A No No From George Muller

We are not doing school this week (officially) but I have been reading aloud a lot to the girls. We are currently reading two chapter books...not to mention numerous picture books. Our chapter books are a biography about George Muller, a missionary who is known for helping countless orphans in England, and Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski, a fiction selection.

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Jason was working late the other night (popcorn ball night) so I decided to just read as much as I could to the girls on up til bedtime. I read a chapter of George Muller to the girls and then got up to put Betsie to bed. Rachel and Mary Evelyn continued coloring in the den for about 15 minutes until I came back and resumed reading. I decided to start back with Strawberry Girl when I came back. It never occured to me that these books could EVER be confused. They are drastically different in setting, style, the language of the characters, etc.

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In Strawberry Girl, Pa Slater is an alchoholic. It never says it quite like that, but that's what's going on. We read that he sold a steer and then went to taverns and gambled away the money, etc. leaving his family unable to purchase their basic necessities. After reading, I said to the girls, "Aren't you thankful that Daddy takes such good care of our family? When he earns money, he uses it for the things we need instead of being selfish." (Or something like that) Mary Evelyn got a mad look on her face and said, "George Muller shouldn't have done that! He's supposed to be a Christian!"

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It was hilarious! And hopefully I got it all cleared up that George Muller actually squandered NOTHING, but rather gave everything away. I did learn that if I am going to have more than one chapter book going at a time that I definitely need to keep the readings separated!