This week’s episode from Hero Tales is the remarkable story of how George Rogers Clark and a few dozen backwoodsmen captured the Northwest Territory from the British during the Revolutionary War.  Theodore Roosevelt relates how Clark led his men through the icy floodwaters of the Wabash River to surprise the British outpost of Vincennes, among other outstanding acts of courage, persistence, and self-sacrifice.  Without this campaign, the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin might be part of Quebec to this day!

One of my favorite Founders is George Washington. There’s a whole mythology that sprung up around him, sure, but the reality is just as fascinating and more edifying. Two excellent biographies I’ve enjoyed are Joseph P. Ellis’ His Excellency, George Washington and Richard Brookhiser’s Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington.  He really was a man of strong personal character, overcoming defeat, discouragement, anger and temptation, and becoming the absolutely indispensible man of the Revolution and the years that followed.

Henry Cabot Lodge wrote the chapter on Washington for Hero Tales from American History.  We’re continuing our reading of this book in this week’s podcast, and you get it pretty much as I read it to our children — but with some sound effects added for fun.  You can download it right here!

(Fun Fact:  Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, was saved from bankruptcy when Washington donated $20,000 in canal stock to the tiny school.  Even today, part of the tuition bill for every W&L student is paid from interest on Washington’s original legacy!)

Hal and Melanie Young have six sons and two daughters—the six boys came first. Their children range from 2 years old to out of high school. They speak on parenting, educating your children and family policy issues among other subjects. You can read more about their ministry at RaisingRealMen.com.

Summary

Divided into two parts, the Young’s first offer biblical foundations for how they parent their boys (and, yes, sometimes even their girls). The introduction to part one looks at the virtues of being a man and how God intended for men to be, well, men. Chapter one is an apologetic for our boys having the right set of heroes to look up to. First and foremost must always be Jesus Christ, then dad. After that, you, as the parent must help your son to be discerning as to who they look up to.

Chapter two looks at the biblical foundations for a boys sense of adventure and boldness while chapter three offers tips on how to teach your sons to stand for something while learning how to be responsible. A helpful chapter is the chapter on boys and guns and what the Bible says about the subject.

This section concludes with chapters on what it means to be a servant leader and how to train your boys to be citizens with a proper understanding of their role as a citizen both here and in Heaven.

After having laid the biblical foundation for their parenting, Hal and Melanie offer practical tips on how to actually parent your sons. The first chapter in this section looks at how you should teach your boys diligently and without ceasing. The second chapter in this section looks to how to teach the boys to use money.

An extremely helpful chapter is the one entitled “Your Own School for Boys.” In this chapter, the authors detail major key differences in the development of boys when it comes to education. Basically, this chapter helps to keep parents from sounding the “freak out” alarm when little Johnny doesn’t learn as well as little Timmy.

In two practical chapters, they look at the misconception that chivalry is a thing of the past and that working in the kitchen is for women. No, you will not scar your boys for life if you make them work in the kitchen! They conclude the book with how to guard your son’s mind from the spiritual battles that will take place in their lives. The last chapter is the guide on how to set your boy free to become a man. Mom’s will definitely want to read this.

Review/Recommendation

The only real issue I had with anything in this book was their section on stewardship and how to teach your sons to use a credit card. They act as though a credit card is inevitable and therefore every child must be taught how to use one. I have not used a credit card in six years. I don’t plan on using a credit card ever again. Anything you can do with a credit card can now be done with a debit card.

Outside of that one issue (and it is really a non-issue), I highly recommend this book to any parent who has a son (or three). I cannot tell you how many times my wife and I, the parents of three boys so far, would say, “Man, I wish we knew someone with similar convictions as us that would allow us to pick their brain on raising our boys.” Well, we now have that brain to be picked.

Hal and Melanie write as though they are sitting at your kitchen table discussing what they have experienced in their 20 years of raising boys and offer their experience to you. They make it a point to declare that “this is what we do” and not that it is the only way to do it. They maintain a humility (boys will do that to you) throughout the whole book.

To read this book once is to plant many seeds in the mind of the parent. To own it and have it at your disposal is to have a watering can with an infinite amount of water to water that seed. This will be a book my wife and I reference again and again.

Terry Delaney

Christian Book Notes

Buy Raising Real Men Now

…York pulled off one of the great feats of any combat soldier of any time. He single-handedly annihilated a German machine gun battalion on Oct. 8, 1918, killing 25 German soldiers and capturing 132 enemy soldiers. He seized more than 30 machine guns, which had been killing Americans with extreme accuracy and ferocity.

The M1908/15 Maxim light machine gun was one of the German weapons York confiscated in the Argonne Forest battle, making it a highly significant artifact and a priceless war piece.

Since federal firearm laws won’t allow the library to keep the weapon, the gun has been moved to the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tennessee.   York received the Medal of Honor for his action; you can read the citation here.

It is such a privilege to teach our children about the love of God through our love for them. When they are little we teach them about love as we take care of their needs and come when they call for us, as we keep them safe, and lead them to righteousness, disciplining sin and forgiving and restoring them. This is an incredible responsibility and great honor that should not be taken lightly.

I was reminded of this again when I read this story of Daphnee Plaisin and her husband Reginald Claude, who for days, combed through the rubble of their earthquake-collapsed home with their bare hands trying to reach their two year old son, Redjeson. They could hear his weakening cries and would not leave him, but kept trying to rescue him. What a picture of the love of God the Father, who at great cost to Himself, would not leave us in our sin, but died to save us. I’m sure Daphnee and Reginald would have cheerfully died to rescue their son, but thankfully, Spanish rescue workers came to their aid and Redjeson was saved in time! There is the loveliest picture of the little guy’s face when he first saw his mother and father. He looks like he is thinking, “There you are!  I knew you’d come!”  What a delight!
Here’s a little more about the heroes who rescued Redjeson.

H/T DrudgeReport

The husband of an aid worker in Haiti drove a hundred miles in answer to his wife’s call for help, then dug her out from underneath a foot of concrete rubble.  The Associated Press story is here.

One does wonder where the men in the neighborhood were.  A hundred mile drive in Haiti isn’t like I-95 from Richmond to Washington, either; the story says she was trapped for ten hours. Pray for others in Haiti who need heroes today.

3D Reconstruction, Hudson River Ditching

An incredible example of excellence, courage and clear thinking under pressure.

Hal and Melanie Young have created a much needed guide to raising godly boys in this society.  They sent me a copy of their 250 page book, Raising Real Men – Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys.  It is packed with brilliant insights. Some of what you’ll find inside:

1. A godly and realistic look at Media / T.V. / Movies

2. How your family history can help your sons find real heroes.

3. Excellent book suggestions for your sons to read.

4. Information on teaching boys about Finances- such as: credit cards, bank accounts, odd jobs, and preparing your boys to support a family.

5. Good Competition and its purpose.

6. Home Education.

7. Very serious talk about the importance of College.

8. Equipping your boys to interact with the world.

9. How to approach the rowdiness that seems to be in their nature.

10. A Biblical look at fighting.

11. They even touch on controversial issues like: The proper use of guns, learning disabilities and Temptation.

12. Much more.

This book is packed with eye-opening information from the perspective of a family with six sons (and two daughters). I love their laid-back, conversational style of writing. Their ideas make sense to me, logically and practically. As I read, I felt a growing trust in their wisdom. In each chapter, they included facts, personal examples and Biblical truths. This presents a powerful teaching tool parents will appreciate. The Youngs have done a great service penning this book.

-                       -                      -                  -          -

For more information, please visit their website:

http://www.raisingrealmen.com/

You can also sign up for their free monthly newsletter:

http://www.raisingrealmen.com/newsletter/

To read a sample chapter:

http://www.raisingrealmen.com/samples/RaisingRealMen-SAMPLE-RacingToWin.pdf

Sharon White

Legacy of Home

An adventure is really anything that involves risk.  A careless risk undertaken thoughtlessly or in pursuit of a thrill is recklessness, but a hazard confronted for the glory of God is a different matter altogether.  This desire in our sons can be met by teaching them to face their fears head on-by public speaking or by taking on the responsibility of an adult or by learning to swim.  It can be fed rappelling down a cliff or walking ten miles or interacting in a foreign language.  It certainly includes sharing the gospel – nearly always an adventure.  Teach your sons to take good risks, reasonable, godly risks.  Teach them to love godly adventure and stand back and see what God has in mind for them!

If you have boys, and you want to raise them to be Godly, real men, this is a must read. Your guys are only young for a short time, so why not equip yourself with the knowledge the Youngs share.  They know what it’s like to walk in your shoes in the wonderful world of boys.

Kathy Davis
www.homeschoolbuzz.com