My boys and I truly enjoyed reading Little Britches this school year.  Little Britches is the story of 8 year old Ralph Moody growing up in 1906  on a Colorado Ranch. This story includes many adventures that young cowboys would love to read about. Ralph and his family encounter tornadoes, irrigation wars, and  poverty as well as family picnics, round up days and harvest times.  As a parent I treasure the mentoring relationship that is explored between Ralph and his Father as they live through every day life on the ranch.  I also came to admire   Ralph’s Mom who was so very regular and “down- to- earth”,  but who had such high ideals and morals. This book had one swearword (damn) that is used several times by some of the cowboys and other rough characters.  It was easy for me to change this word in order to read this to my children.  The lessons gained in this story made up for the expletives.  This is one of those stories that you do not want to finish because the characters are so endearing and you begin to really care about them.  If you are a cry-baby homeschool mom like me, make sure have your box of tissues for the last chapter.  ~Anne

Hi Families:

Great books are getting harder to find that are not filled with revisionist history, so I’ve decided to start collecting older books that still contain strong Christian and patriotic values.  I was thrilled when I went to a local library and found a book titled Silver for General Washington, by Enid La Monte Meadowcroft.  This book was first published in 1944, and I found an early copy from that date. The sad part is that it was a discard; I can’t imagine this book being in the discard bin because it is such a quality book.  I’m sure it has been replaced by something inferior and politically correct.

Meadowcroft weaves a beautiful tail based in historical fact. It is  told from the perspective of a boy named Gilbert Emmett; a resident of Philadelphia who’s father is sent to France on a mission to help raise funds for General Washington and the army.  Before his father departs he buries all the family valuables in the basement of their Philadelphia home, to keep it out of the hands of the British.  Gilbert and his younger sister are sent to live at his Uncle’s farm in Valley Forge where his father believes they’ll be safe. They arrive just as a weary and beaten continental army enters the town and tries to make camp for the winter.  Gil becomes friends with many of the soldiers; he is saddened by the condition of the men and decides he needs to try and help.  Read more...

We’ve decided to add a place where we can share some of our favorite books  we have read with our children.   Many of these are older books, out of print, or  books that are being pulled from library shelves only to be replaced by revisionist propaganda. We will recommend books that we have carefully chosen that we consider to be character building books worthy to be read more than once or kept in a library for future generations. I appreciate the quote on the Lamplighters Books website “Building Character one story at a time”  Anne and I hope you’ll enjoy our list and have a chance to read some of these wonderful books.

TechnoDad