Top 3 books you need to start homeschooling
I started homeschooling outside of the United States over 10 years ago.
I basically winged it. Starting my homeschool consisted of making sure the children learned their ABCs and 123s. I created my own curriculum and planned my own activities.
11 years later I am absorbing all of the amazing resources being offered in books and online.
Luckily for me I still have young children so it’s not too late for me to take advantage of the resources I am finding now.
This blog post will share what I believe to be the top 3 books you need to start homeschooling. I like to give parents a dose of reality when it comes to homeschool.
Too often we are bombarded by the wealthy mom with the 5 bedroom house or the SAHM who lives in a luxurious location. Homeschooling will look different for all parents.
We all have different incomes, backgrounds, religious beliefs and values. The one thing we can agree on is that we have all chosen to homeschool.
With that we need some resources to construct the homeschool we envision for our children.
The objective is for your children to learn. I suggest starting with these 3 books:
- The Homeschooling book of Lists
- Homeschool your child for Free
- Home Learning Year by Year
These homeschooling books are for you! They are primarily for you to know what you are getting into and for you to wrap your mind around how you might develop your homeschooling.
Home education does not have to be inferior to classical education by any means. These are some of my favorite homeschool books and to be honest, my top 3.
I’ll review them one by one and I really hope it helps you to get started on your journey.
The Homeschooling book of Lists
The introduction to this book says that it was written to take the anxiety and guesswork out of teaching.
This is definitely a good book to start with.
The book is divided into 5 parts. Each part addresses a different issue.
It takes you through things you might want to consider before starting, then goes into homeschooling models and methods.
Part 3 addresses subjects and lesson plans. This is the part that I really hope new homeschoolers focus on.
Often we try to replicate public school education for our homeschool curriculum when there is no need to do so.
Just consider what initially made you decide to try homeschooling. Many of the homeschooling families I talk with have similar starting points.
They are often discontented with the offerings of the public school system. Remember that everyone’s homeschooling journey is going to be different.
Part 4 gives homeschooling resources. One of the most amazing things about this book is that it gives religious homeschool resources for about 4 different religious backgrounds.
There is also a list for ethic homeschooling resources.
When people message me about home education sometimes they are searching for special needs and non electric resources. This book offers both.
The last part, Part 5 is also a very hot topic with parents. How do I get my homeschooled kids into college? What about college?
This book has some really amazing tips on how to plan for college admission.
Did you know that there are actually colleges that seek homeschoolers? Transcripts, admissions, resources, it’s all there.
Highly suggest The Homeschooling Book of Lists as part of your homeschooling parent journey.
Homeschool your child for free
There is literally no need to exhaust your financial resources on homeschooling. If you can afford top of the line curriculums and equipment that is fine. My point is that you do not need to.
This book offers more than 1400 smart, effective and practical resources.
The last publication is listed as before the pandemic. There are undoubtedly more resources. Just recently Target announced that they would honor homeschools for teacher discounts.
Homeschool your child for free is a good starting point because if you have never read books about homeschooling or know what is out there you need to start somewhere.
The book is divided into 14 sections. Resources are given for the main basic subjects you would find in any school.
Keep in mind that with so many links some of them may be defunct. Just move on to the next one. There are plenty!
Much like my last suggestion, the last section provides graduation guidance.
I find this to be an excellent resource for 9+ or when your child is most capable of self study. As your child gets older you may find it more efficient to work differently. Less one on one with more virtual learning.
I noticed that the link they provide to Famous Speeches is broken so I will provide this link I found to the Top 100 speeches.
A pdf and mp3 is available for each speech! An awesome homeschool resource! Just be sure that the speech is age appropriate for their grade level and understanding.
Home Learning Year by Year
This book is what I call a cult classic. Very few people are unaware of this book. It has a total of 552 pages including the index.
It’s definitely a hardy resource. For me, at times I get cloudy on what the children should focus on because there were times when I had the children do group study together.
This book keeps me on track with checking materials any child should know but also what I want to omit from my home learning.
For example, Grade four they suggest learning about The Constitution. I tend to teach that a bit later when my child can comprehend politics a bit better.
They also offer the biography of James Madison. As patriotic as I am, I feel learning about him specifically and in depth should be a personal study choice in later grades.
It’s not something I am going to double down on like the amendments and the immediate structure of our government.
This is a book I suggest buying because it’s a good baseline to reference every year. Unlike Homeschool your child for free which suggests mostly websites that may be 30% defunct as you read this.
I hope these suggestions serve you well and if there is any resource that has been your saving grace, Godsend, Holy grail…by all means comment with it below.
Be sure to check out other blog posts about how to start shopping and playing games in your homeschool.
Eighty Mph Mom says
Thank you! I’m already homeschooling but I think I will take a look at these books because you don’t know what you don’t know.