I don’t know about you, but there are some days when I look at my kids and think, “homeschooling was a terrible, terrible mistake.” I am just one giant ball of doubt and anxiety it’s hard to see why we are doing this at all. Thankfully, I had the chance to review a book called God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco. Here is my review, if you would like to see.
God Schooling, in a nutshell, is a book that reminds parents what education is. Not just from the academic perspective. Not just from the self-care, self-development perspective. But rather, from the perspective that matters the most: the heavenly one.
The author, Julie Polanco, comes from the point of experience. She is a homeschooling mom of four children. Her work has appeared in many homeschooling resources like The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and http://www.schoolhouseteachers.com. The biggest proof of her expertise is that her oldest child already transitioned from homeschooling in 2016.
She’s done it, you guys.
As for the book, it is a meaty read with 215 pages. It is divided into two sections: myths and practice. In the first part, it tackles subjects like the need for a curriculum and how to get children to obey. Specifically, she delves into unschooling from the point of view of the Bible.
In addition, it is basically filled with encouragement and Biblical references to help parents with their homeschooling journey. At the end of it, the book hopes to give parents a different view and confidence in their approach to educating their kids.
The book retails for $16.99 for paperback and $9.99 for the eBook version.
On My Impressions
To be honest, I have a lot of prejudice when it comes to unschooling. It immediately conjures up images of children running in the wild, ignoring their reading and writing. I know that’s not the case, in my brain. But, I have a lot of bias, mainly because I do not know a lot about it.
But Julie manages to present the idea in such a way that is conversational and more importantly, experiential. When she talks about how the world is not necessarily in line with the way God wants to do things, you find yourself nodding in agreement. It’s also hard to disagree when she devotes a lot of time talking about investing in the eternal, like character.
Personally, I don’t have it in me to follow the natural way of learning. I’m too easily frazzled without a detailed, point-by-point guide in my hand. But, there are a lot of things said in the book that really spoke out to me. Even if you do not completely agree with the methods offered, opening your mind to them can still make an impact.
This is definitely a good read for parents who are new to homeschooling (so they can see what others have done) and parents who are homeschooling (a great source of encouragement).
Want to learn more about Julie Polanco? Find her on Facebook.
Other homeschooling families have also read the book. Click the link below to see what they have to say.
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