Recommended Reading for Home Educators
The three-volume Big Book of Home Learning by Mary Pride and Cathy Duffy’s Curriculum Manuals are perhaps the two most valuable resources to have, since they include background philosophy as well as resource information. You will notice some overlap between categories. Highlighted items denote basic books, especially useful for laying a good foundation.
Philosophy: WHY
- Better Late Than Early, Raymond Moore
- The Christian Home School, Gregg Harris
- Classical Education and the Home School, Douglas Wilson, et al
- Educating the Whole Hearted Child, Clay and Sally Clarkson
- Education, Christianity, and the State, J. Gresham Machen
- Family Matters, David Guterson
- For the Children’s Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
- The Future of Homeschooling, Michael Farris
- Home Education Myths, booklet by Karl Reed
- Home-Grown Kids, Raymond Moore
- The Home School Manual, Ted Wade
- Homeschooling for Excellence, David and Micki Colfax
- How and Why of Homeschooling, Ray Ballman
- The Original Home Schooling Series (six volumes), Charlotte Mason
- Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, Douglas Wilson
- Schoolproof, Mary Pride
- A Survivor’s Guide to Homeschooling, Luanne Shackelford
- Teach Your Own, John Holt
- The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling, Debra Bell
- Why So Many Christians Are Going Home to School, Llewellyn Davis
Teaching: HOW
- The Big Book of Home Learning: Junior High to College, Mary Pride
- The Big Book of Home Learning: Preschool/Elementary, Mary Pride
- Christian Home Educator’s Curriculum Manual: Elementary Grades, Cathy Duffy
- Christian Home Educator’s Curriculum Manual: Secondary, Cathy Duffy
- Classical Christian Curriculum Guide (This may be downloaded FREE from www.veritaspress.com in conjunction with the Association of Classical and Christian Schools)
- Dr. Beechick’s Home School Answer Book, Ruth Beechick
- Educating the Whole Hearted Child, Clay and Sally Clarkson
- The Home School Manual, Ted Wade
- Home School: Taking the First Step, Borg Hendrickson
- Home-Spun Schools, Raymond Moore
- A Home Start in Reading, A Strong Start in Language, An Easy Start in Arithmetic, Ruth Beechick (three little manuals for K-3, invaluable, essential)
- Home-Style Teaching, Raymond and Dorothy Moore
- The Homeschool Jumpstart Navigator for Younger Children, Barbara Edtl Shelton
- How and Why of Home Schooling, Ray Ballman
- How Do You Know They Know What They Know? Teresa M. Moon
- How to Create Your Own Unit Study, Valerie Bendt
- How to Home School: A Practical Approach, Gayle Graham
- How to Tutor, Samuel Blumenfeld
- Reading, Writing, and Parents Who Care: Enriching Your Child’s Education at Home, John Koster
- Schoolproof, Mary Pride
- Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready, June Oberlander (for birth through age 5)
- The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
- Skills Evaluation for the Home School, Rebecca L. Avery (available from Weaver Curriculum or the Moore Foundation)
- Teaching Children, Diane Lopez
- any of the Unit Study Guides by Amanda Bennett
- The Unit Study Idea Book, Valerie Bendt
- You Can Teach Your Child Successfully (for grades 4-8, essential), Ruth Beechick
Choosing Curriculum: WHAT
- The Big Book of Home Learning: Junior High to College, Mary Pride
- The Big Book of Home Learning: Preschool/Elementary, Mary Pride (The Big Book of Home
- Learning Volume One is not yet published.)
- Christian Home Educator’s Curriculum Manual: Elementary Grades, Cathy Duffy
- Christian Home Educator’s Curriculum Manual: Secondary, Cathy Duffy
- Classical Education and the Home School, Douglas Wilson et al
- Cultural Literacy, E. D. Hirsch
- Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, Douglas Wilson
- Science Fare, Wendy Saul and Alan R. Newman (slightly out-of-date, but still invaluable for evaluating science gear)
Getting Your Act Together: HOUSEWORK
- Any of Don Aslett’s housecleaning books
- Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House, Cheryl Mendelson
- Margin, Richard Swenson
- Any of the Side-Tracked Sisters books
Legal Issues
- The Bible, Homeschooling, and the Law, Karl Reed
- Home Education and Constitutional Liberties, John Whitehead
- Home Schooling and the Law, Michael Farris
- The Right Choice: The Incredible Failure of Public Education and the Rising Hope of Home
- Schooling, Christopher Klicka
Guides to Choosing Children’s Literature
- A Family Program for Reading Aloud, Ruth Slater
- Books Children Love: A Guide to the Best Children’s Literature, Elizabeth Wilson
- Evaluating Books: What Would Thomas Jefferson Think? Richard Maybury
- For the Love of Reading, Valerie Bendt
- Honey for a Child’s Heart, Gladys Hunt
- A Landscape with Dragons, Michael O’Brien
- Let the Authors Speak: A Guide to Worthy Books Based on Historical Setting, Carolyn
- Hatcher
- Read for Your Life, Gladys Hunt
- Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination, Vigen Guroian
- The New Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease
Child Training and Discipline
- Child Training and the Home School, Jeff and Marge Barth
- Home-Built Discipline, Raymond and Dorothy Moore
- How to Really Love Your Child, Ross Campbell
- Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing, Douglas Wilson
- To Train Up a Child, Michael and Debi Pearl
- What the Bible Says About Child Training, J. Richard Fugate
- Withhold Not Correction, Bruce A. Ray
Biblical Courtship and Marriage
- Various resources from Barth Family Seminars (Parable Publishing House, RD 1, Box 1281, Charlotte, VT 05445)
- Various resources from Bill Gothard (IBLP Publication Orders, Box 1, Oak Brook IL 60522-3001)
- Bold Parenting and Bold Youth tapes and seminars by Jonathan Lindvall
- Christian Courtship Vs. the Dating Game, Pastor Jim West (Christian Worldview Ministries, P. O. Box 603, Palo Cedro, CA 96073-0603)
- Dating Vs. Courtship, Paul Jehle (Plymouth Rock Foundation, 800-210-1620)
- Dating with Integrity, John Holzmann (developer of Sonlight Curriculum)
- Her Hand in Marriage: Biblical Courtship in the Modern World, Douglas Wilson
- I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Joshua Harris
- Passion and Purity, Elizabeth Elliot
- Preparing Your Children for Courtship and Marriage from Toddlers to Teens, Reb Bradley, 916-967-HOPE
- Reforming Marriage, Douglas Wilson
- Youthful Romance: Scriptural Patterns (pamphlet), Jonathan Lindvall
Magazines
- The Blumenfeld Education Letter
- Growing Without Schooling
- Home Education Magazine
- Homeschool Digest
- Homeschooling Today
- Practical Homeschooling
- The Teaching Home
Books on New Age Thinking in the Classroom
- A Crash Course on the New Age Movement, Elliot Miller
- The Facts on Spirit Guides, Ankerberg/Weldon
- From Nirvana to the New Age, Mary Ann Lind (one section on New Age thinking in the classroom)
- Like Lambs to the Slaughter, Joanna Michaelson
- The New Age Masquerade, Eric Buehrer (the hidden agenda in the classroom)
- Satan’s Evangelistic Strategy for This New Age, Erwin W. Lutzer and John DeVries (small section on New Age in the schools)
- The Seduction of Our Children, Neil Anderson and Steve Russo (chapter on classroom)
- Straight Answers on the New Age, Bob Larson (useful chapter on Who’s Who in New Age thinking)
- Your Child and the New Age, Berit Kjos
Special Problems Caused by or Exacerbated by Institutional Schools or Culture
- Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
- Dumbing Us Down, John Gatto (must read)
- Education’s Smoking Gun, Reginald Damerell (how teacher’s colleges have destroyed education in America, gives you confidence in your own ability to teach your own)
- Endangered Minds, Jane Healy
- Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children’s Minds — for Better and Worse, Jane Healy
- The Magic Feather (concerns labeling children, especially those with learning problems)
- Marva Collins’ Way, Marva Collins and Civia Tamarkin (how one determined teacher fought the system… she got out)
- The Child Influencers, Don Adams
- The Hurried Child, David Elkind
- The Myth of the Hyperactive Child, Schrag and Divoky
- Why Johnny Can’t Read, Rudolph Flesch (a must-read for teaching reading)
- Why Johnny Still Can’t Read, Rudolph Flesch (a must-read for teaching reading)
- The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteacher's Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern Schooling, John Gatto
Sources
- Christian Book Distributors, P. O. Box 7000, Peabody MA 01961-7000, 978-977-5005
- Conservative Book Club, 15 Oakland Ave, Harrison NY 10528
- Dover Publications, 31 East 2nd St, Mineola, NY 11501-3582 (by mail only)
- The Elijah Company, 1053 Eldridge Loop, Crossville, TN 38558, 888-2-ELIJAH, www.elijahco.com
- Greenleaf Press, 3761 Highway 109N, Unit D, Lebanon, TN 37087, 615-449-1617, www.greenleafpress.com
- The Home School, P. O. Box 308, North Chelmsford, MA 01863-0308, 800-788-1221, www.thehomeschool.com
- LibertyTree, 100 Swan Way, Oakland CA 94621-1428, 800-927-8733, www.liberty-tree.org
- Lifetime Books and Gifts, 3900 Chalet Suzanne Drive, Lake Wales FL 33853-7763, 800-377-0390, 813-676-6311,
- Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd., 8042 South Grant Way, Littleton, CO 80122-2705, 303-730-6292, Fax: 303-795-8668, www.sonlight.com
- The Teaching Company, 7405 Alban Station Court, Suite A-107, Springfield VA 22150-2318, 800-832-2412, www.teachco.com (video and audio tapes)
- Tobin’s Lab, P. O. Box 725, Culpepper, VA 22701, 800-522-4776, www.tobinlab.com
- Veritas Press, 1250 Belle Meade Drive, Lancaster PA 17601, 800-922-5082, www.veritaspress.com
- Vision Forum (The All-American Boy’s Adventure Catalog), 800-440-0022, 830-980-3900, www.visionforum.com