Books: Real-Life Homeschooling

When I first started thinking about this post, I'd mentally planned a whole history of my early disaffection with traditional schooling, my high-school and college-age interest in (or maybe I should say fascination with) education, my training and work as a teacher in both a private and public schools and how it has all culminated in my interest in Montessori education and homeschooling...but, now that I actually sit here at the computer, the urge to write all that is gone. 

Instead, I'll share with you a fun little book that I just picked up at my local library: Real-Life Homeschooling: The Stories of 21 Families Who Teach Their Children at Home.  Ian and I have been thinking about homeschooling Gus, so I've been doing a little research on the topic here and there.  I really enjoyed reading this book, as it gave a great feel for what it would be like for us to actually homeschool our own child.  Through the stories of the twenty-one families in the book, the reader is exposed to a wide variety of differently homeschooling styles and philosophies.  You not only get a great sense of what worked for the families and what didn't, but you also get to see what resources they each like to use and how they schedule their time.  I was surprised to read that so many of the families had started off trying to replicate a traditional school (by creating detailed lesson plans, schedules, etc.) and then had changed their focus over time to be more child-centered and organic.  To me, and I suppose to most homeschoolers, this is the beauty of homeschooling - the ability to customize the learning environment to the unique needs of each child....but even still, I think the initial urge is to try to replicate the school at home because that is what we all know - that is how most of us all were educated and we don't know another way until we dig into it and try it ourselves.  How very exciting!!  Now, of course, as this book points out, homeschooling is a LOT of work and a huge decision on the part of the family... but it is great to be able to hear how different families have struggled through that choice and why they have persevered with their homeschooling choices.  A great read for anyone who is thinking about homeschooling.