We live in a world of information overload. If you want homeschool information and advice, the Web is flooded with it. Homeschoolers represent the largest growing market for educational products and services. Everybody is trying to get into the act offering slick looking and slick sounding advertisements for a multitude of products. The options are exhausting to sort out. How do we know if advice, a product or service is good? Here are some pointers to take into consideration:

    1. Realize that each product, service, or piece of advice represents someone's philosophy of education. You need to take time to determine what you believe about education and find products and services that support your convictions. These homeschool prep questions  will help you if you need tracks to run on. You will be tougher to confuse or hoodwink if you clearly know what you believe.

    2.  Identify key friends, authors, websites, and source books that reflect what you believe about education, and examine what they recommend or use. A few trusted sources can save you a lot of time, confusion, and money. Some educational philosophies are not only bad, they are destructive! If they advocate ungodly attitudes or behaviors you can be sure that they are not for you. For example, some reading programs utilize methods that are proven ineffective. Some methods can hurt future learning prospects.

    3.  If you do not know the philosophy of a website or text, look for information in the "Contact Us" section of the Website or in the introduction of a book. You can also do a Google search on people to locate more information. Read what an author or company says about itself to find hints that will help you know if what they offer is for you. 

    4. Quantity can be confusing, but quality can be clarifying. We do not seek to overwhelm with a landslide of recommended books or materials. Our goal is to introduce you to a few proven resources and let you move out from there. You can be sure that there are many more great resources available. Our book list and suggested links are enough to get you started and enable you to go further afield as you become comfortable home educating.

The immense amount of homeschool resources can be a blessing. We believe this abundance need not be confusing if you start small with quality information and learn to be discerning in your selection as you investigate further.
Photo by Barbara Bennett
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