Sunflower Faith

“What about socialization?”
“Don’t you have to have a degree to homeschool?”
“How can you handle being around your kids all the time”

Did you know that in an informal survey that the author, Sonya Haskins, did, that 93 percent of those polled (friends, relatives, the educational community) that is was felt that standards placed on homeschoolers are higher than those placed on educators?

Not fair you may think and even then, ever have thoughts of how to manage your time, your home, your sanity while balancing homeschooling with being a full time parent.

If you ever have had any of these thoughts, you’re not alone.

“Homeschooling for the Rest of Us: How Your One-Of-a Kind Family Can Make Homeschooling and Real Life Work” is a great, layman discussion from a homeschooler of five children that addresses the everyday concerns that the new, the not so new and even the veteran, homeschooling has about making homeschooling work for your home while also dealing with the questions that people have about homeschooling.

With both fun and also informative sidebars on almost every page of the book, “Homeschooling for the Rest of Us: How Your One-Of-a Kind Family Can Make Homeschooling and Real Life Work” ranks pretty high as a great encouragement for homeschoolers who are either thinking, starting out or maybe even just find themselves in a rut, to read.

Some of the chapters that are encounter are chapters such as, “Dealing with Relatives” (personally this should be the first chapter followed with “Homeschooling on a Budget” and close to the heart topics such as “The Socialization Question” (which this reviewer encounter recently from a public school teacher who asked “Why did you choose homeschooling” followed with, “What about socialization” (as my kids was happily and quietly playing with their kids, sigh).

Although this is normal topics that the average homeschooling parent deals with, “Homeschooling for the Rest of Us: How Your One-Of-a Kind Family Can Make Homeschooling and Real Life Work”, also goes in really the more vital topics that many homeschooling parents, find themselves dealing with such as “The Special Needs Child At Home”, “Pressure, Perfection and Progress” and of course, “Living in a (Very) Messy House”.

An “easy” read at 176 pages and an easy to carry paperback book, although “Homeschooling for the Rest of Us: How Your One-Of-a Kind Family Can Make Homeschooling and Real Life Work” does not go into deep detail, at the same time, at thirteen chapters, Sonya Haskins, brings real world experiences that help the homeschooling parent at any stage of their experience, remember that they are not alone.

More of an encouragement, Sonya Haskins, accomplishes what she set out to do, break the myth that homeschooling families are perfect. They aren’t but she helps families remember their visions of: Homeschooling with the nurturing of a biblical worldview, a realistic vision of homeschooling that fits you and your unique family and homeschooling, help children become and keep being excited about learning and for you, the homeschooling parent, real-world, biblical suggestions to keep motivated and encouragement.

This makes a great suggested reading for families who might be on the fence about homeschooling as well, because of how Sonya really addresses questions we may not think about such as how dads can be both encouraged and involved with the homeschooling experience and I particularly enjoyed pg. 71 when Sonya talks about “Muddled Outings” and shares the comment:
“We fear that if others see us lose our temper or our child has a meltdown, people will judge us. While this may be true, worrying about what others think can lead to low self-esteem and decisions based on the opinions of others. Try to remember that some things really do happen beyond our control”.

Spoken like a veteran homeschooler.

“Homeschooling for the Rest of Us: How Your One-Of-a Kind Family Can Make Homeschooling and Real Life Work” is not meant to be an indepth, know it all, homeschooling guide book, but what it is, is a light hearted encouragement for homeschooling parents with tried and true suggestions from something as simple as dealing with the repeated questions to how to make dinner easy and still relatively healthy.

A little something for everyone, for the new, maturing and veteran homeschooler, there is a little bit of everything in, “Homeschooling for the Rest of Us: How Your One-Of-a Kind Family Can Make Homeschooling and Real Life Work”.

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Disclaimer: This post contains my personal opinions and does not reflect the opinion of any organization I am/was associated with or affiliated to.The product I have reviewed was/is based on my honest opinion and was not influenced or edited by anyone / Thank you to Bethany Publishers for the complimentary copy, in exchange for my honest opinion.