I've been discussing the whole Junior High/High School thing for a while now with fellow homeschooling friends.  I have processed a lot of information, still am, but one of the nuggets that have come from all the discussions has been "keep doing what your doing, and read, read, read). 

Part of this came as a result of thinking back to when I first started homeschooling and what worked and what didn't as well as well as what "advice" I've given and still give to others about starting homeschooling (especially those like me that started at the beginning).  I find a lot of similiarities between that "phase" of homeschooling and this phase.  Such as:

1) Friends make different decisions than you.  And although this is hard you must do what you think is right for you/your family/your child. 

2) You aren't going to know what they are going to do/be so the best way to prepare them is by giving them the basics, teach them how to learn, follow their passions/interests and important life skills.

3) Yes there is a lot of cool stuff out there and you can become very busy trying to do it all but at the end of the day what works for your child.

4) And the best thing YOU can do is read, read, read homeschooling books (I have found if you keep your nose in a book it keeps you from going insane thinking about all the what ifs......)

And I haven’t read any homeschooling books for a while and with the whole junior high/high school thing coming on I decided to go back to the basics and put myself on a reading program again for the summer.

So my question is “Read any good homeschooling books lately?” AND “In particular any that you found inspiring to handle the teen years?” 

I already picked up Homeschooling the Teen Years by Cafi Cohen (but honestly it didn’t do much for me).

Some of the ones I have on my list to read this summer are:

Parent/Teen Breakthrough by Mira Kirshenbaiem and Charles Foster

Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers that don’t go to School

The Teenagers Guide to School Outside the Box by Rebecca Greene (this one is waiting at the library for me to be picked up).

Teaching Boys and Other Children who would rather build forts all day by Andrew Pudewa

Homeschooling: A Family’s Journey (due out in August)

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Posted by Jacqueline

I have nothing to add to your list but I love your post. Great advice!

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