Recommended Reading

The Call of the Wild + Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child's Education

This was a really nice introduction to homeschooling! The author is very encouraging and gives a great overview of homeschooling topics, including "Reclaiming Motherhood", "Objections to Homeschooling", "Finding your Homeschooling Style", and "The Magic of Wonder." I personally loved the section on finding your homeschooling style. I never realized there were so many different flavors of homeschooling out there, and it made me really excited to be able to find my own style and adjust it to my kids' personalities and learning styles. 

Homeschooling: You're Doing It Right Just by Doing It

This is a great, quick read on the benefits of homeschooling! Written more as inspiration and encouragement for current homeschooling parents, I would reccommend this book to those who are considering homeschooling as well, but who don't want to read anything too heavy on the subject (just yet.) The author gives lots of great examples (personal, and from other great resources) to strengthen your confidence in homeschooling your children.

On the inside flap of the book, it reads:

"Ginny helps you understand that just by choosing to homeschool, you are:

• learning through living

• allowing for individual timelines

• leaving space for boredom

• providing multi-age experiences

• teaching self-reliance

• offering freedom

• slowing down

• and more"

For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School

Although another quick read (it took me about a week), it is chock-full of beautiful ideas and inspiration on education. The author describes Charlotte Mason's method but in a simpler and more practical way. Here are a few ideas from this book that really stuck with me:

• Emphasis on literature: reading great works of literature to children, that you might think is "too difficult" for them to understand, and having them "narrate" the story back to you (instead of asking pre-canned questions and memorizing certain facts, etc. like in traditional schools settings.)

• Inclusion of great works of art and music: The author mentions playing beautiful music (a Bach chorale, Mozart, etc) for kids and making it a part of your routine. No quizzes, memorization... just appreciation. Same goes for art. 

• Living history: Get children involved in history, not just studying it! Read interesting biographies, and "living books" () to get them interested.

• Taking nature walks: At least once a week, going for a walk in nature and just letting your kids be curious. Writing in a nature journal and trying to sketch or watercolor what you saw/what you bring back home (sticks, flowers, etc!)

These are all things that Google searches on Charlotte Mason-style homeschooling showed me, but I feel like I never got a good understanding for it from what I read online. I also had attempted to read some of Miss Mason's original works, but I found them too difficult for me to read and understand (I am not familiar with reading philosophy!)

Anyways, if you're interested in a Christian education for your children, whether they are at home or at school, I would definitely recommend this book!