Central Kansas Library System

Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. Her father distrusted the medical establishment, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse....

A lightning strike made Lucy, twelve, a math genius but, after years of homeschooling, her grandmother enrolls her in middle school and she learns that life is more than numbers.

Still moping months after being dumped by her Arizona boyfriend Leo, fifteen-year-old Stargirl, a home-schooled free spirit, writes "the world's longest letter" to Leo, describing her new life in Pennsylvania.

Joey tries to keep his life from degenerating into total chaos when his mother sends him to be home-schooled with a hostile blind girl, his divorced parents cannot stop fighting, and his grandmother is dying of emphysema.

When Mama and the kids are busy with their lessons, Charlie decides to start a class of his own with Suzie, Kitty, and Walter.

"Presents advice for overcoming stress, unrealistic expectations, and other challenges faced by homeschooling families. Intended for new and experienced homeschoolers. Applicable to a variety of teaching methods"--Provided by publisher.

Describes the experiences of an eight-year-old girl and her family who are educating their children at home.