Stefan Merrill Block started writing “Homeschooled” — a memoir of the five years he spent at home after his mother pulled him out of school — as a healing exercise after his mother’s death. He thought it might generate material for a fourth novel.
But after writing down hundreds of pages of memories, something else came out:
“When I was reading my own story as a reader, I started to find that I had profound empathy for this kid in a way that I had never quite had empathy for myself,” he told me in this new interview. “And I was rooting for him and feeling sad for him and worried for him.”
The result of these written memories is a book that is troubling, often funny — and deeply personal.
For the years he was at home, Block had few contacts with anyone his own age and minimal formal instruction. At one point to improve his handwriting his mother made him walk on all fours for months.
But in this new interview, Block talked more about something he discovered only after the events of the book: the world of former homeschoolers who are advocating for better oversight.
“I get emails from readers all the time who had, you know — not the same situation because of course every homeschool is different — but felt sort of unseen and unwitnessed in their own peculiar home education environments,” he said. “The sense of connection that I feel with these people is just immense.”
Watch the interview or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to the conversation on Spotify or Apple.
I am also a former homeschooler, which in my case was almost entirely a positive experience. It’s this huge range of possible outcomes in home education that makes reporting on it so tricky — when journalists even try.
“I have felt over the last 15 years that I have been trying to write something on the subject of homeschooling, a real resistance from traditional mainstream journalism to accept those stories or to cover those stories,” Block said. “I think that there has recently been a change in the culture.”
But the best coverage, he contends, is still from the groups of former homeschoolers.
For reporters looking to improve homeschooling coverage, Block wants to see journalists talk directly to children or former homeschoolers and not cover the story solely as one of parental choice.
He also wants to see more coverage of the laws around home education.
Listen to our full conversation for more on the stereotypes of homeschooling, why Block thinks few reporters are getting it right, and the kind of policy-focused coverage he wants to see.
Previously from The Grade
Covering private school choice in the Trump 2.0 era
Covering school choice during the 2024 campaign season
ProPublica’s Eli Hager on covering choice in a new era
Inside the Harper’s magazine story about teaching at an ESA-funded micro-school
