experience their education as joy, not incarceration. Bravo Resa!

"The Call to Brilliance" authored by Resa Steindel Brown will make any parent or future parent reconsider how they measure intelligence in their own children and even in themselves. The message of this wonderful book is that ALL children are born with brilliance. The question is whether current modern educational systems are able to nurture and assist in growing this brilliance. Resa Steindel Brown has raised 3 children through a unique home schooling system that has successfully enabled every child in the program to discover their true talents through self motivation, inspiration and freedom. Each child has a natural curiosity that has guided them toward their passion and life's work. Their journey is wonderful to read about but the most amazing discovery is that this can be true for millions of children across our nation and around the world. When a child has a purpose that evokes his/her own passion, he/she will be happier. Happy people are more peaceful and tend to be more giving and grateful. We need these characteristics in our country and in our world. We need to make changes in how we teach the children in our nation. Resa Steindel Brown has incredible insights about how to make these changes. Her life story is inspiring and motivating.

A deeply inspiring personal account of a mother's evolution as she openly and sensitively responds to the particular needs and abilities of her three children--and comes to search for alternatives to the labelling and stifling effects of our present mass educational system. I found this book to be one of those rare few that really make one stop in one's tracks and question all the assumptions one has gone along with up till then. I highly recommend it to any parent or educator-- and particularly to those whose children have seemed worn down or defeated by their school experiences.

The Call to Brilliance is an inspiring true story of a woman who, at a young age, noticed problems in our education system and later used her experience to fuel her own education revolution. Author and award-winning educator Resa Steindel Brown was raised, like many of us, in a system that stifles passion and learning. When it came time to raise her own children, she insisted on finding a way to give them more. She strived to create an enriching environment for her own children, as well as others, that encouraged their innate eagerness to learn, put fire under their passions, and ultimately allowed them to optimize their own brilliance.

This story tells of her struggles in creating such an environment and gives hope that although difficult at times, it is not only possible, but extraordinarily rewarding for all. The success of her own children is a great testament to the benefits of finding and kindling a child's passion into brilliance. This book is a must-read not only for parents and educators, but for anyone who believes that all children can be brilliant.

When reading "The Call To Brilliance," be prepared to take a trip through your own memories of childhood days spent in public or private schools. If you were lucky, you'll have joyful and healthy experiences to call to mind. But if you're like many (and possibly most) of us, you'll be moved to cry for lost opportunities, a lackluster educational experience, pressures to conform to group-think and marathon study drills to cram fleeting information that you forgot the week following the test and never had reason to recall thereafter. If this wasn't your personal experience, it'll still be a recollection of siblings, friends or sad strangers you observed during those schooling years. The uplifting element in Resa Steindel Brown's book is the concept and reality that the sorry state of education that most children experience need not be the same for your children or mine. There's something we can do!

I so hope this mother and educator's inspirational book finds its way into mainstream America. Although not all parents could and would choose the dedicated method these parents have chosen for their three miraculous children, any parent or teacher could model key elements to encourage passion and organic intelligence in the children they touch.

Facing retirement from teaching, I now look forward to nurturing the lives of my grandnephew and nieces. Two are home schooled because of their commitment to gymnastics; the two younger ones are heading into finding their individual bliss. Both sets of parents are loving, aware, and conscious, so I have faith that these precious little ones can be directed to find their own paths. To help encourage their full potential, I will be gently echoing the principles layered in this transformational labor of love.

Barbara Outland Baker, McKinney, Texas

I'm living proof of what this book presents! I was labeled as an LD student early on in school and this label stuck to me all the way through school, from start to finish. I was placed in LD classes, my parent's were told that I probably wasn't college material and they should steer me toward vocational classes...thank God my parent's didn't listen! I ended up graduating from college Magna Cum Laude, I took it me 6yrs, but I took 2yrs off to start my own tech business. Now, I'm not rich or famous, but I have a great life...happily married for 10yrs, a beautiful daughter, a fantastic job with a top global technology company, financially secure and I am blessed with a great group of friends. Now, there's no silver bullet for parent's...lots of hard work, tears will be shed, but be your child's advocate, be your child's cheer-leader, be diligent and years of hard work with your child will pay off by your child growing into an independent, happy and successful adult.