A Gracious Space: Spring: Daily reflections to sustain your homeschooling commitment

by Julie Bogart

A Gracious Space: Spring Edition is designed to offer support, encouragement, and guidance to home educators who take on the daunting challenge to educate their children themselves. Daily readings are provided to give you support and encouragement in your homeschool adventure. These 50 essays are designed to offer you new ways to think about homeschooling, comfort for when you run up against your limitations, and energy for tackling your highest aspirations! Each day's reading includes a quote from a parent or notable individual, as well as a sustaining thought to take with you through the day. These essays originally appeared on the Brave Writer Facebook page and blog, shared hundreds of times. Julie Bogart, creator of Brave Writer, shares insight gleaned from working with thousands of families over 15 years and her own homeschooling experiences (five kids, 17 years).

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Parenting

196 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2015

About the author

Julie Bogart is the popular voice of common sense and compassion for home educators. Her online coaching community, The Homeschool Alliance, her podcast A Brave Writer's Life in Brief, and her YouTube channel are lifelines for tens of thousands of weary homeschoolers all over the world.

Julie’s the creator of the award-winning, innovative online writing program called Brave Writer and the fast-growing weekly habit called Poetry Teatime. She home educated her five children who are now globe-trotting adults.

Her newest book, The Brave Learner tackles the conundrum of parents who want their children to have academic success, and children who want to be happy.

Can’t we get these two desires together: learning that develops skill and creates joy? Creating a love of learning in your family is as easy as lighting a fire. You just need a book of matches. The Brave Learner is that book.

Today, Julie lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and can be found sipping a cup of tea, planning her next visit to one of her lifelong-learning kids.

Reviews

[Marita · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many good and useful books, podcasts and resources available to homeschoolers these days, and that’s a good thing. Many cover useful systems and methods and those have their place. What makes Julie my favorite, though, is that she deals with matters of the heart and relationship and is so inspiring and affirming for the mom who just needs someone to lift her up and help her keep going. Julie has had a huge impact on my parenting and the way I homeschool. She is pure gold and I couldn’t do any of it without her. This book is like having her encouraging me and cheering me on every day right in my living room.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just can’t get past the “quote of the day”, which is basically comments on how great Julie is over and over. So weird to me that these are included.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire series is like a daily warm hug and my favorite way to start off the homeschool day. Each morning before school, I make a cup of tea and read the days entry. I have been doing this routine for YEARS and Julie has a way of building me up, keeping me centered and ready to start the day. I highly recommend the A Gracious Space series for all homeschooling parents.

[Jennifer Fertig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a life-changing book or anything, but it’s good. If you are a homeschooling mom and need a bit of encouragement now and then, as we all do, then take a dose of it here and there. It may give you the inspiration you need. I took my time, picked it up when I wanted, and that was nice. Some phrases/ideas that jumped out at me were 1) Snapshot Joy - just like counting your blessings, in pictures though, whatever they may be. And 2) Inhabit Your Happiness - this is basically a bit on contentment, no-other-place-to-be moments, choosing gladness, that kind of thing. Anyway, whether you’re a Charlotte Mason-er, a strict classical stylist, an “unschool-er”, or like me, a glean-from-them-all and do your own thing type gal, this could be a handy book.

[Candice Walton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I REALLY wanted to enjoy this, but I feel like it’s a little impractical. We would never get anything done if we were this loosie goosie; many of her suggestions lack any sort of discipline or expectation for our kids to do their best without quitting. Many good practices she seems to dismiss as unnecessary or overkill (my words not hers). I don’t know how else to explain how I feel when I read her books or listen to her podcasts... maybe just that there is MORE to life than constantly seeking personal happiness, and hard work is ok sometimes.

[Charity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primarily good daily reminders and suggestions for how to keep homeschooling when it's tough, or even when it's not but you just need some extra motivation. I believe these are collections of blog posts and it shows -sometimes it's obvious that it was written to sell one of her products. While that's fine as part of a blog, even expected, it's odd as part of a book. Same for the included "Quote of the Day", though the Winter version I felt was less self-congratulating for the author than Spring. By the end it seemed more of the quotes were concurring with Julie or affirming what she said rather than praising her directly. It's an odd and unnecessary addition though. The advice and the writing hold up well on their own and I appreciate having the daily reminders so I'm willing to overlook those two oddities.

[Lacey Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always walk away from Julie's writing feeling refreshed. She talks about and models the homeschool life that I myself am trying to implement. She emphasizes compassion, perseverance and depth through such diverse educational tools. I'll probably reread this in the future for encouragement.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the third Gracious Space I’ve read from Julie Bogart and loved them all! Julie’s advice is just what I need to keep me going. I plan to re read them each season. Every homeschool parent should own and read these! :)

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite book to read as a morning homeschool devotion after my scripture study. Great way to start the day and get my mind right for homeschooling!

[Mirandashel · Rating 5 out of 5]

All three of these seasonal books are like a non-religious brief “daily devotional” for homeschooling.