What We Read in September and Our Homeschool Read Alouds ll Sept 2024

 What I Read:

Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson

I just finished reading this book for the fourth time.  It's one that I return to again and again for inspiration and encouragment in this homeschool journey.  Clarkson goes into how she home educated her four children with a sense of wonder about the world.  It's a very unconventional method, but has yielded beautiful resuts.  Not only limited to homeschooling, many of the concepts outlined in this book can be implemented in everyday parenting.  However, with more time comes more opportunities.  This book recharges me over and over.

See my original review here.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

I can't believe I just finished this one for the first time.  It's been on my shelf for year and I finally got around to it.  This is a fictionalized set of letters from one mentor deamon to his apprentice.  He writes these letters as a way of teaching the apprentice how to entice his "patient" (human) away from the "Enemy" (God).  The letters are short and straightforward, but incredibly applicable.  I was amazed at Lewis' ability to take everyday human nature and speak to the heart of these issues.  After all this time, the principles that he talks about are still things that we wrestle with today.  Very good read.

Cold Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace

This book has been on my list for some time.  Wallace, a cold case detective, uses his reasoning skills to investigate the claims of Christianity to see if they hold up.  This book is his own journey from atheism to Christianity and how he got there.  I love how logically and systematically he lays out his argument, showing a clear link between events and people.

The Christmas Gathering by

Shelley Shepard Gray, Lenora Worth, and Rachael J. Good

See my full review here.

Our Homeschool Read Alouds:

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

We read this book as part of our Story of the World vol 4 study.  We read it four years ago and it's just as rich and engaging as I remembered it.  Maia's parents have pasted away and she's being sent to live with family in the Amazon.  But the Carters are far from the loving famiy she hoped for.  Luckily, she has her governess, Ms. Minton, by her side.  They find many adventures during their time there... befriending a traveling actor, meeting a native boy in hiding, learning about the culture and the people around them... This book is filled with adventure, intrigue, mistaken identity, spies... and so much more.  We borrowed a copy from the library, but this one that I'd love to add to our collection.

Francis Asbury by Janet & Geoff Benge

My seventh grader and I are continuing on in the Christian Heroes series, and we were excited to see a missionary to the US.  I will say this was an interesting read, but not as engaging as some of the others.  Mostly I got lost in the wide variety of individuals that Asbury came in contact with.  Several names were mentioned and I had a hard time keeping them all straight.  However, this book was interesting because it was set during the Revolutionary time period and it would make a nice addition to an Early American study.

D.L. Moody by Janet & Geoff Benge

Continuing on in our Christian Heroes series, I loved this account of D.L. Moody's life.  This one was a lot easier to read after Asbury's story.  And to see the historical events and how the affect his life was so interesting.  He also mentions one of the other missionaries in his travels so we're going to be reading that one next.  It's so interesting to see how these individuals influenced each other throughout their lives.  Reminds me to talk with my kids about how their witness might unknowingly influence others.

Old Mother West Wind by Thornton W. Burgess

We've read a few of Burgess' books in the past, but this is the one that started them all.  I love these short little stories with the animals' antics.  Reminds me a lot of Aesop's Fables.  I'm definitely recommending this one to my sister in law who is starting her own parenting journey.

Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell

This quick historical fiction book focuses on one young Navajo girl's struggle as her tribe is forced to march from its homeland to Fort Sumner.  There they fight for survival, and ultimately a return to home.  Scott O'Dell's writing is so powerful.  Although this book is short, it's super powerful.  When my eighth grader realized where these events fell into the history timeline, he was shocked.  It's a great reminder of a broken past and how far we've come.  A great reminder that people are people no matter our cultural background.

What are you reading?