Education/Homeschooling

Rebecca Rupp’s Home Learning Year by Year (Crown, 2020) is intended to help families who need – legally – to interface with the public schools, while at the same time want to provide a creative learning experience for their kids at home. It can be done – and this book is filled with anecdotes, resources, ideas, booklists, games, projects, and more for kids from preschool through high school.

Also see the accompanying categorized resource-packed blog, Let’s Learn All About It!

John Holt, sometimes nicknamed the “father of homeschooling,” is the author of numerous books on innovative education, among them Teach Your Own (Da Capo Press, 2003), devoted to homeschooling. Chapters include “Why Take Them Out?.” “Common Objections to Homeschooling,” “Serious Play,” “Learning Without Teaching,” and “How to Get Started.”

Julie Bogart’s The Brave Learner (Tarcher/Perigee, 2019) is packed with anecdotes, info, and creative ideas for homeschoolers. Julie tells us “I wanted to create a warm, memorable life for my kids and myself, not just an education.” A wonderful resource for those looking to do likewise.

By Mary Griffiths, The Unschooling Handbook (Three Rivers Press, 1998) describes the theory and practice of the unschooling movement, based on the belief kids learn best when they purse their own interests and passions, without required curricula or imposed schedules.

Kerry McDonald’s Unschooled (Chicago Review Press, 2019), subtitled “Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom,” points out that education is by no means synonymous with school. In lieu of the standardized-test-driven classrooms of today, unschoolers promote self-directed learning that keeps kids challenged and involved.

Grace Llewellyn’s Guerrilla Learning (Wiley, 2001) – subtitled “How to Give Your Kids a Good Education With or Without School” – aims to help parents create an environment conducive to the joy of learning. It’s not about getting better grades or getting your kid into Harvard, but instead emphasizes creative ways of exploring the world. “School achievement is not education,” Llewellyn writes. “Obedience is not education. Scoring high on a test is not education.”

Lenore Skenazy brought a media storm down on her head with a story of how she allowed her nine-year-old son to ride the New York City subway alone. Her book Free Range Kids (Jossey-Bass, 2010) argues against irrational worries and overprotective parents and emphasizes the importance of giving kids the freedom to explore on their own.

Among the many very different accounts of the homeschooling experience is Ben Hewitt’s Home Grown (Roost Books, 2014), the story of his sons’ unconventional education on a family farm in Vermont; and Kaleena and Aaron Amuchastegui’s The 5-Hour School Week (Lioncrest Publishing, 2018), the story of how they pulled their kids out of school to travel the globe and learn through experiences.

What’s legal – and what isn’t? See Homeschool Laws by State.