Home Is Where the School Is: The Logic of Homeschooling and the Emotional Labor of Mothering

Description

Explores the experiences of homeschooling mothers Mothers who homeschool their children constantly face judgmental questions about their choices, and yet the homeschooling movement continues to grow with an estimated 1.5 million American children now schooled at home. These children are largely taught by stay-at-home mothers who find that they must tightly manage their daily schedules to avoid burnout and maximize their relationships with their children, and that they must sustain a desire to sacrifice their independent selves for many years in order to savor the experience of motherhood. Home Is Where the School Is is the first comprehensive look into the lives of homeschooling mothers. Drawing on rich data collected through eight years of fieldwork and dozens of in-depth interviews, Jennifer Lois examines the intense effects of the emotional and temporal demands that homeschooling places on mothers’ lives, raising profound questions about the expectations of modern motherhood and the limits of parenting. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Homeschooling Mothers PART I. THE EMOTIONAL CULTURE OF GOOD MOTHERING 2. Coming to a Decision: First- and Second-Choice Homeschoolers 3. Defending Good-Mother Identities: The Homeschooling Stigma PART II. THE TEMPORAL-EMOTIONAL CONFLICT OF GOOD MOTHERING 4. Adding the Teacher Role: Domestic Labor and Burnout 5. Losing Me-Time: The Temporal Emotion Work of Motherhood PART III. HOMESCHOOLING MOTHERHOOD OVER TIME 6. Looking Back: The Homeschooling Journey 7. Taking Stock of the Present: Perceptions of Success 8. Looking Forward: Empty Desks, Empty Nests 9. Savoring Motherhood Notes Bibliography Index A B C E F G H I L M P R S T U W About the Author