My Suggestions For Homeschooling Part 3

This post is a continuation of parts 1 & 2. And it is the last part of the series in which I will be numbering my recommendations. After this post I will just be sharing suggestions for curriculum and things that I like, without recommending them in a particular order.

My #3 recommendation is the book The Well-Trained Mind. That book is my handbook for lesson planning! I use it so much! It is full of bookmarks and sticky notes. All my lesson plans are based off of it (and the Veritas Press catalog-I use those two to make sure my kids are on the track I want them to be on). I don’t do all that is suggested or the way it is all suggested, but it is what I reference as I map out goals for each of my children.

I appreciate that it covers preschool through high school as well as helpful chapters for parents. It includes information on deciding if homeschooling is something worth doing, how to do lesson plans, scheduling, socialization for students, testing and contact information for many suppliers of homeschool curriculum.

The Well-Trained Mind suggests reading lots of good literature. And I agree! C reads like crazy, and we listen to lots of books together as a family. Many books on tape or CD can be picked up from the library. Right now, we are listening to the Little House series in the van. We have also listened to Charlotte's Web, Winnie the Pooh stories and A.A. Milne's Poems (the original version), part of the Chronicles of Narnia. The kids love it and it is a good way for me to review books or listen to ones I haven’t read.

We were given a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress on CD (from Vision Forum-they have a great website and catalog) and A loves it! It is in the original old English-I am amazed at what he is able to understand. Sometimes we listen to stories during quiet time or during lunch but the van seems to make it easiest for everyone to focus on the story. Quality literature is a wonderful way to stimulate the imagination and whet the appetite for good books. Good literature is a huge part of of our homeschool.