In A Family of Readers, authors Robert Sutton and Martha V. Parravano discuss the issue of reading within the context of the family--how and when to read with children, when to leave them alone with their books, and how to create a family of booklovers.  I didn't spend much time reading most of the book, but when I reached the YA section, I ground to a screeching halt upon reading these words in the section overview: 

     "It Is the job of adults--parents, teachers, librarians--to make sure that a rich array of books is available for [teen readers] to choose from.  Choice is the operative word--we would no more recommend giving Forever…, Judy Blume's pre-condom, pre-AIDS classic of first love and sex, to a teen reader than we would endorse keeping it from her.  A huge part of the pleasure of reading is picking out books for yourself, especially books that speak to a place inside you that you're currently keeping under wraps."

Really?  That's my job--to provide "a rich array of books" for my teens to choose from (including, apparently, those which contain graphic sex scenes)?  Now, let's think about that statement for a minute, putting sexual and other mature content aside for the moment.  I'm not saying I disagree or agree with it.  I'm just saying it's a pretty big claim to make about the role of parenthood.  There is no question that providing a rich array of books to teens is the job of a librarian or an English teacher.  In fact, it is their job in the most literal sense.  They're paid to open up the world of books to teens and invite them in to explore its vast riches.  But whether it is my job as a parent is another matter altogether, and I'm not immediately convinced that it is.  

I am and have always been a booklover.  Not only was I an early and avid reader, not only have my main interests in life centered around stories, and not only did I go into literary professions (bookseller, teacher, writer), I have pushed literature onto my children from the time they were born.  I began with Tana Hoban's Black and White board book, graduated to nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and introduced my favorite chapter books as soon as they could handle pictureless pages.  I am a parent and teacher naturally inclined to provide a rich array of books to my kids, though I do impose some limits on what they can choose.  And here I am today, running a website devoted to teen readers.

About this I have no regrets; yet, I'm not so sure it is my "job."  Throughout human history parents and communities have passed on their society's stories to their children, who in turn passed them down to their children.  These children heard myths, history, songs, proverbs, folktales, holy writings, and poetry, the equivalent, I suppose, of providing that rich array of books that Sutton describes in the quote above.  In a very real sense it was the job of parents to pass this lore down, because it was an essential means of preserving their culture (religion, too, perhaps) and establishing their children's sense of identity as part of that culture.  But today, things are different, and Sutton is not referring to this cultural preservation when he calls parents to open up the world of literature to their teens.  He seems to be saying that parents have the responsibility to make sure that our kids have complete access to all kinds of ideas, philosophies, lifestyles, experiences, and perspectives through the powerful and entertaining medium of story.  

Maybe I'm misunderstanding him, but I guess I don't really see this as my job.  My job, first and foremost, is to raise my children in accordance with the values and beliefs I believe to be of primary importance.  My job is to fulfill the duties God has given me to keep them healthy (and growing) in spirit, heart, and mind and to prepare them for adulthood.  In order to do that, I cannot give them complete access to the literary world before adulthood.  That would work against the values and beliefs I am trying to pass on to them.  Maybe other parents see giving free access as essential, because it coincides with their values and beliefs.  But for me and for many other parents I know, giving this level of freedom to our teens would be unwise and possibly harmful, a shirking of our God-given duties.  If the experts want to shake their fingers at me, then I guess they can.

The prevailing view they espouse chides parents if they are too restrictive with literature--or rather, restrictive in any way.  The prevailing view calls parents to let go and let teens find their way through the literary landscape without any guideposts.  The prevailing view claims that books have little power over teens, that teens are not so impressionable that they cannot control how books impact them, that books are nothing but ideas that teens can take or leave as they choose.  But none of this feels right to me.  In fact, I have good reason to disagree, which perhaps should be the topic of another post.  So, until I'm convinced otherwise, I'll continue to swim upstream.  In my view the stakes are just too high to do otherwise.

        

Huckleberry Finn.  Harry Potter.  To Kill a Mockingbird.  Even The Lord of the Rings.  The list goes on and on.  Parents and other concerned individuals have banded together for years to remove books of concern to them from library and school shelves.  Some books are challenged because of sex or racial overtones, but there I'm sure there are other reasons, too.  I don't know what these reasons are, because I haven't gotten on board with pro-banning activists.  Odd, isn't it?  Wouldn't you think that someone going to all the trouble to create a website dedicated to exposing offensive content in YA literature would advocate banning offensive books? Don't I want to keep certain YA books out of the hands of our impressionable youth? You bet I do. 

Except...

Except that book banning is not the answer to the problem of offensive literature.  Religion and morals aside, banning books is completely antithetical to the principles on which our country was founded. Publishers and authors have the legal right to produce what they want, and consumers have the legal right to access it.  When we try to forcibly prevent access to materials we feel are offensive or harmful, we are standing in the way of publishers and authors who are trying to make a legal profit and to have their voices heard.  We are also trying to prevent access to consumers, who have the legal right to buy (or borrow) and read what they want, according to the dictates of their own conscience.  

Which brings me to the next problem with book banning, closely related to the first.  I don't know a lot about book banning, but I suspect that those who try to get books removed from school and library shelves are genuinely concerned about the harm that they believe certain books may inflict.  Many books do contain racial, sexual, occult, vulgar, and other material that can be spiritually or emotionally harmful, and I think that most people with a moral compass of some kind would agree  The thing is, we do not live in country that officially endorses a particular religion or moral code.  We are all allowed to live by the religion and/or moral code that we believe to be right, as long as it's within legal boundaries.  The exception might be for literature that threatens a physical danger somehow, such as, perhaps, a book that encourages genocide or the assassination of political leaders. As a general rule, though, we Americans must follow the principle of "live and let live."  We don't want others to impose on our right to read what we want; therefore, even if we are 100% convinced that we have the moral high ground, we should not try to impose on the right of others to read--or allow their kids to read--what they want.  

I realize that the driving issue among many of those who challenge books is a concern for the youth who may be reading them, not a desire to impose on anyone's moral and legal freedoms.  Since protecting teens from content that is too trashy or mature for them is the main reason for What's In It?'s existence, along with providing a way to highlight YA's literary gems, I completely understand. However, there is a big difference between providing information to parents about problematic content in books and trying to do their job for them by forcing the removal of books they may not mind their kids reading.  As ill as it might make me to watch a parent hand his or her teen Looking for Alaska, Pretty Little Liars, or Gossip Girl, for example, my right to step in ends with letting the parent know what those books contain. No matter how firmly we may believe something is wrong with a particular piece of literature, we must respect the right of parents to make choices for their teens according to their consciences--not our own.  We cannot rightfully step in and make decisions for their kids by force, which is what book banning does.  

Don't misunderstand me.  I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to change a school's mind on an assigned book.  I don't think there is anything wrong with insisting that a school allows parents to request an alternative book for their students (which I have done with success in the past).  I also don't think there is anything wrong with trying to persuade other parents and caregivers to our point of view about inappropriate books.  I don't think there is anything wrong with giving a book a bad review (if it's honest), nor do I think it's wrong to ask libraries to post warnings on books and to ask publishers to change their standards (both of which are things I would do if I had the time).  To try to actually forcibly remove a book that has made its way to a public library or to the public marketplace in a free country, however, is more dangerous in the long run than the actual books that concern us.  And that is something I definitely cannot support.



  

In the realm of children's literature, no matter what the age level, it's very easy to forget what a wonderful opportunity our youth have to explore other cultures through the power of story.  Award-winning author Nancy Bo Flood (see my review for Warriors in the Crossfire) knows this better than anyone, having lived in diverse cultures all over the world, including the Navajo of the American Southwest.  In this guest review, she offers two ideas to help you introduce your teens to the American Indian people through literature.  Although the second one is a high-level picture book, don't let that deter you.  Some of the most powerful experiences in historical literature are told through picture books!  
____________________________________________________________________

HOW I BECAME A GHOST,  A CHOCTAW TRAIL OF TEAR’S STORY
(the 2014 American Indian Youth Literature Award winner)

From Chapter 1, “Talking Ghost”

       “MAYBE YOU HAVE never read a book written by a ghost before.  I am a ghost…I should tell you something else.  I see things before they happen.  You are probably thinking, ‘I wish I could see things before they happen.’
      Be careful what you wish for.”

Author Tim Tingle is a masterful storyteller in person on stage or in a book with the written word.  With this newest book, I warn you that you might have the same experience I did.  You begin the first chapter, intending to read for a little while, but you can’t stop.  One surprise happens on the heels of another.  To create HOW I BECAME A GHOST, Tim Tingle re-walked the steps of his great-great-grandfather, recorded the stories of tribal elders, and then wrote this incredible page-turner for young readers (and adults as well).  Yes, this book is about the Choctaw Trail of Tears but no, it will not leave you sad or depressed, instead, you will be amazed at the strength of community and the courage and of many individuals – even a talking dog!

Once you read one of Tingle’s books, you will want to read more.  I encourage you to look at CROSSING BOK CHITTO, “…a moving and wholly original story about the intersection of cultures,”  praises Publishers Weekly.   One more suggestion:  SPIRITS DARK AND LIGHT, which was given this description: “Tingle is a master storyteller, his flow and timing are superb.  Young readers will feel like he’s talking directly to them,”  by American Indians in Children’s Literature.

BUFFALO BIRD GIRL written and illustrated by S.D. Nelson, is a very different book, but one filled with images and information that give a rich account of the daily life of the Hidatsa people of the Dakotas.  The actual words and stories once told by Buffalo Bird Girl are illustrated with archival photographs, maps, drawings, and the brilliant, startling images painted by S. D. Nelson.

These two books offer two very different stories, two Native perspectives, of American history told in engaging voices and accessible formats.  What an opportunity to discuss with young readers the impact of “western expansion” on these two tribal nations.     

--Nancy Bo Flood

Although we may know that YA authors do not feel compelled to produce the kind of clean and/or edifying literature that we are used to seeing in middle-grade fiction, it is important to consider why.  It's tempting to view the issue in black-and-white terms:  liberal/conservative  or godly/godless , for example.  Certainly, politics, religion, and so on may factor into an author's approach to a story.  My observation as both a writer and a reader, however, leads me to a more mundane reason than Big Ideas. 

What it all boils down to, as I've said before, is that authors are artists.  Nobody begins writing novels for money.  When given free rein, artists burn with the need to tell a story that starts deep inside of them and eventually cries for release.  As they write, they immerse themselves in the story world, recording what happens in their imaginations just as a journalist records what happens in the real world.  Both journalists and artists seek to tell the truth; they just write about different kinds of truth.  As a writer myself, I can tell you that this truth-telling is as real for the artist as it is for the journalist, and it cannot be stifled without causing damage to the tale.  Thus, if an author "hears" a character swear like a sailor or "sees" a character act promiscuously as a natural movement in the course of the story, then that is what the author is compelled to record. 

When it comes to moments in the story when the author must consciously decide how explicit to be with violent, sexual, or other controversial content, publisher limitations naturally take precedence.  Outside of that, however, most authors likely follow their own instincts for what is appropriate and true.  They don't want to upset parents (though I suspect a few secretly sneer, "Bring it on, Mom and Dad.").  Our concerns just aren't their concerns.  Their primary concern is telling the unvarnished truth of their story, however difficult or dark the material may be. 

As parents, we may feel that YA authors bear a unique responsibility towards their readers that adult-market authors don't have.  We feel they should join with us in helping to guard our teens' hearts and minds against content that they should not experience for at least another few years.  They should help us parents protect what little innocence today's teenagers may have left (and for some teens, a lot of innocence).  Perhaps this is partly why some parents feel it is right to attempt to ban and censor certain books from schools and libraries (another blog topic for another day).

We parents need to check ourselves when we place these standards on today's YA authors, though.  It is hard for me to say that, because I don't like it, but it's true for a free society like ours.  Even if we are morally right in our opinions of how YA authors should handle mature content, we cannot lose sight of the fact that YA authors are not gatekeepers in partnership with us.  

I am naturally a trusting sort of person and always have been.  As a result, I had to develop a healthy wariness of people the hard way--through painful experience. But even though I am more cautious today, I still tend to believe in the natural goodwill of my fellow man. Most of us look out for each other, right?  We try not to hurt each other, right?  

Maybe most of us do, but I have learned that in the world of YA literature, the natural goodwill of some authors towards their teen audiences has been shockingly skewed.  I do not believe for a moment that today's YA authors are trying to hurt our youth.  Not one--not even the author of the most revolting novel in the genre (and I could name a couple of likely candidates!).  Writers don't get into the business to hurt people.  But after immersing myself in the YA genre for some time, now, I have come to accept that many YA authors and publishers view the issue of appropriateness through a very different lens from that of parents.  

Consider the words of Chris Crutcher, as quoted in the April 2013 edition of the newsletter, Chldren's Writer:  "People often ask why I think I have to put that language into stories.  I don't have to.  I have the free speech right to do it or not.  Truth is, I don't think about it at all when I'm writing the story.  It doesn't even create a blip on my radar until it becomes a controversy somewhere...There are certainly YA books that get targeted because of sexual content, but again, if that content leads to the reader finding a story he or she is interested in, it's worth its weight in gold."  

REALLY????  I don't know about you, but that last statement is an eye-opener to me.  Does he really mean that?  Nope, he is definitely not on my side.

Author Lauren Myracle says something similar on her website in regards to one of her recent novels:

    "Something else I should share: This book has sex in it...So, yeah, sex is part of the mix, and I trust       that you, and teen readers, can handle it. A fellow writer recently said to me, 'I would never want       to write a young adult novel that I couldn’t comfortably hand to a twelve-year-old.' Well, I would.     I do not ever want to underestimate my readers’ ability to take on 'content'—and good Lord, what         would we do if books didn’t have content! 'Here you go, here’s a book with nothing in it. Enjoy!'"

Again, unbelievable (twelve??? ), not to mention lame--especially the last statement.  Tell that to all of the YA authors who managed to create great stories without Myracle's kind of "content."  Tell that to Will Hobbs of Downriver.  Tell it to Wendy Mass of Every Soul a Star, Polly Shulman of The Grimm Legacy, Joan Bauer of Hope Was Here, and Heather Vogel Frederick of Home for the Holidays--among others. 
  
The realization that some (some) of these authors (and their publishers) are not on the parents' side when they write their books has made me much less trusting than I used to be.  They do not care what values I am trying to impart to my teens, even values that are as ubiquitous as "Don't sleep around." They write what they want to write, and some publishers seem give their writers free rein in regards to content in order to snag teen readers.  (Think I exaggerate?  Read Looking for Alaska and Gossip Girl. For starters.) This is both a business and an art, and both businessman and artist are in it for their own agendas--not to walk alongside the parents in raising their children.

Perhaps you already knew this and wonder why I am bothering to even write this post.  I mean, duh. What did I expect in the world we live in today?  But not all parents realize what some authors and publishers are willing to write and peddle to our impressionable youth.  I didn't before I began this website.  I knew from working at a major bookstore for several years that a lot of YA literature seemed trashy, but I had formed this judgment mostly from reading jacket blurbs and listening to other parents.  I didn't really know. 

I do now, though.  After immersing myself in the world of YA literature for some time now, I have come to understand what I didn't before.  There are some great YA authors.  I have read some brilliant novels, some with '"content," some very clean.  But when it comes to helping my teens choose novels that promote the kind of values, entertainment, and discussion points that I want for them, I cannot be trusting of the industry--neither authors, nor publishers.  I cannot go by an author's or publisher's reputation, an author's award collection, the publisher's history, or even the industry's general goodwill and interest in teenagers.  I cannot go by traditional cultural standards for emotional and mental readiness.  I cannot even go by what teachers and librarians suggest, either, because the current trend is to assert that teens should be allowed to read whatever they want, that it only matters that they are reading.  

Well, I believe that the trend is wrong.  In the end, therefore, it is up to me and my husband to be at the front line of defense for our teens.  And it is up to you, too.  
 

It has been only a month, now, since the day I would have begun my ninth year as a homeschooling mom. Instead, I saw my fourth daughter off to school that week.  It's a very good school, all things considered, but it still strays far from the path I set for our family years ago. I don't think I can describe my sense of loss that day and especially not how I felt two weeks earlier, when I first learned she would get into the school. This end result isn't what I envisioned when I first began to love homeschooling. I had found it, I thought.  Outside of my ideal scenario of a Latin-classical Catholic school, I felt I had found the best way to educate my kids through graduation, and I knew I was blessed to be able to do it.   

So now I sit here at my desk, still a little dumbstruck and wondering,  "What happened?"  How did we end up right back where we started? So many families make it work and with more kids than we have. How is that I couldn't? Looking deeper into my memory, I can see that the odds were against us from the start. From bad decisions to financial limitations to severe time constraints to simple exhaustion, the cards betting against me were laid down from year one, and I never could turn my luck. 

But I sure tried.

I believe in being a nosy parent for as long as my kids are under my roof. I am committed to working with my husband to shape them into strong, godly, well-educated adults. With that in mind, I still believe that short of sending them my ideal kind of school (which isn't possible for us), homeschooling is the best way to do that. Sometimes, though, the course we set for ourselves doesn't turn out to be the one God has in mind for us. Sometimes he points out another path He would rather us take, and while taking the new path may not make much sense to us, He just asks us to accept and trust Him. The main thing that helps me do this is the certain knowledge that I really did do my best in this whole adventure.  At times when I look back, I can't help but feeling like I am just a failure, but deep inside God reassures me that I'm not.

That doesn't mean I didn't make mistakes and don't have regrets. I did and I do. If I were to go back, I would do a lot of things differently, and maybe then I would still be homeschooling today. When I step back to look at the big picture, though, I have to say that I doubt it. The biggest obstacles I faced, the ones that decided our final direction, were beyond my control. While I grieve and second-guess this change in our lives, then, what I feel most clearly is resignation and a kind of sulky peace. I did the best I could, and that's all God asked of me. That's all He ever asks of all of us.  Now He asks me to walk this new path with faith and a cheerful heart.  I know He will help me do that, too.

This morning, as I sat on my son's bed to awaken him, I gathered his sleepy little body into my arms for a short cuddle.  At four years old he can still sit on my lap and rest his head on my chest, and he likes to wrap his arms around my neck in big bear hugs.  What bliss, I thought, as I held him tight and smelled his little-boy scent.  These are my favorite moments of motherhood, the ones like right now.  

Now.  A word that means just for a moment--fleeting, fast, over with the next breath.  It struck me then how sad the word "now" can be.  Right now I am holding him, I realized, but in just a few moments this now will be over forever.  In a few more breaths it will be gone. 

This realization is one of the great sorrows of motherhood, I guess.  I'm sure most mothers face such a moment at some point and feel the same stab through the heart that I did.  Thankfully, God has not left us mothers without more lovely "nows" in the future as consolation.  I'm sure that many wait in my tomorrows as the mother of a growing, healthy son--special, delightful, deliciously memorable. I've certainly had many with my daughters as they've grown.  They will come when the time is right.

But this "now," the one I received during the quiet autumn morning of today, the "now" that glows in my mind this evening as I write...this one in all its poignancy lingers to remind me to cherish all my lovely "nows" as jewels to be tucked away and treasured, never to be taken for granted.    

I have been lucky, for the most part.  The most troublesome books any of my kids have been asked to read in school have been selections that I merely felt were too old for them.  Considering the fact that none of them have been trashy or contradictory to the values we teach in our home, this is a relatively small matter.  So far, I have cause to be gracious with my annoyance, rather than express it to their overworked and underpaid teachers.  Of bigger concern is a new practice I have noticed.  It has happened in both of the schools we have attended with some regularity, so I can only assume it is a general trend.  This is the use of movies as babysitters.  If you have children in school and are conservative about their screen time at home, you may want to ask your children about the use of non-educational movies in their classroom.  Unless you are in a Christian school, maybe, you will not get any permission slips to sign ahead of time.

At our school in Minnesota I only gradually became aware that light entertainment, such as Disney movies, were often being shown at the end of the day as the children awaited their rides.  Obviously, it was a way for the teachers to keep wiggly bodies contained in a small space, so that their rooms didn't erupt in chaos.  I couldn't blame them, but I wondered why something educational wasn't being shown instead, like a fun science feature or something.  Added to this concern was my awareness that showing full movies in school was against the fair use law (at least, I thought I'd heard that).  But because I didn't want to complain any more to teachers than I had to and become one of "those" parents, I never said anything.

Then we moved to Colorado, where late last spring my 5th-grade daughter complained to me that non-educational movies were being shown for indoor recess on cold days and during classes on the rare occasions when they had nothing important to cover.  She had nothing against movies, but she was tired of them, she said.  My red flags flew up.  Tired of watching movies?  In school??  Now I was kind of upset.  Not only were the movies my daughter reported to me ones I wasn't sure I wanted her to watch, I didn't want her sitting for hours in classes, only to be told that she had to sit through recess, too!  It wasn't even that cold outside, either. 

Even if the school felt it was too cold, however, there was no question in my mind that removing any opportunity for free recreation during students' one and only recess was a terrible idea.  Kids need to stretch their legs and walk around even more than adults do.  They need to chatter and laugh.  Why not board games?  Why not organized group games?  Why not just allow them to push aside the desks and chat in groups and make up their own play for a few minutes?  And when it comes to that, what's the matter with having a morning and afternoon recess, too?  Since when did that tradition affect a child's education?  It doesn't take a genius to recognize that it doesn't, especially when the day has already been extended more than an hour beyond the traditional 6-6 1/2 hours.

As much as I didn't want to become "that" parent--you know, the kind that's always in the school's face, criticizing anything and everything that goes against the parents' vision for their child--I felt it was time to speak up.  Whereas in Minnesota I could understand the use of non-educational movies at the end of the day (their lawful use a side question for the moment), using them during the school day outside of a special treat just wasn't acceptable to me. 

So, speaking as politely as I could, I explained the issue to the principal and was rewarded with the assurance that the indoor-recess policy would change this year.  I will be watching.  At the same time, I will be wondering, too.  Where is that line a parent must walk?   On one side are the things that we may not like but should not bring up to the school, respecting its right to do its job as it sees fit.  But on the other are those problems a parent must bring up, even at the risk of becoming the kind of helicopter parent teachers roll their eyes about in the teacher's lounge.  It isn't always easy to know when to be a nosy parent and when to stay on the sidelines.  What about you, those of you who have (or have had) children in school?  Where is the line you draw between keeping silent and speaking up?    

One of my favorite tasks for homeschooling has always been organizing and planning my daughters’ studies each year.  I love researching the market for new and better programs, and I have a slew of bookmarked websites to prove it.  But despite eight years of chances, I never could keep my homeschool organized.  Instead, I’m forever gaping with awe and envy at other homeschool parents who always seem to have their act together.  Every year I’ve searched for a planner that would help me keep both my homeschool and my home organized, but I've never had much luck.  This summer, however, I’ve found a planner that seems more user-friendly than the others--The Well-Planned Day.  For those “nosy parents” who are looking for a way help their kids keep track of their lives, take a look at this!

The first thing that attracted me to The Well-Planned Day is the way it integrates both school and household tasks.  Because a homeschool is part of a family’s daily home life, this integration meets one of my first needs for a perfect planner.  I prefer to keep a small planner in my purse for keeping track of daily appointments, but I want something bigger for my home management. This planner is a full-size 8 ½ x 11”, which offers plenty of room on the page for my messy scrawl. And although I at first looked askance at the soft cover, thinking it would be in shreds by Christmas, I soon noticed the hole-punched and perforated paper.  Problem solved! I have several empty protective binders on my shelves.

The design of the main scheduling pages is what really won me over, though. The bulk of the planner is made up monthly calendar pages, each of which is followed by enough weekly assignment pages for that month. These are designed so that parents can write in assignments for up to four students. The subjects are pre-printed on each assignment page, which is a minor problem for people like me who follow a curriculum that wander outside of this structure. However, the margin allows enough room to write in my own subject names, and the bottom of the page provides four assignment sections that leave the subject title lines blank.

The best part of the assignment pages for me is the way they are designed to include room for our weekly dinner menu,  weekly priorities, and weekend activities (hey, education doesn’t stop on Friday, right??).  The only thing I don't really like is the weekly catechism question.  This feels out of place to me.  Although we certainly value catechetical study, I would rather the space was set aside for extra-curricular reminders or a similar practical planning tool.  

Considering how well-designed the main pages are in this planner, I would not have expected to be excited by the secondary features. In my experience a planner’s design tends to falter in either the primary or the secondary features. This planner is full of great extras, however. Even better, the designer somehow managed to include them without making the planner unwieldy (it's about 1/2" thick).  Not all of them are useful to me (my husband manages our household finances on his computer, for instance), but most are.  Because it would make this post too long, I can’t discuss all of the extra features here, but here is a list of the ones that interested me most:

*an hourly student schedule from “early a.m.” to “evening”—this is the first planner I have ever found with this feature, although it one I've always needed.  Do you know how much effort I’ve had to expend to create one on my computer?  Do you??

* a 2-page yearly planner for each student that includes space for listing chosen programs, extra literature, the weekly hourly schedule (see my song of praise above), and my homeschool expenses for each semester (not itemized, though).  Neat and concise, short and sweet—just my style.

*six little tear-out shopping lists for each month that I don’t really need but would use just because they’re cute.

*a daily attendance record and a weekly grade record.  There’s even space to record your grading scale, as well as “progress and accomplishments” that can’t be reflected on a grade record.  Cool!

*REPORT CARDS!!  Okay, maybe this isn’t a big deal for you, but I think this feature is absolutely wonderful.  They aren’t just simple pages in the planner, either. These are pretty, tear-out, traditional report cards on cardstock, enough for four students. My son might not like the pretty little flowers embellishing his permanent record, but hey, if it makes my life a little easier, c'est la vie!



* …which brings me to the last feature I’d like to mention.  The design of this planner really is lovely.  The floral motif gives the planner an air of elegance and grace, and I like that most pages contain a Bible verse or inspirational quote. It’s nice to have something both pretty and meaningful to look at each day in something as mundane as a planner. The only thing I would add is the daily liturgy readings, feast days, and Pope John Paul II’s daily rosary schedule. Maybe the company will consider a Catholic version someday, but for now this is an ecumenical version which can be easily used by anyone. 

I do not know how much longer I’ll be able to homeschool, because life has been pushing my family back to traditional school, despite my preferences.   However, when fall arrives this year, The Well-planned Day will be in hand as I plan for any of my remaining children who end up staying home.  Why not consider giving it a try yourself?  Enter my planner giveaway for one lucky winner, and you might even get to use it for free this year!  The giveaway ends July 25!!

**For legal reasons, this giveaway is open to US residents only.**

By the way, did you know that HEDUA has an affiliate program? If you are a blogger and would be interested in earning money just for sharing what you love click here for details: http://hedua.com/cart/index.php/affiliates/.  
 

Once upon a time, I loved school.  I loved the routine, my desk, the classroom buzz, and new school supplies.  I liked most of my teachers, and I usually did well. When I had children, I had every intention of putting them into the best school I could find, before homeschooling finally hooked me.  Within two years I had very different perspective of traditional school that pretty much ruined it for me for good. Now I could see things about it I'd never seen before, things I didn't want for my children.  One of these was the way schools tend to approach literature. 

Because of various circumstances, we are making a complete transition back to traditional school, much to my regret--but thankfully in schools that meet my ideals halfway.  Because both of the schools we've used are Core Knowledge, neo-classical schools, the literature selections are chosen to align with this educational approach.  So far, so good.  Core Knowledge isn't my ideal curriculum, but it is a pretty safe and solid one.  Even so, more than once I have found myself faced with the dilemma of whether to raise a stink about the literature presented to my children or whether to let it go.  For example, this year my 5th-grade daughter's class was required to read Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott.  If you've read this novel, you know that it is a wonderful, uplifting story that has earned its right as an American classic.  But you also know that it is over 400 pages long and that the book leaves the childhood of the March girls behind long before the  end.  In fact, at least half the novel is fairly adult, chronicling their romances and marriages, childbearing and dream-seeking.  It is not a 5th-grade book!  Yet, because of the Core Knowledge guidelines, this is what they had to read throughout most of 5th grade.  How many other wonderful, classic 5th-grade books did they pass up to read a book that could easily wait until high school?  I confess, I don't understand.

I am thankful, of course, that at least the novel doesn't conflict with our family's values, but this is only one mild example of a dilemma concerned parents face when they send their children to school.   Sometimes I think that the literature students read does not get the attention it deserves from parents. It is powerful stuff, more powerful than math, science, history, or writing. Why? Because in it our children confront life and ideas head-on.  Literature transports them to other lives and fills their heads with new insights and perspectives that will remain somewhere deep inside them for the rest of their lives.  Like all art, literature reaches down deep inside of us and changes us in ways we may not notice, at least at first. 

I would like to talk more about this sobering topic in another blog, but for now I will leave it hanging with a single question for those who, like me, have children in a traditional school:  Have you ever looked closely at the literature your child is being asked to read?