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Book Review: Slow Homeschooling by Milva MacDonald

Slow Homeschooling:Essays About Mindful Homeschooling

This is a small but mighty book.  Just 64 pages, it contains a powerful collection of 23 essays that touch upon a range of issues that parents grapple with as they explore the decision about homeschooling, and more issues that arise once they start on their homeschooling journey.

Take a look at the table of contents:   

  • 13 Things I Want You to Know About Homeschooling
  • Just Like a Homeschooler
  • Getting the Most Out of Your Support Group
  • Can you Work and Homeschool?
  • Making Your Own Kind of Music
  • The Joys of Reading Aloud
  • The Benefits of Age-Mixing
  • What Do Homeschoolers Do?
  • Getting on Our Groove
  • The Gift of Time
  • Benign Neglect
  • Owning it
  • How’s School?
  • The Power of Self-Identification
  • Sibling Harmony
  • Solitude
  • What? Your a TEENAGER??
  • Where’d You Learn That?
  • Self-Awareness and Resiliency
  • In Defense of Passion
  • Peace + Park Day
  • On Not Teaching Kids to Read
  • Do Kids Have to Go to College?

These non-fiction essays are an excellent companion to author’s other book, Unschoolers, which is a fictional look into the lives of a group of homeschoolers.

From the Amazon page description:

Feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of homeschooling? The sheer quantity of books, materials, and advice? The responsibility of educating your children? Sit back, relax, and absorb these words from a veteran homeschooler. Milva McDonald spent twenty six years homeschooling four children, now adults on various life paths including social work, music, theater, and going to Harvard. Her book of collected writings offers encouragement, practical tips, stories from the trenches, and philosophical musings. From the title essay about the benefits of taking homeschooling slow, to getting the most out of your support group, to pondering the question of college, the short but thought-provoking selections in “Slow Homeschooling” are a great introduction to home education.

The essays were reassuring, informative, and insightful. I feel like the author and I are on the same wavelength. I look forward to going beyond twitter and to sometime meet her in person and chatting over coffee, tea, or wine.

I guess until you can meet her in person, the next best thing is to grab your favorite beverage, her book, and start to read.

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