TOS REVIEW: Apologia: Educating the WholeHearted Child

With the plethora of homeschool how-to and resource books (the kind that have every kind of form you could ever want and many that you’ve never even thought of) available, what makes this resource different? It isn’t a ‘how-to’ (it doesn’t do the step-by-step like a how-to) and although it does contain some forms, they are specific to “educating the wholehearted child” (that means the WHOLE child, with emphasis on their HEART directed toward God).
I was graciously sent a copy of Clay and Sally Clarkson’s book Educating the WholeHearted Child, Third Edition from Apologia through the TOS Homeschool Review Crew. This can be utilized by families with all ages of children but specifically it details discipleship, whole books and real life information for those families with children ages 4-14.

Read chapter 1 of the book here.

Since 1994, Educating the WholeHearted Child has been a trusted guide for thousands of homeschooling families. This extensively revised and expanded third edition provides a solid biblical foundation for educating and nurturing your children's hearts, minds, and souls. In it you will discover how to:

* Make your home and family the heart of your children's education
* Train your children to become creative, self-directed learners
* Enrich your family's life and education with living books
* Identify and work with each child's learning style
* Help your children love to learn as naturally as they love to play
* Gain confidence to teach using practical, common-sense methods
Whether you are a first-time homeschooler or a longtime veteran, this comprehensive guide will equip and empower you for your journey of faith as a family. Discover the joy of bringing relationship-based, book-centered learning into the natural daily life of your home. (from the back cover)

Offered from Apologia for $22.00, plus shipping, this 376 page book is a very good investment. They have separated the book into four sections:

• Home,
• Learning,
• Methods,
• and Living.

It starts with a Preface and Introduction, ends with a Postscript and includes a Resources appendix. The Clarkson’s have written this book for the parents of homeschooling families, not necessarily for the children to read (although I see no reason why an older child wouldn’t be encouraged to read at least parts of this book). The purpose is to raise children that want to live, serve and learn about and for God. The size of the book is intimidating, I admit, but once the book is opened and the contents perused, I’m surprised it isn’t a larger volume! Due to the immense size of this book, I will only include some of my already favorite parts of the book.

As soon as I received this I browsed the table of contents to decide where I wanted to start. And then realized I really want to read it from cover to cover. Due to time constraints I have not been able to read through this in its entirety. You can see all the tabs I have ‘marked’ my book up with. There are just so many good things in this!
The book is FULL of scripture and directing back to God’s Word for guidance in all that we do. Our children are ours to do with as God would have us do. This book makes that very clear from the start to finish!
I apologize for the long list but these are what *I* have enjoyed about this book that I think will be of benefit to others as well.

• Chapter 1: The Christian Home (the first two are one reason my Bible is next to the book in the first photo I’ve included [the ‘yellow’ book is my Bible ])
  • Ten Good Biblical Reasons for Homeschooling *page 23*
  • Specific Scriptures to Consider (About Parenting, Your Children, the Christian Life) *page 27*
  • Be Ready to Live by Faith *page 28*
• Chapter 2: The Christian Homeschool: Learning at Home to Be with Christ
  • Be Confident as a Homeschooling Parent *page 30*
  • Questions and Answers (includes tables of comparison between public schooling and homeschooling for various aspects) *pages 32-41*
• Chapter 3: Home Nurture: Shepherding Your Child’s Spirit to Long for God *pretty much the entire chapter!*
• Chapter 4: Home Discipleship: Shaping Your Child’s Heart to Live for God
  • Direction, Correction, Protection *entire chapter*
• Chapter 5: Home Education: Strengthening Your Child’s Mind to Learn for God
  • Cultivating a Positive Learning Attitude and a Positive Teaching Attitude *pages 90-91*
• Chapter 7: The WholeHearted Learning Home: Creating a Home You Can Learn Within
  • If You Build It, They Will Learn (what I appreciated most on this was the resources in the margin: Learning and Organizing Tools and “Look at me and learn” ideas) *page 125*
  • Discovery Corners *page 127*
  • Bookshelves advice *page 129*
  • What Qualities to Look for in a Good Book (GREAT list!) *page 131*
  • Manage Home Media (this isn’t new to me nor does it give me anything more than what I’ve already thought of but it does convict me about our own home) *page 137*
  • Decide about Tests and Grades (gives pros and cons, why and when you might consider issuing grades) *page 144*
• Chapter 8: The WholeHearted Learning Child: Understanding Your Child (this is a chapter that I will need to read again and then reread because learning styles is something that has always ‘stumped’ me)
  • WholeHearted Learning Style Indicator *pages 158-168*
• Chapter 9: The WholeHearted Learning Youth: Beyond the WholeHearted Child
  • Preparing Your Child for a Calling & Preparing Your Child for a Career *pages 174-175*
  • Learning and Living with Your Youth, The Bigger Story: Changing the World *pages 176-178*
• Chapter 15: Family: Keeping the Vision Alive *entire chapter*
• Chapter 16: Structure: Keeping the Homeschool Together *page 285*
  • Home for the Holidays (suggestions for each month of the year- themes for teaching devotions and holiday celebrations) *page 290*
  • Sample WholeHearted Learning Day (for those like me who just cannot imagine it from the models presented in the book) *page 295*
  • Know Your Principles, Personality, Breaking Point (especially for me), Provider, Path *pages 296-300*
• Chapter 17: Order: Keeping the Home Together *entire chapter* but especially
  • The FIRST Five Priorities of Home Management *page 304*
  • Home Management “By the Box” (I love boxes!) *page 305*
• Resources:
  • Books for the WholeHearted Family (includes two lined pages for filling in other books that you would like to include in this list) *pages 337-348*
  • Books for WholeHearted Learning (includes one lined page for filling in other books) *pages 349-352*
  • My 24 Family “Ways to Be” Godly Character and Biblical Values

This is a book that I will continue to read again and again. There are parts of the book that I will need to revisit for a more in-depth study. The entire section on the WholeHearted Learning: The Educational Model *pages 115-121* had me scratching my head. I  understand the purpose (to show the goals and various methods and resources to achieve the goals) but will need time to study it further. And I’m sure the section on Methods *section 3, chapters 10-14* are very helpful but I cannot seem to understand it all yet. I will need more time to dig into these.
Apologia offers books from a Christian perspective for homeschooling, living and they hold conferences and retreats. See all their offerings at their website.
BottomlineI love this book! It is a resource that will not become outdated. The relevance of the topics and applications of scriptures in homeschooling are priceless. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to other Christian homeschooling families. But also, there is great advice for secular homeschoolers as well, but the book is chock full of Christian values and viewpoints. Personally, I think that this is a great value and the price is very reasonable.
Read the reviews by other TOS Homeschool Crew members here.

***Disclaimer: I received this book from Apologia as part of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew for no charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review and I only recommend products that I feel would be useful to other families. See Disclosure/Policies.***