Updated Edition of The Well-Trained Mind and Audiobook Versions of the Story of the World Series

One of our regular homeschooling patrons just alerted me that a new 10th anniversary edition of The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise was published in past May (ISBN: 9780393067088). This 814 page book explains the philosophy behind a Classical curriculum and provides a year-by-year outline on how to implement it. It’s a must-have for most collections. There are quite a number of homeschoolers using a Classical curriculum and even more who use some of it or are influenced by it.

This same patron also told me that there are audiobook versions of Susan Wise Bauer’s 4-volume The Story of the World series, a chronological history that takes readers (or, in this case, listeners) from ancient times through the present. If you can afford them, the books will be well-used in most collections, and I think the audiobooks will be a fine investment as well, something even some non-homeschooling families will find interesting.

For more information about Classical homeschooling, The Well-Trained Mind, and The Story of the World, visit The Well-Trained Mind website and Peace Hill Press.

Book at Powell’s

I noticed that a used copy of Helping Homeschoolers in the Library is available at Powell’s for $24.50, which is quite the value, so I thought I’d post a link.

Santa Maria Homeschooling Groups

FamilyHomeschoolAdventures Yahoo Group
An inclusive group for Lompoc, Buellton, Solvang, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and surrounding communities.

Santa Maria Inclusive Learners Yahoo Group
An inclusive group based in Santa Maria. Also has a bare-bones website.

Christian Home Educators Association of California Support Groups in Santa Barbara County

Infopeople Workshops: Southern California Homeschooling Groups

Bay Shore School & Educational has a nice list of Southern California homeschooling support groups. For those of you looking for groups to network with, it’s a good place to start!

Service to Homeschooling Families: LA and Santa Maria Pre-Workshop Assignment Part 2

Another resource I think is valuable to those who want to learn more about homeschooling (which I’ve linked to here before and that I’ll be citing several times in the workshops next week) is the National Center for Education Statistics’ report, “Homeschooling in the United States: 2003.” The stats are a bit dated at this point, but they are also the most rigorously collected and carefully analyzed stats currently available on homeschooling. It is tremendously difficult to find studies of homeschooling that focus, like this one does, on homeschoolers as a whole rather than a very select group of homeschoolers. The authors’ comments in the NCES report speak to some of the difficulties in collecting information about homeschoolers, and some of their findings might surprise you. Here are just a few interesting factoids from the study:

• * The number one reason homeschooling parents (85.4% of respondents) gave for homeschooling their children was “concern about environment of other schools.” The number two reason (68.2% of respondents) was “dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools.”
• * Homeschooled children are more likely to come from two-parent families, have more siblings, and have one parent home full-time than their institutionally-schooled peers.
• * 77.9% of respondents reported using the public library as a primary source of learning materials. The library won out over homeschooling catalogs, bookstores, and homeschooling organizations–as well it should.

The NCES has started updating this data, and in December they published a new “In Brief” report, “1.5 Million Homeschooled Students in the United States in 2007.” It’s nothing earth-shattering, but it’s worth a quick read.

Service to Homeschooling Families: LA and Santa Maria Pre-Workshop Assignment Part 1

Welcome attendees of Infopeople’s upcoming “Service to Homeschooling Families” workshops in LA (March 9th) and Santa Maria (March 11th)! California has a vibrant homeschooling community. I’ve loved having the opportunity to learn more about it talking to library staff in past workshops, and I’m looking forward to learning more in the ones to come! In preparation for the workshop, I thought some of you might like to get a head start on exploring the world of homeschooling. One of my favorite websites for newbies is the Homeschool Diner, maintained by homeschooler Julie Shepherd Knapp. Her “Guide to Homeschooling Approaches and Curriculum (and Everything)” is designed for new homeschoolers, but it’s also an excellent resource for library staff who would like to begin learning more about homeschooling. I highly recommend reading the article and delving further into the site. If you would like to post a comment here to let me know what you think about what you’re reading, I’d be glad to hear from you.

Homeschooling Article in Ebony

I’m a little slow on the uptake here (Thanks to my friend Tammy for pointing it out!), but Ebony ran an article on homeschooling in its September 2008 issue, “Ending School Daze” by Shirley Henderson.

Check out my article, “Diversify Your Homeschool Plan with Vanishing Cultures” and the rest of the articles in Lee & Low’s new section on their website for homeschoolers.

Diversity in Homeschooling

At the Fairfield workshop, we were wondering about homeschooling among various ethnic groups. I’ve been looking into this a little more, and I found this listing of electronic discussion lists for homeschoolers of various ethnicities. I thought some of you might find it interesting. I certainly did.

Service to Homeschooling Families: Solano County Pre-Workshop Assignment, Part 3

Here are some links to information I found about homeschooling support groups in Solano County:

* A to Z Home’s Cool listing of groups
* Crossroads Homeschool Group
* Christian Homeschoolers of Solano County