Books about children who homeschool? - Page 3

[Jillbee]

One for Moms

One of my favorite books - Road to Coorain by Jill Ker Conway. It's her autobiography and has a lovely section on growing up without school in her early years. In fact, she talks about having no children around (outback Australia I think) and yet how could she be lonely. Worth a read when you have a bit of time for yourselves...

[rsps]

Is it "Joey Pigza loses control" or this one I found in my libraries catalog (or both) where he's homeschooled:

Gantos, Jack.
Title : What would Joey do? / Jack Gantos.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher : New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.
Description : 229 p. ; 22 cm.

Annotation : Joey tries to keep his life from degenerating into total chaos when his mother sends him to be home-schooled with a hostile blind girl, his divorced parents cannot stop fighting, and his grandmother is dying of emphysema.


rebecca

[rosario]

Ida B.

Another addition to this list is Ida B...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan. The novel for 7-12 year olds is just so charming and magical. A real hit with my daughter.

[KaraBoo]

I'd like to see a homeschooling book wherein the character isn't isolated on an island or in a life/death struggle to explain why he/she isn't in school. I'd like a book which approaches a sort of modern idea of homeschooling or, even better, unschooling. Are any of the books listed here like that? (My daughter is starting to notice how different our lives are and I think it would be nice to read a book that reflects her life. We know no one that homeschools)

[Dar]

Surviving the Applewhites? The children are homeschooling so they can follow their passions...

I need to write some books, I think!

Dar

[rosario]

Hi Karaboo,
In Ida B., the main character is a marvelous girl who, while in a kindergarten class, was hopelessly miserable. Her parents decided to withdraw her from school in order to homeschool her. The family live on an apple orchard and Ida B has a special relationship with the apple trees and her surrounding environment. She really does flourish from the arrangement and learns a great deal from her natural "classroom". Around grade 4, her mother develops cancer and her parents have to make some tough choices. What I really love about this book is that the author does not demonize/marginalize homeschooling or public schooling. It is the most balanced fictional book I have read on the education of a child.
Hope this piques your interest...

[okragirl]

books about homeschoolers and beyond

As a homeschool teacher (before I was a mama), I was always offended by books that made public school seem glamorous, exciting and inevitable. Now I'm a mama and I find books about going to school offensive. I think I'm a little sensitive about it.

Anyway, I'm passionate about young adult books and have some great recommendations for some books about homeschoolers who are bright, daring, original, confident young people. They are not only great books about homeschoolers, they are some of my favorite books of all time:

"Wise Child" by Monica Furlong is a tale of a young woman (11?) who is homeschooled by a healer (Doran) who teaches her to work hard, care for people, learn about herbs for healing, self protection and it delves into witchcraft even though Furlong doesn't really call it that (so it may be offensive to some for that reason).

"The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman is a step above and beyond Harry Potter books; just as compelling, but aimed for older children (12 ish) and delves into some chilling aspects of power. It challenges The Church and will definitely be offensive to anyone who is devoted to organized religion. Don't even read it if you are.

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry is a tale of a boy who is about to become a man in a land where everyone and everything is the same. He is schooled by a man called The Giver who teaches him about pleasure, art, music, pain and love (aspects of humanity that are removed from this society). He teaches through touch.

All three of the above authors are not just chldren's authors; their books just happen to feature young adults.

Other books that I love that don't even mention education (as far as I can remember) are: "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbit, "Journey" by Cynthia Rylant, "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleishman and "The Education of Little Tree".

None of these books are about regular kids in America today. Sorry. They are ALL worth a read, though. (Unless you'd be offended.)

[mother_sunshine]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I've read The Giver and can't wait to read it with dd one day. The others sound fascinating too, we'll have to check them out.

[RiverSky]

I've been looking for stories to read to my 6 year old about homeschooling, to help show him how much fun it will be. I've been ordering books, searching and reserving books from the library (from those listed above) and reading. Probably the best one I've found so far, for my young one, but not perfect is:

Originally Posted by Simply Nurtured

Allison's Story: A Book about Homeschooling - Jon Lurie

I've personally been able to find relatively few of the abovementioned books in our local online library catalog, unfortunately. Many of the books were geared for children older than mine, also. I thought I'd found a good one when I found the book below on Barnes and Noble.com but when I received it, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

Originally Posted by Simply Nurtured

Kandoo Kangaroo Hops Into Homeschool - Susan Ratner

Note to anyone who might purchase this book, it's very religious in tone and mentions God a number of times times including a bible quote and one mention of Sunday School. Otherwise, it seems like a great story, making homeschooling sound like so much fun and great for any family who is Christian, possibly Jewish, who would like a nice story for their young homeschooler.

Does anyone have other suggestions of books for younger children, secular in tone, to promote the benefits & fun of homeschooling?

I also purchased Nim's Island, but as noted by other posters, it is a chapter book about a girl living on an island alone...not exactly my son's situation.

[KaraBoo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm putting Surviving the Appletons on my amazon wish list!

[Zipporah]

Originally Posted by okragirl

As a homeschool teacher (before I was a mama), I was always offended by books that made public school seem glamorous, exciting and inevitable. Now I'm a mama and I find books about going to school offensive. I think I'm a little sensitive about it.

Anyway, I'm passionate about young adult books and have some great recommendations for some books about homeschoolers who are bright, daring, original, confident young people. They are not only great books about homeschoolers, they are some of my favorite books of all time:

"Wise Child" by Monica Furlong is a tale of a young woman (11?) who is homeschooled by a healer (Doran) who teaches her to work hard, care for people, learn about herbs for healing, self protection and it delves into witchcraft even though Furlong doesn't really call it that (so it may be offensive to some for that reason).

"The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman is a step above and beyond Harry Potter books; just as compelling, but aimed for older children (12 ish) and delves into some chilling aspects of power. It challenges The Church and will definitely be offensive to anyone who is devoted to organized religion. Don't even read it if you are.

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry is a tale of a boy who is about to become a man in a land where everyone and everything is the same. He is schooled by a man called The Giver who teaches him about pleasure, art, music, pain and love (aspects of humanity that are removed from this society). He teaches through touch.

All three of the above authors are not just chldren's authors; their books just happen to feature young adults.

Other books that I love that don't even mention education (as far as I can remember) are: "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbit, "Journey" by Cynthia Rylant, "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleishman and "The Education of Little Tree".

None of these books are about regular kids in America today. Sorry. They are ALL worth a read, though. (Unless you'd be offended.)

"Wise Child" is a wonderful book!

"The Education of Little Tree" is absolutely one of the best books ever. It does mention education, as a matter of fact -- a major portion of the plot involves Little Tree being taken from his grandparents (who were "schooling" him at home in the mountains) and being sent to a horrendous government school for "Indians" to assimilate them into white Christian culture. He escapes, with the help of his grandfather and Willow John, and returns to the mountains to grow up in the traditional ways of his people (Cherokee). Inspiring for any homeschooler, but especially those who have "escaped" the public school system!

[geckoed]

2 picture books

The Year I Didn't Go to School by Giselle Potter is great, they spend a year as a performing family, and its a true story which makes it better
and
Are we there yet? : a journey around Australia by Alison Lester is a winter spent traveling Australia in a camper

[Dar]

Before you read "The Education of Little Tree", read this:
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/12/20/carter/

If you still like it, fine... but the knowledge that it's a book by a KKK member, which in his mind furthers his racist ideology, kind of ruined it for me...

Dar

[RiverSky]

Originally Posted by Dar

Before you read "The Education of Little Tree", read this:
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/12/20/carter/

If you still like it, fine... but the knowledge that it's a book by a KKK member, which in his mind furthers his racist ideology, kind of ruined it for me...

Dar

Good to know. I won't be buying that one.

[applejuice]

For my older children, I had them read biographies about Thomas Edison, Agatha Christie, Bright Island and others who did not attend school.

[chickadee79]

I was looking around my library's catalog and found this:

Author: Morgan, Nicola.
Title: Chicken friend

Summary: When her parents decide to move their family to the English countryside, homeschool their children, and raise chickens, Becca tries to make friends with her new neighbors by hiding her diabetes and throwing a twelfth birthday party for herself.

Juvenile Fiction.

[Zipporah]

Originally Posted by Dar

Before you read "The Education of Little Tree", read this:
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/12/20/carter/

If you still like it, fine... but the knowledge that it's a book by a KKK member, which in his mind furthers his racist ideology, kind of ruined it for me...

Dar

An ex-KKK member, who may or may not have held his former racist views when he wrote the book in question (it seems from the article that those who knew him best at the end say he did not). We all have skeletons in the closet, some worse than others, but i believe in second chances and that people can and do change.
As far as the journalist's interpretation of the book's underlying theme and message, all i can say is that s/he seems to have a deplorable lack of understanding for what First Nations people went through at the hands of the government and why they might thus justly be wary of it, particularly at the time of the book's setting. S/he also seems to think the First Nations had no spirituality and attributes the spiritual ideas in the book rather to "New Age" and "Zen", of all things; s/he then further insults and denigrates Cherokee spirituality by implying it is unfeeling and cruel and connecting it to eugenics and totalitarianism/fascism (which statement s/he contradicts elsewhere by claiming the message of the book is "confederate" mistrust of and rebellion against government).
All in all, it seems the author of the article has a huge axe to grind and an incredibly odd, twisted interpretation of what is really a very simple, uncomplicated little book (written, IMO, by a part-Cherokee man who was raised racist and ashamed of his mixed heritage but who finally overcame his demons and embraced the culture of his Indigenous ancestors). Rather than being vilified, i think "The Education of Little Tree" should be lauded as a beautiful example of a man triumphing over his sordid past and his own negative conditioning.

[briansmama]

Great List

Thanks for the awesome list! I'm printing it out, too....

[Katiegs]

Weslandia by Paul Fleischman is a wonderful book. Wes goes to public school but doesn't enjoy it very much, so one summer he creates his own culture in his backyard and educates himself. All the neighborhood kids are fascinated and end up becoming friends with him when he welcomes them into Weslandia. Great story that is inspiring to homeschooled kids even though the characters go to PS.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by KaraBoo

I'd like to see a homeschooling book wherein the character isn't isolated on an island or in a life/death struggle to explain why he/she isn't in school. I'd like a book which approaches a sort of modern idea of homeschooling or, even better, unschooling. Are any of the books listed here like that? (My daughter is starting to notice how different our lives are and I think it would be nice to read a book that reflects her life. We know no one that homeschools)

I have to say that I was a little surprised to get through two pages of this thread and see no mention of Eloise. She lives in New York City (well, I suppose that she is on an island, but she's certainly not isolated!) so there's no isolation or life/death struggle going on. She's just being raised (mostly) by a nanny who believes that the real world is the best (only) place to learn. I'm told that occasionally in the books and the movies, Eloise has a tutor (someone else to drive crazy ) but she's definately a less-structured home educated child.