Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year

by Laura Brodie

Overview

“In a world where ‘homeschooling’ is so often misunderstood, discounted, and even ridiculed, Laura Brodie offers a clear-eyed view and makes a valuable contribution to the literature on the subject. This is necessary reading for anyone with an interest not just in homeschooling but in education generally.”
— David Guterson

“As a parent involved in homeschooling, I highly recommend this book. It’s timely, beautifully written, and must reading for anyone who has ever wondered what homeschooling is all about.”
— James Grippando, author of Money to Burn

Humorous and heartfelt, this charming memoir tells of a year-long experiment in homeschooling in which the author decides to give her ten-year-old daughter a sabbatical from homework hell and the vicissitudes of one-size fits all traditional public school days.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061987854
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/06/2010
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	310 KB

About the Author

Laura Brodie is the author of Breaking Out: VMI and the Coming of Women and the novel The Widow's Season. She lives in Lexington, Virginia, with her husband and three daughters, and teaches English at Washington and Lee University.

Editorial Reviews

In this memoir, derived from an article that appeared in Brain, Child magazine, Brodie (Breaking Out: VMI and the Coming of Women) explores the year she spent homeschooling her daughter Julia. Writing for parents interested in short-term or supplemental homeschooling, Brodie lists benefits of this method, including increased family quality time and customized education on subjects sometimes overlooked by standardized tests. She also explains the day-to-day realities of short-term homeschooling—what she discovered, what worked, what didn't, and why. Such case studies are not available in other resources in the field; books on homeschooling are typically designed for long-term students and don't always include details of how homeschooling impacts family relationships. Brodie references a few of these books, as well as other how-to resources in her bibliography. VERDICT Although this memoir fills a niche, Brodie's story reads better as a short article than a full-length book. Public libraries with communities of short-term homeschoolers may find it useful.—Karen McCoy, Farmington P.L., NM

Library Journal

Brodie (English/Washington and Lee Univ.) home-schools her daughter for a year, with engaging, unpredictable results. The author had no religious or philosophical objection to the public-school system, but she knew it was not serving her ten-year-old daughter well. Julia displayed "a deep inwardness, an engagement with her own imaginative universe," and her mother wondered at times about autism and ADD. With considerable humor and clarity, Brodie chronicles the process of letting her little caged bird out, "offering her the sky, the clouds, the freedom to let her mind soar"-or, equally likely, to crash and burn. This story is no rosy manifesto to homeschooling, nor a condemnation, but a real-life encounter, full of stormy battles, power struggles and, most of all, passion. There are moments of pedagogic beauty, as the author segues with ease from history to music to geography to fractions, following the natural rhythm of conversation. There are also quite a few less-idyllic moments, duly noted in the chapter titled "The Winter of Our Discontent." "Away from home," she writes, "we enjoyed the pleasures of hands-on learning . . . [but] . . . as most parents can attest, extended spells of homebound mother-daughter contact are a recipe for trouble." With a sure hand, Brodie tracks their progress through the whining and discontent, the crush of a mother's high expectations, the bribery, the great field trips, the reintroduction to the outdoors and the closeness that comes from sharing your favorite things. Without the author's prompting, readers will understand that this was a fruitful year for Julia. Graceful and charming. Agent: Laurie Abkemeier/DeFiore and Company

Kirkus Reviews

Starred Review.

Told by elementary school teachers that her daughter, Julia, "needs to spend more time in our world," author Brodie (Breaking Out, The Widow's Season) decided that her daughter's unique intellectual needs would best be served by a year of home-schooling: "The more I looked into it, the more I discovered that short-term homeschooling is a growing trend in America, for a vast array of reasons." Chronicling the entirety of her homeschooling experience, from the decision-making process to Julia's successful re-entry into 6th grade, Brodie takes pains to show how difficult homeschooling can be: "How foolish I had been, to have believed that Julia's complaints over the past two years... stemmed from an institutional cause" (as it turns out, Julia simply doesn't like to be told what to do). Having been frustrated by other homeschooling books' Pollyanna attitude toward the parent-child relationship, Brodie's contribution to the field is full of honest revelations that make it vital for anyone considering homeschooling; happily, her gift for good storytelling and keen observation (of herself and others) make this an absorbing read for everyone else.
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Publishers Weekly - Library Journal

Engaging, unpredictable. . . . No rosy manifesto to homeschooling, nor a condemnation, but a real-life encounter, full of stormy battles, power struggles and, most of all, passion. There are moments of pedagogic beauty. . . . Graceful and charming.” — Kirkus Reviews

“In a world where homeschooling is so often misunderstood, discounted, and even ridiculed, Laura Brodie offers a clear-eyed view and makes a valuable contribution to the literature on the subject. This is necessary reading for anyone with an interest not just in homeschooling but in education generally.” — David Guterson, author of The Other and Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense

“Funny, heart-cracking and ultimately profoundly educational. I recommend this book to all parents and educators who have ever thought-I wish things could be different.” — Mary Pipher, author of Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“Laura Brodie shines a spotlight on love as an essential ingredient [in homeschooling], creating a well-earned space on all homeschoolers’ bookshelves and, optimistically, on the bookshelves of all parents.” — Linda Dobson, author of The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas

“Love in a Time of Homeschooling, a touching glimpse into a mother-daughter relationship, will inspire you to foster a love of learning no matter what your schooling choice may be.” — Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

“The only thing worse than sending your child off on a bus each morning might be keeping that child at home. But Brodie manages the feat with wit, wisdom, love, and some hard knocks along the way. Her story gives hope that there is more to life than long division.” — Cameron Stracher, author of Dinner with Dad

“As a parent involved in homeschooling, I highly recommend this book. It’s timely, beautifully written, and must reading for anyone who has ever wondered what homeschooling is all about-and it would make a great gift for all your friends who think they know!” — James Grippando, author of Money to Burn

From the Publisher

As a parent involved in homeschooling, I highly recommend this book. It’s timely, beautifully written, and must reading for anyone who has ever wondered what homeschooling is all about-and it would make a great gift for all your friends who think they know!

James Grippando

The only thing worse than sending your child off on a bus each morning might be keeping that child at home. But Brodie manages the feat with wit, wisdom, love, and some hard knocks along the way. Her story gives hope that there is more to life than long division.

Cameron Stracher

Love in a Time of Homeschooling, a touching glimpse into a mother-daughter relationship, will inspire you to foster a love of learning no matter what your schooling choice may be.

Richard Louv

Laura Brodie shines a spotlight on love as an essential ingredient [in homeschooling], creating a well-earned space on all homeschoolers’ bookshelves and, optimistically, on the bookshelves of all parents.

Linda Dobson

Funny, heart-cracking and ultimately profoundly educational. I recommend this book to all parents and educators who have ever thought-I wish things could be different.

Mary Pipher

In a world where homeschooling is so often misunderstood, discounted, and even ridiculed, Laura Brodie offers a clear-eyed view and makes a valuable contribution to the literature on the subject. This is necessary reading for anyone with an interest not just in homeschooling but in education generally.

David Guterson