Billie Eilish's Mom Maggie Baird Talks About Homeschooling and Bartering for Singing Lessons

Maggie Baird isn't just an actor, screenwriter, theater teacher, and Grammy Award-winning musician. She's also mom to the one and only multiple Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, Billie Eilish, and her brother, Finneas. When they were little, they were both "very creative and very alert babies," says Baird.

"Looking back, you could definitely sort of see the seeds of who they would become," recalls Baird. "Somebody told me like, what you have at 3 is what you can have at 13. And I have to say it was very true in our house."

When the children were young, Baird and her husband, Patrick, made the decision to homeschool.

"We found this amazing homeschool community in California," she says. "I'd lead the book clubs, and I'd lead a field trip and we'd have people over to our house every Friday; we'd make crafts and we'd talk about the history of the holidays. It just was very organic and kind of made sense in our lives to kind of follow their lead and what they were interested in."

To Baird, it was an example of following her children's lead as a parent. That's something she's been doing their whole lives—especially when it comes to music.

"We always knew Billie had this unbelievable voice from the time she was tiny," notes Baird. "And she never stopped singing. She sang everything. She sang before she talked; she loved singing. She'd say to me, 'Mom, what should I play in the car?' And I'd be like, 'Just sing to me.'"

Baird knew their kids loved to sing so much that she and her husband bartered for lessons. "We bartered a lot," says Baird. "My husband did handyman work at the gymnastics gym. Billie loved her gymnastics class. We couldn't afford it more than like one session. And I did some cooking in exchange for singing lessons from their singing teacher."

Those lessons have since manifested into massive international tours.

"There's real elements of fun and joy and seeing your kids on stage," says Baird. "It's just mind blowing, to see them do what they love."

Check out We Are Family Season 2, Episode 22 now for more with Maggie Baird on her kids' unconventional childhoods and raising world-famous teens.

Listen to We Are Family on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, TuneIn, Stitcher, Google, and everywhere podcasts are available.

Listen to Season 2, Episode 22 right now: