Fascinating Womanhood Teacher’s Meeting in San Francisco, September 1971
Mrs. Andelin is in the front row in a white dress trimmed in black.
I taught Fascinating Womanhood classes before I ever thought of writing a book on the subject. I will never forget the special feeling in those early classes in Fresno, California. Women came into my classes from all walks of life, all religions, races and cultures, but they all had one thing in common: They were hungering and thirsting for truth. They wanted to know how to turn their marriages into love affairs, as I had claimed in previous classes.
This phenomenal claim was getting around town by now.
There are a few other things we had in common in those large classes, numbering, 170 by now. Although different in religion and culture, we had common problems, common needs and heartfelt desires – we wanted to be loved and we wanted to succeed in our career in the home. We might as well admit it, ladies. Women the world over want to be loved and cherished.
These common problems, needs and heartfelt desires created one more thing we had in common. We all felt a strength from one another. We may have felt alone before the class, but we soon began to feel a bond to one another. Women we had never met before became close allies and friends and were quick to talk to each other and help each other.
As my classes expanded the teaching program expanded. In the early stages of FW I was invited to give a three day seminar in Los Angeles, California.
Twenty women attended and out of the twenty, seven wanted to become teachers. Their classes were large and very successful. This only further proved to me that it was not my special skill in teaching that made my classes successful. It was what I was teaching – knowledge women were desperately in need of. In 1975 and 1976 we had over 700 volunteer teachers. Many taught in churches. Some were minister’s wives. They were remarkably good teachers and reached thousands across the nation.
The classes began to be widespread. The main thing that brought this about was the Parker Chiropractric Seminars, held every two months across the nation. The doctors of this profession and usually their wives, came from every state in the nation and many foreign countries. Dr. Jim Parker invited me to teach the first Fascinating Womanhood class. Because I was too busy to continue he invited some of my best teachers to replace me. The phenomenal thing about the Parker Seminars were that the ladies who attended the classes went home to their various states and countries and carried the message to far distant places, many becoming teachers themselves.
Now our Times have changed and we do not have the large numbers of volunteer teachers we had in the past. Unfortunately many women are trapped into working outside the home to help their husbands provide the income and we have to adapt to this situation. We will adapt in the following ways:
Online Classes: During the past two years Sandy Schindler, one of our authorized Fascinating Womanhood teachers has organized and taught many online classes. She is an excellent teacher, helping women more fully understand and apply the concepts taught in the book. She has trained two other women to be her assistant teachers, and has recruited several mentors to give special help to those in need. The program works by the teacher presenting a written lesson followed by a discussion between the teacher and her students, and the students with each other. The teacher does not stay online all week, but she leaves the program on so the students can discuss their problems and success with each other and seek help from their mentors. This fills a tremendous need for women to connect to other women with the same problems and needs, and to feel strength from one another. For more information about this online program, click on the button at the bottom of this home page.
Offline Monthly Meetings: We will continue our eight to twelve week courses as before but in addition will initiate monthly meetings in local areas, where women can meet to find strength from one another, can associate with women who believe the same as they do. The meeting will consist of a brief FW message, a period of discussion followed by a period of socializing. The only requirements for attending the monthly meetings will be to have read the book and believe in its principles. We would like for the monthly meetings to take place very quickly. If you would like to be a group leader please notify us and we will put you on a list to receive instructions as soon as they are complete. And now for our monthly message:
Helping Your Husband Succeed Financially
The burden of finances falls to your husband but there are ways you can help, not by going to work to increase your income but in ways that are far more effective. In fact, you may well be the key to your husband’s financial success or failure, depending on how you handle yourself in finances. You can help in the following ways.
1) Help him emotionally: A man will reach greater financial success in his work if he is functioning well emotionally. If he is happy in his emotional life, especially if he is happy in his marriage and truly loves his wife, there is not much of anything he can’t do. It is amazing what truly loving a woman can do for a man. I recently watched an old movie with Ronald Coleman and Signe Hasso. In the movie, called A Double Life, Ronald Coleman played the part of a great actor and in the course of events made this remark: “When I married Britta, that is when I really wanted to be a great actor.”
Or you can put this subject in the negative. Just as a woman can help a man succeed financially by making him happy, she can break him by making him unhappy. I recall a TV interview many years ago on the Phil Donahue show before he became famous. As I was being interviewed a man from the audience arose and made an impressive comment. He was, at the time, the personal manager for a large equipment company in Chicago. He said, “Just this past month I had to let seven of my best managers go due to marriage problems. They just could not function adequately on the job”.
So, if you want your husband to succeed financially, cultivate a happy marriage by living all of Fascinating Womanhood. In addition, provide a peaceful home atmosphere where he can return from a days work and be renewed in body and spirit. Don’t great him with a lot of problems. Let the problems take care of themselves. They usually do. And keep these three FW maxims in mind: 1) Don’t be a slave to him, be a queen. 2) Instead of making him over, try making him happy. 3) Let the man make the living and you make life worth living.
2. Reduce Expenses: The wife can also help with money management, or by acquiring The Womanly Art of Thrift. Here, again, the woman can be the key to a man’s financial success or failure. I have known families where the husband made only a modest income but the family lived in comfort because the wife managed her part of the money well. In contrast, I have know other families where the husband made a large income but the family was always in financial difficulty because the wife did not know how to handle household money. Not always is the woman at fault, but she can be a tremendous help in cutting expenses. Here are four vital areas where financial managing can mean the success or failure of finances in a family.
Housing: The major cost in a family is usually the home. The home should not be more than the family can afford but on the other hand, it should not be less than they can afford. Look at our schools and our churches. They are usually well built, well furnished with adequate equipment installed and working. And yet the home is greater place of learning than a school and a greater place to instill spiritual values than a church. Reach a happy balance, but don’t put so much into the home that you invite intolerable worry that would destroy the peaceful atmosphere in your home.
The next step is to get your home paid off as soon as possible. This is an exceedingly wise step, as it will save tremendous amounts of money in interest. Even when interest rates are high, such as 8 ½ percent, if you have a $30,000 mortgage on a 30 year plan, if you pay an extra $65 per month you would save $30,000 in interest. And your home would be paid for at a time when the family needs money for college educations and other expenses that come with teenage children.
Home Furniture and Decorating: Home furniture and decorating can be tremendously expensive. Cutting down on home décor can be the means of paying off the mortgage sooner. Careful thought and study of ways to furnish a home on very little will pay tremendous dividends in the financial success of the family.
Car expense: Some financial advisors instruct their clients with money problems to sell one car, and have found that this alone will solve the major problems. You may think you cannot get by with one car but financial advisors say in almost every case you can - by car pools, public transportation, eliminating non-essential activities and when urgent, calling a taxi.
Reducing car expense is another thing to think about. Ask your husband to help you estimate how much it costs in car expense to go to the grocery store or shopping mall. Organizing these trips to a minimum can be a sizable saving.
Food Expenses: Let it be said in a few words that you can achieve a high quality, nutritious diet at a low cost by gaining a proper knowledge of foods. Whole grains, legumes and seeds are much superior in nutritive value than meats and dairy products and at a fraction of the cost. Even nuts provide more for the money than expensive cuts of meat. And although fruits are expensive, they are not as costly as ice cream.
Note: There is a general concern that a diet low in meats and dairy products will not provide sufficient protein for health. The magical answer to this is that when beans and corn, or beans and rice are served at the same meal, they combine to make a complete protein. I think the same is true of legumes and corn or legumes and rice, but I am not exactly positive of this.
Little Expenses: “Beware of little expenses. A small leak can sink a very large ship.“ Benjamin Franklin.
Monthly Assignment: If your husband seems burdened with financial concerns help him by filling his emotional needs. On a small card write the three maxims that will help you do so: 1) Don’t be his slave, be his queen. 2) Instead of trying to make him over, try making him happy. 3) Let him make the living. You make life worth living.
Comments from Grateful Students:
“My husband was an alcoholic for 41 years. Today is one whole month of sobriety for him. And how I’m praising God for that! You can never begin to know and appreciate the unhappiness that has been erased in lives and marriages through the God-given truths of your books. Thank you so much for what their truths have meant in our home and the miracles that have been performed by working their principles.”
From Sandy Schindler’s class: “This class has renewed my faith in my femininity. All of you have given me different perspectives to think about and see that there are many ways to live this path. Through hardship and trials each of you have stood firmly and FW has made the difference in each situation. I feel more determined than ever to make this a way of life. Something I might have given up on a few times had I not had this constant chorus of testimonies and triumphs. It is such a lonely world out there and with so few women who are on this path. It has helped me tremendously just to be a part of this class.”
From Sandy Schindler’s class: “Some of the areas that especially touched me were the three A’s (accept, admire, appreciate him) Make Him Number One and Inner Happiness. If I had to choose the most important it would be: I hold the keys to my own happiness. Regardless of what circumstances surround me, it is my choice whether to be happy or not. I’m choosing to be happy. Some of the benefits I am receiving are a more attentive, loving husband, a more orderly household, a happier me and a reminder that I am doing the most important job in the world. Thank you Fascinating Womanhood, Sandy and classmates. I have been encouraged to look deep within and I will never be the same!
Fascinating Womanhood Online Class
