General Articles: Choosing Books for Your Home-school Child
By Mimi Rothschild
One of the most exciting, if not challenging and daunting, aspects of home-school is that it affords you, as the parent, the opportunity to pick the sources of knowledge for your children. Indeed, while many parents choose a curriculum that mirrors the traditional public and private school curriculum, some home-school parents also want to add their own spin, picking and choosing, for example, what literature they want their children to read. While many home-school parents are content with more traditional choices like John Steinbeck, Stephan Crane, Mark Twain and William Shakespeare, some home-school parents want something a little different. For those, there is a plethora of places a home-school parent can learn about and preview books and literature for inclusion in their home-school curriculum.
For religious home-school parents, there are many book sellers and publishers that will send a list of books for your perusal. You can start by asking the pastor of your church or other home-school parents for referrals. Even though libraries are secular institutions, you shouldn't discount them. Many libraries have a section devoted to religious-themed novels and literature. Computer searching has made it easier than ever to find titles with the key words of your choice. Furthermore, librarians love books. Many religious home-school parents are pleased to discover that their local librarian is familiar with the publishers of Christian or Christian-themed books on literature, history, etc.
Home-school parents who are more secular may also want different options for their children, and libraries are an excellent place to start for them, too. Home-school parents should learn to take advantage of the vast knowledge of their local librarians. Another good place for home-school parents not necessarily looking for religious-themed literature is home-school support groups. Studies show that about 40% of home-school students are aligned more closely with liberal values as opposed to conservative Christian values, a sharp increase in recent years. Given this rise, more local home-school support groups and associations will have more information with regard to non-religious literature.
If you expect to send your children to college after graduation, you should already be aware that there are some books that your children, although in home-school, will be expected to have read. For example, there are few if any college bound high schoolers in the country that get out of reading “Romeo and Juliet.” Indeed, college instructors will assume your child has read the book. However, there is a lot of room for the home-school parent to tweak the literature read by the student and lots of community resources for the home-school parent to tap into in order to find these books.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling mother, writer, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of home education company Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of 28 years reside with their 8 children right outside Philadelphia, PA.
Rothschild launched Learning By Grace, Inc. because she believed that our nation's public school system has failed parents and students. Learning By Grace, Inc. offers online education through a multimedia-rich curriculum to PreK-12 children across the country and throughout the world.
An accomplished author, Rothschild has written books regarding education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Homeschooling News Café Blog consists of the most current and relevant education news.Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
