2015 January Bookmarks

*Bookmarks is an online book club hosted at Creative2xmom. Here we discuss the books we've read in the past month as well as the suggested reading. Our suggested reading for January was Love and Respect in the Family by Dr. Emerson Eggeriches.

 These are the books I read this month:

Books I read with the kids this month:

Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla--  Great beginning book for Squanto, geared toward 1st/2nd grade.  This book covers both the ups and downs of Squanto's life from traveling with the explorers to living in London to being captured and sold to making his way back to America and befriending the Pilgrims.  Although it doesn't go deep into the darker side of his life, it doesn't gloss over it either and provides a good overview of his life.

Patty Reed's Doll by Rachel Laurgaard--Another Beautiful Feet history book, this one in the California history curriculum.  Told from the perspective of the dolly, this book covers the journey of the Donner Party from Missouri to California.  It was an eye opening tale that covered all the ups and downs of such a journey: crossing the river, dealing with buffalo, all the flowers of the prairie, crossing the salt dessert, and finally getting trapped in the mountains coming into California.  This was a great way to make history come alive and engaged both my 1st and 4th grader.

Our suggested reading for December was Love and Respect in the Family by Dr. Emerson Eggeriches--This was a re-read for me.  I first reviewed it December 2013 and felt like it would be a good time to go back and read it again.  Eggerichs premise is how to stop the Crazy Cycle in your family and start living the Rewarded Cycle.  Two things stood out to me in this book.  One was the acronym that Eggerich uses in the Family Energized Cycle (Guides):

G--Give

U--Understand

I--Instruct

D--Discipline

E--Encourage

S--Supplicate

I came away from this section of the book so encourage and re-energized for parenting.  It gave me lots of tools and understanding for this new phase of parenting that we find ourselves in.

The second thought that really stuck with me was that we parent as unto the Lord.  So if we've not getting the respect that we desire, it doesn't change how we parent.  We still need to be parenting with lots of love and "guides" as though we we parenting to the highest standards.  I'm encouraged again by this book and suggest it to anyone in any stage of parenting.

So what are your bookmarks this month?

Tell us in the comments about the books you're chewing on. Or link up a review from your own blog. Let's share the books we're finding, good and bad. And give us your thoughts on Love and Respect in the Family by Dr. Emerson Eggeriches.

And come back February 27th as we discuss The Magnificent Obsession by Anne Graham Lotz.

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