This summer, Kate Laird contacted me to review her new book, Homeschool Teacher. While she has homeschooled her kids aboard their boat for over ten years (they’re in the Antarctic in the photo above!), I don’t have kids and thus know nothing of the realities of homeschooling. So instead of me reviewing the book, I asked if she could tell me a bit about why she wrote it and what it contains.
Here’s her reply.
Homeschool Teacher: A Practical Guide to Inspiring Academic Excellence can help families sailing with children figure out the homeschool options.
We set out on our sailboat Seal when our daughters were four and two, and I’ve homeschooled them all the way through, as we’ve sailed from the east coast of the US to Alaska via Greenland, Antarctica and New Zealand. (I’ve restricted Homeschool Teacher to grades K-8, or ages 4-14, since high school is still a work in progress.)
When I began homeschooling, the options felt very limited. A week after my college graduation in 1990, my first job was tutoring three children while sailing across the Pacific, so I’d even had the benefit of a trial run, but still I struggled with developing a school program that would emphasize both academic achievement and plenty of free time to learn about the world as we traveled. Most homeschooling programs seem to emphasize one of the two poles: all-day classical education or child-led unschooling. Neither worked for our family.
Homeschool Teacher blends those academics and child-led learning. I think of my philosophy as “unschool when you can, teach when you must,” and I’m not willing to sacrifice either formal education or time exploring the world. The book covers how one learns, tips for teaching, guidance for each subject-area, how to choose the best curriculum for your family and situation, and above all, how to make school rigorous and interesting, academic and practical.
Whether you choose to create your own curriculum or buy a pre-packaged program, Homeschool Teacher can help you teach your children as you sail the world.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- How We Learn
- Principles of Teaching
- What and When to Teach
- Reading
- About Writing
- Writing Assignment Ideas
- Writing and Rewriting Toolbox
- Writing-related Skills
- Mathematics
- History
- Science
- Second (or Third) Languages
- Managing the Classroom
- Standards and Objectives
- Budget & Ordering Supplies
- Traveling Families
- For International Readers
Links
Buy the book
- USA Amazon
- USA Barnes & Noble
- UK Amazon
- Canada Amazon
- France Amazon
- Spain Amazon
- Everywhere else, look for free shipping from the Book Depository to over 90 countries
About the Author
Kate Laird graduated from Harvard with a degree in history, a good set of study skills, and a 100-ton captain’s license. Her first teaching job began seven days after graduation, tutoring three children on a sailboat crossing the Pacific. That “year off” turned into twenty-five, as she worked on boats around the world, sometimes pausing to write about it.
In the middle, she taught for another two years at the University of New Hampshire, while earning an MA in English, but then didn’t think much more about education until it came time to teach her two daughters. The last twelve years have been devoted to their educations, as the family worked and traveled on the edges of civilization from Greenland to Antarctica, Tierra del Fuego to New Zealand, through the South Pacific to Japan, and now to Alaska.
You can find her online at www.katelairdbooks.com.
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Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Tom Haupt says
I remember the 4 or 5 cruising families who homeschooled, that I met in my liveaboard days; the kids were always sharp as tack, a pleasure to be around, well-adjusted and well-behaved with great manners. Unlike most children these days.
The Boat Galley says
We have met a ton of cruising kids who are homeschooled (or as they say, boatschooled) — virtually 100% great kids!
Sara Burns says
As a former publc school teacher who is still a advocate for excellent public schools for all, let me just say how wonderful I think “boat kids'” educational opportunities are and also to say how much I appreciate the care, creativity and commitment “boat parents” give to their childrens’ development. Wish I’d been a boat kid!
Ricardo Druillet says
Check this out Helena Gurascier, maybe we should get this book
Mary in South Carolina says
I watched (sometimes in horror) while my daughter and her husband home schooled their two children all the way through high school, wondering what was to become of them. Well, one is a lawyer and the other is in her second year of making all A’s in med school. They are miles ahead of most young people their age in their ability to set their own goals and do what it takes to reach them.