Re-entry after a restful holiday break can be hard.

Or, it can be a welcome return to the routine.

Ours has been a little of both. There may have been some groans and sighs as everyone headed back to their respective classes and homeschool groups, but there has also been a certain comfort in the familiar routine and productivity that naturally follows.

Our homeschool word this year is intentional - so I’m keeping tabs on myself through these blog entries. Have I been INTENTIONAL about everything in our homeschool and life in the past week?

I have been relentless about claiming reading time for myself. I consider it therapy and education all wrapped up in one!

Sunday afternoon (after church and some house cleaning), I sat down with my latest read, Harry’s Trees, and relaxed a bit. My husband was doing the same thing, and we chatted while we relaxed. Having that time to strategize for the week was extremely helpful.

(Harry’s Trees is the selection for the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club this month. I love my book club membership!)

I’ve decided that little things can bring me a lot of joy - I bought this mug at a cute coffee shop and it just makes me happy.

Sunday evening we had company for dinner.

I would like to be a better at hospitality in 2019 - not anything fancy - just opening my home and heart to others.

Interestingly enough, a sweet reader of Homegrown Learners sent me The Turquoise Table: Finding Community and Connection in Your Own Front Yard, and the book has been inspiring me.

We had simple baked tacos for dinner and enjoyed a lovely evening. (Plus, inviting people over gives me a kick in the pants to clean things up a bit!)

If you want the recipe for these EASY and YUMMY tacos, you can find it in my Plan to Eat.

Back to “school” Monday morning consisted of all of the usual subjects.

(I won’t talk much about my senior because she is cruising through to graduation and pretty much controls her own schedule now!)

Grant is preparing for a piano competition in March, so he’s back to his regular practice schedule each day. Piano has been one of my homeschool requirements for both children. I know it builds concentration, attention, discipline, and musicality. It is a gift they will always have with them - and I just love having a house with the sound of music.

A reader asked me last week about what our morning time looks like with a middle schooler.

One thing we ALWAYS include in our morning time is reading aloud. Our current read-aloud is Jefferson’s Sons. I had read Sally Hemings and America’s First Daughter last year and was intrigued with Thomas Jefferson’s story. Jefferson’s Son is the YA version of that story and we’re both enjoying learning about Jefferson - who was great in the eyes of men - but maybe struggled with being great in the eyes of God because of the slaves he owned.

One of the most difficult subjects in Grant’s Challenge B coursework is Intermediate Formal Logic.

He began reading, highlighting, and creating a Quizlet set this week. The key to success is going to be staying on top of the assignments, memorizing the vocabulary, and not giving up!

(Do you know about Quizlet? It’s one of our favorite online flashcard tools!!)

A cute aside - Grant has always loved the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and I have nothing against them!

He began reading them in Kindergarten, and shortly thereafter starting writing in his own journal using dialog! I was amazed at how such a little boy could use quotation marks and punctuation appropriately, and then I realized he was imitating the writing he was seeing in Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Brilliant.

He owns every book and I gave him the new one for Christmas. You will often catch him rereading them for fun.

I’m sure some people would call them twaddle, but I don’t care - I believe there is room for a certain amount of twaddle in our lives, don’t you?

Finally, we’ve been back to our basketball schedule.

Nearly every afternoon or evening (other than Wednesday and Sunday) contains basketball. It’s a good thing the private school where he plays is close to our house, and that he LOVES this team. We’re fortunate to have found a school that welcomes homeschoolers!

I can’t imagine what Grant’s attitude would be like if he didn’t have this physical activity each day.

He plays HARD and it’s been fun to watch the young man he is on the basketball court. Of course the emphasis is on playing good basketball and winning games, but the greater emphasis is on playing as a Christian.

I am thankful for this opportunity. We waited many years for an organized sports group with this focus.

All in all I think re-entry is going well.

Only one more semester and I will have a HOMESCHOOL GRADUATE (yikes!) and a high school freshman. Where DOES the time go?

What have you been up to?

Are you back to the routine after the holidays?

As I look back on a lifetime of homeschooling with my oldest (now 17) it is striking just how much books played a part in her education.

The hours and hours spent with living books were not wasted. She is a good writer. She expresses herself well. She is empathetic and has a wide knowledge of many time periods, places, and types of people.

I have NO DOUBT this is because of her exposure to beautiful literature.

A book isn’t just a book. It’s a pathway of sorts to other places, people, and things. The power of what we read and the digestion of what’s read is an awesome thing. In short, story itself is very powerful.

Continuing our series about laying down the rails in our children's education, let's address the topic of using living books.

Using Books to Shape Character

Social media has harnessed the power of the quote. This is a glimpse into the power of story.

“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” —Winnie-the-Pooh

Tell me, when you read that did you have an emotional reaction? Maybe even just an “awww” moment? That’s the point.

We’re drawn into the story and made to feel all sorts of things. This power can be used for good in shaping the character of our children.

(One of my fondest memories of homeschooling is my then 4-year-old son waking early each morning so we could snuggle on the couch and read Winnie the Pooh stories together. I cherish that memory - I'm so glad I just let my kids be little!)

We can use the words of another—an author—to help us reach inside our children to challenge them, love them, and help them grow empathy.

Laying Down Rails With Living Books

If you want to effect change in another person through a living book, you have to know your books.

Living books often do the job of laying down many rails—kindness, empathy, respect for parents, and love of family.

I love the concept of healing stories as embraced by Thomas Jefferson Education homeschoolers. The ability to identify the degree of wholeness in your living book can help you know when to apply its story. And when I say apply, I’m visualizing applying as in a balm.

We want to be mindful to apply the right type of balm to match the development of the child and foster good character.

The Seven Loves of Literature

For our family, we chose to follow the Seven Loves of Literature, as taught by Rosalie Slater. These guidelines helped me to choose books that would work with me in laying down the rails that matched those loves, which are:

love for God
love for God’s written word
love for home and family
love for individual Christian character
love for the Gospel as it’s planted throughout the world
love of country
love of learning

Applying Loves of Literature as Rails for Character

Everything begins with God. Fostering a love for God in our children includes our choices in reading. Does the reading choice honor our Christian conviction regarding God?

Rail: Love for God

God’s Word, the Bible, is our standard. It contains all types of literature and makes an ideal living book by which to shape character. It even makes this claim for itself! “The Word of God is living and active…” (Hebrews 4:12).

Rail: Love for God’s Word

The home and family is more than a launch pad. It’s more than what we come home to. It’s a domestic church and the first republic.

The stories we choose to enlighten our children’s minds and form their disposition should honor the home and family. This is especially true as our children get older and their stories may become more “bent” (referring to the Thomas Jefferson Education model).

Since we know how powerful a story truly is, we’d be wise to embrace stories that honor home and hearth.

Rail: Love of Home and Family

Like snowflakes and thumbprints, every person is unique. Their rightful expression of their person is a gift from the Lord. Learning to honor that gift and use it to serve God’s purpose for oneself is a key to happiness.

Choosing stories that demonstrate how God uses men and nations, and their Christian individuality, to further His Gospel purpose is powerful. They have the power to convert, to convict, and to encourage.

As far as character, reading about brave missionaries, leaders who stood for truth, and ordinary men and women who lived through adversity while trusting in God create the rails of empathy, persistence, and trust in the Lord.

Rail: Love for Christian Individuality

Love of the Gospel of God and its purpose in the world, along with a love of country, can work together to create the rails of understanding. So often we think of missions as the other side of the world. But in fact, we’re called to be on mission right where we are. Jesus himself reminded us that our neighbor is the one we have mercy towards (Luke 10:37).

Our neighborhood is huge!

Choosing living books that focus on heroes of the Christian faith can have a powerful impact when laying down rails.

Rail: Love for the Gospel and Country

It’s popular in children’s books today to “hate school” and despise learning. Rather than plant that seed, choose books that show characters who love to learn and make sacrifices to do so. Stories such as Carry On, Mr. Bowditch and The Door in the Wall are perfect examples.

Rail: Love of Learning

Using the power of story and the loves of literature can be a tool to create rails. These rails will not only bless your family during their reading but also for life.

I can't stress enough to you the importance of making beautiful living books the cornerstone of your homeschool - and really of your children's lives.

One could even argue that as adults we also need these same rails laid down on an ongoing basis, yes?

Beautiful, living books are a GOOD THING.