Family Work and Fun through the Years

This book tells four stories of youngsters who each find pleasure in sharing work with their families. Young readers will learn that spending time with close family members can be fun and educational, as well as opportunities to grow mutual respect.
For readers who have decades of life experiences and memories of the way things were in their childhood, these stories will encourage you to share with new generations the way people worked and played when you were young.
All of the stories depict family togetherness and are based on true-life happenings. Each story takes place in a different decade, the first about 1939, the second in the 1940s, and the last two stories in successive decades.

CONTENTS
“Peanuts”: The Tale of a Boy and a Milk-Wagon Horse
Robbi, a boy of ten, goes to work with Father delivering milk to customers’ homes. Along the way, several events happen, including a runaway horse and seeing how ice cream is made. At the end of the day, Robbi is pleased to receive a coin as pay for his work, but he is even happier to have spent a day with his father. He learns that work can be fun and exciting. He also learns a lesson in forgiveness.
Steam Train Ride
Father takes Richie along to work on a train steam engine. Richie gains a new respect for how hard Father works and how much he has to know to do his job. He learns a lot about talk between people and even between trains. He also learns that we don’t need to be afraid because someone is watching over us and that being able to laugh at ourselves endears us to each other. The trip is fun and strengthens the father-son bond as they jest with each other.
Making Decoys with Grandfather
Jim and his family take a week’s vacation visiting his grandparents on Cape Cod. The family visits a lighthouse, picnics on the beach, and enjoys New England cooking. Every spare minute he has, Jim works with Grandfather, learning how to make wildfowl decoys. He learns that everything is easier when he follows the shop rules. It comes naturally to Jim to relate some of Grandfather’s rules to the way he should act at home and school. The idea that work goes faster and easier when you think ahead makes sense to him. The first aid and cleanliness lessons he learns also will be helpful wherever he is. Yeah, that Grandfather is quite a guy, at home, in church, or in the woodshop. Jim learns that a lot of time and skill are required to make something by hand and that handmade things are to be honored.
Gemstones
A family of five takes a weekend vacation to dig for interesting minerals and gems at a mine in Maine. On the way home, they stop to learn how maple syrup is made. The unspoken lesson here is that doing things with the family on God’s great earth really is fun and healthy.
Vocabulary
Some of the words in these stories may be unfamiliar and so are defined at the back of the book to increase understanding. Word lists are grouped by story to speed your search.
Discussion Questions and Activities