Summer Reading for Moms

Yay! Summer has finally arrived and with it there is more leisure time. Or at least that's the theory. I have always found that after looking forward to lazy summer days they always tend to feel much more hectic than I had anticipated. It seems like summer can quickly slip away and before we know it we're pulling out the school supplies. Before we get buried in curriculum catalogs, let's spend some time reading books that will encourage, inspire, and inform us...and provide a bit of an escape. Today I'm going to be sharing a few titles that are on my summer to-read list as well as a couple I've recently enjoyed.

Found by Micha Boyett

This was one of the first books I read after giving birth to my son and it could not have been a more perfect read for that period in my life. It was grounding and encouraging. Here's the description of the book:

“My first year of motherhood I lost prayer.I lost early mornings of quiet, mornings in my pajamas with a Bible in my lap, mornings when I spoke my mind’s chaos into God’s ear and let the chaos come back ordered, holy sealed. I lost peace. I lost clarity and certitude. My faith was never perfect before my son was born, but somewhere in that first year, somewhere in my distraction and exhaustion, I lost the Spirit-life I had known. I blamed myself. . . .” 

Found is a story of nourishment for anyone who hungers for rich spirituality and has come up empty. It’s a story for anyone who is trying to reconcile great big dreams with the ordinariness of their days. It’s a story of discovering divine kindness and affection in the most mundane moments of life. With brilliant and moving prose, Micha Boyett invites us on a journey to discover the richness in the everyday—and it changes everything.

From Boyett's exploration of Benedictine prayer rituals to her honesty in relating the deep joys and unique challenges of parenthood, I enjoyed every sentence. For mothers seeking a book that will take them beyond the everyday chaos that rules so many of our lives, this is a perfect choice.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

One of the many things I love about my job is the opportunity it gives me to constantly explore what is new in the world of children's literature. Our representative Karyn recommended this book to me and it is excellent. Yes, this is a young adult book and some are a bit snarky about adults reading books directed toward teens, but this is one that I think the entire family could enjoy. Read this book with your pre-teens and I'm sure you'll be flooded with opportunities for discussion. I would encourage your to discuss the theme of courage when you chat about this book with your children. Courage takes many forms in this touching story and it will take a bit of sussing out to find each example.

For The Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

I will be re-reading this one over the summer. I am constantly reading about new educational trends, the adoption of Common Core standards, the trend toward increasing racial segregation in public schools, and other less-than encouraging news from our school system so am feeling the need to reorient myself and I know this lovely book will do the trick. If you haven't read this treasure, add it to your reading list. It's encouraging and inspring. 

Gracious Christianity, Living the Love We Profess by Douglas Jacobsen & Rodney J. Sawatsky

I'm very much looking forward to spending some time with this book. The increased fracturing of our political system and social mores has resulted in a steep decline in graciousness. The online world seems to foster writing that is anything but kind and, unfortunately, this is as true on Christian websites as it is on secular ones. A guide to the Christian life, Gracious Christianity is a much needed antidote to the harsh dogma that shapes so much of public discourse. Written by two educators, I am excited to see what they have to say about rearing children in an atmosphere of grace.

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen

I first heard about this book on Sara Clarkson's blog and cannot wait to delve into its pages. You can read her review here. This seems like a wonderful read for summer. This excerpt hooked me:

Books are bulky and inconvenient–like rocks, and trees, and rivers, and life. It occurs to me that everything that can be said agains the inconvenience of books can be said about the inconvenience of children. They too take up space, are of no immediate practical use, are of interest to only a few people, and present all kinds of problems. They too must be warehoused efficiently, and brought with as little resistance as possible into the Digital Age.

As a full-fledged member of the Digital Age (you are, after all reading this on a blog), I think quite a bit about how to raise my children to be savvy users of digital media, while still preserving the things I so value about growing up in a time with the internet was in its infancy. When I was a youngster my parents consciously made the decision to not have TV. Today, my husband and I have continued that tradition, only watching select shows on our computers but we also have smartphones and my six-month old is fascinated by them. The iPad is always within reach and I know he will need to have the skills needed to make wise choices in our online world. Thankfully he's already enamored with books and I  want to cultivate that attraction into a true appreciation of the joys of reading and building one's own library of real books. I think that Ten Ways will give me even more to think about on this front and I look forward to it!

What books are you going to be reading this summer? Share below! And if you would like to order any of these titles from Beautiful Feet Books, just give us a call at 800.889.1978.

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Back to the Beginning: How we got started

I hope each of you had a very blessed Easter. It has occurred to me that many of you may not be familiar with the history of Beautiful Feet Books, so I thought I would spend some time sharing that with you this week. Today I want to share the inspiration behind Beautiful Feet Books. 

In 1984 my parents, Russ and Rea Berg, began looking into homeschooling. They had three young children at the time and had been reading For the Children's Sake, Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Shaeffer Macaulay. It was a revelation! Macaulay championed a return to traditional forms of education centering around curiosity and creativity, and surrounding your child with an environment that nurtured those traits. In contrast to the one-size-fits-all classrooms and post-industrial educational models, Macaulay, championing the ideas of Charlotte Mason, advocated the development of each child's unique giftings. The role of literature in this mission was foundational. Children should be reared on the best books available. They should have easy access to inspiring biographies of historical heroes, they should be able to enter the imaginative worlds of fantasy, know what it was like to live long ago by reading great literature set in other times. This approach would encourage a child's natural curiosity and foster a life-long love of learning. It would also encourage the development of empathy and compassion as children learned about their place in history and the courage and struggles of those who came before them. To read more about Rea's discoveries, you can read this article. 

 

Once Rea was sold on this unique and inspiring educational method, she set about to find the very best children's literature for her young children. Books like Honey for a Child's Heart, The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life by Gladys Hunt and Books Children Love, a Guide to the Best Children's Literature by Elizabeth Wilson proved invaluable. Hunt and and Wilson combed through the available literature, listed Newbury and Caldecott award winners, provided direction in creating an inspiring family library. As a child, I devoured the books that surrounded me. In these stories I found inspiration, purpose, and identity. Family read-aloud time was a priority and I have many fond memories of countless nights spent reading wonderful stories. I learned to love E. B. White, Ralph Moody, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Brinton Turkle, Robert McCloskey, Alice Dalgliesh, Carol Brink, Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire, Marguerite De Angeli, Eleanor Estes, Elizabeth George Speare, and many more. We never had television and this allowed us the freedom of time; time to spend reading alone and together, time to explore, and time to partake of imaginative play. Once formal education began in our home, Rea continued to emphasize the role of literature. We did not use history textbooks, we read biographies, original source documents, great books by authors like Jean Fritz who have a gift for making history come alive.

On Wednesday, I'll write more about how this all led to the founding of Beautiful Feet Books. If you're intrigued, we would highly recommend For the Children's Sake. It is now a classic of the home schooling movement and is a wonderful resource. You can purchase it here. The other resources can also be purchased through the links above.

If you're looking to expand your library, I put together a couple of packages with my personal childhood favorites in our Teaching Character Through Literature curriculum. There are two packages available, one for younger students, and one for older intermediate level students. These are great "starter packs" for building your family's library. 

And, don't forget our promotion of a free study guide download (value $15.95) with a $75.00 purchase. Simply use this code at checkout: blogpro

For those of you who have read For The Children's Sake, what did you find most inspiring or world-changing? How have you applied aspects of Macaulay and Mason's approaches to your own educational journey?