Book Review ~ My First Little Workbook of Wicca - by: Rev. Velvet Rieth

The Daughter of a friend of mine was given this book as a gift, not long ago.  The 8 year old girl didn't show much interest in it, and since I homeschool more than one child - the book found it's way to me (with full permission from the little girl, of course).

Let me start with saying that I really do like the book; not necessarily because it accurately presents MY spiritual path in a kid-friendly way.  I like it because presents basic, preschool and kindergarten level material in a unique way; also managing to gently showcase an alternative or new age or Pagan spiritual belief-system in a way that does not come across as brain-washing or preachy in any sense.

I had decided, long ago, that I wasn't going to attempt to raise my children with the idea that any particular path is "right" or "wrong".  Finding my own spirituality, and continuing that journey through much of my life, has been such an important and uplifting experience for me.  I want my children to have that.  Sure, being human, I will have my biases, hopefully they'll be minimal in this regard.

I wanted to give them access to stories, myths, legends, teachings, etc. from a wide variety of religions; but, from more of an academic point of view, as opposed to some kind of fancied-up sermon.  This book looks like it's going to prove quite useful in meeting that end.

Most of the stuff that's covered is mostly: colors, letters, a few simple words, phonetic sounds, etc. - essentially the same stuff you might find in a secular preschool/kindergarten workbook from LeapFrog or some similar manufacturer, EXCEPT that it's down with a Wiccan/Pagan theme .  They do have some fun, earth-centered religion songs which are supposed to be sung to familiar childhood tunes (i.e. "ring around the rosy").

Unfortunately, my kids are a little too old to get maximum enjoyment, education, or interest from the workbook, but they are certainly having fun with the singing, and just coloring the pages, using the practice sheets, putting their own spin on the material, etc.

I would absolutely recommend this book to all Pagan/Wiccan/New Age/Earth-Centered parents who have small children at home, just starting to learn their alphabet and colors, and so on.  Even if you don't believe in absolutely EVERYTHING that's in the book, it's easy to tweak if you want to, or to use as an excellent opportunity to discuss the vast array of spiritualities that are included in the Pagan/Wiccan paths.