The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life

by Julie Bogart

Susan Wise Bauer (Foreword)

Publishers Weekly bestseller · A joyful and accessible homeschool guide to making learning a part of everyday life

Parents who are deeply invested in their children's education can be hard on themselves and their kids. When exhausted parents are living the day-to-day grind, it can seem impossible to muster enough energy to make learning fun or interesting. How do parents nurture a love of learning amid childhood chaos, parental self-doubt, the flu, and state academic standards?

In this book, Julie Bogart distills decades of experience--homeschooling her five now grown children, developing curricula, and training homeschooling families around the world--to show parents how to make education an exciting, even enchanting, experience for their kids, whether they're in elementary or high school.

Enchantment is about ease, not striving. Bogart shows parents how to make room for surprise, mystery, risk, and adventure in their family's routine, so they can create an environment that naturally moves learning forward. If a child wants to pick up a new hobby or explore a subject area that the parent knows little about, it's easy to simply say "no" to end the discussion and the parental discomfort, while dousing their child's curious spark. Bogart gently invites parents to model brave learning for their kids so they, too, can approach life with curiosity, joy, and the courage to take learning risks.

• ISBN10: 0143133225
• ISBN13: 9780143133223
• Publish Date: 5 February 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: J.P.Tarcher,U.S./Perigee Bks.,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780143133223

Reviews

[HekArtemis]

Had some great ideas, and some that are pretty well known in the homeschool community. I dropped 2 stars because of one chapter about chores and housework that completely disregards a couple of very important things.

First is how she encourages parents to let the kitchen pile up with dishes, let the floors remain unswept, let food be left everywhere etc. Legally we have to keep our homes in good order because a badly messy home can be considered a sign of neglect - homeschooling families are already under suspicion just because we homeschool, it's actually not a good idea to encourage homeschoolers to let their homes get too messy. It's downright dangerous.

Second is how she talks about letting go of our worry of damage to furniture and home. Okay sure we can learn to let go of concern regarding furniture, get over the fact that all chairs and tables will be painted on and drawn on. But she suggests even walls, carpets, and floors are something we need to let go of. While listening to that I was thinking, "Sure if you own your own home you can just let these things slide and fix it up in years to come, but renters don't have this luxury." And then she adds that she only became worried about house damage after she bought a home - she didn't care about what state she left the houses she rented. She didn't care if the houses she rented ended up with damaged walls and floors and ratty carpet that had to be replaced. I rent, we undergo rental inspections every 6 months, we must keep our houses in good order if we want to have a place to live. And while I don't own a house, I can only feel so much sympathy for home owners when that is the sort of shit they have to deal with. Gross, so gross.

She also at one point states that it's best to ignore a hole in a wall put there in frustration by a child. Yeah, that's nice, let's ignore the signs of future abusiveness. Good job.

So while the book was good over all, I couldn't give it a five stars, because dangerous advice is dangerous.