Tamra B. Orr is the author of dozens on books on a wide range of topics. Although she was traditionally educated, she has always taught her children at home. She explains, "Since both my husband and I had been good students who had bad experiences in public school, I was immediately intrigued." Orr's children, who range in age from 10 to 22, have all been taught at home. She and her family live in Portland, Oregon.

Asking Questions, Finding Answers
A Parent's Journey through Homeschooling

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Review

Asking Questions, Finding Answers: A Parent's Journey through Homeschooling, by Tamra Orr
(2008, HEM Books) ISBN 978-0-945097-31-0

True to its name, Tamra Orr's newly updated and expanded book, Asking Questions, Finding Answers is arranged in an engaging question and answer format that provides information and perspective about nearly every imaginable homeschooling issue. Orr complements her own considerable knowledge and understanding with well-wrought essays by homeschooling parents and teens. Their voices provide further authenticity and first-hand evidence of the diversity of approaches and philosophies among homeschoolers. The result is a book that provides the kind of support a good homeschool group provides at its discussion meetings, complete with Orr as the humorous and insightful discussion leader.

Orr's thorough book is ideal for new homeschoolers, addressing the choice to homeschool, how to get started, finding support, coping with doubters, and the legalities of homeschooling. In plain language, she asks and answers such questions as How much does homeschooling cost? How much time does homeschooling take? What if my child never learns to read? But Orr goes further than answering these and other questions I've heard asked by new and prospective homeschoolers. She also digs into homeschooling teens and preparing for college, as well as providing perspective on other choices teens may make to work, volunteer or travel.

Not shy about offering alternatives to the alternative, Orr also includes an essay by a formerly public schooled teen who wanted to unschool but did not out of respect for her family's wishes. However, the teen attended Not Back To School Camp and considers herself a post-high school unschooler. Orr also allows us to hear from a homeschooling family who adopts a foster child with the intent to homeschool him, but found public school to be a better ultimate fit after an important period of having the child home with them for healing. We hear from high achieving teens and traveling teens, all having forged unique and satisfying lives where homeschooling has played an integral part. Orr also addresses homeschooling children with ADD/ADHD, special needs, and special gifts. Orr's inclusion of Melanie Walenciak's essay about her impulsive "divergent thinking" son is a gift to all of us who have loved and learned with challenging children.

Some parents coming to homeschooling from a school setting flush with labels may quibble with Orr's complete non-pathologizing of ADD, which leans heavily on a point of view such as that espoused in Thomas Armstrong's book, The Myth of the ADD Child. Still, I can't help but personally agree with her assessment that the "vast majority of parents who have made this decision (to homeschool) report the same thing: within weeks of coming home, nearly every symptom of ADD disappears. . . .The problem was not the child. The problem was the child being put into an environment that was damaging, difficult, and draining."

Orr doesn't stop with that assessment of ADD; she backs it up with strategies that homeschooling parents can indeed use to help cope with a child who has exhibited behaviors associated with ADD. And that's the pattern of this helpful book. Orr's answers provide both theoretical insight and practical techniques, resulting in a book that can help homeschoolers analyze their concerns and implement day-to-day strategies for the benefit of their children.

Jeanne Faulconer, Book Reviewer, Home Education Magazine (May-June, 2008)

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Part One - Homeschooling

Why Homeschool? - Kathleen McCurdy , Dear New Homeschooler - Mary McCarthy, Homeschooling is for Amateurs - Earl Stevens, Homeschooling is for Everyone - Shari Henry

Part Two - Teaching and Learning

What It Takes to Make a Good Home Teacher - Mario Pagnoni, Basic Skills Versus Knowledge - Kathleen McCurdy, Answers to a Mother's Questions - John Holt , The Unit Study Approach - Lee Gonet, Sharing Enthusiasm for Learning - Kathleen McCurdy , Expert Advice - Steve Thom , Is That All He Ever Talks About? - Pat Mitchell-Erwin, The Most Meaningful Lesson - Chris Ressler

Part Three - Subjects One Two Three

Reading/Writing

Benefits of Later Literacy - Penny Barker, When Your Child Begins to Read - Sister Catharine Quinn, Serendipity in the Archives - Sue Smith-Heavenrich, Finding Reasons to Write - Earl Stevens, Reading Aloud - Michelle Delio, A Case for the Classics - Shari Henry

Math/Science

Teaching the Sciences - John Holt , Hands-On Science - Sue Smith-Heavenrich , Magic Math Solution - Becky Rupp, How One Mother Inspires Her Kids - Aneeta Brown, Math the Easy Way - Shari Henry, Unschooling Math - Sue Smith-Heavenrich

History/Geography/Social Studies

World History - Connie Pfeil, History at Brook Farm School - Donn Reed, How 29¢ Can Buy the World as Your Textbook - Craig Conley, Social Studies - Sue Smith-Heavenrich

Other Studies

Nobody's Perfect - Diane Chodan, Music to Their Ears - Craig Conley , Your Own Arts & Crafts Group - Kate Raymond , Special Education for Homeschoolers - Robert Staten

Part Four - Advanced Learning

What Do We Really Mean by Higher Education? - Helen Hegener, Homeschooling the Older Child - Mary McCarthy , The Business of Schooling - John Taylor Gatto, Moving Out Into the World - Mark and Helen Hegener, Apprenticeship for a Teen - Vivienne Edwards, Community Colleges - Bernard Marcus , How These Kids Turn Out - Earl Stevens

Part Five - Networking

In Search of Community - Earl Stevens, Support Groups: How to Find or Start One - Barb Hummel, The Making of a Network - Debbie Westheimer, Why the National Homeschool Association? - Dick Westheimer

Part Six - Personal Experiences

Adjusting to Freedom - Tom Friedlander, Winter Homeschooling - Helen Hegener, Five Years of Home Schooling - Sue Thompson, Home School Confidential - Steve Thom , A Place of Their Own - Linda W. Dobson , Testing in the Real World - Mark and Helen Hegener, The First Step of the Journey - Michelle Delio, Crafting Ships - Mark Hegener, Of Human Bonds: The Really Right Stuff - Kathleen Creech

For more information on upcoming titles in The Homeschool Reader Series contact:
Susan Patch, Marketing Director
Home Education Magazine, Books Division
Office: (509)233-8918; Mobile: (509)290-0676
Contact Susan Patch
http://thehomeschoolreader.com

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