Spirited Hearts® Most Recommended Books for Homeschooling
I often get asked “how do you do it?” “what if I have all of these fears?” and “what if I mess up my child’s education?”
These are all valid questions, that can leave parents feeling overwhelmed, terrified and stressed.
On my journey through life learning (the term I used to describe our type of homeschooling), I have found invaluable wisdom and knowledge in the books listed below.
Whether you are already homeschooling, desiring to homeschool or the idea hasn’t even crossed your mind, all of these books can help you on your journey.
Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life by Peter Gray
This is the one of the most recommended books by guests on the Spirited Hearts podcast, and a book I also highly recommend. This book explores the history of the education system, the harm it causes to our children and ways we can improve our children’s lives through meaningful, self-directed learning. This book is the perfect starting point of you are considering homeschooling. You can listen to Dr Peter Gray speak on the Spirited Hearts podcast.
Dumbing Is Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
After being a teacher for 30 years, John became an advocate for families and children, taking back education and learning. He shares his experiences on the detrimental effects of formal schooling and why children need less school, not more. If you are hesitant about homeschooling, this book offers insight into how the education system works. When we understand the broken system, we can use that to inform our decisions for the future of our children.
Beautiful Failures: How the Quest for Success is Harming Our Kids by Lucy Clark
This is such a brilliant book outlining how schooling causes anxiety and depression in children today based on the unnecessary academic pressure they experience from the education system. This book challenges all the ‘norms’ of school and holds the education system to accountability for its role in the declining wellbeing of children’s mental and emotional health. If your child is at school and you don’t have the capacity to homeschool, this book can bring more awareness so you can advocate for your child at school.
How Children Learn by John Holt
This book was first published in 1967 and my gosh was John Holt WAY ahead of his time. This was a man who was not only aware, but challenged the way the education system claims children learn. When you understand learning and how it happens, you realise that children don’t need school at all.
Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work by Alisha S. Richards
The author argues why we need to build and work within systems truly designed for humans to learn, grow, socialise and thrive. Unschooling has been proven to heal generations of school trauma. This book also explores examples of transitioning from school or homeschooling to unschooling.
Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Dr Gordon Neufeld and Dr Gabor Mate
This is also a frequently recommended book by guests on the podcast. The authors argue that for many children today, peers have replaced parents. This means that rather than taking values from their family, their identities are being shaped by their classmates, which is not natural and can be dangerous - think peer pressure and drugs as a worst case scenario. This book also offers practical advice on how to reconnect with our children and form lifelong secure attachments. A very insightful book whether you homeschool, and especially if your child attends school.
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
Especially when children attend school and extracurricular activities, they are more at risk of health issues due to no nature connection. We are a part of nature, we need a connection to the natural world to thrive and when we spend most of our lives in classrooms, offices, workshops and inside houses, we decrease our overall well-being. This is a must read for every single family!
Home Grown: Adventures in Parenting off the Beaten Path, Unschooling, and Reconnecting with the Natural World by Ben Hewitt
This is a beautiful personal account of one family’s unschooling journey in the woods. It challenges most of our cultures faulty thinking about education, and demonstrates the strengths that comes from learning through living life. My husband really enjoyed this book too!
Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom by Kerry McDonald
This is a well-researched and helpful companion to have on your unschooling journey. It addresses what unschooling is, why our childhood isn’t what it used to be, and how we can beat support our children whether they are learning at home or go to school.
The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning and Life by Julie Bogart
This book is all about making learning exciting and enchanting for your child/ren. It provides practical guidance on supporting your child in all areas of learning and invites you to model learning with curiosity, courage and joy.
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Home Schooling by John Holt and Pat Farenga
This book is an in-depth exploration of what homeschooling can look like, and why learning at home doesn’t need to mirror school. Some of the topics explored include learning without teaching, learning difficulties, how to get started, learning in the world, plus so much more.
The Call of the Wild + Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child’s Education by Ainsley Arment
This is a delightful read and is very helpful on your homeschooling journey. This book addresses many of the myths of homeschooling, finding your own unique rhythm and saving childhood for our children by providing them with meaningful, adventurous and magical learning experiences.
The Wild + Free Family: Forging Your Own Path to a Life Full of Wonder, Adventure and Connection by Ainsley Arment
I loved this book and how it addresses another beautiful aspect of homeschooling, and that’s family. When you homeschool, it isn’t just about your child’s learning journey. It’s about creating the family culture you are all needing, connecting with your children, creating a safe haven and adventuring through life and learning together.
Sandra Dodd’s Big Book of Unschooling
This is an insightful summary of Sandra’s website and her decades experience in unschooling her own children. It is layer out in a very accessible manner, with so much information ranging from toddlers, all the way to teenagers and beyond.
Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners by Lori Pickett
This book is a collection of strategies for helping children direct and manage their own learning. A big part of the learning process is trusting our children, and giving them freedom, power and autonomy on what they learn, how they learn it and when they wish to learn it. It’s about identifying your child’s interests, creating environments that encourage independent research and how to build a family culture that promotes meaningful learning.
This is by no means an extensive list of all the books that you can possibly read. They are books myself and others I have spoken to have found useful, informative and inspiring on their learning journeys as a family.
Have you read any of these books? What were some of your key takeaways?
Have you read a book not on this list, that you would recommend to others? Leave the name in the comments below.