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Wonderful to discover that you are leading a read-along to this homeschool classic (it was one of the first ones recommended to me and one that I always lend out to new homeschoolers). We were actually good friends with Susan's nanny (Mary) from L'Abri and heard many interesting background stories to her life growing up there. She passed away several years ago but we visit Mary's husband, Ellis Potter (who was converted during one of Francis Schaeffer's discussion sessions), every year in Switzerland where he continues to serve as a pastor and teaches frequently at L'Abri.

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Jun 4·edited Jun 4Author

I just read on your Substack that you're Swiss :) What a lovely connection you have there!

I read many of the Schaeffer's books as a new Christian in my early twenties & am indebted to them in restoring my understanding of family, & relationships in general, after my parent's marriage break up.

L'Abri has never had a very visible presence here in Australia, that I'm aware of, although one of my sons just sent me a link to a couple of L'Abri communities that he found.

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Ellis Potter, who learned his approach to pastoring from Francis Schaeffer, has some interesting sermons, books etc. that you can find on his site here http://www.ellis-potter.com/index.html (my husband was the editor for the books).There is also currently a documentary about English L'Abri in the final stages of production https://www.labridocumentary.com/. Glad to have come across your Substack :)

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Many thanks for the links, Ruth. What an interesting man!

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Yes, his biography is fascinating and an excellent read:)

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Jul 17Liked by Carol Hudson

That’s so exciting, I can’t wait for it to be realised. I just subscribed so I can keep up to date. We have friends who’ve just packed up their family (four children) and moved to England to work there at L’Abri! I had never heard of this place before that.

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I really appreciate the author's emphasis that school is only one influence on the child and not the only deciding factor in your parenting. I don't think most people who really buy into the vision she proposes would find any of the public schools I've lived near to be an acceptable option, but she offers enough in the book that parents could, theoretically, be inspired to completely revamp their ideas about extra-curricular plans, vacations, church children's ministry, etc. For this reason I find For the Children's Sake a great book to give people who are thinking about education but haven't really committed to homeschooling, since she doesn't approach the topic as if homeschooling is the superior option.

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Hi Abigail, that's something I really like about her writing. When we were first thinking of teaching our own there was no option that was acceptable where we lived but it's different where we are now - although I think we still have made the decision we did anyhow. Her ideas really apply to all of life & they can be used in many different settings. :)

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Jun 3Liked by Carol Hudson

Thank you for sharing this, Carol.

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This is so timely as I will be re-reading this influential book this summer for a book club!

I would love to access your PDF; however, it tells me access is denied.

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Hi Valerie, I've fixed the link so you should be able to get to it now. Let me know if there's any problem accessing it.

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