Overview

After years of watching her eldest daughter, Julia, struggle in the highly regimented public school system, Laura Brodie - ignoring the skepticism of her husband, friends, and relatives - made the radical decision to teach her child at home for a year. The monotony of fill-in-the-blank history and math worksheets would be replaced with studying dinosaurs and dragons, some conversational French, violin lessons, and field trips to historical places, art museums, science fairs, bookstores, and concerts. Julia would have homework, but mostly it would be to write about what she'd experienced each day and to read to her heart's delight. ""Love in a Time of Homeschooling"" is the touching story of human foibles and human potential, in which love, anger, and hope, mingle with reading, math, and American history. Once the purview of Christian fundamentalist and bohemian parents, homeschooling is a growing trend among mainstream parents looking to address their children's short-term educational problems. Brodie gave her daughter a sabbatical to explore, learn, create, and grow - a year of independent research and writing to rejuvenate Julia's love of learning. Though the experiment was not easy, mother and daughter worked through their frustration and difficulties to forge an invaluable bond. Hers is a life lesson no parent should miss.

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9780061706462

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Reviews

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

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

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

Author Information

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.

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