Q&A with Amy Mackin

 

 

 

Amy Mackin is the author of the new memoir Henry's Classroom: A Special Education in American Motherhood. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Washington Post, and she lives in New England.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this memoir?

 

A: The initial themes of the story emerged in 2013, when I began documenting my decision to take my son out of traditional school. But I didn’t start pulling the pieces together into a manuscript until 2016.

 

We were over three years into our alternative schooling experience at that point, and I believed that what we’d discovered was worth sharing. If there were other people experiencing similar challenges, I wanted them to know that they weren’t alone.

 

Q: The writer Linda Murphy Marshall said of the book, “It’s a love story, a story about raising children with disabilities, and a beautifully written story about a mother's quest to ensure that her son receives the education he deserves.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I think Linda’s description is accurate (not surprising, as she is an incredibly smart and talented person!). I would never have fought as hard for myself as I did for my son, and the book reflects that.

 

The love we have for our kids—our insistence that they’ll have a better life than we did—is powerful. Having a child with disabilities just amplifies that sentiment. Henry had difficulty communicating when he was young; I had to be his voice until he could advocate for himself.

 

So, that love that maybe most parents carry quietly had to be made public in my case.

 

Still, my perseverance in ensuring Henry got the education he deserved transformed into a fierceness that I didn’t know I was capable of. I’m a rule-follower, but the only way to ensure my child got what he needed was to break social norms.

 

As I was coming to understand who my son was and what he needed, I was also learning who I was. That quest Linda refers to was two-fold; I just didn’t know it until Henry and I emerged on the other side.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The book’s title came to me once I was past the most challenging parts of my parenting experience. Six months into homeschooling, Henry was doing remarkably better. He was laughing and smiling again. He exhibited a joy I hadn’t seen in him since he was very small.

 

And I realized that turning away from the status quo had paid off. The traditional classroom symbolized difficulty for him, for us, but when we rethought what a classroom could be—what Henry’s Classroom could be—everything improved.

The alternative system that we created not only allowed Henry to learn and grow but also expanded the thinking of everyone he interacted with. The “classroom” we proposed challenged all of our preconceived ideas.

 

But we proved to ourselves and to others that a successful, comprehensive education could happen in different spaces, without walls and rigid time blocks and clanging school bells.

 

The adults needed educating too in this regard, and Henry was both student and teacher as he navigated an existence that was more aligned with his authentic self. In that light, the title made perfect sense to me.

Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: Writing the book changed me in myriad ways. As I documented my experiences, certain themes emerged. I began to recognize the weight of what I was going through.

 

That weight had value—it deeply affected my entire family, whether or not others recognized or accepted that. I began to let go of how I looked to other people, release myself from some of the conformity I adhered to, and learn to rely less on others’ judgment. I found my own voice as I was trying to be Henry’s.

 

Once I believed that what I had to say mattered, I started investigating the topics that I explore in the book on a larger scale. My intellectual capacity and curiosity expanded. I learned how to evaluate research studies, analyze findings, parse out what was relevant to my experience, and make meaning of my challenges. I found joy in learning again, just as Henry had.

 

I hope this book encourages broader conversations on how parents, public schools, and community organizations can work in collaboration with one another, rather than in conflict, toward serving the needs of all students, particularly those who learn differently.

 

I also hope it helps to reveal how the concerns of women and mothers are so often dismissed as irrational worry. As a society, we need to do a better job of validating the experiences of and listening to women, whether in the workplace, at our public schools, or in a medical office.

 

If just one person reads Henry’s Classroom and feels a little less alone or, alternatively, is inspired to reach out to someone they know who might be feeling isolated and overwhelmed by complex parenting, I’ll be thrilled.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’ve been invited to speak at this year’s conference of the International Association of Maternal Action and Scholarship, which I’m very excited about. Focusing on the themes in my book, I’m currently putting together a presentation that I hope is useful to that community and sparks interesting discussions.

I’m also working on a couple of essays: one dealing with generational gaps and how “going home” can be an uncomfortable reminder of who we once were and who we wanted to be; the other exploring the difficulty women experience in getting concerns for their children and/or for themselves addressed within the American medical system.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am deeply passionate about women’s issues and women’s history, and all the intersectionality that goes with those topics. I hope to write another book in the not-so-distant future that celebrates and supports the experiences that women have been discouraged to discuss out loud in the past. In our current political landscape, I think both historical review and contemporary commentary are vital.

 

If Henry’s Classroom sounds intriguing to you, please consider ordering it from an independent bookstore. If that store is women-owned, all the better!

 

Bookstores don’t often stock work published by small presses, but they can order them—this helps both the author and the publisher. And if you patronize your local library, please ask them to stock the book, so everyone has access to it (the distributor is Ingram).

 

Thank you for this opportunity to chat about my book!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb