Schoolhouse Review: 'Papa's Pearls: A Father's Gift of Love and Wisdom to his Children and Grandchildren' by Diane Flynn Keith

You're fantistic!  So, please take care of yourself and exercise every day.  Most of all, "keep a foxy pocket", and just "Doodle-lee-do-it!"  Wouldn't you love to have someone in your life who cared enough about you to turn sage advice into a loving way of life?  Papa does this in an amazing new book that, if you're anything like me, you won't be able to put down either.  This is a review for the book, “Papa’s Pearls: A Father’s Gift of Love and Wisdom to his Children and Grandchildren”.  by Diane Flynn Keith.

As a homeschooler, you may recognize the author's name, as she is the mastermind behind "Clickschooling", where she provides free curriculum ideas to her email subscribers, and has also written "Carschooling" and "Unschool your Teen".  Find her on Facebook to keep up with this book, and her other projects.

 

The book is available for $14.97 in paperback, or $6.97 as an e-book for the Kindle. Get an autographed copy for $21.97, plus shipping and handling.

I received a paperback copy of the book, which consisted of approximately 100 pages of story-related text, in 17 short chapters.

I found this book easy to read. I laughed out loud and cried as I read these sentimental accounts of Papa.  As I read, I found myself wishing I could have met this man who the author knew as "Papa", and who others knew as a man named Carol.  Though, while reading the book I felt somehow as if I was part of his life.  At the very least, I can compare his pearls of wisdom to those found in scriptures, in Proverbs, and be inspired by the way this amazing man lived his life and built a relationship with his children and grandchildren that transcended his living this side of heaven.

The book is written and directed towards an adult, but it is easy enough for a child at a Middle School level to read. I decided to read the book myself first to decide how, or if, I would present it to my children.



After diving into the book, I did not find anything objectionable for my children, ages 6, 11 and 12, between the covers for them to read themselves.  But, I still opted to present the pearls of wisdom to them and not just hand over the book for them to read. I chose to do it this way because there were pearls of wisdom shared that I want to implement with my children, and I want them to remember them as personal and special from me and my husband with our own special twists.

For instance, one chapter talks about how Papa would hug his children and grandchildren every time he saw them and before they left. He would also wake up each of his three children with a back rub and words of encouragement about each one. He would end their sessions of appropriate physical touch, by saying, “I love you. You know that, right?” These are the tidbits of wisdom and parental advice that I want to model - to polish this pearl for our own family's display - without my children reading word for word how I came up with the idea.

I did come up with a fun craft idea to go along with the book and to help open up discussions with my children about the pearls of wisdom I chose to share.  We simply used Play Dough and flatted it out in circles to resemble pearls.  Then, I allowed the children to choose from Papa's pearls of wisdom to write onto their pearls made out of Play Dough.  When they were finished, I wove a shiny ribbon through them to resemble a necklace.

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