I was paid a wee bit to write this review, but just like with all things from The WOLFe Pack, what you will find here is an honest opinion from a seasoned homeschool mom with a Master’s Degree in Education and a decade of experience in the classroom…who also happens to be a mom with way too little sleep, too much fluff and just a few months left on her homeschool clock.

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Homeschool Resource Review- TEACH: Creating Independently Responsible Learners by Dennis DiNoia

I’ve met Dennis DiNoia (aka: Mr. D) on several occasions at various homeschool conventions across the country. We’ve chatted a lot about math classes, teenage learners and homeschooling in general. My son has taken two of the classes on his site (College and Career Prep and American English Grammar,) but we have not experienced one of his acclaimed math classes nor had I read his very popular book, TEACH: Creating Independently Responsible Learners, until now.

I mentioned that I have talked with Mr. D not to name-drop (though he is a pretty cool dude,) but rather to set the stage for where I spend a lot of my time and energy: homeschool conventions. As a full time employee of Nicole the Math Lady, I attend over a dozen homeschool conventions each year.

And, at each convention, in addition to talking to moms about math curriculum, chatting with other vendors like Mr. D, I have countless conversations about the purpose of homeschooling.

As you can imagine, homeschool conventions are filled with all types of homeschooling families:

newbies just starting their journey
veterans who have been at this for years
giant families
families with only children (like me)
parents with PhDs
moms who dropped out of high school
religious people
secular folks
uber young mamas
silver-haired mamas (like me)
clearly excited moms
clearly exhausted moms (not necessarily mutually exclusive with the above)
and so many more different types

And, while there are several reasons that people share for why they have chosen to homeschool, the ever-present winner at every convention is that parents want to create intelligent, independent learners who can succeed as adults.

Now, HOW people plan to create intelligent, independent learners who can succeed as adults varies. A lot.

But, most people seem to agree that creating intelligent, independent learners who can succeed as adults does not happen by accident. It does not occur through sheer osmosis. And it won’t take place through happenstance.

My personal experience has been that the top factor is the parent-teacher. The curriculum choices, the home environment, your homeschool philosophy and the personality of your young student are all second place to the parent-teacher.

So, what does the parent-teacher need to do to create intelligent, independent learners who can succeed as adults?

What steps can a parent-teacher take to meet this goal?

For me, knowing how to be the most effective teacher for my son was a long journey with several detours, layovers and missteps, but as he got into the Middle/High School years, I did find what seemed to be an approach that worked well. And, now that he is seventeen and a senior, it looks like we may have succeeded at creating an intelligent, independent learner.

I wish, though, that I had educated myself more on the topic as opposed to trying to figure it out on my own along the way.

But, there might be resource that will make it easier for you:

TEACH by Dennis DiNoia

Read below to see why this book could’ve been a helpful tool for me and why it might be a great resource for you too!

Who is the author?

This is one of the first questions I ask before selecting a book to read especially an educational resource. I do not need to necessarily agree with the person on all things nor do I even have to really like the person to read their book. But, I do not want to waste my time on somebody’s baseless opinion or spend the entire time battling the author’s fluffy nonsense in my head while I read. So, who is Dennis DiNoia?

Like I said above, he’s a pretty cool guy. 🙂 But cool does not make you legit.

30+ years in the educational field with an advanced degree and thousands of students worldwide makes you legit.

Dennis DiNoia started out as a young, eager math teacher who tried desperately to find ways to best reach his struggling students. He then moved to individual tutoring … which eventually lead to creating Mr. D’s Math.

Not only does he teach math to thousands of homeschool students, he teaches other courses such as College and Career Readiness. When my son took that class, Mr. D’s heart to help teens learn to be accountable, set goals and strive to be lifelong learners was obvious. But, more importantly, he was good at expressing that authenticity to the teens (who are a notoriously tough crowd) and skilled at laying the groundwork for the students to succeed.

What is the purpose?

As mentioned above, Mr. D is much more than a math teacher. He truly seems to desire to help teens learn to be accountable, set goals and strive to be lifelong learners. You can see it in his interactions with teens, you can hear it when he speaks to homeschool parents and you can read it as plain as day in his book.

In the book, he explains how he experimented with different methods to find a trigger or two that would get a student to move towards being an independent learner. And, it seems that once he discovered some, he has naturally incorporated them into his teaching, which, I am sure, has impacted thousands of kids over the years.

But, this book takes it to the next logical step.

The purpose of TEACH: Creating Independently Responsible Learners is to show other educators and parents (YOU) how to create independent responsible learners.

Why should you consider getting it?

If you are like the multitude of homeschool parents whose goal of homeschooling is to create intelligent, independent learners who can succeed as adults, you may want to get this book.

What I call an intelligent, independent learner who can succeed as an adult, Mr. D calls an “independently responsible learner.”

In his own words, Mr. D says, “independently responsible means that you are free, without outside control to do things on your own and trusted to do it the way it was meant to be done. Simply put, no one is telling you what to do, how to do it, or when to do it.”

Does this book hold a magic key to unlocking the mysterious teenage brain resulting in fully functioning adults who make no mistakes? No, not in the slightest.

Does it give you several tips and strategies (Mr. D calls them “nuggets of gold”) to help move your student in the right direction? Yes, yes it does.

Homeschool Resource Review- TEACH: Creating Independently Responsible Learners