Apologia Press (The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell)

Almost everyone who has homeschooled for more than a minute knows of Apologia Science Curriculum. I was able to review one of their Elementary Science books last year. Apologia is now diving into some new ventures, including Apologia Press which offers various curriculum and Parent Resources.

I was sent the book The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell to review. This is a very good resource book for those already homeschooling, and for those considering homeschooling for the first time. For instance, I did lots of research and felt prepared for elementary, but then came along Junior High and High School. Having a book like this sitting on the shelves to refer too would have been helpful.

This book has over 500 pages and 34 chapters broken into 10 parts.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book.

“Homeschooling is better described as a lifestyle – A complete integration of family life and learning.”

And under the Heading Advantage #6 Flexibility and Choices…
"If you asked my sons, Mike and Gabe, what they enjoyed most about homeschooling, their answers would fall under this advantage. They loved the freedom to pursue their own interests, to control their time, to stay up late reading, to not be bogged down with homework after upper, to choose and change the direction of their education.”

I think my own sons, who are out cutting down trees at 1 on a weekday afternoon after the winter storm we had recently that downed many, many trees in this area, would concur with that statement.

But I think Mrs. Bell does not leave out some of the difficulties or sugar coat the sacrifices required.

“Depending upon our temperaments, never having a break from the kids or time to ourselves can be a difficult demand.”

“When we make the choice to homeschool, it’s with the expectation of results commensurate with the sacrifice we are about to make. Ar at the very least we want enough evidence to prove our skeptics wrong. And we want it soon.” She goes on to discuss the importance of appropriate expectations.

All in all, I think this a good homeschooling resource book. It can be a little overwhelming to the first time homeschool, but well, everything is overwhelming to the first time homeschooler! I remember!

You can go here to see more about The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling and to purchase it and you can click on the icon below to see what others on The Crew had to say about this lovely resource.