Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go to School Tell Their Own Stories - Softcover

Grace Llewellyn (editor)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 096295912X ISBN 13: 9780962959127

Publisher: Lowry House Publishers, 2005

In 1993, eleven homeschooled teenagers described their lives in rich detail, and Real Lives quickly became a homeschooling classic. Erin’s favorite teacher was her horse Nick, blind in one eye. Kyla flew to South America in September of what would have been her senior year—alone, except for her mountain bike. Jeremiah and his sister Serena published a newsletter on peace issues. Patrick, who hoped someday to design video games, had spent the past few years compiling portfolios of his writing and artwork. Rebecca worked at homeless shelters and, through Habitat for Humanity, built houses for people in need. Anne tended honeybees and plucked a bluegrass banjo. Ayanna kept pace with 50 pen-pals—mostly in Africa—while Kevin talked with people all over the world on his ham radio. Amanda performed with a violin quintet and worked through the mail with her writing mentor. Vallie answered questions at a marine science center; Tabitha answered the phone at a crisis line, and helped midwives at births.... ....Now those eleven homeschoolers have grown up and engaged the territory of adulthood, college, and career—and the new edition of Real Lives includes updates from all of them. From gaining admission to an Ivy League institution without taking the SAT to crafting a simple life centered on writing and gardening, they tell where life has taken them and where they have taken life, and offer hindsight and advice for others choosing to learn outside of school.

About the Author:

Grace Llewellyn taught school for three years before unschooling herself and writing The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education. Her other books include Real Lives: eleven teenagers who don’t go to school tell their own stories, Freedom Challenge: African American Homeschoolers, and, with Amy Silver, Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School. Ms. Llewellyn has spoken about unschooling to groups and conferences, given workshops, directed a homeschooling resource center, produced a mail order book catalog for unschoolers, and published an unschooling newsletter—all with the purpose of helping people (mostly teenagers) take more control of their own lives and educations. She is the founder and director of Not Back to School Camp (in Oregon and West Virginia) for unschooled teenagers, and enjoys a small bellydancing career on the side. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.

From Library Journal:

It is estimated that today there are approximately 150,000 to 300,000 children being homeschooled in the United States. This book is different in perspective from those published over the past few years, such as Borg Hendrickson's Home School: Taking the First Step ( LJ 3/1/89); Jane Van Galen's Home Schooling: Political, Historical and Pedagogical Perspectives (Ablex, 1991); Michael Farris's Home Schooling and the Law (Home Schooling Legal Defense Assn., 1991); and Christopher Klicka's Home Schooling in the United States (Home Schooling Legal Defense Assn., 1991). Here Llewellyn, author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How To Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education (Lowry House Pubs., 1991) has edited rich in-depth biographical and philosophical essays solicited from 11 teens who tell why they made the decision (with the help of their families) not to be "tamed" or stifled by traditional schooling methodologies and regulations. The essays shed light on what happens during a typical day in the lives of homeschooled individuals, how the teens became as educated (and self-confident) as they appear to be, what motivates them to learn, their views on homeschooling versus traditional education, hopes for the future, etc. Many misconceptions about homeschooling are debunked. This is essential for all collegiate teacher education collections and for those public libraries where interest in the topic abounds.
- Scott Johnson, Meridian Community Coll. Lib., Miss.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

• Publisher: Lowry House Publishers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 096295912X
• ISBN 13: 9780962959127
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 320