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Kids Don't Need School: A Radical New Homeschool Plan to Teach Anything, Promote Independent Learning, and Prepare Children for an Uncertain Future
How Not to Homeschool (And What to Do Instead) Homeschooling is now mainstream. Even a few years ago, educating children at home earned suspicion, revulsion, and worried phone calls to social services. Today, homeschooling is met with a nonchalant, “Oh yeah? We’re doing that too.” Unfortunately, the new wave of homeschooling brings with it broken learning tools, outdated teaching methods, and a counterproductive vision for what education ought to be. As a result, many homeschooling families find themselves recreating the dysfunctional public school classroom at home, complete with mandatory academic studies, strict grading, and neglect of the child’s true gifts and interests. In Kids Don’t Need School , veteran homeschool parents and community leaders Jonathan and Adriana Prescott lay out a radical new approach to home education that empowers children to love learning, build real-world skills, and take charge of their future—all before age twelve. Specifically, the book Whether you’re seriously considering home education for the first time or you’ve been doing this for a while, Kids Don’t Need School will help you deepen your relationship with your child, build mutual respect in your household, and give your child the elite education they need to succeed in an uncertain world.
176 pages, Paperback
Published April 30, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 4, 2024
I forced myself to get as far as I could but I just couldn't finish it. I listened to the audiobook so that may have been a contributing factor as the "creative" choices the reader made to use condescending and degrading voices when reading hte rhetorical questions and naysaying comments about homeschooling was MASSIVELY off-putting.
The content, however, furthers the binary argument that for homeschool to be good then we must vilify and condemn public school and those involved in it at any level. I typically do not appreciate this manipulative "if you arent with us then you are against us" form of persuasive writing. It was unnecessarily combative and insulting of public education and teachers. Not everyone who homeschools hates public education or wants to see it end. The privilege from which this is written is grating and angering. Somehow those who cannot or do not homeschool are less than and lacking as parents is just not looking at the totality of the social circumstances capitalism and the American hustle culture has created.
This book relies on over simplifications and faulty logic without offering any supporting evidence to back up their claims. It becomes clear that this book is more about herding people toward's the author's services than to be any sort of meaningful book on actual homeschooling. it felt like sitting at a table of petty, insecure people listening to them trash talk their competition to build themselves up rather than focusing on the actual merits they had to offer. I spent far too long yelling at my van radio that I finally threw in the towel, asked audible for a refund of my credit and went to Modern Miss Mason (a much better book focusing on an approach to homeschooling rather than an gossip attack of over generalizations about public education) and Dumbing Us Down (John Gatto). Mason is a great look at the Chrlotte Mason style of homeschooling and Gatto, who was a public school teacher, does a very good job of pointing out the failings of the public education system from a POV of what needs to be done to improve the system for our kids.
The content, however, furthers the binary argument that for homeschool to be good then we must vilify and condemn public school and those involved in it at any level. I typically do not appreciate this manipulative "if you arent with us then you are against us" form of persuasive writing. It was unnecessarily combative and insulting of public education and teachers. Not everyone who homeschools hates public education or wants to see it end. The privilege from which this is written is grating and angering. Somehow those who cannot or do not homeschool are less than and lacking as parents is just not looking at the totality of the social circumstances capitalism and the American hustle culture has created.
This book relies on over simplifications and faulty logic without offering any supporting evidence to back up their claims. It becomes clear that this book is more about herding people toward's the author's services than to be any sort of meaningful book on actual homeschooling. it felt like sitting at a table of petty, insecure people listening to them trash talk their competition to build themselves up rather than focusing on the actual merits they had to offer. I spent far too long yelling at my van radio that I finally threw in the towel, asked audible for a refund of my credit and went to Modern Miss Mason (a much better book focusing on an approach to homeschooling rather than an gossip attack of over generalizations about public education) and Dumbing Us Down (John Gatto). Mason is a great look at the Chrlotte Mason style of homeschooling and Gatto, who was a public school teacher, does a very good job of pointing out the failings of the public education system from a POV of what needs to be done to improve the system for our kids.
February 14, 2025
A decent argument in favor of homeschooling, but if you've already concluded that's the path for you and your kids, this book merely functions as a pat on the back.
While there's some good stuff within, the authors' insistence that "peaceful parenting" (you know, the school of thought that says all discipline is inherently coercive and violent and thus emotionally damaging to children) is the only viable way to raise a child borders on insufferable. Peaceful/gentle parenting subordinates reason and truth ("x behavior is wrong") to emotional comfort. A parent's primary duty is the moral formation of the child; everything else is secondary.
Of course, you don't need to hit your kids to teach them right and wrong (even young ones will probably recognize the hypocrisy), but neither do I trust anyone who seriously argues raising your voice when addressing a child or utilizing a "time-out" as punishment is intrinsically wrong. The authors cite a couple cherry-picked studies to bolster their argument, completely ignoring the fact that the same folks encouraging us to send our kids to public schools are also the ones conducting most of the parenting research--only some of which supports their position in the first place. When the authors reveal they only have one child, their heavy-handed dismissal of those who do not practice gentle parenting starts to read an awful lot like stones flying from within a glass house.
Parenting advice aside, the authors make a solid case for homeschooling, and if you can stomach the routine needling of those who disagree with them, there is probably a valuable takeaway or two to be gained here.
While there's some good stuff within, the authors' insistence that "peaceful parenting" (you know, the school of thought that says all discipline is inherently coercive and violent and thus emotionally damaging to children) is the only viable way to raise a child borders on insufferable. Peaceful/gentle parenting subordinates reason and truth ("x behavior is wrong") to emotional comfort. A parent's primary duty is the moral formation of the child; everything else is secondary.
Of course, you don't need to hit your kids to teach them right and wrong (even young ones will probably recognize the hypocrisy), but neither do I trust anyone who seriously argues raising your voice when addressing a child or utilizing a "time-out" as punishment is intrinsically wrong. The authors cite a couple cherry-picked studies to bolster their argument, completely ignoring the fact that the same folks encouraging us to send our kids to public schools are also the ones conducting most of the parenting research--only some of which supports their position in the first place. When the authors reveal they only have one child, their heavy-handed dismissal of those who do not practice gentle parenting starts to read an awful lot like stones flying from within a glass house.
Parenting advice aside, the authors make a solid case for homeschooling, and if you can stomach the routine needling of those who disagree with them, there is probably a valuable takeaway or two to be gained here.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews