It's been a long time since I read them, but I remember "How Children Learn" and "How Children Fail" being the ones that I returned to again and again. Be prepared to take your time, disagree with some of the ideas, and put the book away to ponder and digest. I didn't realise quite how much of a schooling mentality I had absorbed over the years; it took me a while to accept an alternative view of education and change my mindset. His views are probably the antithesis of most that you'll see on this forum, but I think there is a lot of value to reading his books. I think the books are especially useful to read when your children are still young and you have the opportunity to make positive changes to how you approach learning.

Nm

I also want to comment on the whole 'flakiness' thing with homeschoolers. I do think there are good reasons why people can appear flakey. It's easy to forget that many homeschoolers we meet are not just new to homeschooling, but new to parenting and new to organising a household and family. It's a whole new bundle of skills that they are trying to learn on the job, often not very well. That inexperience can show up in various ways, such as not being able to get out of the house on time with young kids; not knowing how to encourage good behaviour; evangelising about their methods of parenting and homeschooling (because it's new and shiny for them and they are desperate for anything that works); forgetting appointments because of sleep deprivation or lack of organisation; and appearing rude or distant or distracted, because they are using all their energy trying not to have a public breakdown. Obviously there are some parents who are just thoughtless, lazy, or rude, but I genuinely think those are in the minority. Looking back, there were plenty of times when I probably came across as rude or flakey or selfish or unreliable. It never occurred to me to thank organisers who spent time and energy creating the activities, because I had *absolutely* no idea how much work went into these events. They were so efficient and everything ran so smoothly, that I just assumed it was something easy to do. (Until, years later, I had to do it myself!) I did my fair share of evangelising about every single new parenting method (that I'd tried for one whole week, lol), the new fantastic washable nappies, the new home schooling book or guru. There were also times when I got half-way to an event and the kids had a meltdown and I just had to turn back. I was far too ashamed of my incompetence as a parent to confess to a super-efficient organiser what had happened (and who probably thought I was just another unreliable mother) In terms of wanting to hang out with like-minded individuals, I do understand it. I have met homeschoolers who are obsessed with structure and rules and time-keeping, inflexible about changing a schedule, fixed in their ideas of how others should be, only willing to hang out with 'their kind', strict with their kids (and expecting the same perfection from other children). Their time-keeping is perfect, they never forget an appointment, their houses are beautiful, their kids are impeccably behaved (if a little neurotic) and always always ahead academically. In many ways, these families come across as the "perfect" homeschoolers. Truthfully, I find them difficult to spend time with because their anxiety is infectious, and their kids often don't make easygoing playmates. :). They can make amazing group organisers, though, so they definitely have their place in my homeschooling world! (And I could definitely do with learning some organisation tips from them) I do think there is a place for a happy medium, a bit of give-and-take, mutual tolerance. I'm deeply grateful for all the unschoolers I've met who have diluted my need to control and be perfect, and who have given me an insight into the joys of spontaneity and going-with-the-flow. Learning to be able to change plans, ditch the textbooks for a day of fun in the sun, allow kids freedom to explore and learn without the need for strict rules or timetables, all of these things have benefited our family and enhanced my parenting. I wouldn't have had them had I not experienced the company of such a diverse variety of homeschoolers.

It's wonderful to find like-minded individuals, who have similar beliefs and can offer support because they are following a similar educational path or have similar parenting methods. In the UK, we have far fewer families taking the home education route than in the US, so, while there are special families that we really love to hang out with, we can't afford to be fussy about who attends groups. Sure, the autonomous educators mostly attend unstructured groups, but there are always opportunities for unschoolers and school-at-home-ers to get together. Homeschooling has been an amazing lesson in tolerance, for me, even more than my kids. When an atheist and a Muslim homeschooler can sit together and discuss how best to adapt a Christian curriculum to meet their kids' needs, it shows how amazing it is to be a part of a mixed community. :)

I think it depends if you consider your child to be on the same racetrack as everyone else's and you have a timescale and fixed endpoint in mind. If you consider education to be a lifelong process, to be taken by any path, then, no, there is no "behind". However, I know how easy it is to get hung up on comparisons with peers and other families' apparent perfection. (These forums don't help with feeling like you've got the only chi!dren in the world not studying X at y level.) Kids seem to get where they need to, whatever mess you make of it. Ime, getting overly stressed about being "behind" rarely leads to the desired outcome.

Good wet weather gear and wellies and decent warm coats for winter. Seriously, in the first few years of home edding we spent more time outdoors than we ever did at a desk. The weather here can be a little unpredictable...

You might also want to invest in a good area-specific book on foraging. We also enjoyed "Frontier Living:an illustrated guide to pioneer life in America", which is more historical, but inspirational, alongside "The Little House" cookbook, when we read the Laura Ingalls series.

When my kids were interested in this, we used a Scouting book. It had tracking, fire-lighting, shelter-making, as well as more domestically useful ideas. They also liked any books/tv series by Ray Mears. Bear Grylls was also popular, but some of his survival stuff was rather more extreme than we were ever going to need!

Probably a bit young still, but any of the autobiographical Gerald Durrell series, starting with My family and Other Animals were my favourites as a nature mad child. The original film of MFandOA was brilliant, and funny, if you can get hold of it outside of the UK. My kids loved it from a young age, but you might want to pre-watch as there are some light-hearted teen dilemmas/themes. (There is now a TV series, which seems to be very similar). Also any of the David Attenborough books (the BBC series were always good and most had accompanying books) Other than that, some good field identification books should be a staple on the bookcase. I was the kind of kid who bred butterflies and kept millipedes in a plastic box under my bed, so I totally get wanting to be a naturalist. Ended up doing a degree in environmental biology.

If it's of interest, you can get downloads of Shakespeare - and other - UK theatre productions here http://www.digitaltheatre.com The (very reasonable) price is also listed in dollars, so I presume downloads are available outside the UK.

We did rso biology 2. Some parts were great, some parts weren't relevant to us and some parts were just too difficult/detailed for the age range. I think, in principle it's a good programme, but the experiments are definitely better with more than one child and I did feel as if we were dragging ourselves through it towards the end. The genetics section was good I thought.

This. I also don't get hung up on whether they are reading literature or non-fiction. I had a boy who exclusively read non-fiction. Even as a young child, many of his 'bedtime stories' were from non-fiction books. I don't believe anyone of any age should be forced to read. Encouraged - yes. Forced or coerced - no.

Can I start by saying, I don't know if these count as 'big idea' books, I don't know what ages they'd be suited to, I haven't read any of them yet, and I'm in the UK (so I dont' even know which ones are available in the US), but, if you are looking for some more suggestions, these are a few of the science-related books that have been lurking in my Amazon wishlist for ages... The Hidden Life of Trees: What They feel, How they Communicate - discoveries from a secret world The Secret Lives of Trees: how they live and why they matter The Hot Zone: the chilling true story of an Ebola Outbreak What a Plant Knows: A field guide to the senses of your garden - and beyond The gene, an intimate history. The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks Being mortal: illness, medicine and what matters in the end Guineapig scientists: bold self-experimenters in science and medicine Sugar changed the world: a story of magic, spice, slavery, freedom and science Tools of navigation: a kids guide to the history and science of Finding your way Tools of timekeeping: a kids guide to the history and science of telling time Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are? The Invention of Nature: The adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the lost hero of science The weather experiment: the pioneers who sought to see the future. Tide: the science and lore of the biggest force on earth

This. My teens don't want my company, or the entertainment I try to provide. They simply want to hang out with their friends, as I did at their age.

Thanks, looks like it's a go-er then! No doubt there will be a few new books arriving on my shelf now :)

We don't have a copy any more, but I'm pretty sure DK were rather more 'accurate' with skin colour. I'm surprised that any recent edition of children's bible would show Jesus as white, but I guess some publishers are so Euro-biased that historical/cultural accuracy isn't a priority.

As of September, I will only have one child still being homeschooled. Due to serious burn-out and chronic illness, homeschooling has been bare essentials for the past few years. It has been necessary, but soulless and unfulfilling, and I don't want to continue this way. I need to restore some joy into what we do, but I also need to be realistic about what is achievable with my health and energy levels. I've been looking at Build Your Library. We already have lots of wonderful resources, but they are going unused because, most of the time, I just. can't. think. enough to get us started. I'm coming to the conclusion that my precious energy would be better spent on the "doing" rather than the organising and planning I used to love. My question is: Is it possible to scale down the BYL curriculum and use it just as enrichment, rather than as given? We would probably use it 3 x a week, not 5. (My child will be starting to study certain subjects for exams here and those will have to take priority.) I would substitute our own, contemporary poetry, and might substitute - or skip - a few books if we can't get them here. We have our own maths programme, and art would definitely be more haphazard than scheduled. I have no issue with minimal tweaking. I just need a framework that says "today:do this." I need to make my life easy! If it makes a difference, I'm thinking of the geography year, which is a few grades below my child, but would be appealing to both of us. So what do you think? Thanks in advance. I value the wisdom on this forum :)

nm

In his case, apparently (according to osteopath and then physiotherapist), he has been using the "wrong" muscles in his shoulder to do certain actions, i.e. the stronger muscles have been compensating for the (weaker) muscles that should have been being used. It's probably due to biological/genetic factors in body structure, but the issue has been exacerbated by sport.

Hypermobility, perhaps? One of mine has some mild hypermobility issues in his hands, a problem which only really surfaced once the amount of writing increased. He had some OT, which helped a little, used putty for a while, and he's done plenty of activities that should have strengthened his hand muscles but writing is still difficult. He's also had shoulder muscle issues which weren't noticed until he was treated for a sports injury. He's been receiving long term physio. I've been told that shoulder stability can really affect handwriting. Mostly he types now. :)

Anyone know if there have been many changes to the newer editions of The Elements and Carbon Chemistry? Our version of Elements, that we bought around 7 years ago, has a few errors (which I've mostly corrected myself) and some of the links are dead now. Has anything else changed? I wouldn't necessarily purchase updated versions individually, but as part of a bundle, maybe... (I like the look of Excavating English and an updated version to our free tester copy of Cells would be nice, but, worth it?)

Fwiw, my mildly dyslexic child found it easier to spell out loud than in any other format. I'm the total opposite: I absolutely need to write a word to spell it. He's very much an aural learner. He also plays music by ear. It might seem counter-intuitive, but perhaps it's worth a try.

nm

Unschooled children can still choose to learn their times tables and fractions. Being unschooled doesn't preclude learning these things - or learning anything - at any time. Parents with unschooled children don't stop their children from learning: on the contrary, many are extremely involved in and proactive about their children's education. I don't think anyone here should be making judgements or assumptions about other folks' parenting or educational methods.

I have a young teen, currently undergoing vision therapy, who has to be exam-ready in 3 years and needs catch-up English instruction. We've done a couple of years of English Lessons through Literature and CAP's Writing and Rhetoric, excellent as gentle introductions to language arts, but we need to speed up. We're in the UK. I'm looking for a writing instruction book that covers basic composition, from paragraphs to simple essay/report writing (some basic literary analysis/comprehension would be good, too, though not essential). We need something pared down to essentials, that is quick - and cheap! (The next book in the W & R series is over $60 in the UK!) Writing Strands and Wordsmith are available relatively cheaply in the UK. We have an old copy of Wordsmith Apprentice, but only the last part would be relevant for the stage we're at. It looks ok, but I'm not sure if there is enough instruction​ (?) I can only see small samples of Writing Strands online; the example given 'Think about a time when you made a mistake' would probably have my child in a state of endless procrastination. Is it all like this? We don't need spelling or grammar instruction. Any other options? Most UK materials are designed as classroom supplements, not for instruction. Galore Park is not an option.