Recent Homeschooling Reads

I finished a couple of books recently and I thought since I had "reviewed" them on Shelfari, I would share about them here. I must preface the below "review" with the fact that I'm not a book reviewer. I'm also trying to get more selective in what I read, because it takes me a while to get through a book. Not because I'm a slow reader, but because I'm a slow reader! LOL Really, I love to ponder on what I read. I'm not much of a fiction reader, so often times I'm reading stuff with a lot of meat to it. I like to read, pray, implement, read, pray, implement.

For The Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

This was a really incredible book that took me some time to get through. Mrs. Macaulay gave me plenty of meat to chew on and in many aspects I felt true conviction. I love how she summed up Miss Charlotte Mason's teaching so well and in a way where I wasn't really left wanting more. I would love to read Charlotte's books in their entirety, but for someone just getting started in this method of education, of life, this book would give plenty to think on until they were ready to digest more. My copy will be put in my daughter's hope chest, because I think this teaching is really that crucial.

I also must say that I'm now eager to read the rest of Mrs. Macaulay's books as well as Edith Schaeffer's (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's mother) including The Gentle Art of Homemaking.

Sue Patrick's Workbox System User's Guide

I really loved this book. She gives so many great ideas for review activities and helping your child work through difficult areas of schoolwork. On a logistics note, I felt like I was left hanging a bit on the actual implementation of the system. She goes over it in various parts of the book, but I thought she should have done a "review" or gone into a bit more detail. Also, she is very adamant that you must use all of the details of her system exactly as she has designed them. We are going to use magazine boxes on shelves - they are cheap and easier to store. Many other ladies have come up with great systems that I think will work well. Overall I think this is going to be an incredible way to organize our school day.

We are implementing this system using cardboard magazine holders from IKEA. Also, there are some aspects of this system that I won't be using, that seem, at least to me, a bit too classroom oriented. I'm just choosing to spit out the bones.

Photo from: http://www.artsjournal.com/bookdaddy/Home_Photo_books.jpg