Celebrating Manhood - A Homeschool Crew Review

At the end of January I learned I had been selected to be part of the Homeschool Review Crew team reviewing products for Home School Adventure Co. I received a digital copy of Celebrating Manhood: a rite of passage guide, which I saved to my iPad.

I found Celebrating Manhood to be a "quick read". It did not take long to read through the first time, then I went back to reread and consider further.  Celebrating Manhood is 37 pages long. The author begins by telling her story behind writing this rite of passage guide. She tells the story of how, as her oldest son approached adulthood, she created a plan to enable her husband, and certain other men in her son's life, to give her son a memorable rite of passage event he would always remember. This evening was to be inspirational and memorable, and would mark the turning from childhood to embrace becoming a man.

In my own family my husband celebrated his bar mitzvah, a ceremony with similar symbolism in the Jewish tradition. A child born to a Jewish mother is Jewish. I am not Jewish, so my son is not Jewish, and he did not have a bar mitzvah at age 13 as his father did. So I read Celebrating Manhood with this in mind, considering whether this rite of passage evening might be something we will do with our son.

The second chapter in the book gives the blueprint for creating the rite of passage evening for your son. It discusses planning the evenings agenda, who to invite, what to serve, what activities you might plan, how each men might give your son a blessing, and questions The men might answer for your son. These questions have a print out at the end of the book so that they are printed out as question cards. And a most important instruction is given to the mom on her part in the evening, regarding serving but trying to be invisible.

Chapter three gives a template you can use to make invitations to your special evening. It is very well thought out and well worded. Three to five spiritual men of special importance in your son's life are requested to consider being a part of this memorable evening for your son. These might be pastor, youth group leader, Boy Scout leader, grandfather, uncle, family friend -- whoever is a part of your son's life.

Next come the question cards I mentioned earlier. There are 24 different cards. The group can discus all or part of the questions. A man selecting a question that doesn't work for him can pass on to the next question.

The book ends with a page is suitable for framing. The poster can be enlarged to the size you wish and printed at high quality, framed, and presented to your son at the end of the evening. The poster expresses, "Welcome to the World of Men!" and a scripture. It will always remind your son of his special evening.

The book concludes with information about the author and other products she has created for the home school community.

This seems like a great book to purchase when your son is 13. That way you could read the book in advance and have plenty of time to consider when to have this special evening and which men to invite.

Adolescence passes quickly. Before you know it your son will be a man. If you (or your son) are having a difficult time traversing the gap between childhood and adulthood, this book might be just the thing you need.

I think this is a very worthwhile book. I do not know if we will do a rite of passage in our situation. My 

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