by Selena Robinson

Created on: October 01, 2009

If you're considering homeschooling, you might be feeling excitement tinged with anxiety. Will you be able to stick with it? How will you know what to cover? What schooling method will you use? Here are a few books that can help to ease your fears.

The Everything Homeschooling Book by Sherri Linsenbach (Adams Media Corporation, 2003) - This book provides a comprehensive overview of what homeschooling involves. Learning and teaching styles are discussed, along with legal requirements and curriculum choices. Various types of homeschooling are described, such as umbrella schools, cooperatives and virtual learning schools. Method options, such as eclectic schooling, unit studies and unschooling, are outlined in detail. One of the best features of the book is the discussion of how to adapt homeschooling to your family's particular situation. Chapter 8 deals with scheduling, Chapter 9 discusses how you can homeschool one child or several and Chapters 13 and 14 provide helpful suggestions about homeschooling for single parents and two-career families.

The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child by Linda Dobson (Three Rivers Press, 2001) - Dobson, a prolific homeschool author, provides much needed encouragement and support throughout this book. If you're new to homeschooling or still considering it, this book can help to ease your fears about what homeschooling will be like. The book gives a lot of positive suggestions, but also a lot of realistic assessments. Chapter 10 frankly discusses "First-Year Hurdles". If you would like to know more about what a routine of homeschooling looks like, be sure to read Chapter 6, "A Week in the Life".

Homeschooling: Take a Deep Breath, You Can Do This! by Terrie Lynn Bittner (Mapletree Publishing, 2004) - For those of you who are geared toward step-by-step instructions, this is the book for you! Bittner, a veteran homeschool teacher, gives a lot of good direction about getting started with organization (see Chapter 5 "Organizing Your New Life" and Chapter 6 "Recording Weird Things in Respectable ways: Record-Keeping"). She also gives in-depth information about how to use and make your own lesson plans and unit studies, along with many suggestions for how to cover basic subjects, such as math, reading, history, science, composition, and ethics.

Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp (Three Rivers Press, 2000) - If you're worried about what to cover each year, this book is an invaluable resource. Rupp provides a complete listing of standards for each grade from prekindergarten through twelfth grade. She also lists possible resources, such as books and curriculum providers, that can help you to meet all of the standards given. (If you will be using standardized tests, be sure to check your state's standards as well.)

The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith (Three Rivers Press, 1998) - Unschooling (which is using life and experiences instead of textbooks to teach your child) is growing in popularity. If you're interested in this method, Griffith's book is a good introduction. She talks frankly about fears you might have and provides examples and interviews with real unschooling families and their children. Even if you are not considering unschooling, you may find this book to be a source of inspiration to integrate natural learning into your preferred teaching style.

When you're just beginning to homeschool, you might be anxious. But, with the right information, you can quickly become a confident, purposeful homeschool teacher. The above books provide helpful resources that can assist you and your family on your homeschooling journey.

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