Appendix of The Catholic Homeschool Companion

Last night I discovered something about the appendix of this wonderful book, The Catholic Homeschool Companion: There is a listing of many Catholic home-study schools. You might wonder, “What’s so significant about that?” Oh, but it IS very significant, because the editors wrote to each of the schools and asked them to describe their own program.

This makes this section a wonderful way for a new homeschooler who wants to use a ready-made curriculum to decide which one fits her family’s lifestyle and values, rather than just going with what a friend recommends, or spending time and money experimenting. Veteran homeschoolers who want to change programs can also get insight this way.

For those who want to teach without a prepared curriculum…or to supplement, there is also an appendix of “Catholic Publishers”. I counted fifteen publishers in this list, before even getting to the list of a dozen “Homeschool Publishers”, as well as additional “Curriculum Mail Order” and “General Mail Order” resources.

For someone who remembers the early days of homeschooling when there were two Catholic homeschool programs and very few supplementary books being published, these lists are totally amazing. I remember – decades ago - thumbing through non-Catholic homeschool catalogs, dreaming of the day when Catholics would have something comparable. The reality has exceeded my wildest dreams.

Back to the Appendix itself, it also includes listings of magazines and websites, as well as resources for homeschooling children with learning and physical disabilities, foreign language resources, and a list of Catholic colleges that homeschool families particularly like. The Appendix, as you can see, is almost a book in itself.