Miller Family Series Books ~ Character Building Basics

When we began raising our family, we knew we wanted to surround ourselves with wholesome and pure influences (The world would provide enough wicked stuff and in abundance!). That would mean a discerning eye toward everything we brought into our home, especially in the area of reading materials. The unfortunate part is that many modern "Christian" books present a normal household as one where children are disrespectful, lazy and disinterested. We wanted our child to see that a "normal" home is where God is Supreme, parents love Him, children want to please Him by loving Him, through obeying the parents (Colossians 3:20). Like many of you, we wanted to reach for the stars and introduce a model of high standard for biblical living.

The first (and still one of our favorite) books we embraced was the "Miller Family Series". These easy-to-understand stories feature a down to earth message and will plant pure seeds of Scriptural application into your children. We started reading them aloud with our 4 year old and have purchased every book since. Each chapter covers a verse from the Bible in a very practical, no-nonsense way. Written by an amish/mennonite woman, they are very conservative with the old fashioned values that are hard to find in most modern books.

• Storytime with the Millers by Mildred Martin (4 - 8 years of age) Valuable Lessons
• Wisdom and the Millers by Mildred Martin (6 - 13 years of age) Great Truths of Life
• Prudence and the Millers (7 - 14 years of age) Lessons on Courtesy, Health & Safety
• School Days with the Millers (7 - 14 years of age) Valuable Lessons
• Missionary Stories with the Millers Real Missionary Stories, Great Geography Resource too!

The Lesson by Jules Trayer

They also offer companion "Activity Workbooks" which further instill the lessons learned:

• Make and Do with the Millers (Color, cut and paste projects that go along with books above for ages 4 - 7 years.)
• Working with Wisdom (Companion to Wisdom and the Millers.) (An assortment of fun and educational activities, lessons, puzzles for 7 - 10 years of age.)
• Prudence and Your Health (Companion to Prudence and the Millers, a great supplement for teaching "health" for ages 8 - 12 years.)
• Character Companion (Companion to all of the books above, focuses on character building qualities and language art activities.) Note: I haven't personally used this one yet.

If you want to start reading some unadulterated, biblical, character building books aloud to your children, then I would highly suggest the "Miller Family Series" as an excellent start. You may also be interested in our favorite Biblically Based Picture Books and our criteria for What to Read/What to Watch.

"...if they (the parents) are wise they will bring into their home as much as possible of pure, elevating, and refining literature. Every beautiful thought that enters a child’s mind adds to the strength and loveliness of the character in after days. The educating influence of the best books and papers is incalculable, and no parent can afford to lose it in the training of his family."

~ J.R. Miller, The Family