Taffie Mailing List Bookshelf

Getting Started - The Hows and Whys of Homeschooling:

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General Help and Inspiration:

The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child:
Your Complete Guide to Getting Off to the Right Start
by Linda Dobson.

Getting Started on Home Learning:
How and Why to Teach Your Kids at Home
General tips for getting started by homeschool author Rebecca Rupp.

Home Is Where the Learning Is

The Homeschooling Book of Answers
This book is goes into a lot of details about common questions about homeschooling that are answered by a variety of well-respected names in the homeschooling community.
Author of The Art of Education.

The Well-Trained Mind:
A Guide to Classical Education at Home :Revised and updated
Susan Wise Bauer.

Homeschooling More Than One Child: A Practical Guide for Families

Homeschooling Handbook : From Preschool to High School:
A Parent's Guide (2nd Edition)
This book provides a good outline and basis for planning out how to homeschool for various age groups. Discusses dealing with regulations andthe pros and cons of homeschooling.. Revised edition.

Homeschoolers' Success Stories : 15 Adults and 12 Young People Share the Impact
That Homeschooling Has Made on Their Lives
Another winner by author Linda Dobson. Great personal accounts by teens and adults.

Lessons Learned From Years of Homeschooling

The Home School Source Book
Essays and commentary, Third Edition.

The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook :
A Creative and Stress-Free Approach to Homeschooling
Dr. Raymond Moore has written many books on homeschooling over the years. This book summarizes his ideas over years and deals with important issues such as how to avoid burnout. Overall, this is one of the better getting started books. You may see some of his other books around in used book stores but this would be the one to get. It's also good for vetern homeschoolers to refer to from time to time for ideas.

The Relaxed Home School : A Family Production
This book is a great book for people just started out, it's short, good for inspiration and
full of reassurance that you don't have to be "perfect" as a homeschool parent.
A very practical and stress-free approach. One of my favorite homeschool books.

Beyond Survival :
A Guide to Abundant-Life Homeschooling
This book is designed to give practical approaches to planning your homeschooling experience. Christian perspective. Full of ideas and reference materials. Good for times when you are looking for inspiration.

Things We Wish We'd Known
Also by Diana Waring - tips from a variety of experienced homeschoolers.

So You're Thinking About Homeschooling: Fifteen Families Show How You Can Do It
Author Lisa Whelchel. Christian perspective.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Homeschooling
Don't let the title slow you down. Books written in the "Idiot's" series are easy to follow and full of good ideas.

And the Skylark Sings with Me -
Adventures in Homeschooling and Community-Based Education
David H. Albert's personal account of his family's homeschooling experience.

Have Fun. Learn Stuff. Grow Homeschooling and the Curriculum of Love
Latest from David H. Albert.

Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery - Also by David H. Albert

Homeschooling Our Children Unschooling Ourselves
Alison McKee. Great read of explaining the whys of homeschooling.

Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense
David Guterson.

Real-Life Homeschooling: The Stories of 21 Families Who Teach Their Children at Home
Looks at a cross-section of families.

Homeschooling: A Patchwork of Days :
Share a Day With 30 Homeschooling Families
Spend a day with a variety of homeschool families. A great introducation to the wonderful opportunities that homeschooling provides and the different styles that families use, full of ideas.

Home School : Taking the First Step
This book is fairly old, one of the first ones I ever got. But it is well organized and a good starter book. If you are structured person, you will like this book. If you are not, it still makes for an interesting read. The legal section is outdated but it is good for historic purposes to see how much stricter many of the states used to be.
This author also has another book on writing your own curriculum .

Homeschooling for Excellence
An old favorite. The Colfax family homeschooled back when it was something considered to be "new" and "different". This a good one to give to people unfamiliar with homeschooling and uncertain of it if it works or not. It can be read in a short time. Three out of the four Colfax children were accepted as Harvard. Some of the important lessons to learn from this book are that it is ok to try something different if what you are doing is not working, provide your child the opportunity to develop their interests and most of all have patience, when the child is ready they will learn.
For the story of the Colfax's homesteading experience, read this book:
Hard Times in Paradise : An American Family's Struggle
to Carve Out a Homestead in California's Redwood Mountains

The Homeschooling Almanac
This book includes. How to Start, What to Do, Who to Call, Where to Find the Best Resources, Products, Teaching Supplies, Support Groups, Conferences, and More!

Special Needs:

Homeschooling the Child With Asperger Syndrome:
Real Help for Parents Anywhere and on Any Budget

Home Educating our Autistic Spectrum Children:
Paths are Made by Walking

Homeschooling The Challenging Child: A Practical Guide
Written especially for parents who turn to homeschooling because their children cannot thrive in a traditional educational environment due to special, physical, or emotional needs.

School topics:

Linda Dobson's thought-provoking book on the current state of public
education in this country. Builds a strong case for taking back control
of our children through home education. Forward by John Taylor Gatto.
From the author of The Homeschooling Book of Answers .

John Taylor Gatto was a well-respected public school teacher in NY.
This book explains step-by-step why public schools are failing society
and the effect that the hidden curriculum of public schools has on our
children. While you may not agree with everything that Gatto says,
this a very thought-provoking book.

How Children Fail
John Holt's classic of the failures of standard classroom education.
For other Holt books about learning, click here .

Matt Hern's look into some of the problems with our current public school system.
Examines alternatives to the current system.

Last updated September 19, 2006 Copyright 2001-2006 Susan Frederick