2011 February
Making the Case for Educating Ourselves
There are two sides to the issue. One side says that we shouldn’t burden new homeschoolers with educational models. That we shouldn’t encourage them to formulate a philosophy because their philosophy will formulate itself after they have homeschooled for some length of time. Better to just let them jump in and make corrections as they go. At the base of this argument is a focus on encouraging new homeschoolers to find their own way by not burdening them with what can be an overwhelming number of decisions at the very beginning of their homeschool journey. Certainly there are those who will turn back after feeling overwhelmed at the realization of what they do not yet know, amid the pressure to “first do no harm” to their children.
But there is another side of the coin.
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The Well-Trained Mind
Jessie Wise taught three children at home from elementary school through high school; all three completed college degrees and two also completed graduate degrees – including Susan Wise Bauer. Drawing on their combined teaching, homeschool and educational experiences, they have co-authored The Well-Trained Mind, now in its third edition.
The authors begin by providing a detailed picture of classical education in the home.
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Unit Studies Made Easy
This new updated version of How to Create Your Own Unit Study includes three other books: The Unit Study Idea Book, For the Love of Reading, and Success with Unit Studies. (The following review refers to the original How to Create Your Own Unit Study.)
This book can act as our guide as we pull together our own unit studies. From the detailed outline at the beginning to the “Guide to the Reference Section of the Children’s Department of the Public Library” at the end, Valerie Bendt has written a book to which we will refer over and over.
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Things We Wish We’d Known
As the years go by and schedules are worked and re-worked, materials are considered and re-considered, it is easy to lose focus. Or better said, it is easy to focus on the wrong things. Well this is one of those books to pull off of the shelf every two or three years and re-read for inspiration.
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The Way They Learn
Cynthia Ulrich Tobias has a Bachelor’s degree in education, a Master’s in learning styles and is President of Learning Styles Unlimited. Although this book is not written directly to homeschoolers, it is written to us as parents and teachers.
Subtitled “How to Discover and Teach to Your Child’s Strengths,” The Way they Learn serves as a good first source for investigating various learning-style models
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The Family
What makes a home? Relationships! Relationships with each other – fulfilling our duties to one another – and our relationship with Christ. These things truly make a home.
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Pocketful of Pinecones
Like a soothing balm, Pocketful of Pinecones: Nature Study With the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola is just what the doctor ordered. What a joy to read! Brings to mind a time when the pace was slower, and more time was spent developing and enjoying relationships – and God’s creation.
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The Original Home Schooling Series
Like a soothing balm, Pocketful of Pinecones: Nature Study With the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola is just what the doctor ordered. What a joy to read! Brings to mind a time when the pace was slower, and more time was spent developing and enjoying relationships – and God’s creation.
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Managers of Their Schools
One of the things we hope we have conveyed is that among the many ways we can teach, tutor, train and mentor our children there is only one right way – and that is the way the Lord leads us as a family. You will find that is exactly what Steven and Teri Maxwell recommend in their book, Managers of Their Schools: A Practical Guide to Homeschooling.
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Managers of Their Homes
One of the most difficult things to get a handle on when we start educating our children at home is our schedule. There are only so many hours in a day. Along with our duties as wives and mothers, we add curriculum planner, tutor and a host of other duties related to our homeschool. How do we get it all done?
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