Meet Massachusetts Homeschoolers: The Bautistas

by Juan Bautista

As parents we always look for the best for our kids. I remember not knowing anything about homeschooling but desperately looking for some way of education other than the conventional routes that are not working and fail students over and over.

I remember meeting AHEM parents during a workshop at a hotel in Danvers, MA, ten years ago. This was a small community of parents hungry to learn from each other. That was when we found information that inspired and encouraged us to keep going on this path.

My daughter Biby is now at UMass-Lowell. She was accepted with honors and is pursuing a career in Music Education. She started by taking summer classes just to adapt to college life and to ease her own fears and ended the program with straight A's. As a homeschooler she was used to learning one subject for an entire day or reading an entire book for hours till she finished it, skills she used trying to cover her general education requirements.

Biby’s musical dream started at a very young age. As parents we knew that this would be her path in life, and we couldn't wait for a conventional school to start teaching music. Unfortunately, they didn’t do that until the 3rd grade and that would have been a little too late for a child to begin. We got her enrolled at the Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB) at age 5 and her journey as a musician had begun. The school has over 100 years of history and is located at the Back Bay in Boston. Biby learned to play the violin at five years of age. Just five years ago she switched to viola and began playing in the orchestra. She was part of the BEAM program from the beginning. The BEAM Initiative supports a collaborative effort to provide sustained pathways of educational opportunity and advanced preparation to Boston-area middle and high school instrumental musicians from historically underrepresented communities.

She was at the music school for over 13 years. Biby has also gotten the chance to volunteer at different school events with the community – including an interview with well-known cellist Yo-Yo Ma – and as a consequence, also got her first job at the front office. Currently she is working at the school administration (working remotely). Now at UMass-Lowell she has gotten the chance to work as a teacher assistant for the music department and to be part of the university orchestra.

In the future Biby wants to pursue a doctoral degree in music theory and to work with minorities; the purpose is to have a more diverse orchestra and ensembles.

As a parent I always remind my daughter that she's a homeschooler. She’s always been going the extra mile, doing her best to succeed any time she encounters any challenges or discouragements, when feeling uncertain or not knowing how to succeed. Meaning you're not the average student—you are a homeschooler! You can accomplish anything you work for.

I believe my daughter Biby's story as a homeschooler is not over, since her career is still in the making and she can inspire many kids and parents to find the resources and most of all the courage to enter and start a homeschool life.