Book Review

I Am a Home Schooler, by Julie Voetberg

Review by Jennifer Dees

First published 2002

If you've wished for a book that shows images of real homeschoolers to share with your young children, here it is. I Am a Home Schooler is a picture book that would be great to read aloud to kids ages 4 and up. There is quite a bit of text but not at a difficult level, so most children 5 or 6 and up will read and enjoy it on their on.

This nonfiction book shows photos of a real family learning at home. Our guide is 9-year-old Teigen. Teigen and her three younger sisters have never been to school. They live on a small farm in Washington, with "a barn, a creek, a pond, and lots of animals," including Teigen's pony, Misty.

My daughter was very interested to learn that they have a schedule (can you tell we're unschoolers?) but happy to know that the family completes its daily schoolwork by noon. The family follows a mix of learning from textbooks and doing creative projects.

Says Teigen, "Sometimes all of us learn together. When we studied how the pilgrims settled in America, we made pilgrim costumes and cooked some of the foods pilgrims ate, like pumpkin pie and cornbread. My sisters had as much fun as I did, and we all learned a lot." This description is accompanied by a very cute picture of the girls in costumes.

Because it describes a real family, it's not a sugar-coated version of homeschooling. Teigen relates that when one girl fell off her bunk bed and needed stitches, no one did any schoolwork that day. She also describes playdates and coop classes with other homeschoolers; finding owl pellets on a nature walk and taking them apart to see what the owl had for dinner; collecting frog eggs in the pond, hatching the tadpoles and letting them go; and other interesting events in the homeschool life. Sometimes Dad takes Teigen to work with him, and they all work together in the garden.

Although this family has a country lifestyle, San Francisco city kids will easily relate because of all the nature outings and classes available for similar experiences in the Bay area. Besides positive imagery for the kids, this would be a good book to share with skeptical grandparents or other relatives who aren't sure homeschooling is a viable alternative.

I Am a Home Schooler, by Julie Voetberg. 1995, Albert Whitman & Company.