TOS Review~Educating the WholeHearted Child

Everyday I start my day in the Word.  The Bible is my instruction book in life and in our homeschool.

Each day I'm always asking God, "Am I doing this right?" Meaning teaching the children the right way.   As a part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew we were sent "Educating the WholeHearted Child" written by Clay Clarkson with Sally Clarkson.  I have heard so many good things about this book, but for whatever reason we never bought it.

When it arrived in the mail I was in awe of it!!  I never realized how big it was.  It is a B.I.G. book....376 pages! 

Now after my time with God in the morning, I immediately open this book.  Sometimes we just need that reassurance we are doing things right.  As I read through the book I felt as if I was sitting with a longtime friend sharing stories of home and homeschooling.  The book is broken into 4 different sections.

Section 1: HOME

This section has everything to do with your home.  "Learning to be at Home with Christ" was one of my favorites.  This included our physical home and our homeschool. 

Section 2: LEARNING

This section showed me really how to understand my children.  Oh I know my children but sometimes I just do not understand them.

Section 3: METHODS

This section starts out with the study of the Bible.  Then going into how to teach children.  I think this quote from the book sums it all up for this section.  "Building a strong roof of discretionary learning over their life throughout their childhood can give them a developing confidence in who they are as they enter adolescence.  That roof will help hold everything together."

Section 4: LIVING

So many times I find myself comparing our children to "The Jones'" children.  I then become frustrated over what our children are not doing.  God used this section of the book to hit me right between the eyes.  "In the end, the measure of your success in homeschooling will not be how well your children perform on achievement tests but how faithful you have been to trust God for His grace and strength in the process of discipline and educating them."  I had been placing way too much into their test scores.  If I just step back and "Faithfully trust God" and "Trust God's faithfulness" we all will succeed!

At the end of the book you will find a "Postscript" where you find a bunch more information.   As well as a section with forms you can copy and use.

Sometimes we just need to hear you are doing this right.  I wish I had bought this book when we first started homeschooling 6 years ago.  I highly recommend every homeschool family buy this book.  This is not a book you can borrow to just read through.  You must take it section by section, piece by piece.  Eventually your book will look like this:

I love the wide margins through out the book.  With not only great quotes from many different people, but this book is L.O.A.D.E.D with Scripture.  Love that!!  So as I mentioned at the beginning, I have been using this book along with my daily quiet times.  I chose a different color pen to underline the verses in my Bible.  So when I needed the Scripture they will stand out to me.

When I found the Scripture in the book, I put brackets around it.  Then went to my Bible and underlined it.

So as you can see this is not a book you can just read.  You need to absorb it.  I have learned so much from it and I look forward to finishing it.  Then starting it again...it is that good.

You can purchase the book for $22.00 through their website, Apologia Education Ministries.  You can also see the Table of Contents HERE.  You can also download a complete chapter HERE.



**As a part of TOS Homeschool Review Crew I received this book free, in exchange for my honest review.**