Exeter LitFest Hosts Author of Homeschooling Memoir

EXETER__The Exeter LitFest is pleased to announce it will host a virtual discussion with Susan Cole Ross, the author of Sliding Home: Two Teachers Head for the Mountains to Teach Our Kids for a Year. The book chronicles her adventures while homeschooling her boys for one year in the NH Lakes Region and across America.

Ross, who was raised in Exeter and still lives on the Seacoast, will take part in a discussion about her memoir on Saturday, April 3 at 11 a.m. Longtime Phillips Exeter Academy Instructor, Jack Herney, will lead the talk which will be live streamed on Zoom and Facebook in conjunction with EX-TV. Attendees can submit questions via chat during the event.

Ross’s story has received positive reviews in the education community and has garnered interest at a time when parents and teachers need ideas, encouragement, humor, and solace while educating children at home this year.

In the memoir, she details how and why her pre-teen sons were withdrawn from traditional school, followed by her struggle to balance a career, and handle the learning difficulties of her youngest son.

"There is no ideal setting for learning, just as there is no ready-made home,” Ross said. “It’s all what you make of what’s available. Capitalize on your privileges and circumvent your obstacles. Know your learner as well as you can, certainly remediate weaknesses, but put joy at the center of the experience, by accentuating, fostering, and celebrating his strengths."

The Exeter LitFest will be all virtual this year, with online events from April 1 to 3. The addition of Sliding Home to this year’s schedule seemed ideal given the educational landscape during the pandemic, said Renay Allen-Hitzrot, Chair of the LitFest Board.

“The Exeter LitFest tries to provide topics of interest for everyone, and when this book was released this past fall, we knew we had to include it in this year's event,” she said. “Some families are suddenly opting for a homeschool experience, even if just for a while. Parents can feel a solidarity knowing the ups and downs of their path is one that has been trod before. Susan's memoir even has a list of resources in the back that is a helpful how-to for parents.”

Held for the first time in April of 2019, the Exeter LitFest is a 501C-3 non-profit organization with the goal of hosting an annual event. The second annual event was postponed indefinitely in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The inaugural festival included a keynote by Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown, as well as events with Joe Hill, Brendan Dubois, and NH Teen Poet Laureate Cate Dixon.

The Exeter Lit Fest’s mission is “To leverage our wealth of local literary treasure, in an environmentally sustainable way, to connect both residents and tourists to the diverse literary voices and places of greater Exeter, NH for the benefit of children and adults, the local arts community, and local businesses.” For more information, visit www.exeterlitfest.com