Ask HN: Best Books for Homeschooling? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best Books for Homeschooling?

9 pointstomp11 comments

Hi HN,

This is a somewhat of a hypothetical question as my kids are still a few years away from school, but I'm thinking ahead.

What are some amazing books that you would recommend for homeschooling? This will either be full-time homeschooling (if lifestyle necessitates and resources permit), or part-time (supplementing the public education system).

The main subjects I'm interested in are:

History

Focusing not on what happened, but on why it happened - mainly the technological, geographical, social and political causes (e.g. how did UK geography, politics (strong merchant class), social changes (emerging cities) and technology (invention of optical glass) lead to the industrial revolution, and why it didn't in other cases (ancient Rome, China, India))

My history education was so extremely boring (we literally learned about what pastries were eaten at the palace of some French king e.g. the Sun King) that I thought all of history was boring, but after school I read a lot of books/articles that made history extremely interesting (starting with a rather short "economic history of the world" document that I can't find again :/)

Biology / chemistry

Inspired by one of my favourite articles I should have loved biology and my job at a biotech startup, and advanced visualisations such as https://x.com/SmartBiology3D (although most of these are still wrong, as they picture the cell as a mostly empty space, but I guess they are pedagogical).

Biology is basically extremely advanced nanotechnology that we're only barely beginning to understand - one of the most interesting and perspective fields of study, while also being extremely practical and hands-on. I can only wish my primary/high school education inspired me this way!

https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/

Math / Physics

I studied math so I'm less concerned about this, but on the other hand my physics education is severely lacking (I don't even understand how electricity works!) so books in this field would be appreciated as well.

Hi Tom, I like your website. We have many interests in common. When I first had kids, I wanted to home-school them. After 5 years, I changed my mind. They take up so much time and effort that I feel that I can be there for them MORE when I send them to school!

With all your interests and entusiasm, I am sure your kids will do really well at many things. There is no need to push them too fast. I found that the teachers at my school sometimes know more about education than I do.

My advice would be yes persue those books you are looking for, but consider finding the best school for your family over the next couple of years. Time apart (from parents), and kids coming to understand society by being a part of it are also important for them.

All the best,

GWTP

Indeed, I'm certain they will do well regradless (even in public schools!) both because I am curious and hence knowledgeable, and because they will likely be curious as well (my genetics!).

But there's one thing that curiosity doesn't help with (in fact, it's probably detrimental) - it can leave gaping holes in knowledge (you don't know what you don't know). Hence why I'm also interested in at least somewhat (or more likely) complete treatises from experts in their respective fields...

I disagree quite strongly with this. How can you be there more for them by not seeing them most of the day? I have sent the kids to school and home educated, and the latter is definitely better from this point of view.

HE does not mean pushing. It means going at the right pace for the child, and having the time to follow interests. It frees a child from wasting time being bored in easy classes, or falling behind and failing to understand in one that is too difficult.

You seem to share the common misconception the home educated kids stay at home all the time. They do not. Home education is better for being a part of society (and learning social skills). Instead of spending most of your time in one place, with the same group of people, most of them the same age, every day, kids can meet lots of different people in different places doing different things. The kids my daughter met at Sea Cadets, were different from the ones at dance classes, were different from the ones at stage fighting classes, were different from the ones she met playing D & D....

It also develops independence. My daughter started travelling to a different town by herself regularly to meet her D & D friends.

She has had the time to visit friends in different counties (in the UK), and she has travelled around the UK and abroad with her older sister and with family friends. All that would have happened a lot less, if at all, with the restrictions of a school timetable.

I guess it depends. I was in school + home-schooled. I really really hated the home school part. What made it worse was that both of my parents are teachers/professors and TBH I have many cases saying that they are the WORST people to homeschool their own kids. No joke, I have so many failed cases that it might even be close to stat sig...basically every time someone complained that he got some awful home-schooling I always asked him/her are your parents teachers?

I guess the reason is that it's so damn difficult to be good at education that parents really need to make sure that home-schooling is not making things worse. I realized from childhood that putting a lot of genuine effort into something (in my case my parents basically sacrificed their career for the home-schooling and other activities) does not guarantee a success. That's the only good part that came from my home-schooling experience. After that I was kinda mature enough to accept that 1) Getting a girl's love has nothing to do with how much effort you spend, it's more genetic, and 2) It's perfectly normal to get slapped in work even if one works hard.

Just answered a bunch of this over at https://x.com/abemurray/status/1822969421997932702

Write a decent amount about our homeschooling experience on X, with links to fave books etc at https://x.com/abemurray/bio

Need to write a proper homeschooling post... was waiting until oldest landed at a college so could describe the full arc :)

Before you get to proofs and logic in maths, all you really need for “plug and chug” maths is KA Stroud’s Engineering Mathematics textbook. It has everything from counting and number lines to calculus and linear algebra to the level of highschool, and early undergrad. Lots of exercises as well. If you are in the UK its perfect for every year of school, including GCSE and A Levels.

For school achievement btw, the real trick in school level in the UK is to work all of the past papers you can get your hands on.

Since you linked that nice biology article I'm guessing you already know about "The Machinery of Life," that book seems like it would be good. The Kurzgesagt Immune System book is probably even better as it's intentionally written at an accessible level.

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language is maybe my favorite introductory text of all time though it might be a little dry if you aren't already interested.

It has its own political bend but I would recommend "A People's History of the United States." There's a lot of quality graphic novels out there that are interesting in a different way than textbooks that can teach a lot of history. I'm thinking of Persepolis as an example.

My brother read "The Hobbit" to my when I was in 2nd grande (or there abouts) and when he was done I wanted him to read it again.He would not and it was a great motivation to learn to read. Maybe just reading things and see what garners the most attention.

I'll do that to my son too. Do you think it's a bit too early, considering kids of 2nd grade don't know many words?

I home educated my kids, from about eight or nine to 16. In the UK where 16 is an important point of change (end of compulsory school age, and its when children in schools a critical set of exams).

A few things from my experience.

To a large extent the early years of home education are an extension of the teaching parents do anyway.

As they get older it takes less of your time. Children need to learn, but you need to facilitate rather than teach and/or pay for tutors.

You will need a lot of books, obviously different books at different ages. There are good books on every subject and its far too early to start thinking about exactly what books you need to use.

I have found its best to focus on doing things that are enjoyable and create a love of learning rather than thinking about syllabus. A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart and How Children Fail by John Holt are well worth reading. Things like memorising times tables and long division do not matter. No one uses handwwriting much in adult life (although it does still need to be legible for exams).

Part time supplementing is very different from home education. IMO that is also just an extension of parentings.

Home education is incredibly flexible. My kids have done GCSEs/IGCSEs (those UK exams we take at 16 in schools) in a variety of subjects with a choice no one school can offer, and many that few schools offer at all: Latin, astronomy and classical civilisation.

You can also do a lot of non-academic stuff. Both my daughters could solder by the time they were six or seven because I built circuits with them. My older daughter is now doing a degree apprenticeship (she has a job and a salary and her tuition fees paid while studying - very good for daddy's wallet!) in electrical engineering. We both credit HE with developing her interest in a subject very few girls do - she was the only girl in her A level (UK exams done at 18 - roughly equivalent to US APs) electronics class.

Finally, I am very glad I decided to home educate, and it has worked out extremely well for my kids. I think they could have achieved the same in terms of grades at school, but not the love of learning nor the self-discipline that they got from HE.

>Focusing not on what happened, but on why it happened

You might want to check out Karl Popper's The Poverty of Historicism, and just Popper's other works in general.

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