Teach Your Own Paperback – September 28, 2021

This is a great book!! It was definitely a confidence booster for me as a mom wanting to homeschool.

I pre-ordered this book back in June 2021 and it showed up on my doorstep last week, SURPRISE! The updated version is very relevant to today. As someone who doesn't need to be convinced to homeschool my 3 children, I was still blown away by some current information. Pat Farenga put into words what I could not when it comes to the recent uptick of Covid homeschoolers. Remote learning is not homeschooling and when all the parents are complaining about how horrible remote learning is....they need to listen to their gut, it's because it is horrible for all involved. Anyways, I plan to reread this book every so often just for a confidence boost when homeschooling goes back to being "the weird thing" to do.P.s. I really appreciate the connection to parenting styles and homeschooling. I also went against the grain of society when I held my newborns basically until they could walk themselves, and I still carry and cuddle them!

Wish I read this book before starting our homeschool journey 4 years ago, but even now I found it to be so interesting with all its insightful information about public schools vs homeschooling! If your not sure if homeschooling is for you, this book will change your mind!

I am about halfway in. I like the readability. It can be a convicting book in ways. Good stories written within the book about real experiences gives a good perspective. I don’t agree with everything thus far but that’s ok. You can take what you want and leave what you don’t.

This is an excellent book for those interested in providing a well rounded, hands on, real world education for their child- no matter their age. It is centered around well documented research, personal stories of families who do any variation of homeschooling, and the sad reality that formal schooling simply doesn’t cut it for many children socially, emotionally, or intellectually. Very well written, never dry or boring. I am a public school teacher turned homeschooler/unschooler, and really value research and data. This book delivers on academia and heart. It is both radical and reliable. Highly recommend!

I am a huge John Holt fan. I just needed to begin this review with that statement. I am also a fan of what I have read from Pat Farenga from other sources. So I thought the book Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Home Schooling would be a slam dunk. It wasn’t for me.It wasn’t that I necessarily disagreed with any of the content but I just didn’t find it inspirational or informative.Much of the content in the book consists of notes sent into the homeschooling magazine Growing Without School, which was run by both men, from parent readers. While I can appreciate what they were trying to do in providing a variety of voices to illustrate their points, it kind of felt like I was just sifting through notes.If you are looking to be inspired and informed on your homeschooling journey, I would skip this book, but I remain a fan of both men and their work and I encourage you to perk up when their other writings cross your virtual desk.

Do you remember what they taught you at school? Me neither. I learned to read very early on, mostly at home, and I still remember some math, but only because I balance my checkbook and know when I'm getting correct change at the market. All those years, isolated from the real world in the artificial environment of school, sitting at a desk all day with 30 of my same age peers, how was I to learn about what an actual life in the world is like, or about what I wanted to do with mine? I remember learning to take tests. Now I never take them. A lot of it was pleasant enough, some of it was not, most of it was boring, and somehow I never noticed that I was mostly wasting my time.Now I know better having read John Holt, a sweet, caring man and a wonderful writer. He's radical, but he never rants. He persuades, gently, eloquently. He learns through years of careful, loving observation and by trial and error and he shares that with you in a way that makes it seem as though he's one of your oldest, most comfortable friends. He reminds you of what you went through in school. He makes sense. He's fun to read. And you know he's right as you read him, because we have all gone to school.

I checked this book out from the library, and a couple chapters in realized I NEEDED my own copy. This is an excellent resource, and there’s so much goodness to highlight, underline, star, and heart, throughout this book and to reference back to over the years. I love so much of John Holt’s ideas and philosophies, and this book earned its spot on my bookshelf, for sure!