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South Bay Homeschool Network
Recommended Reading

 

The following list of books have been recommended by parents who are homeschooling their children. We present these as a partial list of resources where you might find the support and guidance you need to homeschool.


 

Books on Parenting

Books on Unschooling

Books on Homeschooling

Recommended Magazines:
Home Education Magazine

 

 


 

 

Books on Parenting

Your Child's Self Esteem, by Dorothy Briggs
 
The Wise Child, by Sonia Choquette
 
The Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost 
                      (Classics in Human Development) by Jean Liedloff
 
The Natural Child: Parenting from the Heart by Jan Hunt
 
Being There: The Benefits Of a Stay-At-Home Parent by: Isabelle Fox
 
Growing Up Attachment Parenting from Kindergarten to College by: Isabelle Fox
 
Redirecting Children's Behavior by Kathryn J. Kvols
 
Buddha Never Raised Kids & Jesus Didn't Drive Carpool: 
                       Seven Principles for Parenting With Soul by Vickie Falcone
 
Parent Effectiveness Training, by Thomas Gordon
 
Kids Are Worth It, by Barbara Coloroso
 
Siblings Without Rivalry, by Elaine Mazlish and Adele Faber
 
The Hurried Child, by David Elkind
 
How To Talk So Kids Will Listen, and How To Listen So Kids Will Talk, 
                      by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
 
Raising Your Spirited Child, by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
 
Punished by Rewards, by Alfie Kohn
 
Between Parent And Child, by Haim Ginott
 
Raising Self Reliant Children In a Self Indulgent World, By Stephen Glenn
 
The Magic Years, by Selma Fraiberg
 
No Contest: The Case Against Competition, by David Elkind 

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Books on Unschooling

Teach Your Own by John Holt

The Unprocessed Child by Valerie Fitzenreiter

The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith

You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin

Magical Child by Joseph Chilton Pearce

Better Than School and Child's Work by Nancy Wallace

I Learn Better By Teaching Myself and Still Teaching Ourselves 
                               by Agnes Leistico

Creating a Cooperative Learning Center: An Idea Book for Homeschooling 
                               Families by Katharine Houk

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Books on Homeschooling


Homeschooling for Excellence – David and Micki Colfax
Although the Colfax family is a little too perfect with all of 
their children going on to degrees as doctors, lawyers and such, 
it is an excellent introduction to the possibilities homeschooling 
holds from a family who explored this option before it was popular.

The Art of Education:  Reclaiming Your Family, Community and Self –Linda Dobson
The title says it all.  A nice approach to the benefits of 
homeschooling.

How Children Fail/Learning All the Time/Teach Your Own –John Holt
All three of these are basics for understanding the premise of unschooling.  
All are a little difficult to read through, but worth the effort.

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling –John Taylor Gatto
Another difficult book to read through, but it puts the problems with public 
school into words.  This is a must read if you need to be prepared to defend 
yourself to relatives and friends.

A Sense of Self:  Listening to Homeschooled Adolescent Girls –Susannah Sheffer
A book that speaks well of the benefits of homeschooling specifically for 
young girls. 

The Teenage Liberation Handbook: 
How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education –Grace Llewellyn
A must read for those with teenagers, especially if you are looking to 
unschool and relax your approach to life’s challenges after 18.

An What About College?  -Cafi Cohen
An excellent resource for homeschoolers worried about preparing 
for college.

And What About College? 
How Homeschooling Leads to Admissions to the Best Colleges and Universities 
–Cafi Cohen 
Details on how to put your homeschooler's experiences into a format 
acceptable for college admission consideration. She includes sample ideas 
for creating and documenting curricula, school transcripts, cover letters. 
She also has information on applying for military academies. 

Homeschooling for Excellence -David and Micki Colfax 
The Colfax's write about their experiences homeschooling their sons on a 
farm in northern California. All of their children went on to higher education. 

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling 
-John Taylor Gatto 
John Gatto was NY State teacher of the year. He asserts that schools spend 
their time filling our children with useless information. Childhood should be 
spent pursuing self-knowledge and developing learning skills that will be used 
throughout your life. 

The Homeschooling Handbook: From Preschool to High School, a Parent's Guide 
The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child's Classroom 
-both by Mary Griffith 
Answers to questions about how to begin and how to meet state requirements. The 
Unschooling Handbook is a great resource for those exploring unschooling for 
the first time, or trying to explain it to skeptical friends. 

The Home School Reader: Collected Articles from Home Education Magazine 1984-1994 
-Mark and Helen Hegener 
This collection is some of Home Education Magazine's best, but a subscription 
to the monthly magazine is well worth the cost. Mark and Helen Hegener have 
compiled the Reader, and they publish the magazine, but the articles are 
written by many different homeschoolers. 

How Children Fail 
Learning All The Time 
Teach Your Own -all by John Holt 
Classics for homeschoolers. John Holt explains how children learn best and 
how we can help them. 

The Teenage Liberation Handbook 
Real Life: Eleven Teenagers Who Don’t Go To School -both by Grace Llewellyn 
The first books tells teens how to quit school and self-direct their education. 
The second is stories from teenagers about leaving school, homeschooling and 
getting on with their lives. 

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