It's a cliche, but in this case it's true; big things come in small packages. Think of Homeschooling Only One as a diamond of the homeschool book world.

Mind you, when I saw how small this book is (80 pages), especially given the $10 price tag, I was dubious. A book this small had to leave something out, right? So I went hunting. Maybe Donna Conner only shares her personal homeschooling style, slighting the rest? Nope; she not only explains a wide variety of styles, but also shares that she has used or tried several of them herself. Plus, she points out that there is no one, right way to homeschool.

So if she does address, if briefly, the major homeschooling styles, then she must deal only in the theoretical, failing to provide practical application, right? Wrong again. She not only explains what she did, why she did it, and how other people might approach the same things, but she also gives a year-by-year list, with helpful explanations, of everything she has used in the eight years she has been homeschooling her only son.

Frankly, for all my skepticism, I could not help but be impressed by this work and have decided that its small size is actually an advantage. For the parent who is considering homeschooling a single child, for any parent who is considering homeschooling, and even for someone who simply has a casual interest in homeschooling, this has got to be the least intimidating book on the market. It provides an excellent overview of homeschooling in general and homeschooling only one child (not necessarily an `only' child) in particular, and then gives many suggestions on where to go for deeper study.

It also promises to help in more areas than the title suggests. This would be a good choice for anyone who wants homeschooling information, of course, but I also highly recommend it to everyone in homeschool leadership. Having more than one homeschooled child myself, I had never before considered some of the special challenges faced by parents who are homeschooling only one. Leaders need to understand these challenges and how best to help the parent. This book aids greatly in that area.

With its excellent overview, detailed and balanced (something not to be underrated) lists and explanations, and a thoroughly helpful appendix, this book left me with one, and only one, question unanswered. Yes, I'm serious. The author suggests studying the different learning styles (I've also heard them referred to as learning modalities) so that you can see how best to use curriculum in your home, but she provides neither information on these styles nor specific resource suggestions. Right again, this one gripe (if you can call it a gripe) is minor, which is my point. Hard as it may be to believe, Conner fits into eighty tightly-written pages as much help as you'll find in many of the larger books.

The skeptic is sold.