Focus your strengths! You might not have the money to buy the latest box set curricula, but maybe you're darn good at finding quality resources in the library. Or maybe you're not very academically oriented yourself but you're great at crafting and creative projects. That's fantastic! Instead of working through a history book with your kids, do some historical-themed art projects. Work to your strengths. 

For Catholic homeschoolers who are graduating their last child and entering "homeschool retirement", this will be their final spring of homeschooling. A question I'm hearing more and more lately is, "I'm done homeschooling. Now, what do I do?" It's a question I can relate to as my own nest is nearly empty. 

However, picture books can still be enjoyed by teens (even if they won't admit to it). A beautifully illustrated picture book is delightful to enjoy at any age. Honestly, I personally love a well-written, well-illustrated picture book.

Like the socialization question, the answer is that homeschooling is actually superior to site-based schooling in this respect. If that answer makes your jaw drop and say, "What?!" please hear me out.

This list starts with the simple and moves to the complex. I begin with picture books for little boys and end with serious books for grown men. This is a list for littles, tweens, teens, and beyond.

Back in the day when I first started homeschooling, most of us were eclectic homeschoolers or unschoolers. Catholic homeschooling was very unstructured with few resources available. There were few home study programs and little homeschool curriculum. Most of us lived at the library, relied on our homeschooling friends, and found educational value in everyday life.

What is philosophy exactly, and why should our students learn it? The study of philosophy not only teaches particular truths about life and the human person, but it inculcates students with a disposition of truth-seeking. The reflective person is not only one who knows, but who knows why and how they know.

If you're like me and feel like you can't get enough of Little House On the Prairie, what do you do when you've finished the series? Of course, you can go back to the beginning and start rereading it (which I recommend). Or, you can give some of these books a try...

One of my goals as a home educator is to create independent learners. I want my children to grow into adults who continue to grow in knowledge and have a joy for learning new things. In high school, I tend to give them a lot more independence while I can still guide them and help them take ownership of their education.