Recommended Reading
General Homeschooling
These two resources are all that you need to get started with basic homeschooling. Homeschooling 101 is a guide for homeschoolers with a Christ-centered world view while Homeschooling For Dummies takes a more general and secular approach. I recommend skimming through both, especially while you have children who are not yet of school age. As a side note, “For Dummies” books can be great starting places for many endeavors. We are huge fans in this household.
Please note that this page includes affiliate links. These are all books that I have read and have found to be helpful as I homeschool.
Homeschooling 101: A Guide to Getting Started
Erica Arndt
So you've decided to homeschool but don't know where to start? Don't worry, Homeschooling 101 offers you a step by step practical guide that will help you get started and continue on in your homeschooling journey. Erica will walk you through all of the aspects of getting started, choosing and gathering curriculum, creating effective lesson plans, scheduling your day, organizing your home, staying the course and more! This book is a must read for new homeschoolers who need tangible advice for getting started! It also includes helpful homeschool forms, and instructions to download a FREE planner! Erica is a Christian, wife, and a homeschooler. She is author of the top homschooling website: www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com
Homeschooling For Dummies
Jennifer Kaufeld
If you believe that a good education is the greatest gift you can give your child, you’re probably pretty unhappy with what’s being taught in most classrooms these days. If you think that education should do more than just train kids to take standardized tests, that it should build their critical thinking skills, enable them to weigh ethical considerations, instill a passion for learning, and reflect your core values and beliefs, then you’re probably fed up with the current state of our schools. If, like many parents, you’re wondering whether homeschooling can be the solution you’re looking for, then you’ll be happy to know that the answer is yes–and Home Schooling For Dummies shows you how.
This friendly, well-informed guide is a valuable resource for parents considering homeschooling, as well as veteran homeschooler interested in fresh homeschooling ideas.
Classical Education
There are too many educational philosophies to count! After comparing and contrasting several approaches, our family decided that the classical model was the best m
The Lost Tools of Learning.
Dorothy Sayers
Many cite this essay by Dorothy Sayers, a speech given at Oxford University as a turning point for the modern classical education movement. I would read this as slowly as you find necessary and consider your own education at each pause. She is speaking in 1947 but many of her notes on modern education mirror our present day education system.
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (4th edition)
Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise
This should be a staple in every home educator’s library. This was the second book I read regarding homeschooling and it impacted me so profoundly not only in the way that I educate my children but in my approach to re-educating myself. I appreciate how it lays out a strategy for teaching your children through high school. It enabled me to begin with the end in mind as I worked with my young children. The authors provide lists of recommended curriculum/books for all subjects. At first glance it seems like a long read but I recommend reading it in stages. It begins with theory and then delves in to the practical application of that theory. You will find helpful suggestions for scheduling and time management as well.
Also, check out the Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer. It encouraged me as I set about reeducating myself and reigniting my love of learning.
v2.png)