For parents of children 10 to 18 years-old. THE QUESTION IS COLLEGE, by Herbert Kohl. It’s fair to wonder why I’m putting college before kindergarten in this next review when the only thing you may be concerned with right now is clean diapers. I am doing it because whether we actually discuss our philosophy of living and goals in relation to our children’s education or not, our everyday actions have a direct effect on our children’s future. This first book will help you form an overview of living and education that will help guide you through the years.
Before considering specific resources it’s important to think about where you want your homeschool journey to take you and your children. You need some idea of your long-term goals or you’ll waste time and effort and encounter more obstacles than necessary. The Question Is College will stimulate and help clarify your thinking. Kohl is more concerned with the attitudes toward living you would like your child to end up with than about academic skills and college attendance.
This book is not against college, but questions whether there is a genuine need for it. It was written primarily for high school students, not parents, but in a homeschooling family, the concerns of one affect the other. This book isn’t intended for parents of young children, but reading it while your children are young will help you create a philosophy about learning and living that will be of enormous benefit. The preface to Kohl’s new edition begins:
What do I want to do when I grow up? For many people that childhood
question persists throughout life. At 5 it can lead to wild fantasies and lifelong
dreams. … And in middle age, it has the sadness of an incomplete life. Yet the
question persists as long as the imagination is alive. What, of all the possible
things that people do, would I love to do?
Donn and I have always felt the journey from childhood through adulthood should be enjoyed in and of itself, progressing into a satisfying way of life and personally meaningful work. Unfortunately, when parents first think of homeschooling they are all too often thinking of the skills they’ve been conditioned by upbringing and society to accept as needed to succeed in life. The skills we teach our children are, all too often, a reflection of what we think we needed to succeed in life. We should remember that our children’s needs will be different. To fulfill their dreams we should strive to give them the most versatile tools possible along with the confidence to know they can learn whatever is necessary along the way. Our culture equates a college degree with success. Kohl’s book will give you good reasons to look beyond the common equation: college = success = money = happiness. He does not accept the premise that your life’s work need be dull. Therefore, in homeschooling, we should seek out the greatest opportunities for exploration and discovery possible. I think a copy of this book should magically appear with the birth of every first child. Available only on Amazon $4.39.
Pocket Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus. This won’t fit in your regular pockets. It’s packed with more than 150,000 entries, synonyms (listed very conveniently under the main entry), and hundreds of new words and meanings. It’s not as thorough as Roget’s Thesaurus, but I think it’s perfect for high school and college students. Handy to have the dictionary and thesaurus together. 928 pages. Cover price $13.95. $12.50 from Brook Farm Books.