Do you ever worry about instilling character and values into your sons? Do your even feel awkward about it in light of our culture’s rewrite of what it even means to be a man? What values most need reinforcing? This volume by Rick Johnson and published by Revell can be a help to you.

Johnson takes from the lives of twelve great men from history to illustrate great character traits that we so need to see in the next generation of men. Personally, I find some of the men more worthy of emulation than others in his list, but he does a fine job drawing these traits out of the men he looked at. His rationale is that boys need role models. It is the absolute best way to see these traits in our boys. What is modeled will be followed!

It is not just biography we find here, however, as he gives practical advice of how to help boys take these traits into the fabric of their being.

He is not afraid to be politically incorrect and that certainly makes the volume refreshing. I agree that it is time we quit going with the current of cultural downgrades and turn and swim toward what previous generations almost intuitively knew. Our boys are too important to play the games played today!

There is little Gospel here. He is not writing about what God can do, but what we should do. For what it is, it is good and I recommend it.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 .

“How parents and congregations can stop the exodus of boys from church” reads the subtitle and sums quite nicely the theme of “Searching For Tom Sawyer” by Tim Wright and published West Bow Press. You read much these days about how men are shunning the church, and even some about what we might do to make our churches more palpable to men. This volume looks to solving the problem before it begins–with boys.

Mr. Wright begins by presenting a solid case for males and females having distinct differences designed by the Lord, even though both are of equal worth to Him. He repines our culture’s mistaken emphasis on sameness at the expense of differences. These differences must be considered if we are to have a church that reaches men and women.

He even digs into the differences in how our minds are wired. Boys develop a little slower than girls and most Sunday School classes are geared more toward girls. Girls begin reading earlier so boys naturally don’t like getting called on to read and be embarrassed in front of those same girls. As time goes by, boys are by their Creator’s design likely to squirm and hate being forced to sit still. Again, we often set things up this way. So, boys start hating church at a very young age. The author makes some suggestions about setting things up differently. Whether we would exactly follow his instructions or not, these are issues worthy of much thought.

I appreciate that in his recommendations he discusses lower-cost ideas for those of us who don’t have massive budgets. The model of mega-wow factor simply won’t work for us all. The book ends with a few sample lessons designed to appeal to boys.

Our culture almost seems embarrassed by manhood. No amount of indoctrination, however, will ever remove how God made us. It is particularly ridiculous to organize church against what we know to be true! This is a helpful book that we should consider carefully.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 .

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Do you have preschool children? Then this volume by Vicki Tiede and published by Pix-N-Pens could be a real help to you. I review this book from the perspective of a pastor and parent with 2 preschool children and 4 beyond it. So I have had some time and opportunity to try various ideas and both fail and succeed at parenting in this age group. My assessment is that this book could both really help a new parent or help tweak a more experienced one. It’s so easy to fail at being diligent and to need a reminder. You will get that and some new ideas as well here.

The book aims at providing “prayers and practical guidance for the preschool years.” It is broken down into the subjects of character that should most appeal to us: self-control, responsibility, respect, honesty, conscience, etc. That is the proper beginning place.

From there it turns to even more practical subjects concerning development and social skills. Finally, it ends where most parents want to begin: behavior! Mrs. Tiede has the proper order. Still, her advise here is creative and sensible. There are things we simply must deal with if we love our children.

The book fortunately doesn’t talk down to us and has a real spiritual tone. Every chapter ends in a suggested prayer.

The only drawbacks that I could see are that, strangely, spanking is not really discussed either in a positive or negative manner, or at all really. This book, I guess, offers other creative options to either replace or supplement spanking depending on you point of view. The author is a mother and so the mother’s perspective shines a little stronger. Still, I find it helpful.

God bless on raising those little gifts from God!

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Wouldn’t you love to have a book to acquaint your children with great missionaries? This is your book then–Great For God by David Shibley and published by New Leaf Publishing. Twenty-six missionaries are pleasantly written of in this helpful volume. Some you may not know as well as others, but the most famous ones are here. You’ll learn of a few you didn’t know as well.

A synopsis begins each entry with key dates, legacy, and a famous quote. This is a great way to introduce a 6 or 7 page chapter. In my opinion, they are very well written and hold attention. I put the book to the ultimate test. I had my children gather around the table and I read several chapters aloud to them. Then I asked the hardest, most-detailed questions I could think of. My kids didn’t miss one question. Even my 5-year-old Macey nailed several questions. That is the ultimate proof to me that this is a quality book for families.

I want my children to know about missionaries. To tell the truth, these type of biographies greatly encourage and challenge me personally. This book is one of the best I’ve seen of the missionary biography books covering multiple missionaries. I give this book the highest recommendation. It’s perfect for what it intends to be and I’m glad the Reagans have it at our disposal.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 .

Master Books just keeps turning out incredible resources. In addition to apologetic and creation materials, they provide select courses for homeschool. This resource comes with a student book and a teacher volume. James Stobaugh, a pastor and homeschool Dad, wrote the material.

The books are attractive, lavishly illustrated with black and white photos, and fairly priced. The lessons are of manageable length and are for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. Assignments include essay questions and exams. It really encourages the critical thinking that our children need. The teachers guide leads the parent quite easily through what is, in many cases, forgotten subject matter. This style will be good to transition to college type of instruction.

Our children really need quality world history while in high school. I feel that is a lack in my own education. I have to brush up on world history, and particularly Western Civilization, at times. I feel the shortcomings. I feel I did a lot better in American History, but that’s only a little over 200 years of history. It’s the train of world history that led to America and so we need the proper perspective. We need the bigger picture.

Best of all, with this resource we get history from a thoroughly Christian outlook. This is of the same quality as other Master Book materials and I highly recommend it. The Reagan children will all be getting a turn with it when the time comes.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 . 

Just how important is fatherhood anyway? Our culture has no answer as it can’t think of one good reason for fatherhood beyond the biological one. For that matter, many fathers can’t add any more items to the list. Shall we listen to our culture? I’m not sure what our listless age has to commend to itself to be our guide. God, as the Master Designer, is left out of our thinking and the consequences are horrific. That’s where one of the most incredible books on fathers I have ever read comes into play. “Father Hunger” by Douglas Wilson is profound and greatly impacted me. Every page was like the hard steel blades of the plow tilling through the soil of my heart.

What Mr. Wilson was able to accomplish in this volume is rarely done. When the subtitle proclaims “Why God calls men to love and lead their families”, the book actually delivers on the “why.” Few books can give us the big picture and get especially practical as well. As an avid reader, it’s my opinion that most authors can give us only one or the other. Mr. Wilson, with verve, skill, and a pastoral heart actually pulls it off.

With deftness he upholds the essential equality of men and women while showing that the Lord, again the Master Designer, has assigned men and women different roles. That will probably keep this book off the New York Times Bestseller List, but it will have the smile of Heaven for its Biblical faithfulness. God is Father, so do you imagine in His design fathers would have a non-essential role? Ladies, don’t panic—Mr. Wilson never gives men power to be selfish brats, just power to love and be unselfish and sacrifice himself for his family. Listen to this incredible statement on men taking responsibility: “… to take on a lifetime of sacrifice and hard work. A man who takes a woman to the altar is going there to die to himself. But that is all right because it is not good for man to be alone.”

He looks at our country and where it is today and sees the absent father as the biggest culprit for the mess we are in. From fathers who provide the seed for a child and vanish to the fathers who live at the same address and mostly do their own thing in life, we have a generation of absentee fathers. The Lord designed everyone to need a father. A father’s loving hand is needed in the life of every child. He says, “Your actual pursuits are a running scoreboard. They reveal what you actually prize.” Are you challenged here? I am.

He shows how feminism, or the dire warnings of overpopulation, or the design of the welfare system, or the plea for gay marriage are all direct attacks on fatherhood. It also a direct attack on what every one of us needs to thrive as God intended. Statistics on everything from crime to education are given. The jury is in and the verdict says that homes without fathers are destroying children today. Without a Dad they will much more likely be a school dropout or be in prison. Also, the worst we see out of men comes from not encouraging them to settle down, accept responsibility, and protect their family.   He shows how God is masculine (not male) and how masculinity (defined with care) is needed all around.

There’s so much more, but this review is getting ridiculously long. For the practical side, the chapter “Some Father Mechanics” is worth the price of the book alone. I saw my lack all over its pages. Thank you Mr. Wilson. If no one else needed your book, I did.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 .