From Professor to Homeschool Mom

Dr. Timberly Baker on Homeschooling, Self-Directed Learning, and Raising Independent Kids

Dr. Timberly Baker, associate professor of educational leadership at Arkansas State University, has spent her career studying how children learn best. But some of her most profound lessons in education came from homeschooling her own children. 

Before she ever considered school choice from a policy perspective, Dr. Baker was simply a mother trying to do what was best for her children. 

“Once you learn how you learn, you can teach yourself anything,” Dr. Baker said. “Too many adults struggle with learning because traditional schooling never taught them how to learn best as individuals. I wanted my children to develop independence in their learning, so they could teach themselves anything.”   

Dr. Baker’s homeschooling journey began with her daughter. When her family moved to Arkansas for her academic position, her daughter took an Indiana standardized test and performed exceptionally well. However, once in Arkansas, it became clear that her daughter wasn’t being challenged in the traditional school setting.

“She was excelling beyond grade level, but the structure of traditional school wasn’t allowing her to truly explore her interests or push her critical thinking. I pulled her out of her public school after realizing she was ahead of her grade level but wasn’t being challenged.” 

As a collegiate educator, she was deeply familiar with the strengths and limitations of traditional schooling, but when she realized her daughter needed a different learning environment, she decided to take education into her own hands.   

“I spent the first two years figuring out how she learned best, teaching her how to be an independent learner, so she could apply those skills to anything. We started with structure,” she admitted, “but quickly realized that a rigid school-like schedule wasn’t the right fit for us. Instead, we made learning a flexible, dynamic process—sometimes at home, sometimes at a coffee shop, sometimes through hands-on apprenticeships.”

This experience reinforced Dr. Baker’s belief in self-directed learning and the power of tailoring education to fit each child’s needs.   

 “At first, I was just trying different things—figuring out how she learned best and teaching her how to be an independent learner,” Dr. Baker said. “But as we progressed, I saw her confidence grow, and she started taking ownership of her learning in ways that she never had before.”   

She moved beyond traditional schooling methods and instead prioritized executive functioning skills, critical thinking, and real-world learning opportunities. 

“I wasn’t just teaching content; I was teaching her how to take notes, organize information, and develop deep comprehension,” she said. “Once she mastered that, she could teach herself anything.”   

Her second daughter ’s transition to home education came later, spurred by the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as a temporary adjustment soon became a long-term commitment when Dr. Baker realized that she, too, thrived in a non-traditional learning setting.   

“Once we started homeschooling my youngest, I realized she needed the same flexibility that had helped my older daughter grow,” she said. “It wasn’t about recreating school at home—it was about creating an environment where they could take ownership of their education. Homeschooling wasn’t about isolating them from traditional education,” she explained. “It was about giving them the skills to learn anything, anywhere, at any time.”   

A key part of this process was teaching her children time management. This approach gave them both structure and autonomy, reinforcing the real-world skill of accountability.    

“A big part of homeschooling for me is teaching my kids to manage their own time. We have Sunday planning meetings where we go over their weekly goals, schedules, and responsibilities,” she said. “After that, it’s up to them. If my daughter sleeps all day Monday, fine—but she has to figure out how to make up for that time on Tuesday.”     

Her homeschooling model emphasizes inquiry-based education, where her children pursued in-depth projects that connected multiple subject areas. Whether studying data analytics, theater production, or chemistry through hands-on experiences, they gained not just academic knowledge but also valuable transferable skills.   

Dr. Baker’s experience navigating both traditional and home education has given her a unique perspective on school choice, particularly regarding the barriers rural families face when seeking alternatives to public school.   

Flying to Madrid Spain in 2024

“School choice is a faux phenomenon for many places, especially in a rural context,” Dr. Timberly Baker shared. “We talk about school choice as if the bonanza of options available in urban centers is mimicked across the nation, and it’s not.”  

When people discuss school choice, they often envision bustling cities filled with charter schools, magnet programs, and private institutions eager to accept scholarship students. But in rural communities, the reality of school choice looks starkly different. For many families, the options presented on paper do not exist in practice.   

“In our town, we had one public school district— three elementaries, one middle school, one junior high school and one high school and nothing else,” she explained. “The next town over had two private schools, but even if every family who wanted an alternative left the public system, those schools wouldn’t have the capacity to take them all. So, where’s the choice?” 

In some rural areas, families are faced with a binary decision: send their children to the local public school or homeschool. Private schools may exist, but they are few and often lack the capacity to accommodate additional students. Charter schools are nonexistent. This leaves many families without a genuine choice, despite legislative efforts that suggest otherwise.  

“In rural communities, school choice isn’t just about having different types of schools—it’s about making sure families actually have access to the right fit for their kids,” she explained. “For my family, homeschooling was that right fit. But for another family, it might be an innovative charter school or a hybrid model. The key is making sure families have options that work for them.”   

Beyond her work in education policy and advocacy, Dr. Timberly Baker sees her legacy as one that extends beyond her own research. She is deeply committed to ensuring that more Black scholars have opportunities to explore the complexities of rural school choice and education equity. 

“For me, it’s not just about the work I’m doing today,” she said. “It’s about making sure that the next generation of Black researchers can step into this space and bring their perspectives to the table. We need more voices in the conversation, especially from those of us who have lived these experiences firsthand.” 

Dr. Baker hopes that by shining a light on the gaps in school choice for rural and rural Black families, she can inspire other researchers to build upon her work and continue advocating for real solutions. Her journey, both as an educator and a parent, has given her unique insight into the struggles and possibilities of alternative education models—insights she is determined to pass on to those who follow in her footsteps. At the same time, she emphasizes that many families—especially in rural communities—still depend on public schools and may not have the resources or access to homeschool, making it essential that quality public options remain part of the conversation. 

Encouragingly, research shows that when states adopt broad-based educational choice programs, supply follows. According to EdChoice’s The Supply Side of ESAs: How Universal School Choice Programs Have Affected the Number of Private Schools and Home Education Vendors, the number of private schools and home education vendors tends to increase when families are empowered to seek options that fit their needs.

“We need to stop pretending that vouchers alone will solve the problem,” Dr. Baker emphasized. “Funding is important, but without real options, it’s like giving someone a bus ticket in a town with no buses.” 

For rural families, the conversation must shift from simply raising awareness to expanding real, usable options. That means investing in educator training programs to help start new schools, incentivizing microschool models in rural areas, and recognizing the unique challenges faced by Black homeschooling families who are often navigating additional layers of scrutiny. 

“Choice should not be a privilege of geography,” she said. “If we truly want educational freedom, we have to build the schools—not just fund the students.”