Homeschool Tips Column, June 29, 2011
After 20 years of homeschooling, our second and last child graduated from high school. We were done. With bittersweet parental reflection, what seemed to take an instant, was suddenly more.
During those twenty years, sometimes the process seemed to drag on and on. There were days we wanted to quit, days I wanted to quit, days the kids wanted to quit. But we didn’t, and we finished the race. Both children qualified academically for private colleges with excellent academic credentials, and we rested in the knowledge that despite our foibles and individual failings as parents, our children thrived. We can only honor and praise God for that.
It is my current task to encourage those who homeschool now. I am often asked for book recommendations. In this, our first installment of the Homeschooling and You column, I thought I’d share the books which initially inspired us to homeschool. I will only list them here, and tell you that some are out of print now, but all are available on the used book market and in most libraries. Perhaps someone in your town has completed their homeschooling years and will lend you their copy. Perhaps in future Book Reviews for Bibliophiles columns, also on this blog, I will review them in more detail.
In the meantime, here are my recommendations:
Homeschooling for Excellence, by David and Micki Colfax. © 1988, Grand Central Publishing. Secular/Generic perspective. ISBN-10: 0446389862; ISBN-13: 978-0446389860
A Survivor’s Guide to Homeschooling, by Luanne Shackelford and Susan White. © 1988, Crossway Books. Christian perspective. ISBN-10: 0891075038; ISBN-13: 978-0891075035
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, by New York Teacher of the Year, John Taylor Gatto. © 2005, 2nd edition, New Society Publishers. Secular/Generic perspective. ISBN-10: 0865714487; ISBN-13: 978-0865714489
Better Late than Early: A New Approach to Your Child’s Education, by Dr. Raymond S. Moore. © 1989, Reader’s Digest Association. Christian perspective. ISBN-10: 0883490498; ISBN-13: 978-0883490495
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