“This book is radical. . . .[its] purpose . . . is to encourage the teen to make their education their own responsibility. They can remain at school, or as a homeschool take only some classes, or find apprenticeships, volunteer, or even skip directly to college. In short they are designing their own self-education, where ever it may happen. Along the way they develop a better idea of themselves and many more life skills than they would in formal school. . . .
This is a dense, packed book, overflowing with ideas, tips, anecdotes, cautions, and multiple views — all speaking to the teen and not to parents. It does not lay out a 1, 2, 3 plan. It is messy, challenging. The book itself is probably a pretty good filter for whether the idea of self-education is a match for a young person.
Our son petitioned us to be unschooled, and it turned out that one year when he was 12 was sufficient. It was one of the best years in our lives. Yet in his liberation from school, he discovered what learning “on his own” really meant. It’s challenging. He then choose to go to high school, but with a new attitude that he was in charge of how much and how well he learned. That new found responsibility for his own education made that one year of unschooling totally worthwhile. . . .”
—Kevin Kelly in Cool Tools
“Bursting with clever strategies, valuable resources and wise guidance on how to design an interest-driven self-education. It was the sole inspiration for our family to take on an endeavor we thought was out of the question.”
—Griff Wigley in The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog
“Every teenager, schooled or not—and every parent of a teenager—should get a chance to read The Teenage Liberation Handbook. It is a real eye-opener to many of life’s possibilities, as well as a celebration of the personal freedoms homeschoolers enjoy . . . Llewellyn’s dream, it seems, is to set every teenager free to think and explore for herself, to make her world what she wants it to be . . . Even as an adult she’s affected my life and encouraged me to new heights. She understands well what it’s like to be a teenager, and she has anticipated every question and every argument that teenagers are likely to bring up . . . Give copies to kids having problems, anxious parents, everyone you can think of. Do your part to liberate teenagers everywhere!”
—Pam Gingold in the Northern California Homeschool Association Newsletter
“The TLH is more than a book. It’s a map . . . well written and entertaining. Shall I beg you to read it? If I must . . . Please? Please read this book . . . it’ll help! It’s not like other books, this one is only looking out for your best interests . . . Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always thought provoking, the TLH is for anyone who wakes up with pains in their stomach at the thought of another day of rote memorization and pointless busywork.”
—Michael Condon in In 2 Print.
“Uh-oh. State schools keep turning out partially literate drones, despite twenty years of varying levels of panic in the mainstream media . . . I have found the single essential book for those who value learning but not school and want to slap society to its senses. The Teenage Liberation Handbook is a complete tool kit for aspiring human beings. . . This review cannot convey to you the loopy daring and wonder of Grace Llewellyn’s prose, the sheer megatonnage of shock value in her suppositions . . . Get this book. Order many copies and infiltrate them into school libraries, leave them at bus stops and in plain view of the neighbor’s kids and in the Education Department of your local university . . . I’d lend you my copy, but there is a fair queue of people waiting for it.”
—Brien Bartels in LUNO (Learning Unlimited Network of Oregon)
“This book could foment revolution . . . I have only good things to say about [it]. Brilliant and wise, it’s brimming with insight, information and humor . . . The Teenage Liberation Handbook should be required reading (for those who believe in required reading) or simply pleasure reading for anyone who’s ever wondered what they’re doing in school.”
—Kirsten Chevalier in Merlyn’s Pen
“Inspiring and very practical . . . Llewellyn helps her readers think about what they can do by giving them examples of what actual teenagers have done, so her book is grounded in concrete experience. She answers all of the common questions about learning outside of school and helps teenagers see that they can take control of their lives and make adolescence, instead of the stereotypical period of boredom, alienation, and rebellion that we are accustomed to, a time of interesting discoveries, real learning, and meaningful work.”
—Susannah Sheffer, editor of Growing Without Schooling magazine, author of Writing Because We Love To: Homeschoolers at Work, and A Sense of Self: Homeschooled Adolescent Girls
“What a wonderful book! I sat down with it intending to glance through it now and give it more attention later—only to find myself unable to put it down. Everything is there—not only do you have many wise and on-target things to say to the teenagers you wrote the book for, but you’ve succeeded in putting together a great sourcebook for homeschoolers as well as the best book on education that I’ve come across in a long, long time . . . How good it would be if every teacher, every school administrator, and, of course, schoolchild, who knows that there must be a better way, had a copy of this book.”
—David Colfax, author of Homeschooling for Excellence and Hard Times in Paradise, father of three homeschooled Harvard graduates
“This book will inspire formal school students to leave school and take control of their time; will embolden homeschoolers to be courageously creative about their educations; and will encourage parents to trust their children’s choices. Gives gentle guidance for those who are uncertain about how to make autodidactism a glorious reality. Packed with unschooling philosophy and a wealth of resources.”
—Clonlara Home Based Education Program
“[Llewellyn’s] enthusiasm for learning, her great faith in kids, and the wonderful educational possibilities she presents will make her book tantalizing reading for teens who can’t make it in school but have the discipline and the passion to learn on their own.”
—American Library Association Booklist
“Every autodidact should get down on their knees in gratitude to Grace Llewellyn for her commitment to education in the true sense of the word. Every house that has a teenager should also have a copy of The Teenage Liberation Handbook . . . important and magical.”
—Kendall Hailey, author of The Day I Became an Autodidact
“An irreverent and thought-provoking guide . . . very thorough and highly entertaining.”
—Home Education Magazine
“Packed with information for young people who want more than schools can offer . . . an invaluable and unique resource . . . Llewellyn presents a credible and appealing case for becoming self-taught . . . This is a fascinating, frightening, and exhilarating book that is sure to prove controversial among parents and teachers. At the very least it will open eyes and minds. At the most it might open whole new worlds of possibilities for its young readers.”
—Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine (VOYA)
“This is the classic book that changed all of our lives. If you don’t get what we’re doing, it’s because you haven’t read this book.”
—The Self-Education Foundation
“No homeschooling teenager should be without this book, which will get you excited about learning, even if you’re long past your teens.”
—Mary Griffith in The Homeschooling Handbook
“This is a very dangerous book. It contradicts all the conventional wisdom about dropouts and the importance of a formal education. It is funny and inspiring. Do not, under any circumstances, share this book with a bright, frustrated high-schooler being ground into mind fudge by the school system. This writer cannot be responsible for the happiness and sense of personal responsibility that might [result].”
—Pat Wagner in Bloomsbury Review
“Heartily recommended to every flavor of human being, not just teenagers…. Sooner or later you’re going to realize that you’ve been cheated out of a real life by missing a real education—when that time comes Grace Llewellyn’s Handbook will save you a thousand hours of frustration, false starts and missed opportunities. Anyone who follows this clear blueprint is certain to meet the future with courage, enthusiasm, resourcefulness and the abundant love of life that the author has. She demonstrates brilliantly that school and education are two very different things, defining the latter precisely and with such a wonderful zest the reader is left dazzled with his own rich possibilities. Get this book now so it will be on hand for the great emergency when you wake up.”
—John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher of the Year, 1991, New York City Teacher of the Year, 1989-1991, author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
Dear Grace Llewellyn…
“I am (almost) unable to summon words to express my thanks and admiration for what you’ve done . . . I may not be the person you intended your book for. I am 28, graduated from Berkeley and have one master’s degree and have almost completed another. But whilst I was in a metaphysical bookstore, I saw your book and bought it by virtue of the title alone. It struck a deep chord. I desperately needed your book . . . While reading your book, I cried. There is so much joy for life in your book, such a passion for learning . . . While reading your book, I decided to unschool myself. I needed to detox, to get some real pleasure out of learning again! . . . You have changed my life.” —M.M., Sunnyvale, California
“I’ve just finished reading The Teenage Liberation Handbook and I really can’t find words to tell you how helpful it was to me. You’ve just dredged all my fears and hassles out, looked at them, and waved them goodbye. Thank you!!! . . . What the . . . Handbook did was to give me back that faith [in my kids] and make me look at them again. And I saw that to take their freedom, inventiveness, curiosity, energy, and joy and bury them in a classroom would be a terrible waste of vital life . . . Thank you for giving me back that confidence. Thanks for your enthusiasm and trust and love in these kids.” —T.S., Ireland
“The book was tremendous. As mother of a teenager I appreciated your respect for the energy and passion of the teenage years.”—B.M., Perry, Kansas
“Thank you a million times for writing The Teenage Liberation Handbook. It is absolutely the best . . . I’m telling everyone about it! . . . Life is so exciting! And you’ve helped in a big way!”—A.D., Parkers Prairie, Minnesota
“I originally bought The Teenage Liberation Handbook to prepare and encourage myself for my two sons’ coming teen years . . . After reading your book I came away with a lot more than I had expected. I felt like a teenager again while reading it . . . At one point I almost cried when I realized that my low self esteem is quite possibly attributed to the hours and hours of time spent sitting at school with absolutely no attention being paid to me . . . It’s time to get on with life!”—G.M., Santa Cruz, California
“My heart is so full! So full of excitement, terror, doubt, and possibilities . . . I’m a nineteen-year-old college freshman . . . who’s just come to the realization that I’m one of the (too) many teenagers in the world who’ve sat through thirteen years of school squashing our dreams. I never even imagined there was a not only plausible alternative, but an IDEAL alternative . . . but this isn’t a letter of regret or sorrow, it’s a letter of hope.”—J.T., Madison, Ohio
“I have been unschooled all my life, but your book made me want to go to school so I could quit! . . . It holds a place of honor on my book shelf. Thank you so much!”—M.O., Conway, Arkansas
“Thank you for your Teenage Liberation Handbook. I purchased it last weekend and read it at one sitting. The name and description had intrigued me . . . I am a . . . credentialed . . . home school instructor working for a County Office of Education Home School Program . . . I am recommending to all my families that they read your book, as it has profoundly affected me at an age and point in my life where I certainly didn’t expect it! . . . I want to try to express to you the support, excitement, freedom and regrets for missed opportunities that I feel from reading your book . . . What I really want to thank you for is my own liberation. After reading your book, I have felt the renewed excitement and energy of learning again for myself, my way, without having to make excuses, apologize for it or wrap it up in an acceptable facade—acts that have wasted too much of my energy. I have visited schools in about thirty countries, looking for ideas, methods, trends and patterns that connect learning and growing with life and the community in hopes of being able to help my students do the same. Your book was the quickest (and cheapest) of those journeys I have yet made.”—R.F.D., Newcastle, California
“I am a 31-year-old music teacher . . . getting my graduate degree. Last night, instead of completing some inane assignments, I read your book . . . It was a timely book to read. I wonder why I have been so dense my whole life.”—R.D., Parker, Colorado
“I’m seventeen years of age. This is my second year in homeschooling and I love it. I’m finding creative ways to learn by experimenting with different sorts of books and materials. Your book was excellent. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down! It was wonderful, in my opinion, how you emphasized ‘freedom’ (one of my favorite words). The way you put other teenagers’ letters and statements in the book was neat . . . The way you described what it would be like to leave school was exactly how it was for me. In the morning, now I can wake up happy instead of frustrated and depressed all the time. It feels almost like being four again, living in the now instead of the tomorrow . . . You’re a great author!”—C.J., Goldendale, Washington
“Your book is helping many people. All of the books you recommended are wonderful. Reading your book took any doubts I had about letting go of my old ways. Everyone I meet who is teenaged or interested in leaving school I tell about your book.”—J.C., sixteen, Mountaindale, Oregon
“A few weeks ago, my parents bought me your book. It is hard to describe the difference in my life. I no longer feel alone, or as though I am running from captivity, hiding out so bounty hunters won’t find me. I feel free and, yes, blessed: my imagination has flowered, I am physically, mentally, and spiritually stronger.”—A.E.G., sixteen, Bellevue, Idaho
“Thank you for being courageous enough and dedicated enough to put together such a wonderful book . . . I really wish I had been unschooled—I’m envious of those who have been . . . I’m 22 and graduated from UC Santa Cruz last year with a degree in English and American literature . . . Thanks so much for writing such an important, groundbreaking book. Like yourself, I wish that it was available to me when I was in school. Do these unschoolers know how lucky they are???”—D.L., Santa Cruz, California
“Let me start out by saying how much I enjoyed reading your Teenage Liberation Handbook! To say that it was a breath of fresh air is a drastic understatement…it nearly knocked me off my feet (and my career path—I’m a teacher)! I couldn’t put it down until I had completely savored every last boat-rocking word. While it made it difficult for me to muster up the motivation to get back in the classroom this year, your book gave me an inspiring perspective that I’m certain will influence the way I look at education from now on.” —J.S., Seattle, Washington.
“Reading The Teenage Liberation Handbook gave our fourteen-year-old daughter the last dose of courage she needed to walk out of Waluga Junior High School . . . one morning last May, vowing never to return! It also forced her father and me to open our hearts and minds to hear her, to become her advocates, and fight for her freedom . . . Each day, the freedom and difference in our lives without school is an incredible gift. I have watched [our daughter] heal from the social assaults she was exposed to on a daily basis, becoming strong, healthy, happy, and an even more thoughtful and delightful person in every way than she was before.”—K.L., Portland, Oregon
“Your Teenage Liberation Handbook really gave me the courage to allow my son, and then my daughter, to leave high school. It is no exaggeration to say that it changed my life, which, as the mother of four young people who were miserable in school and desperate for a new perspective, is no small thing. I am also untangling my own—mostly boring—mostly useless education in the sixties and becoming an outspoken proponent of self-education. What an exciting new adventure you helped launch here in my family!” —M.P., California.
“My son Adam, and I, recently discovered your two books and ‘devoured’ them quickly. What a wonderful vision you have for children, particularly those in their teens. Your words are soothing, encouraging and inspiring and have played a large part in Adam’s decision to resume homeschooling at the age of fifteen. His younger sisters are at home and we are having a marvelous time together. As for myself, I have rediscovered my own conviction that people can be responsible for their own learning at any age.” —C.W., Portland, Oregon