South DFW News

Texas Home School Coalition Customer Relations Manager Ashley Lawson of Johnson County was a homeschooling mom herself well before the COVID-19 pandemic set in and forced millions of families to teach their children at home. 

Lawson had been laid off from a job in Dallas in 2007, and rather than look for another professional position, she opted to educate her preschool-aged daughter at their home and start a small-scale preschool for several friends’ children as well.

“Schools do their best, but it is difficult for it not to feel like a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to education, which just does not work for children who are so unique and diverse,” Lawson told South DFW News. 

Rather than keeping her son, whom she says is a bright boy, in school, Lawson decided to pull him out of the public school system and began educating both children at home. 

“My son graduated one year early, and spent the [next] year working in Austin as an intern at the State Capitol,” Lawson said. “He is now in his second year of college. This semester, he made the National Honor Society, straight As, and made the President’s List.”

Lawson’s daughter is also a high achiever, she says. She is athletic, musical and has high goals for herself following graduation, despite never having been in the state’s schooling system. 

Lawson has taken advantage of programs catered to supporting homeschooling parents, such as co-ops, which help educate children in a more traditional classroom setting for a half day every week, leaving students and parents to structure the other four days per week to best fit their needs. 

“Juggling co-op or other types of classes can be a challenge, but it has been worth it, in my opinion,” Lawson said.

To families considering homeschooling their children, Lawson has some words of wisdom to offer. 

“Parents considering homeschooling should avoid comparisons, most of all,” Lawson said. “The one thing that really concerned me was ensuring that my children were keeping up, but in retrospect, the starting point and the finish line is different for every child.”