My America Story Book is live!

You'll see a PDF at the top of month 1 so you can print out all the pictures for the month. And you'll see who we'll be talking about!

It's simple and self-explanatory. Do share with your friends. :) Anyone can use this.

And if they're worried about an 'agenda' here, just invite them to try it out. They will be able to preview any stories from written text. There's no commitment. No charge. No schedule--do it at your own pace, although we will be unlocking one story every week day.

First story will post September 1.

I'm so excited to offer this to you. Many thanks to my daughters Krystal and Sara and a friend, Susan Yongue, who have worked hard with me to pull this all together in such a short amount of time.

You can access the site here or there will be a link to it in the app. 

To those of you who like a challenge--

There are over 1,400 pages in the WEH Reference Library. I would love to connect with those of you who have taken the time and effort to really Catch the Vision of what the Well-Educated Heart is all about. The library is designed for you to explore and discover, but you can keep track of what you have read by printing out the PDF linked there. When you have checked off all the boxes, please write me a letter at: Libraries of Hope, PO Box 201, Appomattox VA 24522. What I'd like to hear from you is anything you'd like to tell me--something you learned and applied, a question that came up, an impression you had. You can write me a single line or send me pages--I leave that up to you!

In exchange, I'd like to send you a small gift that is reserved for those of you who have taken the challenge. You will receive a pin with the Mothers of Influence emblem on it, a personal note from me, and the final book in the Catch the Vision Library, which is reserved for those who complete the challenge. I believe you are meant to do something extraordinary and I'd like to connect with those of you who are ready to take this to a deeper level and consider ways to expand your influence.

Look for the challenge on the new WEH Reference Library page. And by the way, links to all the books are on the same page. Don't rush through--take your time. The point is to deepen your understanding, not hurry and finish the challenge.

P.S. The checklist may help even if you don't accept the challenge. :)

The new Intro to WEH booklet is now available for you to listen to, read, or purchase. Many of you have wanted a way to introduce WEH to your friends. Condensing an entire landscape painting into a couple of brush strokes was impossible...so what I went for is to try to simply awaken interest to want to know more. And to help them consider that maybe there is a different way to learn than we are used to. The next step is to start the Catch the Vision course, which I'll be tweaking over the next week.

We are including free copies in all the book orders going out in the next few weeks.

So do take a look--and if you want to buy copies to hand out, we're making them available for just $3.00 each. Or send them to read it for free online or listen for free.

It is housed on the new WEH Reference Library page in the Catch the Vision Course. And by the way, that is also where you can take a look at all the volumes in the new WEH Reference Library. They are also linked on the Forgotten Classics Family Library page.

I've been hinting at a project relating to American History. It is something I have wanted to do for years, but I've been so involved in other projects that I didn't think I could get to it again, so I've been hesitant to announce it. But everything inside of me is telling me DO IT....NOW!!!

So here is what it will look like.

It is called My America Story Book. My husband said, "Shouldn't it be 'Our" story? And I said there is no such thing. The history of America exists only as it is recreated in individual hearts. There is not two of us that see America in exactly the same way.

But do understand--the stories each of us comes to accept and believe about America will be the lens through which we will see everything. Our stories we take in will either make us love her or hate her; work to save her or work to bring her down.

The fight for America and freedom will not be determined by who is elected in November. It will be decided by the stories--or lack thereof--stored in the hearts of her citizens.

Many Americans lack a foundation of even the basic stories of our history. Our history is being rewritten at a time when most people don't even know what the original story looked like.

I would like to share the 'original' story with you, as told through the writers who lived in the childhood of our nation. My desire is not to give you 'THE' story, but merely to provide a snapshot of some of America's Builders and Makers. If I can but spark a desire to learn more, I will have accomplished my purpose.

Starting September 1st, Monday through Friday, I will be posting an audio story of someone from our history. I'll be following the rotation schedule. So Month 1 we will be looking at the Explorers and the Discoverers.

At the beginning of each month, I will provide a PDF for you to print out of notebooking sized paintings to go with each person as well as photographs of their monuments, which nearly all of them have. Many of these monuments may not even be around by the end of the year! But you can preserve them in your storybook. In this way, your kids can create their own America Story Book. Just write the name of the person at the top of each page, glue some pictures on, and let them add anything else to the page they'd like.

I know many of you are frozen because of all the choices placed before you. This is going to give you the absolute easiest spine I can possibly think of. And you're going to enter the world of notebooking without any stress or worry.

If this is all you did for History this year, you will be amazed at what you will know and understand by the end of the year. I have that much confidence in the stories I'll be sharing with you. And don't worry--they are not all sanitized. These writers had the ability to recognize the flaws but understand the value of the contributions made.

Remember--they were written by people who wanted to teach rising generations how to hold on to the freedom that had been paid with so dear a cost.

And of course, there will be song, and poetry.

One more piece--kind of a last minute thought. I thought many of you might like a more permanent collection of these stories, so we will be combining the 20 stories each month in a new series called My America Story Book. Unfortunately I ran out of time to get it in this month's bundle, but if you sign up for it. you will receive both Month 1 and Month 2 volumes in your September shipment. Or the free digital version will be posted on our Forgotten Classics page.

I will be creating a separate web page to house this because I want a place for you to send anybody looking for a way to learn and share America's story. Of course, it will be free.

Krystal will be adding the new series to our store probably today. By the way, the Catch the Vision reference library and the other 3 new series should all be in the store now. If not, for sure by the end of the day.

I have the words of Longfellow's 'Building of the Ship', which is all about the building of America, running through my mind as I write this:

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, — are all with thee!
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I love our country and this is my small contribution to help save her.

I'm on the home stretch! Krystal and I have been burning the midnight oil to get the new Well-Educated Heart Reference Library ready for you! It's over 1400 pages and has everything we could think of to give you--sample notebook pages, booklists, the Take 5s, all the quotes and fine art I've been posting on fb, to name a few things--along with texts from podcasts, presentations and other writings.

I am almost done with the small intro book I've been telling you about that you can hand to friends when they ask "What is WEH?" When that is done, we'll post the whole Catch the Vision library in the store.

And, as always, there will be free digital copies.

Here's a sneak preview of the covers:)

We'll be adding 3 new series to our Forgotten Classics Library next week plus a WEH Learning Library. Let me give you a little preview:

The Cousins Series Part 2

In this series, you will get the remaining titles in the Cousins series as well as the Twins Series by Lucy Fitch Perkins and the rest of the Our Little Cousins from Ancient Times.

Sunshine Series

These are books that are mostly out of print and nice reading copies can be hard to come by. These are selected because they show Well-Educated Heart principles in actions. They inspire and uplift the heart.

If we were able to fit two books in one volume, we did, to save you money. If illustrations were available, we included them. The first selection is a combination book of Understood Betsy and Mother's Carey's Chickens, which Disney's Summer magic was based on. Upcoming volumes include: Pollyanna/Just David, Five Little Peppers, The Lost Prince/Little Lord Fauntleroy (by the author of The Secret Garden), Little Men, the sequel to Little Women, In my Youth--the tender autobiography of James Baldwin, several Gene Porter Stratton books: Laddie, Freckles, Girl of the Limberlost, The Harvester and Keeper of the Bees. and finally The Golden Name Day (fingers crossed). Several of these books will include brief stories of the authors.

World Freedom Series

The third series is another World History Series which we are calling the World Freedom Series. Can you tell I'm anxious to stock your family libraries with living history books? These are some of the most popular history storytellers of their day. They read like a story and will bring history to life for your Junior High and High School kids.

Volume one will be The Story of Liberty by Charles Carleton Coffin. Some of you may have listened to the audio version. Here is your chance to secure a hard copy. In the coming months, we will be releasing several Henrietta Marshall books: Our Island Story, The Story of Scotland, and the History of France and Germany, several Mary MacGregor books: Netherlands, Story of Greece and Rome . Also included will be the popular John Haaren's Famous Men Series: Famous Men of the Greece, Rome, Middle Ages and Modern Times and Helene Guerber's 13 Colonies and Republic books. (Helene Guerber's books about Greece, Rome and the Hebrews are in the original World History Series).

Well-Educated Heart Learning Library

Finally, we will be announcing the Well-Educated Heart Learning Library. Many of you have asked for written versions of my audios. I have compiled, sorted, compressed and organized just about everything I have ever said in presentations, podcasts and conferences. It is contained in 3 volumes. Volume 1 is Philosophy, Volume 2: Methods/Tools (includes the Take 5s) and Volume 3 is Inspiration, all the Great LIves podcasts sorted by the rotation. Krystal is finishing up the massive job of formatting it--last time I checked there were over 1300 pages!! (And that's full 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper!) Everything you ever wanted to know...and then some:)

It's meant to be a reference library---something I hope you will be able to refer back to over and over again.
We'll announce again when these are available in the store, but it should be next week.
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Now that so many public libraries are closed or not offering interlibrary services, we are working even harder to get quality, living books with which you can build your family libraries. There are more to come...