Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it. A lot of parents today, Skenazy says, see no difference between letting their kids walk to school and letting them walk through a firing range. Any risk is seen as too much risk. But if you try to prevent every possible danger or difficult in your child's everyday life, that child never gets a chance to grow up. We parents have to realize that the greatest risk of all just might be trying to raise a child who never encounters choice or independence.

    This is an essential experience for children: to spend time working on something that matters to them, with the support of a dedicated mentor. This book is an introduction and guide to creating the circumstances under which children can teach themselves. The author gives parents concrete tips for helping children do challenging, meaningful, self-chosen work. From setting up a workspace that encourages independence to building a family culture that supports self-directed learning to concrete suggestions for a step-by-step approach to inquiry-based investigation, Project-Based Homeschooling shares techniques for mentoring independent, confident thinkers and learners.

    No matter what your location—from a small patch of green in the city to the wide-open meadows of the country—each activity is meant to promote exploration, stimulate imagination, and heighten a child's sense of wonder. To learn more about the author, Jennifer Ward, visit her website at jenniferwardbooks.com and to learn more about the illustrator, Susie Ghahremani, visit her website at boygirlparty.com.

    Delving into the unknown can also create an element of self-doubt that fills your mind right off the bat. That coupled with an overwhelming task of choosing and gathering curriculum, creating lesson plans, organizing supplies, and teaching multiple grade levels can be quite disheartening.Don't worry! Homeschooling 101 is a step by step practical guide that will help you to get started, and continue on in your homeschooling journey. It is designed to help guide you through all of the steps to getting started, choosing and gathering curriculum, creating effective lesson plans, scheduling your day, organizing your home, staying the course and more! It even includes helpful homeschooling forms!

    The book is divided into three sections that are tabbed for easy reference. The READING section tells how and when to begin phonics, and how to develop comprehension skills. The LANGUAGE section shows how to develop written language skills naturally, in the same way children learn oral language. The ARITHMETIC section explains how to teach understanding of math concepts, and not just memorization of facts. Bonus: A removable 2-sided wall chart for phonics and arithmetic."

    There is a rhyming game that helps them hear letter sounds more accurately. There are mazes and puzzles, games that train the eye to see patterns of letters, games that train the ear so a child can sound out words, games that awaken a child's imagination and creativity, and games that provide the right spark to fire a child's enthusiasm for reading. There are games in which your child has to act silly and games--sure to be any child's favorite--in which you do.Easy to follow and easy to play, these games are ideal for busy, working parents. You can read a game in a few minutes and start to play right away. You can play on car trips, while doing the laundry, or while cooking. These games are so much fun for the whole family that you may forget their serious purpose.  But they will help all beginning readers--those who have reading problems and those who do not--learn to read and want to read.Games for Reading also includes a list of easy-to-read books and books for reading aloud, and a "Note to Teachers" on how to play these games in their classrooms.

    This practical, insightful book is essential reading for any parent.

    It is about Real Learning. Homeschooling pioneer Charlotte Mason wrote with great wisdom about providing young minds with a living books education. She urged teachers to present great ideas and stand back, allowing students to form relationships with the ideas. Elizabeth Foss carries Miss Mason's philosophy from the ideal to the real. How does the busy home-educating mom balance the various needs of a houseful of children? How does she provide short lessons and free afternoons while ensuring that her children receive a thorough and well-rounded education? Exactly how does she use living books to teach history, geography, literature, and scienc? How does she incorporate nature study, the arts, and soccer practice? How does she create in her home an atmosphere of sanctity with Christ at its center, an atmosphere of love in which the whole family can grow in holiness day by day? How does she manage all this and still get dinner on the table? With passion and grace, Elizabeth Foss explores these questions and more. Real Learning is a rich and detailed examination of how to let "eduation" spill out of your home classroom into every aspect of your family life. More than a curriculum guide, it is a look at a lifestyle which aims to nourish the whole child, the whold family--heart, soul, and mind.

    She can cope with the myriad of daily difficulties and decisions that a homeschooling lifestyle brings with it, as long as she is having the right responses to them. Let her be fearful, worried, anxious, frustrated, irritated, or angry and a mom soon realizes she is undermining all she wants to accomplish by homeschooling. Because Teri Maxwell, a mother of eight, has walked the homeschooling path since 1985, she knows first-hand the struggle for a meek and quiet spirit. The memories from her early homeschooling years of often being worried and angry rather than having a meek and quiet spirit are not what she would like them to be.Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit includes Teri sharing the work the Lord has done in her heart through homeschooling. Other homeschooling moms will be encouraged that He can do the same for them. Teri also desires that homeschooling mothers could learn from the lessons the Lord has taught her so that they would begin to have a meek and quiet spirit long before she did.Will the reader's journey toward a meek and quiet spirit be completed upon finding the perfect spelling curriculum or deciding which chores a child should be doing? Or does the answer lie on a different path? In these pages, Teri offers practical insights into gaining a meek and quiet spirit, along with chapter-by-chapter projects, that any mom can apply to her individual circumstances. She transparently shares the struggles God has brought her through and what He has shown her during these many homeschooling years.Throughout Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, the heart issues that will gently lead you to a meek and quiet spirit are discovered. The reader is encouraged to join Teri as they seek the Lord to homeschool with a meek and quiet spirit! .

    In this book, Connor Boyack shares the exciting philosophy and empowering day-to-day steps involved in passion-driven education.A child’s curiosity and natural desire to learn are like a tiny flame, easily extinguished unless it’s protected and given fuel. This book will help you as a parent both protect that flame of curiosity and supply it with the fuel necessary to make it burn bright throughout your child’s life. Let’s ignite our children’s natural love of learning!

    Large margins make this edition a pleasure read or study.

    June R. Oberlander, a 19-year veteran kindergarten teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia, first published this book in 1988. Now her granddaughter, Hannah Oberlander, a current teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia, has updated and enhanced these classic activities for today's parents of the next generation.Organized in an easy-to-read format, these mini lessons prompt moms, dads, grandparents, caretakers, and guardians to play short, practical games with their children with step-by-step instructions, tips, and photos to guide them along the way. Activities are sorted for each age group between birth and kindergarten. Not only do they give a ballpark idea of how your child is developing, but also what activities and tasks he or she is currently ready for and what to be working towards over the weeks. Each activity has a box that clues parents in to which skills they are developing with their child. In addition, book ideas are referenced for each activity throughout Ages 3 and 4 to promote pre-reading skills and motivation.Slow and Steady Get Me Ready is like no other guide to developmental play ideas for today's child. These activities are tried and true to engage your youngster for specific purposes that will enrich his or her physical and mental growth during these crucial years of a child's life. No iPod app or electronic resource can replace a parent's face-to-face interaction with his or her child. Recognizing that time in every home is always scarce, these quick and simple activities foster parent-child contact that is not only constructive but also meaningful.Standards for kindergarten entrance and placement have risen over the past thirty years. Educators and experts have concluded that early and consistent stimulation before entering school is essential to a child's development. Thus, it's more important than ever before for parents and caretakers of young children to promote early development through motor skills, communication, and cognitive learning. Slow and Steady Get Me Ready For Kindergarten is just the tool! The most-rewarding job in the world is parenting, so why not get off on the right foot?

    What is it that homeschoolers do that the public schools can’t or won’t? There are at least as many answers as there are studies. But nothing can capture the homeschooling experience in all its richness like the story of a real family that homeschools its children in middleclass America. Homeschooling: A Family’s Journey is the perfect book for those millions of Americans who may know someone who homeschools, who may have read about it, thought about it, and wondered whether homeschooling is right for them. Sharing the concerns of committed parents everywhere, authors Gregory and Martine Millman are consistently practical, informed, caring, and no-nonsense in their approach. They pay special attention to homeschooling and college, the economics of home-learning, and how a parent can really handle a child’s full education. Homeschooling opens a window on an exciting, important way of education—and, even more, a way of life—that can make all the difference in your family’s world.

    Combining the goals that William Bennett enumerated as Secretary of Education, key excerpts from E. D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge Sequence, and the latest research, it sets forth clear curricula and specific objectives for children from kindergarten through the eighth grade, including: -What children should be studying and the kind of work they should be doing -Important facts to learn and essential reading lists -When children should master specific math skills, spelling and grammar basics, and scientific facts -Test preparation, homework, and other areas that require parental involvement The Educated Child also examines timely issues such as school choice, sex education, character education, and the phonics/whole language debate. Perhaps most important, it encourages parents to become advocates for their children by learning what to look for in a good school, how to talk to educators, and how, when necessary, to push for needed changes. For parents concerned about their children's current education and future lives, it is the ultimate handbook.

    What curriculum do I choose? What if we can’t afford all the books? How do I schedule our time? Will my children become socially awkward recluses? What if I screw up my kids’ education?! Lorilee Lippincott, a seasoned homeschooling mom, shows just how simple homeschooling can be. She and her husband taught their two kids in a one-bedroom apartment before picking up and moving the whole family to China. They’ve discovered that they don’t need rooms full of books, educational toys, and other teaching tools, nor do they need schedules packed full of extracurricular activities, field trips, and social events. Perhaps even more importantly, they don’t need to panic about making sure their kids turn out okay. It’s actually all pretty simple, she tells readers.But homeschooling well does require some planning and dedication, and a book like The Homeschooling Handbook to be your guide. Here you’ll find all your questions answered in Lippincott’s straightforward, warm, and witty style. Topics covered include:How to instill curiosity and a love of learningTypes of homeschoolingYour socialization fears assuagedHow to create simple schedules and stick to themTips for keeping costs downTeaching kids with disabilitiesThe benefits of play timeLegal requirementsHow to avoid burnoutAnd much more!Full of anecdotes, interviews with other homeschooling families, and wisdom, this is a must-have for any family considering the homeschooling life.