Band started by Winfield mom provides opportunities for home-schoolers

WINFIELD – Growing up, Winfield resident Karen Borow knew the importance of music in her life.

A member of several bands throughout her school years, Borow wanted the same experience for her own children. The only issue was that they were home schooled, leaving them without a school band to join.

"I knew that for me, for my upbringing, band was really important to me," she said.

A local private school allowed the Borow kids to play with their band, but that soon became hard to do with the family's schedule, so Karen Borow decided to take matters into her own hands and founded the West Suburban Home School Band in September 2001.

What she expected to be a group of about 10 kids playing together in her basement now boasts about 175 members.

"It just grew like crazy," Borow said.

The program has grown over the years in terms of band offerings as well. It now has four levels of concert bands – cadet, junior, senior and symphonic – and a summer marching band.

To prepare for its performance season, the marching band completed a week-long training camp June 16 through 20 at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton. The group now will march in several local parades this summer.

The completely volunteer-run band program pulls in home-schooled families from throughout the Chicago region, with many members coming from the Carol Stream area because the group practices each week in Wayne, near Bartlett. But musicians also come from farther away, from towns such as Gurnee.

The program is open both to home-schooled children and their parents. One parent who is playing with the marching band this summer is Joanne Talbot of Carol Stream.

Talbot said she decided to "attempt" to play the tenor saxophone with the band after promising her kids she would join when her youngest did.

"I have a whole new respect for these children," she said.

The Talbot family has been part of the program for about six years. As a home-schooled family, it can be difficult to find these kinds of activities outside of a school, but it's not as hard as it used to be, Joanne Talbot said.

More and more activities specifically for home-schooled children are popping up, from sports to music and art, she said.

"We kind of have to find these things, and we want them to be involved and have a normal school experience in that sense, but for me, for my family, music has always been really important," Talbot said.

But beyond music education, the West Suburban Home School Band also provides important social opportunities to its participants.

"This is really different being part of a team," she said.

Anna Fisher, 14, became a member of the team when she was 9. The Aurora resident did not play any instrument when she started with the band, but she is now a French horn player with the program's most elite bands, senior and symphonic.

Anna's two younger brothers play with the program as well. Their family first learned of the West Suburban Home School Band from another home-schooled family.

Borow said many people learn about the band that way or from seeing them perform.

Because the group is not associated with a school, spectators are sometimes surprised by what they hear – in a good way, she said.

"I think a lot of people are pretty surprised we play at the level we do," Borow said.

Anna has made many friends since joining the band, and she said the past five years have been a lot of fun. But in addition to the relationships she's made with her peers, she's also developed a special bond with something else: music.

"I love to play music because of this band," Anna said.

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Get involved

Contact West Suburban Home School Band Director Karen Borow at director@wshsb.org or 630-231-6155.

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See them live

• Warrenville 4th of July Celebration, Thursday

• West Chicago Railroad Days, July 13

• DuPage County Fair Grand Opening, July 23

• Streamwood Summer Celebration, July 26