25 Must-Read Homeschooling Articles for Newbies

Actually, if you’ve not read these before, these 25 articles would be good for any homeschooling mom, not just newbies.

Maybe they’ll help you as you plan for next year.

Maybe they’ll inspire you out of that homeschooling slump that comes in these gloomy days before spring. (Yeah, I’m pretty much there.)

General Homeschool Articles

1. Letter from an Imperfect Homeschooler
“Homeschool is not perfect. But don’t mistake that for being unworthy. The truth is that the blogosphere can be both a blessing and a curse. When homeschool bloggers share their lives and their days, it can inspire us, teach us, motivate us and give us ideas to which we would otherwise never see.”

2. Keeping Things Real in Our Homeschool: Simplicity is Best
Not an anti-workbox post, but Barb challenges us to evaluate exactly WHY we do things the way we do. We should keep it simple and focus on the process not the product.

3. Remembering the Cost of NOT Homeschooling
Because of these fears, the temptation has probably never been stronger to turn to government schools, physical or online, to alleviate the time and costs associated with homeschooling. However, before we yield to that pull, let’s take a moment to remember the costs of not homeschooling. Financial Cost Spiritual Cost Character Cost

4. What Homeschoolers Should Know About Learning Styles
A great overview with graphics to help you understand learning styles.

5. Best Homeschooling Blogs
Top homeschooling blogs written by a team of contributors. These blogs have a broad view of homeschool ideology and methods.

Curriculum and Planning

6. Letting Go of Curriculum Guilt
Have you ever thought, “I bought this and I’m going to use it – I don’t want to waste my money!”  or “I need to follow the directions exactly or I won’t be using it like I’m supposed to be using it?” Then you must read this article.

7. Better Late Than Early
“Dr. Raymond Moore and his late wife, Dorothy Moore are probably the best-known advocates of the later-is-better approach. The Moores’ 1975 book Better Late Than Early summarizes research supporting their contention that children are not psychologically ready for formal learning until age eight to ten. They suggest that waiting allows children to gain the maturity and logical skills necessary for formal work and prevents them from becoming frustrated and discouraged by attempts to handle material they are simply not yet ready to understand.”

8. 4 Easy Steps to Help You Fail at Homeschooling
A rather humorous look at where the extremes in planning will end up.

9. Curing Scope and Sequence Syndrome
What is the use of Scope and Sequence outlines for homeschooling? This is a great article telling you why you really don’t need them.

Practical Tools

10. Homeschool Gadget Toolbar
A great internet toolbar for those new to homeschooling.

11. Catalogs for Homeschoolers
Where to order all the best catalogs.

12. Homeschool Filing and Organization
Great ideas for getting your HS organized.

Methods

13. Project-Based Learning
An explanation of projects based learning. “Projects have helped my children understand and retain information greatly – as compared to simply learning about a topic and regurgitating the info back to me on a test. Why? Because they become part of the learning through their projects!”

14. Charlotte Mason Basics
All the basics plus loads of links; plenty to keep you busy researching CM for quite a while.

15. How to Homeschool the Charlotte Mason Way
Links to several great articles at Heart of the Matter, all dealing with CM homeschooling.

16. Why Read About It? Let’s Do It! (Field Trips)
“My philosophy has always been, ‘Why read about it, let’s do it!’ With that statement in mind, I’d be lying if I said that field trips have not played a huge role in my children’s education. ”

17. Working the Workboxes
Maureen’s experience with workboxes.

18. How to use stories as the heart of your curriculum
A primer on using living books as the foundation for creating a unit study or thematic unit.

19. How to Plan a Unit Study
Ever wanted to make your own customized unit study? Here’s guidance.

20. Top 6 Reasons to Use Hands-on Projects
Why should we use hands-on in homeschool? What are the benefits? This article shows the reasons to use hands-on projects and also offer some tips for dealing with the mess afterwards.

Academics

21. Integrating Geography – Geography is Everywhere!
Written by Cindy Wiggers — ways to sneak in a bit of geography without adding an entirely new subject.

22. Growing a Writer
How to encourage your child to write and to enjoy writing.

23. Does God Care About My Math Curriculum?
Insights from a Christian homeschool mom about teaching math. She has moved away from textbooks to a living approach.

24.  Thinking Outside the Science Textbook
“Science comes down to reading books, asking questions, performing experiments, and making observations regardless of the type of science you are studying at the moment. So how do we replace the textbooks?”

25.  Just Do the Math
A startling statement –”A child can learn math – all of it grades K through 12 – in eight weeks.”

If you have suggestions for more excellent articles you would add to this list, please share the link in a comment. And if you’re wondering how I came up with all these articles, you can thank Tagfoot. It’s the most incredible bookmark manager out there.

Tagged as: articles, homeschooling, newbie