Y’all, here it is! The last book I read for review while I was on vacation. (Whew, getting all these reviews written is fun, but kinda hard because I let them build up since I didn’t have my computer with me.)

Fun story before I get into the review: I was reading this book in Mexico where our family goes on vacation each year. We stay in a small fishing village that isn’t in a touristy area.

As I was reading I posted about the book on my Instagram Story (y’all can follow me here if you want, I often post reading updates). A friend commented and said that it looked like a book she’d enjoy reading.

Now, plot twist: It turns out this lady was on vacation with her husband and their four young children only about a half an hour away from where we were staying! Crazy, right? As it turns out, we invited them over for supper one night and I hurried to finish reading the book before they arrived so I could give it to her. It was fun to have that random bookish/friendish connection in a different country. And hey, I’m glad she commented on my story. 😉

FIRST OFF, SOME STATS:

Find the book on: Amazon and Goodreads
Pages: 208
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Title: Homeschool Bravely
Nonfiction

ABOUT THE BOOK

Quiet the voices of “not good enough” and step courageously into guilt-free homeschooling

Many homeschool parents have a long-term relationship with self-doubt. “Did I make the right decision?” “Could someone else do this better?” “Am I robbing my kids of something by not sending them to ‘regular school’?”

What if there’s a better way?

Not a 3-step technique or a shiny, new curriculum, but a change in perspective that transforms the way you plan, teach, and homeschool?

Homeschool Bravely teaches you to see homeschooling as a calling, helps you overthrow the tyranny of impossible expectations, and guides you through the common bumps in the road, including how to:

• juggle school and parenting with toddlers at home
• teach a struggling learner
• plan with the end in mind
• accept your own limitations without feeling guilty
• stay the course even in the face of criticism

Reclaim your hope, renew your purpose, and transform your homeschool. Because the truth is: God will use every part of your homeschool, even your fears, faults, and failures, to weave good plans for your kids.

WHY I CHOOSE THIS BOOK

Despite the fact that I’ve read a lot of parenting books, I’ve never read any homeschooling books. That seemed like a fact I should remedy, and this book caught my eye, partly because of the title, partly because the cover is black.

Disclaimer: I’m not a parent, I don’t think I have the answers to parenting, homeschooling, or raising kids. I simply enjoy studying the subject and seeing how I can (very, very loosely) apply the principles I learn to myself, kids in my life, and maybe in the far distant future my own kids. Plus, it’s pretty fun to learn when there’s no pressure. But, as always this review will, therefore, be quite subjective, but will hopefully provide a unique point-of-view compared to the reviews written by parents who actually know what they’re doing.

WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS BOOK

I found it surprisingly interesting. The author is a blogger and a lot of times a blogger-turned-book-author is a hit or miss for me when it comes to style – there’s no middle ground. This one was, thankfully, a total hit. Her writing style was engaging, her tone honest, encouraging, and at times funny, and her stories were ones I could relate to from the perspective of an adult who grew up being homeschooled.

The author used to be an elementary school teacher, which felt like it gave her added credentials while talking about homeschooling vs. public schooling.

There were some things in the book I didn’t fully agree with (more related to her views on various things, rather than what she actually did), but those things were minor enough that they didn’t take away from the book for me.

For me, the most interesting part of the book was when she gave different suggestions of things to do with kids. It’s so intriguing to hear about things little kids can do for fun that are actually educational as well.

CONCLUSION

If y’all are interested in this book, you should check out her website (The Unlikely Homeschool) or look her up on Instagram. I watched some of her Instagram stories as I was reading the book and that really helped her to feel more relatable and alive to me.

I generally don’t recommend parenting books as a non-parent on my blog (because that’s weird), and the same goes for homeschooling books. But, I did enjoy reading this book.

RATING

I’m giving Homeschool Bravely four out of five stars – Moody Publishers was very kind to send me a copy of this book so I could review it.