Homeschooling has been on the highlights of my motherhood! To draw your children close and watch their hearts and minds soar is an incredible experience. I love that our days are spent together and that learning is our lifestyle. Instead of confining learning to “school time”, we have woven it into the fabric of who we are.
I am still a young homeschooling mama with only a few years of experience under my belt, but I have grown much in my thinking on education through this time. Much of that growth is directly connect to the voices I have allowed to influence me. Below, you will find some of those voices. This is not even close to a comprehensive list of great books on the topic of homeschooling, but these are some that have shaped my thoughts and had a huge impact on our home education.
Whether you are considering home education or you are a verteran homeschool mama, I know these books will be an encouragement to you on your homeschooling journey!
Awaking Wonder
by:
Sally Clarkson
Sally, what is your secret?
For years, parents worldwide have asked beloved author Sally Clarkson how she and her husband have ignited a love for learning and a deep faith in their children. They want to know how the Clarksons launched their children to live such vibrant, flourishing lives as adults.
Awaking Wonder is Sally’s answer to those questions. This book is thirty-six years in the making and provides a deep dive into Sally’s most profound legacy: nurturing and guiding her four children into a wonder-filled life.
If you are idealistic and hopeful about the process of raising your children to be healthy and vibrant, you will find encouragement through the Clarksons’ story. If you are exhausted, confused, ill equipped, or unsupported in your journey as a parent, you will find relief through the countless ideas in this book.
Awaking Wonder will inspire you, delight you, provide laughter, and bring tears through the heartfelt stories of four lively children and the wondrous life they grew up in together.
Journey with Sally toward
· cultivating wonder all around you, alongside your children
· understanding how to open your children’s hearts and minds to the grand design, beauty, and goodness scattered throughout the universe
· laying a foundation for spiritual formation and a robust faith in God
· nurturing your children to live into their capacity in intellect, faith, and relationships
If you long for a holistic, spiritually foundational approach to parenting and education, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.
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Educating the WholeHearted Child
by:
Clay & Sally Clarkson
Since 1994, Educating the WholeHearted Child has provided a trusted roadmap for families on the homeschooling journey. This updated fourth edition will show you how to faithfully and confidently nurture, disciple, and educate your wholehearted child at home. Here’s what you’ll learn:
• How to cultivate a vital Christian home where learning can be as natural as playing
• How to see and plan every day through the lens of the WholeHearted Learning model
• How to teach confidently with proven, parent-friendly methods to achieve your goals
• How to maintain a balanced life and home through family, structure, order, and support
• How to understand your child’s unique learning style to help them grow and thrive
Whether you’re just getting started, or you’re a seasoned veteran, you’ll find in this trusted guide a comprehensive model not just for Christian home education, but also for the Christian home. Educating the WholeHearted Child is the whole picture—you, your children, your home, and God.
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The Read-Aloud Family
by:
Sarah MacKenzie
The stories we read–and the conversations we have about them–help shape family traditions, create lifelong memories, and become part of our legacy. Many parents can’t get their children to become book-lovers. Other parents lose touch with what their child is reading.
Reading aloud with your children not only has the power to change a family–it can help your children grow into thoughtful, intelligent, empathetic adults.
We all know that connecting deeply with our families can be difficult in our busy, technology-driven society. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to be fully present with our children, even after they can read themselves, but it isn’t always easy to do. In this book, Sarah Mackenzie–author and host of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast–will teach you how to:
Prepare your kids for academic success through reading to them
Develop empathy and compassion in your kids through books
Find time to read aloud in the midst of school, sports, and dinner dishes
Choose books across a variety of sibling interests and ages
Make reading aloud the best part of your family’s day
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Teaching From Rest
by:
Sarah MacKenzie
Those who have made the decision to homeschool their children have done so out of great love for them 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 and her struggle to bring restful learning to her (six) children.
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For the Children’s Sake
by:
Susan Shaeffer Macaulay
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.
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Call of the Wild & Free
by:
Ainsley Arment
Inspired by the spirit of Henry David Thoreau—”All good things are wild and free”—mother of five Ainsley Arment founded Wild + Free. This growing online community of mothers and families want their children to receive a quality education at home by challenging their intellectual abilities and nurturing their sense of curiosity, joy, and awe—the essence of a positive childhood.
The homeschool approach of past generations is gone—including the stigma of socially awkward kids, conservative clothes, and a classroom setting replicated in the home. The Wild + Free movement is focused on a love of nature, reading great books, pursuing interests and hobbies, making the entire world a classroom, and prolonging the wonder of childhood, an appealing philosophy that is unpacked during this audiobook.
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.
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The 4 Hour School Day
by:
Durenda Wilson
Giving your child a quality education experience for a life of happiness and purpose is possible – and it only takes four hours a day or less!
We want our kids to have the best education, but less-than-ideal school environments and concern about our kids’ specific needs have parents uncertain about traditional schooling. A trusted homeschool expert with 25 years of experience homeschooling her own eight children, Durenda Wilson offers a better way and promises that you already have what it takes to give your child a healthy, successful future.
In The Four-Hour School Day, she unpacks the lifelong advantages of home education, both for the health of your family and your child’s future. With inspiring stories about parents just like you, she demystifies homeschooling and addresses common fears like, what if I’m not qualified, how can I homeschool as a single parent, and what if I don’t have enough time? Packed with encouragement and practical advice, this resource equips you with all the information you need to create a sustainable homeschooling plan customized to your child’s needs.
Wilson will help you to:
Work with your child’s interests and passions for an enjoyable learning experience
Cultivate independent learning in your child so you have more time and your child develops more curiosity
Navigate the different schooling stages your child will go through
Find an engaged community so that you can start this adventure with all the support you need
Explore the rich and wonderful world of homeschooling because it’s not only more doable than you think, but far more beneficial than you can imagine.
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Let Them Be Kids
by:
Jessica Smartt
As parents, we want to safeguard our children from the pressures and influences of the world but also prepare them for age-appropriate realities. How do we find that balance? Jessica Smartt shares ways to be more aware, engaged, proactive, creative, and protective, but also adventurous with our kids.
Let Them Be Kids is Jessica’s offering of grace and confidence to moms, giving us practical ideas to meet the challenge. Her well-researched, tested methods, woven together with her personal stories and witty humor, deliver wisdom on tough topics, such as:
Balancing family time vs. outside activities,
The gift of being awkward and uncool,
Managing technology,
Protecting purity,
Showing grace when kids disobey,
And more.
Part story, part guidebook, every chapter includes doable strategies and encouragement for the journey, equipping moms with ways to provide a safe, healthy, Christ-centered upbringing for our children.
If you want to conquer fear and find the truth that transforms entire families, Let Them Be Kids shows us that it’s not only possible but essential to enjoy every special moment of building family values together. And it serves as a gentle reminder that, someday, we’ll be very glad that we did.
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Until the Streetlights Come On
by:
Ginny Yurich
The average American now spends just four to seven minutes outside each day, while we spend four to seven hours using devices with screens. Our physical, mental, emotional, and relational health has suffered–and so has that of our children.
But there is a solution: get outside!
A homeschooling mother of five and the founder of the global 1000 Hours Outside movement, Ginny Yurich explains how we got to this point–and how to get back to a healthier, more engaging relationship with the world outside. With a mom’s heart and an educator’s eye, Ginny shows you
· the importance of unstructured play for children
· what boredom actually contributes to our brains
· the value of sunlight and social play
· the role of play in lifelong learning
· how to make time outside more attractive than screen time to your child
· and much more
If you want your kids to grow up curious, resilient, and with a sense of adventure and community, it’s essential to make outside play a priority. This book shows you why and how.
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Adventuring Together
by:
Greta Eskridge
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 listeners 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.
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*Summaries taken from the back of the book cover. Amazon links are affiliate links.
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