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Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year
by
Laura Brodie (Goodreads Author)
"I had always thought of homeschooling as a drastic measure. . . . But when my daughter decided that she would rather hide in a closet than complete her homework, I knew that it was time for me to become a schoolteacher, if only for a little while."
After years of watching her eldest daughter, Julia, struggle in a highly regimented public school system, Laura Brodie determi...more
After years of watching her eldest daughter, Julia, struggle in a highly regimented public school system, Laura Brodie determi...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
April 6th 2010
by HarperCollins
(first published March 19th 2010)
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I came across this book while looking at our library's resources about homeschooling. The mom in the book pulls her daughter out of school for a year to try and revive her daughter's interest in learning. I enjoyed the book for several reasons, one of which was geographical: the family lives in Lexington, Virginia, a place that I have visited. Her descriptions of the VMI and Washington and Lee campuses were familiar to me. Also, I liked hearing about her discoveries in the realm of homeschooling...more
What I Can tell You: Yes, it is all that. Reading Laura's story was like taking a page out of my own head on my feelings about school and my son hadn't even started yet. Then, when my son ended up in speech at 23 months old and then OT and PT at 3 years old; I saw how the school system wanted to mold him and all his "differences" into a cookie cutter mold of what a "normal" child should be. In many CPSE meetings I have stated that at any time I would be pulling him out to homeschool. I do not be...more
Love in a Time of Homeschooling; A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon YEar. by Laura Brodie
Laura Brodie made the decision to remove her daughter from the public school system and home school her for the fifth grade. Her daughter then re-entered the public schools for middle school. The year was a learning experience for both mother and daughter. Many of her criticisms of public education match mine. As a former public school teacher, and as a parent, the failings of the public schools have always bo...more
Laura Brodie made the decision to remove her daughter from the public school system and home school her for the fifth grade. Her daughter then re-entered the public schools for middle school. The year was a learning experience for both mother and daughter. Many of her criticisms of public education match mine. As a former public school teacher, and as a parent, the failings of the public schools have always bo...more
This book was much less than I expected. It seems as though Brodie spent too much time defending why she decided to homeschool. After a pretty brutal portrayal of the reality of what public education has become, she defends why she leaves her other two daughters in school and ultimately puts her homeschooled daughter back in school. When Brodie isn't defending her decisions, and sounding completely hypocritical in the process, she's giving all sorts of examples of how she makes everything a quiz...more
A Virginia mother and English professor at Washington and Lee University writes of her experience home schooling her eldest daughter for the fifth grade. Her headstrong and creative daughter hated the constant homework (the nightly battles were exhausting) and busy work in her public school and this mother hoped that a year’s sabbatical for her daughter would rekindle her love of learning. This mother read all the home schooling primers but felt that what was missing was any mention of the strug...more
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Months ago, I wrote that my word for the year 2010 was change. I chose this word knowing that big changes loomed ahead for our family, amongst them, a shift from three children in public school to homeschooling our daughter who starts 5th grade in August. Little did I know that 2010 would also bring a change to my reading habits. I love to read, but I love to read fiction. Non-fiction? Not so much. Too reminiscent of college days spent slogging through books I never would have chosen for myself....more
3 likes · like · see review
Brodie's clear, honest voice makes this a compelling pageturner. She shares both her triumphs and missteps in her attempt to provide a fulfilling learning experience for her unique, headstrong ten year-old daughter, Julia.
Brodie, an educated woman of privilege, is lucky to have had the means to be able to provide her daughter with such an opportunity. While a traditional public school may have been a chafing fit for Julia, she was still lucky enough to be able to attend a public school where th...more
Brodie, an educated woman of privilege, is lucky to have had the means to be able to provide her daughter with such an opportunity. While a traditional public school may have been a chafing fit for Julia, she was still lucky enough to be able to attend a public school where th...more
I really enjoyed this - Brodie is a great writer, and it was interesting to read about her homeschooling experiment, particularly because she was so honest and real about it. I would totally be the kind of mother who would burst out with "don't act like a jackass" or whatever and then feel incredibly guilty forever about it, because homeschooling has got to be HARD. I wish I had the luxury of being able to do it, though. I would love so much to be able to try a year of homeschooling (maybe partl...more
As a homeschooling mom, I'm always interested in other people's homeschooling experiences. So when I discovered this new homeschooling memoir, I picked it up and read it quickly. Laura Brodie knew she had to do something when she realized that her daughter would rather hide in the closet for over an hour rather than face ten to fifteen minutes of homework on one particular night. Increasingly, Brodie struggled with her daughter Julia's resistance to school work. In 4th grade, Julia was already b...more
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As someone who has recently dove into into the homeschooling world, I thought reading “Love in A Time of homeschooling – A Mother and Daughter’s Uncommon Year” by Laura Brodie might be an interesting read. She choose to homeschool her daughter when she entered fifth grade because she figured her daughter needed a sabbatical from school life. She talks about her year of trail and error with her daughter, as well as what she learned from it all.
To start off with, I was a little surprised that Laur...more
To start off with, I was a little surprised that Laur...more
I didn't actually read the whole thing start to finish, but scanned through and read certain passages only. The author writes in a readable, accessible style, and, I think, had I been at a stage where I needed more reassurance about the beginning of our homeschooling journey, I would have devoured that book and felt like Laura Brodie was my new best friend. However, I/we are now at a totally different stage in homeschooling - not that I don't still get the same frustrations when the kids refuse...more
I'm not sure what compelled me to initially pick up this book at the library--I think I must have read a review awhile ago and it looked familiar and then in reading the book jacket, I discovered that the author taught English at my undergraduate alma mater and my interest was piqued. I am not considering homeschooling my children, but really, really liked this book anyway. I think I have a bias in general against homeschoolers--they are all religious, holier-than-thou Bible Thumpers or over-the...more
It is rare to read a homeschooling book that is so honest about the "brutalness" of that first year as your child's teacher. So many other authors are veterans who have the skills, vision, and dedication of several years in the business. That's what makes "Love in a Time of Homsechooling" stand out. Laura Brodie spent one year homsechooling her oldest daughter and then chronicled that time in a well written and intimate book.
This memoir would be a valuable tool to the parent who is questioning...more
This memoir would be a valuable tool to the parent who is questioning...more
I think this is a must read for any mother considering homeschooling. Friends told me it is for older children being homeschooled. I loved her honestly and the days when she worried she was not doing the right thing and was not teaching the right stuff. The day she called her daughter a bad name and was able to write about it. The day she looked at her daughter's journal and found positive things that had happened to her daughter. They will never be able to replicate that year and will never for...more
I signed up and won this book in the goodreads giveaway. This book flows like a novel (the author is a professor of english) and I really enjoyed and appreciated an honest and thoughtful real life homeschool experience. I am a homeschool mom who, for financial reasons, had to enroll my child in public school after first three years of homeschooling and am trying to arrange our lives to again homeschool for many of the same reasons Mrs. Brodie chose to. Homeschooling a child is quite a sacrifice...more
Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year by Laura Brodie is a mother's memoir of one year she spent homeschooling her eldest daughter, whom she felt needed a break from traditional schools that didn't seem to fit her style. I am not a big memoir person and wouldn't have picked this on my own but found it to be a quick read and one that I enjoyed. I appreciated the realistic assessment of the attempt which noted both successes and failures. I also like the quotes fro...more
I was homeschooled until college, which is why this book caught my attention. It's a great perspective because it's a story that often goes untold: the tale of the temporary homeschooler. Brodie was open and honest about the successes and failures she and her daughter encountered in that year; and one of my favorite parts of the book was the chapter where she discussed what she'd do differently.
Since I have four younger siblings this didn't resemble my homeschooling experience much at all. It's...more
Since I have four younger siblings this didn't resemble my homeschooling experience much at all. It's...more
I was biased against this book from the get-go: when a professional author decides to homeschool her daughter for one year, it seems a lot like Homeschooling as Career Move. Plus, I'm always wary of any person's musings on a subject delved into for one year (think of all those college students who spend a year in Europe and come back feeling like experts). Finally, I'm not a big fan of Brodie's writing style, which could've used some pruning, IMO. All that said, I enjoyed the book: it was heartf...more
This is really a memoir, covering a year during which a mother decides to homeschool her 5th grade daughter who is having trouble in the public school system. This is definitely not a how-to book, nor is it rich in educational value. It's really just a story. And I enjoyed it for that. The author was very honest about her shortcomings as an educator and was surprisingly candid about her challenges throughout this learning process. Mostly, it was just a fast, light read about a unique mother-daug...more
Well written and held my attention. Got some great ideas about homeschooling, but couldn't shake the "Shut up already" feeling I got.
As a mom who wants to homeschool, but whose son has chosen to go to school, I found the author's decision to send her daughter back to school disheartening. It was clearly a good decision to take her daughter out of school. So, I found that I had animosity toward the author for not continuing what I saw was best for her daughter. The "explanations" at the end were...more
As a mom who wants to homeschool, but whose son has chosen to go to school, I found the author's decision to send her daughter back to school disheartening. It was clearly a good decision to take her daughter out of school. So, I found that I had animosity toward the author for not continuing what I saw was best for her daughter. The "explanations" at the end were...more
I have never seriously considered homeschooling my kids--every now and then the thought will briefly flit through my mind and then my kids will act like... well, like themselves, and I'll laugh that hysterical laughter you get when you barely escape a catastrophic disaster. But I do find the idea intriguing. Brodie decided to homeschool one of her three daughters for a year, and I just love how honest and open she is about it. Sure, there were magical moments between the two of them. But there w...more
I really enjoyed this account of a mother's one year homeschooling her 5th grade daughter. Really, a large part of the book is about her daughter's experience with school up to that point and how she decided to take this step. The actual homeschooling experience seems to go by very quickly -- and that may be how it actually felt for them as the author says she felt they were just getting into a good groove when the year was over. The author doesn't gloss over the difficult parts of homeschooling...more
This book didn’t take long to read and was quite enjoyable for me. I appreciated how real L. Brodie was about the struggles and triumphs that she and her daughter faced during their year. I thought several times that Brodie forgot that her daughter was a kid and not a college student. It pleased me to see that she acknowledged that herself at the end of the book. It is a fine line though, between allowing children to be kids that need to play and still teaching them the academics they need to le...more
This is not a book about secular vs. religous schooling. Nor is it a book about a hippy family living off the grid. It's not even a book about homeschooling vs. unschooling. These are topics commonly found in books about 'domestic learning.' Instead, Laura Brodie shares honestly and realistically the year she brought her eldest daughter, Julia, home for her fifth grade education.
Public school never agreed with Julia. She was prone to wandering during the day - physically and mentally. And she wa...more
Public school never agreed with Julia. She was prone to wandering during the day - physically and mentally. And she wa...more
An excellent read about one woman's year of homeschooling her fifth-grade daughter. Well-written, brutally honest and thoroughly absorbing. As a fifth-grade teacher myself I read this with particular care and interest. I was impressed with the tenacity and creativity Brodie employed and I wholeheartedly endorse the homeschooling concept. I believe there is no "one size fits all" approach to education. For certain students, Bodie's daughter Julia included, such an approach is highly warranted. I...more
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Author wanted to write a book showing some of the difficulties of homeschooling. A laudable goal, because a lot of the books about homeschooling tout the benefits and ease without discussing problems you might encounter in any real depth. I read the book and saw only how little she really understood her daughter, how little she was paying attention to the cues her daughter was giving her, and how much she was thinking about herself. Also how repressive and conformist she is. I felt bad for her....more
I read this book twice this summer and really enjoyed it. The book is about a true story about a mom & daughters homeschooling journey. I love the mom's honesty about wanting more for her child while also worrying that the two of them won't be able to get along well during the year she homeschooled. It wasn't easy, and she was very honest about some of the trials and tribulations while not telling too much that may embaress her daughter at a later date--I liked that.
This book gave me a lot...more
This book gave me a lot...more
After watching the documentary "Jesus Camp," I swore I would never consider homeschooling for my kids because it made homeschoolers look like religious nuts who don't believe in global warming. Plus I only have 3 kids and not a litterful. We also shop at stores. But this book seems more like a mother-daughter story of love and struggle so I was intrigued.
It's pretty much what you expect. Author Laura Brodie has a daughter Julia who is autistic. High functioning of course, but definitely autisti...more
It's pretty much what you expect. Author Laura Brodie has a daughter Julia who is autistic. High functioning of course, but definitely autisti...more
Part of me envied Julie, because I certainly didn't thrive in my local public school. But the idea of having either of my parents for a teacher? No thanks. Unlike Ms. Brodie, my mother was a trained teacher (who actually taught 1st grade until I came along), so she certainly knew how to teach... just not quite how to teach me (and my father was, until retirement, a college professor). They may not have agreed with the standard curriculum, but I doubt we'd have agreed on one that I would enjoy du...more
I loved this memoir of an honest Mom and the year she spent homeschooling her daughter.
This is not a sappy manual that is sickly sweet and tries to convince you everyone should homeschool. In fact, the author only homeschooled one year. It is not an essay that is for or against home education. It is just the story of one Mother and daughter, what they did, and what they learned along the way. It is funny, at times touching, and refreshing.
An excellent read...
This is not a sappy manual that is sickly sweet and tries to convince you everyone should homeschool. In fact, the author only homeschooled one year. It is not an essay that is for or against home education. It is just the story of one Mother and daughter, what they did, and what they learned along the way. It is funny, at times touching, and refreshing.
An excellent read...
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I was born in Columbus, Ohio, with the name Laura Ann Fairchild. My earliest memories come from Seattle, Washington, where my family lived in the Magnolia neighborhood near the Puget Sound. I loved the deep, rainy colors of Seattle; one of my dreams is to buy a summer house on the Olympic peninsula.
At age eight, my family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I stayed through high school, spendi...more
More about Laura Brodie...
At age eight, my family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I stayed through high school, spendi...more
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