Customer Reviews

The Organized Homeschooler

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I was hoping this book would give specific ways to organized your homeschool. Sadly, that was not the case. Only about a quarter of the book discusses organizing methods. The remainder is a sermon, and not a very good one.

Vicki begins her book: "People marvel at how organized our home is. They even peek into our cupboards just hoping a mess is inside. They're usually disappointed". That statement sets the tone for the entire book.

The book is chock full of scriptural references for prayer, discussion and pondering. Too bad I didn't buy this book with that in mind.

Vicki exhorts the reader to pray for guidance regarding how to organize themselves. I have, and I thought I was going to get that information from this book. I was wrong. It's not there.

She believes that organization begins in the heart; one can only be organized if their heart is right with God. Conversely, if one is DISORGANIZED it is surely because one's heart is NOT right with God, and organization is not truly desired by that person. Pity the poor souls who are struggling in their sprirituality as well as their lack of organization. Her sweeping, judgemental statements may just move them to quit trying altogether.

Heaven forbid you are already discouraged with your lack of organization. While you can certainly be spiritually led to change your attitudes and actions, at some point you need the TOOLS and INFORMATION to bring about change. You can pray forever that your bathroom will be fixed, but unless you get a good book on how to fix bathrooms, or pick up the phone and call a repairman, your bathroom will not be fixed. Likewise, you can ponder the scriptures and pray without ceasing, but you may never be a well organized person because you do not have the TOOLS and INFORMATION you need to get it done.

Bottom line: this book does a poor job of giving those TOOLS and INFORMATION to help you get the job done. If you want some suggestions for personal devotion time, read this book. If you want organizational help, look somewhere else.
(By the way Vicki, by your logic there are no organized atheists in the world. . . )

Probably the number one comment I get as a homeschool mother is, "Oh, you homeschool?! How do you ever do it?! I am not that organized." I have had many a friend tells me that they would consider homeschooling if they thought they could be organized enough to actually do it some justice. I think that not only with homeschoolers, all of us seek ways to improve our ability to manage the tasks we are faced with each day. Vicki Caruana, a former public school teacher and veteran homeschooler who speaks at conventions across the country, has done well in her book, "The Organized Home Schooler", to explain the desire we have for order in our homeschooling. She gets down to the root of the matter - the God who created us put inside us a need for orderliness! Using scripture, Vicki helps you see that the matter is not merely a matter of the mind, but of the HEART.

Vicki adds wonderful bible verses and checklists at the end of each chapter for the reader to follow along. This book is not only a helpful tool to teach you new ways to get your school, home, and life more organized; it is a bible study for your soul!

The book takes you through so many wonderful topics that most people overlook when trying to start a new time management system. Vicki starts first with, "Why Organize?" and follows with "Organize Your Thoughts". She continues with "Organize your Time" and "Organize Your Space". Some homeschoolers are given to remain shut in and others are so busy coming and going that they meet themselves along the way. Some homeschoolers are hands-on learners and others learn mainly from books and movies. Some homeschoolers use a boxed curriculum or a computer program and others are eccentric and own a little of everything on the market. We all have a responsibility to have an aim or goal in mind when educating, though. I loved her comment,
"Everything we do within our homeschools should lead us to the goals we have set with our children. It is so easy to get distracted and get off track. You might receive a homeschool support group newsletter outlining all the field trips they have planned for the year, and you sign up for many of them. There's nothing wrong with going on field trips or engaging in activities on the spur of the moment. But I caution you to not make a habit of it. The more time we spend away from home, the less time we have to work on the business at hand. I strongly recommend that all, or as many as possible, activities relate to attaining the goals you have set forth."

Vicki can be called none other than the Master of Organization! She gives a three step process she uses to stay focused on her homeschooling goals which can be used for her other topics as well. While discussing the organization of time, she gives a checklist test for you to find out if you are disorganized with your daily activities. I found this activity very helpful and insightful (even if I've flunked it almost every time I've taken it). She has many diagrams, checklists, and sketches throughout the book to help the visual learner. Her ideas are wonderful, and I always enjoy reading through them for a refresher. I highly suggest this book for the first time homeschooler, the organizationally challenged, and those trying to recover from post-holiday blahs. Even the seasoned veteran could take notes and gather ideas for record keeping and file systems.

Other topics included in the book are:

"Organize Your Supplies and Materials"
"Organize Your Paperwork"
"Organize your Family"
"The Task of Reorganizing"
"Habit Forming" (I can hear you sigh - just like I did, as you read this one!)
"The Nuts and Bolts of an Organized Homeschool"
"A Homeschool File System"
"The List of Lists for Homeschooling" (BOY, is she right!)

Also included in the book are references and lists of other books that Vicki herself has found helpful in her quest for creating an orderly home and homeschool. I give her book five stars out of five! This one is a keeper. I consider it a reference book for my school and home, and read it at least once a school year! I hope you enjoy "The Organized Homeschooler" as much as I have.

Ask experienced homeschooling parents what they see as the aspect in need of the most improvement, and chances are you will hear "organization" and "time management" more than any other response. More time and an organized home, the two things homeschoolers crave but rarely seem to find. "The children are home all day" is a common excuse among homeschoolers, a defense to their concerns over the state of their homes. The Organized Homeschooler, written by Vicki Caruana, attempts to get to the heart of the matters of organization and time management.

The simplistic style of this book makes it easily readable to new and tenured homeschooling families alike. Mrs. Caruana offers thought-provoking commentary on what it means to homeschool your children while maintaining an organized home and life.

The Organized Homeschooler offers tips for all families, but is geared toward devout Christians who lean toward the traditional school-at-home or highly structured end of the spectrum. At times the author's view of more relaxed methods of school may stir up feelings of defensiveness in the reader. In one chapter on time management, for example, the author approaches criticism for those who may spend their free time in methods other than the author. In another chapter the author states that those who (and I am paraphrasing) "think their method of homeschooling is the best may think higher of themselves than they should", which is amusing since that is the exact view I see the author having.

Regardless, I recommend The Organized Homeschooler to anyone who craves a more productive school and home life. The questions the author raises about our priorities and how we schedule our lives deserve our reflection and soul searching.

Let me say right off that if you are not a Christian, you will not like this book. On the other hand, if you are a Christian and want to become more organized, this is the book for you. It was invaluable to me! I am a pretty organized person, but with three small children (6, 4, and 2) and starting to homeschool, my organizational skills were definitely challenged. This has great ideas for organizing all your homeschool materials. She also challenges the way you think and your heart attitudes about things. She goes to the spiritual source that we need to start with. EXCELLENT BOOK FOR CHRISTIANS!!!

As a self-proclaimed 'messie' I have been led to read many organizational books. It was so refreshing to find this book which combined the two desires of my heart; to one, transform myself spiritually not just physically, and two, minister to my family's specific needs as we homeschool. This book addresses the specific heart issues that can challenge you, and gives scriptures of encouragement to feed the soul. Vicki also gives many practical insights to inspire one to adapt to their families specific needs. As soon as I discovered it, I bought one for myself and promptly bought 2 more and gave them to friends. I highly recommend it.

I loved this book not just for the wise homeschooling principles/organizational guidelines, but also general, overall organizational tips.

Vicki is helpful, informative, insightful and understanding. She even emphasizes organizing the home library and while step by step helps aren't given, it certainly gives food for thought. I am brand new to homeschooling and this book has given me confidence to step forward on this new path.

First let me say that I consider myself to be a strong Christian. However, even I felt this book was a bit condescending. The tone of the book would be fine if the publisher had chosen to be upfront about what you could expect to find within it but the exterior of the book leads you to believe you are going to find some tips and techniques about getting your homeschool organized. This book is much more of a "mind set" about being organized and relying on your faith to help you attain what you are seeking. I'm fine with that premise but that's not why I picked up this book.

If you are basically organized and are looking for support in what you already know, this book might be for you. If you were not born organized and you are seeking actual suggestions to help you create a peaceful homeschool environment, I'd recommend finding another book.

I am a relatively organized person and this book did give me some new ideas on doing better which were easy to implement. The only problem I had with the book is that the author is very opinionated. According to her, I have too much time on my hands because I read more than five books a month. Isn't one of the main goals of homeschooling to foster a love of reading in our children and wouldn't modeling our love of reading be a good thing. The author is lucky that I do read more than five books a month or I never would have gotten around to reading hers. You can get good info out of this book but just be ready for some strong personal opinions.

This book has received a lot of hot and a lot of cold reviews...so I was very curious to read it! I would like to put Ms. Carauna's book in light of a continuum with "Practical How-to's" on one side and "Spiritual, Heart Matters" on the other. Many people read her book looking for a book that fell almost exclusively at the practical end of the spectrum. These readers gave this book negative reviews. The reviewers are very honest about this in their reviews.

I think the positive reviewers saw that Ms. Carauna perceives organization as both a heart issue and a practical issue and wanted to hear what she wanted to share about the heart matters as well as how to live out those convictions about organization in practical ways. I think this is why there's such a wide difference of opinions about this book.

I think that sets the stage. This book is one that you have to read with a humble, open heart. It will quickly raise your defenses if you don't. Ms. Carauna is direct, as opposed to gentle, about confronting people's struggles and resistance to organization. She feels it is heart issue. In a culture where we are surrounded by gentle messages and encouraging words, it is refreshing to be challenged and spoken to directly. But...

BUT, as with any book, you need to remember that Ms. Carauna's words are not God's words--they are not the Bible. What she shares is what she thinks and it may not always sit well with you. That may be sometimes because it has shown you something God wants to work on with you, but it also may be because what she feels may not be what you feel God has asked of you and what He has laid on your heart and convicted you of. (conviction: a belief that you feel so strongly about you feel compelled to act upon it)

Ms. Carauna is a public school teacher and she homeschooled her 2 boys (born 18 months apart) for elementary school. She is married to a man who is the organizer of their home. Both she and her husband gravitate to organization. All of those things affect her perspective. She says on the first page of the first chapter, "I will share with you what works for our family, but I caution you not to assume that there is one best way to be organized. Every family is different, with different personalities and needs...I invite you on a journey to find out for yourself what works for you and what doesn't." pg. 12-13 I would encourage you to remember that as you read this book. I have 3 kids and I reminded myself several times that the author of this book had 2--and our third turned my whole world upside down!

I would recommend this book to anyone who is homeschooling and feels that God is calling them to look at their hearts and homes. This book is about organizing our lives as homeschooling families--not just about organizing our homeschooling materials. The beginning of the book addresses issues of the heart and issues of rebellion (which I have struggled with many times), then she progresses to how our hearts affect how our homes operate and what to consider when we plan how to become organized. She then talks about organizing our time, our priorities, our paperwork, etc. It wasn't until a moment ago that I realized that this book is really about Living an Organized Life--as a Homeschooler, rather than being organized in our homeschooling.

This is a book worth reading...

Please note that I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Crossway Publishers for review.

This book is geared toward getting at the cause of why we resist organization. It deals with heart issues and in exchange convinces you how crucial it is to step up and take responsibility for your life and organize it. I'm about halfway through it and am just now getting to some practical ideas that can be applied to our homeschool I very much appreciate the author's push toward the "why's" of organizing. She really wants to highlight patterns of thought and motivate change from the deepest levels of who we are and how we think. This book brings hope for doing things better in the future. We're not stuck in a rut. We don't have to hang our choices on our "personality type" and never improve. The author gives us a road map of heart and then behavior changes that gets us to an orderly, purposeful life. Great read...but take your time digesting this one.