Circle of Christhood

"..When the child is six years of age, the parent could start to read to the child; with some children, at five years of age the parent could begin to read from one of the books he names, progress to a second one in six months, and continue in this way, with a shorter period spent on each book as the child gets older. Then too, the child might prefer one book over another, or when he begins to read for himself might want to read them alone.  This would be splendid, but the parent should then talk over the book with him and make sure he has grasped the fundamental principles brought out.  The parent would also have to be alert to remind him that unless these principles were actively practiced, they would be useless, just as scientific principles left untried in a science notebook would be.

This is the list that Mr. Goldsmith recommended for reading to children, and later for them to read for themselves:

Living The Infinite Way  by Joel Goldsmith

Any of the Infinite Way  pamphlets by Joel Goldsmith

Practicing the Presence  by Joel Goldsmith

Essays  by Emerson

The Prophet  by Gibran

For older children:

Song Celestial  by Arnold

The Way  by Lao Tzu

"The parents would read something from each one of these books in the course of a year, always encouraging the child to read something for himself from one of the books each day. Of course, as their interest in one certain book developed, no restriction would be placed upon them against reading it as often as they wished.  It would be well to let Bible reading wait until a more mature age, because of the many confusing parts which seem to conflict, especially in the Old Testament. According to Mr. Goldsmith, 'A ten-year program like this would make for love of each other's scriptures, a respect for each other's morals, and an interest in foreign countries, deeper than a tourist's.'

"We have to make a New Year's resolution, let ours be 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,' the mind that knows that of itself it can do nothing, but that the Father within does the work." p.35-6

Junior High Reading

All Men Are Brothers by Simon (Portrait of A. Schweitzer)

Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross by Baylston

Herbert Hoover: On Growing  Up

Mr. Bell Invents the Telephone by Shippen

Young Thomas Edison by North

Teen-Age

Clarence Darrow for the Defense, Stone

Einstein, Profile of the Man, Michelmore

Henry Ford, Burlingame

Justice Holmes, Natural Law& Supreme Court, Biddle

Madam Ambassador (Pandit), Guthrie

My Own Story, Baruch

- From Eileen Bowden, Awakening Your Child to Truth