This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
Okay, full disclosure: I homeschool my child. So my experience reading this book comes from that background. But I think I would have read it anyway—I like reading books with titles like The Year of [insert crazy lifestyle change here]. The result is usually funny and interesting, and this book is definitely both.
Quinn Cummings wrote this book as a sort of how-not-to-homeschool guide. When she realized that her daughter wasn’t thriving in public school, especially in math, she decided to look at other options. They tried a charter school, but when that didn’t work out, either, Quinn decided to homeschool … despite feeling like the least-qualified potential homeschool parent ever. She wrote this book to chronicle their first year, and she uses a fresh and funny voice to take an honest look at their adventures (and misadventures) during that time.
To me, the most interesting parts involved the research she did (yeah, I’m a nerd). She shares a little of the history of homeschooling, as well as some current information on how it works. But the best parts are when Quinn goes to homeschool conferences — in disguise. Yep, disguise. Because she feels kind of like an impostor — she’s not homeschooling because of any deeply held beliefs, she just wants a different educational experience for her kid. But the homeschool world is split into niches, and it takes her a while to figure out where she fits in. Needless to say, Quinn ends up learning even more than her daughter does through this experience.
The only thing that bothered me about The Year of Learning Dangerously is that there were several typos in it. It’s a quick read, though, with a conversational tone that keeps the narrative moving along quickly.
Rated: None
Click here to purchase your copy of The Year of Learning Dangerously on Amazon.
