Homeschooled was Block's memoir of his education and life spent learning at home and how it shaped his later life and career. At the age of nine, Block's mother pulled him out of class as a response to his sulky behavior at his new school. He wasn't happy about her interference, as he was just starting to enjoy his class and beginning to make new friends, but once the trajectory was in place, there was no stopping his mother. Turns out she was an extremely needy woman who had decided that the answer to assuage her loneliness was to homeschool her son, and gain a malleable home companion. It ended up that Block was almost emotionally abused and forced by his mother's guilt tripping to be home for all eight grades. He knew that he would have major problems fitting in socially and academically with his peers, and when he finally broke away to begin high school, he found that he was completely hampered by his homeschooling. The book goes on to describe how he had to separate from his mother who persisted in trying to reel him back to her-even when he married, she floated the idea that she and her husband would move next to him to take care of their child, perhaps as a surrogate-he vetoed that.
The book lightly touches on the subject of homeschooling-its history as a counter-culture answer to public education and, in the present, a way to exert evangelical control. It made me search for information on the effects of homeschooling on grown-up homeschooled children, but there is very little reported information that isn't sponsored by homeschooling sources. This would be a good read for those who enjoyed Glass Castle and Educated as it too is a first-hand account of a very atypical school experience.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
January 6, 2026
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