Apologia - How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids by Rachael Carman/ TOS Review

Do you have a H.E.A.R.T. for your kids?

H-Have a Heart for the Things of God 

E-Enrich Your Marriage

A-Accept Your kids 

R-Release Them to God

T-Teach Them the Truth

I can't believe I am writing my first official TOS review for the new 2011/2012 school year.

I am so excited to be getting back into the swing of things. And what better way to kick off the new Crew year than with a book from Apologia?

I love just about everything Apologia has put out, and this book is no exception.

How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. for Your Kids is a wonderful book. Very inspiring and very encouraging.

In this book Rachael Carmen shares her story of how she came to be a homeschool mom. 

It all started in Ohio when a neighbor moved in down the corner. These neighbors were planning on homeschooling their children.

Rachael had never heard of homeschooling before, and quite honestly, she thought these people must be crazy. Why would they want to do such a thing?

See, Rachael was a school teacher, and she really enjoyed teaching her students, and she couldn't wait to get back to teaching.

It wasn't long after her move that she met two other families that lived nearby that were also homeschooling their kids.

Her son was still young at this time, and she still had every intention of sending him to school when the time came. 

Even though she thought these ladies were crazy for homeschooling, they quickly became friends.

The had play dates and Bible studies together. Somewhere along the way, Rachael started to realize that these ladies were not as crazy as she had originally thought.

Their kids were well behaved, and very smart.  The families were very close with each other.

The time came for Rachael's family to move again, and though she was happy to move, she knew she would miss her friends. 

The time also came for her son to go to Kindergarten.

Rachael looked forward to this. Her oldest would be in Kindergarten, the middle child in Pre-school.

She thought she would get to spend more time with the baby, keep the house clean, get together with friends, etc.

But after repeated incidents with the public school, including her son not making on the school bus several times, her husband went to the school to observe why this was happening.

He came to realize that their son wasn't learning anything. He said that nothing was going on in the classroom. Nothing bad, but nothing good either, just nothing. He pulled their son out of school immediately, and brought him home.

Rachael's husband asked her to do the one thing that she did not want to do. .. HOMESCHOOL!

NO! Rachael did not want to do this. She wanted to find a private school, anything...

But after realizing that they just couldn't afford it, she agreed to homeschool their son, but only for one year.

Rachael's heart was still not where it needed to be. In her mind this was just temporary. She wanted her life back...


Things began to change when Rachael and her husband went to a homeschool conference, and happened to wonder into a workshop held by Chris Davis.

As they listened to him speak for the next hour, both of their hearts were changed, convicted by the Holy Spirit.

Rachael realized that it was her heart that needed changing. She realized that she had been wrong in wanting her "life back". Her children were her life. She just had to get her priorities straight.

I don't want to tell you every detail of her story, because I want you to read it for yourselves, but I wanted to give you enough of her story to understand the premise of this book, and where her heart is coming from.

Rachael's book shows you how to bring your heart back home, and how to have a heart for your children.


It is broken up into 5 sections, and has a "Heart Checkup" at the end of each chapter.


1. H - Have a Heart for the Things of God

In this chapter Rachael explains that you can not have a heart for your kids if you don't have a heart for God first.

She encourages you to have a quiet time, to praise God, and to pray for your kids everyday.

She shows you how to have a closer relationship with God. 


2. E - Enrich Your Marriage

I love that Rachael's priorities are in order. God first, marriage second.

She gives you tips on how to build a strong marriage.

It is so important for your kids to see what a godly marriage looks like.

Your priorities need to be lined up according to God's word, and only then can you truly give the best to your children.


3. A - Accept Your Children

In this chapter Rachael shows you how to really accept your children, to believe that they really are miracles from God. She shows you how to build close relationships with your kids.

She says that children were not sent to bring us glory, but to bring glory to the Lord. She also shows us how not to resist your children's individual bents, and how to love them just the way that God wired them.

I think this is hard for us to remember. We tend to think that our children are ours to do with whatever we wish. That they need to be what we want them to be.

I really liked this section because it made me realize that while, of course, I shouldn't let them be disrespectful, I should let them be who God created them to be.


4. R - Release Them to God

In this section, she helps us realize that our kids are not ours, they are HIS.

We are blessed to be able to train our children up for Him. It is an honor.

We must learn to trust God to take care of our children.

He is the one who created them, and He loves them even more than we do. So we can definitely trust Him to take care of them.

She also shows us that while academics are important, we need to take the time for character training, and teaching them Gods word.

They need a good Christian worldview to stand upon.  Their faith and their character are of utmost importance.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33.


5. T - Teach Them the Truth.

There is only one thing that is absolutely necessary to teach our children.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart Deut. 6:6,7


Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deut. 11:18, 19


For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:  ⁶That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children. Psalm 78:5,6

The following is a quote from this chapter:

"Teaching our kids the truth is the most important thing we can accomplish as parents.
It's paramount that we give them knowledge and understanding of the one true and living God. This is the foundation upon which all other knowledge is built. If we focus on anything else, then we doom our children to lives of emptiness and hopelessness."

We not only need to teach this to our children, we need to show it to them.

We need to be that example.


This is an excellent book. I reading through it a second time right now.

I love that she puts God and marriage as her top priorities.

We are not usually taught this. We are taught that our children need to come first.

Of course our children are important, but we shouldn't let our marriage fall by the wayside either.

I absolutely recommend this book. I think you will really enjoy it.

This is a really nice hardback book, with 205 pages. I love that it is small enough to keep in my purse. 

You can read a sample chapter here.

You can purchase How to Have a Heart For Your Kids for $13 at Apologia's Website.


Be sure to check out what my fellow Crew Mates had to say about this book. 


 



*I have received a copy of How to Have a Heart for Your Kids, free, as a member of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, in return for my honest opinion.
No other compensation has been given to me.*