Book Club: Book Review of The Worry-Free Parent Workbook

 

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

I recently shared a review of The Worry-Free Parent by Sissy Goff, and now I would like to share about the workbook that can go along with it. The Worry-Free Parent Workbook is a 156-page paperback book that provides "the space and tools you need to grab hold of peace, embrace grace, and become the person, parent, and family you want to be." 

About The Worry-Free Parent Workbook 

Sissy Goff shares that one of her goals for The Worry-Free Parent book was to create conversations. The workbook gives parents the space to have a conversation with the text and dig deeper and more thoughtfully.  Some of the text is the same as in the book, but there is more content so that you can go beyond the book when using the workbook. 

Just like the book, the workbook has 3 sections with 12 chapters: 

1. Understanding Worry and Anxiety 
2. Understanding Ourselves
3. How Anxiety Impacts You
4. How Your Anxiety Impacts Your Kids
5. Help for Your Body
6. Help for Your Mind
7. Help for Your Heart
8. Help for Your Kids
9. Admit Failure, Know Grace
10. Try Softer
11. Trust Your Gut
12. Trust God 

Each chapter ends with a space for you to list three things you are grateful for, three things that bring you hope, and three truths that you want to remember. There is a spot for "today's check-in," which repeats the same questions, including: "What have you learned about yourself as a person?" and "What do you want to put into practice?" 

My Thoughts 

You could use the workbook alone, but you really do need the companion book to be able to fully understand everything in the workbook. I read the book and used the workbook together. I think they complement each other very well. Both offer practical advice. 

There is lots of space to answer the questions. So, if you are someone who likes to take notes in the margin, you'll find this a good book for note-taking. The pages are also thick enough that the ink isn't showing through the other side, too.

I would recommend The Worry-Free Parent Workbook for those parents who are seeking to uncover what keeps them filled with anxiety and worry. It will help them work through worries using Scripture as the basis. Keep your Bible ready in case you wish to look up the verses in your preferred translation, as Goff uses several translations, including The Message.

Other Reviews 

Raising Worry-Free Girls: Helping Your Daughter Feel Braver, Stronger, and Smarter in an Anxious World

Braver, Stronger, Smarter: A Girl's Guide to Overcoming Worry & Anxiety

Brave: A Teen Girl's Guide to Beating Worry and Anxiety

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Book Club: Book Review of The Worry-Free Parent

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

I have had the joy of reading several other books by Sissy Goff and sharing reviews previously. The most recent book by Sissy Goff that I have read to review is The Worry-Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too. The idea behind Goff's latest book is that "worry is contagious but you can stop its spread." She has found that for every anxious child or teen, there is often at least one parent who is anxious. The Worry-Free Parent provides advice, encouragement, and tools to help parents make a difference in their own lives. 

About The Worry-Free Parent 

The 252-page paperback book contains an introduction, notes with references, and three sections broken into 12 chapters. Sections are divided into Understanding the Past, Help for the Present, and Hope for the Future. Many chapters are divided further into five key things that Goff wants to share with the reader, such as "five ways the anxiety of parents impacts the anxiety of kids" or "five things to know about anxiety and your heart." Each chapter also contains numerous questions for you to answer (space is provided in The Worry-Free Parent workbook reviewed separately) as well as "Worry-Free Takeaways," which are the most important parts of the chapter. 

Inside The Worry-Free Parent, you will dig deeper into: 

• How anxiety misinterprets and distorts our thinking 
• How to understand our own anxiety so we can break the cycle 
• How anxiety distracts us or makes us angry 
• The way that anxiety impacts our parenting of our children 
• The science behind anxiety 
• Bible verses that will help calm our anxiety 
• How to find and give ourselves grace
• And more 

My Thoughts About The Worry-Free Parent 

As a parent who is a worrier and quite anxious, I was very happy to see that Sissy Goff had written a book for parents. I have reviewed her other books for children and teens previously and found them useful and informative. 

I was able to relate to a lot of the content in The Worry-Free Parent. I found myself taking notes in the margins and underlining key parts. (The workbook was also very helpful.) While I have read other works about anxiety and worry, it was very nice to read a book rooted in Christianity.  Being presented with Bible verses to read and reflect upon or memorize is a great tool for Christian parents who are anxious. 

While I found The Worry-Free Parent helpful overall, I did have a few concerns. One of my main concerns is how many times Goff references Enneagrams. Personally, I am not convinced that this is a Biblical way to view ourselves or the world. So, while I know it is the popular thing in many circles, including Christian ones, I would have preferred to see less mention of them. I was also concerned with the Bible version quoted frequently. For many of the longer passages, Goff quotes from The Message. I may not hold to just one translation of the Bible for my own reading, but this is one I tend to avoid due to my own research.

And finally, I was taken aback by the reference to Leave It to Beaver and Parenthood. Goff writes, "The older show is Leave It to Beaver, which you're probably too young to have heard of" (209). So, am I too old for the book's demographics because I remember that show and probably watched reruns when I was a child, and I don't know anything about Parenthood? I wish authors, particularly Christian authors, would be more careful when including cultural references, because – as Christians – we do not all hold to the same standards in relation to TV, movies, and music.

Now, I would like to highlight some of the parts that I enjoyed and found very helpful. When discussing help for our heart, Goff writes, "For us to work through our anxiety, we have to do the scary thing." And she continues towards the end of the paragraph that "we can trust in Someone who does bring comfort more than any amount of certainty or control ever could" (147). Since one of my worries causing problems is the desire to know what is going to happen and have control over situations, I found this section very useful. And bringing it back to God is wonderful. And she brings her points back to God a number of times. Goff reminds us to take care of ourselves and how to include Jesus and Prayer in those moments. She also shares a number of verses that speak specifically to our worries (just the verse not the passage of Scripture itself). We can look those up in our Bibles to reframe or replace our anxious thoughts with more positive ones and the truth. 

I would recommend The Worry-Free Parent to those who are anxious parents themselves or who counsel anxious parents. Even with my concerns, there is a firm path to a Biblical approach to help alleviate worries and anxieties. I will be referencing this book for years to come. 

Other Reviews 

Raising Worry-Free Girls: Helping Your Daughter Feel Braver, Stronger, and Smarter in an Anxious World

Braver, Stronger, Smarter: A Girl's Guide to Overcoming Worry & Anxiety

Brave: A Teen Girl's Guide to Beating Worry and Anxiety 

affiliate links 

Memories of My Grandmom

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I had the joy of spending many summer days at my maternal grandparents' home. I was an only grandchild, so I often had their undivided attention. My Grandmom would play board games, card games, and help my imagination grow by playing school and store with me. My Grandpop would often let me go on walks with him to the corner store. It was from him that I learned to walk fast as he was tall and a fast walker.

One of the Polaroid photos taken by my Grandmom of my toys. Now I understand why my own children want me to take pictures of their buildings, racetracks, and train set ups. 

Toys and Games 

One of the fun aspects of spending time at my grandparents' house was that I could play with another entire set of toys. They had kept my mom's and uncle's toys, and I was allowed to play with some of them. There was also a huge box of rocks that were collected by my uncle for his geology class at college that created roadways and parking lots for the toy cars. With the cheaper dolls that were purchased from the corner store, I was allowed to experiment with doll hair cuts. I created my own paper dolls using old Sears and J.C. Penny catalogs.

There was also a great collection of old board games (many of which have modern-day versions) like Go to the Head of the Class, Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, and Candyland. And there were a few other games that had missing pieces or rules that allowed my Grandmom and I to create our own rules and new games. Sometimes we even drew these new game boards on the back of the original game boards and used stickers to help create the game.

World of Imagination 

My Grandmom helped inspire my imagination in a number of ways. For this, I am very grateful. She spent many hours helping me set up pretend stores, labeling everyday objects with prices, and then allowing me to use the adding machine with tape as my cash register.  She also spent many days pretending to be my student as I was the teacher. I remember using a blackboard to write assignments and reading books to her. She also let me flip a card table on its side to create a cave using blankets, couch cushions, and pillows to camp out in during thunderstorms – both real and imaginary.

From the Beginning to the End 

At the start of each day, my Grandmom would open the curtains saying, "Let there be light." I never realized how much I could miss that simple phrase that I used to find so silly when I was a kid. After my Grandpop died, she moved a few states away to live with her son, my uncle. As she got older, she changed and often the curtains were not opened in their house at all. In the end, my Grandmom changed from the woman who spoiled me to someone afraid of the outside world and strangers – even of me and my mom at the very end.

As an adult, it is much easier to look back and be grateful for all the happy memories we made together. I am willing to embrace those sad memories more and more as I see changes in my own mom. Time is short, and I pray that everyone has more happy memories with their grandparents than sad ones that lead to gratitude and thankfulness.

Top Five Ways to Prepare for Back to School: Homeschooling Style

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Even though we unofficially homeschool year-round, the end of the summer and the beginning of September always get our family thinking about going "Back to School." Whenever your children go back to school, there are key ways to prepare them for a new school year of learning. While these tips are geared towards homeschooling families, you may be able to modify them if your children attend public or private school.

Cleaning Out the Old 

Before the new school year starts is a fantastic time to go through materials from last year. Inventory your curriculum (both physical and digital), your writing supplies (pens, pencils, paper, etc), your science supplies for experiments, your memberships and subscriptions to online learning sites or monthly boxes, and whatever else you use for homeschooling. You may have completed this process at the end of your school year but it is always good to go through everything once again to see if you missed anything or have made any changes. Maybe you found a new language arts program and you won't need those workbooks you were saving from last year?

Have your children go through their desks or learning areas as well. Clean out backpacks, desks, bins, and other locations where your children school. Have them involved in the process so they can see the importance of organization.

Organizing Materials 

Now that you have decided what you are going to keep, spend some time organizing the materials in a way that makes them easy to find. I rely mainly upon one bookshelf in our living room to keep our binders and drawers of materials for our children. One drawer contains most of the math manipulatives we need while the others hold folders of unit studies we have completed or partially completed, flash cards or other teaching materials, and children's art work.

In the binders, I keep some of the curriculum materials our younger children are using. I also utilize two binders for storing the paper copies of of our teen's completed work. This way, he can access them if he needs to (for studying prior to a quiz or test) and I have a hard copy record for grading purposes.

For more ideas of how to organize your homeschooling materials, please check out my Top 5 Suggestions for Best Organizing Your Homeschool Materials.

Back-to-School Shopping 

Whether you homeschool or your children go to private or public school, now is the time to pick out a brand new outfit! The first day of school can be extra special with a new t-shirt or backpack. We have found that even though we homeschool having a backpack and lunch box for our kids is great for field trips and outings.

And don't forget all the sales for back-to-school items. I love walking down the aisles and seeing all the shiny new notebooks and folders with kittens and unicorns. What items belong in among your schooling supplies? I have shared Recommended School Supplies, which was a modified version of a list that I distributed to my students when I was a high school teacher. There are also a number of supplies that are essential to our homeschool such as SchoolhouseTeachers.com and this year CTCMath.com.

Settling into a Routine 

Did your children stay up late during the summer months? Maybe you did not follow your normal routine of breakfast, lunch, and dinner at regular times. I know that we usually let our teen stay up later during the summer months and it takes a bit of time for him to get used to a different schedule.

Start slowly by adjusting sleeping schedules so your children can get used to the new time requirements. Maybe advance their bedtimes at 15 to 30 minutes at a time till you get it back to your normal schooling bedtime.

One thing I have to remind myself is that (despite wanting to jump in with everything we want to do on the first day back to homeschooling) our children have had a very relaxed homeschooling summer. I need to allow us all time to get back into a more set routine.

Celebrate the New School Year 

There are so many ways you can celebrate back to school with your family. Have a countdown, throw a party, or make a special breakfast. Last year, I created a coloring sheet which also doubled as a sign for our children to hold up for their first day back to school. I look forward to updating the year and taking a new photo this year!

This year I think a great way to start the new school year will be having a board game night. We have so many to choose! From family games to games our children can play by themselves like Cat Crimes and IQ Stars, there are many options for a fun week of getting back to school.

Back to School with Timberdoodle

Timberdoodle offers so many great resources for your homeschooling needs. From full curriculum kits to individual pieces like texts and notebooking journals that we have purchased, you will be sure to find something useful for your homeschooling day.

Book Club: Book Review of The Cranky Mom Fix

I received a copy of The Cranky Mom Fix from Bethany House Publishers in return for my honest opinion. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Sometimes a book comes your way that you really need and enjoy even if it makes you cry at your mistakes. The Cranky Mom Fix: Get a Happier, More Peaceful Home by Slaying the "Momster" in All of Us by Becky Kopitzke was a most welcome book to review. Even my kids were excited to see it arrive for me to read. (I guess I am a cranky mom. Being cranky is obviously something I need to work on.)

"Be The Mom You Always Wanted to Be" 

The 248-page book is split into four main sections with 16 chapters. The Cranky Mom Fix is filled with examples, references to Scripture, suggestions, and questions (Let's Dig In!) for reflection. I found myself reading Kopitzke's book with a pen for note-taking and underlining. There was so much useful information that I wanted to go back, reread, and implement into my life.

There are charts to help us redefine negative characteristics into good qualities in our children, fun graphics at the start of sections, and a multitude of ways that we can begin enjoying time with our children more and more. "Packed with biblical wisdom and mom-tested tips, this book will help you reclaim true peace for your soul and your home."

Taming the Momster 

Through a series of activities, moms who read Kopitzke's book can discover their triggers, find ways to prevent snapping, and repair situations when you fail. I love that Kopitzke is so honest with her readers. No one is perfect and she gives us the tools to help pick up when we make mistakes.

There are also chapters to remind us that our children are not us – "your son or daughter is exactly who he or she is supposed to be" (84). And whether they are similar to us or not, they deserve our respect. I love the advice to "discern if your child knew right from wrong in this situation" (100). When children are young, it is easy to think they know and remember all the rules. (And in The Cranky Mom Fix Kopitzke discusses that her family only has three rules and on the website you can print out the three rules to hang up in your home.)

There were many things that spoke to me in The Cranky Mom Fix:

• The chapter on family meetings
• God doesn't keep a record of our mistakes
• God's wisdom is available to us at all times
• Looking at the root of the child's behavior
• Three family rule 

So while The Cranky Mom Fix: Get a Happier, More Peaceful Home by Slaying the "Momster" in All of Us may be a difficult book to reading terms of examining our own actions and feelings, it is a valuable resource. It does not provide a quick fix because patience is something that is forged little by little. This book will help moms and families create an environment of respect, fun, and tradition. I highly recommend it! 

Be sure to visit the website to download your copies of the worksheets from The Cranky Mom Fix. I was so happy to download and print the Mother's Serenity Prayer to hang up.

Interested in other book reviews? 

A Fantastic Fit for Homeschooling Our High School Student: A Review of SchoolhouseTeachers.com

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a wonderful resource for all your homeschooling needs. From planners to holiday-themed unit studies, an Ultimate Annual Yearly Membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers more than just its 425+ courses for grades Pre-K to 12. There are so many great resources that one review is not enough! Be sure to check out my other reviews (An All-in-One Curriculum, Preschool: Learning Through Art, High School Science for Homeschoolers, or Homeschooling and Creativity Go Hand-in-Hand) of SchoolhouseTeachers.com and those of the rest of the Homeschool Review Crew, too.

An Ultimate Annual Yearly Membership will provide you with access to over 425 courses for preschool to high school as well as parent and family courses, access to World Book tools, Applecourse (which offers course tracking, grade reporting, and more), and a Just for Parents section with courses about Charlotte Mason homeschooling, Everyday Organization, and also access to an eBook library for parents.

While using SchoolhouseTeachers.com over the course of the past school year for our teenage son's complete curriculum, we have discovered many great courses and features. For example, we are using the subscription to RightNow Media for our son to complete Foundations for Teens and our younger children have watched From Aardvark to Zucchini.

How Our Family is Using SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Our teen decided to be homeschooled this year, so the first thing that we did was create a Bookmark Collection for him and saved all of the different courses that might fit his sophomore year. When done, we had saved about 18 classes including:

• Foundations for Teens
• Addressing Cultural Issues 
• Image Editing and Creation Lessons 
• Apologetics: Creation vs. Evolution Archives
• General Biology by Core Academy Lessons
• Geometry with Mr. D Math Lessons
• French Lessons Archive
• American Literature in Historical Context Lessons

Just a few of the courses we bookmarked for our teenage son.

We narrowed it down to the core classes he would need and then electives. I then used the SchoolhouseTeachers.com Planner – which is an editable PDF file – to set out a course schedule, a 36-week plan, and then daily assignments. I love that I can edit the schedule as well as prepare it for one, two, or more children. It makes it so easy to be flexible when homeschooling.

Image cover for the great planner! I love being able to edit it on my laptop or desktop.

Our schedule printed out. If things change, I can copy and paste the information to another week.

Our son completes his coursework each day using the papers necessary, which I print out monthly. Each day, I put what needs to be completed in a file folder for him. He completes tasks both on paper and on the computer. I can then print out his essays and other documents as needed to include in his binder.

A few of our son's worksheets and notes printed out and stored in his binder.

We have two homeschooling binders for his work – one which our son can reference whenever he needs to and one in which I keep quizzes, tests, and other future assignments. We have also created two shared folders on Google Drive with all of his downloaded files from SchoolhouseTeachers.com and his own word documents and photos for his Image Editing course.

One of the photos our son edited in his Image Editing course.

A Typical Day Using SchoolhouseTeachers.com for Homeschooling a Teen 

Our teen may start his homeschool day watching a video from RightNow Media for his Foundations for Teens course. Each video has an accompanying worksheet – some have essay questions for him to complete, as well. Next, our son may read a biology assignment for General Biology by Core Academy Lessons. The course offers several reading suggestions using texts from different publishers as well as a free downloadable text. You could print the text, read it on a tablet, or on the computer.

Another course our son is taking is French. Each lesson has an audio component to help with pronunciation. There are also exercises at the end of the unit. We are supplementing this French course with a workbook to add in extra grammar and vocabulary practice.

He will then round off his day with the rest of his courses: math, history (for which he is using World Book Online for many assignments), American Literature, and more. Using SchoolhouseTeachers.com allows us to be very flexible. Some days he may work on all his subjects, while other days he may only study a few.

Other Homeschooling Perks of SchoolhouseTeachers.com 

One of the other benefits is a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. This beautiful, full color magazine contains multiple articles ranging from seasonal topics like "Beating the Winter Blues" to interviews, schooling ideas, and a directory of freebies and samples for homeschooling families.

Another great feature is the forum exclusively for SchoolhouseTeachers.com members. There are a number of fantastic boards, such as places to meet and greet each other online, ask for ideas for specific subject areas, swap recipes, and ask about specific courses. Everyone is so supportive!

With new courses being added on a regular basis, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a valuable homeschooling resource for your family. We feel blessed to be able to use the SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership on our homeschooling journey. Our teen is enjoying his courses, setting his own pace, and focusing on his interests. Our younger children are able to learn together as the courses are easy to adapt for use with a preschooler and kindergartner. This is one homeschooling product that will be a great use for years to come for our family.

Do You Want to Learn More?

To learn more about SchoolhouseTeachers.com please visit:

Facebook – Twitter – Pinterest 

And don't forget, you can see how other homeschoolers use SchoolhouseTeachers.com by visiting the Homeschool Review Crew's blog! 

Wordless Wednesday (Mostly Wordless) - Ice Hockey Championship

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My stepson when he was playing before his concussion. 

Smooth sheet of ice for the teams.

The teams lined up at center ice for the singing of the National Anthem.

My stepson wasn't playing because he was only recently given the okay after his concussion.

  

I linked up to the following blog(s):