Books Read #21-23 ⎮ June 2017

Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men

Since I have two boys of my own, Boys Adrift by by Dr. Leonard Sax looked like a worthy read. It was. If you are raising boys, I would high recommend reading this book. As my boys are still small, I am determined to help them stay motivated in whatever way I can.

The book addresses five factors affecting boys today including: changes in schools, video games (issues with virtual vs. real), ADHD diagnoses/medications, endocrine disruptors (found in our modern environments), and the loss of male role models. 

Dr. Sax offers some good suggestions on how to combat these factors to help your son reach his full potential and not fail to launch (he acknowledges that girls have their own set of factors, but his book speaks specifically to boys).

I thought this was a good read – while there are plenty of notes at the end of the book with more information, the book itself didn't feel bogged down by research. It also offered good tips that wouldn't be too hard to implement. I hope we are mindful of these factors as we raise our boys.

A few highlights from this book:
The explicit motivation behind the founding of the Boy Scouts was to "make men of little boys and to foster independent manhood." There was no assumption that an independent manhood would just happen naturally.

"What does it mean to be a man?" The answer is: being a man means using your strength in service to others.

Boys who prefer the video game version over the real thing are making a choice very similar to boys who prefer online pornography to interacting with real girls.

To become a man, a boy must see a man. But that man doesn't have to be a father. In fact, ideally it shouldn't be only his father. Even if your son has a strong father or father figure in his life, he also needs a community of men who together can provide him with varied models of what productive adult men do.

Ambition. Drive. Determination. Call it what you will, it is this characteristic more than any other that now distinguishes the emerging nations from the United States. 
 

I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

  

Chasing Slow: Courage to Journey Off the Beaten Path

The other adult book I read this month was Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner (creator of the Design for Mankind blog). Erin is one of my favorite bloggers and I had heard a lot of great things about her debut book. The book encompasses Erin's personal story and is full of great tidbits about slowing life down intentionally... I am planning to write a separate blog post about intentional slowness with more thoughts about her book, but I wanted to include a blurb in my monthly book wrap-up as well. I think that in order to get the most out of this book you have to read it like a series of blog posts. It felt a bit choppy for me as an actual book, but the content is good (Erin is a great writer, so I'm going to blame the editing).

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

 

The Sandman and the War of Dreams 

 

I made a deal with Jack that we would watch The Guardians movie after we completed the fourth book in The Guardians series, The Sandman and the War of Dreams, by William Joyce. It turns out that I was wrong on two counts. I thought Jack Frost was going to be introduced in this book (he's not) AND I thought book four was the end (it's not). It turns out the 5th book in the series will be released a year from now, and that one will be about Jack Frost.

 

Anyways, I continue to love this series. I'm not always sure that Jack is actually paying attention to the read alouds, but I recently quizzed him on all of the characters we have met along the way, and he knew all of them and the basic story line. So that's good. We will go ahead and watch the movie since I told Jack we would, but I am looking forward to reading the 5th book next year.

I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Honorable Mention:
We make it to the library at least once a month and both boys choose books to read. This month Jack chose: Curious George, Oh, the places you'll go!, Good King Wenceslas, Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures: The Intrepid Canadian Expedition (see below), Max's Dragon Shirt, and Dragons Love Tacos (his favorite from this selection of picture books).

We are continuing to make our way through the Flat Stanley series by creator Jeff Brown with Jack. This month he chose Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures: The Intrepid Canadian Expedition (Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #4). Unfortunately our local library doesn't have every book in the series and Jack is a bit bummed that we can't read them in the EXACT order.

Isaac's Library picks this month were truck song and Fire Engine No. 9. We read these books over and over to him, and then we read them some more!

Books Read #17-20 ⎮ May 2017

Since my decision to homeschool Jack this fall, I have been on a bit of a crash course to research all things homeschool related. I have to admit that it is kind of exciting to be elbow deep in this type of research. In a later post I will share what my ultimate schooling plan is for the fall, but for now I just want to share a snippet of what I have been immersed in.

First up in May, I read The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell. This book was a bit older than I had hoped, but I want to utilize our local library as much as possible, and unfortunately for me, it's a small library. Anyways, the book was really good. I pretty much skipped over anything technology related (our library's edition of this book was from 2005 and I don't know if there is a newer version). But I found that overall the book was full of a lot of useful information and suggestions from a seasoned homeschooler. I jotted down tons of quotes and notes regarding resources I want to look into further. I had so many pages tabbed that I was tempted to just ask the library if I could buy the book outright instead of having to copy all of my notes. But I decided to return the book (I want to be in good standing with the library) and will consider purchasing my own copy in the future.

A few of the passages that really resonated with me:
Our kids need to be equipped now to participate in the future. The job market of tomorrow is a lush opportunity for creative, independent thinkers with well-honed problem-solving skills and an entrepreneurial drive.

The book broke down the different learning styles into four categories. This would be useful for any parent to know about their child. I believe that Jack, age 5, is already firmly in the Promethean Temperament category. The goal of the Promethean is to be competent. He does this by acquiring knowledge and exercising great patience and tenacity in delaying action until a rational, pragmatic, and carefully calculated conclusion can be drawn. He gives little credence to his emotions or desires. This is Gorlay's conceptual-specific learner.

In the early years, your goal should be breadth. Give your kids exposure to all subject areas through reading, field trips, and opportunities. The purpose is to bring to the surface their areas of talents and interests. This is so so you can begin to discern God's calling upon each of their lives.

For anyone considering homeschooling, this book or something similar is worth your time. I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott D. Sampson (the paleontologist from Dinosaur Train) has been popping up on my radar recently, so when I saw it at my library, I thought I should read it. Overall this is a good book – it provides a framework for mentoring children in nature (regardless of how they are schooled). 

One of the goals of the book is to pull together as much research as possible on this subject in one concise place in an effort to encourage parents to get their kids to love nature. This book references several other books that I have previously read, including everyone's favorite: Last Child in the Woods. In some ways it felt a bit redundant, but that has more to do with my personal philosophy, and other books I have read, than the book itself. I'm totally on board with the child-in-nature goal, so a lot of the information felt a bit basic for me. But this is still a worthy read, especially if you are uncomfortable with kids being free in nature and you need a little push, or suggestions, for helping your kids make these types of meaningful connections.

A glimpse of some of the passages that really stood out to me:
Teens returning from one- or two-week wilderness excursions frequently report that these programs were among the most influential, worthwhile, and satisfying experiences of their lives. [I can totally attest to this. I participated in Wilderness Trek, a week-long backpacking trip, during four summers of my teenage years and those trips were among the most defining moments of my life.]

At the risk of sounding overly harsh, public education in North America today [Dr. Scott is Canadian but has spent most of his career in the US] is still geared toward control, obedience, and self-restraint much more than engagement, inspiration, and empowerment.
 

Beyond teaching and testing, however, perhaps the greatest problem with our current education system is its irrelevence to everyday life.

Wired magazine listed Best 5 Toys of All Time as 1) a stick, 2) a box, 3) string, 4) a cardboard tube, 5) dirt.

Heavy consumption of information technologies reduces attention span and makes us more easily distracted. Regular interruptions (like e-mail and text messaging) tent to increase stress and decrease short-term memory, making it more difficult to learn or perform even the simplest tasks. Brain researches are becoming increasingly convinced that excessive screen time makes us more impatient, impulsive, forgetful, and even narcissistic.

There is definitely a lot of good information in this book and I wrote down a list of additional books I hope to read. I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads. 

A friend recently lent me Play The Forest School Way: Woodland Games and Crafts for Adventurous Kids by Peter Houghton. This is a book I plan to purchase to use as a resource for our homeschool. The book is full of activities for children (ages 4-11). Each section gives you a list of items you need to complete the project, specific instructions and also additional information on how to tie the projects to education.

A few highlights from this book:
Forest School is an inspirational process that offers all learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experience in woodland or natural environments with trees.

Research suggests that young children learn most from experience by using their senses actively rather than passively, and it is via these experiences that the learning remains with us into adulthood.

From play comes real knowledge about the environment and a direct connection with nature, and a sense of belonging, of wonder, and of respect for life. 

I did not rate this on Goodreads yet as I have not used it as a resource or completed any of the suggested projects.. 

Over the course of the last several weeks, I read the third book in The Guardians series, Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies, by William Joyce to Jack. I have to say that I am loving the series, but it feels like Jack is over it. He typically plays Legos while I read and we periodically discuss what is going on (he wants to see all of the drawings), but he hasn't been really paying attention. He says he wants to continue with the final book. He is excited that the next book has Jack Frost as a supporting character – he's pumped that Jack Frost shares his name, and I have promised we will watch the movie when we finally finish, so that helps. I think he will have to reread the series in a couple of years when he has more patience for it.

I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Honorable Mention:
We read another from the Flat Stanley series by creator Jeff Brown to Jack this month. This time he picked out The Amazing Mexican Secret (Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #5). I think he may be losing interest in Flat Stanley since we only read this book through one time.

Right now Jack picks out five books every time we visit the library and we read through all of them multiple times, along with our own books at home that continue to be long-time favorites.

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on May 30, 2017 at 4:32pm PDT

Isaac's Favorite Books are currently Your Baby's First Word Will Be DADA by Jimmy Fallon and I Know a Wee Piggy by Kim Norman. Most of our baby and toddler books I could quote in my sleep at this point in my life...

Books Read #6-7 ⎮ February 2017

In February I completed two books and am currently halfway through a third. I was lucky to take two last-minute trips to the beach and honestly thought I would read more, but relaxing with no agenda had its perks too.

The first book I completed was The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America by Mark Sundeen. I really wanted to like this book but it kind of fell short of my expectations. The author follows the lives of three very different couples as they attempt to leave mainstream culture to pursue their personal visions of the American dream. The first couple, Sarah and Ethan, leave the world as they knew it behind and move to a plot of land in Missouri with the Amish as their closest neighbors. They had high expectations with strict rules for their style of living including living without electricity, running water or cars, growing their own food, having a just cause, and not supporting industry. At their compound they host visitors throughout the year who come learn their way of living.

The second couple, Olivia and Greg, live in Detroit, Michigan where they are part of a grassroots effort that is converting abandoned city blocks to urban farms. Their daily struggles are very different from the other couples in the book in that they encounter violence on a seemingly daily basis. But they are not afraid to protect themselves or their farm. In their case, they are using the skills they have acquired to grow food and make a living in a place that it is next to impossible to get ahead, especially if you happen to be black and don't work for the auto industry.

The third couple, Luci and Steve, are older and have been farming in Montana for several decades. As an original part of the organic, and then local food movement, their goal was never about healthy or gourmet food choices per se, but rather about ethical economic behavior. They currently use solar as a main source of energy which means they have electricity and make money from selling their power back to the grid. This poses some ethical issues for them, but they choose to participate in the system in this way, even though they are predominantly off the grid.

The stories of these families were fascinating and I would have like to learn more about them – an entire book could probably be devoted to each family's effort to pioneer their portion of the country. My issue with the book has to do with the author. He spends a lot of time interjecting his own feelings and experiences on to the other people's stories in an attempt to figure out his own life and whether or not he should follow through and marry his fiance. It was very distracting and didn't really add to the book. Also, it felt like there wasn't actually much of a point to the book, other than to say, "Hey! These families are living off the grid in different ways. They grow their own food and don't have electricity, isn't that cool?"

The best parts of the book for me was that these families seemed to recognize that they could be friends with people who were vastly different from them politically. That is a view I have long held and I think it needs to be examined by more Americans.

Some of Ethan and Sarah's closest friends these days were not fellow activists, but rather their conservative neighbors, Don and Dana Miller. The two couples agreed not to broach certain subjects... "If we looked at our differences, we could not have a relationship. We love them for who they are not for how they live." – Dana Miller

The people in this book believe –and show– that sacrifice leads to abundance. And that's the same allure of marriage, that by giving up one element of freedom we gain something greater.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

The second book I finished was The Wonder Trail by Steve Hely, a writer for The Office and American Dad! As someone who loves to travel and read other people's travel experiences, I found this book to be mediocre. The beginning was humorous and promising but Hely spends a good portion of his book quoting other people's books and very little time describing his travels – mostly recounting his experiences partying with strangers who are much younger than him. If you are looking for a humous travelogue, I would suggest you pick up Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir by Franz Wisner or The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost.

Best quote from The Wonder Trail:

The experience you get isn't always what you were looking for. What you were after sometimes turns out not to be the point. But who cares? What matters is the trip you took to get there.

I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. 

Honorable Mention:
I read Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure by Jeff Brown to my five-year-old this month. He is excited to read more of the Flat Stanley series.