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I had a moment of panic yesterday when I realized that I was leaving for Virginia and the HEAV Convention next Saturday and I haven’t finished my list of curricula, picked the workshops I want to attend, made the things I want to sew to help keep the little boys occupied or figured out how to avoid the worst of the traffic around New York City and Washington DC!!!
Well, today it is raining and the distractions are (theoretically) fewer (although the exterminator is coming this afternoon to check for termites) so I should be able to finish most of those tasks after all!
I’m actually pretty clear at this point what books the children will be using. What I haven’t decided is what books I’m buying for myself.
I try every year to add a few books to my “homeschooling library” either because they are books I want to read, books I want to be able to lend out, or books I want to be able to reference.
My “library”! Teacher’s manuals, reference and encouragement all together in one place.
I think it is so important to keep educating myself on methods of teaching, on how children learn, and also to have a group of books that have more to do with life than with education as well as some books I can pick up for inspiration and encouragement.
Sometimes I buy books by a speaker who’s workshop I’ve attended as I find having the book to be a good way of reminding myself what I learned or was encouraged by six months after the fact.
Last year those books were Heidi St. John’s Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight Managing Your Days Through the Homeschool Years
and The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance: Nurturing Your Marriage Through the Homeschool Years
Sally and Clay Clarkson’s Educating the WholeHearted Child — Third Edition
and
Rachael Carman’s How to Have a HEART for Your Kids
I was blessed and challenged by all of them.
This year the following books are on my list:
Susan Wise Bauer– The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition)
: This will go into the reference section of my library
Clay Clarkson– Heartfelt Discipline
: I already have this on Kindle but I want to be able to loan it out.
Mary Jo Tate: Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms
: I’ve read reviews of this and it seems good, so I’ll be taking a look at it to see if I want to add it or not.
Judi Munday’s book on writing IEP’s for homeschool students with special needs. This will be a loaner.
Things I’d like to add but don’t have specific titles for yet
A guide to Montessori style learning at home.
A guide or idea book for Charlotte Mason Style learning
A guide for putting together unit studies that includes notebooking and lapbooking ideas as I think we will be doing more of this in the future
What kinds of books do you consider essential to your homeschool library? Are there titles I should consider?