California Homeschools Info

Home Schooling Books

Are There Textbooks for Home Schooling?
If you choose to home school your child, you will find that it is your responsibility not only to determine the curriculum you will teach, but also to provide the necessary textbooks, workbooks, and other materials. You will note that we offered information about curriculum choices and where to get advice on page 6 of this website. Once you have made your curriculum program selection, or devised your own, you will more than likely be able to find the materials you need online.

You will have a choice betweeen software, new books, and used books, as well as a substantial body of support materials such as maps, flash cards, and other visual aids. Textbooks will, of course, be categorized by age, and you should be careful to select the ones that best match your child's level of understanding. If you are starting from the beginning, this could be fairly easy. If, however, you have removed your child from a traditional school, you will want to get the latest testing data they have on your child. Or, you can ask your child about what interests him or her. Your child may really love science and be much further ahead in that subject than in history. Since you'll want to build on your child's existing body of knowledge and to challenge your child, beginning at the appropriate level is very important.

Relax - The Materials You Need Are Available
There are all sorts of home schooling resources available. We mentioned on an earlier page that there are local home schooling support groups in many areas. One of the advantages of communicating with these groups is that parents can exchange textbooks as needed, or the group can have a used textbook sale once a year.

Textbook exchanges can also be done online. Some sites allow home schoolers to use their sites much the way online retailers do. Even some search engines have their own lists of new and used textbook resources. Before you select your textbooks, you might want to look through the numerous home schooling magazines for references, or you might want to get into a home school chat room to talk to other parents.