3 Quick Book Reviews: Homeschool Helps and Spiritual Memoir

One of my goals this summer is to read books on *my* reading list, and not just keep up with the novels I’m reading with my girls. After I finally finished “Wonder”, I cracked up Jennifer Fulwiler’s “Something Other Than God”. I’ve also been devouring the wisdom and tips and encouragement in a few homeschool planning e-books.

{here is where I tell you that the first two are also affiliate-linked. I 100% think these are great books and wouldn’t be an affiliate unless I thought so.}

 

–First up, Plan Your Year. Pam has taken her wisdom to the next level with this book, laying out a 10-step process to help you plan your homeschool year with purpose and peace. I think it’s a great resource for new and experienced homeschoolers alike. Don’t we all sometimes need a step back and step-by-step approach? I know I do, so I was pleased to read through Plan Your Year and take my planning one step at a time. Not only did this simplify my life, but it has helped me to take a more in-depth look at my plans. Neat, right? Simple and more in-depth all at once. Instead of my usual approach which is to dive in all at once and have about 85 different thoughts swirling in my head about 3 different kids and all my hopes for their year, I was able to sit down, keep orderly notes, and get my plans going in an orderly fashion. It has been much more relaxing.

What I love about Plan Your Year is how easy it is to follow the steps. Each chapter ends with suggestions of more reading, and then “Action Items” to help you put the plan into action in your own home. When I can’t sit down and read more than a chapter at once, I don’t worry that I’ll never finish and never plan. I get through one chapter, and can do the planning suggested, then be happy that I’m making progress. Next day when I have a bit of time again, I move on to the next chapter. It’s brilliant.

What else is there to love about Plan Your Year? Pam helps you look at your homeschool from the big picture all the way down to the nitty-gritty details in planning a schedule. Also, she’s included planning forms, audio files to interviews, sample planning pages, and videos! You can’t go wrong with this. Click here to read more from the site.

–Another incredibly encouraging and inspiring read for homeschool parents is Teaching From Rest. After a year of upheaval from homeschool to public school and back to homeschool again with our girls, as well as homeschooling our oldest boy (third child) while having a newborn, my heart and mind were craving something different, some peace, some new approach to how I homeschool. Admittedly, even before I read Sarah’s book, the wheels were turning in the direction of “rest” and “do less, enjoy and experience more”…but I wasn’t able to get beyond the very first formations of thought. Splurging (yes, for me it was splurging to buy yet another homeschool “guidebook”) on this was one of the best things I did earlier this summer.

Sarah writes, “I long to live from a place of rest, to teach and mother from peace rather than anxiety.” Yes, 100% yes. Throughout the book, she shares how to find and cultivate peace, how to rest, how to spread that peace and rest from our souls into our days as we not only instruct our children in their book lessons, but also (and most importantly) lead them in all the lessons life brings, particularly how to live as children of God. “She now aims at the cultivation of wisdom, virtue and eloquence in the souls of her children.”

And one of my favorite gems of wisdom, which will stay with me forever,

“But He is not asking me to feed the five thousand; He just wants me to bring my basket of loaves and fish and lay them at his feet.”

That alone brought so much peace to my soul–I don’t have to (and can’t) do it all, but I can bring what I have to the table, and trust in God to lead me and His will (will) be done.

You can buy just the e-book, or you can purchase a bundle which includes a study guide/journal and audio files with nearly 4 hours of conversations Sarah has had with inspiring education leaders. Click here to see your options. I promise, you won’t be disappointed. This is a book I will go back to over and over.

 

–“Something Other Than God” has been reviewed in the blogosphere a gazillion times, I’m sure. It was a highly-anticipated release, about Jennifer Fulwiler’s conversion from atheism to Catholicism. I was excited, but a little hesitant to read it, because the last (and first) memoir I tried to read left me bored and I shelved the book after one chapter.

But “Something Other Than God” was engaging and captivating from the start. I started making myself go to bed early so I could read in bed and find out what happened next in Jennifer’s search for happiness, which as she says, she accidentally found. It was a great read, which I think I’ll even read again (saying a lot for someone like me!).

 

So there you go. I finished 3 books so far this summer! Now I’m only reading “Pippi Longstocking” and “A Life of Our Lord for Children” with the kids. Any suggestions for me?