As someone who was homeschooled in the early nineties, the widespread acceptance of homeschooling is a bit mind-boggling to me now. This mother's memoir of her year-long experiment in homeschooling is a fun read. Though homeschooling remains the playground of the well-off or highly religious, she does a good job at exploring and refraining from judging the many niches and fringe groups that now exist. ( )

Some parts were five stars, some were one star. The chapter on the author sneaking into a convention caused me to cringe- she was so self righteous and judgmental in that chapter and yet she was the one who had gone where she was not invited and had not even paid the fee to attend. That's like stealing food from a restaurant and then writing and publishing a horrible review on the cooking. Or no better than a tabloid crashing a celebrity's honeymoon.
On the other hand there were lots of chapters I enjoyed. I am in my first year of homeschooling and could empathize with the questions she asked herself. Though she seems to have an unlimited budget enabling her to fly across the country several times in one year to attend different homeschool conventions and events as well as ordering whatever material she curriculum peek her curiosity. I definitely can't relate to that. ( )

Another great book by Quinn! ( )

Although I am used to reading about homeschooling from a Christian perspective, I truly enjoyed this humorous tale of a secular mother who decided to homeschool her child. Her research was pretty impressive, and while she visited many different groups, usually sneaking in incognito in some horrid outfit, I feel that she stayed just this side of open mockery. Overall, an enjoyable read. ( )

Ms. Cummings does a great job of telling the story of her homeschooling experience while at the same time giving a brief history of the homeschooling movement as well as a glimpse into some of the more extreme groups. In her quest to find a community or "tribe" of homeschoolers she encounteres some strange folks, but to her credit she describes what she sees but stops short of poking fun at them. She is funny and engaging - a great read! ( )