This book recognizes the value in a homeschool education. The story follows a child as he shows his readers what it is like to be homeschooled. The book is based on a true story and written from the author's personal experience growing up being homeschooled. I feel this book is important for children to hear in a public school setting so they can be exposed to the different types of education that exist in the world outside of their elementary school classroom. This book would be best for first and second grade students. ( )

In this second autobiographically inspired picture-book, following upon Building Our House, which chronicled how his family built their own home, author/artist Jonathan Bean here tells the story of how he and his sisters were home-schooled by his parents. All of the rooms of their house are classrooms, and the entire world is their art studio and playground, while their mother functions as school-teacher and their father as substitute-teacher and sports coach, leading to a fully integrated learning process in which every experience is both fun and educational.

The loveliest tribute to home-schooling that I can recall seeing, This Is My Home, This Is My School offers an engaging tale, one sure to fascinate children who attend more traditional schools while offering affirmation to those who were home-schooled like the author. As mentioned above, this is the second picture-book I have seen from Jonathan Bean that is inspired by his family history - there is an afterward that gives more information, and includes photographs from Bean's youth - and I was reminded, in the course of my reading, of some of Patricia Polacco's more autobiographical picture-books. This is high praise indeed, but Bean's stories merit the comparison, I think. I enjoyed both story and artwork here, although I did feel that Bean's illustrations weren't quite as appealing here in this second volume, as they were in Building Our House. Somehow they seemed a little bit more "scribbly" in appearance, more Quentin Blake-ish, than they did before. Leaving that aside, this was a wonderful book, one I would recommend to anyone looking for children's stories about home-schooling in particular, or life as a learning experience in general. ( )

This book shows many different homes and schools from all around the world. It would be a great activity for kids to compare their home of school to ones in that book.

A young boy shows off his home and his school. They're the same! This is a humorous look at homeschooling. You can guess who the crabby cafeteria lady is, right? Cute, and a welcome addition to a topic with few picture books.

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