It’s hard enough to juggle six children, a husband, and a job, let alone writing and publishing your own book, but Wanda Jarchow has done exactly that. Along with co-author Kristi Groth, the Luverne-based mothers wrote and self-published The Pondering Preschooler, a question book aimed at encouraging thought and development in preschool-aged children.
Q&A
What inspired The Pondering Preschooler?
Kristi and I both love question books. One day we were in an educational resource store and Kristi was looking for a good question book for her preschool-age son. When she wasn’t able to find what she was looking for, she said, “Maybe we’ll have to write our own.”
That little comment would not leave me alone. I began to research what was available for preschoolers in the form of a question book. I found question books for elementary school children, tweens, teenagers, college students, young and old adults, but nothing for preschoolers. So, we started writing and before we knew it, we had over 200 questions.
How did you write the questions?
We carried small notebooks with us wherever we went and wrote down questions as they came to mind; while watching movies with the kids, traveling in the car, before the kids got up in the morning, and after they had gone to bed at night.
We wanted to make sure the questions were fun yet educational too. So, we studied developmental standards for preschool age children and designed each question to encourage development in one or more areas. Before we had the book published, we had all the questions critiqued by seasoned professionals in the early childhood education field to make sure all they were suitable.
Were you writing the book with your children in mind?
We both had preschool age children at the time, and I still do, so we were thinking of our own children, but also wanted to make it an easy educational tool that other parents could also enjoy. We tested many of the questions on our own children and they loved it. They wanted us to keep asking them more.
What went into publishing the book?
We self-published the book, so it was a matter of talking to others that we knew who had gone through the publishing process, and picking their brains. As two moms printing this on our own, we had to seek out quotes on the project, because we were new to the process and didn’t know what to expect cost-wise. It was an incremental process, and we made sure our families and work remained the priority. We hope we can inspire other parents who are busy with work and families that by taking one step at a time, they may find themselves realizing a goal or dream they never thought possible.
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