38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have for any pagan with kids, homeschool or not!, November 5, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Pagan Homeschooling (Paperback)
This book is an incredible resource. I don't homeschool. I'm fortunate enough to have a terrific elementary school 2 miles from my home and my older kids are in a wonderful high school honors curriculum. Like I said, I'm fortunate. What I use the book for is not the pages and pages of homeschooling resources and contact info which I'm sure other people will find useful but for the tips, crafts, and ritual information I can use with my children in their daily lives and in our family life. I based my daughter's menarche ritual on material in this book and I've spent rainy weekends with my youngest, trying out different fun ideas and talking about how a particular craft relates to my beliefs. I hope to see many more books like this from the author and her publisher.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a fan, for different reasons., September 28, 2010
This review is from: Pagan Homeschooling (Paperback)
I bought this book because we homeschool, and we're pagans. I didn't really get much out of it. As a first-of-its kind, I wanted this book to be great, but I have been disappointed. I paid seventeen dollars for a bibliography - because that is really all the use I've gotten from this.
If you are still "on the fence" about homeschooling your child, if you are looking for reasons why homeschooling would be okay, then the majority of this book might be helpful for you. We already knew we wanted to homeschool, and why, so a lot of it wasn't very relevant. If you have no idea how to start homeschooling - what to do, what supplies you need - then, again, you might get more use from this book. But you can also find a lot of other books at your library or on Amazon that go over the exact same material, with more in-depth help. If you don't know much about internet safety, this might help. But if you already know how to use the internet and teach your children about it, you'll have more information you don't need.
I found the chapter on "networking" very unusual, and not at all helpful. It felt like I was reading some odd business self-help book about how to make friends and influence people. I don't think I've ever, in my life, filled out a worksheet in response to a conversation I've had with someone. A networking journal? Strange.
So - finally, we get past the introductory information into the "Pagan" themed stuff. Sort-of. I shudder to think that an average pagan parent hasn't considered the basic concept of looking at the moon phases to teach their child about astronomy and religion. Or you can build a model of the solar system, gaze at clouds, cook with herbs. Really? This is the amazing revelation of pagan homeschooling? I incorporate this stuff in our lives every day. I didn't need to read a book for the same ideas every pagan should already have. The elemental chapters are equally disappointing - you can go fly a kite, candle gaze, and other Wicca 101 ideas. The festivals chapter contains a whopping average of one idea per festival - things like dyeing eggs and making paper.
Overall, I'd say there are less than a handful of original, unique ideas and rituals in this book. The content is too common-sense, very basic, not at all revelatory. I am going to keep holding out that a more in-depth book will be written by someone, somewhere, that has great ideas for schooling and Paganism, and really discusses the issues related to being a pagan family that chooses to homeschool.
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44 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
About Time!, November 21, 2002
This review is from: Pagan Homeschooling (Paperback)
With so many of us homeschooling, thinking about it, or just looking to add more spirituality to what our kids get in School, it is About Time for a book like this!
This book is so full of information, it will take me months to just check out all the resources let alone try all the experiments, crafts, and games. Her suggestions on learning with the Elements and Festivals were fantastic.
It has great information on learning to network and how to decide if homeschooling is for your family. I really enjoyed reading about the author's experiences and those of the other homeschoolers she polled. She certainly did her homework on this one and I'm going to definitely get more of her books.
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