Books for Homeschooling Parents

After over 100 years of mandatory schooling in the U.S., literacy rates have dropped, families are fragmented, learning “disabilities” are skyrocketing, and children and youth are increasingly disaffected. Thirty years of teaching in the public school system led John Taylor Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling is to blame, accomplishing little but to teach young people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine.

The Call of the Wild and Free offers advice, information, and positive encouragement for parents considering homeschooling, those currently in the trenches looking for inspiration, as well as parents, educators, and caregivers who want supplementary resources to enhance their kids’ traditional educations.

Parents who are deeply invested in their children’s education can be hard on themselves and their kids. When exhausted parents are living the day-to-day grind, it can seem impossible to muster enough energy to make learning fun or interesting. How do parents nurture a love of learning amid childhood chaos, parental self-doubt, the flu, and state academic standards? 

In this book, Julie Bogart distills decades of experience – homeschooling her five now grown children, developing curricula, and training homeschooling families around the world – to teach parents how to make education an exciting, even enchanting, experience for their kids, whether they’re in elementary or high school. 

Enchantment is about ease, not striving. Bogart tells parents how to make room for surprise, mystery, risk, and adventure in their family’s routine, so they can create an environment that naturally moves learning forward. If a child wants to pick up a new hobby or explore a subject area that the parent knows little about, it’s easy to simply say “no” to end the discussion and the parental discomfort, while dousing their child’s curious spark. Bogart gently invites parents to model brave learning for their kids so they, too, can approach life with curiosity, joy, and the courage to take learning risks.

Homeschooling is a wonderful, worthwhile pursuit, but many homeschool parents struggle with feelings of burnout and frustration. If you have ever felt this way, you’re not alone! Most of us need to be reminded of the “why” of homeschooling from time to time—but “The Unhurried Homeschooler” takes parents a step further and lifts the unnecessary burdens that many parents place on themselves.Drawing on twenty years of homeschooling her eight children, Durenda Wilson gently reminds parents about the things that really matter, as she offers a clear portrait of what a life-giving home life can be during the homeschooling years. Reading “The Unhurried Homeschooler” is like having coffee with a trusted friend. You’ll be encouraged as you learn to do what God has put before you. This book will lighten your load while helping you learn how to raise life long learners and ENJOY the homeschool years with your kids.

This new, revised, and first print edition of Sarah Mackenzie’s best-selling eBook version contains 35% new content! Those who have made the decision to homeschool their children have done so out of great love for their children and a desire to provide them an excellent education in the context of a warm, enriching home. Yet so many parents (mainly mothers) who have taken up this challenge find the enterprise often full of stress, worry, and anxiety. In this practical, faith-based, and inspirational book, Sarah Mackenzie addresses these questions directly, appealing to her own study of restful learning (scholé) and her struggle to bring restful learning to her (six) children.

In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray argues that in order to foster children who will thrive in today’s constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development. Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history, he demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient. A brave, counterintuitive proposal for freeing our children from the shackles of the curiosity-killing institution we call school, Free to Learn suggests that it’s time to stop asking what’s wrong with our children, and start asking what’s wrong with the system. It shows how we can act—both as parents and as members of society—to improve children’s lives and to promote their happiness and learning.

If you are considering the unschooling path for your child, or know someone who is, this is the best book to get you started; in fact, this book was written specifically for you, the parent who is on the fence regarding this philosophy and method of education. 

If you have friends and relatives who are not accepting your choice to unschool, this is the book for you and even more so for them.

In this book Mark Beaumont M.Ed. weaves an interesting, helpful and powerful combination of the history of school, educational research as it pertains to unschooling and Mark’s very own creation, the Personal Learner Profile in order to build a scaffold bridging the spaces between the paths of traditional, coercive schooling and that of the unschooler. 

Adding to these three primary components of the book, Mark also uses a plethora of links to provide valuable information aimed at building confidence and providing deep understanding of the ways of unschooling as well as helping to train parents how to unschool themselves and how utilize the many benefits that the internet and 21st century education provides. 

Every parent and teacher wants to give his or her children the best education possible. They hope that the teaching they 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 imagines what education can be based on a Christian understanding of the meaning of life and what it means to be human―a child, a parent, a teacher. The central ideas have been proven over many years and in almost every kind of educational situation, including ideas that author Susan Schaeffer Macaulay and her husband, Ranald, have implemented in their own family and school experience. Includes a foreword by daughter and educator Fiona Fletcher.

• Simple and Practical: This user-friendly guide helps educators build a stable, enriching, and intellectually stimulating environment for children and also includes a list of additional resources 
• Immersive Teaching: Shows parents and teachers how children’s learning experiences can be extended to every aspect of life
• Proven Methodology: Used in school settings for 14 years, these easily applicable ideas will benefit parents and teachers in homeschooling, public school, or private school

Quiet the voices of “not good enough” and step courageously into guilt-free homeschooling

Many homeschool parents have a long-term relationship with self-doubt. “Did I make the right decision?” “Could someone else do this better?” “Am I robbing my kids of something by not sending them to ‘regular school’?” 

What if there’s a better way?

Not a 3-step technique or a shiny, new curriculum, but a change in perspective that transforms the way you plan, teach, and homeschool?

Homeschool Bravely teaches you to see homeschooling as a calling, helps you overthrow the tyranny of impossible expectations, and guides you through the common bumps in the road, including how to: 

• juggle school and parenting with toddlers at home
• teach a struggling learner
• plan with the end in mind
• accept your own limitations without feeling guilty
• stay the course even in the face of criticism 

Reclaim your hope, renew your purpose, and transform your homeschool. Because the truth is: God will use every part of your homeschool, even your fears, faults, and failures, to weave good plans for your kids.

Confidently homeschool your children with this guided workbook that will  squash your fears, maximize learning, and minimize stress. 

Are you intrigued by the idea of homeschooling but don’t think you have the skills? Do you worry about curriculum, socialization, and how to fit it all into your day? Are you trying to figure out which type of homeschooling is best for you? This Christian-based workbook will help you find answers to your most pressing questions. 

If you’re just beginning the homeschooling journey (or haven’t yet started), Happy at Homeschool will lead you on a thoughtful journey to discover your own beliefs about education and create a homeschool plan perfectly fitted to the unique culture of your family. Utilize your personal gifts and calling as a parent, along with the interests, needs, and missions of your children to create more connection in the home and ignite a passion for lifeline learning and becoming. Furthermore, the simplest and most successful way is the plan you design as the one who knows your children best. 

If you’re an experienced homeschool veteran but you’re feeling burn-out, a new plan for your family may just be what you need to add life and zest to learning.

John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction , now available in paperback, focuses on mechanisms of traditional education which cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a byproduct of rote-memorization drills. Gatto’s earlier book, Dumbing Us Down , introduced the now-famous expression of the title into the common vernacular. Weapons of Mass Instruction adds another chilling metaphor to the brief against conventional schooling. 

Gatto demonstrates that the harm school inflicts is rational and deliberate. The real function of pedagogy, he argues, is to render the common population manageable. To that end, young people must be conditioned to rely upon experts, to remain divided from natural alliances and to accept disconnections from their own lived experiences. They must at all costs be discouraged from developing self-reliance and independence. 

Escaping this trap requires a strategy Gatto calls “open source learning” which imposes no artificial divisions between learning and life. Through this alternative approach our children can avoid being indoctrinated-only then can they achieve self-knowledge, good judgment, and courage.

A miraculous alchemy occurs when one person reads to another, transforming the simple stuff of a book, a voice, and a bit of time into complex and powerful fuel for the heart, brain, and imagination. Grounded in the latest neuroscience and behavioral research, and drawing widely from literature, The Enchanted Hour explains the dazzling cognitive and social-emotional benefits that await children, whatever their class, nationality or family background. But it’s not just about bedtime stories for little kids: Reading aloud consoles, uplifts and invigorates at every age, deepening the intellectual lives and emotional well-being of teenagers and adults, too.

Meghan Cox Gurdon argues that this ancient practice is a fast-working antidote to the fractured attention spans, atomized families and unfulfilling ephemera of the tech era, helping to replenish what our devices are leaching away. For everyone, reading aloud engages the mind in complex narratives; for children, it’s an irreplaceable gift that builds vocabulary, fosters imagination, and kindles a lifelong appreciation of language, stories and pictures.

Bringing together the latest scientific research, practical tips, and reading recommendations, The Enchanted Hour will both charm and galvanize, inspiring readers to share this invaluable, life-altering tradition with the people they love most.

In this important book, a pediatric occupational therapist and founder of TimberNook shows how outdoor play and unstructured freedom of movement are vital for children’s cognitive development and growth, and offers tons of fun, engaging ways to help ensure that kids grow into healthy, balanced, and resilient adults.

Today’s kids have adopted sedentary lifestyles filled with television, video games, and computer screens. However, more and more, studies show that children need “rough and tumble” outdoor play in order to develop their sensory, motor, and executive functions. Disturbingly, a lack of movement has been shown to lead to a number of health and cognitive difficulties, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion regulation and sensory processing issues, and aggressiveness at school recess break. So, how can you ensure your child is fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses?

Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program—that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis—author Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help your child thrive, even if you live in an urban environment.

Today it is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, or spinning in circles just for fun. Furthermore, we’ve taken away merry-go-rounds, shortened the length of swings, and done away with teeter-totters to keep children safe. Children have fewer opportunities for unstructured outdoor play than ever before, and recess times at school are shrinking due to demanding educational environments.

A modern, practical, and inspiring guide to creating deep heart connections with kids by regularly creating new experiences and intentional adventures together.

Parents today complain of fragmented relationships with their kids. What parents yearn for–and their kids too–is deep, heart-to-heart connections. But how can parents compete with all the other noise fighting for their kids’ attention?

The answer, says Greta Eskridge, is to break free from regular routines and familiar comforts of home to experience new places and adventures–even if those adventures go awry. From simply reading a book together to going on an overnight backpacking trip, activities together provide unique and crucial bonding opportunities. Adventuring Together highlights Greta’s stories of doing just that, including

• an array of ideas for outdoor and indoor ventures,
• what to do when your finances are limited,
• and how to adventure if your family can’t hit the hiking trail or spend the night at a campground.

 Giving readers the tools to make adventures happen, Adventuring Together is a step-by-step guide for parents–whether in the city or the country–to start building connections today that will last a lifetime.