Laura Berquist, '75
Author/Homeschooler
Alumni Profile -- (Winter 1998-1999 Newsletter)
Fifteen years ago Laura (nee Steichen) Berquist ('75) started
homeschooling her six children. Quietly. Unassumingly. She
never dreamed that her experience would lead to a hot-selling
book, a consulting business and more speaking invitations
than she can handle. But it has.
Laura Berquist and her husband, Marcus, one of the College's
founders, had decided when their children were small to pursue
the homeschooling alternative. She had come across Dorothy
Sayers' essay, Lost Tools of Learning, which describes the
development of learning in children. The book resonated with
her own ideas about education, but lacked references to specific
curriculum materials. "I knew how my children should
learn, but I didn't know in detail what they should read for
science and history and so forth," she said.
So she started experimenting. She found what worked and what
do not. She was drawn to classical texts.
In 1994, fellow schoolmate Margaret (nee Boersig) Mason ('81)
invited Laura to speak on classical education at a homeschooling
conference in Virginia. Margaret asked her to prepare a hand-out
in advance. "I got carried away," Laura says. "My
outline kept getting longer and longer; with pages of recommended
works for each grade level, it became a book."
She also re-read Sayers' essay and found, through her lived
experience, how perceptive it was. She wanted to share those
insights with others. She attended the conference and brought
along Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, a book that
included the curricular particulars that Sayers' essay lacked.
Her first homespun publication sold two thousand copies quickly.
Bethlehem Books then marketed her book and by its third printing
had sold 5,000 more. Ignatius Press recently took over its
publication with an expanded section on high school curricular.
By Christmas, 1998, just two months after release, sales were
above 2,000. Her book even won third place in a reader's poll
of their favorite homeschooling book in Practical Homeschooling,
the flagship magazine of the bustling homeschooling movement.
Laura is surprised by the book's success. "It's all
common sense. Much of what's in there is what people are doing
anyway," she says.
"People forget that the primary end of marriage is the
procreation and education of children. That means the things
you are moved to do regarding the education of your children
come from the grace of the sacrament. Education is really
a charism of the marriage sacrament."
Laura soon hit the homeschooling lecture circuit and was featured
on EWTN. She was besieged with calls from people who wanted
practical advice. A professional educator who ran a secular
independent-study program convinced her to develop a similar
program where she could offer homeschooling consulting services.
The two thus formed Mother of Divine Grace School, which
has grown in just three years to include 700 students from
250 families across the country and Europe. Ten other experienced
homeschooling consultants work for her. She has since cut
down her speaking engagements to about 8 per year.
Ignatius Press is publishing a second book of hers this Spring:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath - Poetry and Dictation For the
Classical Curriculum. "The book contains the poems recommended
in my first book. It also has a section designed for older
children who can see the power and beauty of language and
so can understand and appreciate poetry and verse," she
says.
Naturally, Laura's work aims to bring students to the College,
and her own children are proof of her success. Her oldest,
Margaret, graduated from the College last year, and John and
Theresa attend now. It's safe to say more than just her children
will follow.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Winter 1999
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