When we first started homeschooling and people asked which school my four kids attended I would kind of mumble the words “We’re homeschoolers” under my breath. Saying they didn’t go to school and sit in a classroom all day just seemed weird. Two years later and I’ve come to adore the label of “weird homeschooler.” As proud as I am of our families educational choices it is nice when my kids can see our lifestyle reflected in the books they read. I set out on a mission to uncover some children’s books that feature homeschoolers.
Reading books featuring homeschoolers make my little homeschoolers feel connected!
Homeschooling is becoming more mainstream all the time and I was shocked at the amount of books I was able to find that feature homeschoolers as characters.
How homeschool is portrayed in these books varies as wildly as homeschool does in real life. I love that. Homeschool looks different in every family!
I have not read every book on this list in its entirety. Take my recommendations with a grain of salt and check them out for yourself! I know my library hold list will be hopping with these titles!
Nellie Nova Takes Flight by Stephenie Wilson Petersen
The Year I Didn’t Go to School by Giselle Potter
Charlie Goes to School by Ree Drummond
This Is My Home, This Is My School by Jonathon Bean
I Am Learning All the Time by Rain Perry Fordyce
Ippie Unschooled by Nicole Olson and Alexis Zires
Hanna, Homeschooler by Suki Wessling
Kandoo Kangaroo Hops into Homeschool by Susan Ratner
Wright on Time series by Lisa M. Cottrell-Bentley & Tanja Bauerle
Building Our House by Jonathon Bean
My Mommy, My Teacher by Johannah Bluedorn
Are We There Yet? by Alison Lester
The Happy Hedgehog by Marcus Pfister
Cody Greene and the Rainbow Mystery by Linda Fields and Heather Newman
The Homeschool Detective Series by John Bibee
Adventures in the Neighborhood Woods, series by Jesse Honn
The Lighthouse Family, series by Cynthia Rylant
Homeschool Adventurers; The Lost Da Vincis by Don L. Milne and Aneladee Milne
Ruby Slippers School, series Stacy Towle Morgan
Addie McCormick and the Computer Pirate, series by Leanne Lucas
Greetings from Somewhere, series by Harper Paris and Marco Calos
Classic Books Featuring Homeschoolers
There are also a great number of classic books that feature homeschooled students as main characters. Once upon a time ALL students were homeschooled. Hundreds of years ago learning at home, by doing and watching, was how all skills were passed along to the next generation. Many of these classic books do not present homeschool as “thing.” It’s not trendy or an educational or religious choice; learning at home was just a way of life.
There are too many to list but here are some of our favorite classic books featuring homeschoolers. Check out these great choices for family read aloud!
- The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking- This edition features all three tales including Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren
- The Box Car Children Series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
- Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr & Kerry Millard
- Heidi by Johanna Spyri & Maja Dusikova
- The Mixed up Files of Mrs.Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
- Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
- The Little House on the Prairie, series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia Maclachlan
- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
- Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
Occasionally some of these books (especially the classics) are super cheap or even free on Amazon Kindle Unlimited. Try a month for free and start your unlimited reading!
Wow really great list of books, I hope you do one for older children too 😉
Yay~ the one for older kids is coming soon! I set out to make one big list and there were just too many great choices so I had to split it up a bit! Thanks for reading Jen!
We’re re-reading The Candymakers right now since they have come out with a Candymakers 2! We’ve read quite a few of these. Great list!
This one is new to me- it’s on our list to read!! I’m glad you enjoyed the list. Hopefully you found something new too!
Thanks so much for this! I had no idea there were so many books for my little homeschoolers to relate to. I love it. Diversity of ALL kinds is super important to us and I’m really excited to add some of these to our library!
Thanks Marquita! Isn’t it awesome that homeschoolers are represented in SO many different ways! I loved that fact too!