Review: "Homeschooled" by Stefan Merrill Block

Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block
Published January 2026 via Hanover Square Press
★★★★

When Block was nine, his mother pulled him out of public school in favor of homeschool. Ostensibly, this was because public school was stifling his creativity; in practice, the way Block describes it, his mother was lonely and bored and floundering (among other things, the family had recently moved to Texas for Block's father's career, so his mother had given up her own career). In theory, Block had the freedom to get ahead of his peers academically while pursuing his passions. In practice, well. That's where it gets complicated.

I read this out of curiosity about homeschooling. I went to public school from kindergarten all the way through grade twelve (even my nerdy boarding school was public—but that's another story), but I've known people with stories not too dissimilar to Block's, and more recently I've also read a fair amount about homeschooling that is done for religious or political reasons. Block's mother didn't have religious motivation, but Block touches lightly on the political climate that made his homeschooling (and often lack of schooling) possible.

It became clear to me, midway through the book, that there would have had to be some kind of cataclysm at some point between Block's youth and the present day to make it possible for him to publish this book: either his mother would have had to had a major change in perspective, or should would have had to died, or Block would have had to cut ties with her. Maybe there are other options, but those were the major three I could think of. This is not to say that Block speaks unkindly of his mother—he describes a deep filial love for her that made it hard to go against her wishes and instructions, even when those things made it much harder for him to navigate the world (and, more to the point, high school in Texas) in a way that was comfortable for him. It's to say that he speaks bluntly about how off-kilter so many of his mother's decisions were, and how much that impacted him, and I couldn't imagine that he'd be writing so openly about it if nothing had changed.

Two things that struck me: First, at some point in Block's middle school years, his mother started something of at at-home tutoring business, based on her success (or whatever you want to call it) with Block...but what she did as a tutor involved a great deal more actual teaching than what she did as a homeschool teacher with Block, and also seemed (at least, as I read it) to bring her a great deal more satisfaction. Block doesn't get into this in detail, but it makes me wonder about what could have been—if she'd found a paying job earlier in Texas, for example, might that have brought her the purpose she seems to have sought in homeschooling? And second, late in the book, Block (speaking of himself as a young man in New York), says Still, I've never met an actual writer (loc. 3101*). No great insights about this, it just...in the context of Block having spent so much of his tweenage years in his room, writing (something his mother encouraged because she was sure he'd be a famous writer), it strikes me as so sad and rather strange that he'd never had the opportunity to sit down with a writer and ask all sorts of questions.

Homeschooling can be great...for the right kid, and with the right supervising adult, and with broader oversight. But that wasn't the kind of homeschooling that Block got, and frankly I don't know what proportion of homeschooled kids get the right confluence of factors. Here's hoping that this can be a loud and critical voice for the lack of regulation.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.