When I was first considering homeschooling, I went to my local library and checked out every book they had on homeschooling. Every. single. one.
And I read them all, because I wanted as much information about homeschooling methods and philosophies and curricula as I could possibly process. I wanted dry information and all the cold, hard facts about how to homeschool and how to do it well.
A book that touched my heart, too, was really not at all what I was looking for.
But Home Sweet Homeschool did exactly that. In fact, in my early days of homeschooling, this book was probably the single most influential and powerful for me. Yes, it gave me lots of tips for homeschooling efficiently. It offered ideas for managing house and life responsibilities while homeschooling. It provided tons of down-to-earth and practical advice for tackling this immense job of home education.
But Home Sweet Homeschool touched me on a much deeper level, by bringing me face-to-face with the condition of my heart.
You see, I didn’t want to homeschool. I mean I. really. did. not. want. to. homeschool. I bucked against it in every way and I made all the usual excuses — I don’t have the patience. I don’t have the time. I hate math. Those people over there homeschool and they’re weird — and yet I could not ignore what I saw in scripture, nor could I escape the not-so-gentle proddings of my heart that kept telling me this was the path I needed to choose for my family.
This book forced me to deal with some of my excuses and my fears. And it helped me overcome my greatest objections to homeschooling, which really had nothing to do with patience or math or my past experience with homeschoolers, but with my own unwilling heart. I literally cried all the way through it. Like I said, it wasn’t really the book I was looking for, but it was exactly the book I needed.
Home Sweet Homeschool offers lots of common sense tips that were perfect for someone like me who was just learning about homeschooling, but it also saturated those ideas with scripture, which was something I needed even more.
If you’re a Christian contemplating homeschooling, or if you’re a homeschooling mom who is struggling, I can’t recommend this book enough. It was filled with practical help, but also touched so deeply on why we homeschool, while also providing countless reminders of the grace God will provide to do what He asks us to do.
