"She had the ambition of Napoleon and the talent of your average high school valedictorian."

This Ernest Hemingway quotation supposedly about his third wife, Martha Gellhorn, somehow fits with the spirit of The Teenage Liberation Handbook. Though I don't agree with Hemingway's assessment of Gellhorn, I couldn't help but think of it when reading this book.

Grace Llewellyn's THL is not just a volume about how to homeschool (though she prefers the term "unschool," with self-directed learning based on ever-expanding interests being the primary occupation of young people). The book is also a direct attack on American schools, particularly high schools, and how they have managed to turn truly fascinating subjects into a series of meaningless assignments, make learning a chore and create lemmings out of otherwise bright and alive individuals. Because of their dictatorship tactics ("Jane, could you please go to the bathroom before class starts?" "Harry, this is not math class, so please put your math book away!"), Llewellyn posits, schools undermine the very basis of American democracy. And you know what? She's right.

At the beginning, Llewellyn recounts her own experience with the epitome of anti-democratic institutions known as the American (and not just public) school. In a telling anecdote, she relates how she and some friends joined forces in junior high school to circulate a petition indicting the school lunchroom for serving food unfit to eat. Several students signed the petition, only for it to be confiscated by a teacher and relayed to the principal. Llewellyn's friends had to report to the principal, who informed them that there would be no more complaints or petitions about lunchroom food or anything else. At that same time, Llewellyn sent a letter to the governor of her state, who responded, gave her a resource to contact about the quality of her school's food, and thanked her and her friends for promoting democracy. Now, is anyone shocked that the school squelched this most basic freedom of expression while an elected politician encouraged it? Hardly.

But not only do schools rob their students of their fundamental rights as Americans, they also make learning a tasteless, dull chore. Think about the people who scored the top grades in your school--were they bright, alive, vibrant individuals who loved learning and had a curiosity about every subject that they turned into excellent grades? Not at my school. Instead, they had "the talent of your average high school valedictorian." They knew how to manipulate the system and come away from it without being the slightest bit improved by their "education." I don't think they were exceptions.

Llewellyn pulls out all the stops in her critique of school. It's an outdated, archaic institution that makes slaves out of people whom it should be liberating. This critique is not too strong. After reading this book, I felt vindicated in all the frustration and resentment I ever felt in middle and high school.

A diatribe against schooling would have been enough for me to like this book, but Llewellyn outdoes herself by showing how to make unschooling all it can be. She warns against reconstructing school at home and instead offers countless resources for teens wanting to take their education into their own hands.

I passed this book along to my cousin, who homeschools her three children but so far has more or less stuck to "school at home." In reading just a few pages, she's already made some changes that have benefited both her and her children. I can't wait to see what happens when she finishes the book.

A note to parents: Llewellyn operates from the assumption that you all love your teens beyond belief and want what's best for them. Therefore, her advice to teens follows the reasoning that they should help you come to see that "rising out" of school is the best for them. Listen closely, and read the book. I know from personal experience that self-directed learning will prepare a student for college better than pretty much any high school could hope to.

So much of schooling undermines learning, and as a schooling mom of three who did homeschool for a few years, I think that it is vital for us to think about education in different terms and with wider perspective than how we have traditionally and militaristically approached it.

Especially now, with a huge emphasis on tests, and paperwork to *prove* every lesson, children are being kept back from the social experiences and creative opportunities that used to balance out the usually mind-numbing paperwork of school.

Structure is not unimportant, but perhaps it is not the *most* important thing. I often worry about how many layers of rules our next generation will have to get through to even begin to tap their own creative and more original thoughts.

At the very least, we shouldn't be telling our kids that it is *their* fault or misperception that "school is great and good for you!" Be honest. If your child is frustrated, the least you can do is give validation to their perceptions. They are feeling something important, and it is wrong to disconnect them from their own conscience...to make it less accessible.

That doesn't necessarily mean, to me, that a family must homeschool or unschool. My once shy younger daughter finds her outlets at school and would be somewhat stifled at home.
My oldest daughter, once homeschooled while developing her creativity, translated that into science and music and now finds highschool
opportunities abundant for her.

Bottom line:
This book is a breakthrough. It is so exciting to read, and truly gives great ideas for what to do to translate one's interest into experience.
Highly recommended as an aid to brainstorm one's way out of a rut.

I picked this up during the summer, after realizing that after my (then) two-week-long attempt at learning German I was at the same level as I had been in French after my entire first YEAR of it.

Now, I knew school was ultimately a waste of time before reading this. I think most people who go do. The book did do an excellent job of explaining why though. (And the bit about how we never see five-paragraph essays outside of school is only too true!)

I am not going to quit school to be unschooled after reading this. That was something I knew before, and it's because, as a shy person, without school I would probably never have much social contact.

But the book is still interesting, even from that viewpoint. My school (and probably a lot of others) offers the opportunity for students to do independant studies. I've only ever seen this used for art, but I'm really considering seeing if they'll let me do one for English after reading the Teenage Liberation Handbook. (I learn more new words from reading than I ever will from being handed vocab sheets of 20 words every week and being expected to memorize them.)

The book also has a lot of good resources for independant learning (books for all of the 'core' subjects, etc.).

I homeschooled for two years, and after trying a "regular" school for 9th grade, I felt like every bit of my love of learning was drained out of me. My family and I had always had one foot in one foot out with home schooling, but after reading Grace Llewellyn's book, I have decided to homeschool for the rest of high school. It has reminded me that there is so much in the world to discover and be excited about. So much more to learn without someone force feeding information to you. It has reassured and inspired me to continue with self educating myself, and regain my love of learning.

Given the already excellent reviews, I only feel the need to give this book 5 stars and to add that the Table of Contents can give you an idea of what's in this book. This is a book that explain why schools often do more harm than good, why unschooling works so well, and how to do it legally and effectively. If you don't have any idea how to unschool in math, science, or any other subject, this book will help. It advises on how to get involved in social activities and team sports, too. It even shows how to make unschooling financially rewarding. Finally, this book is a rich resource on how to gain higher education if that is your wish, or to explore other avenues of continued learning.

All in all, whatever problem you can think of with unschooling, Miss Llewellyn has already thought of it and explained it in this book.