No Regrets: How Homeschooling Earned me a Master's Degree at age 16

by Alexandra Swann, Joyce Swann

“One month before my fifth birthday, my mother began teaching me to read and write, and school at home became a wonderful thing.”The engaging story of the Swann family’s experiences with homeschooling as told by the oldest daughter, Alexandra. At the age of fifteen she became the youngest student ever to graduate from Brigham Young University in its 111-year history. In this poignant narrative originally published in 1989 when she was eighteen, Alexandra recounts her experiences as the oldest in a family of ten children, all of whom were earning their educations at a highly-accelerated pace. With warmth, humor and affection, Alexandra draws the reader into the Swann household and shares a story of love, friendship and faith that overcomes obstacles.This twentieth anniversary edition of "No Regrets"—republished in early 2010—contains an updated foreword by the author.

Genres: Education, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir

171 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

In 1986, Alexandra Swann graduated at fifteen years of age with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Brigham Young University and a GPA of 3.85. The following year, when she was sixteen, she received a Master’s Degree in History from California State University. After graduation, she taught history and English as a second language for four years at El Paso Community College. In 1989, her book, "No Regrets: How Homeschooling Earned me a Master’s Degree at Age Sixteen", was published, in which she details her experiences with homeschooling.

For fifteen years, from 1998-2013, Alexandra was self-employed in the financial services industry in El Paso, Texas. As a small business owner who was active in the community and on various civic boards, she learned first-hand the challenges that excessive regulations create for small businesses. In 2012 she received the SBA’s Regional Minority Small Business Champion of the Year award. In 2014 she moved to Dallas where she works in financial services and is active in the community through various industry organizations and committees.

In 2010, Alexandra and her mother incorporated Frontier 2000 Media Group to produce clean, wholesome, inspirational entertainment for families. She re-released "No Regrets" with a new foreword to the twentieth anniversary edition of the book updating readers on what her family is doing today. She is also co-author of five Christian fiction novels including "The Fourth Kingdom" which was selected as one of four finalists in the Christianity Today 2011 Christian Fiction Book Awards. Her newest book, "The Invitation", [co-authored with Joyce}, is book one of their series Kinsman. "The Invitation" was published on Christmas Eve of 2016.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Obviously as a home educating parent it is very nice to read a 'success story', particularly one written from the child's perspective.

However, I would not want to give this book to anyone to inform them about home education. It reinforces a lot of stereotypes - you could almost have a check list; religious, hot housing, socially isolated, school at the dining table, correspondence schools, they are all there.

The book is also not particularly well written, comes across as a self indulgent ramble with little recognition of any negatives of home ed. There is much too much irrelevant details about the courses she studied that are quite frankly boring.

As a homeschooling mother I actually ended up disliking the mother for being too perfect. I'll stick to warts and all blogs, full of other families with wilful, uncooperative children and house's that are slightly chaotic at best.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very interesting. A memoir similar to Cheaper by the Dozen, it has some of the same characteristics. Both families were full of over-achievers. Everyone got along pretty well. Moms were superhuman. Dads were wonderful fathers. Nonetheless, it was well-written and an unusual read, so overall, I pretty much enjoyed it.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I was amazed at what they accomplished at such a young age. I love the idea of year round schooling and plan to use this idea for myself.

[Abbey]

I have mixed feelings about the book. I liked the family stories of struggles and joys throughout the book, but I found some of the overview about what courses were taken when a bit boring and unnecessary. It is great that she has no regrets about working so hard to earn such a high degree at a young age. This book made me more confident of the fact that while I want my children to have a good education I do not want to push them at the extreme these children went through.

[K. Isaure · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book taught me that independence is key if you are to be successful at educating yourself at home. This was even reinforced with the pandemic making online learning from home a necessity which meant that if you were not a great independent learner you were forced to become one. Even now with the pandemic students still have online courses due to certain factors beyond their control.

I liked the book because it talked about one family’s experience. However it could have done with a little more variety in book content and not just focusing on her own family. I would have loved to hear her parents aspect of them deciding to homeschool their ten children. Sadly it really wasn’t expounded upon much.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Swann's story of homeschooling via online classes is interesting, yet I leave with the feeling that the children raced through the bare bones of education and missed out on some of the richness of field trips, discussions, and collaborations. Education isn't about checking boxes.

[Private Account · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appreciate Swann sharing her story. Book seems honest and authentic--my favorite kind of book.

[Dian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an easy read, it took me only 2 hours to finish. Somehow her style of writing reminds me of Laura Ingalls of the "Little House on the Prairie". Touching family story with hardships and happiness. Her story about the homeschooling experience is oversimplified, making it seems that you will definitely succeed only on grit and determination. I wish it has more concrete advice and tips rather than a big happy family story.