When you want to recommend the most useful book for a new homeschooler - or any homeschooler for that matter - what do you mention? Almost always I’ll point to Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks. Why? Because this book includes everything you need to get started - an overview of homeschooling methods, the tools for developing your own philosophy of education, information on your child’s learning styles, an idea of when children need to learn what, and of course the 100 Top Picks. These 100 products are listed first in a handy reference chart and then each one is individually reviewed. The 100 Top Picks chart is an amazingly useful tool. Each product’s characteristics are noted - how it works with each learning style; how much parent/teacher instruction and prep time is required; whether it works for independent study, one-to-one, or with a group; whether it’s grade level specific or multilevel; ease of use for the teacher; how necessary the teacher’s manual is; whether it supports Charlotte Mason or classical education; and, lastly, if its publisher is protestant, catholic or nonsectarian. See what I mean? Just in the chart alone you get a wonderfully pinpointed view of each curriculum product - and that’s before you read the well-written, informative reviews. Cathy Duffy has identified the strongest homeschooling products available today from the following categories: phonics, reading and literature, language arts (grammar and composition), language arts (spelling and vocabulary), history/social studies, science, unit studies, foreign language, and miscellaneous. This is one of those books I’ll keep two of on my shelves - one to refer to and one to loan to friends. ~ Janice

Customer Review

 
Kytha E. from Indiana wrote the following on 07/13/2007:
This book has helped me so much as I select curriculum for my children. It has a great section on determining your children's learning styles. Then it has a matrix to help you determine which of Cathy's top picks will work best for your child's style. Plus, it has great information about how much prep time the curriculum will require of the teacher and other helpful information. Then there are extensive reviews of all the top picks. I never purchase anything without first checking this book. I recommend this book to everyone I know!