![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I'm in the stage of my homeschooling journey where I'm reading everything I can get my hands on. The library book sale has been a source of quite a few interesting volumes, including Terrie Lynn Bittner's "Homeschooling: Take a Deep Breath--You Can Do This!," which I picked up last week for fifty cents.
One of the book's most notable features is its conversational tone. You can really imagine the author sitting with you, sharing her experiences and accumulated wisdom. I definitely found it to be more opinionated than some books; Ms. Bittner doesn't hesitate to tell her audience exactly what they should do. Surprisingly, I didn't find that annoying, probably because it seemed as though her goal was to provide direction to the timid and uncertain, rather than to provide the One True Way.
I was a bit taken aback by some of the author's remarks on manipulating people. For example, she suggests always looking busy when your spouse comes home from work, so that s/he won't think you've been loafing around all day. There's also a section on training your children to give good answers to questions they may get about their schooling.
As is suggested by the title, I think this book is best suited to people who are hesitant about homeschooling and need some hand-holding. Some of the sections, such as advice on setting up a good record-keeping system, were overly formulaic for my taste, but would probably appeal to people with less confidence in their ability to think these things through on their own. The instructions on developing lessons and unit studies seemed particularly worthwhile, as I know that's an area people often feel hesitant about.
On the whole, I would recommend this book to new homeschoolers for its humor, down-to-earth assessment of the ups and downs of homeschooling, and practical advice. However, if you were going to read only one or two books on homeschooling, I'd probably suggest starting with something by Linda Dobson.
One of the book's most notable features is its conversational tone. You can really imagine the author sitting with you, sharing her experiences and accumulated wisdom. I definitely found it to be more opinionated than some books; Ms. Bittner doesn't hesitate to tell her audience exactly what they should do. Surprisingly, I didn't find that annoying, probably because it seemed as though her goal was to provide direction to the timid and uncertain, rather than to provide the One True Way.
I was a bit taken aback by some of the author's remarks on manipulating people. For example, she suggests always looking busy when your spouse comes home from work, so that s/he won't think you've been loafing around all day. There's also a section on training your children to give good answers to questions they may get about their schooling.
As is suggested by the title, I think this book is best suited to people who are hesitant about homeschooling and need some hand-holding. Some of the sections, such as advice on setting up a good record-keeping system, were overly formulaic for my taste, but would probably appeal to people with less confidence in their ability to think these things through on their own. The instructions on developing lessons and unit studies seemed particularly worthwhile, as I know that's an area people often feel hesitant about.
On the whole, I would recommend this book to new homeschoolers for its humor, down-to-earth assessment of the ups and downs of homeschooling, and practical advice. However, if you were going to read only one or two books on homeschooling, I'd probably suggest starting with something by Linda Dobson.