Mother Culture Book List: Fall 2022

It’s time for another mother culture update! And this quarter’s reads were SOOOO GOOD, so I’m excited to share my mother culture book list for fall 2022 with you!

I do try to stick with Charlotte Mason’s recommendation to always have more than one book going for my own mother culture. She recommended always having one stiff, one moderately easy, and one novel going simultaneously. And honestly, I hated that idea when I first read it. I’ve always been a one-book-at-a-time person, so the idea of constantly trying to read multiple books sounded kind of like a nightmare. 

But it turns out that it’s much different than I expected.

I read different kinds of books at different times of the day, so it doesn’t feel like I’m trying to juggle all these story lines. 

I read my “stiff” book (non-fiction) very first thing in the morning, right after I do my Bible reading. My mind is most alert at that time of the day and the kids aren’t up yet, so it gives me the space and time to really dig into the meatier subjects and “chew” on them for a bit. 

Then I do some mother culturing during afternoon occupations, and this is when I read my “moderately easy” book (also non-fiction). I usually do this in close proximity to the older two, because their occupations often require at least a little guidance from me. And since this type of reading doesn’t require quite so much effort to process, I’m able to read and commonplace alongside my kids. 

Finally, I read my novels right before bed. I’m tired and mentally done for the day, so there’s no way I could read something harder than a novel and get any value from it that late in the day. I’m a fast reader (sometimes so much so that I fly through a book and I’m super disappointed when it’s over so quickly), so I’m able to read a lot just in that time before bed. Although sometimes I do stay up way too late because I’m really into the story and just can’t put the book down. These are bookworm problems.

Okay, so now that you know when I do my reading, let’s dig into what I’ve been reading!

MOTHER CULTURE BOOK LIST: FALL 2022

MY “STIFF” BOOK LIST

Home Education by Charlotte Mason. I read Home Education a few years ago, and then read through her other volumes kind of “as needed.” I wanted to start from the beginning, however, and read through each book in its entirety. And I think this will be my plan going forward. As soon as I finish her volumes, I’ll simply start over and read through them again, because my kids will be at different ages and stages, I’ll have more experience under my belt, and her words will take on new meanings as we progress through the forms.

And I’ve got to tell you, Home Education is just a wildly fantastic book! I don’t agree with every single thing she says, and there are some things she wrote that research has since proven false. However, she really was brilliant and quite ahead of her time. Much of her educational methods have been proven repeatedly and are now backed by research and data.

Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare. I plan to talk about this more in the coming months, but we’re beginning to suspect a few learning differences — and possibly ADHD-Inattentive Type — in our oldest. I’m a former special education teacher, so I’m familiar with these disorders and how to best accommodate them in a public school classroom. But there’s still a lot I don’t know about executive functioning disorders and how to best address them at home. So I’ve been reading this book to equip myself to give my son the best possible tools and strategies to set him up for lifelong success.

MY “MODERATELY EASY” BOOK LIST

Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins. If you have not read this book yet, drop everything and READ IT! I absolutely loved every single page of this book. She tells her story of homeschooling, raising a large family, and moving several times in such a way that is encouraging, humorous, and insightful. I read this for my mother culture just as we were beginning this school year, and it really felt like so much grace was poured over me, because this book reminded me that our homeschool days and our family life don’t need to be “Pinterest perfect” to still be beautiful, good, and valuable. And as homeschool moms, we all could use more grace.

Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry. I’ve had this one on my “to be read” shelf for a long time. I follow Jackie Hill Perry on social media, and I absolutely love how passionate she is about the truth and power of the gospel. I knew the highlights of her backstory, but reading her memoir was definitely worth it And I think that reading books like hers is especially important in light of the gender dysphoria that many people around us are facing. It’s a call to understand our neighbors better, and to love them well in the name of Jesus.

Holy Hygge by Jamie Erickson. In complete honesty, this book is NOT what I expected. I’m still not completely finished with it, but from the first few pages, the Lord was using Jamie’s words to convict me. When we moved to our current little town, it was with hearts that desired to be missionaries to our new community. We have this big front porch, and I had these visions of our neighbors gathering there, or stopping by when they needed something. We wanted our home to be a place where people felt safe and loved, and where the gospel was preached in deed and truth.

Fast forward a year and a half, and we’ve found ministry here to be much harder than we anticipated. But in my own wrestling with the loneliness and isolation I’ve often felt here, I’ve also built these walls around myself and around our home. Instead of our home being a place for people to gather, it’s been our fortified castle.

So I thought I was about to begin a book about how to make my home more inviting and gospel-centered for my family. Instead, Jamie’s words have cut directly through my excuses and “what ifs” to the heart of our calling here: which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And we can only do that when people’s felt needs are met, when they have a place to gather and belong, and when we’re willing to be vulnerable by inviting people in — whether it’s into our lives or into our homes.

I’m absolutely loving the book and I think it’s especially timely for the way God’s been working in my heart, but be prepared to be convicted when you read it!

MY NOVELS BOOK LIST

I’m not going to share every single novel I read this fall, but these are the ones that left the biggest impression on me this quarter.

Side note: we’re studying the 1700s in our history cycle this year, so I’ve been reading a lot of historical fiction set in that time period to kind of immerse myself in that world as part of my own mother culture education. (Also, please note that some of the books below do include adult and/or difficult content, so I’d recommend making sure you’re comfortable with the content and themes before reading them yourself. I know not everyone likes to read books with “spicy” scenes, and some books below do include them.)

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. I loved this book! It’s based on a true and very fascinating story, and it’s just such a well-written book.

The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart. This one, like most books that deal with the Holocaust, was heart wrenching. It’s also based on a true story, and it’s yet another layer of unfathomable pain and suffering that people endured under the Nazis.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. I loved this book and it’s sequel, The Book Woman’s Daughter. It’s another one that’s based on a true, fascinating story. I didn’t know anything about the “Blue People of Kentucky” or the pack horse librarians,

Mountain Laurel, Shiloh, and The Journey of Runs-Far by Lori Benton. This trilogy was really good. These books were written by a Christian author, so there’s nothing terribly graphic in any of the love scenes (although there are some mild love scenes), and it was just a really enjoyable story to read, even with some of the more difficult themes such as slavery, that were addressed in the books.

America’s Daughter, America’s Wife, and America’s Promise by Celeste De Blasis. This trilogy was centered around the American Revolution, and I really enjoyed all three books. There’s definitely some adult content included, but the storylines themselves were good and gave a lot of historical context that I honestly didn’t know about the revolution.

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. This was one of those types of books that reminds me of just how lacking my own history education was. There were so many thing that I don’t remember learning about at all from when our country was formed, but this book (and America’s First Daughter) filled in a lot of gaps. There is some adult content, but the historical context is so thorough that it makes it worth it (in my opinion). I really liked the book, too, because I felt like it dealt with Alexander Hamilton in his humanity: a hero and founder of our nation, but also flawed and prone to sin like everyone else.

America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray. This one, like My Dear Hamilton, dealt with Thomas Jefferson and his daughter in a way that presented their humanity — flaws and all. And really, I hadn’t thought much about the fact that a man who penned the words, “all men are created equal” was a slave-owner. It’s honestly been so fascinating for me to re-learn about the birth of our nation as an adult, to see the hypocricy alongside so much courage. It’s really mind-boggling.

Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution’s Women by Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, and Laura Kamoie. After reading about our own American Revolution, the natural next step seemed to be to read about the French Revolution (especially because America’s First Daughter deals a bit with this). This book was honestly a really tough read, though, because of the graphic violence included. But it provided a lot of context about a time period that I was really only vaguely aware of.

SKILLS I LEARNED

In addition to always having three “streams” of reading going on, I also try to focus on learning one new skill each quarter, or at least continuing to grow in the knowledge of a skill I may already have. This late summer/early fall quarter mother culture skill was pressure canning.

We grew a large garden this year with the sole purpose of feeding our family throughout the year. Some things didn’t grow well (I failed dismally at sweet corn), but we still had a really amazing harvest and were able to put up a LOT of canned vegetables.

But this was also the first time in my life I’ve ever pressure canned, so there was a steep (and at time, stressful) learning curve. I spent a lot of time researching and reading in my pressure canning books, and then hours more in my kitchen actually canning the tomatoes, carrots, green beans, and pickles we harvested.

AND THAT’S IT, FRIENDS, MY MOTHER CULTURE BOOK LIST FROM FALL 2022. I LOVE A GOOD BOOK LIST, SO I’D LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU’RE READING!