Welcome to Day 2 of 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials! If you’ve missed any of the other days you can find links to them below:
Day 1: Our 2013-2014 Homeschool Curriculum Choices
Day 2: 12 Must-Have Books for Homeschool Moms
Day 3: 5 Homeschool Supplies I Can’t Live Without
Day 4: Books Every Family Should Own
Day 5: A HUGE List of Christian Resources for the Whole Family
When we made the decision to homeschool, all I wanted to do was read and research. Read about what homeschooling ‘looks’ like; research what curriculum to use; read about how to be an organized homeschooler; research the regulations, requirements, and laws. I wanted to get my hands on any book that I thought would be helpful to us as we started this new journey.
Today I’m sharing a list of my favorite homeschool books that have been a huge help to me during the past 7 years of homeschooling. Some of them have been on my shelf from the very beginning and I still use to this day, and some of them are fairly new to me and I know will be around for the long haul
I’ll list them as they appear in the picture above, from top to bottom –
1. Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp
This book helps you to design a homeschool curriculum from preschool through high school. I guess I was drawn to this book because we use an eclectic approach to homeschooling. While I haven’t used this book exclusively to design our curriculum, it does give some good ideas and suggestions for resources.
2. So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling by Lisa Whelchel
This was one of the first books I read when we decided to homeschool. Lisa Welchel (you may remember her as Blair from The Facts of Life), showcases 15 families and how they are all different, yet make homeschooling work for their families. When we began this journey I had no clue what a homeschooling home or family looked like or how they functioned. From this book, I quickly found that there is no typical homeschooling home or family, there isn’t a mold you need to fit into, or a certain way you need to run your homeschool. Whether you have one child or many, if you work full-time (in or out of the home), homeschool all or only some of your children, this book showed me that it is possible, no matter your situation.
3. Homeschool Mom’s Bible from Zondervan
I recently reviewed this book with the Schoolhouse Review Crew and was very happy with it. A Bible and homeschool mom devotions all in one – who could ask for more? Not only can I do my daily Bible reading with one of my favorite translations, NIV, but I can get some encouragement from a veteran homeschooler at the same time. This Bible contains a devotion for everyday of the year that was written especially for homeschooling moms.
4. The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
I don’t consider myself a classical homeschooler so I didn’t pick up this book until I had several years of homeschooling under my belt. I was really impressed with what I read and so much of it just made sense as to how children learn. So, since reading it, I have incorporated some of the classical teaching philosophies into our homeschool.
5. Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt
I’m a sucker for books and book lists. I love this book because it gives me lots of book lists broken down by age and book type.
6. Books to Build On by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.
I like to includ living books into our learning whenever possible. This book helps me do that. I can easily find books related to our studies since this book is broken down into books by grade and subject.
7. Homeschooling: The Early Years by Linda Dobson
This is another one of my first reads as a homeschooler. We started schooling when our oldest was just in Kindergarten, so this book seemed like a good place to start. It discusses making learning fun and instilling a love of learning in your child; getting ready to homeschool; teaching the 3 R’s.
8. How to Get Your Child Off the Refrigerator and Onto Learning by Carol Barnier
I heard Carol speak at our local homeschool convention and she had so many great ideas to help wiggly learners, so I had to go buy her book on the topic. This book gives some great ideas, games, and activities to help your ‘highly distractible’ child learn.
9. Managers of Their Homes by Steven and Teri Maxwell
This book isn’t exclusively a homeschooling book (although they have one for homeschooling too), but since homeschooling is a lifestyle, it is incorporated into this book. I didn’t even know I needed this book until my husband’s aunt sent me a copy of it. And boy, was it timely. I have used the Maxwell’s system to some extent and tweaked it to fit our needs. I have gotten some really great advice and wisdom about homeschooling many from the Maxwell’s. If you are looking for a successful way to organize your home and homeschool, I highly recommend this book.
10. 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy
Ah, Cathy Duffy! I don’t make a homeschooling curriculum or resource purchase without first consulting Cathy Duffy! I’ve had this book from the get-go and I still use it today. Even though she now has a website with even more reviews (plus a new edition of this book, that now has 101 Top Picks), I still go back to this book often. It first helps you to determine your child’s learning style and your teaching style. It then gives you a handy chart that breaks down different aspects of the 100 curriculum picks and which ones will fit your child’s learning style. And each of the top picks are thoroughly reviewed in the second half of the book.
11. Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay Clarkson
This is an excellent resource for the Christian, homeschooling family. It is full of so much wisdom and advice that will help you build a solid biblical foundation for educating and nurturing your children’s hearts and minds.
12. The Complete Home Learning Source Book by Rebecca Rupp
This almost 900-page book is full of all kinds of resources for teaching a huge array of topics and subjects. I use this often to find ideas to supplement our curriculum.
Do you have any go-to homeschool books that have become permanent residents on your bookshelf?
What are some of your favorite books for homeschool moms
