health
February 25, 2026
Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block review
A compelling and fitfully harrowing child’s-eye account of a mother’s unravelling
TL;DR
- Stefan Merrill Block was homeschooled for five years by his mother after a family move.
- His mother's motivations shifted from nurturing his creativity to isolating him and asserting control.
- The homeschooling involved unconventional and psychologically disturbing methods, including attempting to bleach his hair and reverting to crawling.
- Block compares his situation to the Branch Davidians during the Waco siege.
- His father was largely appeasing and did not challenge the mother's behavior.
- Block returned to school years behind academically and socially, but showed tenacity in catching up.
- The book explores the mother's past, suggesting assault and parental abandonment as root causes for her behavior.
- Block's account is presented with adult insight and a novelist's eye for detail, using the present tense for immediacy.
- The narrative concludes not as a revenge story, but as an exploration of a derailed childhood, parental failure, and the journey to normality.
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