The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child: Your Complete Guide to Getting Off to the Right Start

by Linda Dobson
Prima Publishing, 2001

Reviewed by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur

I picked up this book at the library a while back. Honestly, I think I read it a few years ago when my children were very small and I was first considering homeschooling as a possible educational alternative. Now that I am actually in my first year of homeschooling my children, I looked at it with a whole new perspective.

This is a book I would recommend heartily for anyone who is considering homeschooling. Dobson does a commendable job of presenting what homeschooling is actually like. While every homeschooling family is different, she explores the various main styles of homeschooling and provides profiles of how each style works in a family. She offers help in figuring out your child’s learning style, recovering from a bad school experience, as well as special circumstances that some families may have to cope with in homeschooling. She also devotes a whole chapter to countering homeschooling myths (socialization, anyone?) She also includes quotes from families under the heading of “What I Wish Someone Had Told Me During My First Year of Homeschooling.”

These are honest and helpful segments. This is a very helpful, informative introduction to the homeschooling way of life.