Homeschooling and Working While Shaping Amazing Learners

by L.M. Preston

Homeschooling and Working While Shaping Amazing Learners is a nuts to bolts guide for working parents who want to groom exceptional learners through the flexibility of homeschooling. Learn to juggle working and homeschooling your kids while maintaining your sanity. Also, use aspects of homeschooling for after schooling when traditional school isn’t working. Single parents are given options for executing homeschooling or after schooling methods that work in practical bits for the busy parent. Learn how to take your child from an average student to an exceptional student by exploring the possibilities shown in the section on acceleration of learning. From pre-K to homeschooling college, open your eyes to the many options in flexibility this approach to learning can give. You can homeschool and work to shape amazing learners by exploring the possibilities.

Free Course for Readers: www.empoweredsteps.com

LM Preston is an author, engineer, former college professor, and working mother who's been married for over twenty-five years. She homeschooled 3 of her 4 children from elementary school and beyond while she and her husband worked outside their home. Three of her kids graduated with degrees by the age of 17 years old.

Her blog: http://homeschoolandwork.blogspot.com/ details her homeschooling while working journey.

Genres: Education

402 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 20, 2019

About the author

LM. Preston was born and raised in Washington, DC. An avid reader, she loved to create poetry and short-stories as a young girl. With a thirst for knowledge she attended college at Bowie State University, and worked in the IT field as a Techie and Educator for over sixteen years. She started writing science fiction under the encouragement of her husband who was a Sci-Fi buff and her four kids. Her first published novel, Explorer X - Alpha was the beginning of her obsessive desire to write and create stories of young people who overcome unbelievable odds. She loves to write while on the porch watching her kids play or when she is traveling, which is another passion that encouraged her writing.

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will be helpful for a very specific type of homeschooling parent. The title gives a good glimpse of the goal -- create very accomplished children who will go on to great academic success at college or if they return to traditional school. It's a very thorough book but almost discouraging in all the problems it sets you up to consider, and rather dry. It is very much for school-at-home type of parents as opposed to those who do unschooling, child-led learning or other types of home education. The author's children apparently went on to great academic success and she will be a good mentor for those whose main purpose is the same. Note that it's based towards a U.S. audience and does not deal with special needs. Also note that while many homeschooling books are designed to encourage and uplift, this isn't really that kind of book. This is nuts and bolts, which will be just what some are looking for but might miss the mark for others.

I read an ARC of this book for review.

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This book is absolutely fantastic! A wealth of information is inside this book to help you understand what is involved if you homeschool your children whilst you work and gives advise and information on how you can do this, what your rights are, what you need to consider etc. Even if you decide homeschooling is not for you there is still so much fantastic information and advise in this book! So keep on reading it.

The book is broken down into short chapters and over four sections which makes it easier to read, absorb and find what you need. At the back there are examples of plans, spreadsheets and Web sites you can access for different things such as resources.

This is a book I really want a paper copy of to refer back to in the future!

[Tissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Homeschooling my kid has always been a dream of mine. There are many reasons behind it; unfortunately, there are other reasons that prevent me from following that route. I won’t go into details here, as this is not the right place. Suffice to say, I envy those families who started their homeschooling journey.

… maybe someday.

[Keep reading @ Bookshelves & Teacups]

[Lynda Dickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a “guide for working parents who want to groom exceptional learners through the flexibility of homeschooling.” In fact, it’s the book the author wishes she had when she began her homeschooling journey. The book is organized into four sections: preparing for homeschooling (things to consider before you begin), the day-to-day operation of your home school, accelerating your child’s learning, and maintaining your sanity throughout the process. The author covers practical and emotional considerations for your child as well as yourself, the importance of play and socialization, issues of boundaries and discipline, the distinction between home and school at home, fostering a love of learning, and maintaining your mental health. The Appendix contains schedule templates for all grade levels, weekly curriculum plans, and lists of curriculum options. Working in the field of education support, I found the list of websites (with handy hyperlinks in the ebook version) under Appendix H and Appendix I to be especially helpful.

One of the key takeaways is that it is important to separate your roles as parent and teacher. You also need to understand your child(ren) in order to present them with a curriculum that suits their personality, their learning style, and your time constraints. If read cover to cover, the book is a bit repetitive. However, this becomes useful when you need to re-read certain sections later. There are numerous editing errors and poorly phrased sentences in the edition I read. Hyperlinks to chapters and appendices referenced in the text would also be useful in the ebook version.

This book isn’t only for homeschooling families who work; it is an invaluable resource for any parent or educational staff interested in the education of the child(ren) under their care.

I received this book in return for an honest review.

Full blog post (15 May): https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.co...

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not specific on elementary or high school - looks at going through all of school if choosing to go that way in teaching. Help for parents and single parents to set up a structure for you and your kid(s). Good things to think over.

[Truly Trendy PR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Homeschooling and Working While Shaping Amazing Learners is an insightful book for anyone who is homeschooling or plans to  start homeschooling. A book full of useful tips and tricks to help make homeschooling a success for even the busiest of parents. I enjoyed reading Homeschooling and Working While Shaping Amazing Learners by LM Preston and recommend it to anyone who has thought about or plans to home school. *I received a complimentary copy from RABT Book Tours and the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review*

[Erika RS · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the worst kind of blog-to-book conversion. As a series of blog posts the content is quite good. It covers a broad area and contains a good mix of personal experience and sourced information.

However, it also appears to be one of those blog-to-book conversions that just takes the best of a blog and plops it into a book with only some light editing. The topics are not well organized. The content is shallow and repetitive. This is not a problem on a blog. On a blog repetition is valuable because you're reading the content spaced over time -- often years. And by the standard blog posts, the chapters are fairly detailed. But in a book, I expect more. I expect the content to be structured and woven together to provide a coherent whole that goes deeper than a bunch of individual posts.

Still, I appreciate the overall message of this book: that families can benefit from the flexibility and customizability of homeschooling even without a full-time-caretaker in the household.

[The Suburban Eclectic · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked the cover and how it provided an accurate visualization of keeping one's balls in the air, but I found the recommendations like "find a mental math curriculum" and "research skills are valuable" lacked specificity. I was looking for more insight on how to find a curriculum that works for your family. I can agree that research skills are valuable and something that adults also find challenging, but I did not find any suggestions on how to introduce this topic to children at any skill level. Sadly, I did not find Homeschooling and Working While Shaping Amazing Learners informative or substantive to recommend.

[Jennifer Darci · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aggravated enough to be bothered to write a review for once. Makes me angry someone is getting paid real dollars by someone who maybe doesn't have it to spare and for what? This is junk. Its like incomplete thoughts, outlines, collections of links, and ridiculous suggestions. Just do a google search for help on homeschooling and specify your state and you'd get better information. There was absolutely NOTHING to get your child from an average student to an exceptional learner.

[Chaitali Narla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great tips and different perspectives

I picked this up when we were forced to stay homeschooling our 5 yo due to COVID-19 but this changed my perspective on the subject a lot! I got some great tips to immediately user and lots of info to think about the subject overall.

[Suzanne Hare · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a how-to book on homeschool while working or being a single parent. It is designed to develop techniques that bring average learners forward into exception learners. The key is flexibility and making the most of the time and resources you have to accelerate the learning process from K through college.

This book provides a great deal of valuable and useful information. As a mother who worked full time and home schooled both my children, one through middle school and the other through high school, I wish I had this resource to help me. In my case, I home schooled for medical reasons but there are many reasons to homeschool a child. The section on preparing your self is important in order to avoid most of the problems that could arise. Setting up and maintaining a schedule that works for both yourself and the child is essential to keep on track and accelerate the learning process. The section on enhanced learning is exciting and helps to encourage both you and your child. The section is keeping your sanity, which I know from experience, is a struggle but the results will be worth your efforts. For clarity, I am not for or against home schooling personally, I did it out of necessity, but I was grateful for the option that allowed me to nurture my children's health while keeping up their education. Whatever reason you have for considering this step, you will find this resource to be a valuable tool to make it a success. Problem solving and being prepared for potential concerns is covered in great detail. The information of accelerated learning is exciting. I believe that this book should be read by those seriously considering homeschooling but I also think that parents who have children in the school system would befit from a lot of the information provided in this book.

The things I liked about this resource include the practical approach. It is easy to read. A lot of time and information is given on the preparation portion of this book. Developing schedules, considerations to include, like the child’s learning style, curriculum requirements, length of children’s attention and so very much more. It is very comprehensive and presented in a logical manner.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Sharise Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book💖 We have been on our homeschooling journey for 5 years and I have struggled along the way. This book tells you so much about homeschooling and working! There is so many questions and "mystery" surrou song homeschooling families. LM Preston does a phenomenal job explaining what homeschooling is, some options availalbe, how to get started, and she also provides resources and strategies 🤗
The book is broken into helpful sections and bite sized pieces so you can read it easy as well as come back to specific points! I recommend this book to everyone who want more I formation about homeschooling, someone who is already homeschooling and the stay at home mom who may or may not be homeschooling! This books covers more than where your children will school but how to be there for them while they are schooling 💖💖💖

[Siera London · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Homeschooling and Working While Raising Amazing Learners is so well thought out and organized that I can see why LM's children are so accomplished. The chapters in this book are insightful, informative, and truly provide a realistic roadmap or current and future homeschooling parents to follow. The author shares many stores from personal experience. The more I read the book the more I could appreciate how well LM chronicled her own successes and failures with designing a homeschool program that benefited each of her children's learning style.

If you've ever considered homeschooling or have a homeschooling family in your social network, this book would be a great help to them. Read this book and build a better homeschooling experience for your family.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I enjoy most about Homeschooling and Working is the creativity and detail! I’ve been considering homeschooling as an option for my boys, but felt like it was a really daunting endeavor. In her book, LM does an excellent job of outlining the pros and cons in an array of topics related to educating your children. She also breaks everything down into manageable component parts and then really dials up the creativity.

Homeschooling and Working reads like a big hug and a kick in the pants at the same time! I would recommend this book (and already have) to anyone considering homeschooling or anyone committed but needing ideas and organization.

[Jamillah Muhammad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! It has every detail that is needed to begin homeschooling, loaded with resources and other pertinent information to be a successful homeschooling parent while working. This book touches on every possible scenario one can face while taking on such an important task. Kudos on this book!!!

[Pat Eroh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute must-read if you want to homeschool your children and still work. Such great information that will get you to that place you need to be. This is an awesome book!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jessica Straker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing! It answers all the questions that you could have in an easy to understand format and the suggestions are completely doable. I would recommend this book to any homeschoolers, not just the working ones. It will give you the confidence to tackle this for your children.