Hello, dear Readers,
Below is my book review of Homeschooled: A Memoir by Stefan Merrill Block.
Title: Homeschooled
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Genre: Memoir
Author: Stefan Merrill Block
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Publication Date: January 06, 2026
Publication Date: January 06, 2026
Language: English
Paperback: 288 Pages
Meet the Author: Stefan Merrill Block
Buy Me: AmazonBook Description
A heartbreaking, empowering, and often hilarious debut memoir about a mother’s all-consuming love, a son’s perilous quest to discover the world beyond the front door, and the unregulated homeschool system that impacts millions like him.
Stefan Merrill Block was nine when his mother pulled him from school, certain that his teachers were “stifling his creativity.” Hungry for more time with her boy, who was growing up too quickly, she began to instruct Stefan in the family’s living room. Beyond his formal lessons in math, however, Stefan was largely left to his own devices and his mother’s erratic whims, such as her project to recapture her twelve-year-old son's early years by bleaching his hair and putting him on a crawling regimen.
Years before homeschooling would become a massive nationwide movement, at a time when it had just become legal in his home state of Texas, Stefan vanished into that unseen space and into his mother’s increasingly eccentric theories and projects. But when, after five years away from the outside world, Stefan reentered the public school system in Plano as a freshman, he was in for a jarring awakening.
At once a novelistic portrait of mother and son, and an illuminating window into an overlooked corner of the American education system, Homeschooled is a moving, funny, and ultimately inspiring story of a son’s battle for a life of his own choosing, and the wages of a mother’s insatiable love.
My Thoughts
Every now and then, I come across a memoir that, more than the story itself, what fascinates me is the writing, the way the story is written. It is like this unique voice that makes you feel different while reading, in a good way. That was the case for me with Homeschooled.
Don't get me wrong, the story is very important and relevant, an important subject to be talked about, specially when you can hear from someone who actually went through Homeschooling, in this case, Stefan, sharing his story, his experiences, which for someone like me, who was never homeschooled, can be a very eye-opening account on the realities for kids who go through it and the long lasting consequences and impact. of it.
I truly appreciate Stefan for sharing his story.
Thank you, Hanover Square Press and NetGalley, for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Wendy
