Homeschool Teacher – A practical guide to inspiring academic excellence
This is the book you will want to read when you begin homeschooling.
Published 8 years ago, updated 5 years ago
Homeschool Teacher
A practical guide to inspiring academic excellence
By Kate Laird
http://www.katelairdbooks.com/
Probably the number one concern for any parent planning to go long-term cruising is how to address their children’s education outside school. As homeschooling has grown in popularity, there has been an explosion of resources available for parents and children and the options for how you approach learning are seemingly endless.
Trying to find out what will work best for your family can be a little overwhelming.
However, at last, there is a book that clearly lays out all the choices by a cruising mum who has had long-term experience of home-schooling her own children whilst long-distance cruising in remote areas. Kate Laird’s Homeschool Teacher is a guide to help families educate their children without sacrificing either academics or adventure.
Written after 12 years of homeschooling her 2 daughters onboard their yacht “Seal” while sailing from the US to Greenland, Europe, Antarctica, New Zealand, Japan and now Alaska, the book is limited to grades K-8 (ages 4 to 14), as high school is still a work in progress. Its focus is on American and UK educational systems, but Kate has tried to present information for other English speaking countries as well.
Homeschool Teacher covers how we learn, tips for teaching, guidance for each subject area, how to choose the best curriculum for your family and situation and most important of all, how to make learning rigorous and interesting yet academic and practical.
Kate explains her reasons for pulling this much-needed book together: “When I began homeschooling on board, all I could find were heavily conservative or heavily liberal homeschooling guides. I’ve tried to write a middle-ground guide for families considering homeschooling their children, whether long-term or short-term, that combines the best of academic homeschooling with the freedom (and time) to learn from the world around them. It originally began as a guide for cruising families, but I soon realized that other travelers, remote homeschoolers, and even suburban families had similar problems, so this is no longer an exclusively sailing book, but I think it will be of interest to many cruising families, as homeschooling is so often the deal-breaker for those contemplating heading off cruising with children, or those who have done it for a few years and haven’t felt they are meeting their children’s needs”.
The book begins with a discussion of how we learn, and what to teach, and then goes into each subject in some detail, offering ideas for different ages and levels, aimed both at families who are following a boxed curriculum and those who are making it up as they go along. It is heavily referenced and Kate presents clearly the arguments and the research for the various options so that parents can make informed decisions about style and pace. There is an emphasis on offline programs and curricula for those without regular internet access, such as long-distance cruisers and remote homeschoolers.
This is the book you will want to read when you begin homeschooling. It demonstrates how a rigorous, academic approach to schooling can be achieved in the minimum amount of time each day and will instill a love for learning and knowledge in your children.
About the Author
http://www.katelairdbooks.com/homeschool-teacher/homeschool-teacher-author.htm
Read a Sample
A sample of the book is available on Kate Laird’s website as a pdf download.
Go to http://www.katelairdbooks.com/homeschool-teacher/Homeschool-Teacher-Sampler.pdf
How to get the book
Kate is currently hosting a giveaway at Goodreads which ends on 24 November, 2016.
The book is now available from the Book Depository, which offers free shipping anywhere in the world in exchange for a very slightly higher price.
https://www.bookdepository.com/Homeschool-Teacher-Kate-Laird/9781532715716
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/homeschool-teacher-kate-laird/1124127507
The book is also available via Amazon.
Every family has their own style of homeschooling. Go to noonsite’s Cruising Information page – Cruising with Children section, for some useful blogs by cruising parents who have found out through trial and error what works for their family on board.
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