126 of 154 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The real story of Mary Pride, June 1, 2004
This review is from: The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality (Paperback)
As Mary Pride's eldest daughter, I was checking out for fun what people have written about my mother's books here on Amazon. Naturally, I am very proud of my mother, and I think this book is wonderful.
I would like to respond to some of the other reviewers, who have posted suppositions about my mother and her life to support their criticism of The Way Home. First, staying at home is _not_ a 20th-century invention. Quite the opposite, in fact. Yes, women worked hard through the ages, but at _house work._ Who does this particular reviewer think scrubbed the floors, cooked food over a fire, spun, wove and sewed the clothes, etc? This was the women, and they raised the children. Any elementary study of history will tell you this.
To the people who commented on my mother's "hypocrisy" in working and telling other mothers not to: While I was growing up (I am 20 years old now), my mother traveled to two or three conventions a year, this is true. She always took at least one of us kids with her, however; conventions were a learning experience, and never lasted more than a week. She writes and works from our home, and mixes the time with correcting assignments and talking to kids. I cannot tell you how wonderful it has been having her at home. I cannot imagine it any other way.
Big families: To the woman who said that it can hardly be helpful to have older kids help raise the younger, obviously she has never encountered a large family. My older brother spontaneously taught me to read when I was three years old, meaning that by the time I was eight I was reading Isaac Asimov's science fiction. I myself helped teach my younger siblings many subjects, including Latin, so that now when I think about teaching any future children, I know that I _can._ This was profitable for both me and my siblings. Several of my friends from one- or two-kid families cannot even imagine themselves able to be parents!
I grew up in the halo of this book. I don't know even how much of an influence it had. All I know is that, whenever I went with my mother to homeschool conferences, dads and moms would bring up their children and say, "Look! He wouldn't be here if we hadn't read your book!" I am so proud of my mother. I wish everyone would read the real historical accounts and see what has indeed happened to our country. Read Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" at least. But begin with this book of my mother's.
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40 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why an educated woman chose to be a homemaker., November 2, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality (Paperback)
I was glad to find a book that offers an alternative to building a career outside the home. It is one thing to say "stay home with your family and be a homemaker" and another to actually define a fulfilling role inside the home. I spent years of schooling preparing to work outside the home, but this is the first book I have read that explains how to be fulfilled while staying in the home. Mary Pride was an engineer before she started a family. She relates to the educated woman who chooses to invest her time and talents into her family instead of a career outside the home. I appreciated the outline that she has for practical ways to do this. I felt like I was inspired to see my role at home as significant and necessary to the well being of my family and friends. Most media tells me that it doesn't make any difference whether you are at home or not. She talks about working from the home and working your career around your family, even if it means putting it on hold for other priorities. I have recommended this book to lots of people who are thinking of staying home with their children, but aren't sure they will be happy staying at home.
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33 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Needs less condemnation, more conviction., September 24, 2004
This review is from: The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality (Paperback)
Ms. Pride does a good job of illustrating how deceived many Christian women have become by our secular culture and its anti-child attitudes, all in the name of self-fulfillment. This attitude is death to our marriages, our family life, ourselves - the potential of the Christians we could become if we only were willing to listen to the teachings of the Holy Spirit.
However, she does a lousy job of encouraging women who have decided to throw off the world's influences and are facing the sometimes arduous task of swimming upstream in a world that is entirely self-centered, in order to better glorify the Lord. Better to read something like Nancy Wilson's "Praise Her in the Gates" or "Be Fruitful and Multiply" by Nancy Campbell. These authors do more than just condemn - they convict and provide real encouragement (yes! Children can actually be a joy! There can be freedom in following the Lord instead of the crowd!)...even my husband (who is our sole breadwinner and is "quiverfull-minded") was turned off by Ms. Pride's "piss and vinegar" (his words) attitude. The Lord wants us to be more than just slaves to his Word - he wants us to be cheerful givers.
Ms. Pride also has no business giving you her opinion on what she thinks the Bible says you are allowed to do with your own husband, in your own bedroom (re: Chapter 3: "The Joy of Unkinky Sex"). Better to go straight to the Word (see "Song of Songs", The Holy Bible) for THE LORD'S TAKE on what glorifies Him.
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