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A review of 7 Tools for Cultivating Your Child's Potential by Zan Tyler
“First, never say never to God.” -pg. 9
That line in the second paragraph of the introduction drew me into this book. Zan goes on to describe how she told God that she'd never teach or have kids. You see, I once said that same phrase to God. “God, I'll never move back to California. And if I ever do, I'm certainly never going to live in Los Angeles.” God made me do both for a time.
When I was in college and first met the senior pastor of the church I was attending, he thought I was an elementary education major. I laughed at him. Sure, when I was in middle school I thought I'd be a teacher. I think it was just one of those things “smart kids” consider being when they grow up but I had abandoned that idea at some point along the way. I didn't outright say never to God on that one, but I might as well have.
Now here I am over ten years later, homeschooling my boys. Both of those “nevers” have played into why I decided to homeschool. It's funny how God works sometimes. Though my story is very different from Zan's story, her story still resonated with me and I couldn't put this book down. Seriously. I read all 222 pages over the course of three days.
Zan references her homeschooling story throughout the book and points the reader to the full story located in the Appendix. I stopped in the middle of the introduction to read it and I highly recommend that you do the same. It makes Zan's words come alive and gives her explanation of the seven tools greater weight. She's a true modern homeschooling pioneer. She fought battles in the state of South Carolina that paved the way for homeschoolers in every state. If any of those battles had been lost, we'd surely be attempting to homeschool across the nation under much more strict supervision, if at all.
“As wives and mothers, our first mission field should be our homes.” -pg. 14
The rest of the book defines and describes seven tools that we should use to raise and educate our children. These really apply to all children, but we as homeschooling parents have the most freedom to use these tools and see the difference these tools can make because of the number of hours a day we have to use these tools with our children.
The seven tools are:
- Establishing Identity
- Cultivating Intimacy
- Discovering Purpose
- Developing a Biblical Worldview
- Building Character Through Discipleship
- Providing Stimulating Academics
- Fostering Leadership and Communication Skills
I found Zan's stories, examples, and scripture references to be quite encouraging. Her words were confirmation to me that we're on the right path for our family. These tools will all be added to my homeschooling arsenal and you should consider adding them to yours too.
Want to hear more of Zan's story? In addition to this book, she talked about her journey and legal battles at Standing Strong, the Apologia Live Retreat in 2010. Audio and video recordings of that talk can be obtained from Apologia.
{Disclosure: I am an Apologia partner. I received a complimentary copy of this book and the audio CDs of the 2010 Apologia Live Retreat with no expectation of a review. I enjoyed this book and thought you might too. This review contains my honest thoughts and opinions of this book.}
