5 Best Homeschool Books To Shift Your Mindset
Should You Homeschool?
Shifting my brain from a public school mindset to a homeschooling mindset took lots of intentional education on my part. I have put together the best homeschool books to help you shift your mindset too.
I went to public school all of my life and then I become a public school educator. My schema only included a public school model.
That is all I ever knew.
Once I made the decision to homeschool my kiddos so that we could be free to travel whenever we wanted to, I knew I needed to change my mindset if this was going to be successful.
My son had been in a public school setting for two years and it was clear that it wasn’t working great for him.
I knew I wanted our homeschool to be different. My goal for my children is to love learning and to be life long learners. So I scoured all of the homeschooling books I could get my hands on and I began ferociously reading.
Over the summer I read 10 homeschooling books and some of them were ground breaking for me! Below are what I believe to be the best homeschooling mindset shifting books for those that are making the switch!
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1. Unhurried Homeschooler
This was my very first ever introduction to how a homeschool environment can (and should) be drastically different from a public school model. I am ever so thankful that a sweet friend let me borrow this book the second I made the choice to homeschool. It was incredibly liberating to read.
As I mentioned above my son wasn’t thriving in the public school. He is very young for his grade and it was obvious to me that there were some skills that he just wasn’t ready to learn. I also craved slow mornings, meaningful connection, and discipling my children.
Durenda Wilson made that all seem possible. She spoke such life into what I thought was only a pipe dream. She helped me to visualize what our homeschool days could look like. Peaceful, intentional, and unhurried. One of the best homeschool books.
2. Passion Driven Education
Growing up, I loved to learn. It didn’t matter what it was, I learned it easily and I always tested well. I was a “great” student. I always had A’s on my report cards and I was motivated to do well and get good grades.
My son… not so much.
He really challenged my beliefs about school and about learning. During his time in public school he would always ask why? “Why do I need to do this whole math page if I already know how to do this?” “Why do I have to color this in, I don’t like coloring” “Why is the Art teacher making me draw flowers, I don’t want to draw flowers?” “Why do I have to read this book about dinosaurs, I don’t care about dinosaurs!”. I never really had a good answer except “because you’re learning!”.
If you go back to my two biggest desires for my kids…to LOVE learning…I knew something was wrong. My son didn’t love learning.
He despised it.
After reading Connor Boyack’s Passion Driven Education I knew what was missing from my son’s public school education. I realized it wasn’t learning that he despised, far from that, he is a very curious child. He needed his education (or at least parts of it) to be connected to his passion. This book was very empowering for me as I began my trek to educate my son from home who…is not motivated by gold stars like his mama was.
3. Rethinking School
Talk about empowering! This book pulls back the curtain on the public education system from a bird’s eye view.
I never knew how much of what I believe to be true about education was…in fact…not true at all. This book really shook me out of my narrow frame of reference and introduced me to the bigger picture.
Susan Bauer explains that our current system isn’t a good fit for most students. She discusses the science behind why our current public education system is in fact detrimental to most students.
She claims that most students come away from our system being discouraged and dispirited. I knew I wanted something different for my children.
4. Awaking Wonder
This book felt like I was sitting on a comfy couch having coffee with a soft spoken wiser woman who had homeschooled all of her children already.
Sally Clarkson knows how to breathe life into a weary mom! Awaking Wonder was such an encouragement for me to read. I found myself shaking my head in agreement and shouting “YES! She gets it!” multiple times.
I felt so inspired with many different ways to awake wonder in my children and foster a love of learning in our homeschool. In attempting to reveal the wonder of the world to my children, I also revealed it to myself. Probably one the best homeschool books in my opinion.
5. The 4 Hour School Day
I enjoyed Unhurried Homeschooler so much I knew I had to read Durenda Wilson’s other book! I felt that this book gave me more tangible advice on how a day in our homeschool could look like.
She also talked at length about letting children’s own curiosity guide their learning, which I loved! Durenda talks about different learning styles, stages, and possible setbacks a homeschooling mom might encounter.
I felt empowered and prepared after reading this. Definitely one of the best homeschool books.
Making the shift from a public or private education model to a homeschool model takes a bit of intentionality and work.
These books were super eye opening for me and really helped me break the mold that my brain was stuck in.
I hope these books are super helpful for you as you make the shift mentally as well.
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