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which Bob Schultz book?
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I am looking to order for my boys 10 and 12 years old.
Those who have read them which one is best to start with: boyhood and beyond, created to work or practical happiness?
I don’t know if there is a particular order but we started w/ boyhood & beyond, practical happiness and now we are on to created for work.
Sorry about the punctuation and capitalization, I’m on my phone.
My son has enjoyed them very much. My next oldest will begin the first one 2nd semester.
HTH
My ds12 is reading through Boyhood and Beyond and LOVES it! We were planning on Created for Work next, but I will have to look into Practical Happiness. Thanks my3boys for mentioning that one!
Looks like they are all equally good!
Are they books we could read together and discuss or better for them to read on their own?
My son is reading on his own and then we talk through the discussion questions at the end. It is written directly to the boy and is in a very conversational style. We are doing only one chapter per week and I believe there are 34 in Boyhood and Beyond. I have been surprised at how much my son loves this book. He looks forward to his weekly reading. In fact, he has actually read ahead on his own time.
We do one chapter a week and he does the discussion questions on his own as well. I try not to ask too many questions (just my style w/ this ds) but wait for him to share. He does share frequently about how much he appreciates the guidance and time to think things over. And, that knowing most of what he already thinks about life is actually being reinforced by reading these types of books.
Anyway, they’ve been great!
I have a funny story about my ds and these books. I’ll have to share later. He likes these books, I’ll just leave it at that!
I think these books are a recommended resource for Personal Development, but I can’t be sure right now….I’m not feeling well. They are definitely Christian and speak to the child.
My oldest enjoys them, but like I mentioned, there is a funny story behind it. He is incredibly “stong-willed” in the good use of the word. He thinks that although these ARE great books, they’re really more suited for children who “need” the instruction on how to think and behave. He’s a funny kid and means no disrespect. He is just one of those that has great focus/self awareness and has come to understand himself, peer pressure (which he has experienced a bit of), and the like. He has been known to say that he’s not really “learning” anything he didn’t already know, or hadn’t already figured, but that he continues to read to solidify what he already thought. I think that helps him to feel he’s on the right track. And, to have a book/author say it, well then, he must be right, LOL.
I hope that made sense and NOT made my ds sound prideful or arrogant..he nothing of the sort. But he is not your typical teen, that’s for sure. I do think that he is proud of himself for his accomplishments and his choices.
Anyway, we were talking about these books yesterday as they were brought up here on the forum and he let me know what he really thought. He’s one of those “dry” humor type people, so coming from him it was pretty comical. And, he made sure I knew that he really did feel they were good books, but just not exactly what he needed, but would continue to read them.
my3boys, your son’s mindset reminds of mine. My son(13) is a very independent thinker and definitely strong-willed in the correct sense of the word.
Edit: The book is actually 31 chapters, not 34. Not sure where I got 34…
Here is the Amazon link, with some reviews:
And here is the Rainbow Resource description (also a chapter list), with a review by Karen Andreola, and others:
http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/006913/42d34121bd355927b6bb9bcb
I have been a completely single mom since my son’s birth and up until the past year or so my son has not had very much male family involvement. After my dad’s stroke last summer, my dad and younger brothers have been living with us and so my son has that daily interaction now, which has been an adjustment. =)
This book fills a gap for us. My son is probably on the side of being “too nice” by the world’s standards. If anything, he is a peacemaker and people pleaser, which is good to an extent, but I really needed him to hear/read about standing as a man of God, even when it is not your first instinct. However, I am not a Christian man to teach how to be a good Christian man, just a mom trying to pull double-duty.
What I appreciate about the book we have started with, is that the author is a Christian man speaking directly to the soon to be Christian young man about that attributes and habits that a man of God should possess. Even if your child has no problem with not wanting to accept responsibility for their actions, or admitting fault, or lying, or being nice to sister, or helping out at home, or being lazy, or not getting up on time, or keeping their relationship with God flowing (I personally needed this chapter), or feeling alone in their beliefs, or the value and wisdom of the elderly, or the beauty of writing letters of encouragement to others, or making worship a part of one’s day, or feeling misunderstood, or overcoming fear, or dealing with pain, or using his talents and abilities, or trying again after failing, etc, I think having a reiteration of how to lead the life of a good man, written directly to the boy, at a level they can understand, is greatly benefical.
It is sometimes a good reminder to myself, too. The chapter on keeping your relationship flowing was timely for me. In it, the author talks about how we shouldn’t let our pipes freeze, not letting our busy lives freeze our relationship with God, we need to keep it flowing. I almost want us to skip ahead to the chapter entitled “The Morning Watch” because I think it will provide such good direction for my son’s morning time.
Most ideas are probably intuitive. But, I am really looking for that next step for my son. You are saved, now what? How do you live? What should our walk look like? My son is coming off a bad ps experience and is not super excited about school in general, so the tone of this book and short chapters has been something that we have effortlessly been able to add to our academic week.
Thank you for sharing, srlord. And, I agree, and am glad that my ds agrees, that even if you have a pretty stable atmosphere, etc., it is always good to have good ideals/morals/standards reiterated through this extra reading. I do think that I will read these books, at least the first one, with my second oldest. He’s a great kid, very sensitive to the Spirit, but I think he will benefit from it more if we read it together. We’ll see. Again, thank you for sharing how you are using these books.
@my3boys – Did you add in any of the resources from the end of Boyhood and Beyond? I am curious about the target age ranges of these. The Johannes Kepler is a Sower series bio so I assume that one is probably on my son’s level.
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