Okay, I love good resources. Most bookstores have so much fluff that finding something worth your money is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Therefore when I do find something that I really like I feel obliged to pass it on. This is a list of resources that I used this past semester and thoroughly enjoyed.
Devotional:
Christ Our Mediator and The Cross-Centered Life, both by CJ Mahaney
God Is The Gospel, by John Piper
TableTalk magazine (personally I liked the articles better than the devotional) published by Ligonier Ministries
Whispers of His Power, by Amy Carmichael
Feminine Appeal, by Carolyn Mahaney (Titus 2)
Your Home a Place of Grace, by Susan Hunt
Homeschool:
Trial and Triumph, by Richard Hannula (this is a church history book written for children)
For The Children's Sake, by Susan Schaeffer Macauley
www.amblesideonline.org (homeschool schedule for grades 1-11, includes booklist, Charlotte Mason perspective) If you go to this website and click on year 1 you will see all the books we used this year. I was very pleased with these and only edited a few.
www.veritaspress.com (christian and classical curriculum)
The Little Pilgrim's Progress, by Helen Taylor
http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/ I don't remember how I stumbled across this blog, but it has been so encouraging and has given me so many ideas!
How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer.
This is a must read and it has a supberb video series that goes with it. I will not begin to use it with the children until 3rd grade, but every parent should read or at least watch the videos. It helps you realize that everyone is working from some worldview. I highly reccomend it!
And now,
Here a few simple ideas that we employ with the boys that I believe is a great benefit to their education.
1. Keep the television off. It severly stunts the growth of their imagination and ability to sit and listen to hard books.
2. Go on trips with the children alone rather than with another mother. In this way you spend your time talking with your children instead of the other grown up.
3. Read old books together. You may need a dictionary for yourself, but you won't regret this time. We have found some of the books that were published around the early 1900's are free from feminism and the whole tolerance theme that runs through almost all modern books. Now, you will find most of the men smoking pipes!
You will be surprised at what the children will sit and listen to if you do your reading at bedtime. We even read the original Pilgrim's Progress with the boys and they enjoyed it thoroughly.
4. My rule of thumb for books is if it doesn't hold my interest and capture my imagination it is not good for the children.
Enjoy!
