For the past 10 (!!) months, three other mothers and I have gathered our daughters towards a journey. We've been reading Beautiful Girlhood (revised by Karen Andreola) with our lovely daughters and meeting monthly as a transition towards womanhood.
Several times over the past two years I freaked out considered my daughter was racing towards adolescence. I wanted to approach it with her in confidence and not fear.
I keenly remember those years of jr. high. Braces, outbursts, growing pains both physical and emotional, desiring to be someone I was yet to discover....So I decided to surround myself with like minded mothers and daughters.
I found three strangers. And they have become my friends. They carry the same heartaches and struggles as homeschooling mothers. And we are holding each others hands.
Isn't it neat how a book can have such an impact on your life? It can mold you further into that someone you want to be and can lift you up.
It can also hold you down. Making wise decisions about what you read (esp. for moms and girls) is very important.
This month our chapters included "making friends with books".
So I made book marks for the mothers. I included the verse that we thought might help us in choosing what to read as daughter and as mothers.
Philippians 4:8.
The girls made their own bookmarks after our meeting and sharing.
One girl suggested that the test used on a book is "A book that could be read aloud to your parents and pastor". If a book can't be read aloud to the adults in your life, then it shouldn't be read at all. I really thought that was a great "test" for a book.
For the bookmarks I made, I included the copywork from the Companion Guide.
Life being very short; and the quiet hours of it few,
we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
A book is the best of friends,
the same today and forever.
Martin Tupper (1810-1889)