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
 
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! • A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK  •  A heartbreaking, empowering, 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

*A Top 10 Amazon Book of the Month Pick*
*A Washington Post Book to Read in January!*
*A Library Journal Big Book of the Week!*
*A BookRiot Best New Nonfiction of January!*

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.
In this “stunning debut memoir” (Jenna Bush Hager, The Today Show), Block beautifully reflects on his experiences in both traditional and at-home education systems, delving into:
The inception of the homeschooling movement and its massive rise throughout America
Early memories of Block’s mother, and a poignant look into their dysfunctional mother-son story
Block’s reentry into the public school system, both jarring yet insightful, and the bullying he withstood
His emotional journey towards forgiveness, love, and hope as he becomes a parent himself

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.

Praise for Homeschooled

"One of the most beautiful books I've ever read."—Jenna Bush Hager

“Absorbing.”—Washington Post

“A revealing and deeply empathetic portrait of a complex relationship between mother and son.” –BookPage, starred review

“Astonishing.”—The New York Post

"Clearly told with the steadiness of a masterful writer."—Isaac Fitzgerald
 
Contributor Bio(s)
 
Stefan Merrill Block grew up in Plano, Texas. His first book, The Story of Forgetting, was an international bestseller and the winner of Best First Fiction at the Rome International Festival of Literature, The Ovid Prize from the Romanian Writer''s Union, the 2008 Merck Serono Literature Prize and the 2009 Fiction Award from The Writers’ League of Texas. The Story of Forgetting was also a finalist for the debut fiction awards from IndieBound, Salon du Livre and The Center for Fiction. Stefan''s novels have been translated into ten languages, and his stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker Page-Turner, The Guardian, NPR’s Radiolab, GRANTA, The Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. He lives in upstate New York.