Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman

I have finished book #3 on the Spring Reading Thing Challenge. I am so glad that I came across this book through my new hobby of blog-hopping. I had never heard of this author either as with Carolyn Mahaney. I wish I could say that I have implemented all of Mrs. Plowman'sideas and now our home is peaceful and enjoyable at every moment, but that is never going to happen. This book did remind me of some things I can do to increase the 'enjoyable peace' quotient.

Our home school is run on a pretty good routine schedule, but there were some good ideas on giving your child structure and routine. I heartily agree with the book in saying that children do better with routine and scheduled activity. Especially as we are finishing up this school year I am reminded that my kids don't do well with too much free time. All the kids have hobbies that by themselves are not bad in moderation or small amounts of time. Emma (13) enjoys the computer, Eli (10) likes video games, Eden (9) likes playing with friends, and Eva (6) loves movies. They would each choose to do just their one thing if the choice was theirs to make. This does not mean lots of outside commitments with practices and lessons, just having something productive to do at most times. Especially with our newest addition to the family (Ella who is 14 months) Mrs. Plowman had some great ideas that I had not thought about in regards to keeping baby on a 'play schedule'. She is on a good schedule with eat ting and sleeping but not so much on what she is doing while awake. I am going to try to add these and see if it helps baby be more peaceful during school time.

I thought her take on discipline was right on. I almost skipped the chapter on discipline because the chapter before was on 'Gentle Parenting'. I thought gentle parenting was something else and after reading the two chapters together I have a better understanding. It was very encouraging for me to watch my words in child training.

I would love to observe Mrs. Plowman's family for a day or two and see this in action. I think our family is implementing most of the content of this book but we are all sinners that are works in progress and can all use improvement. This book didn't give me the feeling that I/we needed a huge family overhaul, but it gave me many great ideas to 'tweak' things here and there. I love reading books by fellow home schoolers!

I have two more books on my list. One Home at a Time and Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. I think I will get to add several books to my list which is great since I have seen several that look wonderful.

I received an email yesterday that had a interesting book advertised. It was called Revolutionary Parenting. It is written by George Barna and looks very intriguing. They surveyed young adults that were strong in their faith and living it out and then went to their parents to see how they raised them and looked at the similarities. The requirement for the young adults were:

Knowing, loving, and serving God was identified as their top priority in life.
They described their faith in God as being of the highest importance.

Each of these young adults possessed a "biblical worldview," based on their responses to a series of questions about their view of life. In essence, they contend that absolute moral truth exists; such truth is defined in the Bible; God is the all-knowing and all-powerful creator and ruler of the universe; faith in Jesus Christ is the only means to salvation; Satan is a real being; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and all of the principles taught in the Bible are true and accurate.

They believe that their main purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind and strength.

They are currently active in a vibrant community of faith, as demonstrated by their consistent engagement in worship, prayer, Bible study and spiritual accountability

George Barna states that in his research only one out of ten young adults meets the above criteria. That is sad to me, but I want my 5 kids in the minority.