Actually, if you’ve not read these before, these 25 24 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. So You’ve Decided to Homeschool
Some general ideas for what to consider now that you are taking the homeschool plunge.
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. Catalogs for Homeschoolers
Where to order all the best catalogs.
11. How to Organize Your Homeschool
Great ideas for getting your HS organized.
Methods
12. 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!”
13. Charlotte Mason Basics
All the basics plus loads of links; plenty to keep you busy researching CM for quite a while.
14. How to Homeschool the Charlotte Mason Way
Links to several great articles at Heart of the Matter, all dealing with CM homeschooling.
15. 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. ”
16. Working the Workboxes
Maureen’s experience with workboxes.
17. 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.
18. Delight Directed Homeschool
This is a child-led, parent-supported philosophy of education.
19. 
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
20. Integrating Geography – Geography is Everywhere!
Written by Cindy Wiggers — ways to sneak in a bit of geography without adding an entirely new subject.
21. Growing a Writer
How to encourage your child to write and to enjoy writing.
22. 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.
23. 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?”
24. 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.
If you would prefer a homeschooling overview in book form, I recommend these titles from Amazon:
Whew! That’s a lotta links. I’m looking forward to reading them, maybe one or two a night.
I am intrigued by tagfoot. What is that?
Great list, Jimmie!! I think that is a big help for lots of people.
.-= Sybille´s last blog ..Homeschooling Interview: “Und wenn er nicht mehr zur Schule ginge?” *** “E se a scuola non ci andasse piú?” =-.
What a wonderful list of links. I can not wait for some calm time and a cup of tea to look at all of these better. As of next week, we only have 8 official weeks to go for this school year so my mind is in “wrap up and what next” mode.
Blessings,
Dawn
Xie Xie Jimmie!
This is a great list of articles. I’m off to read some now.
Karen H
I chuckled when I saw the 4 Easy Ways to Fail… on your list. According to the article, I’m a homeschool failure. 🙂 She lists as one of her extremes, someone who doesn’t plan until the day before. I actually don’t do any specific planning until about a half-hour before school starts each day.
I have my flow for the year laid out from the beginning. I know what books will go with each topic and in what order. I know what lapbooks and things we have and where they will fit in. But I leave it at that.
I never know what a day will bring. Maybe we found a scorpion in the house and want to learn about scorpions? You can’t plan stuff like that! I would always be off schedule if I had one which would cause stress. I don’t need stress. So we just follow the flow. Math? Just do the next page. Finish the book before the end of the year? Great! We’re ahead. Move on! Just keep flowing.
The point is we’re all different. All of our children are different. All of our life circumstances are different. If everyone’s happy and learning and growing, why worry? The curriculum will always look greener in someone else’s living room! We don’t need to follow fads and what others are saying is so great. We can trust the Lord to guide our individual family if we are seeking Him. We’re all unique!
.-= Lee´s last blog ..New Reviews =-.
Thanks Jimmie, I feel honored to have made your list. 🙂
I have some reading to do over the weekend.
.-= Barb-Harmony Art Mom´s last blog ..Outdoor Hour Challenge-Winter Series #6 Salt Study =-.
I stopped by from FaceBook to take a peak at these articles and was shocked to see one of mine listed! What an honor! I see several titles that I must read! You’re right, these articles are not exclusively for newbies. After 11 years of homeschooling, I have to share that I still suffer from pangs of occassional curriculum guilt and scope and sequence syndrome. They don’t last long, but they always manage to pop up! Off to read a bit more…
.-= Tonya´s last blog ..Field Trip Friday: Burritt on the Mountain =-.
Hi Jamie,
I’ve added your blog to my blog’s list because it has invaluable resources, and inspiring articles, such as this.
I’m writing to ask you if you let me reproduce part or the whole and maybe translate it for my charlotte mason in spanish blog, http://www.charlottemasonsp.blogspot.com, and of course, if you agree, I’ll link to YOU, and the other blogs that so nicely you have compiled here for our benefit.
Thanks,
silvia
this is an amazing list! thank you for putting it together
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Sketch Tuesday ~ Something we can recycle =-.
Wow, this is going to keep me busy for awhile! Great job!
.-= Karin Katherine´s last blog ..The wonders of Weebly =-.
Great list! Some of these articles are new to me. Looks like I have some reading to do! Thanks for including my project post. :o)
.-= Cindy´s last blog ..The 1920’s and 1930’s =-.
Great list Jimmie! Thanks for sharing them all. It was some really intereseting reading. :o)
Great list of links, Jimmie! I like that they are from such a great variety of sites! Thanks for your hard work putting these together.
.-= Angie @ Many Little Blessings´s last blog ..7 Quick Takes: February 26, 2010 (Vol. 31) =-.
Thanks! This was really interesting.
Love your collection of “must-read” links! We will definitely check them out!
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Magnetic Words: Great Way to Teach Site Words to Preschoolers =-.
What great links! Fantabulous job putting this list together.
Thanks for the list!
One of these articles that specifically struck me was “Just Do the Math.” I just kept thinking, “Well, of course!” I did an entire semester of Algebra 2 in TWO WEEKS (finishing with a B average) so that I could graduate high school with enough credits. That’s motivation!
I wanted to share a blog that has been such an encouragement to me since I started this homeschool journey. If you haven’t read Ann Voskamp over at http://www.aholyexperience.com, you should! She has wonderful posts/articles about homeschooling. One that has really encouraged me and caused me to rethink why and how I homeschool (one I go back to often), is this: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2009/03/pros-and-cons-to-homeschooling-why-we.html.
Thank you for pointing me to great homeschool blogs to follow.
.-= Andini Rizky´s last blog ..14. Alasan Konyol Sekolah Itu Baik =-.