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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Favorite How to Homeschool Books

This is Part two in my series on how to start homeschooling. In this list I will be putting my favorite books to read about homeschooling, except I will not be including the Charlotte Mason books. I will leave those for my next post which will be about all things Charlotte Mason. Sorry Paulina... you will have to wait for sometime later I don't know when. We have vacation next week so I don't know if I will get it done. I will try!

Each book is linked to one place where you can purchase it... see it. You should of course see if your library has any of these first. Read it for free and see if you think it is worth investing in a copy for yourself. Most of these I have read numerous times and have had my children read as part of their Educational Foundations course for High School. A how-to-homeschool course I make them take so they will understand homeschooling better and will be prepared ahead to homeschool their kids. You can of course look where you usually buy homeschool supplies and might find them there. You can also look for used copies on Amazon or on eBay/Half.com

Also, these are in no particular order... I could not pick a favorite from amoung them... they are all great, they each have particular things that make them special and unique. They are all favorites...so... here they are.

These are specifically about Homeschooling

A Survivor's Guide to Home Schooling by Luanne Shackelford and Susan White. Love this book!! Great chapter titles (check them out at Rainbow). Great wit and insight into many areas of homeschooling and areas of our homes that homeschooling affects.

Beyond Survival: A Guide to Abundant Life Homeschooling - Diana Waring. One of the first books about homeschooling that I read. I have loved Diana and her resources since my girls were quite young... I think Rachel was in 2nd or 3rd grade when we went to a homeschooling night featuring Diana and her kids!! We bought everything she had with her and continued to buy her resources over the years. I have all her books and cd's except the new revisions of her History guides. This book will enrich your life and lighten your homeschool load.

Things We Wish We'd Known: A Guide to Abundant-Life Homeschooling Compiled and Edited by Bill and Diana Waring. Ever wish you could ask veteran homeschoolers how they do/did it? This book has chapters by 50 homeschool veterans and not just veterans but "big names" in homeschooling. It is a big encouragement to new and old homeschoolers alike.

Child Training and the Home School : A Legacy of Grace - Jeff and Marge Barth. This is an oldie but a goodie. Mostly about child raising. They also wrote Old-Fashioned Courtship & How It Works Today.

Gaining Confidence to Teach: Forty-Two Confidence-Builders to Encourage Christian Homeschoolers - Debbie Strayer. This book will do what it says. Give you more confidence to teach your children at home. Whether you are considering homeschooling or already homeschooling your children, this book will help you feel that you can do it too!



Home Educating with Confidence - Rich and Marilyn Boyer. Check out the chapter titles on Amazon by clicking look inside this book - a link just under the picture of the book on the upper left. How can you go wrong with titles like...  "Doing it God's Way" and "Making Learning Fun" ... those are just two of them... check it out.. another oldie but goodie.

Reaping the Harvest: The Bounty of Abundant-Life Homeschooling - Diana Waring. This is Diana's book about homeschooling in High School. High School is the time to keep them home and enjoy all the years of work you put into them... not send them off to public school because you are afraid they won't get into college. Wow! This book will get you thinking and if you get your High Schooler to read this book it will get him thinking. An especially good chapter for teens (and parents) is "Yagottahavagottawanna!" it is all about getting your teen to motivate themselves. There are a lot of great chapters/topics in this book.

Schoolproof: How to Help Your Family Beat the System and Learn to Love Learning - The Easy, Natural Way by Mary Pride. The title almost says it all. Some of the topics include: "20 ways to present a lesson" and "20 ways for your student to show what he knows." One of my favorite chapters is about recognizing and dumping educational clutter.

The Simplicity of Homeschooling: Discover the Freedom of Learning through Living by Vicky Goodchild. This book is especially good for new homeschoolers as it covers such basics as the history of homeschool methods; goals, priorities, and schedules; choosing resources; record keeping; and covers preschool to high school. Great book with great resources and even printables for you to use in your homeschool.

The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook: A Creative and Stress-Free Approach to Homeschooling by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore. The Moores have been around for a long time and have several books they have written. This book is one of the newer ones they wrote. Their first book "Better Late Than Early" was written in 1975.... I was still in high school.  This one was written in 1994. You can see all the chapter titles at this link at Amazon by clicking look inside this book - a link just under the picture of the book on the upper left. This book also has a lot of the basics and is great for new homeschoolers and those who would like a stress free approach. There is also a section written by homeschoolers where they share their wisdom, it's great.
 
Other books by the Moores:
   and more at Amazon... click here

The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12 by Linda Dobson. What can I say that the title does not say.... hmmmm... some of these would be great in workboxes!! There are activites that cover all the subjects and more. That about sums this book up.

Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell (there is also a Study Guide to go with this). At the link above you will find a great review of this book and you can look at the table of contents. We love all the resources the Maxwell's have. They are a great homeschool family and an inspiration to our family. Some more of their resources are listed below.

Homeschool Dad books 
(I have not bought a book just for homeschool dads for my husband for a long while. We did buy the books from the Maxwell's (see below) but we read those together.. they are not just for Dad's)

How a Man Prepares his Daughters for Life by Michael Farris (CBD has What a Daughter Needs from Her Dad How a Man Prepares His Daughter for Life this may be a new version... it does not say... but the first link to the book is the one I own, you can get it from Amazon).

The Homeschooling Father by Michael P. Farris

How to Be a Good Dad by Stephen A. Bly


Other Books Helpful to Homeschool Mom’s covering various topics:





Well that about does it for this installation of How to Homeschool... the Basics! I hope this helps many of my readers out and I hope you enjoy some good books this fall... get to your library or buy one.. and read something to encourage you as you start or continue your homeschool journey!!

Debbie
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2 comments:

  1. RoseSeptember 17, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    Thank you for yet another very helpful and informative post on homeschooling! I will be checking these books out at my local library (if they have them) or ordering used ones online.

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LorettaJuly 31, 2010 at 10:20 AM

    Have you been looking through MY bookshelves? ;-) Looks like we've read most of the same things over the years. (But then, don't great minds think alike!)

    Loretta

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting my blog and for leaving a comment. I love comments. I love to know what you think of my posts and blog. Welcome and come back often. Debbie