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62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An "earthy-biblical-spiritual" model for family life, June 10, 2000
This review is from: For the Family's Sake: The Value of Home in Everyone's Life (Paperback)
Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, daughter of L'Abri founders Francis & Edith Schaeffer, has given us a wonderful guide to family life in the postmodern world. She writes out of a desire to help young families -- or those beginning to think in that direction -- "nurture their family's heart." Susan presents a clear blueprint for "constructing a home that survives the variety of situations that you face in modern life." What is so appealing about the book is its realism and simplicity. There are no romantic notions about family life here, just the plain, down-to-earth emphasis on HUMAN-NESS that is the hallmark of the "L'Abri spirituality." Topics include:
Taking Time and Care to Create the Home's Atmosphere
The Glory of the "Usual"
The Infrastructure of Routine, and
A Look at the Everyday All Around Us -- All Year Long. If you are looking for sound, practical advice on family life, get this book. It is a must read! -- The Discerning Reader
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This isn't a homeschooling book (which surprised me), July 30, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: For the Family's Sake: The Value of Home in Everyone's Life (Paperback)
The author's earlier book, "For the Children's Sake," is one of my all-time favorite books on home education, so when I heard about her latest release, I could hardly wait to read it. I was more than a little disappointed when I started reading and realized that this book isn't a continuation of the author's ideas from "For the Children's Sake", but just a general treatise on the importance of family. As someone who's already convinced of the importance of "family" and the high priority given to family by God and in Scripture, I felt--when reading it the first time--that the author was preaching to the choir. BUT, now that I've had the book for over a year, I went back recently and re-read parts of it. I tried to think about the book--and it's contents--from the perspective of a non-homeschooler, or maybe someone new to the Christian faith, or perhaps someone just starting out with their family (a newlywed or a new parent, for example). From those prespectives, I realized that this book actually has tremendous value--perhaps not everyone has taken the time to think through some of the implications on the importance of maintaining a strong family life that are brought up in this book. If you're looking for a homeschooling book about Charlotte Mason's techniques and methods, this is definitely NOT the book to buy! I think that one of the other reviewers on this website mistakenly thought she was buying "For the Children's Sake" when she bought this book. I truly hope she has since found her way to the other book because "For the Children's Sake" is really one of the best homeschooling-related books ever written (in my not-so-humble opinion). ;-) Also, if you're looking for new and earth-shaking ideas or nuts-and-bolts practical tips to implement with your family, this probably isn't the book for you, either. BUT, if you're looking for a solid, warm-hearted, and articulate treatment of the everyday activities and priorities of normal family life--and a discussion of the value of "family" in the lives of modern-day individuals--I think you'll be well-pleased with this particular book and find it money well spent.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
First half quite nice, second half fell flat, July 8, 2009
This review is from: For the Family's Sake: The Value of Home in Everyone's Life (Paperback)
I came to this book wanting to like it, wanting to be inspired, and wanting to see Macaulay's insights on the subject of family. It only partially delivered.
The first half of the book featured a detailed treatment of family, and why it's important. She had several touching and thought-provoking things to say that helps the reader appreciate the value of family and home and sets one up for great ideas about implementing this.
The second half of the book imposes so many of the author's ideas that are far from my own, that I was left questioning the wisdom of implementing her ideas. I found her ideas to be simply too much: too culturally rooted in her background of living in Switzerland with a tone that is overly dictatorial. She doesn't bake pies -- too much saturated fat and too time consuming; she favors fruit crisps. Three year olds should be able to walk three miles, five year olds five miles (at what age does this stop? She never says, but once one passes marathon length, I hope there is some relief from this metric!) -- this was enforced in her family by various means, including spanking them to keep them walking. Dinner for young children should be at 6:00 pm. Children should not be read to in bed. Dinner should be muesli and applesauce. And so forth, without much room for disagreement.
At some points, her fascination with Charlotte Mason, whose child-rearing techniques borrowed heavily from the upper classes who employed nannies for their children, seemed to me to miss an important point: I am not my children's *nanny*, I am their mother! I think it is a mistake to suggest that mothers model themselves after nannies; this is a major disagreement I had with the tone of the book.
I also found her repeating sections of "For the Children's Sake" (her earlier work, about education) that didn't belong in that book, such as about abortion and father's rights -- at least they were topically related to this book.
I wish I'd stopped after the first half; I would have liked the book much better.
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