How To Homeschool
Homeschooling offers parents the flexibility to choose the best educational method for their children. The spectrum of homeschooling models runs from unschooling, also called self-learning or child-led learning, to a structured "school at home" type of environment. In addition, there are many schools of thought, fostered by educators such as Raymond and Dorothy Moore, John Holt, Maria Montessori, Charlotte Mason, and many other. Explore the different methods and styles of homeschooling. You'll be inspired, intrigued, and equipped with the tools to make the best educational choices for your own family.
Methods
Homeschoolers cover an entire spectrum of different educational methods. On the one end, you have unschoolers, families that believe in self- or child-led learning. Relying on real world experiences, they learn by living. On the other end of the spectrum, you find parents who have "school at home." They may set up a classroom environment, use structured curriculums, and rely on schedules to keep things moving smoothly. And of course, there is everything in between. There are as many different ways to homeschool as there are homeschoolers. Explore the different methods, ideas, and approaches that make the homeschooling experience so rich.
Curricula
There is a smorgasbord of choices when deciding on curricula for your family. It is often trial and error until you find what works best for you and your child. We offer you a complete look at the curriculum choices available.
Teaching Aids
Past the basics, teaching aids, manipulaties, games, and toys can make learning more fun. There are many innovative learning tools and educational games to choose from. We've compiled many of the best here.
Testing
Testing is a requirement in many states. We make it easy to comply with testing requirements by gathering information and resources for testing services all in one place.
Online Resources
Are you looking for free worksheets? Want to find online educational games? Do you need a unit study? Here is the place to find them all. From online lesson plans to reading lists to academic and content standards, you'll find tools that will help you successfully homeschool.
What's Popular
TheHomeSchoolMom Planner
TheHomeSchoolMom Planner is a comprehensive organizer for appointments, school assignments, lesson planning, record keeping, and family menu planning. It is free for personal use and can be viewed and printed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Why Attend a Homeschool Convention?
Some great reasons for attending a homeschool convention, including fellowship, encouragement, educating yourself, and getting to take a look at new curriculum.
LDS Homeschool Leaders
LDS Homeschool Leaders is the official email support group for LDS homeschool support group leaders across the nation and beyond, sponsored by the National LDS Homeschool Association. All LDS homeschool support leaders are encouraged to join as well as those planning to start a group soon. This list provides an opportunity to share information about your group, discuss leadership problems, and find support.
The Well-Ordered Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity into Your Life
Organizing the home is one of those desirable and beneficial activities that remain elusive for many. This practical guide explains the many benefits - physical, emotional, and spiritual - of an organized home and shows how to attain them. Breaking down the process into 50 steps, the author uses her own experiences as a psychologist and professional home organizer to help readers clear away not only the physical clutter but the psychological blocks that encourage it and hinder organization. She ...
Free math Worksheet
For practicing some math skills, there is just nothing more effective than a pencil and paper. These are printable free math worksheets for grades K-6.
Drawn Into the Heart of Reading
Drawn Into the Heart of Reading was developed for use with students of multiple ages at the same time, perfect for the homeschooling family. It is designed for use as an entire reading program or as a supplement to an existing program for students in grades 2-8.
Homeschooling: The Teen Years : Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 13- to 18- Year-Old (Prima Home Learning Library)
The teen years are when many homeschooling parents start to question or abandon their efforts. It's a precarious time, with challenging academics, pressing social issues, and the prospect of college looming. Parents can now breathe easy: this guide calms the teen-time jitters and even offers hope to those just turning to homeschooling now that their child is about to enter high school. With brief "how we did it" testimonies from other parents sprinkled throughout the book, author Cafi Cohen offers sage advice with the turn of every page. A columnist for Home Education Magazine and Homeschooling Today, two of the most respected periodicals on the subject, Cohen has also homeschooled her two children into college. To comfort doubters, she begins with 10 reasons for homeschooling your teenager (work experience, limited peer pressure, and family togetherness, among them). She goes on to devote long chapters to traditional subjects such as math and history, and even gets to those you might not have considered, like driver education. Her suggestions for parents new to homeschooling: decompress slowly, study only one subject a month at first, and read at least one book on learning styles. This approach will save much time and reduce those trial-and-error episodes.
The guide is neatly packaged and easy to read in the same style of its sister publications, Homeschooling: The Early Years and Homeschooling: The Middle Years. A large collection of lists and quick tips offer everything from the top 10 books for teens and the most popular math programs to money-saver suggestions such as joining a local college's foreign-language club and asking for discarded equipment from local schools. The last chapter contains two college application essays written by teenage homeschoolers. It also provides reassuring information about diplomas. Many universities follow Harvard's policy of not requiring a diploma, but if you or your homeschooling support group do issue one, your teenager can answer "yes" to the diploma question on most job applications--a fact sure to illicit a collective sigh of relief from thousands of parents who homeschool their teens. --Jodi Mailander Farrell
Alpha-Phonics
Alpha Phonics is a primer for beginning readers. It features 128 self-explanatory lessons, printed in large, clear calligraphy suitable for beginning readers. You'll find product information about Alpha-Phonics here.
And What About College?: How Homeschooling Can Lead to Admissions to the Best Colleges & Universities
And What About College? How homeschooling leads to admissions to the best colleges and universities, Cafi Cohen.The newest edition, completely revised, updated and expanded for 2000-2001. 48 new pages added - same price as before!
*Every chapter substantially revised to refelct recent changes in college admissions policies, testing requirements, and scholarship availability
*New chapter on college at home and on-line college
*New appendix on study tips for the college bound
*Updated resources and web sites
*Chapter highlights to help you focus on the most important points
English from the Roots Up
English from the Roots Up explores the Latin and Greek roots of words. Many people haven't realized how valuable the Latin and Greek vocabulary is in the formulation of the finely structured English vocabulary of today. Even learning a few Latin and Greek root words gets you hooked and you want to learn more. Why? Because you can move from "what words mean" to "why words mean"&mdashin short, a thinking vocabulary. You'll find product information here.
Pattern Blocks and Boards
This set of 10 simply designed colorful wooden blocks and pattern boards includes 100 blocks in six different shapes and colors. They help develop shape recognition and spatial relationship skills. The contents store neatly in a durable wooden case. This games was awarded the Scholastic Parent & Child's 2004 "Top 22 Toys that Make Kids Think" award.
Living Learning Books - Science
Living Learning Books offers activity guides for teaching science. This curriculum was designed to provide the structure needed to feel confident using a living book approach to education. All of the preparation work has been done--book lists, project ideas, coloring pages, even shopping lists for project supplies. The activity guides provide a teacher planning checklist, library lists, internet links, lesson plans, and more. Level 1 covers Life Science, Level 2 deals with Earth Science & Astronomy, Level 3 explores Chemistry, and Level 4 is Physics.
Idea Book For Cuisenaire Rods At The Intermediate Level
Grades 2-5. Idea Book designed for use with Cuisenaire Rods.
Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work
Maria Montessori is important background reading for parents considering Montessori education for their children, as well as for those training to become Montessori teachers. The first woman to win a degree as a Doctor of Medicine in Italy in 1896, Maria Montessori's mission to improve children's education began in the slums of Rome in 1907, and continued throughout her lifetime. Her insights into the minds of children led her to develop prepared environments and other tools and devices that have come to characterize Montessori education today. Her influence in other countries has been profound and many of her teaching methods have been adopted by educators generally. Part biography and part exposition of her ideas, this engaging book reveals through her letters and personal diaries Maria Montessori's humility and delight in the success of her educational experiments and is an ideal introduction to the principals and practices of the greatest educational pioneer of the 20th century.
The new introduction to Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work by Lee Havis, executive director of the International Montessori Society, discusses the changes that have taken place in Montessori education within recent years.
An updated appendix of Montessori periodicals, courses, societies, films, and teaching materials.
A revised bibliography of books by and about Maria Montessori.
The new introduction to Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work by Lee Havis, executive director of the International Montessori Society, discusses the changes that have taken place in Montessori education within recent years.
An updated appendix of Montessori periodicals, courses, societies, films, and teaching materials.
A revised bibliography of books by and about Maria Montessori.
The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education
You won't find this book on a school library shelf--it's pure teenage anarchy. While many homeschooling authors hem and haw that learning at home isn't for everyone, this manifesto practically tells kids they're losers if they do otherwise. With the exception of a forwarding note to parents, this book is written entirely for teenagers, and the first 75 pages explain why school is a waste of time. Grace Llewellyn insists that people learn better when they are self-motivated and not confined by school walls. Instead of homeschooling, which connotes setting up a school at home, Llewellyn prefers "unschooling," a learning method with no structure or formal curriculum. There are tips here you won't hear from a school guidance counselor. Llewellyn urges kids to take a vacation--at least for a week--after quitting school to purge its influence. "Throw darts at a picture of your school" or "Make a bonfire of old worksheets," she advises. She spends an entire chapter on the gentle art of persuading parents that this is a good idea. Then she gets serious. Llewellyn urges teens to turn off the TV, get outside, and turn to their local libraries, museums, the Internet, and other resources for information. She devotes many chapters to books and suggestions for teaching yourself science, math, social sciences, English, foreign languages, and the arts. She also includes advice on jobs and getting into college, assuring teens that, contrary to what they've been told in school, they won't be flipping burgers for the rest of their days if they drop out.
Llewellyn is a former middle-school English teacher, and she knows her audience well. Her formula for making the transition from traditional school to unschooling is accompanied by quotes on freedom and free thought from radical thinkers such as Steve Biko and Ralph Waldo Emerson. And Llewellyn is not above using slang. She capitalizes words to add emphasis, as in the "Mainstream American Suburbia-Think" she blames most schools for perpetuating. Some of her attempts to appeal to young minds ring a bit corny. She weaves through several chapters an allegory about a baby whose enthusiasm is squashed by a sterile, unnatural environment, and tells readers to "learn to be a human bean and not a mashed potato." But her underlying theme--think for yourself--should appeal to many teenagers. --Jodi Mailander Farrell
Total Language Plus
Total Language Plus is an innovative curriculum focused on teaching thinking and communication skills using literature as a base. The authors believe an integrated system is more efficient than a fragmented approach, discovery style learning is the most effective and learning should be enjoyable. The "discover, do, drill" method is employed throughout the TLP program with activities focusing on thinking skills. These comprehensive novel studies cover spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, analytical and critical thinking, comprehension, writing, listening, and field trips and projects.
Greenleaf Press
Greenleaf Press is a small family-owned and operated publisher and supplier of quality books for children. They are committed to "twaddle-free", living books, and approach teaching history to children using biography and chronology. You will find sections in the catalog covering each major historical period in order, with a variety of biographies, reference books, and historical fiction. For Israel, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance and Reformation there are Greenleaf Study Guides and Greenleaf Study Packages.
Don't Waste Your Time Homeschooling: 72 Things I Wish I'd Known
Traci Matt, a veteran homeschool mom helps you make the most of your homeschooling efforts. She takes a look back at 20 years of successes and challenges, offering tested strategies to assist you on your home education journey. This book will help you learn ways to keep a peaceful home, stay out of the isolation trap, practice self-care, learn how to live with teens, and respond to the questions of others.
Handbook of Nature Study
A matchless handbook for decades, this classic work has been the natural history bible for countless teachers and others who seek information about their environment. Written originally for those elementary school teachers who knew little of common plants and animals, and even less about the earth beneath their feet and the skies overhead, this book is for the most part as valid and helpful today as it was when first written in 1911―and revised in the spirit of its authors by a group of naturalists in 1939. After all, dandelions, toads, robins, and constellations have changed little since then! And modern society's concern with the quality of life and the impact of people on soil, water, and wildlife makes this book even more relevant. Nature-study, as used in this handbook, encompasses all living things except humans, as well as all nonliving things such as rocks and minerals, the heavens, and weather. Of the living things described, most are common in the northeastern states, and many, such as the dandelion, milkweed, and mullein, and the house mouse, muskrat, and red fox, are so widespread that people living outside the United States will recognize them easily. Anna Botsford Comstock very appropriately took the view that we should know first and best the things closest to us. Only then, when we have an intimate knowledge of our neighbors, should we, journey farther afield to learn about more distant things. Teachers and children will find the material in this book invaluable in that regard. Details of the most common, but in some ways the most interesting, things are brought out, first by careful, nontechnical descriptions of the things themselves and later by thoughtful questions and study units. Because the most common things are treated in greatest detail, materials for study are easy to find. Whether the reader lives in the inner city or in the rural outback, the handbook is a treasure trove of information. A teacher does not need to know much about nature to use this handbook. The information is there for the novice and the expert alike. All that is needed is an inquiring mind, senses to observe, and a willingness to think about nature on a personal level. To enter this book in search of information about any common organism, stone, or object in the sky is to open the door to a fresh and lively acquaintance with one's environment.
Learning Adventures
Each book in the Learning Adventures series covers skills and concepts for grades 4-8, with a history-based approach. Each contains a year's worth of lesson plans in a daily format. All subjects except math are covered.
A Reason For® Reading
A Reason For® Reading offers a series of over 100 Leveled Readers that provide small increases in difficulty from level to level. These colorful books feature Scripture stories and Christian value themes. Story Guides include high-frequency words, teaching ideas, discussion questions, and much more.
Great States Board Game
What is the capital of NJ? Where is the Football Hall of Fame? These are just a few of the hundreds of questions players are asked as they adventure around the USA discovering state attractions and landmarks, capitals, state abbreviations, state locations and more. In order to answer the questions on the cards, players must look closely at the colorful USA map game board, becoming familiar with the geography of the country. Players must hurry to find the answers as the mechanical timer ticks. Contents: Game board, 100 Figure cards, 100 Fact cards, 100 Find cards, 1 spinner, 1 mechanical timer, and game rules. Duration of Play: 20 minutes. 2-6 players.
Name That Country Game
"Dear Pen Pal, Konnichi wa! We've been to see Mt. Fuji. Name my country! Sayonara, Michiko." Challenge your group with this fast-paced geography game, created in 1992 by Educational Insights, Inc. Everyone begins at the post office. Players twirl a finely printed spinner (built into the game board itself) to select one of 60 countries. If the player can correctly identify the country's location on the board's numbered map, he or she may advance along the path to the finish. Bonus moves are won by landing on "postcard" spaces, listening to the clues on one of the 40 postcards, and correctly identifying the pen pal's country. (The sample postcard above came from Japan.) A more challenging game can be achieved by requiring players to name the country's capital; answers are provided. --Liane Thomas
Spell to Write & Read
This teacher's manual, written by a homeschool educator with experience as a professional school teacher and private tutor, shows how to teach reading the "write" way. By phonetically teaching spelling from the start as the backbone for reading, all children can be taught, regardless of learning styles, to read and spell. If your student knows how to read already, this program can improve his or her spelling. Find out more about this product here.
Bob Books
Bob Books are organized into sets that progress in level as your child learns. They have cute stories and darling illustrations. These books are perfect for children ages 4 to 8.
Secret of Childhood
Maria Montessori describes the child with warmth and the exactness of a scientist. She also discusses the array of materials and techniques needed to release his learning potential.
100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing The Right Curriculum And Approach For Your Child's Learning Style
The key to successful home education, homeschool veterans will tell you, is determining your educational philosophy and marrying it to your child’s learning style. Then you can make an informed decision in choosing the right educational curriculum for the child. This is the formula for success.In 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, homeschool guru Cathy Duffy can help you accomplish these critical tasks. Cathy will give you her top choices from every subject area, approaching everything through a Christian worldview perspective. This book is a critical volume for the homeschooling community.
Discovery of the Child
Maria Montessori went beyond the conventions of the day to seek a new way of knowing and loving a child. In THE DISCOVERY OF THE CHILD, she describes the nature of the child and her method of working more fully with the child's urge to learn. With 16 pages of photographs.
Writing Strands & Reading Strands
This program is based on research which shows that there is no useable relationship between the study of grammar as an abstracted skill and the ability to communicate. Writing Strands provides quality reading, writing and speech materials for homeschoolers with children ages 3 through 18. The guided exercises in Writing Strands progress incrementally and allow students to work independently, yet provide the guidance students need to sharpen their ability to inform, persuade and entertain in writing. Helps develop successful writing skills for your child’s lifetime.
Bead Sequencing Set
Stack the durable, brightly colored wooden beads on 5 hardwood dowels in sequence to match the design on one of the pattern cards. Builds complex reasoning skills as well as sorting and coordination. Includes over 45 brilliantly colored beads, 5 dowels, and 10 patterns that increase in difficulty.
Rhythms of Learning : What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents & Teachers (Vista Series, V. 4) (Vista Series, V. 4)
In numerous lectures and through teaching teachers for the first Waldorf school, Rudolf Steiner described and suggested methods of education based on the rhythmic unfolding of spirit, soul, and physiology in children as they grow. In each section of "Rhythms of Learning," Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli introduces the reader to lectures on specific aspects of children's rhythms of development and how Waldorf education responds. We are shown how Waldorf teachers must, through their own inner capacities and awareness, learn to recognize and meet each new stage of development in children as they unfold new capacities on every level of their being.
This collection is the clearest introduction to the ideas of Waldorf education currently available. "Rhythms of Learning" contains Steiner's most important lectures on teaching and child development. It is an excellent resource for everyone interested in taking education successfully into the 21st century.
Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents
In this historic first, the director of the accredited and highly successful Seton Home Study School shows parents why and how to teach their children at home, giving scores of practical examples and setting forth the spiritual, moral and academic advantages. The book includes chapters by several experts and covers Catholic curriculum, textbooks, Catholic family life, legal aspects, discipline, socialization, home management, using computers, children with learning disabilities, single-parent home schooling, the father's role, Catholic home schooling support groups, and much more. Also included are the addresses of all 50 state home schooling associations. Perfect for mothers who are considering home schooling - or who want to convince their husbands or relatives that home schooling is a good idea. Parents already know the problems in the schools (both public and Catholic). This book gives the solution! A tremendously encouraging, uplifting and practical handbook. Catholic home schooling may well be the salvation of our entire society.
Beautiful Feet Books
Beautiful Feet Books publishes Rea Berg's "History Through Literature" study guides. They offer fine children's literature, including the D'Aulaire biographies and Genevieve Foster's "World" titles. This is a great resource for anyone wishing to utilize an approach that studies history through literature.
Free to Learn: Introducing Steiner Waldorf Earkt Childhood Education
Free to Learn is a unique guide to the principles and methods of Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood education. The author draws on kindergarten experience from around the world, with stories, helpful insights, lively observations and pictures. This inspiring book will interest parents, educators, and early years education students. It is up to date, comprehensive, and contains many illustrations, including a 16-page color section. Lynne Oldfield invites you to explore Steiner Waldorf kindergartens. Here, teachers and parents believe that children's early learning is profound, that childhood matters and that the early years should be enjoyed, not rushed through.
Topics include:
· How kindergarten enables healthy child development
· What is movement based learning
· Why creative play is so crucial
· How children learn through imitation and rhythm
· When children are ready for school
· How to get support for parenting and daycare
Free to Learn is a unique guide to the principles and methods of Waldorf early education, drawing on kindergarten experience from around the world, with stories, helpful insights, lively observations, and pictures.
A Reason For® Spelling
A Reason For® Spelling combines the latest research on how children learn to spell with all the strengths of traditional programs. It teaches highfrequency base words, plus hundreds of other word forms. Values-based stories set the theme each week and help make spelling fun. You'll find product information about A Reason For® Spelling here.
Easy Grammar Systems
Easy Grammar Systems publishes the Easy Grammar and Daily Grams teaching texts for use through high school. Students use a “hands on” approach (deleting/marking) and learn correct usage and why that usage is appropriate. Review and using information previously learned to teach new concepts help to insure mastery learning. This method is both easy to teach and easy to learn.
RIGHT-BRAINED CHILDREN IN A LEFT-BRAINED WORLD: UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF YOUR ADD CHILD
Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child
Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home
This book is not about "school at home"--it is about something better. It is about Real Learning. Homeschooling pioneer Charlotte Mason wrote with great wisdom about providing young minds with a living books education. She urged teachers to present great ideas and stand back, allowing students to form relationships with the ideas. Elizabeth Foss carries Miss Mason's philosophy from the idealto the real. How does the busy home-educating mom balance the various needs of a houseful of children? How does she provide short lessons and free afternoons while ensuring that her children receive a thorough and well-rounded education? Exactly how does she use living books to teach history, geography, literature, and science? How does she incorporate nature study, the arts, and soccer practice? How does she create in her home an atmosphere of sanctity with Christ at its center, an atmosphere of love in which the whole family can grow in holiness day by day? How does she manage all this and still get dinner on the table? With passion and grace, Elizabeth Foss explores these questions and more. Real Learning is a rich and detailed examination of how to let "education" spill out of your home classroom into every aspect of your family life. More than a curriculum guide, it is a look at a lifestyle which aims to nourish the whole child, the whole family--heart, soul, and mind.
Explode The Code
Explode The Code provides a sequential, systematic approach to phonics in which students blend sounds to build vocabulary and read words, phrases, sentences, and stories. Frequent review of previously learned concepts helps increase retention. Each workbook in this series contains exercises that incorporate reading, writing, matching and copying. The consistent format of the books helps facilitate independent work. This series includes primers—Get Ready for The Code, Get Set for The Code, and Go for The Code—which introduce initial consonant sounds. In addition, Beyond The Code provides a comprehension component introducing basic comprehension skills with phonetically controlled stories. You'll find product information here.
Christian Kids Explore Chemistry/Biology
These user-friendly, unabashedly Christian, one-year science curriculums for elementary students include teaching lessons, coloring pages, hands-on time, memorization lists, review sheets, creative writing assignments, and a supplemental book list. The Chemistry text is intended for grades 4-8, and includes such hands-on activities as making model atoms, breaking covalent bonds, and making gas expand. It also lists chemistry terms, notations, and rules. The Biology text is witten for grades 3-6, although it can easily be scaled down for younger students, making this an excellent choice for teaching all your elementary-aged kids together. The schedule of 35 weekly lessons calls for teaching twice weekly, allowing a family time for projects, exploration of resource books, field trips, etc. The conversational style gives students the basic information they need, making this an ideal first course in life science, especially useful for those following a classical approach.
Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives
For the first time, Basic Montessori opens the celebrated philosophy and method to a more general public. David Gettman has devised a clear and modern explanation of Montessori's revolutionary ideas about early intellectual development, and provides a step-by-step guide to the Montessori learning activities most commonly used with under-fives. These include activities for introducing reading and writing, counting and decimal concepts, science, and geography, as well as activities that help develop the child's practical and sensorial skills.
Considering God's Creation
Considering God's Creation is a creative in-depth encounter with natural science from a biblical perspective. It is adaptable for grades 2-7. This is a large 272-page book that comes with a Teacher's Manual with audio CD.
Happy Phonics
Happy Phonics uses games to teach early reading skills. Simple yet entertaining and educational, these phonics games are printed on colorful, sturdy cardstock ready to cut out. Included is a mother-friendly guidebook which contains details on how to teach phonics and reading, how to pronounce and teach the phonics sounds, how to make your own simple beginning readers, and step-by-step teaching information for each phonics sound. Happy Phonics covers beginning to advanced phonics.
Create! Press
Create! Press carries creative approaches to teaching creative writing and composition. Their products include the Create-A-Story game, Writing Adventures, Stepping Stones, and more.
The Letter Factory Game
Teaches Phonics! The race is on! With two games in one, children play together and learn letter names and sounds with actions and music. Wacky Professor Quigley guides players every step of the way so no reading is required! Games automatically adjust to skill level, to keep children learning at just the right pace! 2 Games in 1: Counting Colors & Letters: Learn letter names and sounds by matching color cards to move around the board. Leaping Letters: Listen to the name or sound and then find the card that matches it! Includes: interactive card reader, game board, 26 letter cards and 4 playing pieces.
A Reason For® Science
Reason For® Science teaches basic Life, Earth, and Physical Science through fun, hand-on activities. Lessons not only reflect the National Science Education Standards, but also feature Scripture Object Lessons. Materials kits contain essential supplies for the entire school year.
Catholic Homeschool Companion
Here’s your one-stop resource for information, insight, and inspiration about every aspect of educating your children at home — written by those who understand it best: homeschooling parents themselves!
Would you like to teach science or phonics better? Introduce your child to Latin, piano, or great works of art? Try new classroom approaches that other parents find effective? In these pages, you’ll find helpful essays from more than forty veteran homeschooling parents to help you do all this and more. You’ll also find wise advice and practical tips to make you a better teacher and your homeschool more productive and enjoyable.
Of course, homeschooling involves more than academics. That’s why The Catholic Homeschool Companion includes essays to help you foster your children’s moral and spiritual development, involve time-challenged dads, teach kids with special needs or in special circumstances, and handle other common problems homeschoolers face.
Are you frustrated trying to fulfill state academic standards or diocesan requirements for sacramental preparation? No problem!
Here’s shrewd advice from parents who’ve fought those battles already. There’s also humor to lighten your heart when the daily grind gets you down, and, for those really bad times when you wonder whether homeschooling is even worth it, The Catholic Homeschool Companion brings you heartening testimony from teenagers and young adults who tell how grateful they are that their parents taught them at home.
Information, insight, and inspiration: it’s all right here in The Catholic Homeschool Companion, the must-own resource for new and experienced homeschoolers alike.
Pecci Reading Method: At Last! A Reading Method for Every Child
At Last! A Reading Method for Every Child offers a balanced approach with intensive phonics and literature-based reading instruction. This is a simple method of teaching reading, with lots of supplemental materials. Get product information here.
Sing, Spell, Read & Write
Sing, Spell, Read & Write is a phonics-based program that uses a 36-step program of carefully sequenced steps to teach reading, writing, and spelling. More product information can be found here.
The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had
An engaging, accessible guide to educating yourself in the classical tradition.
Surrounded by more books than ever, readers today are frequently daunted by the classics they have left unread. The Well-Educated Mind, debunking our own inferiority complexes, is a wonderful resource for anyone wishing to explore and develop the mind's capacity to read and comprehend the "greatest hits" in fiction, autobiography, history, poetry, and drama.
Far from tossing readers into the swarming sea of classics and demanding that they swim, this book offers brief, entertaining histories of five literary genres, accompanied by detailed instructions on how to read each type. The annotated lists at the close of each chapter—ranging from Cervantes to A. S. Byatt, Herodotus to Paul Gilroy—preview recommended reading and encourage readers to make vital connections between ancient traditions and contemporary writing.
Based on the same classical method as Bauer's terrifically successful The Well-Trained Mind, The Well-Educated Mind provides not only a thorough grounding in the classics but also a widely applicable foundation for self-education.
Progeny Press Study Guides for Literature
Progeny Press study guides include vocabulary exercises, comprehension, analysis, and application questions, introduction of literary terms, background information, discussion of related Biblical themes, suggestions for activities related to the reading, a complete answer key, and more. These are some of the titles available (grade range is in parentheses):
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (9-12)
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (6-8)
- Amos Fortune, Free Man (5-7)
- Anne of Green Gables (5-8)
- Bears on Hemlock Mountain (1-3)
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (4-6)
- The Bridge (4-6)
- Bridge to Terabithia (6-8)
- The Bronze Bow (6-8)
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (9-12)5-7
- Charlotte's Web (4-6)
- A Christmas Carol (8-12)
- Clipper Ship (1-3)
- The Courage of Sarah Noble (1-3)
- The Cricket in Times Square (4-6)
- Crown and Jewel (4-6)
- A Day No Pigs Would Die (9-12)
- The Door in the Wall (4-6)
- The Drinking Gourd (1-3)
- Farmer Boy (4-6)
- The Fellowship of the Ring (9-12)
- Frankenstein (10-12)
- Frog and Toad Together (K-2)
- The Giver (7-9)
- The Great Gatsby (9-12)
- Hamlet (9-12)
- Heart of Darkness (9-12)
- Henry & Mudge in Puddle Trouble (K-1)
- The Hiding Place (6-8)
- The Hobbit (8-12)
- Holes (5-8)
- The Indian in the Cupboard (5-7)
- In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (4-6)
- Introduction to Poetry: Forms and Elements (8-12)
- Island of the Blue Dolphins (5-7)
- Jane Eyre (9-12)
- Johnny Termain (6-8)
- The Josefina Story Quilt (1-3)
- Julius Caesar (9-12)
- Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (1-3)
- The Lion, Witch & Wardrobe (4-7)
- Little House in the Big Woods (4-6)
- Little House on the Prairie (4-6)
- The Long Way to a New Land (1-3)
- The Long Way Westward (1-3)
- The Lord of the Flies (11-12)
- Macbeth (9-12)
- The Magician's Nephew (5-7)
- Maniac Magee (6-8)
- The Merchant of Venice (9-12)
- The Minstrel in the Tower (2-4)
- Miss Rumphius (1-3)
- Mr. Popper's Penguins (3-5)
- New Coat for Anna (1-3)
- Number the Stars (5-7)
- The Old Man and the Sea (9-12)
- Oscar Otter (K-1)
- Out of the Dust (7-9)
- Out of the Silent Planet (9-12)
- Ox-Cart Man (1-3)
- Perelandra (9-12)
- Prince Caspian (5-7)
- The Red Badge of Courage (9-12)
- Redwall (5-9)
- The Return of the King (9-12)
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (6-8)
- Romeo and Juliet (9-12)
- Sam the Minuteman (1-3)
- Sarah, Plain and Tall (4-6)
- The Scarlet Letter (9-12)
- The Screwtape Letters (9-12)
- The Secret Garden (6-8)
- Shiloh (5-7)
- The Sign of the Beaver (5-7)
- Stone Fox (3-5)
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (8-12)
- The Swiss Family Robinson (7-9)
- A Tale of Two Cities (9-12)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (9-12)
- Tuck Everlasting (6-8)
- The Two Collars (4-6)
- The Two Towers (9-12)
- Wagon Wheels (1-3)
- Where the Red Fern Grows (5-7)
- The Whipping Boy (3-5)
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond (5-7)
- A Wrinkle in Time (5-8)
- The Yearling (9-12)
Montessori Reading
Montessori Reading is a beginning reading and writing program for elementary aged children. This series of books introduce phonetic letter sounds, phonogram combinations, reading simple sentences, and reading and writing words that name everyday objects, animals, etc. A teaching guide and a child's journal are included.
Greenleaf Press
Greenleaf Press is a small family-owned and operated publisher and supplier of quality books for children. They are committed to "twaddle-free", living books, and approach teaching history to children using biography and chronology. You will find sections in the catalog covering each major historical period in order, with a variety of biographies, reference books, and historical fiction. For Israel, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance and Reformation there are Greenleaf Study Guides and Greenleaf Study Packages.
The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide
This one source book will provide you with everything you need to competently teach geography from Kindergarten through graduation. It is part lesson plans, part idea book, part unit study and part inspiration, with a refreshing, inclusive introduction to the basics and numerous, well-thought-out lesson plans with suggestions for cross-curriculum teaching. There are also many reproducible outline maps and 300+ timeline figures.
Learn how to select appropriate reference materials, construct a timeline, and integrate a student notebook approach. Enjoy the literature unit featuring Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates or the two pure geography units for middle and high school students. Lots of activities, charts, reproducibles, games, flash cards, and the scope and sequence make for a penetrating yet fun yearly study of geography for the whole family. This text is appropriate for grades K-12.
For the Learners' Sake: Brain-Based Instruction for the 21st Century
This proposal for a platform of education reform needed to prepare students for a 21st-century workplace and society draws on information and ideas from two current areas in neuroscience: brain research (physiology and applications to learning) and systems thinking (mental models). Analyzing the history of education methodology over the past two centuries, this book shows how the 19th-century factory model prevalent in schools today fail to produce the kinds of flexible thinkers and problem solvers needed in the 21st century. A comprehensive tour of the brain and details of the most recent neuroscience findings inform a plan to arm today's students with an education lacking in traditional classrooms. Also included are dozens of ideas for brain-compatible activities that can be adapted for use in the classroom.
Visual Brainstorms
Children who love word games, logic puzzles, secret codes, mazes, and math mysteries will stretch their mental muscles with Visual Brain Storms. This set of 100 cards, each of which includes a humorous, full-color drawing, promises "the world's best brainteaser questions." The characters in the questions often have funny names (Professor Pith Bugby pops up often) or faces or dilemmas to solve. The answers and explanations are on the back of each card, along with a related bonus question. Many of the puzzles involve math concepts, spatial reasoning, logic, or sequential thinking, but some can be solved with plain common sense. Here's a sample: "Frank and Helen's annual singles elimination tennis tournament has drawn 18 players this year. How many matches must be played before there is a winner for the year?" Answer: "Every match will produce one loser, and every person other than the winner will lose once and only once. Eighteen players makes 17 losers; therefore it will take 17 matches to have a tournament winner." Visual Brain Storms is a humorous, painless way to improve those higher-order thinking skills. Visual Brain Storms: The Smart Thinking Game is for one or more players. --Marcie Bovetz
LeapPad with Microphone
LeapPad Plus Microphone Learning System teaches fundamental reading and math skills and includes a built-in microphone! Microphone-enabled books let you personalize learning with your own voice, and include activities that help reinforce reading and phonics lessons. Includes 2 books! The first book teaches reading, phonics, vocabulary, science, foreign languages and geography. The second book, What Will You Be, encourages you to explore different occupations while teaching numbers, animals, foreign language and more. The LeapPad Plus Microphone Learning System is compatible with the entire LeapPad Library!
Apologia Educational Ministries
Apologia publishes several science textbooks that are especially suited to the homeschool environment. They are filled with easy to understand lessons and experiments which can easily be performed at home. The curriculum is also backed by a question/answer support system. This set of textbooks is written under the "Exploring Creation" name. There are three elementary level texts:
- Exploring Creation With Astronomy
- Exploring Creation With Botany
- Exploring Creation with Zoology 1, available Fall 2005
- Exploring Creation With General Science
- Exploring Creation With Physical Science
- Exploring Creation With Biology
- Exploring Creation With Chemistry
- Exploring Creation With Physics
- The Human Body: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
- Exploring Creation With Marine Biology
- Advanced Chemistry in Creation
- Advanced Physics in Creation
- Plus other texts
Phonics Pathways
Phonics Pathways begins with short-vowel sounds, slowly progressing to whole words, phrases, and sentences of gradually increasing complexity. Special teaching tips, extensive examples, and 100% decodable practice readings reinforce each lesson. Contains all spelling rules with a spelling index, spelling charts, spelling short-cuts, diacritical markings, and a wealth of inspirational proverbs. The new 9th edition of Phonics Pathways features many new enhancements including a wealth of reproducible games, a step-by-step spelling guide, teacher/student record sheets, a Dewey-the-Bookworm Bookmark and a new carefully-researched appendix detailing how Phonics Pathways aligns with most State Standards. Supplements to this program include The Train Game (to teach letter sounds), WordWorks (a set of cards used to reinforce phonics reading skills), and Blendit! (a set of eleven board games that reinforces knowledge of specific begining spelling patterns). For product information on Phonics Pathways, click here or visit their website.
Great Science Adventures
Great Science Adventures is a series of books that offer a creative approach to learning science. Each one showcases the series' method of using creative, hands-on activities to enhance exploratory learning. Each book contains 24 lessons, with 2-3 lessons completed each week. The unique format contains activities and basic content appropriate for grades K through 8. Perfect for multilevel teaching or if you want to challenge your advanced students individually. Titles include:
- Discovering the Human Body and Senses
- The World of Tools and Technology
- Discovering Earth's Landforms and Surface Features
- The World of Space
- The World of Insects and Arachnids
- The World of Plants
- The World of Light and Sound
Shurley English
Shurley English maintains that effective instruction in English must be founded upon an understanding of how the parts of speech work together in a sentence. A good grammar foundation gives students the skills to improve writing. Grammar is the structure of sentence composition. Through grammar, students learn how to write, improve, and expand sentences. After they have an understanding of sentence structure, students are then able to combine sentences successfully into paragraphs, essays, and reports. For product information on Phonics Pathways, click here or visit their website.
The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric
Opening the door for beginners who seek a thorough grounding in the first arts of human understanding, this book explains the nature of logic, grammar, and rhetoric-the three of the seven liberal arts-and how they relate to one another. In Renaissance universities, the trivium (literally, the crossing of three part way) formed the essence of the liberal arts curriculum. Examined are topics such as the nature and function of language, distinguishing general grammar from special grammar, the study of logic and its relationship to grammar and rhetoric, and applying the concepts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric to literary works.
Five in a Row
Five in a Row provides a step-by-step, instructional guide using outstanding children's literature for children ages 4-8. Unit studies are built around each chosen book. There is a series for preschoolers called "Before Five in a Row," along with other volumes for older children.
I Learn Better by Teaching Myself/Still Teaching Ourselves
This new edition combines two popular books under one cover. How a homeschooling mother learned to trust her children-and herself-to learn in new ways. Covers elementary years through high school. These books are especially good for anyone wrestling with the question of "how much structure should there be in a homeschool?"
The Absorbent Mind
In response to the crisis in American education, more than five thousand public and private schools across the nation have adopted the timeless Montessori Method of teaching, of which this book is the cornerstone. Written by the women whose name is synonymous worldwide with child development theory, The Absorbent Mind takes its title from the phrase that the inspired Italian doctor coined to characterize the child's most crucial developmental stage: the first six years.
A new foreword by John Chattin-McNichols, Ph.D., President of the American Montessori Society, places this classic book in a contemporary context, offering an intelligent discussion of current thinking in child education.
A new foreword by John Chattin-McNichols, Ph.D., President of the American Montessori Society, places this classic book in a contemporary context, offering an intelligent discussion of current thinking in child education.
Cuisenaire Rods Multi-Pack
Grades Pre K & up. An economical way to bring rods into the classroom. Pack contains six sets of 74 rods, six trays with, and Teacher's Guide. For use with 12-18 students.
Diana Waring--History Alive!
Diana Waring--History Alive! produces books, tapes, videos, and history curriculum for the homeschool market.
More Charlotte Mason Education
Thousands of home educators benefited from the practical ideas contained Catherine Levison's primer, A Charlotte Mason Education. Now Catherine takes an in-depth journey offering even more ideas for implementing the popular methods of Charlotte Mason into home schooling. In this concise and practical guide, Levison presents the key points of Charlotte Mason's methods as contained in her six-volume series. A perfect companion to her first book, More Charlotte Mason Education will continue to guide your family down an enjoyable and successful path of home schooling.
A Reason For® Handwriting
A Reason For® Handwriting provides a fun, meaningful approach to developing effective handwriting skills. Each lesson is built around a Scripture verse chosen not only for proper letter combinations, but also inspirational content. “Border Sheets” encourage students to share God's Word with others. You'll find product information about A Reason For® Handwriting here.
Unicorns Are Real: A Right-Brained Approach to Learning (Creative Parenting/Creative Teaching Series)
This mega-best seller provides sixty-five practical, easy-to-follow lessons to develop the much ignored right-brain tendencies of children. These simple yet dramatically effective ideas and activities have helped thousands with learning difficulties. Includes an easy to administer screening checklist to determine hemisphere dominance. Engaging instructional activities that draw on the intuitive, non-verbal abilities of the right brain, a list of skills associated with each brain hemisphere and much more. All grades
Noah Webster's Reading Handbook
This is the historic text (originally called the Blue-Backed Speller) that has been updated to teach phonics/beginning reading. The blends and words in this reader are arranged to correlate with the sequence in which the special phonics sounds are taught. This reader is an invaluable teaching tool for children who need extra practice in the application of phonics rules. Find out more here.
Learning Language Arts Through Literature
Learning Language Arts Through Literature is a fully integrated language arts program that teaches grammar, reading, spelling, vocabulary, writing mechanics, creative writing, thinking skills and more.
Smart Mouth
Ages: 8 years and up; For 2 or more players
Smart Mouth is a quick-thinking shout-it-out hilarious word game that helps build vocabulary skills. It includes variations of the rules for category play and for younger players. Players slide the Letter Getter forward and back to get two letters. The first player to shout out a word of five or more letters using those letters wins the round. The game includes tips for teachers. This is a fun game to play with children and adults together.
The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12
Fun and Effective Home Learning Activities for Every Subject
As a homeschooling parent, you're always looking for new and creative ways to teach your child the basics. Look no longer! Inside this innovative helper, you'll find kid-tested and parent-approved techniques for learning math, science, writing, history, manners, and more that you can easily adapt to your family's homeschooling needs. And even if you don't homeschool, you'll find this book a great teaching tool outside the classroom. You'll discover fun and educational activities for kids ages 3 to 12, including how to:
·Create maps based on favorite stories, such as Treasure Island or The Wizard of Oz
·Make letters out of French fries as an alphabet learning aid
·Explore architecture by building igloos, castles, and bridges with sugar cubes and icing
·Review spelling words by writing them on the sidewalk with chalk
·And many more!
This comprehensive collection of tried-and-true—and generally inexpensive—ideas provides the best-of-the-best homeschooling activities that can be done anywhere, anytime, and by anyone.
As a homeschooling parent, you're always looking for new and creative ways to teach your child the basics. Look no longer! Inside this innovative helper, you'll find kid-tested and parent-approved techniques for learning math, science, writing, history, manners, and more that you can easily adapt to your family's homeschooling needs. And even if you don't homeschool, you'll find this book a great teaching tool outside the classroom. You'll discover fun and educational activities for kids ages 3 to 12, including how to:
·Create maps based on favorite stories, such as Treasure Island or The Wizard of Oz
·Make letters out of French fries as an alphabet learning aid
·Explore architecture by building igloos, castles, and bridges with sugar cubes and icing
·Review spelling words by writing them on the sidewalk with chalk
·And many more!
This comprehensive collection of tried-and-true—and generally inexpensive—ideas provides the best-of-the-best homeschooling activities that can be done anywhere, anytime, and by anyone.
Montessori Life
Designed to provoke thought, professional growth and provide a forum for discussion of major issues & ideas in education.
LeapPad Game - Mind Wars Jr. Interactive Game
Bring a friend and try this brand new way to play with your LeapPad! Race around the board in this fast-paced, wonderfully wacky game. Be the first to close all five windows and you will become the Mind Wars master and learn important 1st and 2nd grade skills in math, language arts, life science, physical science, and social studies!
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
This radical treatise on public education has been a New Society Publishers' bestseller for 10 years! Thirty years of award-winning teaching in New York City's public schools led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders as cogs in the industrial machine. In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of Dumbing Us Down and to keep this classic current, we are renewing the cover art, adding new material about John and the impact of the book, and a new Foreword.
Understanding Waldorf Education : Teaching from the Inside Out
Written by a teacher with more than 25 years of experience, this book offers a jargon-free view of Waldorf schools with their philosophy of the importance of a three-dimensional education. Through learning experiences that involve all of the senses, children use a variety of intelligences to develop thought, feeling, and intentional, purposeful activity. Whether you_re a Waldorf parent or teacher, or you just want to learn more about these innovative educational concepts, this book contains important ideas on learning that you can apply today.
Flip Over Math Manipulatives
Grades 1-5. Tub of over 500 manipulatives includes Pattern Blocks, Connecting People, Cuisenaire Rods, Coins, and Bean Counters and can be used with the Flip Over Math Books. This 49 page book (others sold separately) is written to NCTM Standards and provide hands on activities from basic math skills to advanced problem solving.
Montessori International
Montessori International is the magazine for all parents and teachers. Montessori International magazine is a high quality colour education magazine with a Montessori focus and a truly child-centred approach. The magazine is for Montessori parents, nursery owners, teachers, and students with an interest in Montessori education.
Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler
There can be no greater delight in parenting than passing on the Faith to the next generation. To help with that glorious responsibility comes Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler, a parents handbook to home-based religious instruction for the youngest members of the family. Filled with practical ideas, developmental guidelines, and a contagious enthusiasm for the treasures of the Catholic Faith, this exciting guide makes raising truly Catholic kids one of life s greatest pleasures. Recommended in Catholic Heritage Preschool Author: Kathy Pierce Pages: 176, Paperback Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor ISBN: 087973-392-6
Waldorf Education: A Family Guide
Waldorf Education finds itself catapulted from its humble beginnings 80 years ago into the midst of the central educational and social issues of this decade.
What draws parents and educators toward Waldorf Education today? "Waldorf Education - A Family Guide" offers a "first look" for parents and educators into the history, philosophy, curriculum, and traditions of this unique education. This comprehensive book is a collection of articles describing the world of Waldorf Education - the fastest growing independent school movement in the world.
Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook
A short, illustrated guide to the use of Montessori classroom materials. Describes how to set up a "children's house" - an environment for learning where children can be their own masters.
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning: An Approach to Distinctively Christian Education
Author Douglas Wilson makes the argument that education must have a foundation of religion, which informs worldview. Education is the asking and answering of questions, and learning to read and write is simply the process of acquiring the tools needed to do that.
Pocketful of Pinecones: Nature Study With the Gentle Art of Learning : A Story for Mother Culture
Karen Andreola, renowned interpreter of the Charlotte Mason method of education, has written a unique sort of book in the homeschool world. Pocketful of Pinecones is a teacher s guide the nature study cleverly disguised as a heartwarming story written in the form of a mother s diary. Woven into the story are: More than 100 examples of what to look for on a nature walk, Latin names for the living things to observed by the characters, study questions, nature poems and verses. Other features include: a supplement of selected quotations by Miss Charlotte Mason, an annotated list of books with a nature theme-both fiction and non-fiction, nostalgic pencil drawings. Yet Pocketful of Pinecones is a story about Carol. Carol is on her feet a lot-industriously caring for her family. In her diary Carol pours out her secret worries, hopes, joys, and disappointments. She also writes of the nature walks she enjoys with her children. Her goal is to safeguard their sense of wonder. Together they observe God's marvelous creation and the children record their finds in their Nature Notebooks. Carol reads Home Education by Miss Charlotte Mason and attempts to put the advice into practice. Designed to be a pick-me-up, each chapter is short enough to minister to a mother who has only snatches of time in which to nourish her soul. Carol s story continues in the sequel Lessons at Blackberry Inn.
Smart and Smarter: Enhancing Your Child's Intelligence Through Cognitive Coaching
Smart and Smarter teaches parents and educators how to enhance a child's educational achievement. Specific instruments used by Gardner are the Behavioral Assessment Rating Inventory (BARI), developed by Gardner, and the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children. Both were developed specifically for assessing a child's developmental level and intellectual level. No other book on enhancing the intelligence of children uses both of these instruments, which possess both diagnostic and prescriptive teaching qualities.
A Child's Story of America
This text reads like a story book more than a history textbook. This book has a decidedly Christian bent. Students are given a comprehensive overview of U.S. history from Columbus to the present. Review questions are included throughout, as well as helpful maps. The text contains numerous pictures and large print. An optional test packet and answer key is available.
The Mystery of History
The Mystery of History series is another alternative to traditional textbooks. The five volume set covers history from creation to present day, with a biblical worldview. This series is intended for grades K-8. Note that at this time, this series is not completed.
Reading Made Easy
Reading Made Easy is a phonics-based program, featuring 108 easy lessons, designed to be taught in less than 30 minutes per day. It is fully scripted and has original Christian content and stories. Includes hands-on writing and drawing activities. Reading Made Easy can be purchased here.
LeapPad Game - Mind Wars Interactive Game
Bring a friend and try this brand new way to play with your LeapPad! Travel around the board in this fast-paced, head-to-head game as you hit your buzzer before your friend can steal your question! Be the first to close all five windows and you will become the Mind Wars master and learn important 3rd-5th grade skills in math, language and fine arts, science, history, and geography!
Montessori: A Modern Approach
Montessori: A Modern Approach has been called the single best book for anyone -- educator, childcare professional, and especially parent -- seeking answers to the questions: What is the Montessori method? Are its revolutionary ideas about early childhood education relevant to today's world? And most important, especially for today's dual-career couples. Is a Montessori education right for my child?
Paula Polk Lillard writes both as a trained educators and as a concerned parent -- she has many years as a public school teacher, but it was her enthusiasm for the education her own child experienced in a Montessori school that led her to become a leading voice in the Montessori movement in this country.
Her book offers the clearest and most concise statement of the Montessori method of child development and education available today.
Paula Polk Lillard writes both as a trained educators and as a concerned parent -- she has many years as a public school teacher, but it was her enthusiasm for the education her own child experienced in a Montessori school that led her to become a leading voice in the Montessori movement in this country.
Her book offers the clearest and most concise statement of the Montessori method of child development and education available today.
Beginnings Publishing House
Beginnings Publishing House produces science texts written by Ph.D.-level scientists, with lots of hands-on activities. These texts have a Christian worldview. Texts include:
- The Rainbow is a two-year total science curriculum for 12-14 year-old students, with physics and chemistry taught in the first year and biology and applied science taught in the second. The Rainbow gives your student the theory—the thorough grounding in scientific principles—and the application—the fascinating laboratory exercises, memorable field trips and other extracurricular activities.
- The Spectrum is a lab-based chemistry course for senior high school students focusing on practical-problem-solving skills and scientific reasoning. This one-year chemistry course is done three days a week, one of which is a lab day. It is the equivalent of an honors chemistry for college-bound students.
- Bridge Math is a 7-week short course designed to teach students the applications of math that are necessary for successful science problem solving.
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
Now you can realize the joy filled homeschool of your dreams! This modern classic is written by the homeschool mom who first carried Charlotte Mason's writings to America in her suitcase in 1987. Miss Mason's books were soon republished for a new generation. After ten years of intense study and successful application of Miss Mason s principles with her own children, Karen wrote A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on The Gentle Art of Learning ™. Today's parents can now see what a Charlotte Mason education looks like in a contemporary setting while gleaning from its many benefits. Charlotte Mason's principles of education are not only a way of learning but also a way of life. A Charlotte Mason Companion gives you powerful tools to create an extraordinary learning experience. At the turn of every page, you will meet a practical idea and the inspiration to carry it out. Topics on using good books, heroes in history, poetry, art and music appreciation, nature study, the atmosphere of home, the discipline of habit, keeping up enthusiasm, (to name a few) are referred to again and again by Karen s readers. It is one of the most trusted and often quoted books in the home school world since 1998. Plenty of encouragement, wisdom and gentle instruction await you in this beautifully written and beautifully illustrated book. You will not want to loan this one out!
Learn and Do Unit Studies
Hands on unit studies on a variety of subjects, including science, life skills, arts and crafts, and animals and insects. Also offers free mini units available for download.
Classical Education & The Home School
As we survey the educational ruins around us, classical and Christian education appears to be an idea whose time has come again. More and more Christian parents are seeing the failures of modern education, and they are hungering for a substantive alternative, one that has been tested before and found to be good. Classical and Christian education presents them with such an alternative.
Montessori Method
This book is Montessori's own exposition of the theory behind her innovative educational techniques. She shows parents, teachers and administrators how to "free a child to learn through his own efforts".
Discover Your Child's Learning Style : Children Learn in Unique Ways - Here's the Key to Every Child's Learning Success
It has become widely accepted that not all children learn alike. Some grasp information best by reading, while others learn better through listening or discovering concepts in a hands-on fashion. Two longtime educators--Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle-Hodson--suggest in this guide that there are actually five aspects to a student's learning style beyond the simple modes of visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. Their "learning style profile" takes into account a child's talents, interests, preferred learning environment, and disposition, as well as the three more familiar modes. Written as a workbook, with a series of do-it-yourself assessments, the guide offers parents a chance to diagnose their child's learning style in all five areas. A chart of activities accompanies each style.
The assessments are uncomplicated and almost too simplistic. And the writers convey an idealism that may not fly in some schools, suggesting that parents encourage teachers to adapt to their child's learning style, accepting, for instance, a video-taped report instead of a written one from a visual learner who conveys his talents better on screen than on paper. Understanding the assessments' results and applying them involves careful--and lengthy--reading. Still, a parent who follows the workbook from cover to cover could gain insight into why a child is struggling in school and head off the labeling of yet another "learning misfit." --Jodi Mailander Farrell
MCP PLAID Phonics
MCP PLAID Phonics from Modern Curriculum Press incorporates best practices for teaching essential phonemic awareness and phonics skills with lots of flexibility. Find information on these products here.
Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child
Based on the key Montessori principle that children learn best through active experience, Teach Me to Do It Myself presents simple activities through which children explore and develop their skills. These skill areas include sensory perceptions, body coordination, language, understanding of numbers, and movement. This practical, color-illustrated parenting book is filled with activities and instructions for overseeing children as they carry out a variety of learning activities. Most activities will seem simple to parents, because once mastered, adults perform them automatically. However, toddlers experience a sense of accomplishment and self-worth when they learn to perform them independently. The many activities start with dressing and personal hygiene, then go on to include . . . Pouring activities Threading and sewing activities Peg activities Cutting with scissors Sorting activities by touch A color matching game Making musical scales with bottles and water Using alphabet tiles to make words Growing things in a window box Making finger puppetsActivities are described in detail and include checklists of needed items, as well as variations and related activities for children to try.
TruthQuest History
The TruthQuest History series consists of ten volumes that serve as guides for parent wishing to use real books in their approach to history education. They are full of book recommendations, along with information on the topics of study. There are also writing exercises included in these texts.
Children at Play : Using Waldorf Principles to Foster Childhood Development
Children at Play is an insightful exploration into the world of children's play and its tremendous significance in the shaping of each child's humanity. A mother and proponent of Rudolf Steiner's Waldorf system of education, author Heidi Britz-Crecelius offers practical suggestions and an up-to-date list of resources for today's families.
Freedom and Beyond (Innovators in Education)
John Holt looks at the role that schooling in society plays in education.
Idea Book For Cuisenaire Rods At The Primary Level
Grades K-4. Each 120 page book contains worksheets and has selected activities that cover the major math standards. Each page outlines the grade level, materials needed, settings, learning experiences, and are based on NCTM Standards.
Cognitive Styles and Learning Strategies: Understanding Style Differences in Learning and Behaviour
First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Montessori Play And Learn : A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play from Two to Six
We all want the best possible starts in life for our children, and one of the best possible starts in life, educationally, is the "method" pioneered by Maria Montessori and taught successfully today throughout the world.
Now, Lesley Britton, the leading Montessori practitioner in England for more than twenty years, will show parents how to bring Montessori home. If you would like to facilitate the development of your child's unique personality, make it possible for him to develop to his full intellectual capacity, and help him become socially and emotionally well adjusted, then this is the book for you.
Montessori Play and Learn is packed with ideas, activities, and games that can fit into your normal routine and help supplement preschool learning for your child. For planning your home, introducing your child to the supermarket or the neighborhood, and helping him discover other people and cultures, this book provides valuable tips and insights that help parents and children grow and learn together.
-- Create hundreds of learning opportunities from everyday life
-- Learn dozens of games and activities to help prepare children for mathematics, reading, science, and writing
-- Make your home environment as stimulating for your child as the best Montessori preschool.
Now, Lesley Britton, the leading Montessori practitioner in England for more than twenty years, will show parents how to bring Montessori home. If you would like to facilitate the development of your child's unique personality, make it possible for him to develop to his full intellectual capacity, and help him become socially and emotionally well adjusted, then this is the book for you.
Montessori Play and Learn is packed with ideas, activities, and games that can fit into your normal routine and help supplement preschool learning for your child. For planning your home, introducing your child to the supermarket or the neighborhood, and helping him discover other people and cultures, this book provides valuable tips and insights that help parents and children grow and learn together.
-- Create hundreds of learning opportunities from everyday life
-- Learn dozens of games and activities to help prepare children for mathematics, reading, science, and writing
-- Make your home environment as stimulating for your child as the best Montessori preschool.
For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School
Shows parents and teachers how children's learning experiences can be extended to every aspect of life, giving them a new richness, stability, and joy for living. Every parent and teacher wants to give his or her children the best education possible. We hope that the education we provide is a joyful adventure, a celebration of life, and preparation for living. But sadly, most education today falls short of this goal. For the Children's Sake is a book about what education can be, based on a Christian understanding of what it means to be human-to be a child, a parent, a teacher-and on the Christian meaning of life. The central ideas have been proven over many years and in almost every kind of educational situation, including ideas that Susan and Ranald Macaulay have implemented in their own family and school experience. For the Children's Sake will benefit parents and teachers in any educational setting-homeschooling, public school, or private school. This new edition features an updated cover design.
KONOS
KONOS offers unit studies for homeschoolers, with a focus on character building and the study of history.
The Complete Home Learning Source Book : The Essential Resource Guide for Homeschoolers, Parents, and Educators Covering Every Subject from Arithmetic to Zoology
This ambitious reference guide lives up to its name. Practically three inches thick--and we're not talking large print here--it's packed with titles, ordering information, and Web site addresses. From where to send away for a kit to make your own Chilean rain stick to how to order a set of Elizabethan costume paper dolls, the book connects families to a world of learning possibilities. Book titles, short synopses, authors' names, publishers, and years of print make up the bulk of the guide. Classics such as The Cat in the Hat and Curious George share billing with lesser-known titles like Stone Fox, the story of a legendary Indian dog-sled racer. Every entry appears with recommended ages and an icon that shows whether the item is a book, computer disc, or video; an outstretched palm denotes hands-on materials. Most of the resources seem to have been test-driven by the author and her three homeschooled sons. Rebecca Rupp, a former scientist who has been teaching her kids at home for more than 10 years, peppers the guide with anecdotes about her children's experiences in various subject areas, much of it drawn from the family's extensive journals. Along with books, magazines, and kits for reading, math, writing, science, and history, a considerable amount of space is given to computer and television resources, as well as "life skills," a broad category that includes everything from etiquette and carpentry to sewing and sex education. Like a Yellow Pages guide to knowledge, The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook belongs on the shelf of anyone looking for new ways to spark a child's imagination. --Jodi Mailander Farrell
Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual Spatial Learner
Do you know things without being able to explain how or why? Do you solve problems in unusual ways? Do you think in pictures rather than in words? If so, you are not alone. One-third of the population thinks in images. You may be one or you may live with one. If you teach, it is absolutely certain that some of your students—probably the ones you aren’t reaching—are visual-spatial learners. Dr. Linda Silverman coined the term "visual-spatial learner" in 1981 to describe the unique gifts of people who think in images. They get the big picture because they see the world through artists’ eyes. They remember what they see, but forget what they hear. They’re disorganized, can’t spell and have no sense of time, but they have an infectious sense of humor, wild imaginations and can lose themselves completely in the joy of the moment. A visual-spatial learner created the computer and the Internet, the vivid displays at the Olympics, and the International Space Station. Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner is the blueprint for parenting, teaching and living with these delightfully different beings. It is also a manual for discovering and honoring your own hidden gifts.
Learn practical ways to recognize, reach, and develop visual-spatial abilities!
* Imagination
* Visualization
* Intuitive Knowledge
* Invention
* Discovery
* Spirituality
* Three-dimensional Perception
* Artistic Expression
* Scientific & Technological Proficiency
* Emotional Responsiveness
* Holistic & Whole-part Thinking
* Holographic Understanding
The Story of the World
This book series by Susan Wise Bauer is another that is best enjoyed as a read aloud rather than seen as a history textbook. It is full of engaging stories, mixing facts and historical legends. The companion study guides offer questions, narration exercises, activities, crafts, and reproducible pages. There are also lists for each chapter of supplemental books that are easily found at your local library.
Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 1: Ancient Times (From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor)
- The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times
- Activity Book One: Ancient Times
- The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times Audiobook CD, read by Barbara Alan Johnson
- The Story of the World, Volume 2: The Middle Ages
- Activity Book Two: The Middle Ages
- The Story of the World, Volume 2: The Middle Ages Audiobook CD, read by Barbara Alan Johnson
- The Story of the World, Volume 3: Early Modern Times
- Activity Book Three: Early Modern Times
- Story of the World, Volume 3: Early Modern Times Audiobook CD, read by Jim Weiss
Different Brains, Different Learners: How to Reach the Hard to Reach
Nearly 40% of all students have some kind of learning impairment, yet many go undetected. Finally, a practical comprehensive guide has been written that links the latest brain research with teaching strategies to reach you most frustrating, hard-to-reach learners.
This brilliant new book with color illustrations is packed with powerful tools, techniques, and strategies that can actually help students improve brain function without resorting to Ritalin or other medical interventions.
Jensen presents a succinct overview of the key factors that prevent students from achieving as well as a concise outline for identifying the symptoms and causes of prevalent impairments. Most importantly, you will learn what to do once you've identified the disorder. Arm yourself with powerful knowledge for solving difficult learning problems; and discover specific how-to strategies for turning a borderline student into a confident achiever. Get started immediately with a step-by-step action plan.
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind
Parents can assure their child's success in language arts with this simple-to-use, scripted guide. First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind uses picture study and other classical techniques to develop the child's language study in those first two all-important years of school. Each lesson leads the parent, step-by-step, through the simple oral and written projects that build reading, writing, spelling, storytelling, and comprehension skills. Use this book to supplement school learning, or as the center of a home-school language arts course.
Life in America
Life in America was designed by home schooling parents to meet the needs of families. Features unit studies in a box, with all resource material supplied.
H. A. Guerber's Histories
Helene A. Guerber wrote histories for grammar school children in the 19th century. Published in 1896 by the American Book Company, ‘Guerber’s Historical Readers in the Eclectic Readings Series’ were used to introduce children to the histories of the ancient and classical world. These engaging narratives are richly detailed accounts of the lives and times of the most important people of the period, arranged chronologically. The people are placed within the context of their times, and their history is presented with interesting background information so that the entire narrative flows as a single, unbroken story. Dates are given in the narrative where they are known; the pronunciation of place and personal names is carefully marked at its first encounter in the text; and illustrations abound. The text includes maps, a comprehensive timeline of all the persons and events encountered in the history, a comprehensive Recommended Reading list of wonderful historical fiction and non-fiction keyed to the chapters; and a complete bibliography and index round out the book. These books are intended as a child’s first introduction to history in grades 2-6 (the grammer stage). They make wonderful read alouds, and the Recommended Reading suggestions keyed to the chapters provide additional detail and fascinating excursions into topics introduced in the narrative, often with books children can look at or read on their own.
Learning Styles: Reaching Everyone God Gave You to Teach
Do you ever wonder why Jeffrey talks all of the time?
Or why Toni can't sit still? Or why Alex loves work sheets?
Or why Jordan is always trying something new?
Learning Styles answers these questions and more. Effective learning follows a natural four-step process that answers these four questions:
• WHY DO I NEED THIS?
• WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT MY NEED?
• HOW DOES WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES ACTUALLY WORK?
• HOW WILL I USE WHAT I HAVE LEARNED?
By answering each of these questions, we will appeal to the four learning styles: Imaginative, Analytic, Common Sense, and Dynamic. A learning style is the way in which a person sees or perceives things best and then uses that knowledge. When we understand learning styles and adjust our teaching or parenting to those styles, we begin reaching everyone God gives us to teach.
A wonderful book capable of teaching us how we learn . . . and what to do with all that knowledge once we've learned it. Practical, helpful, and an eye-opening book for all of us in the teaching trade—from mothers to professors! I heartily recommend this be a must for your bookshelf.
JILL BRISCOE, AUTHOR, SPEAKER
Learning Styles displays Marlene LeFever at her best. Few people see others in terms of their learning capability. Fewer still dedicate themselves to the study of how understanding occurs. Marlene long ago grabbed my attention and admiration with her teaching skills. Her insights deserve thoughtful reading by every teacher and meaningful discussion in every teacher training meeting. Learning should stir up pleasure and she shows us how.
HOWARD G. HENDRICKS, CHAIRMAN
CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
. . . great teachers and preachers throughout the history of the church have realized the importance of answering the why, what, so what, and how questions.... The author has isolated and tied these elements to the teaching context so that their incorporation will be purposeful. Anyone involved in the communication process will be benefitted by Learning Styles....
DR. TONY EVANS, PASTOR
OAK CLIFF BIBLE FELLOWSHIP DALLAS, TEXAS
Easy reading, but not simplistic. Many authors ask hard questions; Marlene dares to suggest answers.... We now have no excuse for careless teaching.
MICHAEL S. LAWSON, PH D., PRESIDENT
PROFESSIONAL ASSOC. OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS (PACE)
Marlene D. LeFever is Manager of Ministry Relations for David C. Cook Church Ministries, holds a master of Christian education and is a frequent speaker at Sunday School conventions, writers' conferences, and professional organizations. Editor of Teacher Touch, a quarterly letter of affirmation for Sunday School teachers, Marlene has authored over ten books, including Creative Teaching Methods (Cook), Creative Hospitality (Tyndale) and Is Your To Do List About To Do You In?
Every Christian educator can benefit from this book—teachers and administrators alike, whether new to the task or with years of experience. Based on the premise that different persons learn in a variety of ways, all legitimate, the author shows clearly how teachers may recognize students who learn in these different ways, plan and teach lessons that involve all of them through the use of a wide variety of appropriate methods, and at the same time reinforce each student's sense of achievement. The same understandings are applied to leader recruitment and development. The book sparkles with appropriate anecdotes, live cases, and practical suggestions. It will be useful both in workshops and for personal study.
D. Campbell Wyckoff
Thomas W. Synnott Professor of Christian Education, Emeritus
Princeton Theological Seminary
When the stateswoman of Christian Education puts pen to her magnum opus, the benefits are all ours: teachers, students, and administrators. What a mother lode of resources this is! Imaginative, thorough, engaging, and accessible—characteristic of Marlene's own teaching style. Lights will come on in your head, and you'll never be the same teacher, or student, again.
Jerry B. Jenkins
Author and Writer-in-Residence
Moody Bible Institute
As Gardner broadened the world of teaching by identifying multiple intelligences which learners utilize in the process of learning, so Marlene LeFever has enhanced Christian education by identifying the presence of four kinds of learners in our classrooms. Good teaching comes from remembering that it's like not to know. Marlene has made us aware of what it is like "not to know" when what is being taught is outside our learning frame. She has given us insight and tools for building learners' esteem and for realizing their learning potential. As anyone who knows Marlene would anticipate she has done such with rousing enthusiasm, captivating flair, and catalytic creativity. This book will enable the exploration of whole new frontiers of learning for those who teach in the church.
Dr. Julie Gorham
Associate Professor
Christian Formation and Discipleship
Fuller Theological Seminary
Or why Toni can't sit still? Or why Alex loves work sheets?
Or why Jordan is always trying something new?
Learning Styles answers these questions and more. Effective learning follows a natural four-step process that answers these four questions:
• WHY DO I NEED THIS?
• WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT MY NEED?
• HOW DOES WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES ACTUALLY WORK?
• HOW WILL I USE WHAT I HAVE LEARNED?
By answering each of these questions, we will appeal to the four learning styles: Imaginative, Analytic, Common Sense, and Dynamic. A learning style is the way in which a person sees or perceives things best and then uses that knowledge. When we understand learning styles and adjust our teaching or parenting to those styles, we begin reaching everyone God gives us to teach.
A wonderful book capable of teaching us how we learn . . . and what to do with all that knowledge once we've learned it. Practical, helpful, and an eye-opening book for all of us in the teaching trade—from mothers to professors! I heartily recommend this be a must for your bookshelf.
JILL BRISCOE, AUTHOR, SPEAKER
Learning Styles displays Marlene LeFever at her best. Few people see others in terms of their learning capability. Fewer still dedicate themselves to the study of how understanding occurs. Marlene long ago grabbed my attention and admiration with her teaching skills. Her insights deserve thoughtful reading by every teacher and meaningful discussion in every teacher training meeting. Learning should stir up pleasure and she shows us how.
HOWARD G. HENDRICKS, CHAIRMAN
CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
. . . great teachers and preachers throughout the history of the church have realized the importance of answering the why, what, so what, and how questions.... The author has isolated and tied these elements to the teaching context so that their incorporation will be purposeful. Anyone involved in the communication process will be benefitted by Learning Styles....
DR. TONY EVANS, PASTOR
OAK CLIFF BIBLE FELLOWSHIP DALLAS, TEXAS
Easy reading, but not simplistic. Many authors ask hard questions; Marlene dares to suggest answers.... We now have no excuse for careless teaching.
MICHAEL S. LAWSON, PH D., PRESIDENT
PROFESSIONAL ASSOC. OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS (PACE)
Marlene D. LeFever is Manager of Ministry Relations for David C. Cook Church Ministries, holds a master of Christian education and is a frequent speaker at Sunday School conventions, writers' conferences, and professional organizations. Editor of Teacher Touch, a quarterly letter of affirmation for Sunday School teachers, Marlene has authored over ten books, including Creative Teaching Methods (Cook), Creative Hospitality (Tyndale) and Is Your To Do List About To Do You In?
Every Christian educator can benefit from this book—teachers and administrators alike, whether new to the task or with years of experience. Based on the premise that different persons learn in a variety of ways, all legitimate, the author shows clearly how teachers may recognize students who learn in these different ways, plan and teach lessons that involve all of them through the use of a wide variety of appropriate methods, and at the same time reinforce each student's sense of achievement. The same understandings are applied to leader recruitment and development. The book sparkles with appropriate anecdotes, live cases, and practical suggestions. It will be useful both in workshops and for personal study.
D. Campbell Wyckoff
Thomas W. Synnott Professor of Christian Education, Emeritus
Princeton Theological Seminary
When the stateswoman of Christian Education puts pen to her magnum opus, the benefits are all ours: teachers, students, and administrators. What a mother lode of resources this is! Imaginative, thorough, engaging, and accessible—characteristic of Marlene's own teaching style. Lights will come on in your head, and you'll never be the same teacher, or student, again.
Jerry B. Jenkins
Author and Writer-in-Residence
Moody Bible Institute
As Gardner broadened the world of teaching by identifying multiple intelligences which learners utilize in the process of learning, so Marlene LeFever has enhanced Christian education by identifying the presence of four kinds of learners in our classrooms. Good teaching comes from remembering that it's like not to know. Marlene has made us aware of what it is like "not to know" when what is being taught is outside our learning frame. She has given us insight and tools for building learners' esteem and for realizing their learning potential. As anyone who knows Marlene would anticipate she has done such with rousing enthusiasm, captivating flair, and catalytic creativity. This book will enable the exploration of whole new frontiers of learning for those who teach in the church.
Dr. Julie Gorham
Associate Professor
Christian Formation and Discipleship
Fuller Theological Seminary
Kinder Dolls: A Waldorf Doll-Making Handbook
This comprehensive guide for beginners and experienced doll makers shows how to create many different kinds of handcrafted dolls from natural materials. Handmade dolls with their simplicity of expression and design leave children’s imaginations free, rather than being confined by perfectly finished dolls made of artificial materials. Instead, these dolls encourage the magic of creative play and bring children the gift of imagination in which they see themselves as “makers.”
Included are:
· Ten designs, including soft, baggy, angel, pouch, sack, and limbed dolls
· Twelve basic clothes patterns and ethnic variations
· Tools, techniques, and materials
· Safety guidelines and sewing methods
· Recycling tips and where to get materials
The Unprocessed Child: Living Without School
The Unprocessed Child is a work of nonfiction about a child raised with no coercion and no curriculum. Laurie Chancey spent her childhood immersing herself in topics of her own choosing. She was never forced to learn something simply because tradition and/or society said it was necessary. No one was looking over her shoulder to make sure she was learning the "proper" subjects.
Having never seen a textbook or taken a test, never used workbooks or any type of teaching techniques, Laurie scored in the top 10% of the state of Louisiana on her college entrance exam. She enrolled in college when she was eighteen, and graduated summa cum laude three and a half years later. Laurie is a bright adult, but her IQ is not why she did so well. She spent her life learning to learn and it’s something that now comes easily to her.
The Unprocessed Child was written by her mother and is full of examples of raising a child with respect and dignity. It is the first book written about a radically unschooled child who has now reached adulthood and is a responsible member of society.
Questions about the radical unschooling lifestyle are answered on topics ranging from socialization, parental responsibility, self-discipline, chores, bedtimes and much more. The book shows that it is not only possible to befriend your child, but that it is highly preferable to the struggles that so many parents go through with their children. It proves that school is not necessary for learning, socializing or motivation.
A Charlotte Mason Education
The immensely popular ideas of Charlotte Mason have inspired educators for many decades. Her unique methodology as written about in her six-volume series established the necessary protocols for an education above and beyond that which can be found in traditional classroom settings. In A Charlotte Mason Education, Catherine Levison has collected the key points of Charlotte Mason's methods and presents them in a simple, straightforward way that will allow families to quickly maximize the opportunities of homeschooling. With weekly schedules, a challenging and diverse curriculum will both inspire and educate your child. A Charlotte Mason Education is the latest tool for parents seeking the best education for their children.
Veritas Press
Veritas Press offers a history based classical curriculum for kindergarten through twelfth grades.
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, Revised and Updated Edition
"Outstanding...should be on every home educator's reference bookshelf."—Homeschooling Today
This book will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school. Two veteran home educators outline the classical pattern of education—the trivium—which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind: the elementary school "grammar stage," the middle school "logic stage," and the high school "rhetoric stage." Using the trivium as your model, you'll be able to instruct your child in all levels of reading, writing, history, geography, mathematics, science, foreign languages, rhetoric, logic, art, and music, regardless of your own aptitude in those subjects.
Newly revised and updated, The Well-Trained Mind includes detailed book lists with complete ordering information; up-to-date listings of resources, publications, and Internet links; and useful contacts.
Tomorrows Child
Tomorrow's Child magazine offers insights and information that helps parents to feel confident that Montessori will prepare their children for the real world. It will help you understand and appreciate Montessori and apply it in your home.
A History of Science
A History of Science is not a textbook, but is a guide to help parents and children study science through literature. It is intended for children in elementary grades.
Christian Unschooling : Growing Your Children in the Freedom of Christ
For too many years, the segment of homeschoolers that consider themselves "Christians" and "unschoolers" have been ignored. Many thought one couldn't be both a Christian and an unschooler. But Teri Brown with Elissa Wahl expose that not only to Christian Unschoolers exist, they are growing in numbers. Through Christian Unschooling: growing your children in the freedom of Christ, the authors support Christian unschoolers everywhere--letting them know they are not alone. For those Christian parents who are facing school-at-home burnout form a strict schedule, they offer another path to learning.
Unschooling, child-led learning, free learning, interest based education, child-delighted learning--whatever you choose to call it, this book explains what unschooling is (and isn't) in easy-to-understand terms while holding your hand as you walk the unschooling pathway.
Many essays of unschoolers are included--offering their viewpoints, "typical days", opinions on lessons and learning, how they are guided by the Lord and much more.
Additionally, comprehensive information on starting an unschooling support group is included along with plenty of ideas to inspire you in the subjects of language arts, history, math, science and more.
Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School
GUERRILLA LEARNING IS CREATING A HOME ENVIRONMENT THAT FILLS YOUR CHILD WITH THE JOY OF LEARNING
Let your daughter read her library books instead of finishing her homework . Ask your eleven-year-old’s beloved third grade teacher to comment on his poetry. Invite a massage therapist to dinner because your daughter wants to go to massage school instead of college. Give your child the freedom to pursue his interests, develop her strengths, cultivate self-discipline, and discover the joy of learning throughout life.
If you’ve ever felt that your child wasn’t flourishing in school or simply needs something the professionals aren’t supplying, you’re ready to become a "guerrilla educator." Revolutionary and inspiring, Guerrilla Learning explains what’s wrong (and what’s useful) about our traditional schools and shows you how to take charge of your family’s education to raise thinking, creative young people despite the constraints of traditional schooling.
Filled with fun and exciting exercises and projects to do with children of all ages, this remarkable approach to childhood, education, and life will help you release your child’s innate abilities and empower him or her in the wider world that awaits beyond the school walls.
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book Of Homeschooling
The classic work on teaching children at home, updated for today's new laws, new lifestyles, and a new generation of homeschooling parents. Today more than one and a half million children are being taught at home by their own parents. In this expanded edition of the book that helped launch the whole movement, Pat Farenga has distilled John Holt's timeless understanding of the ways children come to understand the world and added up-to-the-moment practical advice. Rather than proposing that parents turn their homes into miniature schools, Holt and Farenga demonstrate how ordinary parents can help children grow as social, active learners. Chapters on living with children, "serious play," children and work, and learning difficulties will be of interest to all parents, whether homeschooling or not, as well as to teachers. This new edition is supplemented with legal advice as well as a guide to cooperating with schools and facing the common objections to homeschooling. Teach Your Own not only has all the vital information necessary to be the definitive reference for parents teaching their own children, it also conveys John Holt's wise and passionate belief in every child's ability to learn from the world that has made his wonderful books into enduring classics.
Homeschooling: The Early Years: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 3- to 8- Year-Old Child
Nothing beats seeking the voice of experience if you want to join the estimated 1 to 3 million parents who teach their children at home. Here's a guide that comes direct from the experts: a mother of two homeschooled, now-grown children and 83 homeschooling families she surveyed. Their stories make reading this starter kit on teaching ages 3 to 7 worthwhile. For those ready to take on what author Linda Dobson calls "a natural extension of being a good parent," the manual provides at-a-glance boxes of insightful anecdotes called "How We Did It," as well as lists at the end of each chapter of helpful books, magazines, Web sites, software, and computer message boards that connect homeschooling households. The straightforward writing covers the basics on reading, writing, and math; different teaching approaches; organizing a curriculum; even how to deal with skeptical relatives and spouses. There are no specifics on each states' homeschooling requirements, which vary widely. But as a primer for parents starting out, the book serves as a confidence builder and an inspiring how-to guide. --Jodi Mailander Farrell
Looking for Another State?
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Freedom Challenge: African American Homeschoolers
Why don't more African Americans school their children at home? By many accounts, there is every reason to avoid public schools, with their low academic expectations for black children, their general avoidance of black history, and their reputation for violence and negative peer pressure. The reason may be found in the opening pages of Freedom Challenge, a collection of essays by people of color who homeschool. "I can't do it because I'm black," one teenager sadly insists after listening to a sp...
Educational Travel on a Shoestring : Frugal Family Fun and Learning Away from Home
Educational Travel on a Shoestring shows parents how they can help their children learn–and have a blast–while traveling. From researching destinations to sharing activities that both teach and entertain, this priceless guide offers practical information for parents who want to have more fun with their kids, build closer family ties, and enjoy richer educational experiences–all without spending a fortune.
Perrine's Sound & Sense: An Introduction to Poetry
Perrine's Sound and Sense is a fantastic book for studying poetry with your children. It is a great resource for high school students. It includes clear and thorough explanations of devices, forms, how to analyze poetry, and more, as well as a huge variety of poems, both classic and contemporary.
Children at Play : Using Waldorf Principles to Foster Childhood Development
Children at Play is an insightful exploration into the world of children's play and its tremendous significance in the shaping of each child's humanity. A mother and proponent of Rudolf Steiner's Waldorf system of education, author Heidi Britz-Crecelius offers practical suggestions and an up-to-date list of resources for today's families.
The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom
Unschooling, a homeschooling method based on the belief that kids learn best when allowed to pursue their natural curiosities and interests, is practiced by 10 to 15 percent of the estimated 1.5 million homeschoolers in the United States. There is no curriculum or master plan for allowing children to decide when, what, and how they will learn, but veteran homeschooler Mary Griffith comes as close as you can get in this slim manual. Written in a conversational, salon-style manner, The Unschooling...