Book Recommendations

[PeacefulSeams]

We have decided to go back to homeschool next year. It has been a while (5 years) since we have homeschooled. My son is 9 now and is advanced, hence the reason for homeschool. I also have a 3 year old now.

I need some book recommendations so I can get back into the swing of things. I used to have a huge collection of homeschool books but  my EX decided to sell them all during our divorce.

[moominmamma]

What sort of books are you looking for? Books to convince you philosophically of the value of homeschooling? Books to remind you why it's a good decision? Books to answer to common objections about homeschooling? Books about the variety of possible styles of homeschooling? Anecdotal books about real families' homeschooling journeys? Books about homeschooling resources? Books pertaining to specific pedagogical approaches like Montessori, Steiner, unschooling, classical education? Or books that might make up a good resource library for a homeschooling family eg. a good world history reference book, a good dictionary, good cross-cultural fiction, etc.?

I read a few books about homeschooling when my kids were little, but none of them really seemed to apply to our situation due to whatever factors: my quirky kids, our quirky life, my quirky perspective on homeschooling, you name it. I gave up looking for guidance in books and just followed my kids. I have an advanced 9-year-old too. She has created her own homeschooling style, in keeping with her desire for particular types of challenge, or not. It works great for us, but it's not something I think we would have found in a book.

I've found the most helpful thing for us is just to browse through a lot of blogs and to pursue a lot of interesting rabbit trails on-line and in real life. There's no pressure to follow anything in particular, but just opening our minds up to more possibilities is healthy and keeps things fresh and interesting.

Miranda

[PeacefulSeams]

I am looking for resource books mostly. Books on the different subjects, activities, free resources, online resources, homeschooling gifted children and children with adhd, good reference books. Those type of books.

We will also be relocating at the end of this year from Iowa to Washington state (olympia area
), so resources from that area would be great too!

Any pc programs would be great too!

[moominmamma]

We like Joy Hakim's stuff, especially The Story of Science which has a lovely pictorial/narrative approach to science and math through history. We have the Kingfisher Encyclopedia of World History. Nature and science documentaries have been a mainstay for us in the past: "Connections" episodes with James Burke, and any of the BBC series (Secret Life of Plants, Planet Earth, Life, Blue Planet, Human Planet, etc.). If you're lucky you might have a library or a Netflix membership so you don't have to rent or purchase. We've done a few units from Bravewriter: though the Arrow level seems a little simplistic for my kid at times, we don't normally do anything structured for language arts and it's helpful for gap-filling on literary devices and grammar stuff. She doesn't write to task easily, so the minimal writing expectations at the Arrow level are good for her. We're Canadian and have some great Canadian history resources, but I don't suppose you'd be interested in much of that.

Not sure what level your ds is working at in math. Up to about a 7th grade level we really liked Singapore Primary Math, and then we used Challenge Math by Ed Zacarro, because high school level stuff seemed like it would probably be overwhelming in terms of format at age 8 or 9. It provided some great opportunity for consolidation and enrichment for a year or so. Dd is getting close to 10 now and we've moved on to our school district's academic 8th grade program, but again, we're in Canada, and you won't have access to that. The other program we were considering was Singapore's New Syllabus Math. With my older kids the Art of Problem Solving "Intro to...." books were good, but I wouldn't recommend them for even gifted kids prior to age 11+ (they're designed for gifted 6th-to-7th-graders-plus). Although they do now have a pre-algebra level book, so that might be an option for you. 

I've never seen it, but Lisa Rivero's "Creative Home Schooling" book consistently gets excellent reviews from parents homeschooling gifted or bright/advanced learners.

HTH!

Miranda

[lmk1]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

and any of the BBC series (Secret Life of Plants, Planet Earth, Life, Blue Planet, Human Planet, etc.). If you're lucky you might have a library or a Netflix membership so you don't have to rent or purchase. We've done a few 

You must mean the Private Life of Plants (David Attenborough), which unfortunately isn't available on Netflix streaming.  We just watched the Secret Life of Plants...I should have read the Netflix reviews first!  That is not part of the BBC series, and is really bizarre and pseudoscientific.  I especially enjoyed the Russian scene.  

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by lmk1 

You must mean the Private Life of Plants (David Attenborough)

Yes, sorry about the mistake. We're in Canada and can't do Netflix so I don't really know anything about Netflix availability. My brother sent it to us from England because it wasn't available in N. America at the time. I just looked and it *still* doesn't seem to be available in Region 1. We bought a Blu-Ray player and changed our DVD player over to Region 2, as my brother has made UK movie releases his specialty for Christmas gifts for the kids. 

Miranda

[wookumus]

We haven't even begun to start homeschooling yet but I love the book Free-Range Learning by Laura Weldon. You can skip the first few chapter about philosophy, etc. and get right into her suggestions for projects, reading, websites etc. that she highlights in later chapter.  I feel like it will be a huge resource for us in the future.  Borrowed it from the library but will be buying it soon!  Best of luck to you!