What I Read and Our Homeschool Read Alouds ll December 2025

 What I Read:

Giving Your Words by Sally and Clay Clarkson

This book is AMAZING!  If you're looking for a more natural way to disciple your children, Giving Your Words is a treasure trove.  I have so many notes from this book.  This is a really great one for any season of parenting, whether new parents or parents of teens and young adults.

Christian Heroes: Jacob Decayer

by Janet and Geoff Being

Jacob Deshazer had no idea where his life was going to go when he joined the army.  But after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, there was no turning back.  When several problems arise with his plane, Deshazer is forced to parachute into Communist China and hope for the best.  Unfortunately, he finds himself as a POW and ends up spending 40 months in captivity.  Through grueling hardship, lack of medical care and nutrition, emotional torture, and days of hopelessness, Deshazer is finally exposed to the gospel which infuses him with the strength to go on.  Once released to go home, Jacob Deshazer finds himself with a heart for the Japanese people and later returns with his wife as missionaries.  This is a beautiful story of survival, hope, and forgiveness.

Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst

What if our food choices were about more than just fitting into a pair of skinny jeans?  What if it was really about dedicating our healthy to the glory of God?  These are the questions behind Terkeurst's Made to Crave book, as she explores the idea of food and how it relates to our relationship with God.  This was an interesting choice for me to pick up in December, when poor choices abound.  But I wanted to read it before January hit as a preemptive move.  It got me thinking about how we use food to numb out our emotions, just like many other drugs.  And how making good choices can actually require us to lean into God's strength and purposes in our lives.  This book goes well beyond the typical health and nutrition, inviting the reader to find a deeper motivation for weight loss.

Our Homeschool Read-Alouds:

The Light at Tern Rock by Julia L. Sauer

Ronnie and his Aunt Martha agree to take care of a lonely lighthouse while the keeper spends a few days with family.  But as Christmas looms, the keeper doesn't return, leaving Ronnie and Martha with a difficult decision: make the most of the holiday on Tern Rock or leave the lighthouse deserted?  This book is a quick read, but a strong lesson in forgiveness, understanding, and the true blessing of togetherness.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

This was a re-read for us.  I love reading this one at Christmas and it's definitely become a family tradition.  I can see myself reading this one at Christmas, even after the kids have graduated.

The Turning by Gloria Whelan

This is the fourth and final book in the Angel on the Square series that we started reading in October.  This book takes us up to the early 1990's, and the continued crumbling of the Soviet Union.  We've loved this series from start to finish and can't recommend it highly enough.

What are you reading?