The Well-Educated Mother's Heart Study Guide
Month 1: A Mother's Influence
There are many more resources listed in this study guide than one person would likely cover in just one month. Each of you is at a different time and season in your life - for some of you, if you get a chance to watch one 2 minute video, you'll be doing great. Others of you may make it through several of the books.
I suggest you start by reading the Introduction in A Mother's Influence and listening to the recommended audios in the audio library. Then pick and choose those readings that appeal to you the most. Everything listed in this month's guide is meant to reinforce the idea that a mother's influence matters; that the worth of a mother is great and to introduce you to a heart-based learning philosophy. Because the study is organized around a twelve-month rotation schedule, what you don't read this first time through, you can catch next time around.
I suggest you start by reading the Introduction in A Mother's Influence and listening to the recommended audios in the audio library. Then pick and choose those readings that appeal to you the most. Everything listed in this month's guide is meant to reinforce the idea that a mother's influence matters; that the worth of a mother is great and to introduce you to a heart-based learning philosophy. Because the study is organized around a twelve-month rotation schedule, what you don't read this first time through, you can catch next time around.
Short 2-minute videos -- watch and then give yourself a hug. You deserve it!
Well-Educated Mother's Heart Learning Library: A Mother's Influence
The WEH audio library:
Well-Educated Mother's Heart Learning Library: A Mother's Influence
The WEH audio library:
- Sandcastles, Diamonds, and Singing Songs of Joy
- Basics of Heart-Based Learning
Great Lives Forgotten Classics Series: Stories of Great Wives and Mothers
Literature -- Stories of inspirational mothers:
- Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin (1910) -- This is the book Disney's Summer Magic is based upon. Kate Douglas Wiggin was a big proponent of Pestalozzi's and Froebel's ideas and was instrumental in establishing kindergartens in California. The story is delightful of a widowed mother and her children.
- Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch by Alice Hegan Rice (1901) -- This book was a national bestseller when it came out in 1901. It's a charming, memorable, funny tale of a southern family living in poverty in 'The Cabbage Patch.' It was while Alice Rice was doing philanthropic work in a Louisville, Kentucky slum area that she met an optimistic and cheerful woman who inspired the book and the main character.
- A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich (1928) -- A classic story of a pioneer mother in the soon-to-be state of Nebraska in 1848 who finds joy in everyday life despite overwhelming adversity and who always carries a lantern in her hand: love.
- As I Have Loved You by Kitty deRuyter (1994) [Kindle and used copies available for purchase at Amazon] -- In the spirit of Corrie ten Boom in The Hiding Place, here's the true story of how an Indonesian mother's faith held her family together during the turbulent years of Japan's occupation and subsequent concentration camps.
Classic Movie: I Remember Mama starring Irene Dunne (1948) -- Sweet story of a Norwegian family in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. 'It is good.'
Be sure and scrapbook your thoughts and copy your favorite quotes or ideas in your Mother's notebook. You might want to create Literature Gems pages for the literature selections rather than putting them in the mother's notebook. I always keep little post-it notes with me when I read and mark the pages that have the 'gems.' I don't copy anything until I'm done with the book. Then I go back and select the ones that are most meaningful to me. Copying deepens the impressions and helps you remember. Review often what you write in your notebooks.