I have circled around the idea of staying home and homeschooling my kids for over a year now. Having this grand idea, I was at a loss of knowing where to start. I did the only thing I knew how….I started looking up Instagram Influencers about homeschooling. Needless to say, I was OVERWHELMED at first with all of the information that people provide about their way homeschooling. I knew nothing about it, what to follow, timelines, state requirements, records, the socialization aspect of it.. I was at a complete loss. Noticing all of these social media influencers having a different ways of doing things, I started to research the different approaches of Homeschooling. I had to re-read through the 8-17 different types of methods (depends on the articles you are reading) numerous times to wrap my head around it. Once I dialed that in, I envisioned what our days would look like as a family, what our needs are. Envisioning slow mornings, Arts & Crafts, “field trips” to interactive museums, dance parties, camping and lots of outdoor adventures would benefit our kids to learn freely at their will and be able to express their emotions in a healthy way without the repercussions of being punished in a public school where they may not feel understood and may start acting out. Neither my husband nor I want that for our kids. We want them to feel safe, be able to learn life skills, live off of the land, learn at their own pace and be able to choose what they WANT to learn instead of being told.
With all of this in our minds, I decided to research at least 15 homeschooling books that I found amongst the influencers that I follow. Being able to read their first chapter on Amazon (which is VERY convenient), I was able to choose my first 3 books that I want to read before I start homeschooling.
*Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart
*The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart
*Call of the Wild & Free by Ainsley Arment
After researching and reading through about 15 books, these are my top 3 that I could relate my vision to for my kids and family. I just ordered them today and I am super excited to get start reading! The more I do now, the sooner I can get my family set up the way that will benefit us the most in the long run. After reading these 3 books, I can’t wait to see which 3 books I will choose next!
Let me know if you have any suggestions or comments about which book on homeschooling is your favorite! Which one have you related to the most?