Dan Riley School for a Girl : An Adventure in Home Schooling

A father recounts his thoughts and experiences during a year of educating his 14-year old daughter at home. No scholarly paraphernalia. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Dismayed at his 14-year-old daughter's poor academic progress in a Southern California public school, freelance writer Riley, a one-time teacher, decided to teach Gillian at home. For her eighth grade year, 1991-92, he devised an idiosyncratic curriculum, and it is apparent--from Gillian's diaries, included here, and Riley's account, spiced with self-deprecating humor--that both student and teacher were educated. Their daily schedule encompassed free-ranging newspaper perusal, video viewing and reading of the classics. Frequent field trips tempered the loss of Gillian's socializing with classmates and smoothed bumps in the relationship between parent/teacher and daughter/student. Riley School had a successful graduate, well prepared for high school and with a strong sense of self-worth. In this entertaining chronicle, Riley offers his experience less as a solution to an educational crisis but as a way of getting closer to one's children.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Masquerading as a report on home schooling, a tale of father- daughter conflict played out over eighth-grade English and math. Schoolteacher-turned-writer Riley kept his daughter Gillian home from school, intending to redirect her priorities from socializing to studying and transform her failing grades into an appreciation for learning. When the year began, the relationship between father and daughter was adversarial at best: ``Gillian and I were Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert...Professor Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes...Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, child and parent, each trapped on the opposite side of the Force.'' Riley pleads guilty to temporary insanity in one demonstration of tough love: Angry over something he no longer remembers, he abandoned Gillian on a lonely road, expecting her to apologize and plead to return home. Gillian called his bluff and set off down the road, and it was Dad who apologized and pleaded. Determined to keep his cool at least during school hours, Riley launched the school year with a genial lesson in bread-making accompanied by music from Phantom of the Opera. Gillian drew her line in the sand--she would bake the bread but not eat it. In fact, these two stubborn people worked hard at both school and understanding each other. Lessons learned from books (The Diary of Anne Frank), movies (Boyz 'N the Hood), computers, daily newspapers, a family trip to Europe, and, yes, pages of math problems shaped both father and daughter. The year ended with Gillian ready to move on to the real world. Intelligent commentary on education, politics, and the problems that adolescents face--with excerpts from Gillian's journal--make this more than a he said/she said document. By turns wry, witty, sometimes wise, but resolutely outspoken, this volume brings father and daughter face to face as people, not icons in a Freudian myth. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

For the more than 300,000 Americans now educating their children at home, Riley's book will serve as an inspirational guide. Disappointed by his daughter Gillian's underachiever status in school, her bad grades, and her growing estrangement from him and his wife, Riley decided to educate her at home for one academic year. While they had to study the usual eighth-grade subjects--math, science, social studies, and English grammar--the home schooling environment gave them latitude to work with the schedule in different ways. As part of the curriculum, they watched films, read newspapers, and discussed current events, listened to music, prepared food, and went on field trips. The year was not an easy one and much resistance was brought about by Gillian. However, the end of the school year found her a much more serious, reflective student. Riley's engaging chronicle of this year, together with excerpts from Gillian's journal, provide a thought-provoking look at their relationship. While this book can serve as advice for the parent interested in home schooling, it will also be of interest to parents seeking guidance navigating the troubled waters of adolescent/parent relationships. Kathleen Hughes