Staff Picks
Homeschooling from A to Z
- Laura Rogers
- Thursday, May 16, 2019
Collection
When I started homeschooling twenty years ago, I read everything I could get my hands on about home education. From Montessori to Waldorf, from Charlotte Mason to John Holt, I wanted to dive deep and find out which path was right for my family.
While our educational road has had many twists, turns, and even some dead ends, there is nothing like crafting a homemade education.
Below is a wide variety of educational options to explore. Grab your library card and dig in!
You Are Your Child's First Teacher
Encouraging Your Child's Natural Development from Birth to Age Six
Published in 2012
The Brave Learner
Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life
Published in 2019
"A joyful and accessible approach to homeschool that harnesses children's natural curiosity and makes learning a part of everyday life, whether they're in elementary or high school. Parents who are deeply invested in their children's education can be hard on themselves and their kids. When exhausted parents are living the day-to-day grind, it can seem impossible to muster enough energy to make learning fun or interesting. How do parents nurture a love of learning amid childhood chaos, parental self-doubt, the flu, and state academic standards? In this book, Julie Bogart distills decades of experience--homeschooling her five now grown children, developing curricula, and training homeschooling families around the world--to show parents how to make education an exciting, even enchanting, experience for their kids, whether they're in elementary or high school. Enchantment is about ease, not striving. Bogart shows parents how to make room for surprise, mystery, risk, and adventure in their family's routine, so they can create an environment that naturally moves learning forward. If a child wants to pick up a new hobby or explore a subject area that the parent knows little about, it's easy to simply say "no" to end the discussion and the parental discomfort, while dousing their child's curious spark. Bogart gently invites parents to model brave learning for their kids so they, too, can approach life with curiosity, joy, and the courage to take learning risks."-- Provided by publisher.
Educating the Wholehearted Child
A Handbook for Christian Home Education
Published in 2011
"Whether you are a first-time homeschooler or a long-term veteran, this comprehensive guide will equip and empower you for your journey of faith as a family. Discover the joy of bringing relationship-based, book-centered learning back into the natural daily life of your home" --Cover, p. 4.
How Children Learn
Published in 2017
In this enduring classic, rich with deep, original insight into the nature of early learning, John Holt was the first to make clear that, for small children, "learning is as natural as breathing." In his delightful book he observes how children actually learn to talk, to read, to count, and to reason, and how, as adults, we can best encourage these natural abilities in our children.
The Natural Child
Parenting from the Heart.
Published in 2001
The Natural Child is the instruction manual that should have come with your child. Derek Markham, ecoBrain The Natural Child makes a compelling case for a return to attachment parenting, a child-rearing approach that has come naturally for parents throughout most of human history. In this insightful guide, parenting specialist Jan Hunt links together attachment parenting principles with child advocacy and homeschooling philosophies, offering a consistent approach to raising a loving, trusting, and confident child. The Natural Child dispels the myths of "tough love," building baby's self-reliance by ignoring its cries, and the necessity of spanking to enforce discipline. Instead, the book explains the value of extended breast-feeding, family co-sleeping, and minimal child-parent separation. Homeschooling, like attachment parenting, nurtures feelings of self-worth, confidence, and trust. The author draws on respected leaders of the homeschool movement such as John Taylor Gatto and John Holt, guiding the reader through homeschool approaches that support attachment parenting principles. Being an ally to children is spontaneous for caring adults, but intervening on behalf of a child can be awkward and surrounded by social taboo. The Natural Child shows how to stand up for a child's rights effectively and sensitively in many difficult situations. The role of caring adults, points out Hunt, is not to give children "lessons in life"-but to employ a variation of The Golden Rule, and treat children as we would like to have been treated in childhood.
Homeschooling the Child with Asperger Syndrome
Real Help for Parents Anywhere and on Any Budget
Published in 2004
Provides step-by-step instructions and advice on creating a curriculum for a child with Asperger's syndrome.
How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way
Published in 2017
"A practical parenting program to help build a calm and happy home life with your child, from birth through age six. This guide is based on Montessori school methods and packed with creative activities to help children discover more about their world as well as foster independence, concentration, and respect for others"--Back cover.