Lesson Plans
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Library Journal Editor’s Pick
Reader’s Digest “Great Books from Small Presses That Are Worth Your Time”
“Witty and insightful.” —Reader’s Digest
“Readers who enjoyed Tom Perrotta’s Little Children will want to try Suzanne Greenberg’s Lesson Plans, an entertaining, funny, and thoughtful debut novel about three California homeschooling families.” —Library Journal Editor’s Pick citation
Lesson Plans chronicles the lives of three California families who choose to homeschool for different, deeply personal reasons.
Patterson is a straight-laced insurance adjuster who has recently discovered both surfing and God and convinces his wife to homeschool their rambunctious twins. David is a liberal stay-at-home dad who feels stuck in suburbia and throws his energy into homeschoolong his three “ducklings.” Wedding photographer Keith has just separated from Beth, a full-time mom struggling to manage her own private chaos. And there’s Jennifer, Keith and Beth’s precocious daughter, who copes with severe allergies and doesn’t understand why she’s not attending school and seeing friends like she used to. Will homeschooling provide balance and harmony for these families? Or will it bring unforeseen challenges and stress?
In this captivating and funny debut novel, Suzanne Greenberg takes a serious look at the choices parents profess to make on behalf of their children, as well as the unpredictable ways in which new relationships can change our lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Greenberg (Speed-Walk and Other Stories) sets her first adult novel in Southern California, where several families opt for homeschool instead of public education. The decision to homeschool serves as a commonality for these families, but it's hard to imagine them choosing to spend time together. David, a sanctimonious stay-at-home-dad resents the ordinariness of his life, and indulges his daughters under the guise of letting them learn. After her husband Keith leaves her, Beth Wheeler decides to homeschool her daughter, who has severe asthma and allergies. Patterson and Winter, parents of twins, are the least convincing of the families who decide to homeschool. Patterson is inspired by his newfound Christianity, which is briefly and inadequately explained, while Winter is mostly described in terms of her appearance and her laughable business ideas. When Greenberg displays her satirical sense of humor most often at David's expense it is certainly welcome, and serves as one of the novel's highlights, but the plot often seems driven by a need to push the three families together, rather than by believable character development. It is unclear what makes Beth and Winter decide to co-teach their children and Patterson's attraction to Beth seems highly unlikely he sees her as "a disorganized, bumbling woman who a good twenty pounds overweight" but their affair is convenient for the plot.
