My Homeschool Resource Library
I highlighted The Read Aloud Handbook in my first "must have" post . I can't imagine life in our homeschool without it.
So far, my selections have very little do with actual homeschooling. My experience is that our homeschool thrives when our house is orderly (relative to having 3 rowdy boys, 1 teen daughter, and toddler grandbabies who visit), and when I am attentive to how I am parenting my children. These two books are ones that I reread every so often to keep me on track:
Sink Reflections:
written by Marla Cilley also known as the Flylady
Reading this book was life-changing for me. If you signed up for "Flylady" emails in the past and threw your hands up in exasperation over the slew of messages cluttering your inbox, I strongly suggest this book. I had three different encounters with the Flylady before I ran to my local bookstore and purchased a copy of Sink Reflections. My final push toward the Flylady was listening to a young mom, who had several little ones in tow, talk about how calm her life was since implementing the ideas in this book. While the Flylady emails overwhelmed me, the book encouraged me. And, it changed my life. If you venture into the recesses of our garage or our attic, you'd see that I still have lots of "27 fling boogies" to do , but our everyday living space is... livable!!
I have a theory that truly organized people don't need a very organized and neat house. For those of us whose minds tend to freeze among chaos, we need some sense of order. This book taught me how to get that.
This book gave me a set of tools and goals for this ever so important job of parenting that I have been blessed with. I had the privilege of meeting the author at a homeschool conference. As he was the main speaker, he offered a number of talks over two days. I went to six of them and was mesmerized by each. This book, that has much the same information in it, walks the reader through what it claims is the "foundation for biblical childrearing". I was not raised with a solid foundation to build my parenting skills upon, so I am always interested in "wise counsel" in this area.
I offer the disclaimer that I rarely (probably never) agree with everything that an author offers. Parenting, in particular, is a topic that is so personal that we all have to work through to our own conclusions, but this book does a great job arming its readers with good food for thought.
You can also purchase a parent's handbook to go with this book.
So far, my selections have very little do with actual homeschooling. My experience is that our homeschool thrives when our house is orderly (relative to having 3 rowdy boys, 1 teen daughter, and toddler grandbabies who visit), and when I am attentive to how I am parenting my children. These two books are ones that I reread every so often to keep me on track:
Sink Reflections:
written by Marla Cilley also known as the Flylady
Reading this book was life-changing for me. If you signed up for "Flylady" emails in the past and threw your hands up in exasperation over the slew of messages cluttering your inbox, I strongly suggest this book. I had three different encounters with the Flylady before I ran to my local bookstore and purchased a copy of Sink Reflections. My final push toward the Flylady was listening to a young mom, who had several little ones in tow, talk about how calm her life was since implementing the ideas in this book. While the Flylady emails overwhelmed me, the book encouraged me. And, it changed my life. If you venture into the recesses of our garage or our attic, you'd see that I still have lots of "27 fling boogies" to do , but our everyday living space is... livable!!
I have a theory that truly organized people don't need a very organized and neat house. For those of us whose minds tend to freeze among chaos, we need some sense of order. This book taught me how to get that.
This book gave me a set of tools and goals for this ever so important job of parenting that I have been blessed with. I had the privilege of meeting the author at a homeschool conference. As he was the main speaker, he offered a number of talks over two days. I went to six of them and was mesmerized by each. This book, that has much the same information in it, walks the reader through what it claims is the "foundation for biblical childrearing". I was not raised with a solid foundation to build my parenting skills upon, so I am always interested in "wise counsel" in this area.
I offer the disclaimer that I rarely (probably never) agree with everything that an author offers. Parenting, in particular, is a topic that is so personal that we all have to work through to our own conclusions, but this book does a great job arming its readers with good food for thought.
You can also purchase a parent's handbook to go with this book.
Linking this post with NOBH for July.
I just signed up for the Flylady e-mails again. Years ago, I tried the Flylady thing and it worked for awhile and then the sheer volume of the e-mails got as overwhelming as my house! I may have to consider reading the book instead. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of Flylady, but have not signed up for email. Maybe this book is just what I need to continue to seek order and peace in my homeschool days! Thank you for sharing more great resources at NOBH!
ReplyDeleteI am with you on orderliness and being attentive in my parenting. All else fails myself and family if I do not have those first two.
ReplyDeleteYour energy, commitment, and dedication in finding lovely resources as you do your homeschooling with your kids is truly inspiring. By any chance, have you already read Stephanie Tolan's Surviving the Applewhites? For some reason, I am reminded of this book as I read through your posts about your homeschool plans. =)
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