Three Must-Read Books for Homeschooling Mommas

I am not a homeschooling expert…not even close. I started homeschooling last year with my Kindergartener and I was completely surprised that I made the decision to homeschool. Our reasons for choosing home, public or private school vary from family to family and I’m a firm believer that there isn’t a “wrong” answer to how you choose for your child to receive an education. For me, I chose homeschool because I wanted to protect the peace in my family and household. I didn’t want to have to ride the waves of quarantines and new CDC guidelines that schools were subject to in order to keep everyone safe and healthy. I didn’t want my child’s memory of Kindergarten to be masked and socially distanced from his friends and teachers. So I was fortunate enough to be able to keep my kids home with me and we set out on our journey to homeschool.

I am a HUGE believer in community and specifically leaning on the wisdom of mentors and people who have gone before, so I reached out to the homeschooling mommas I knew and started asking questions. I came across three books that helped me so much as I started. If you are new to homeschooling, hopefully these books can give you the tools you need to feel empowered in your homeschooling journey:

1. Teaching from Rest: A Home-Schooler’s Guide to Unshakeable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie. This was the first book I read and it’s a super quick and easy read. I first laughed at the title because it sounded so flowery and impossible, but the author does a fantastic job at giving you the basics of setting a solid foundation to your homeschool. You’ll learn things like how to craft your “why” behind the reason you are homeschooling. It’s so very good and worth rereading every year you choose to homeschool.
2. The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child’s Education by Ainsley Arment. I loved this book for so many reasons. It is BEAUTIFULLY designed and it really leaves you feeling empowered to homeschool. It helped me see that homeschooling wasn’t a lesser option than public/private schools. It also gave me summarized information from different homeschooling philosophies like Unschooling, Charlotte Mason and Waldorf. Like Teaching From Rest, it is an easy read and won’t take too long to go through.
3. The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart: I’ll be honest, I haven’t finished this book yet (I’m notorious for not finishing books). But what I have read I have LOVED. She gives you practical ideas to implement into your homeschool. For example, this book is the reason we do “Wednesday Workshops” where I surprised my kids with a table full of arts and craft supplies and gave them freedom to “create”. It’s messy but oh so fun.

I hope to share more with you guys about my homeschooling journey. If you are a homeschooling mom, please comment below with any other book recommendations you have found helpful to you!