Today I'm sharing a great book with you called "Homeschool Hacks: How to Give Your Kid a Great Education without Losing Your Job or Your Mind" by Linsey Knerl, mother of six and freelance journalist.
I was sent a copy to read and review, and I was not compensated monetarily other than with a free copy of the book. Opinions are my own.
After you read my review, you can purchase "Homeschool Hacks" here if you wish! It's available for Kindle, in print, and as an audiobook.
I'm going to pop the Table of Contents here so you can see what's included in the book, then we'll talk some more about my thoughts on it.
Introduction: How to Use This Book
Chapter 1: Who Are the Homeschoolers?
Chapter 2: How Do You Start?
Chapter 3: Homeschool Legalities and Requirements
Chapter 4: Tools of the Trade
Chapter 5: Sample Schedules and Proper Planning
Chapter 6: Homeschooling through the Grades
Chapter 7: Paying for Homeschool
Chapter 8: Handling the Childcare Problem
Chapter 9: Homeschooling and the Family Business
Chapter 10: Working outside the Home
Chapter 11: Military Homeschoolers
Chapter 12: Temporary Homeschool
Chapter 13: Getting Kids College Ready
Chapter 14: Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Appendix A: Resources
Appendix B: Sample Junior High and High School Course Outline
Some thoughts:
The Tools of the Trade chapter contains quite a bit of common sense, like writing utensils and other school supplies, including a printer and a computer, so probably the book could've done without this chapter entirely.
The Sample Schedules and Proper Planning chapter was pretty useful, even for a homeschool veteran like myself. This chapter also includes information about setting homeschool milestones, for example, we need to be done with lesson 80 of math before Christmas break. This way, your child can work ahead or know how much they need to do to get caught up before the break. This is helpful when you have those days (or weeks!) where everything explodes and nothing gets done.
This book is pretty much like other books on homeschooling and anything you can find on the Internet, except it's in a smallish package that you can easily carry around and digest a bit at a time. I do think it's a great resource to have around if you are just getting started, but maybe not so much for a seasoned homeschooler.
The Homeschooling and the Family Business and Working outside the Home chapters were a nice update to a lot of other homeschooling books, many of which do not take these unique situations into consideration. I don't have a family business and I don't work outside the home, but I have worked INSIDE the home and while traveling with the family pretty much ever since my first child was born 20 years ago.
There's a lot of great information in this book, and I recommend you grab it if you have small children or are just getting started. It's one to purchase for your home library in that case. For those who have been in the homeschool game longer, definitely grab it at the library first, and then you can decide if it's one you'd like to purchase.
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