Homeschool Spotlight: Review of Seasons of a Mother's Heart

     Hey, guys!  This blog is not home-school focused, but I do homeschool and will write about an aspect of that topic on occasion.  For those of you who do not know me (Sage here!), I am a homeschooling mama, but fully believe that the decision to homeschool is a family matter and not necessarily right for every family.  Heather, my amazingly talented partner in crime for this blog, has homeschooled before but her beautiful children currently attend school.  As I said, each family has separate needs and must do what they feel is best for their life at the moment.

     Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, I would love to share my thoughts on Sally Clarkson's book titled Seasons of a Mother's Heart.  Just a few posts ago, Heather wrote an inspiring post titled Tapestry of Legacy.  If you haven't read it yet, please do!  If you did read her post, you know that she wrote about different seasons of life and how we respond during those times.  Clarkson's book poses that same question, and I thought it would be a great time to share my thoughts after my reading.

     First of all, I thought Seasons was an excellent book to read just at a season in my life where I was getting bogged down with homeschooling.  I was getting overwhelmed with trying to teach an intense child, corral another powerful child, nanny two other adorable babies, and keep up with deadlines for our Rustic Rabbit orders.  I needed a fresh look on this homeschooling journey my husband and I have decided to take and a fresh take on life.

Likes:

• This book combines an encouraging book to enjoy and a Bible study.  I consider this a plus in my book.  I can read a book (a favorite activity of mine) and do my Bible study at the same time.  I'm always looking to multi-task;)  
• Clarkson made me think and reconsider some areas of my life.  Chapter 2 - Changing my Will was, by far, the chapter that spoke to me the most.  We are in the process of paring down everything in our life, and I needed to hear words of wisdom about the importance of my own thoughts.  In Chapter 2, Clarkson address the matter of dedication.  God has called us each for a special task, even if we don't yet know what that task is.  She states, "The thread of my life in these years will be brightly colored and strongly stitched only to the degree that I have dedicated my life to the good work of motherhood that God prepared for me to do in eternity past."  This statement is so powerful!  In fact, I could take out the word "motherhood" and replace it with any calling a person has been given.  If God has called us to do something, we need to dedicate our whole selves to making that calling happen.  

Dislikes:  

• I only really have one complaint about this whole book.  Surprisingly, I wish homeschool had been mostly left out.  Before I read this book, I was assured that you didn't have to be a homeschooler to read this book.  While that statement is technically true, I did feel like Clarkson was very pro-homeschool.  As I mentioned in my statement in the beginning, I strongly believe homeschooling is a personal decision and each family has different needs.  Homeschool will not fit every family, and several times while reading I thought, "Gee, if I didn't homeschool, I'm not sure I would like this statement."  Clarkson's book as a whole is such a great encouragement, and I would feel more comfortable recommending this book to more of my mom friends (the majority of which do not homeschool).  

     As a whole, Seasons of a Mother's Heart is a wonderful read and an excellent book of encouragement and refreshment for homeschooling mothers.  If you do not homeschool and can read it with a grain of salt, I highly recommend it to all moms as it focuses on creating disciples of our children by being a disciple ourselves.