A Good Read

I like to share with you great products that I find. This time, it’s a book. When we went to convention in April, my Beloved attended a couple seminars by Todd Wilson. If you are not familiar with Todd, he is a dad/author/comedian who makes my husband laugh while simutaneously gets him to thinking about the man’s role in the homeschool. That day, he introduced the audience to a book written by a homeschool mom. It isn’t a self-help book as we most often see. It is a novel, a work of fiction about life as a homeschool mom. 


My husband went to the convention floor and bought it for me, he knows how much I love to read, although I don’t have time for it. It was an early mother’s day gift. So the title of the book is, The Homeschool Experiment, by Charity Hawkins. It was published by Family Man Ministries, Todd Wilson’s publications. 

I started reading it on the way home and I laughed. I honestly laughed. There were times when I laughed so hard I nearly… well you know. Charity speaks honestly about life in the homeschool “classroom.” She doesn’t hold back about the struggles, the frustrations or the desire to quit. She tells it like it is. Charity’s Blog

 The book starts out, ironically enough, on the floor of a homeschool convention. We are introduced to Julianne Miller a newbie to the homeschooling world and rightfully overwhelmed by it all. The book takes us on a 1 year journey through the life of a homeschooler. She is confronted by doubting family, encouraging friends, overwhelming feelings of failure and the joy of understanding the why of it all.


This should have been an easy day to day and a half read for me but since I have very little time to myself, I just finished it this past week, because I read it in spurts. If you have more time, you can do it quicker. In the back of the book there are discussion questions for each chapter in case you are reading it with a group of friends, a reading club or your co-op. Since I wasn’t, I didn’t bother reading through them.


Charity reaches right into the brain of every homeschool mom I’ve ever met and then developed a character who fit the typical. We all share a common experience, just with a separate group of children. Charity shows that commonality quite nicely. It’s a great for summer read!