A Guide to LDS Home Education, October 2, 2000

By Constance Sojourner (Seattle)

This is the first homeschooling book that I've read directed specifically for LDS homeschoolers. Tari shares this insight in her book:
"In this life we must choose what the Lord wants us to do for our life's missions and prepare for them. Where do we start? Parents may pray, study, and fast, in order to make choices with the child throughout his life.

"Our family teaches from advanced texts as soon as the children are able to understand the materials. The spirit teaches the children truths that we could never teach them ourselves. The child must learn to feel and identify the spirit through prayer and study. Then they are equipped to inform the parent about their impressions.

"[Our children] will be led to their fields of study. Parents may then assist the child in finding the materials that they need. Parents may act as mentors to their children. In this way, the Lord can keep enhancing the learning and teaching of the child in his quest for truth. The quest is individually tailored for each child. It is not ours as parents, certainly not the government's, but the child's quest for truth

through revelation." [Eternal Harvest, page 19]

Reading the book Eternal Harvest, one will also find these treasures of truth:

"Our first duty of teaching is to our own families. We have been organized by the Lord into families first. It is a wonderful calling to teach and bless people of the world but each parent has been given a special calling and assigned pupils, our children. These are our first priority. And as we read and teach, we are to liken the Book of Mormon

scriptures unto us "that it might be for our profit and learning" (1 Nephi 19:23)." (The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God, Regional Representatives Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, 4 April 1986.)

"With the abundance of books available, it is the mark of a truly educated man to know what not to read. 'Of making many books there is no end' (Ecclesiastes 12:12). In your reading you would do well to follow the counsel of John Wesley's mother: Avoid 'whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, [and] increases the authority of the body over the mind.'" (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp. 304-305.)

Tari has studied the scriptures and the words of the prophets and prepared herself in every way. I am confident that she will apply the words which she penned in the preface to her book: "My greatest hope is that this material will assist homeschooling parents and students to base their teachings on the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Eternal Harvest: An LDS Perspective for Homeschooling and Accelerated Learning_. In this book you will find the Lord's instructions about education, how to accelerate learning, booklists for all ages, curriculum suggestions, educational web pages, college and university entrance, distance learning degrees, and college for teens.

Give yourself the advantage when it comes to educating your children! Follow the footsteps of someone who has been there before you. Tari's book will show you the way to incorporate religious teachings and academics for LDS families. You'll be glad you bought this gem.