Aug 04 2011
Review: School Is Where the Home Is
Anita Mellott is a homeschooling mother and a regular columnist for Home School Enrichment, an excellent magazine which I’ve been copyediting for the last five or six years. Anita’s columns are always encouraging, authentic, and marked by devotion to the Lord first and foremost. When she contacted me about permission to include some of my homeschool grad experience in her upcoming book, I was excited to hear that she was making the leap from “columnist” to “author.”
Anita’s book, School Is Where the Home Is: 180 Devotions for Parents (Judson Press, 2011) is a devotional book specifically designed for homeschool parents, especially mothers. It’s written in the familiar devotional style with a line of Scripture, a short, personal story from Anita’s homeschooling experience that applies the Scripture, and a “digging deeper” follow-up question and Scripture.
The stories Anita tells deal with issues of teaching, character, parent-child and husband-wife relationships, and especially keeping Jesus Christ at the center of our homeschools, as well as the rest of our lives. The book is delivered with Anita’s trademark authenticity, encouraging tone, and smooth writing.
One thing I did pick up while reading the book is that the stories and lessons will be most applicable in families where homeschooling is on the formal side of the spectrum, with the mother or father actively involved in teaching, reviewing, and grading. For families like mine, where education was much more informal and student-led, there are fewer spot-on insights—but the overall principles of exalting the Lord, gaining our vision from him, and using homeschooling as in-home discipleship hold true for everyone.
