A tutorial for temporary homeschoolers

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Who is Terrie Lynn Bittner?

I'm Terrie Lynn Bittner. Lots of years ago, I was a freelance writer. Then my oldest started having trouble in school. She was very gifted--reading sixth grade novels before kindergarten--but also learning disabled in some other areas, including the physical ability to write. The schools didn't really understand how to manage that sort of combination and there weren't programs for children like her. The first few years went really well but after that we seemed unable to find teachers who knew what to do. A few school changes didn't really help. Then I learned our school district had a homeschooling program. I'd met one homeschooler once--this was so long ago no one had the Internet and homeschooling was uncommon. I hadn't realized it was done all over or even that it was legal around the country. I thought the one person I'd met was following a little local trend.

We joined the program but in some ways, it wasn't any better than school. It was better than most programs I see today because they handed me the textbooks and I could teach any way I wanted (I like lesson planning and teaching), but we had to meet with the teacher in person weekly and attend a weekly socialization event. That used up a lot of teaching time. Then there were the timesheets...you had to file each activity under a specific category and I seemed to spend a lot of time defending my choice of location for each activity, since I did a lot of thematic teaching. Eventually we learned it was legal to homeschool independently, so we did. I homeschooled my daughter for a year and a few months and she went back to school with her new coping skills in place.

All was well for all three of my children that year, but the next, they were all bored because their skills were pretty high. They asked to be homeschooled a few weeks into the year. I asked for two weeks to get ready and then they came home...for good, although I didn't know that's how long it would last at the time.

I put my writing career on hold because I simply couldn't manage homeschooling and freelancing at the same time. People do, but I have ADD and I couldn't. Just as the children were finishing school, I was asked to write a book on homeschooling for people who feel totally incompetent. I had a webpage on homeschooling and made no secret of my incompetencies in many areas. With that, my writing career was back in gear.

Today, I have child in college, one overseas with a military husband, and one who is a stay-at-home mom. Both daughters are married to servicemen. I have a content writing business and a book on home preschool due out soon. My first book is coming out in an updated second edition. While I've retired from homeschooling, I still love the homeschooling world and I especially like helping people who feel a little on the fringes of the homeschool movement--the temporary homeschoolers and the burnt-out homeschoolers, for instance.

Find me on Google + (Most of my posts are public, so you can read them without being a member.)