Catholic Education: Homeward Bound: A Useful Guide to Catholic Home Schooling

Today there are so many books available on the market on how to homeschool your child. Many promote a certain curriculum, others just leave you confused and scratching your head.I love the way Hasson and Hahn keep it simple! You are able to glean from their experience, their triumphs and failures. It is written by "the experts" the homeschooling moms themselves.They are real/relevant in their approach to homeschooling. This book is directed towards people of the Catholic faith, however as I Christian I found it to be one of the best books on the market.

This book is outstanding. My two sisters have been home-schooling their kids for the last five years, but my wife didn't think it was possible for her to consider it. My older sister told me to get her this book. So I did. After reading it last summer, she got the materials together to begin teaching our oldest daughter in September. Here it is, six months later, and my wife says it is the best choice she's ever made. Thank you Mrs. Hahn and Mrs Hasson.

Reading this book has helped me so much. I found recommended resources that I didn't know about. There were useful discipline tips too. The curriculum suggestions saved me all the time that I would have spent tracking them down on my own. It's also well-written and a pleasure to read. I must admit that I don't understand the negativity in some of the reviews, like the one from Eastern USA who criticizes others for not really reviewing the book, and then turns around and gives it only one star, without ever reviewing it herself. Oh well.I highly recommend this book for anybody considering home-schooling, and for those who are already doing it.

This book is a breath of fresh air -- a sign that Catholic homeschooling has, finally, come into its own. Hasson and Hahn speak with a confidence that is never overbearing, an orthodoxy that is joyful, and a love for diversity that is refreshing. The authors are not pushy; they never tell you what to do, but rather help you to make the decisions that are best for your unique family (and each unique child). I can't tell you what a difference this makes. Years ago, when I first considered homeschooling, I read another book that was fairly dogmatic about teaching and childrearing methods, pretty much saying that, unless you toed the author's particular line, you'd probably fail as a homeschooler. That book actually persuaded me NOT to homeschool (at least temporarily). What I love about Hasson and Hahn is their appreciation for the variety of good Catholic homes, and thus the variety of appropriate methods for Catholic homeschoolers. Now that I've been homeschooling for almost seven years, I know this to be true. Hasson and Hahn are magnanimous but prudent as they recommend support materials, choosing from Catholic, Protestant, and secular sources. This can help a family to find the best that's available. (As one Vatican official recently put it: There's no such thing as "Catholic math.") The authors deserve a Nobel Prize for their suggestions for making homeschooling a family activity. They're right: You don't have to stuff the little ones in a playpen to make it work. Nor do you need to run your home like a military academy. This book is especially good for Catholics who lean toward "unschooling" or other unconventional methods, or for Catholic moms who practice attachment parenting or extended breastfeeding -- lifestyles unsuited to the barracks, perhaps, but perfect for a home. An added plus in "Homeward Bound" is the stack of record-keeping forms in the back, ready to be copied or adapted for home use. No Catholic homeschooling family should be without this book.

Looking at the sad state of many Catholic schools today (which have produced many "cafeteria" Catholics) this book is a welcome alternative to paying thousands of dollars to watch your children lose their Roman Catholic identity in your parish school. Mrs. Hahn and Mrs. Hasson have produced a large, though by no means exhaustive, body of work that deals with the hows and whys of homescholing with a Catholic flavor. The chapter on "What about socialization?" was wonderful, as was the chapter written just for dads. Though they do recommend some Protestant resources, they print the caveat that some of these sources, in the latter grades, become anti-Catholic. They DO mention the traditional Catholic correspondence-type schools like Seton and Our Lady of the Rosary. I see no problem with using non-Catholic sources to homeschool, as long as the material is checked by the parent for any anti-Catholic bias. The question and answer format of the book was very helpful when I had specific questions and didn't want to read a whole chapter. This book and Laura Berquist's "Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum" should be on the shelves of every Catholic homeschooler.