Name your TOP 3 BOOKS which guide or influenced your homeschooling methods...

[Alaska Mom]

.. not REASONS for homeschooling, but rather books that have directed or guided you in your choice of methods or curriculum.

 

What are your FAVORITES , or the ones that you absolutely wouldn't want to homeschool without....

[Mrs Mungo]

Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp

 

The Well-Trained Mind

 

That's really it.

[Closeacademy]

The Original Homeschool Series by Charlotte Mason

The Well-Trained Mind and

The Latin Centered Curriculum

 

:001_smile:

[jennyt]

I have 3 I wouldn't be without:

 

Basic Montessori

The Well-Trained Mind

Managers of their Homes - helped me heaps with my homeschooling

 

Jenny

[Mrs Mungo]

I have 3 I wouldn't be without:

 

Basic Montessori

The Well-Trained Mind

Managers of their Homes - helped me heaps with my homeschooling

 

Jenny

 

Oh dear, I did forget about my Montessori books, I do like several of those, I would be hard-pressed to choose just one.

[Lizzie in Ma]

The Well Trained Mind

The Latin Centered Curriculum

When You Rise Up, RC Sproul, Jr.

[CactusPair]

The Latin-Centered Curriculum

The Well-Trained Mind

 

for academics

 

and...

 

Cesar's Way, Buddhism for Mothers, Transforming the Difficult Child;)

 

for being an effective educator/mama

 

 

But can I throw in Sonlight's Catalog as *honestly* my number 1 influence? I had never heard of a literature approach to schooling until this came in the mail. I was enthralled and amazed! Now I wouldn't do it another way!

[Trivium Academy]

At first it was:

1. The Well-Trained Mind

2. The Top 100 Picks for Homeschool Curriculum (Duffy),

3. The 3R's by Ruth Beechick.

 

Now 2 years later it's:

 

1. Original Homeschooling Series by Charlotte Mason (also Levison's CM titles)

2. Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp

3. The Educated Child by William Bennett

[LoveBaby]

Gosh...I've read tons of them, but keep coming back to:

 

1) Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson

2) Charlotte Mason Companion

3) Managers of Their Home

[JFSinIL]

Just the WTM book.

AND - would these boards count???? ;)

[Geek]

These have influenced me the most:

 

1) The Sonlight catalog and forums

2) WTM

3) Successful Homeschool Family Handbook (the Moores)

[rjperez1]

Charlotte Mason Companion

For the Children's Sake

What is a Family?

The Well Trained Mind

Teaching Montessori in the Home

 

A hodgepodge of methods, I know, but I needed the big picture. I took what I wanted from each and really love CM.

[TwinMominTX]

1. Well-Trained Mind - as a very specific how to book.

 

2. Echo in Celebration: A Call to Home Centered Education - as a motivating book that made me realize just how important it is to get the fundamentals down and that all doesn't have to be fun.

 

3. Carry on Mr. Bowditch - this was so inspirational to me. I want my kids to have the desire to learn just like Nat Bowditch. I simply love this book!

[Jenny in Atl]

For early ed. You Are Your Child's First Teacher.

 

The Well Trained Mind and LCC of course!

 

And Everyday Blessings

[cajun.classical]

The top 3 picks that have shaped our homeschool are : The Original Homeschooling Series by Charlotte Mason, The Latin-Centered Curriculum, and When You Rise Up by RC Sproul Jr. This last title convicted me of my academic pride and reminded that Character-training needed to be an essential part of homeschooling. I've also been greatly influenced by the work of the Circe Institute, but that's mostly lectures, not books.

 

I can't believe I forgot Norms and Nobility. Throw that in there too.

[Kris in Wis]

Well Trained Mind

Charlotte Mason Companion

Homeschooling the Teen Years - Cafi Cohen

You Can Teach Your Child Successfully - Beechick

 

I also really liked Diana Waring's two books, Beyond Survival and Reaping the Harvest.

[nutmeg]

WTM

Educating the WholeHearted Child

Charlotte Mason Companion

[danielle]

Well Trained Mind

The Paideia Program and other writings by Mortimer Adler

All books by David Albert: And the Skylark Sings With Me, etc. (I read them all one after the other, so can I count them as one, pretty please?)

Danielle

[JudoMom]

TWTM and Latin Centered Curriculum are the top two (and the only 2 I own). On my list to buy is Deconstruction Penguins--it really impacted how I plan on handling literature this year.

[Starr]

The Well Trained Mind

 

I don't remember how I found it but it's been with me from the beginning.

[Jami]

Norms and Nobility by David Hicks

The Latin-Centered Curriculum by A. Campbell

Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series (in a three-way tie with my Circe CD collection and Memoira Press Classical Teacher articles)

[Julesnpebbles@suddenlink.]

Well-Trained Mind - For the numerous ideas and excellent advice

 

Teaching the Trivium - For the Christian focus and reminder of why I'm doing this!

[laylamcb]

I found TWTM first, before I'd even considered homeschooling. That clinched it for me, right there. So, like Jessica, my thinking on homeschooling and my direction has changed over time. My initial list would've been:

 

1. TWTM

2. Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning

3. The Paideia of God

 

Now, my list would be:

 

1. LCC 1

2. LCC 2 (really, I have found both iterations very helpful, in very different ways)

3. Climbing Parnassus

[Jami]

I found TWTM first, before I'd even considered homeschooling. That clinched it for me, right there. So, like Jessica, my thinking on homeschooling and my direction has changed over time. My initial list would've been:

 

1. TWTM

2. Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning

3. The Paideia of God

 

Now, my list would be:

 

1. LCC 1

2. LCC 2 (really, I have found both iterations very helpful, in very different ways)

3. Climbing Parnassus

 

I probably should have made two lists too. :001_smile: My first list would have looked yours Layla. And my second too. I would have put Norms and Nobility on both lists though, since I read it after it was quoted in TWTM.

 

Jami

[dragons in the flower bed]

Susan Schaeffer McCaulay's For the Children's Sake

Andrew Campbell's The Latin-Centered Curriculum

SWB's The Well-Trained Mind

[cajun.classical]

I would have put Norms and Nobility on both lists though, since I read it after it was quoted in TWTM.

 

Jami

 

Oh rats! I knew I was forgetting something. I left Norms and Nobility off! I'm going back and editing my list!:D

[EKS]

The Well Trained Mind. That's really it.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

Karen Andreola's Charlotte Mason Companion

 

John Holt's Teach Your Own and How Children Fail

 

John Taylor Gatto's Dumbing Us Down and The Underground History of American Education

 

Ideas and observations from these books keep me going on the difficult days.

[AudreyTN]

When I was beginning: The Well Trained Mind. I loved having someone tell me what to do. Then as I became more comfortable with what I was doing I started getting away from it more.

 

Now I'd have to say:

1. Ruth Beechick (3R's, Biblical Home Education, You can teach your child successfully)

2. A Charlotte Mason Education

3. Charlotte Mason Companion

 

Though I still think it's very important for my kids to learn Latin! :D

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

The Well-Trained Mind

Charlotte Mason Companion

The Educated Child

 

I have however loaned out Duffy's Top 100 Picks for Homeschool Curriculum until it finally disappeared. It was helpful at the beginning to see if my husband and I were on the same track with what we were trying to accomplish.

[sweetbaby]

Initially, WTM followed by

The CM Companion

A CM Education

CM Series in Modern English

[Ellie]

and all of John Holt's other books.

[sagira]

Ah, just three? :D

 

The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling

The Charlotte Mason Companion

When Children Love to Learn

[Sahamamama]

It's still evolving, more along the lines of authors, rather than books. When I'm trying to hear an author's voice, I read at least 2-3 works by that writer, if they've written that much. Here are the authors who've gone into the stew pot and (so far) stayed there, simmering...

 

1. Susan Wise Bauer/Jessie Wise (The Tried & True-Oh Duo -- BTDT, 2nd Generation HSers, Tested)

• The Well-Trained Mind
  
• SWB's blog
  
• The WTM website articles
  
• The Well-Educated Mind

2. John Taylor Gatto (The Lone Ranger/Stranger/Danger, depending on how you look at it. Go, John!). When it first came out (1988), I read Cultural Literacy by E. D. Hirsch. If you thought THAT was disturbing, try reading Gatto! He shakes me up! Besides, I know that what he says is true. I've worked in pses and have tutored PS kids, and let me tell you... I've had 5th graders stare at me when I mentioned the word "noun." Response: "Is that the thing with the E?" Shudder. What is a noun?

• Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
  
• The Exhausted School (I worked in one of those!)
  
• The Underground History of American Education

3. Tracy Lee Simmons/Andrew Campbell/Cheryl Lowe (3 peas in a pod?)

• Climbing Parnassus (Simmons)
  
• The Latin-Centered Curriculum (Campbell) -- still reading/digesting
  
• Memoria Press articles (Lowe)

[St. Theophan Academy]

Latin Centered Curriculum, Educating the Whole-Hearted Child, WTM

[AmeliaBinMO]

It is difficult to name only three, but at this point, I'd say:

 

TWTM

Cafi Cohen's books

Cathy Duffy's books

 

AND -- as other's have said, these boards have been an invaluable tool as well! :) Thank you!!!!

[LaMere Academy]

The Well Trained Mind

A Charlotte Mason Companion

The Relaxed Homeschooler

[Heather in Neverland]

The Underground History of American Education

The Well-Trained Mind

Latin-Centered Curriculum

[iquilt]

Thank you to everyone who has posted on this thread. I thought I had read a lot, but looks like I've only just begun!

[prairiegirl]

When I first came to homeschooling, I read TWTM. That book set the path for how I wanted to teach my children. Since then, I have read books that have fleshed out that path. Those books are:

 

Climbing Parnassus

LCC

Norms and Nobility

Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss--when looking at this list, this book sticks out like a sore thumb as it is CM-inspired but it helped me to relax regarding my expectations.

[Patricia in WA]

1. Well Trained Mind

2. Well Trained Mind

3. Well Trained Mind

 

I read this when dd was 3 and it just hit such a cord with me. I have read others and while I like some Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick ideas, I always go with WTM as my guide. LCC is also a good fit but then not as much as WTM. I don't follow the curriculum suggestions as outlined because we are secular and many recommendations just did not fit but overall we are WTMers to the core.

[Carrie12345]

1. TWTM

2. A Nation Deceived

3. The local public school's curriculum outline.

 

To be fair, #3 isn't a book, and I used it to determine how *not* to homeschool. But it was still very enlightening.

[WTMindy]

.. not REASONS for homeschooling, but rather books that have directed or guided you in your choice of methods or curriculum.

 

What are your FAVORITES , or the ones that you absolutely wouldn't want to homeschool without....

 

The Well Trained Mind.

 

That's really all. I have enjoyed reading others, but this is the only one that has dramatically helped me.

[JaneNickerson]

The Well-Trained Mind (Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise)

Charlotte Mason Companion (Karen Andreola)

Managers of Their Homes, Managers of Their Chores (Steven and Teri Maxwell)

[Mama Lynx]

The Latin-Centered Curriculum

The Well-Trained Mind

 

Hmmmm ... those are the only ones I consult all the time ... perhaps I'd add "Climbing Parnassus," but that's not really a homeschooling book. It does continue to provide inspiration, though.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

Creative Homeschooling: A Guide for Smart Families

Well Trained Mind

 

I am about to get my hands on Thomas Jefferson Education. From what I have heard about it, I think I will enjoy it.

[Plaid Dad]

Climbing Parnassus

The Great Tradition

The Ratio Studiorum

 

These are not directed related to homeschooling, but all point to a particular approach to education that I embrace.

[Beth in Central TX]

My top three:

 

Climbing Parnassus

Norms & Nobility

A Thomas Jefferson Education

[ABQmom]

The Well-Trained Mind

The Charlotte Mason Companion

Educating the Whole Hearted Child

[Merry]

For the Children's Sake

Survivor's Guide to Homeschooling

Mary Pride's Big Book of Home Learning

 

I discovered The Well Trained Mind late when my oldest children were already in high school and I enjoyed seeing that many of my curriculum picks and methods are similar to those recommended by Susan. And I learned so much from you gals on this board.