Getting Started on Home Learning: How and Why to Teach Your Kids at Home

After reading this book in 2000, I was inspired, encouraged and motivated in our family's new adventure of homeschooling. I have since read this book twice more and each time I read it, I learn something new and am re-energized and motivated! A definite must-read for new homeschoolers and experienced homeschoolers who need help getting excited about homeschooling again.

This book is fairly thin book. It is less than 200 pages, but it is packed with a ton of information. There is no fluff. There are a number of chapters about teaching children at home, or in the popular jargon of today - homeschooling. Some of the chapters are on topics like why people homeschool their children, what are the laws, does it work, the socialization question, tools of the trade, and how much it costs. Each chapter is full of information, and includes lists of places to get more information. These lists include other books, places to get school books, and so on. The author homeschooled her three sons and she weaves in relevant selections from her homeschooling journal. So you can see how many of the points she writes about worked in her family. This is a well written book, full of useful information. If you are interested in homeschool, or have questions about home schooling, this is a good book to start with.

I've been researching homeschooling to see if it's for me, and this book seals it. I was lacking in confidence, not sure if homeschooling was something I could do. Her book makes it sound so do-able and contains many useful resources. Some of which I've already used even though my daughter is only two. I actually got this book from the library, but now that I've finished it I'm going to buy it so I can highlight things and have the resources on hand.

I enjoyed the highly personal nature of Ms. Rupp's style in this book. It is the first of her books that I have read, and the combination of excerpts from her personal homeschool journal with resource and objective information was as entertaining as informative. It was clear that Ms. Rupp is an intense personality, very different from myself, but I nonetheless came away encouraged and motivated, rather than intimidated and thinking I could never do it all.She does, however, spend a conspicuous amount of space on her differences with Christians who home educate. I wondered why she felt the need to comment at all. Perhaps her point is that, as in everything, you will encounter people you don't enjoy because they are different from you.At any rate, this book is excellently written and superior in the homeschool subject area.

As a classic fence-sitter I really couldn't decide if homeschooling my four-year-old was something I could do, let alone do well. The words in this book helped me see that homeschooling is something I need to do for my child. The journal entries the Author published about her experience with her three sons was nothing short of inspirational. She gave them such a rich learning environment that I was envious and knew that if I had had that kind of experience then I might be a different person today - someone with a more positive self image, for instance.I now believe I can guide my daughter to become a life-long learner who delights in discovering new things about herself and the about world around her.A must buy for the fence-sitter!