Last Sunday, a large room at a local Library filled up with veteran homeschoolers, homeschool resource people, and seekers of information. Hosting the gathering was the royalty of local homeschooling, Stephanie Brown Hood of Peach Blossom School (PSP). She’s earned the title as the go-to source of information for homeschooling in the Bay Area for well over a decade, and with her belief in giving back, paying it forward, and providing answers to new and long-time homeschool families. And though her own teaching has been religiously rooted, her heart reaches out beyond such boundaries. She promotes diversity, as I do! I encourage you to have a conversation with her about homeschooling. You’ll walk away amazed and filled with stories.
In attendance were well-spoken and learned homeschooled teens. Homeschool moms came, too. Marisa Bean, an amazing and compassionate outdoor educator as well as a veteran homeschool mom shared info about her sons and her wonderful organization, Bean in Nature. She’s not only inspired kids to learn in nature, but has also employed older teens to learn leadership. What an asset to our community. Another well-known attendee was Vivace Youth Chorus, a long-time resource whose rep announced their annual European trip. There were plenty of other resources, including academic programs and a math tutor.
In between our brief presentations (fyi: I vote to double the time for veteran homeschool parents who offer twice the resource!), parents visited our modest table set-ups to ask us questions and chat about education. Talking about education and books — two of my passions! As an aside, I always find it interesting that parents of small children attend homeschooling Q&A events. Eager to be ahead of the game, I suppose. Good for them!
As one of the many resources available in this area, I spoke of my experience with my children who deserved better than what the local school offered, about the fears that prevented me from jumping into the adventure earlier, and on my own practice of serving youth by focusing on their interests, goals, and needs without compromising standards. One delight I’ve lately realized is the ease of offering such a wide range of classes, each addressing a need that arose from a student or request from a parent: Women’s Lit, Classic Lit, Courageous Contemporary Lit, Science Fiction, Steam Punk, Journey Lit, Graphic Novel, Travel Writing, Blog Writing, and so on through the years. My writing and literature comes from a deep well.
This year, my focus will be on Personal Essay and Mystery Writing, but I’m open to hear what you need.
Connections are key. Most of what else I said or would’ve said can be found in the pages of this website, but I did want to highlight the privilege of working with a family of siblings and the notes and calls from previous students, year after year. To drive that point, I just received an email from a former student. She left my practice after being accepted to a prestigious private high school. She served as Poet Laureate for the county, and will be attending Yale in the fall. When we first met, her mom requested I accept her into my high school class. She was twelve. I admit I felt dubious. But I don’t guard gates, I believe educators must open them. Happily, she found herself a brilliant star among the brightest, most joyful, eager students that year. She writes in her email to me,
“It’s thanks to the time we spent analyzing texts like Frankenstein and Bless Me, Ultima that I feel very strongly about my passion for literature. . . . I distinctly remember how you pushed my writing to grow in every essay you handed back to me. . . I have to thank you for teaching me that literature is not, in fact, the irrelevant musings of some rotting corpse, but rather something to love and live by.
I’ll be attending Yale University this coming fall . . . I know I’ll continue to use the analytical and compositional skills I learned in your class in future studies. Thank you again for teaching me and for continuing to impact the lives of students like me. It goes a long way.
In short, the parents –such as Marisa, Stephanie and so many others — who have their children’s interest at the forefront created a community. But it’s the youth who have always made my choice to leave the classroom worth it.
Thank you to all the members of our community who have made homeschooling an enviable option for learning in the South Bay. And thank you to those learners, like Thy whose writing is above, who make every day a good day to learn. Congratulations for all your accomplishments small and large.
Your turn!
How has your community helped you succeed?
What recommendations might you give to a parent considering homeschooling?
What advice would you give to a parent struggling with homeschooling?
One Good Mentor is all you need 