The below information provided is to answer some recent questions I have had about some favorite resources our family uses throughout the year in terms of spiritual formation and developing a passion for the nations. Please comment in and share some of yours! I don’t usually get so nitty-gritty in these details here…
Books:
YWAM Heros of the Faith and Heroes of History Series; historical fiction by GA Henty; grade-level reading guide from Classical Academic Press; Jr. Great Books Anthology; The Usborne Book of World History; The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia; A Child’s History of the World; A Child’s Geography of the World; Window of the World: Kid’s Prayer Guidebook for the Nations; God’s Little Devotional Book for Boys; Five-Minute Devotions for Children (based on animals); Understanding the Faith-Doctrine for Kids; Biblical Studies Curriculum for Children from Classical Academic Press; The Mission-Minded Child; The Mission-Minded Family (both through my publisher, Authentic); The Story of the World; The Dangerous Book for Boys; Harp & Laurel Wreath (poetry for all ages); The Victor Journey through the Bible; Apologia Science; Operation World; En-Gedi Resource Center (can’t get enough of the Jewish roots of our faith); God’s Global Mosaic; Let the Nations be Glad; The Well-Educated Mind, World Magazine and more.
Audio:
Radio Theatre: The Chronicles of Narnia; selections from Great Hall Productions, Inc.; Jungle Jam; Geography Songs–Sing Around the World; NIV Kids’s Club (download all four CDs for $6-best way I have gotten scripture in my boys’ heads). We have a fondness for Patsy Kline, Sara Groves, Trisha Yearwood, Tito Puente, Sting, Norah Jones, U2, Steven Curtis Chapman, Phil Collins, Rich Mullins, Nichole Nordeman, Sarah McLaughlin, Andrea Bocceli, Placido Domingo and classical music.
Visual:
Yes, you might call us weird but we don’t watch TV; we don’t like the intrusion and we are not exactly fans of pop-culture. Call us irelevant. Oh no. But we are real and we do believe in the other “r” buzz word of redemption. Our house is too full of books and projects and people with enough stories of reality and a loud baby… Ben and I order movies, especially foreign films and documentaries. We have family pasta and movie night every Fri. night and stick to classics (I am drawing a blank here, but I search through netflix), science stuff the boys like and documentaries about other countries.
Happy reading, listening and watching. The world is so full…
~Angela
~Angela
ANGELA BLYCKER 
These all sound excellent! Thanks. Yes, Carla would be an incredible resource I need to tap into more. The library here in Ft. Myers has the largest selection of children’s books I have seen and we are looking forward to getting new cards for the summer and spending some lazy hot afternoons reading together. Kiersta is starting to be very interested in picture books, besides just eating them!
Two for your netflix queue (probably not youngster-level):
(We saw these while visiting Steve recently)
Departures: a delicate, thoughtful Japanese film
Sugar: story of a Dominican minor-league baseball player
A “chapter-book” the boys might enjoy, probably in the library: ‘The Pushcart Wars’ (Carla’s a great resource for kids books, having once read over half the kiddy-lit in a library where she worked. She read this one to our kids.). Eventually you’ll want to read them Peter Jenkins’ ‘A Walk Across America’ and ‘The Walk West’ ….