Customer Reviews

The Homeschooling Revolution

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This book is the best overview of the "Homeschooling Revolution" that I've seen. The author is a Ph.D social scientist and a homeschooling Mom. Her writing style is informal and friendly.

This book is not a "how to" book on homeschooling, it is a serious yet engaging look at the homeschooling movement. It has plenty of references to useful homeschooling resources.

The chapter titles tell you a lot about this book: Ch 1 - Homeschooling 101; Ch 2 - The Movement- Yesterday and Today; Ch 3 - Legal and Political Inroads; Ch 4 - The Socialization Question; Ch 5 - What About Academics; Ch 6 - The Marketing of a Movement; Ch 7 - The Print Media and Homeschooling; Ch 8 - Growing Pains; Ch 9 - Profiling Homeschoolers; Ch 10 Conclusion; Endnotes.

Again, it is a great intro to the the homeschooling movement for those new to homeschooling (and their family and friends!) Yet, as a veteran homeschooling father, I learned a great deal from this book. This book will help you see the "big picture" of the homeschooling revolution better than any other book I've encountered.

Anyone familiar with the manifest problems and lively debate associated with the public school crisis in the United States will profit from reading this excellent primer on the home schooling revolution. The author, a former analyst with the Cato Institute, provides the reading public with an excellent overview of both the home schooling movement itself and a good discussion of the primary issues surrounding the problems and prospects confronting anyone daring to pull their kids away from the public school system to attempt to educate them at home.

In so doing, the author explores a number of important aspects of the home-schooling revolution, including legal issues, the mass of available materials for use as resources for the parent energetic enough to pursue them, and the downside in terms of social issues and peer pressure serving to counteract the family's determination to go it alone. The author employs a plethora of anecdotal information and incidents to help support the idea that it (home-schooling) can and often should be considered as a viable alternative approach to more effectively educate one's children. Indeed, as the author sagely opines, given the state of public education in many communities, the question is more `why not home-school?' than anything else.

Evidence gleaned over the last few years indicates children who are home schooled tend to perform better on standardized exams than their peers, and often seem much better adjusted and much more focused than their publicly educated cohorts. And, since their parent-teachers have a vested interest in teaching their children both salient skills as well as relevant information, such children seem to have a much better integrated perspective on the world at large than do their peers. Children who have emerged from a childhood of such private education often perform quite well at both state and private universities, and seem capable of as much intellectual stimulation as can be thrown their way. In short, home schooling seems to be a viable and practical alternative approach for families interested in pursuing such tact in today's troubled communities.

All in all, this appears to be an excellent home schooling resource guide, and provides the interested reader with a credible and useful tool in approaching the issue of home-schooling, both within the family itself as well as in the community at large. By providing a history, a social context, and a discussion of relevant considerations and alternatives, author Isabel Lyman provides a yeoman's service to the reading public in a book I can heartily recommend. Enjoy!

This excellent primer on homeschooling, by journalist and homeschooler Isabel Lyman, presents a history of the movement and an exploration of
the variety of issues confronting parents who may wish to teach their kids themselves. In the book, which grew out of an essay for the Cato Institute, HOMESCHOOLING : Back to the Future?, she looks at legal issues, the size and shape of the homeschool movement in America, questions about socialization of kids and meeting educational standards, resources that are available for families who choose this option, and even what kind of social acceptance or pressures folks may face. Ms Lyman also uses copious real-life examples to show how others have met and overcome these challenges, as well as sharing her own experiences. In all, it's an excellent overview of an emerging phenomena.

My one quibble is actually with the manner in which she tells the true stories. It may be a function of the book being a couple years old, and that we're more used to the notion of homeschooling now, or of the aftereffects of battles Ms Lyman may have had to wage personally, or maybe I'm just naive, but the tone of some of the book, especially in these vignettes, is more defensive than it needs to be. There's a quality of here of "look this kid was homeschooled and..ta-da...he turned out fine." There may well have been a time in this country where homeschooling was so shocking that these
kinds of assurances were necessary, but hopefully we''re long past that day. Ms Lyman and her fellow homeschoolers have exciting stories to tell, stories of which they are, and should be, immensely proud. They need not justify the choices they've made. The achievements of their children are ample justification. If anything it is many of those who run our public schools who need to explain what they've done to education in the last few decades.

Ms Lyman is an effective proselytizer for a movement she obviously cares deeply about. If you are one of those folks who are still dubious
about the efficacy of homeschooling, she'll more than allay your doubts. If you have kids she'll make you think hard about the options available
to you. If you''re thinking about homeschooling she'll more than likely convince you to do so. But always, as befits someone who is advocating
freedom of choice, she encourages parents to do what they think is right for their own kids. Perhaps most refreshingly, Ms Lyman writes on behalf of a social/political movement that does not ask for anything from the rest of us--no tax money, no special favors, etc.--except that we accept their decisions to homeschool as a viable alternative for educating American kids. As she argues convincingly and as test scores and other data demonstrate, homeschooling is not only viable it can be a fabulous choice for families with the determination to succeed.

GRADE : B+

I've been following Isabel Lyman's homeschooling blog for about a year. (Go to Google and do a search on "Isabel Lyman Homeschool revolution" without the quotes.) It is a fun blog with lots of homeschooling posts. It was a treat to finally get around to reading her book, "The Homeschooling Revolution."

There are a lot of homeschooling books that talk about what is homeschooling, why do people homeschool, and how to homeschool. They tend to be good size books and can be a bit intimidating. Isabel Lyman's book is focused on "What is homeschooling?" and a little of "Why do people homeschool?" As such this book is direct and to the point. This is the perfect book for people who just want to know more about homeschooling.

The book starts off by introducing us to a few families who homeschool and briefly gives us some reasons why they homeschool. There is a short history of homeschooling over the last forty years. The book talks about some of the changes in the law, and how it is now legal to homeschool in all 50 states. Then the big question of socialization is addressed. (Every homeschooler must get that question at least once a month.) In the section about academics it was fun to read about how homeschoolers as a small percentage of the US are dominating such things as the National Spelling Bee. The book explores some of the ways homeschoolers are marketing the movement to get the word out. I was a bit surprised to find that in general the print media is current fairly positive towards homeschoolers. This is helped by how broken the public schools have become. In one of the last chapters the book explores some of the internal conflicts in the homeschooling movement. The book also summarizes some surveys about homeschoolers to present some profiles about who is homeschooling.

This was a fun book to read. Isabel Lyman writes well. It is a pretty quick book to read, the main part of the book is only 126 pages. If you are interested in learning more about homeschooling, or have a friend who is interested in understanding homeschooling better, this is a good book to buy.