Jennifer Cabrera

I’m the goat that has tried the grass on both sides of the fence, so to speak. A very attractive goat, of course, with a very hard head, naturally. But, nevertheless, we were once public schoolers. And now we are not.

I have tasted life on both sides of the schooling fence and therefore get to claim some bit of expertise when I tell you that some of what seems important enough to worry about on one side is absolutely laughable from the other.

There are two kinds of new homeschoolers. First, there are those who are fired up to get going on this adventure and ready to stock their homes with all of the tools for success. And I mean all. If you have been googling the best in-home laminating system, you are this mom. In contrast, there are those who have been backed into this gig by a failing public school system and just need to know where the online supply list has been uploaded, if they can buy used, and if there's a coupon.

Has a home ever really been lived in if no one has homeschooled within its walls?

Homeschoolers know how to live in a house. Every single square inch is commandeered for a purpose, or four or five. The kitchen is, at different times or all at once, the cafeteria, science lab, art room, nurse’s office, dinner theatre, and debate stage. We have even staged an epic fire drill in ours. (It was actually less of a drill and more of the real thing than I care to admit, but you get where I am going with this multi-purposing of rooms.)

Every space is prime real estate for sibling rivalry, and at times, the walls may feel as if they are heaving, cartoon-like as nooks and crannies become reading corners and LEGO stop animation studios.