Apr. 21, 2008 - Book Review -- Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax
Book Review -- Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax
I am ready for my very first book review for the Spring Reading Thing. This is a precious book I found on paperbackswap.com. It is fairly old; but you can actually still buy it at Amazon.com. Most delightful about this book is that the encouragment gleaned endures inspite of some out-of-date information. In fact, some parts of the book are rich in homeschool history. All four of the Colfax children attended Harvard straight out of homeschooling high school! The journey they took to get to Harvard was not so straightforward as you might think. No traditional school hours with Abeka workbooks for this crew! In fact, during all the years these boys were schooling, they were helping establish a homestead first, and schooling second. Work ethic played a huge role in their lives; and this carried over into their self-driven learning. I would call it Unschooling with A Strong Work Ethic. I really enjoyed this book a great deal; and recommend it to all Homeschool families -- new and old. One caviat about this book is that it has no Christian overtones at all. Since, I am a born-again Christian, I was watching for such in site into the family's spiritual lives. I am not saying they were not Christians -- I'm just saying I have no idea. I do think they might have mentioned going to church once; but if so they did not reveal what type of church. Certainly, I found nothing in the book to contradict Scripture.
***This book is a very encouraging book; I didn't find anything in the book I didn't like; I just didn't find it nearly as life-changing as A Family of Value; that is why it is only four thumbs up.
The bottom line is; We try not to insist on parent-led learning or gravitate toward child-led learning. We try instead to focus on God-led learning and ask for His input and perspective on every aspect of our home school. That way, when others fuss about what Dan and I are doing and make me second guess our decisions -- I can go back to our decision process and find God's fingerprints, reminding me that this is His way.
