Books That Helped me Become a Better Mentor to my Children

Mentors can come into our lives in various shapes and sizes.  The following books have been mentors to me at the times I needed and since then.  They have helped me become a better person, a better mentor, and a better mother and wife.  This list of books has my thoughts on the books and how they helped me in my journey.

Mentoring in Home Education

How to Read a Book

By Mortimer Adler

This book was monumental for my understanding of how to read a book, what questions to ask of each book, and how to read specific genres.  It has been helpful for me to know how to lead discussions with my children in their readings and what I want to teach them to get out of books.  He also teaches you how to mark your books and the importance of doing so.  This has to be one of the most valuable books on educating myself and my children that I have read.  It is full of the tools you need.  It goes along with the Chinese Proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Arm the Children

By Arthur Henry King

One of the most intensely intelligent books I have ever read. I had to pauses after each chapter and truly digest the rich meat of wisdom. I have written several articles based on a few things he talks about in this book. Every LDS parent should read this book.  It isn’t just about children, however.  This title may fool you a bit.  It includes everything from Arthur King’s conversion to education in the home, to art, to his views on the atonement. This is on the top ten of my lists of books to read and reread.

The Well Educated Mind

By Susan Wise Bauer

This book was very helpful to me as a mother learning about the classic books that are available and trying to decide which ones will be worth reading.  I’m always trying to find classic books that will help make us better individuals while discerning which ones may not work well for our family.  Her lists helped tremendously for me to know which ones I’m interested in and which ones to steer clear of.  I also appreciated her knowledge and insight of how to read certain classics and along with How to Read a Book I feel I have a good idea of what to look for in books.  I also have a greater understanding of the classic trivium now thanks to this book.

The Read-Aloud Handbook    

By Jim Trelease

This is an excellent book filled with information that every parent and grandparent should read. It is one I will often re-read to keep myself inspired on reading aloud to the family and the importance of keeping up with the sustained silent reading (SSR) as a family.

Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life

By Hunt, Gladys

Both this book and the Read-Aloud Handbook together give you excellent lists and resources sharing and explaining the importance of reading to your children.  

All of the books by Oliver DeMille regarding the Thomas Jefferson Education {or leadership education} and have been helpful for me as a mother and mentor. These books in succession began me on the journey to homeschool and giving me knowledge and confidence when I needed the boost.  They keep me inspired and empowered again and again.

Mentoring in Keeping my Children’s Hearts and Nurturing their Spirits

Our family’s central canon includes the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.  These are read regularly as a family and also individually.  As a mother, I go to my religious sources {our central canon} and in prayer to find many answers in raising my family and to be more in tune to their needs.

Keeping Our Children's Hearts: Our Vital Priority

By Steven and Teri Maxwell

Written by parents of eight children, I've looked to the Maxwell's book for wisdom in raising my large family since 2005.  This has been a core book detailing why we do what we do and make the rules we do as parents.  We started implementing the suggestions in this book at a crucial time when I felt that I was losing my children's hearts. This was upsetting to me and just at the time I didn't know where else to go, a mentor lent me this book and it was instrumental in changing our children and reclaiming their hearts.  Because of this knowledge and the information shared in this book that we implemented in our family, we've entered the teen years with our children with confidence and peace.  I can't say enough great things about this book and how helpful it has been for me as a mother.

Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves

By C. Terry Warner

This book has changed my life. It has helped me see something I've tried for years to figure out, but could never quite get it and that is self-deception. Self deception causes many problems in relationships and in yourself and the struggles you may be having. It was an amazingly powerful book. The first half explains in great and simple detail what self deception is and the many forms it takes. The latter half explains to you how to get rid of it. I love how this book makes you do the thinking and is not a "step by step" process on how to live your life. As a mother it has helped me in making sure I’m coming from a pure place and being able to see the signs of self-deception in my children so that I can teach them another way.

As I’ve been putting together the previous resources I’ve used over the years I’ve had many memories of the searching and struggles before I found these books.  Tears have come to my eyes as I’ve recalled these moments of searching and pondering.  The tears are mostly from gratitude that I’ve been so blessed to be led to these resources.  Please keep in mind that this is not a randomly thrown together list, but a list full of years of searching and finding, asking and receiving, and because of this these are some of the most important books I have been blessed with thus far {as my journey is far from over}.  I’m grateful for the journey and I’m grateful for the knowledge presented to me in these books.  I hope they are helpful to you for your journey as mentor and mother.

An Inside Look into Scholar Phase

My daughter Cailynn and I

My eldest daughter, who is 16, is knee deep into scholar phase. I'm so pleased with trusting the process of TJED.

When we first pulled her out of school we went through a two year "detox". She had such a difficult time with school and her self esteem was shot. By the time I pulled her out, I put her into Core phase and my only goal with her at that time was to nurture and build her self esteem. The other children were going through similar experiences but not to the extent that she was. She was also diagnosed with autism: Aspergers with high anxiety.  She could barely read and hated learning and hated school.

As I read, I mentored and we did {do} a LOT of reading aloud. This post isn't to go over our long journey, but if there is interest in that I can post more on it later.

She is blossoming, happy, centered, and I'm very pleased to say you can barely tell she has anything going on with autism.

This is what has been working best for her now...

Here is what she has read so far this year {2012}:

Religious Books

• Finished the Book of Mormon
• A Marvelous Work and A Wonder by LeGrand Richards
• The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball
• The Last Days by Avraham Gileadi
• A Witness and a Warning by Ezra Taft Benson

Classic Literature

• Song of Roland ~Unknown
• The Confessions ~ St. Augustine
• Julius Caesar by Shakespeare
• Hamlet by Shakespeare
• All's Well That Ends Well by Shakespeare
• The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare
• Othello by Shakespeare
• The City of God {book 8} by St. Augustine
• The Virginian by Owen Wister
• The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• The Koran {The Cows}
• Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
• Beowulf ~Unknown
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by the Venerable Bede

Other Literature:

•  Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
• Ten Peas in a Pod by Arnold Pent III
• Nancy Drew and the Sky Phantom {She loves Nancy Drew, but only gets to read them every now and then or on her own time}
• Nancy Drew and the Mysterious Mannequin
• Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with the Circus by James Otis
• ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
• Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

Science:

• Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide
•  On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres by Nicolas Copernicus

Reading for Educational Subjects:

• A Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston
• Lives of the Musicians by Kathleen Krull {We all agree this was kind of negative}
• The Annotated Mona Lisa {Art History}

This Week

We have our mentor meetings each Sunday evening or Monday morning.  Here's this week's list of things to do that we prepare together.  She sets the goals and sometimes does more and I encourage and mentor where needed.

History Timeline: 400 AD-1600 AD

Book Report: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by the Venerable Bede

History:

Begin the Inferno by Dante.  Get to at least page 213 by Sat.  (Our copy has Italian on one side and English on the other so it's half of that first #)

The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer read to page 777.  {Pretty sure she is finishing the book}

Spiritual: 

Daily Scripture readings for seminary.
Whom the Lord Loveth by Neal A. Maxwell ~ finish


Literature:

Julie of the Wolves ~finish
Candleford by Gaskill ~ finish

Read one storybook a day to the little kids.

Journal: 3 times this week.

Copywork: 100 words a day in 20 minutes.

Lost Tools of Writing Workbook ~ get to page 102 by Friday.


Science:  {Astronomy}

Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei ~ finish

2 experiments.  Write a paper on one.

Foreign Language:

5 Lessons in French {Rosetta Stone}

Latin: {Henly} get to lesson 31  {Almost finished with year 2}

Greek: to lesson 5


Personal Improvement:

Run: Tuesday and Thursday
50 crunches/15 pushes every other day
Work on Personal Progress.  {She just earned her Honor Bee}
Help brother with his Duty to God and Scout Merit Badge


Music:

30 min. Piano, 30 min. viola daily
Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers {book} ~finish
Listen to 10 minutes a day of Classical music, composer of your choice.

She checks in often with me and we have seen our daughter blossom into a confident, happy, and progressing young lady.   I love Leadership Education!

What is TJED?

I’ve been thinking about Mr. Allen all day. I remember the first day of his class, High School Sophomore English, more than 20 years ago. He was slightly crippled and used a cane to help him walk. Each leg swung far to the outside with every step he took. Slowly, he made his way to the front of the classroom. Like I did with all teachers, I quickly summed him up: slow walk, John Lennon glasses, long red beard, kind of “hippy” looking... Mr. Allen would be easy. I should be able to get away with a minimum of work and a maximum of goofing off.
I remember the first thing he asked the class, “How do people learn?” I wondered what the “right” answer to that was. How do people learn? By going to school? By taking tests? By doing homework? All of these answers were submitted by the class, but quickly rejected by Mr. Allen. After many more guesses, someone in the back called out, “We don’t know. You tell us.”
Mr. Allen replied with a “You don’t know how to learn? How sad.”
After the laughter died down, he told us the answer: “People learn through stories.”
I didn’t really believe him. Even as he went on to talk about ancient tribes gathering around the cooking fire to share their histories, legends and oral traditions, to the transformative power of religious texts, Shakespeare and even Dr. Seuss, I remained largely unconvinced.
I had always loved reading. I grew up in a troubled home and reading was my escape. From an early age, I read every kind of story I could get my hands on… but that wasn’t learning. That was fun, relaxation, or relief from the pressures of my life. Learning happened at school, right?
Fast forward a few years and you would find me sitting in an American History class in college. I was taking notes on a lecture about the Civil War. When I read the chapter in the textbook I felt intrigued, but listening to the passion coming from the professor was more than intriguing; it was inspiring. I wanted to know more about the Civil War. I wanted to be able to speak with such informed passion. The problem was I didn’t know how to get there. The thought of walking into a library and just picking up a book was overwhelming to me. With a subject so wide and deep, which books would give me the information I wanted? What I really needed, but didn’t recognize at the time, was a mentor, someone to help me find quality sources that would enrich my understanding and guide me through my effort to earn the knowledge I desired. I remember leaving the class that day feeling frustrated at wanting to learn more, to be more, but not knowing how. I got an A in American History, but didn’t gain much else.
I didn’t know how to learn. How sad.
Fast forward again, many years later, and you will find me as a wife and mother. My husband and I do not send our daughter, "Newt" to school, but have chosen to help her seek her education at home. I consider myself blessed to have been acquainted with the principles of Thomas Jefferson Education early in my journey, though I feel that even three years later, I am just now beginning to gain an understanding and appreciation for them.
Earlier this week, I tried to answer the question, “What is TJED?” It was a hard question. I wrote two pages about the 4 phases of learning and the 7 keys of great teaching, but never got to the essence of what a Thomas Jefferson Education really is.
Last Sunday I made banana bread. My TJED essay was like being asked about my banana bread and me replying that it had some bananas, sugar and flour, eggs and yogurt, crystallized ginger, chocolate chips and some other things I don’t remember.
A partial list of ingredients doesn’t even begin to tell what that banana bread was. It doesn’t mention the way that I personalized the recipe to fit my family’s tastes and values, like the farm fresh eggs and homemade yogurt I used in place of commercial products. It doesn’t tell about how the comforting smell of bananas and cinnamon filled my home while it baked. It certainly doesn’t mention how dense and rich the final product was, or how the spicy bite of ginger perfectly balanced the bittersweet coolness of melting chocolate on my tongue. And how could that sad little list ever begin to convey the feeling of warm satisfaction my family had after eating that delicious banana bread? Indeed, the only way for someone to really get a sense of what that treat was like is to cut off a big slice, slather it with freshly whipped cream and experience it for yourself.
The same goes for a Thomas Jefferson Education. The only way to really know what it is is to dive in and experience for yourself. All I can do is try to relate what it is to me.

TJED is freedom.
All morning as I’ve contemplated this idea, I’ve had a few lines from The Lion King’s I Just Can’t Wait to be King running through my head:
No one saying do this
No one saying be there
No one saying stop that
No one saying see here
Free to run around all day
Free to do it all my way!
I have come to recognize that even as young as she is, Newt has a right to choose what she learns. I could (and have tried to from time to time) force facts into her head, but that is not learning, that is submitting.
Of course, this freedom does not mean a free-for-all anything goes mentality – not in TJED philosophy and not in our home. We are guided by the principles and values we learn in our personal core classic. For our family, the core classic is the twin works of the Bible and Book of Mormon. As we study and discuss these works daily, they give us a framework on which to build our lives. From there, we can choose other good works and pursuits to further inspire and build us.
Through the principles of TJED, I have the freedom to study. It is not selfish to fulfill my own desires to learn and to know. As my daughter and I each progress in our personal studies, there is freedom to become whatever we desire and to learn what we will need to fulfill our individual life missions. There is freedom to learn at our own pace without the artificial limits imposed by the hourly bell, semesters and grades. Without those constraints, we are free to explore our individual passions and interests, whatever they may be.
Last summer, my daughter and I were jumping on our trampoline together when our conversation turned to books. I remember it clearly because it was one of the first fruits of TJED I had been able to really experience in our family. “Mom, you know what I think? I think The Lord of the Rings is kind of like the scriptures. You know when Sam carries Frodo? That’s a lot like Jesus sacrificing for each of us. Harry Potter is like that too, when he is willing to die for his friends. They make me want to try to be better. Do you know any books like that?”
What if I had not deemed those books “worthy academic pursuits”? Or worse, what if I had killed them with endless worksheets and literary analysis? I know they would not have become a part of my daughter’s soul the way they have, nor would she trust me with any feelings that survived the “educating” process.

TJED both builds and requires trust.
As I consciously try to keep from imposing my own will upon my daughter’s studies, she gains a greater trust in me. She trusts me to guide and teach, not dictate or require.
Trust is required in those dark times I lie awake at night fighting the demons of worry.
Is she learning enough?
What if she never decides to learn long-division?
Am I doing enough?
Am I doing too much?
Would she do better in school?
Is she behind?
And then I think of the children of A Wrinkle in Time’s Camazotz. Each was required to be perfect. Every citizen had surrendered his freedom to It. There was no worry, but there was no joy. That was the price of absolute conformity, of giving up their rights to choose.
I can not know that this path will lead my child to worldly standards of success, but I can know, because I see growing evidence of it each day, that it will teach her to think and to choose for herself. I know that freedom can be messy, painful, and challenging, but also joyful and immensely satisfying. I trust that with the help of her mentors, my daughter will choose the education she will need to be who she is meant to be.
TJED is hard work, but that doesn’t always mean drudgery.
Reading Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyertogether we learned

Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do and play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help [Tom] to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a treadmill is work, while rolling ten pins or climbing Mount Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and they would resign.

Once again, it all hinges on freedom.
TJED is relationships.
It always saddens me when I hear people wishing that their children’s vacation would come to an end and they would go back to school. Working and studying together, having meaningful discussions and playing all contribute to a rich and full family culture. Though our relationships are far from perfect, we truly love to be together. My husband and I have recently sought to strengthen our daughter’s familial relationships beyond our own home with weekly Family History lessons at Grandma’s. While she may be learning about family group sheets and the census, the deeper lessons are about belonging. Today she came home with stories about one great-grandfather who was one of the forest rangers to rescue Smoky the Bear and another who made the coffin for the man who killed Billy the Kid. These stories become a part of who she is and how she views the world.
TJED is classics. The scriptures, Shakespeare, Dickens, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time, Tom Sawyer, mythology, poetry, biographies and histories, mathematics and science – all classics have a way of getting inside of us and we can not remain unchanged. The more we study, together or on our own, the more we learn about ourselves. When confronted with a difficult situation, we can draw on the character attributes of Pollyanna, Ralph Moody, Jane Eyre, Sophie Germain or even my own Grandpa Hill and gain strength. To paraphrase what my daughter told me, good books make us want to be a better people.
To a certain degree, each person is the author of his own life. We have chosen that TJED will be a central theme in our family’s.
It may have come twenty years later, but I have discovered the truth: people do learn by stories.
I think Mr. Allen would be proud.

What is TJED to you?


Meet Heidi, our newest TJED Mothers contributor.
Heidi is a stay-at-homeschooling mama to "Newt" age 10 and a best-friend, partner and wife to Walt. Nothing else she does will ever be as important.
Heidi blogs at Frantically Simple about homeschooling, parenting, real food, and life in general. Check out her new series there - For Thy Sake: Teaching Children to Value Family Work.

The author is using amazon affiliate links. Any purchases made through these links will result in the author receiving a small commission. All opinions and text are her own.

Learning: The Epiphany Rate

“It is not what a boy has, but what he is, that makes him valuable to the world, and the world valuable to him.”

A couple of months ago, I bought the book, “Ten Boys Who Lived on the Road from Long Ago” by Jane Andrews which was written in 1898. Each chapter shares stories and insight into a twelve year old boy’s life from more than four thousand years ago all the way to the boy who lived in 1888. Andrews shares information about how each boy throughout the ages dressed, lived, schooled and worked in the form of stories.

During the first part of the book the kids were not as thrilled about my pulling it out to read. We would read one chapter at a time and then move on to the next reading book. Despite their resistance, we learned a lot about history, geography, old names of countries like China, traditions, and old weapons. Instead of learning from a dry, watered down text book, we learned through stories of young boy’s lives and it had more impact on us.

By the time we got to the end of the book, the children all commented how good the book was. I smiled because I remembered the times that they would complain because it was dry and the language is sometimes hard to understand. None of that was important in the end. What was important was how the book changed their perspective and increased their knowledge.

In implementing the Thomas Jefferson Leadership education model in personal and family education I love Dr. Oliver DeMille’s idea of the ER or “Epiphany Rate”. He said it’s not the word count or how many books you read that’s important it’s the “Epiphany Rate” or how many times something connects in your mind, makes sense, teaches, or helps you understand. The Epiphany Rate should be your gauge when reading. When I heard that on his recent audio “Lessons from Four Types of Leadership Education” it really made sense to me. I thought of the recent books that changed my life because of the power of the written word, books like the Count of Monte Cristo, and all that I learned about life and even myself as I read the book. Dr. DeMille says this is what we should look for when reading a classic book- the ER or “Epiphany Rate” and it is one I’m now paying attention to when reading books with my children and myself.

To Book, Nook, Swim, Audible or All?

Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds and so many times my head is swimming with all that is available to us. I was homeschooled growing up and the resources my mom had to work with were slim. Still she managed to find us some neat curriculum and learning tools. Today I am a homeschooling mom and while I enjoy simplicity I also enjoy technology and technology is not always simple and there are so many options what is a modern mom to do?

The Book

Let’s start with the “old-fashioned” book. I’m a traditionalist, especially when it comes to books. I love to hold them, smell them, read them, curl up with them and dog ear the pages {shhh, don’t tell!}. I’m in love with classic books new or used. I’m a Barnes and Noble chick all the way. While other moms go to the movies or to the mall for their time out, I am sitting in a corner of a Barnes and Noble or a Borders reading and browsing books or writing an article in my notebooks. I feel inspired just being around books.

The other thrilling aspect of books is collecting them and having a library in my own home. While I enjoy brand new books I also adore perusing through used books stores. I will travel 45 minutes away just to go to a favorite used book store. You know the kind, the ones that are jam-packed full of books, old fashioned cookbooks, antique books and many of these used books stores are usually dusty or dingy. That’s okay, because book collectors know where to go to get the “good” books.

To Swim

To swim or not to swim, that is the question. Just like Netflix has DVD’s you can rent through the mail and keep as long as you’d like without late fees, BookSwim does the same thing- only with books!

BookSwim says,

“BookSwim is the first online book rental library service lending you paperbacks, hardcovers and now college textbooks Netflix®-style directly to your house, without the need to purchase! We stock all the latest bestsellers, new releases, and classics! Read your books as long as you want - no late fees! Even choose to purchase and keep the books you love!”

Sounds like a better option than the library as far as convenience. Still there’s nothing like being “around” books sitting in a library. {sigh}

The Nook

Barnes and Noble has come out with the Nook- an electronic book! Amazon has it’s Kindle, but I’m looking at the Nook because of pricing and the size of that beautiful piece of electronic glory. I’ll admit, though when I first heard of books on an electronic piece of equipment I wasn’t thrilled. I wondered how you could curl up with it; you don’t get the sensation of turning the page or looking in the back of a book store for a treasured book. You DO get free classic ebooks and the “pages” are lit up so if you want to read in bed you don’t even need a lamp. You DO get to loan an ebook to a friend who also has a Nook for two weeks.

What Barnes and Noble says about the Nook,

“Choose an eBook using the beautiful color touch screen, then watch it appear instantly on the E Ink® display, where text appears as crisp as a printed page. The 16-level gray scale display offers great contrast with no glare or backlight. Choose from five font sizes so you can read with ease.

Store as many as 1,500 eBooks, eNewspapers, and eMagazines on your nook’s 2 GB of internal storage, so you'll never be without your favorites. Need more space? Just add a Micro SD card.”

Audible

But will the Nook replace my love for books on audio? Doubtfully. I have a subscription to Audible.com where I can buy one audio book for $14.95 a month. They have a children’s section and {thrill} a classics section among all the newer books as well. I LOVE that I can listen to audio books while I’m at the computer. I love that I can put them on the Ipod’s for the kids to listen to either on the stereo, in the car, or whenever they want to. It is great putting an audio book on while they’re doing dishes. They’re pulling double duty and don’t even realize it- learning and working! Audible has many sales on their audio books and even offers free audios as well!

So tell me, with all these options can a book lover like myself really have the cake and eat it too? I’m loving the options! What about you?

Classical Music: Johann Strauss

Johann Strauss II (October 25, 1825 – June 3, 1899; German: Johann Baptist Strauß; also known as Johann Baptist Strauss, Johann Strauss, Jr., or Johann Strauss the Younger) was an Austrian composer famous for having written over 500 waltzes, polkas, marches, and galops. He was the son of the composer Johann Strauss I, and brother of composers Josef Strauss and Eduard Strauss. He is also the most famous member of the Strauss family. He was known in his lifetime as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. He revolutionized the waltz, elevating it from a lowly peasant dance to entertainment fit for the royal Habsburg court.

I recently purchased "Johann Strauss Jr Most Famous Waltzes". What a beautiful compilation of his works. It contains over and hour's worth of music that is invigorating and makes you want to dance.

We listened to it again last night while I was cooking dinner. The younger girls were so inspired that they all dressed up in their ballerina outfits, tutus and all and danced around the house. We love all of his music. Our absolute favorites are:

"Tales from the Vienna Woods"
"Roses from the South Op. 388"
"Fruehlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring)"


May I also say he was quite a LOOKER! ;)

Listen to it, I promise you'll love it!!! Johann Strauss was a genius of a musician!



*Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Strauss_II

Reading System with Rewards and Small Miracles

We began a new system in our home this week. I felt like there was too much television watching and not enough reading. Sure, we read a lot, but when our family curriculum revolves around reading a lot of classic books it cannot be done well when there is too much movie watching. My husband and I discussed this and a light bulb went on in my brain and I came up with this new system.

For every book read they earn an hour and a half of movie watching.

The rules are:

1) They cannot be baby books or below their reading level. Mom approves the book after discussing their book suggestions and if the child has no suggestions then mom gives ideas.

2) They pick the books. Nothing is more boring that reading an assigned book.

3) An in depth oral exam will be issued after each book. If a child is found to have lied about reading a book, that child will lose an hour and a half of TV. It pays to be honest.

4) The television watching will be redeemed when mom or dad gives permission.

5) If all the children read their book(s) and can watch the movie and one child did not. That child will spend their time during the movie in another room reading their books.


We have already presented this to the family. I am so excited to see their enthusiasm for reading flourish. My daughters are requesting set aside uninterrupted times for reading throughout the day and an hour extra at night to read. They also have been having more impromptu book discussions with me and are excited to share with me their future reading lists. I am so excited to see this little fire lit within the children and the rewards for their hard work are motivating as well as appealing.

My husband is a non reader. I asked him if he would take the challenge and lead the family by his example. I am a voracious reader so I will keep up my reading and each year I make it a goal to read more. My husband agreed to try again. The only book he's read all the way through since I've known him (14 1/2 years) is In Loving Hands. We have been listening to Dave Ramsey and my husband really likes him and is interested in learning more of Dave's system. We went to Barnes and Noble and bought The Total Money Makeover. Tears come to my eyes as I see him reading during his spare time. We found something that interests him!

We have a large family library and I continue to add to it so that the children can always have something to read. My son learned that he loves the Magic Treehouse books. My son was a very late reader, but has recently discovered he is getting better at it. To excite and motivate him I bought him another book in the series yesterday- Viking Ships at Sunrise. He began reading it today. Before lunch he excitedly announced to me today that he finished the first chapter.

We also are doing the same thing with music. The older children can earn computer time one for one for each hour of violin or viola practice. The younger children will learn hymns and receive voice lessons from mom for their music time. My older girls have already earned their computer time today and are excited to redeem it! They love getting on www.goodreads.com.

We are thrilled over the excitement the children have in this program. I am excited because reading is happening more which means learning is increasing too. We have had to change television habits, but it has been worth it. We all know it is more fun to earn something and you enjoy it more.

Kindredmamma as Mentor

Reading the post of Mother as Mentor really got me thinking about the TJed philosophy, "Teach what is mine." This is a very appropriate focus for my mostly Core Learners and for when the enter LoL. I have struggled with this because, what is mine, doesn't feel like enough. Therefore, I need some more "what is mine." After all I must chart the path of example in order for them to follow. So I have begun reading a lot and sharing what I am learning. But when it comes down to it, until I have broadened my own horizons, I am really all about the fiber and paper arts. So lately I have begun to teach A and C how to knit and I let them have some scrapbooking supplies just so they will be busy so I can scrapbook, but check out this site. What a prefect solution.
http://scrapandlearn.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13

SCORE!!! Right now I would just love for the Hockey Jams song to come on (they one they play whenever my favorite teams (the Colorado Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks) Score. (I am sure other teams have this song too in the NHL, but that is not my focus).

I will write more later becasue we are off to the scrapbooking store. I figure it is a lot like scrapbooking and notebooking combined. "Hey!! It's educational, so I have a GOOD excuse to spend more money on my paper fetish!" Well that and I have coupons for Michaels, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby that are burning a hole in my pocket.
Heather

Mother as Mentor

Mothers are mentors where they like to think of themselves as such, they are. We as mothers really do inspire, motive, and we teach.

The past 3 weeks have been difficult for me and many outside things came up. Due to these disturbances I have been feeling "stressed" in our homeschool and thinking I should do more. Then reality hits. I do so much I cannot add anything more or the scale will break. It was during one of those moments when I had to go to my room to think and contemplate life, homeschool, and my role. I prayed that I could sort out the what's and why's again. I needed inspiration and needed to be reminded what I do as a mentor.

When the answers came I realized how I inspire my children. I realized how I mentor them. Sometimes it really is important to re-evaluate life and homeschool.

I'm going to make a small list of things that I came to a realization that I do personally as a mentor and what they do to inspire my children. Perhaps this list will help you remember the things you do too.

• I run a business online (for 10 years): it has taught my children how to run a business and all about customer service.
  
• I write articles and wrote a book: my children love to write and are always jotting down notes.
  
• I am a social butterfly: my children socialize well too.
  
• Healthy eating, exercise, and wellness are very important to me: my children are accepting to a variety of foods, are accepting of herbs and vitamins, and study my books with relish.
• I love homemaking. It is my passion: my children all love homemaking, one daughter studies cookbooks, my son tries to help cook, my eldest is an expert at all things mechanical around the house like the vacuum.
• My religion is my life: my children have testimonies of God, they enjoy scripture study time, FHE, and love going to church. They enjoy being involved in church activities and the older ones try hard to read scriptures often.
• Books are like Food to me: my children are read to from birth. They love reading and being read to. Just tonight my toddler pulled out one of my books from a book shelf and flipped through it with interest for ten minutes.
  

When you are feeling that you do not do enough, take time to write down things that you do or have done and the positive affects it has had on your children. Your list may surprise you!