I am really excited to share with you my very first review for The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. This is my first year with the TOS Crew and it is the Crew’s fourth voyage. It promises to be a fun and interesting year for us all!
Now onto the review!
For my first review, I was asked to read Apologia’s How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. for Your Kids by Apologia’s own Rachael Carman. As you all know, I am a HUGE fan of Apologia’s homeschool curriculum so I was more than THRILLED to find this listed for review right away. In my opinion, Apologia’s line of quality products tops my list of educational favorites.
Though this book is not a part of their already well-known curriculum line, it is an excellent encouragement resource for anyone interested in providing a solid love of God for their family and changing the direction of life for both their children and themselves. You can find the book listed in the Resources for Parents section on Apologia’s website. This is honestly a wonderful resource for all parents, not just those who are home schooling. It is so much more than homeschooling encouragement. It is an encouragement to live a life for God.
H.E.A.R.T. is an acronym. Each letter has a special meaning.
H – Have a Heart for the things of God.
In this section, you will learn how to have a heart for God. In order to have a heart for God we must have a relationship with him. We must find time to fellowship with God, to read His word, to do His work. Throughout this chapter, Mrs. Carman explains just how to do those things through praise, scheduling and so much more.
E – Enrich Your Marriage.
Throughout the bible we are told that we are to put our spouses first, after God. In this section, Mrs. Carman has us take a look at the relationships in our lives: our parents, those we know and our own. She asks us to notice the differences, the truths, the good and the bad of each relationship so that changes can be made to build a stronger H.E.A.R.T. for our family. She asks us to make the changes necessary to make our marriages stronger, to connect to our husbands and allow God to help strengthen our weaknesses in marriage so that we may live to glorify him with our family.
A – Accept Your Children.
Have you really sat back and taken a long look at your children? Have you thought about what you want for their lives? Have you ever consider what God wants for their lives? Have you thought about His purpose for creating your children? After reading this section, you will have done all of these things. Mrs. Carman has us take a long look at each of our children’s interests and how they affect their own single relationships with God and His purposes. She helps us to realize just how important our children are, not only to our own life but for the bigger purpose of glorifying God. She also shows us how to pray for our children, to help them to become stronger individuals in order to live up to the purpose they were created for.
R – Release Them to God.
This is possibly the hardest part of living as a Christian: letting go of the control of our own lives and letting God take over. Even harder is allowing God to control the lives of our precious babies. In this chapter, Mrs. Carman explains how to do that. She has us take another look at the wishes and plans God has for our children and explains how to pray specifically for each of those individual plans. She shows us how to let God take control and allow our children to grow in His name and spirit. She teaches us how to release our own control to allow God to give life to our children in His own way.
T – Teach Them the Truth.
The title of this chapter says it all: Teach them the Truth. Teach your children the truth of His words. Teach your family the love that God has for us all. The bible is a guidebook, written to provide a firm foundation for our relationship with God. This chapter explains how to use this foundation to make our family stronger and bring both ourselves and our families closer to God. Mrs. Carman has us take a look at the good and the bad of our world, along with the word of God to show us how to correctly teach our children the truth of God’s love and wishes for us.
In these five chapters, we are shown how to live our life for God, how to encourage our children’s relationship and our own with God, how to provide strong foundations on which to grow in our relationship and our faith, along with so much more.
After reading this book, I have personally come to realize that I have been pushing my children to live for my purposes and that of our daily society instead of living their lives as God has directed and created them to do. I have learned to pray about the choices my children make, the future they choose and I am learning to let God have control of where He is leading them. In the future I will be allowing God more control of their choices and teaching them to listen to His guidance as they continue to grown in His word.
How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. for Your Kids is written by Rachael Carman and available through Apologia Education Ministries, INC for $13 plus shipping. A free sample chapter is available on the website, along with the book’s Table of Contents. I recommend this book for all parents, regardless of educational preference. It is certain to change your H.E.A.R.T.
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*Disclaimer – I received this book for review FREE from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Homeschool Review Crew. I was not asked to provide a positive review but instead asked to provide my honest opinion of the product I was given. I have not received any monetary supplement for reviewing this book, other than the free copy sent in exchange for writing my personal opinion for this review.
