The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling

This book was not “like new” as stated. It looked very old. The pages were yellowed and looked like something had splattered on it. It was also underlined all throughout.

I ordered this book from the library, not knowing that the author was a devout Christian. All the more better! My husband and I were looking for a Christian-based homeschooling guide and were more than happy to have found this book. Some negative reviews have been posted, however, I'm here to tell you they are quite unfounded and actually insulting to the book and author. The book is not "fundamentalist Christianity" as some reviewers have stated. Rather, the author has used wisdom from the Bible to instruct the reader. This is a very solid, informative book. Anyone wanting to teach their children a God-based homeschool curriculum would do well to purchase this book.

To date I've just borrowed this book from the local Public Library, but I've come to depend on it so much that I'm here today to buy a copy to keep at home. This book is worth the next 10 homeschooling books put together. This book covers how to start and where to buy instructional material, and proceedes all the way to how to get your homeschooled child into the college you desire. Mrs. Bell's compedium of references on various topics are, alone, worth the price of the book. Those who prefer to forgo her excellent advice due to her "Christian Orientation" are foolish, at best, in ignoring the excellent information in this volume. Advice to Agnostics: Grit your teeth and buy this book; you'll be better for it.

Having read several of the reviews I was encouraged to buy this book as my first home schooling book. I found the book excellent and even though many of the resources are designed for the US market, it inspired me to look into what is available locally. I thought their CHESS idea was excellent, why not pool different parent talents in teaching! Even though it is published in 97 there were still quite a few resources on the net for kids, imagine what it is like now...it certainly will make home schooling a much more viable option to those in smaller countries where the home schooling market is just not big enough for the publishers to really focus on. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like a well balanced resource on what your in for ...time, money and knowledge wise

This book does everything the cover says it does. IT presents four learning styles to help you determine how to tailor your program to your particular child. It gives very practical guidelines for each subject, breaking down the age ranges into primary, elementary and jr hi/high school. I particularly liked the way she began the discussion of every subject with it's role in real life--"where are we headed". It gave a perspective to all the activities that followed that was global and helped me remember the end point to the whole process--life skills!

As far as homeschool reference guides go, this is the best I've seen. Its almost 400 pages cover scads of homeschooling issues: deciding to homeschool, choosing curriculum, organizing and planning, preventing burnout, what to teach-when and how, homeschooling teens, using computers in homeschooling, solutions to common problems, assessing progress, and a resource guide. What more could you ask for? Ms. Bell's humor is delightfully interspersed throughout her "Ultimate Guide". She is unabashedly Christian, which I respect, although I don't share her religious views. Our different perspectives cast no shadow on the terrific value offered for all homeschoolers within the pages of her guide.