Lesson Plans

by Suzanne Greenberg

Library Journal Editor’s Pick
Reader’s Digest “Great Books from Small Presses That Are Worth Your Time”

“Witty and insightful.” — Reader’s Digest

“Readers who enjoyed Tom Perrotta’s Little Children will want to try Suzanne Greenberg’s Lesson Plans , an entertaining, funny, and thoughtful debut novel about three California homeschooling families.” — Library Journal Editor’s Pick citation

Lesson Plans chronicles the lives of three California families who choose to homeschool for different, deeply personal reasons.

Patterson is a straight-laced insurance adjuster who has recently discovered both surfing and God and convinces his wife to homeschool their rambunctious twins. David is a liberal stay-at-home dad who feels stuck in suburbia and throws his energy into homeschoolong his three “ducklings.” Wedding photographer Keith has just separated from Beth, a full-time mom struggling to manage her own private chaos. And there’s Jennifer, Keith and Beth’s precocious daughter, who copes with severe allergies and doesn’t understand why she’s not attending school and seeing friends like she used to. Will homeschooling provide balance and harmony for these families? Or will it bring unforeseen challenges and stress?

In this captivating and funny debut novel, Suzanne Greenberg takes a serious look at the choices parents profess to make on behalf of their children, as well as the unpredictable ways in which new relationships can change our lives.

Genres: Fiction, Parenting

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 2014

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lesson Plans, by Suzanne Greenberg

Lesson Plans shines a light on the esoteric world of homeschoolers in this humorous and heartbreaking novel. I love reading debut novels and I thoroughly enjoyed Lesson Plans! Suzanne Greenberg's novel is set in Southern California and focuses on the misadventures of three homeschooling families. Seven year old Jennifer, suffering from multiple food allergies and asthma, misses her first grade teacher and the familiar routine of public school. Little Jennifer was a character so real you will want to take her home with you.
Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart. Greenberg's carefully interwoven tale excels at characterization, setting and plot. Highly recommended.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it to be pretty difficult to read, yet, interesting. I love how the author ties them together. We all want to do what is best for our children the short while we have them. This book engages the reader, makes them want to continue to read on to find out what is going on with Beth, Patterson, or David. It is enticing. I give this book 4/5 stars only because I am not a huge fan of jumping from person to person in one book.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three dysfunctional families come together as a result of homeschooling, and hilarity ensues. Except it's not really all that funny, and homeschooling is such a small part of the book - really, it's just the thread that holds the families together.

There's David, the unschooling dad of 3 girls who lives off his wife Deborah's earnings and whose educational plans really never pan out. Of course his unschooled daughters are ill-mannered and dirty.

There's Beth, who wants to homeschool her daughter because of the girl's severe allergies and because she seems to be falling apart after her husband Keith, a wedding photographer, leaves her. She is generally presented as a bumbling idiot who has no idea what she's doing. When her daughter tells her she misses dance class, Beth turns on the radio and demonstrates the box step. Yeah, that's how we homeschool people roll.

And Patterson, the hard-working insurance agent who apparently has an epiphany about homeschooling while surfing and talks his wife Winter into taking their twins out of kindergarten. He then proceeds to start an affair with Beth.

All these people are messed up. The only sympathetic characters are Jennifer, the 7-year-old with allergies, and Winter, though she is has her moments as she tries to come up with ways of making money as a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom.

I don't know if the author knows much about homeschooling. She seemed to have some knowledge of California homeschool law. And she managed to toss in that well-loved quote about education being "the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a pail."

I only finished the book because I wanted to get a sense of how homeschooling fit in to the story and if it was ultimately presented in a positive, negative, or neutral light. I do have to say the author made all the threads come together well and there were only a few truly preposterous moments. I might have enjoyed the book more if any of the characters were at all likable and if I hadn't gotten a general negative vibe.

One review I read suggested that homeschoolers may be offended by the book. I'm not offended. I do think that if people are inclined to think negatively about homeschooling, this book will support that view. I think most homeschooling parents will either wince at the stereotypes or enjoy it as an over-the-top satire.

[Ginger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book on so many levels! The characters are well drawn and the author imbues each with a unique personality and “flaws” that are easy to relate to. Although homeschooling forms the backdrop of the novel and is what brings the characters together, it’s the author’s fine-tuned and often humorous observations of human nature that bring the story to life. On a personal level, I found it oddly reassuring to be in the company of these fictional parents who struggle to find balance between parental roles and personal lives and who are not always confident in their childrearing decisions. Misguided as some of their decisions are, the author makes clear that they are, nonetheless, well-intentioned…something most parents can relate to! Having some acquaintance with homeschooling by way of friends who made that difficult decision, I also appreciate that the author refrains from judging her characters motivations and home schooling itself. That said, I did enjoy the fly-on-the-wall peek into her characters own homeschooling experiences!
Warm, funny, and tug at your heartstrings sad at times, this is a wonderful read! I highly recommend it!

[Robert Grand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished the ebook of this and loved it. Greenberg deftly avoids imposing a postion about homeschooling and focuses instead on a group of characters who struggle like most parents with finding the best education for their children. For most parents, this is a gut wrenching drama like no other, and I felt this throughout the book, from the diswrought Beth and her asthmatic daughter to the idealistic David and his three ducklings. There are no heroes or villains in this book and no easy answers, which is also what I like about Tom Perrotta's work. I have to mention one scene out of many that create a comic/tragic tension -- but will not spoil it: I'll only say it involves David's handling of his little girls' hair issues.

This book is a delight. You might also want to get your hands on Greenberg's collection of short stories, "Speedwalk," which contains stories that range in style from Flannery O'Connor to Raymond Carver.

[Susan Sink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a perfect summer book. It is extremely well written and all the characters are wonderful. It is the story of three families who are homeschooling their children-- but it's not about the children. That is itself a comment on homeschooling, and we follow the neurotic and somewhat tragic circumstances that brought a father, newly single mother, and surfer dad and entrepreneurial mother, to this place. Their lives intertwine with comic results. The tone approaches T.C. Boyle but is not so arch-- these feel like real people in real situations, for the most part. And at the end I really liked all of them, which is more than I can say for most of the books I read.

[Shelly♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: Three California homeschool families have their lives intersect as they deal with the problems and challenges of everyday life.

Review: First of all, as a homeschool mom, I must say that I have NEVER encountered homeschoolers that match up to the characters in this book. I’m curious to know what the author based her character formation on. She does set it in California, which has a reputation for “anything goes.” Yet, I still struggle to see how the homeschool component is really any basis for the actual plot, other than providing the “connection” for the families, and giving the author the liberty to portray one of the parents as a tree-hugging, all natural nut job of sorts.

The story follows three families, each in different place in their life and homeschool journey. David is the homeschool dad – the environmentalist – more of what you might call an unschooler. He uses whatever the day might bring to provide lessons to his little ducklings. He’s also an organizer and an encourager of homeschoolers in his area of Southern California. Beth’s husband has just left and she seeks David’s help as she starts her daughter, Jenny off at home. We also hear Jenny’s voice during the book as she struggles with her father’s departure, visitation arrangements and her own over-the-top food allergies. Winter and Patterson have decided to homeschool their obnoxious twin sons. They hook up with Beth to do classes together and try to find money-making ventures.

The book is really about the adults of this group and how they each are dealing with their own identity crises at this juncture of their lives. Homeschool provides the coincidence of their interactions. The story itself has many twists and turns as each family tries to reach a balance in their world. The author provides some very unusual scenarios to get the reader to the conclusion.

The plot is compelling in some ways, although I failed to really identify with any of the characters strongly enough to care as to whether or not they got the ending they should have. I think some of the nuances of this book would be ideal for a book discussion. The author does include a guide in the back.

I probably wouldn’t recommend this book to my Christian homeschool group or associates. It’s plot lines deal with more modern issues, and none of the main characters have any type or real religious connection to what they are doing.



Note: I was provided a copy of the book by the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Cathy Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three families united under homeschooling fascination for very passionate idealistic reasons to "let us give it go and see" experiment provides a platform for the adults to learn more about themselves and the lives they lead.

Reading through the author's slow lens made me think twice about how I would want my family and partner relationships evolve in a preemptive matter. Some of it is a bit disheartening but truthful. I agree with Ginger that homeschooling is a backdrop to the story, peppered here in there.

The characters take a very subtle and passive day-to-day living without a single character standing out with gusto. It hits you quickly how many people live in this slow oblivion without much punch or excitement to whisk us away. The story evolves around how one man's off-the-grid dreams evolved into sacrificial life in suburbia, another's man's boredom leads him to Bible surfing and an affair based on wanting to be needed, and another man walking out of his family. Their counterparts - a wife who works her butt off as the single bread winner, a stay-at-home mom that drowns herself in home schooling lesson plans and half-baked pyramid schemes to supplement family income, and a suddenly single mom dealing with prolong depression and excessive worry before her husband suddenly leaves the family. I want to say the character situations are pathetic and oblivious as they rationalize away their life and livelihood, but the way their characters evolve in the book makes you feel for them. This leisurely book makes for a fast read on a cross country plane flight or a lazy beach getaway.

[Mary Kenyon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where do I begin? I don't often complete a book I am giving such a low rating to. First of all, as someone who has been homeschooling for over 20 years, I have to say I have not met any homeschoolers that even remotely resemble the characters in this novel. Greenberg has taken the (unfair) stereotypes of homeschoolers and carried them much too far, and not even in a direction that might be humorous. I saw no humor in this book. Nada. Nothing is funny about a man who claims to have "gotten religion" who instantly is attracted to a female who homeschools by default because...why? Because her husband left her? Her daughter has food allergies? She wants to sleep in? I read the entire book and still have no idea why she chose homeschooling or why she could be so concerned about her daughter's health and so blind to her emotional needs. What about this woman was enticing? She had no personality. And yet two men, supposedly dedicated to their children and their families are totally entranced by her? All of the characters seemed totally devoid of personality and totally unbelievable. Does this author hate homeschoolers? Men? I would hazard a guess that someone who knows nothing about a homeschooling lifestyle would come away from reading this book with a very bad impression of it. I also found it very confusing how the author jumped from one character to another in viewpoint, and several times got mixed up.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting story of three families in Southern California who are home-schooling their children. The three families become interconnected in various ways!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Lesson Plans through First Reads

As a parent who is contemplating the possibility of homeschooling her children, I was very interested in reading Lesson Plans.

This book took a while to grow on me. At first it read like a bad soap opera with outrageous characters, but the characters' shortcomings and dramas are so exaggerated that it's a bit... funny? (No... "comical" is a better word).

It's a strange book -- it is hard to put down because as with a soap opera, you want to find out what happens next even though it's inconsequential to you (think extramarital affairs, a father tearing down their house in a crazy manner, disorganized parents with lots of plans and no real follow-throughs), but at the same time, I'm trying to figure out if Suzanne Greenberg means for this book to be satirical in nature?

At the end of the book there is a list of book discussion questions. Is this truly meant for discussions, or is it poking fun at the "everything we do must be educational" mentality of many homeschoolers?

In the end, I think this book can be read either as wry humour or a commentary on unschooling. The stereotypes are spot-on. I laughed at David's "faults" because, well, they're my own. I can relate to him.

The plot is rather predictable, and all the characters and events tie together. It's good food for thought.

[Madeline Dahlman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd say more like a 2.5...maybe a 3 but that seems generous...they NEVER should have compared this to Tom Perotta anything, much less Little Children...the dark humor just isn't odd enough to be funny or land the bizarre way that Perotta masterfully achieves in Little Children...this book isn't funny and I'm not even sure it was meant to be? The main issue (besides setting it up against impossibly high standards) is that it gave me a horrible taste in my mouth about homeschooling....for someone who is not intimately familiar with it, I now associate it with megalomaniacal parents, dirty/sloppy homes, and obnoxious uncontrolled children who might know a shit ton about mummies but can't be expected to sit nicely in a chair. I actually gave it a semi decent review for the masses but personally, I find it's portrayal of homeschool families in poor taste as opposed to humorous....to top it off, none of the dramatic storylines were even brought to a head to make them interesting (with the exception of one I suppose)....don't waste your time

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a unique read! I truly appreciate this complimentary book Lesson Plans by Suzanne Greenberg that I received from the Goodreads Giveaway program. I found this novel about three California homeschooling families to be quite witty, entertaining, and sometimes sad. In the beginning I sometimes had difficulty keeping the three families straight as the reader followed one family and then another. However, I did enjoy the familiar, believable incidents which occur when parents sometime make misguided decisions; although they have the best of intentions. Greenberg wove the lives of these three very different families together as each family struggles with everyday issues and hiding little secrets as they cross each others' paths. Although this novel seems to have no particular solutions, it does leave the reader with the overall feeling of hope. I recommend this book to anyone who might be looking for an entertaining read about familiar, everyday experiences.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a pretty awful book. I am a homeschooling mother, and I picked this up at the library mainly because I was intrigued by the idea of a novel about homeschoolers. I haven't seen many of those out there. I had high hopes, the writing was fairly good and at first I was drawn into the story about three families who homeschool their children, but it is not a story about homeschooling. As a matter of fact, homeschooling is just the common denominator that brings the families together and serves as a backdrop. The story is really about unhappy people and their constant complaining about their personal lives. I didn't even finish it because it was so unpleasant to read.

[Mel Raschke]

Greenberg deftly avoids imposing a position about homeschooling and focuses instead on a group of characters who struggle like most parents with finding the best education for their children. For most parents, this is a gut wrenching drama like no other, and I felt this throughout the book, from the distraught Beth and her asthmatic daughter to the idealistic David and his three ducklings. There are no heroes or villains in this book and no easy answers.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book from the perspective of a retired teacher. It was an ok read, three couples with children who decide to homeschool them. If this book was supposed to be funny, I didn't see it. There might be a group of people who like this book but I can't see educators or parents enjoying this story as humorous.

[Avina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gossip novel.

Could have tied it up better in the end. Less than flattering portrayal homeschooling families. Overall has a depressing air.