We filled many days with beyond-
the-worksheet fun — field trips,
co-op classes, library visits, hands-
on activities, science experiments,
concerts, plays, recipes, homeschool
support group activities, music,
games, and art projects.
A Former
Homeschooling
Mom Tells All
M
We custom-tailored our curricu-
lum to what the boys enjoyed
learning about while still covering
the basics. For example, instead of
just making the boys memorize the
parts of speech, we let our artist son
write and illustrate a grammar book-
let based on Mario, his favorite video
game character.
— by Lisa A. Beach
any people think of
homeschoolers as a ge-
neric lot of religious
Luddites who nix technology, lack so-
cial skills, grow their own food, live off
the grid, and want to be around their
kids 24/7.
That describes maybe five percent
of homeschoolers. And the Amish. I am
not in the five percent (or Amish).
“Hi, my name is Lisa and I’m a
recovering homeschool mom,” I say to
my imaginary 12-step support group of
parents who survived homeschooling
their own kids.
I say “survived” because it was not
all fun and games (although a lot of the
times, it was exactly that). Homeschool-
ing, with both its pros and cons, was one
tough gig.
People often asked how I ended up
down this alternative life path. I certain-
ly didn’t plan it. In fact, when my friend
Livie said she wanted to homeschool
her twins, I said, “Are you kidding? I
would never want to homeschool my
kids!”
The thought of being around my
still-going-through-the-terrible-twos-
even-though-he’s-now-three son all day
long sent chills down my spine. Plus, I
had an infant. I was exhausted from just
being a mom. How could I be a mom
and a homeschooler?
Yet, just a couple years later, I made
the leap into home education. Why? Af-
36 WNY Family December 2018
ter a very bored two-year stint in public
school, my son clearly needed more of
a challenge. (We had to sneak Magic
Tree House books into his classroom
because they weren’t on the “approved”
first-grade reading list.) Plus, when his
teacher spelled “Santa Clause” on the
chalkboard, my faith in public school
took a bit of a nosedive.
So, we pulled him after first grade
and homeschooled him (and his young-
er brother) for almost 10 years.
Over the years, people asked me
what homeschooling was really like, as
if we were escaping from North Korea
and they wanted the insider’s secrets of
what we did beyond the demilitarized
zone. But I get it. They were curious.
We were educational deviants, and they
wanted to understand what we did and if
we ever left the house.
Let me pull back the curtain to
show what homeschooling was really
like, at least for our family.
The Pros
We started school later, sometimes
in our pajamas, because I’m not a
morning person. (We often made
morning runs to Panera Bread for ba-
gels and coffee for the same reason.)
We “did school” everywhere — at
the kitchen table, on the couch, in the
pool, on the back porch, in the car,
at the park, at the science center, and
wherever the day’s activity took us.
We adapted the environment to
our boys’ special needs. The old-
est (on the autism spectrum) liked a
structured, quiet environment with
lots of reading and art projects. The
youngest (with ADHD) liked noise,
movement, and hands-on activities.
We “skipped school” whenever
we felt like it. If we wanted to go
to the beach for the day or head to
our area’s theme parks when it’s less
crowded, we did.
We read thousands of books, which
helped instill a love of reading in my
boys.
The Cons
We fought. A lot. My two boys, three
years apart and polar opposites, were
masters at sibling rivalry. And my
younger son and I battled constantly,
with power struggles over snacks and
pencils and petting the cat and mak-
ing too much noise and . . . every-
thing. Just because we homeschooled
didn’t mean we all got along all the
time. Stereotype shattered.
We questioned the decision to
homeschool our boys at the begin-
ning and end of every school year
– and sometimes even in the middle
if we were going through a particu-
larly rough behavioral patch with our
boys.
I’m not the kind of person who
thrives being around other people
all the time, especially when those
people are my own demanding little