Ayla
19-08-2008, 07:20 PM
Saved from the old forum
I've just finished reading "The Homeschooling Handbook", by Mary Griffith.
I have enjoyed reading this book very much. Although the author is an unschooler and is clear about it, she gives a thorough explanation of how home based education works for different styles of people, from curriculum based families, to natural learners, in a nonviolent, respectful way, letting the reader choose what suits them best.
There are chapters which are not applicable to Australia, such as the one related to legal issues or the support organizations that she cites, since it is an American book. However, you can grasp the idea of the politics behind homeschooling, and it also gives you plenty of Internet and printed resources.
It also considers money and other practical matters when considering homeschooling, styles of learning, record keeping, and more information, suited to different stages of development and educational styles, as well as learning difficulties and college admissions for homeschoolers.
Being new to home education, I've found the book fairly illustrative and informative, giving the reader a broad vision of what's out there.
Beverley Paine has some nice booklets on getting started that are Aussie based. You can get them through her Australian Homeschool site. She covers unschooling/natural learning as well as the rego process and diary keeping and all of that.
For a starting out book I like Anna Keough's Trust The Children. She lives in Hawaii but it's still very relevant. It went out of print and was hard to get new but they reprinted it 2 years ago and and Beverley was planning on importing a box of these to sell through AH but I'm not sure if she ever did. It's not so basic as the above books and has loads more information in them. Less hold your hand stuff so I found it easier to apply to my own life. I think they are around the same price (TTC was $30 around 10 years ago) and I'd say TTC is better value although even that book you would grow out of once you were well on the way to unschooling.
Sam, I borrowed Trust the Children from a mum with older kids at my homeschooling group and loved it (being new to homeschooling). If you can get hold of it is definitely worth a read....lots of fun ideas and references to other books. I quite like the Peggy Kaye books and my kids soon let me know when they think I am trying to "teach" them depending on if they like the game ideas..they give them a rating and just tell me if they are boring (which took a bit of getting used to early on when I would plan the days learning...ha ha have given up on that one!)
Julie
I've just finished reading "The Homeschooling Handbook", by Mary Griffith.
I have enjoyed reading this book very much. Although the author is an unschooler and is clear about it, she gives a thorough explanation of how home based education works for different styles of people, from curriculum based families, to natural learners, in a nonviolent, respectful way, letting the reader choose what suits them best.
There are chapters which are not applicable to Australia, such as the one related to legal issues or the support organizations that she cites, since it is an American book. However, you can grasp the idea of the politics behind homeschooling, and it also gives you plenty of Internet and printed resources.
It also considers money and other practical matters when considering homeschooling, styles of learning, record keeping, and more information, suited to different stages of development and educational styles, as well as learning difficulties and college admissions for homeschoolers.
Being new to home education, I've found the book fairly illustrative and informative, giving the reader a broad vision of what's out there.
Beverley Paine has some nice booklets on getting started that are Aussie based. You can get them through her Australian Homeschool site. She covers unschooling/natural learning as well as the rego process and diary keeping and all of that.
For a starting out book I like Anna Keough's Trust The Children. She lives in Hawaii but it's still very relevant. It went out of print and was hard to get new but they reprinted it 2 years ago and and Beverley was planning on importing a box of these to sell through AH but I'm not sure if she ever did. It's not so basic as the above books and has loads more information in them. Less hold your hand stuff so I found it easier to apply to my own life. I think they are around the same price (TTC was $30 around 10 years ago) and I'd say TTC is better value although even that book you would grow out of once you were well on the way to unschooling.
Sam, I borrowed Trust the Children from a mum with older kids at my homeschooling group and loved it (being new to homeschooling). If you can get hold of it is definitely worth a read....lots of fun ideas and references to other books. I quite like the Peggy Kaye books and my kids soon let me know when they think I am trying to "teach" them depending on if they like the game ideas..they give them a rating and just tell me if they are boring (which took a bit of getting used to early on when I would plan the days learning...ha ha have given up on that one!)
Julie