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What is the best homeschooling book you have read lately?


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I'm in voracious reader mode right now and will likely be for a few months because I am in my last trimester and slowing down physically.  I need something books to read on my kindle and thought I would ask for suggetions.  I have just finished the homeschooling, simplified series (except for the orange one because I would have to order it since there is no kindle version for some reason) and Educating the Child at Home by Ella Frances Lynch (which I absolutely LOVED).  What has interested you lately, especially if you have been homeschooling a long time?  

 

Thanks!

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Consider This by Karen Glass.  Excellent!  Perfect for philosophizing about how perfectly perfect this new precious bundle will be educated and nurtured...while you can do nothing but philosophize and wish for that bundle to come already.

 

 

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I've loved:

 

Latin Centered Curriculum

For The Children's Sake

 

 

I want to read:

 

The Busy Homeschool Mom's Guide To Daylight (because I loved hearing her speak)

Climbing Parnassus

Simplicity Parenting

Teach Like Socrates

Last Child In The Woods

Knowing & Teaching Elementary Mathematics

Consider This

Teaching From Rest

The Devil Knows Latin

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Simplicity Parenting is one of my all time favorite books.  I forgot about Consider This.  I'll look into it again.

 

I definitely want to read this one (Hands Free Mama):

 

http://www.amazon.com/Hands-Free-Mama-Putting-Perfection/dp/0310338131/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=07SMVT9PQ8P3R8JTBA8E

 

I will look up the Busy Homeschool Mom's Guide to Daylight

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"The Brainy Bunch" by Mona Lisa Harding. Pretty amazing that 2 18 y.o. got married, eventually had 10 kids, and made a way to have them go to college by age 12. I love that they wanted higher education for their children but didn't want all the drama that goes with high school and the college atmosphere. The oldest is a mathematician, then there's the architect, the doctor and it goes on!

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Montessori's original writings on teaching grammar to "defectives" are interesting.

https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcVFAAAAIAAJ&dq=montessori&source=gbs_navlinks_s

 

Modern Montessori has too many pieces for me and is much too commercialized. I like reading some of her original stuff, though. Like EFL she uses less books, but unlike EFL she is very anti-fiction.

 

I'd rather use books than pieces. I think some fiction is good. If I remember that, I can glean from this author without getting pulled off track.

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Short, but sweet: CM on "out-of-door geography".

https://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/vol1complete.html#072

 

Geographical Nature Studies. Sorry, this is a pdf.

https://archive.org/details/geographicalnat01payngoog

 

"Out-of-door" geography and geographical nature study would come before home geography which would come before elementary geography. There is an awful lot to do OUTSIDE and BEFORE maps and textbooks.

 

I think Yesterday's Classics sells C.C. Long's Home Geography in a nicely formatted Kindle book. And did they also even more recently published CM's Elementary Geography?

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I'm currently reading The Living Page and I also purchased Consider This.  Since homeschool conventions would be too difficult for me to attend, I like to buy a couple of books or CD/DVDs to inspire me each spring.  Last year I watched the All Day Seminar from SCM, but I think it's been replaced with a more expensive set.  I also just finished Catherine Levison's A Charlotte Mason Education...I really enjoyed it!  If you can't tell, I definitely lean more towards Charlotte Mason than classical.  ;)

 

My all time favorite book is Educating the Whole Hearted Child!  It would be inspiring for any style of homeschooler.  I also love reading through Large Family Logistics...lots of great ideas for families of any size!  I also tend to read through WTM and/or Planning Your CM Education (from Simply Charlotte Mason) each spring before planning the next year out. 

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I do have Handbook of Nature Study but it is the big black one.  I find it hard to use.  But I am thinking more of homeschooling philosophy or practical tips.  I am really wanting to reread my Robinson Curriculum Manual (or whatever it is called) but I think I put it in the garage because I can't find it in the house anywhere.  I think I may actually print it out this time.  I also want to look at the handwriting, grammar, spelling, and phonics on there.  I am trying to decide if they would be sufficient to replace Cursive First and SWR cards and Hake or not.  I doubt it, but it is worth looking.  I also want to look at the illustrations to see if  they could be used for drawing and the encyclopedia to see if it could be used for nonfiction reading if the other book they are reading is fiction.  If the other book they are reading is nonfiction then I may allow them to read their choice of classic fiction or I may use AO or OFE  or Veritas Press Literature to guide their selections.  Bible reading I may move to night time instead of school time.  Still thinking, though.

 

And I am still thinking about memory work (when and how to fit it back in our day more deliberately).  I may reread The Core.  I know her third book is coming out this summer.  I am dying to also get my hands on Leadership Education.  I own it on my kindle app but that is one that I really want in my hands to refer to often.  I may read The Student Whisperer too.  I forgot they have TJE for teens.  That could be a good booklist as well.  And TJE has a great booklist in the back too.  I like the list from Teaching the Classics but it is more modern classics in my opinion.  Since I have my books organized by world history/lit, European history/lit, and American history/lit there are usually plenty of good classics on our shelves for them to choose from.  

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I've been reading Mathematics an Instrument for Living Teaching from Simply Charlotte Mason.  It was a bit of a gamble and I only bought it in the end because I was giving a seminar, but it was really well worth it.

 

I'm also in the middle of Consider This.  I have mixed feelings about it, but its probably one of the few really systematic treatments of Charlotte Mason I have seen.

 

I finished The End of Education by Neil Postman recently.  It was an interesting read.

 

As far as non-education related books, I am getting reading to do a spring reading group and we will be reading Sayers, but I am not sure what I am going to be reading yet.  Maybe some of her plays.  I am reading a really interesting sci-fi novel called  Canticle for Liebowitz which is about a monestary in the desert in a post-apocolyptic scenario where people have become afraid of knowledge.

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Desiring the Kingdom was my most difficult homeschooling read, in that makes you squirm a bit and really think about changing certain behaviors. It was worthwhile, very worthwhile, but hard.

 

Teaching the Heart of a Virtue was that book where I just said, "yes, yes, yes." the entire time and then wouldn't shut up about it for weeks.

 

The Living Page was the most knitty-gritty USEFUL homeschool book I've ever read. If you notebook, or want to notebook I'd suggest that one for sure.

 

The Abolition of Man by C S Lewis isn't really a homeschooling book per say, but it completely changed my educational worldview.

 

I want to read Teaching from a State of Rest too, but I'm waiting for the book. I am hopeful that it will be worth having in physical, lendable, form.

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Managers of Their Schools. I found it for 10.00 and was always curious about it since I admire the schedules they use for Mangeres of Their Homes even though I couldn't live that way. Reading it actually convinced me that I need to just hand the kids textbooks/workbooks and be done with everything else.

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Handbook of Nature Study has a lot of general teaching tips sprinkled in there along with the guides for individual subjects to observe.

 

I'm on kind of a kick for bookless learning, but am pretty narrow and specific about how I want to do that.

 

I printed out Payne's Geographical Nature Study and am making a real mess of my copy. Comstock and Payne are giving me some explicit ideas for EFL style bookless lessons.

 

It's a good time of year to be outside and I want to make the most of it.

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P.S. I am also into books about simplifying and decluttering.  I loved The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying (though I found her talking to objects kind of strange).  

 

 

I'd love to hear more about this and how it has helped you!  

 

I've been reading some books on how the brain learns that I have found helpful.

 

Not exactly about home school, but I thought Mindset by Carol Dweck especially helpful.

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.

The Abolition of Man by C S Lewis isn't really a homeschooling book per say, but it completely changed my educational worldview.

I agree. It totally highlights the deficits of modern man. It is one of just a handful of views which have influenced my goals in education. Kreeft has a great lecture on it (intertwined with Percy's Lost in the Cosmos) for anyone interested. (I am an avid Lewis and Kreeft fan. :) ) http://www.peterkreeft.com/audio/13_lost-in-the-cosmos.htm
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The best two books I have read for homeschooling were:

 

The Knowledge Deficit (Hirsch)

Why Don't Student like School?... (Willingham)--IMO awful title but fantastic book

 

These are not specifically homeschooling books, but they revolutionized the way I teach my kids and plan my curriculum.

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I am currently reading Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics.

 

Here are a few books that are currently on my amazon wish list.  I have no idea if any of them are good as I have not read them.  I believe I found them listed as recommendations in the comments on a great blog post about moral imagination.

 

Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination

 

Mysteries of Life in Children's Literature

 

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

 

The Disciplined Mind: Beyond Facts and Standardized Tests, the K-12 Education that Every Child Deserves

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Not trying to side track this thread.  About a year or two ago I remember seeing a thread some where on the forum reviewing a book that talks about the value and importance of reading aloud to your kids.  Does anyone know what book that might be?  It seemed like a lot of people loved it, and would be a great one to add to the list.

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  • 2 months later...

I'd love to hear more about this and how it has helped you!  

 

I've been reading some books on how the brain learns that I have found helpful.

 

Not exactly about home school, but I thought Mindset by Carol Dweck especially helpful.

 

 

I'm not stm but I've listened to the audiobook online and The Magic of Tidying was really interesting. It was helpful to me to look at my things from the perspective of what I'd like to *keep* instead of what I'd like to *give away.* It sounds like a dumb distinction to make, but I know that for me this made so much sense. Why not focus on the stuff you want to surround yourself with and then toss the rest? Surrounding your life with only the things you really really love helps you feel comfortable and content in your space. She goes on to explain the nitty-gritty of how to organize your stuff and different scenarios she found herself in/things she's learned over the years. If you can get over the weird Japanese-y notion of gratitude for inanimate objects and her self-imposed pedestal of perfection pronounced every couple sentences (prevalent in every self-help book ever!), then you can definitely find value in it. I'm not sure putting it in practice will be all that easy with kids but I'm trying! 

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Montessori's original writings on teaching grammar to "defectives" are interesting.

https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcVFAAAAIAAJ&dq=montessori&source=gbs_navlinks_s

 

Modern Montessori has too many pieces for me and is much too commercialized. I like reading some of her original stuff, though. Like EFL she uses less books, but unlike EFL she is very anti-fiction.

I missed this post when it was made, and now I'm wondering what your basis is for the bolded parts. 

 

The Advanced Montessori Method is a description of her work with groups of typical elementary aged children.   She says that she read them many books, both fiction and non-fiction (there's a list of some of the titles), and that they used excerpts from one of the novels for most of the language activities. 

 

I do agree that it's more suitable for homeschoolers than the official "manuals" that are available.  Many of the lessons she describes used special materials, either handmade or purchased -- the pieces have always been part of the method -- but there's still a lot to work with, even if you skip those. 

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The best two books I have read for homeschooling were:

 

The Knowledge Deficit (Hirsch)

Why Don't Student like School?... (Willingham)--IMO awful title but fantastic book

 

These are not specifically homeschooling books, but they revolutionized the way I teach my kids and plan my curriculum.

 

I'm currently reading Why Don't Students like School and I started taking notes. It's really good. Someone on this site recommended it. I also have Climbing Parnassus and The Core that I will be reading in the next two weeks. Next on my list is The Philosophy of Tolkien, The Latin Centered Curriculum and How to Tutor. I'm on a reading kick too this summer :) ETA: I'm also reading Ella Frances Lynch's book on google books. I will have to get the Waldorf and Montessori books mentioned by Hunter. My goal this summer is to nail down exactly what my goals and education philosophy is. I really want to understand the why's behind different educators and figure out how to incorporate these idea's into my homeschooling. 

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Homeschool Supermom...Not!  http://www.amazon.com/Homeschool-Supermom-NOT-Grace-Homeschooling/dp/0975854399

 

I have just finished reading this one.  The cover looks cheesy but the contents weren't (Christian content also).

 

And although we are not really CM I enjoyed (for easy reading) A Charlotte Mason Companion http://www.amazon.com/Charlotte-Mason-Companion-Personal-Reflections/dp/1889209023

 

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I really enjoyed Simplicity Parenting and Getting Things Done by David Allen.

 

I'm going to suggest another nonhomeschooling book:  How Good Riders Get Good:  Daily Choices that Lead to Success in Any Equestrian Sport by Denny Emerson (world class equestrian who is still riding, competing and teaching/coaching in his 70's).

 

While he uses examples that involves working with horses, his premise can be applied to any interest or life in general.  I use his examples with my kids frequently.  His writing style is approachable and the book is really more about how to succeed rather than how to train a horse or ride well.  I think that his subtitle could read "Daily Choices that Lead to Success in Anything."

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Read & Recommend:

 

Called Home by Karen Debeus

The Joy of Relationship Homeschooling by Karen Campbell

Seasons of a Mother's Heart by Sally Clarkson

 

Reading:

 

Help for the Harried Homeschool Mom by Christine Field 

 

Want to Read (I made a Pinterest Board last summer):

 

https://www.pinterest.com/literarymom/books-by-homeschool-moms/

 

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