GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING
13 I just spent several hours being interviewed by Pat Stone of Mother Earth News for their " Plowboy " feature. He said it might appear as early as the May issue (and then again, it may not.) I ' m rather exci ted at the idea of reaching their huge audience. In the last two months, I've been traveling and lecturing more than I expected . In January, I spoke at the Schlumberger Corp. in Ridgefield, Ct ., and to an overflow crowd in Worcester, Mass. At the end of the month, I flew to Seattle, Wash., spoke at the University of Washing ton, the Little School, and a local KING-TV show. In February, I gave talks at the University of Leth bridge in Alberta, Canada; St. Paul, Minnesota; Fargo, ND; and Lake City, Illinois. In between lectures, I've been working hard on my unschooling book. Hope to finish it by April; it should be out by next win ter. No definite title yet. Thanks to everyone who has answered the Survey from GWS #11, so far. It will take us a while to process them all. Mean while, if you haven't yet answered, you still can at any time, and we hope you do . The information has al ready been valuable to us, and will be to other un schoolers. The Van Daams in Rhode Island (#10) have told us the charges against them were finally dismissed. More good news: the Santa Fe Community school held a fund-raising drive, and got enough money to buy the land they've rented. Very important article in Reader's ~est (Marc h ) about Ralph NaO~s report on standardized tests. We ' ll get reprints (for one, send _ J a SASE). The Feb. 19 Atlantic also had a good article on tests . As I promised, we've begun to expand our mail order booklist; you'll find reviews of many new addi tions in this issue. RENEWALS The line below your name on th e subscription
label should contain two groups of numbers, two dig its each. The first two num bers tells us how many cop ies of each issue you re ceive, i.e., whether your sub is a lX, 2X, 3X, etc. The second group of numbers is tne-rrnal issue you have paid for. So, if the label on this issue reads 01 13 (or 02 13, 03 13, etc), your subscription expires with this issue, and you shoula-renew right away . We encourage you to re new before your subscrip tion-exprres, so check your label . Renewal rates are the same as for new sub scriptions. Please do tell us that you are renewing when you send in your check, or you may wind up with duplicate issues. TO OUR CANADIAN FRIENDS Please be sure that all checks or money orders for books, magazines, etc, are in United States funds. Not only do we lose on the exchange rate from Canadian to U.S. money, our bank charges us a hefty collec tion fee that can nearly wipe out a small check. Thanks . A YOUNG EXPLORER ... Early last winter several things happened: ( 1 ) J (age 8) was miserable, withdrawn, and hostile at a special private school for gifted children. She had pre-ulcerous stomach pain and was to be sched uled for X-rays. (2) The ar ticle appeared in Time maga zine (12/4/78) abour-John Holt's ideas concerning teaching children at home . . . During J's 1978 Christ mas break, we did a great deal of soul-searching and then told her school that she was leaving to attend another school (we didn't tell them where.) J was absolutely over joyed and declared that she hated school. And especial ly she said no more math ever. Workbooks and point less repetition had ruined math for her. What a turnaround for our eager learner' J had loved learning since the day she was born and had loved it until she went to school. She was always able to do things at a much ear lier age than the experts said she could be expected to do them. We always tried to help learning be fun by allowing her the freedom to choose what she wished to do. Since she was fascina ted with everything, her preschool studies were var ied. She learned to read words as she learned to speak them. She added and understood what numbers rep resented by the time she was two.
... When she was four and attending kindergarten at the previously mentioned special school, the Tutank hamun relics exhibit came to our city and we got the catalog about the exhibit before we went. J read it repeatedly, asking ques tions all the while, until she understood what each ob ject was and what it was used for. Also, she learned some background about the period. When we went to the exhibit, she was more know ledgeable than most of the adults there. Her enjoyment of an cient history was something that she could share with some of the adults she knew. But when she wanted to share her fascination about ancient history with some of her classmates, no one could understand her. She went on to study Greek mythology for a year and a half (an off -sh oot of this was an abiding inter est in astronomy , original ly sparked by the Greek names of the constella tions). But again not a "childish" interest which could be shared with her classmates. Our first step in our new school was months of no "classes" at all, to let J recover from her school mis eries. We organized nothing and only did what J wanted to do. She did take a col lege course at the planetar ium (we ha ve taken seven classes there together . ) .. . The three of us spent the month of May in Europe. J and I studied Eur opean history and planned where we were to travel. The experience of planning and taking the trip was in valuable. Our math-hater could convert currencies in
her he ad . Also she learned, for example: some German, how to read train time ta bles listed in 24-hour clock form, to read maps, to translate menus, plus a ~reat deal about European Lstory - her latest fascin ation . Since we returned from Europe, she wants to learn math because she knows how math can be used. We have also taken more astronomy classes, the Connections course on TV, a ceramics
class, etc . J is again the happy, eager, joking and joyful child we knew before we sent her to school. We had hoped to find a school which wouldn't undo all that we had done with he r . Such a place doesn't seem to exist, so we are continu ing on our own, and plan to keep learning at home until J wants to go to an organ ized school (my current guess would be college). .. . J has grown over 3 inches and gained 11 pounds in the past year since she has been unschooled. During her 2\ school years she only grew in the summer and
didn't total that much growth during those years . Although she was tall for her age before she went to school, she is now short for her age. She was con stantly suffering from in fections of various sorts while in school and is much healthier now ... MORE N.C. NEWS Last year, the Gener a l Assembly of North Caroli na (1979 Session) passed laws freeing private schools from almost all state regulations. When we heard of this, we wrote to the Clerk of the Senate in Raleigh, and also to the NC State Li brary, describing the legis lation and asking for a copy. Within a few weeks, t hey both responded. Actual ly, it was good we wrote to both, for they each sent a different bill - there were two highl y similar bills passed the same day, identi cal except that Senate Bill 383 dealt with "religi ous schools" and Senate Bill 526 with "c ertain qualified nonpublic schools." How ever, all a school has to do to "qualify" is to re ceive no funding from the State of North Carolina. The legislation re qui res the schools to keep attendance, immunization, and standardized test rec ords, and send to the state a "notice of intent to oper ate." It says, "any such school may, on a vo luntary basis, participate in any State operated or sponsored program which would other wise be available to such school . " The final para graph is "N o qualifying non public school, which com plies with the requirements of this Article, shall be subject to any ot her provis ion of law relating to edu cation except requirements of law respecting fire, safety, sanitation and immu nization." Good news that North Carolina legislature has put some clear, deliberate limits on the state's pow er. I hope the ominous "re visions " that some NC educa tional officials have hint ed at do not come to pass. A CHICAGO SCHOOL ... In Sept. 1977 we be gan our own school . .. We have 11 students, aged 3-9. ... Our hours are se cretly flexible ( Illinois asks for so many school day hours). Children choose what they wish to learn. One tactic we are using with "hate schoolitis" is to have parents and teach ers work on their own proj ects at school, too. So far it is good . Young people of ten join in or begin to bring their own interests to us.
2 Several other examples of h ow we work: One young person's father is a small contractor and the child spends one day a week work ing with him rather than go ing to school. My son did not wish to be in sc h ool one day when all the others did, so one of t h e adults went to the Natural History Museum wit h him . We have an arrangement with the local Y to use the gym and also spend a lot of time out of door s . Early this year, one particularly beautiful day, we went to the beach . A friend remarked, "How do you justify the waste of time?" I replied that the children had examined 15 different insects, had seen sandpipers (rare in Chica go), had discovered that if you dig close to the shore line you h it water, and dug holes at several intervals to check the water levels, found glass worn smooth and talked about how pebbles and other things are worn by the water and where sand comes from ( "very tiny rocks," said a delighted four year old), found a warm water current, noticed that the water near the sur face was warmest that day (la t e r in the year it re versed, much to their sur prise - so we talked about water's stability and why it is important t h at ice is light er than water), and one child who had been afra id of the water went on in because no one said she had to; and that I certain ly didn't consider it a waste of time" (No t to men tion sand castles and all that entails about st rength, cement, etc, etc . ) Besides, all t h ese were things the young peo ple wanted to learn and h ad fun learning and h ence will remember . . . MAIL ORDER GAMES FAMILY PASTIMES, R.R.4, Perth, Ontario, Cana d a K7H 3C6, has sent us a catalog of very interes ting-looking cooperative board and puzzle games for different ages. If interes ted, write for a catalog . If you tryout some of these games and find some th a t you like, please let us know, and we will tell others. For families that enjoy games, this is worth looking into. Also, Clonlara School ( 1289 Jewett, Ann Arbor MI 48104) has just told us they have become a distribu tor for the Family Pastimes games, so you can write them for a catalog.
able to borrow books, games, records, science ma terials, etc, through the mail . Fo r more information, write her at LEARN, Box 168B, Rt 2, Clifton TN 38425. INTERVIEW I heard the cassette tape of John Merrow ' s inter view with me for the radio show "Options in Educa ti o n," and I liked it. If you would like a copy, send $6 . 00 to National Public Radio - Education, Washing ton D.C. 20036 . Ask for Pro gram #215, " Profile of John Ho lt." BOOKLET Frank Turano (GWS 9) has written a booklet, " The Need to be Free - The Fight for Home Education," about his family's home schooling and t h e legal issues in volved . If you would like a copy, send $4 . 00 to him at 277 Westhill Av, Somerset MA 02726. CALIF. SCHOOL Lawrence and Bonnie Williams, wh o h ave started the OAK MEADOW SCHOOl (PO Box 1051, Ojai CA 93023), a home study program for grades 1-3, write : ... We are still quite small; only about a dozen families involved at this point, but all are enjoying it immensely and seem to be growing more every day . Al though we supply them with a curriculum suited to their individua l needs, we encourage the development of their creative abilities through artistic, musical and craft activities ... Th e parents seem to appreciate the guidelines that the cur riculum provides, but they don ' t seem to feel tied to the completion of a particu lar schedule. We find our selves talking on the tele phone much more than we had intended, but it seems to help keep a strong rapport between us, which we feel is essential ... GROUP IN MASS... Unschoole r s in the Massac h usetts a r ea h ave been meeting a t the Re source Center, 198 Concord St, W. Glouces t er, MA 01930. Info: Elizabeth Bourne, 1 - 281 - 0661 . ...AND FLORIDA Susan Price writes:
LEARN ~eggy
Holladay is or ganiz1ng a "Library of Edu cational Aids and Resources Network ." Members will be
... We have formed a Florida Associa t ion for Sc h ooling at Home ( FLAS H ) h ere in Florida . Our pur pose is to protec t th e le
gal right of parents t o teach their children at home. It sounds as if we might run into some diffi culty here, as the follow ing quote from a n ewspape r article about a homeschool ing family in Florida shows : "[The assistant super indent ] said he has learned from state educators that some courts have decided that 'when in fact there is a private school with only three students, that is not a private sc h ool but a pri vate tutoring situation. In this situation, you would h ave to have a teaching cer tificate, keep rec ords, make reports and meet other requirements' . .. The assis tant superintendent said h e understands there is a move ment underway to draft leg islation - acceptable to t h e traditional private schools - to keep potential abuse of the private school laws from occurring . . . [He stated] 'I think the legis lation should exist which would give some reasonable assurance that the school did have a well-designed program and to prohibit par ents from denying their children the opportunity to have an education. '" I am trying to find out (through my representa tive in the legislature) what this proposed new leg islation is all about and will keep any people in Florida interested in know ing about it informed as I find out about it. Send me a card (1455 90th Av, Lot 45, Vero Beach FL 32960) if you want to be in FLASH and on the mailing list. We will run on contributions ... MINN. TESTIMONY On my recent lecture trip to Minnesota, I was in vited to testify before the House Education Committee, which was holding hearings on the subject of home schooling. Public school su perintendents, school boards, and county attor ne ys had been asking the Ed ucation Committee and the legi s lature to "clarify " the compulsory school atten dance laws wit h respect to home schooling. What this "clarify" means is that they wanted t h e l aw changed to make it easier to prose cute people who tried to teac h t h eir c h il d re n at h ome. We can expect this word "c l arify " to pop up in ot h er states. Wherever it does, it will mean the same thing . I sent t h e committee a written statement in ad vance, h oping they migh t have time to read it before I appeared . To that state ment I added a few other words in person, and then answered question s from Com mittee members who, wit h one exception, seemed frie ndly a nd interested in
what I had to say . What I said was, in brief: 1) Neither the state n o r its schools has any thing t o fear from home schooling . 2) Minnesota state law, as it stands, can be reasonably 1nterpre ted to allow h ome school ing; no schoo l district and/or cou nty attorney is , under the present laws, le gal l y obligated to prose cute parents who teach their children at home. 3) The state would be wise to allow parents to do this. Trying to crack down on them will only lead to fur ther and more protracted court battles, and much waste of judges' time and taxpayers ' money, since par ents who are for different reasons deeply dissatisfied with public schools are not going to send their child ren to them no matter wh at the state says or does. 4) Wh ere parents have prepared their case fully and wise ly, courts are more and more ruling in their favor. In saying this I made a comparison with the Pro hibition Amendment. I said that a good case could prob ably ha ve been made, o r made right now, that t h e state and its citizens would be healthier if no one drank alcohol, but that this is neither here nor there. The point is that there is a limit beyond which the power of th e state cannot reac h , and that when it tries to ex ceed its natural power it only destroys its own legit imacy, and runs a grave risk of becoming tyrannical and corrupt . This argument may be useful to other un schoolers. We don ' t have space in this issue to print my writ ten statement (we may print some of it in later iss ues . ) Meanwh ile, readers may obtain a copy of it by sending us $2.00. Some of it, at least, may be useful in ot h er states where the schools are trying to per suade the legislature to " clarify" the law . MASS. MEMO Another valuable docu ment we may not have time or room to reprint in GWS is a seven - page memo about home schooling that was sent from the Massac h usetts Dept. of Edu cation to a ll school committees and super inte nd ents in the state . (See "Helpful," GWS #12.) Th e memo, written by Rhoda Sch neider, Genera l Counsel to the Department, briefly reviews the laws about h ome - schooling, and discusses the implications of the Pe r c h emlides case (GWS #9) . Ms . Schneider says, " . . . t h e Perchemlides decision is t h e most t h or ough and well - reasoned deci sion on t h is issue to da t e in Massachu setts or any growing without schooling # 13
J other state, and it offers substantial guidance for school officials as well as parents." The memo clearly out lines what school officials may consider to evaluate a h ome-schooling plan ( hours, texts, etc.), according to Perchemlides, and what they iiiay not-re:g. lack of "so cial life"). It also list s the steps the officials must take to guarantee the parents "due process of law," such as prior notice of a hearing, the right to witnesses, etc. Although Ms. Schneider makes clear that the Per chemlides case is not a binding precedent outside of its own county, she em phasizes that "as long as the school officials making the decision to approve or disapprove a home education program do so reasonably and in good faith, using the standards and proce dures discussed above, it is unlikely that a court would overturn the decis ion . " We'll send you a copy of the memo for $1.00. It should be useful not only to individual families seek ing permission from their local authorities, but also anyone getting involved in those statewide or regional efforts to define "equival ency," draft new legisla tion, and so on.
NEWS FROM MINN. From Sharon Hillestad, 9669 E 123 St, Hastings, MN 55033: . . . It was surprisingly easy to obtai n permission to teach Matthew at home. The first step I took was to call the State Education Department . I talked to the chief, Dr . Peterson. He in formed me that I would need the permission of the super intendent of our school dis trict, to provide a quali fied teacher, and arrange five hours a day of class work . My husband and I met with the superintendent and presented him with a writ ten proposal . Although Mr. LaCroix did not give his ap proval, he did grant us per mission. He asked me to sub mit a schedule, curriculum plan, and method of evalua tion. The school has been ext remely cooperative. I met with Matthew's teacher at the Accelerated Chris tian Education School that h e attended for his first and second grades. He ob tained all the books and paces (workbooks) for me. We ha ve had three days of home school. The first day was a great adjustment for me as I discovered my self being a "classroom teacher," trying to imple ment the schedule and "get through" the subjects. My son protested vigorously growing without schooling #13
and I decided the sc h edule and the plans were mostly for the benefit of the ad ministrators and could have littl e bearing on what Matt would eventually learn. Now we handle about four sub jects a day, whatever and whenever he will learn. I think it will be a fun year ...
STUDY VS. PLAY Lynne Davies (Manito ba), the "Working Mother" of GWS 11, replied to a let ter I wrote her: ... When you mentioned that J was able to "study" at hom e, the word study im plied to me arduous, unen joyable forced activity. He certainly was not doing that. He spent most of hi s time watching TV and play ing with his toys. I was slightly worried about the TV watching, and my worry ing was encouraged by a few people who kn ew how he was spending his time. But the wise side of me said, "Let it be." I discovered that he learned to read quite a lot from TV, and was quite critical of the programs he watched. So I suppose he was studying. It's just tnat we school-conditioned parents ha ve difficulty in terpreting words in an "un school" context. Now J doesn't seem very tied to TV any more. He's making new friends around our apartment block, and is getting out a lot more . . .
AT HOME IN N.H. Nancy Wallace (NH) writes : ... A few words about our school. Every morning we practice our French, play the piano, and do some writing - letter writing, journal, poetry, etc. Every evening we read aloud to Vi ta and Ishmael for about l~ hours. And in between? Ish mael takes two drama class es, a French class and a pi ano lesson for l-hour peri ods once a week, we go to the library, explore the woods, observe nature and read (Ishmael reads for about three hours a day.) I seem to h ave forgot ten to mention math' We do it every day, in one form or another. When Ishmael was finally released from school a year ago, h e seemed practically "retar ded" in math. He had re gressed to the point where he couldn 't even subtract 3 from 5, and even the thought of numbers gave him severe headaches. The school board demanded that Ishmael complete his second grade math book and it was hell, although an improve ment over school, since we cuddled a lot, went slowly
and sympathized . But this summer we were free' We completely dropped the artificial ap proach to numbers (work books) and did a lot of real math - cooking, carpen try, celestial navigation, etc . This fall, we had to go back to a workbook, but three thing s had changed. First, Ishmael gained a bit of self-confidence using numbers for practical things; second, music be came the most important as pect of his life (except books) and numbers are, of course, the backbone of mu sic; and third, we found a " modern" math book that does an interesting thing. It approac h es math as a form of expression - just another language. And Ish mael loves language' Now, for example, instead of freaking out trying to draw the answer to 14 - 9 out of his memory, he easily trans lates the problem into---- ~ 4) - 5 and the solu tion is easy. We don't do any drill in math facts and we continue to make use of this newly discovered lan guage - math - as we do with French, in our every day lives. One more thing - we never ask our kids to do things that we don't do our selves, and consequently we inspire each other . We all read a lot, we all write-i3: lot, we all spe~very bro ken Fren~ we all practice the piano, etc.-reople are often amazed at h ow " self less" I am . They think they could never spend so much time wrcn-their kids, do all the necessary prepara tion it must take to "t eac h" all those subjects, etc. Actually, I have never been so self-indulgent . I always wanted to learn French and take piano les sons and when Ishmael asked to do these things, I knew that here was my chance' As for math, I can barely bal ance our checkbook, so I en joy learning along with Ish mael. And he teaches me spelling and history (don 't tell' ), so I am feeling very alive and full. And I can't even begin to tell how much Vita benefits. She' s only 4, but she keeps right up with French and pi ano and is beginning to read and loves numbers ...
A READER'S MEMORIES ... Quite a while ago I said I would write you an account of my unschooled childhood sixty to seventy years ago . At last, here goes. I was a bouncing child until I had measles at four ... After that, my tem perature was erratic . At that time normal tempera ture was supposed to be 0 98.6 , with no recognition of a normal range of va ria tion. Any deviation h ad to
mean something bad. Mine would go up to 99.2 0 in the afternoon . I was dragged to one doctor after another. No one could find anything wrong with me, but the ther mometer said there had to be' So my parents would be told to keep me out of school and keep me quiet, and maybe I'd outgrow it. Sometimes they would be told to keep me in bed until my temperature had been normal for three days . I f that h ad ever actually been done I'd be there yet. The longest I was ever in bed was three months . After a while they'd try letting me up for half an hour a day, and gradually I'd work back to normal activity, ex cept for not going to school, until someone would take my temperature and put me back to bed. I always took a pile of books and National Geo graphic magazines to bed with me, and of course wri ting materials. I kept my poems and stories hidden un til I got into college . I s till like to curl up in bed with a book or a clip board. The school authorities accepted the medical ex cuse . They lent me the books my class would use for the year, and I was ex pected to read them, but I was never tested on them. Any time when the doctor said I could try school I'd be allowed to go in with my class, but it never lasted long. Of course I hated school, as all the children I knew did, and it was a re lief to me when I'd be tak en out again.
Aside from the few com pulsory books and a little while with Mother or Father on arithmetic a few times a week, I was free to explore the world of ideas. The lit tle Carnegie library in town was my oyster, and I had the freedom of my par ents' bookshelves. Later I learned the resources of the college library. When ever I was in school I was amazed at the inane level of the reading done by my classmates. I suspect that my moth er was glad to keep one c hild out of the school's clutches . She used to say that vacations were just long enough to get the kids civilized, and then they'd go back to school and be savages again. Once when I was nearly grown she said, "You are the most truly edu cated of all my children." She had a lot of theories about child development, and about exposing children to ideas and letting them take it from there. She re spected our minds, and nev er tried to spoon-feed us t h ings "suitable for our age ." She thought no child s hould remember learning letters, colors, numbers, etc. These should be ab sorbed in the cradle, from