Ann Leach

Stepping Up: How Taking Responsibility Changes Everything by John Izzo My rating: 5 of 5 stars What a powerful, amazing, life-changing book. Each chapter focuses on a different way of Stepping Up, a specific behavior, what Stepping up means, what it doesn't mean, and includes personal stories from folks who have stepped up to bring the ideas to life. It is important as we go through life that we are always working on ourselves, learning new skills (physical and mental), and growing. This book is a great tool to use on that journey. I can see myself owning this book (The copy I read is from the library.) and reading it annually, always looking for a new way to apply the wisdom and advice to my life. You can (and do) make a difference every time you step up, even in the smallest way. Be that person. Be that voice . See a need. Fill a need (from Robots). The main takeaway from Stepping Up, for me, is to stop looking to the government to solve problems -- whether they are loc...

Stuffocation by James Wallman The material equivalent of the obesity epidemic. That's how author James Wallman defines Stuffocation. All the time and money we spent buying stuff, we thought we were improving life, making ourselves (our families) happier, improving the economy, thumbing our noses at terrorists. But evidence shows this isn't the case. We're more depressed, anxious, in debt, and lonely than ever. So, now what?    In his book, James takes a look at minimalism, the medium chill (as opposed to the big chill), and simple living; and then casts them all aside for the one thing they all have incommon -- experientialism. Then he spends the second half of the book defining, tearing down and then defending experientialism. I found this book to be well researched, well presented, and an easy, comprehensive read. It has certainly helped me expand and shape my thinking about minimalism and my values and goals after the  Big Declutter which defines minim...

Home Schooling 101: The Essential Handbook by Mark and Christine Field Coming at choosing which methods to use as your children learn Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, History, Art, Music, et al. from a Christian perspective, the authors have written a good and helpful book. Or if you're not looking for that Christian perspective, but just different techniques and curriculum which are available, it is also a helpful book. But I am going to pull 3 paragraphs out to discuss. These paragraphs resonated with me and will have a strong impact on the rest of my years home schooling and parenting. The next aspect of your child's language arts program is that of attentive listening skills. have you ever met someone who appeared to not listen when others spoke? They may have poor social skills, or maybe they never experienced the joy of being listened to as a child. Children learn to listen through conversation. They talk and you respond. You talk and they respond....

"Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling" by John Holt This book.....  oh this book...  is just amazing. It's taking me longer than a week to read because the author says such amazing things, such profound things....  about children, about child-rearing, about learning,....  that I have to set it down and process for a bit before I can return and take in more. For example last night, in the chapter titled "Learning in the World", he shares stories submitted years ago to his newsletter by people who are experiencing learning in the world. What does that mean? We tend to presume, based on experiences, that learning only happens in classrooms under the direction of teachers, but that's just not true. And once you open up access to the world to people (little and big) who are enthusiastic about learning, have curiousity, the possibilities are endless. I feel compelled to share one of the stories with you because this, to me, is a perfect exa...

The Tightwad Gazette II by Amy Dacyczyn Amy was the Frugal Zealot who came on the scene in the early 1990s with her monthly newsletter, was interviewed for a local newspaper, and had her big break through when she appeared on the Phil Donahue show. That one appearance boosted her subscription numbers from 1700 to 40,000. By the time she closed up shop, she had published the newsletter for 6 years, had published 3 books, and wrapped it all up with The Complete Tightwad which combined all 3 books and included highlights from the last year of the newsletter. So it's all ancient history (oh that hurts to write). Why read it now? Because her ways of thinking about money, about reusing, about being frugal are gold. Sure, her references to technology are dated, and who writes letters to manufacturers anymore, but the techniques she used and shares in the books for making wise financial decisions are solid. And that's why she shared them, so we could learn to think for ourselves rathe...

Parenting a Free Child: An Unschooled Life Rue Kream Written in a question & answer format, Rue explores unschooling, helping many parents answer questions they may not even know they have. I found the book interesting and helpful as we travel down the road further away from traditional homeschooling. Rue's approach is more of a radical unschooling which incorporates a parenting style as well as a learning style for the child. And that is further into unschooling than I want to go. But I didn't know that until I read this book. For anyone who is considering or already home educating their children, I do recommend reading this book. Or even for anyone who just is looking for a different (better) way of relating to children. What are you reading? Ann

"The New! Six-Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children" by John Rosemond John Rosemond is an old-school parenting guru and psychologist. His book is full of advice and stories of how using his advice has played out successfully for other parents. And I'm happy to say he has helped us when we were at our wit's end. That said, I don't always agree with him, but most of the time, yes, he is spot on. I do recommend this book if you're looking for parenting advice, but only if you're committed to following through. One of the biggest mistakes we parents make is looking for the easy solution. We try a method for a day and when the results don't come right away, we give up. Or we get distracted and lose focus. I know I do. Child-rearing should be simple and it's temporary. The marriage is forever. Raise your children to be adults, and keep your marriage front and center. What are you reading?

"Wonder" by R.J. Palacio A novel chosen by my book discussion that I wouldn't have picked up otherwise, didn't start out liking, but ended up being a pretty good read. It's from the young adult section and as expected, the main characters are middle school age, but the parents play an important role too. The story is of a boy who up until this point, 10 years old and heading into 5th grade, has always been homeschooled, but not for the reason you might expect. He was born with a cleft palate combined with some other genetic facial deformities which even after multiple surgeries have left him with deformed facial features. And now, Mom and Dad have decided it is time for him to enter public school since 5th grade is the beginning of middle school and all the children are changing schools. "Wonder" tells the stories of the challenges he faces, friends he has, makes, loses, and recovers. It also tells some of the stories of his sister and friends, ho...