Am I the only one that likes to take a peak at someone’s bookshelf or night stand and check out what they are reading? I thought not… Today I decided to give you a peak into the random collection of books that I happen to be reading or recently read. I’m always looking for new books and would love to hear what you’re reading right now!
1. Heidi
Remember when I wrote about 10 Adventure Books to Inspire a Boy’s Faith? Well, a reader asked if I had a similar list for girls. And it got me thinking… So I’ve been researching and reading like crazy to put together my top recommended books to build a girls faith. As I asked around, this book came up several times. For some reason, I don’t remember reading this as a girl. I have an uncanny ability to forget how a story ends when it comes to movies and sometimes with books. I’m thinking that might be playing a part or I simply read it to young to remember how AMAZING and faith-inspiring it can be. I definitely plan on reading this aloud to the kids and having Greta read it when she is older! The nice thing about older books like these is that you can find them free for the Kindle. No pictures, but free and immediate access sure is nice!
More than anything, I want to live the normal Christian life. Note that this is different, vastly different, than the average Christian life. After a recent conversation with my Dad, it came out that I’ve never read this favorite of his all the way through. I remember wading into it a bit in highschool, but I’m diving in. It is a slow swim because there is so much to ponder, but it is also so satisfying.
3. GAPS
It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Greta’s food allergies/sensitivities… Her digestive system is still very delicate and she currently cannot eat DAIRY, GLUTEN, CORN, RICE, EGGS, STRAWBERRIES, POTATOES and PEANUTS. Most days we truck right along, but I tend to break every once in a while and just feel overwhelmed. I’m not content to just live with this limited diet for her. I pray daily for God’s supernatural healing and continue the search to help heal her gut. I’m reading right now to see if there is something here that might be useful for her. Anyone ever tried the GAPS diet?
I’ve found John Rosemond’s writing to be such a breath of fresh air in the parenting arena. My dad read “A Family of Value” a few years ago and was so impressed that he bought each of his daughters a copy. He doesn’t do this very often and rarely steps in to give parenting advice… So my sisters and I knew he REALLY liked the book. Needless to say we were not disappointed. It was a great dose of old-fashioned parenting. My sister Bethany, recently read this newer book of his and really liked it too. I’m following her lead. I love his perspective on parenting. He explains in this book that the two important factors in parenting are leadership and love. We are called by God to provide leadership to our children so that they can become the best people they are capable of becoming. A good leader is one who calmly, but decisively leads those under him/her. People {including children} want to follow a good leader. I’ve found that the more I embrace the leadership God’s given me in this domain, the better my children respond. In this age of wishy-washy parenting that tiptoes around children and vascilates between trying to appease them and avoiding them or counting down the time until bedtime every night {because you can’t stand their behavior}, he is a calm voice for a realistic solution.
I’m a big picture kind of person and also one who is not all that great in the housecleaning department. This book has been great in helping me catch the vision for the day to day training of our children in preparation for sending them out competent and equipped with the skills to survive in the real world. This book provides “inspiration and practical wisdom for preparing our children to live fruitful, God-honoring lives in the real world.” She discusses age appropriate chores and training in a whole range of life skills including people skills, personal finances, organization skills and YES, housework.
6. iBlog
While I’ve been blogging for almost 7 years, I still have so much to learn. I’ve been enjoying reading this new book out on blogging which tells you everything you need to know about getting set up with blogging that you could imagine!
7. Unwired Mom
I was immediately taken with the title and subject matter of this book. I’ve found that I constantly have to set up boundaries so I can utilize the benefits of the internet without allowing it to rule me. Sarah Mae is very candid about her struggles and what God has been teaching her through all of this. I gleaned a lot of tips. There is a 2 week challenge in the book that I’ll be doing with my sister and a friend next month, hopefully. My sister wrote an excellent article on this topic – Bon Bons for the Modern Mom.
8.. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
This was our last read-aloud book. My kids just loved the first two books, so I found myself scratching my head and pondering why they weren’t taken with this one too when a friend pointed out there is no clear antagonist in this story. The antagonist is within each of the characters and the story is more of a journey instead of one with a clear climax. While they weren’t begging for one more chapter, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmingly moved by the story and all of the parallels to walking out the Christian life. We did all tear up at the end when the Lucy and Edmund asked about going to Aslan’s country. And while they didn’t grasp some of the earlier imagery they totally got this part.
I don’t have time right now for reading novels on my own. It is an especially busy season with the boys, our homeschool volunteer work and working on my book! So I am really enjoying the opportunity to get into some great novels with the kids. They are captivated with The Story of Doctor Dolittle and constantly begging for one more chapter.
Tis the season for lesson planning. I read a great comparison between the phonics/spelling curriculum I use and another one. While I don’t recommend my program for everyone since there is a steep learning curve at the beginning, the critique of Spell to Write and Read actually inspired me afresh of the many reasons why I like this research based, truly multi-sensory program. This prompted me to reread parts of the book again! One of these days I’m going to post why I chose this program and discuss it in greater detail…
Hi Heather! I found your blog about a month ago and I can’t get enough of it! I sure wish you lived next door to me; I have 3 boys and a baby girl (7, 5, 4, and 16mo), we homeschool (with similar philosophies as yours), and this post especially blew me away because my daughter has the EXACT SAME food sensitivities as yours! I must be living your life, just in a different state and about 1 year behind you. Thanks for all your great posts about everything. Inspiring, encouraging, and enjoyable!
Oh wow. Can you imagine how much noise there would be and how much fun we would have if we lived next door. My boys would think they were in heaven and my sweet little Greta would be thrilled for another girl. lol. And yes, that is crazy about our daughters having the same food sensitivities… I really need to write about that again because God miraculously healed her last summer from 12 of her 13 sensitivities that she had at the time.
Let me know if you are ever passing through AZ. We’ll have to get our families together! 🙂
Last night, I read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for my little nephews. I ended up enjoying it continued reading even after they fell asleep.
lol. Glad to hear that I’m not the only one who does it… Sometimes my boys will catch me reading ahead if one of them runs to the restroom too. They get quite put out! 😉
I would also love to hear about the Spell to Write and Read….. since I can’t see and handle the book, I’m having a hard time deciding on how to proceed with it.
I’ll try to have a review put together in early August.
I checked out the GAPS book online and watched a few videos of the author speaking. Looks like she is on to some truth there, with nothing easy or quick about going through the healing process. Looks like eating more fermented foods wouldn’t hurt anyone.
So true…
I’m really interested in hearing your analysis of Spell to Read and Write. A friend just gave me her set because it was the only curriculum that worked for her struggling learner. I am trying to decide if I should use it for mine versus Dianne Craft’s Right Brain Phonics. It’s hard to make these decisions!
I’m going to try and put together a review for early August. I’d be happy to talk to you in the meantime if you need to make a decision earlier. I have no experience with Dianne Craft’s book, but I can share about SWR since we’ve been using it for 3 years now and I grew up using a very similar approach.
Great list! I have the GAPS book too, and have started the diet for a couple of weeks a couple of times, I really want to start it and stay on it at some point (hopefully pretty soon). We (dad, mom and three little ones) have a lot of food sensitivities as well- and I’m very hopeful that it can help us. I would love to eat “normal food” again someday. I love how the book breaks the whole gut/brain thing down- so eye-opening! I’ve heard mostly good things about the diet, and while it may not produce great results for everyone, I feel like this is where God has directed us (mostly I’m waiting for my breastfed 13 month old to eat solids more regularly so I can do the intro- since I can’t eat several of the foods on the full GAPS diet). I hope that your family sees the results you are looking for! 🙂