GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 20
on home-schooling (and who, by the way, is engaged to Dean Schneider, another GWS reader) came by the off ice and we had a nice visit . She asked us to pass along her thanks to the many families in the Directory who have given her suc h friendly cooperation. - John Holt COMING SCHEDULE
Apr 24, 1981: Music Educators Nat'l Conference, Arena, Minneapolis MN. 11 AM mtg, Minneapolis Convention Hall. Contact Ge ne Morlan, 1902 Assoc. Dr, Reston VA ~2091. May 2: New England Philosophy of Education Society, Framingham State College, 11 AM. Contact Richard Lyons, 617-452-5000 ext. 2450. May 9: Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Conf., Airport Hol iday Inn, Toronto, Ontario. Con tact Bob Morrow, 416-627-3685. June 11-14: 6th International Congress, Yoga and Holistic Living, Himalayan Institute. New York Statler Hotel, New York City. Contact Ms. Dale Cblton, RD 1 Box 88, Homesdale PA 18431, 717-253-5551. Aug 30 - Sept 2: Australian Read ing Conf., Darwin, Australia. Contact Bob Counahan, PO Box 38221" Winnellie NT 5789; Ph 84 4277 ext 40. (We hope to arrange other engage ments for John from Aug. 16-30 in California, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia. )
In GWS #17 we said that Mother Earth News had accepted Ishmaer--- Wallace's article about how he and his father ' built a raft. The other day we got our March/April Issue of Mother Earth News (#6 8). Not ,only is the story in there, with a very nice photo of Ishmael and his sister Vita sailing on the raft, but, an artist's renditi~n of the two children on the raft is on the magazine cover - and also on a big promotional poster for TMEN that will probably be posted on the wall in many stores-and other pub lic places. We're delighted. Official publication date for TEACH YOUR OWN is August 3. The cover price of the book will be $13.95; we wi 11 sell it ,here for $12.50 + pos tage (75¢ for 1, 2, or 3 copies ) . You may order the book ,from us in advance, and we' ll send out copies as 11-YEAR-QLD HELPER soon as they become available in August. Also, since sales people work From Paula King (CA): hardest to sell what they think will sell best, the more advance orders of .. . This month our family is TEACH YOUR OWN the Delacorte people taking a vacation. We've brought Shan-, get, the more effort they will make non, our ll-year-old friend with us. for this book. She's taking a month out of school to I was a guest on a TV. show in com,e on our trip. She is responsible To ron to called "Speaking Out" the for Lindy, our one-year-old. For this o ther night - one of the best shows she gets room and board, $lO/day plus have ever been on. The host, ,Harry ski equipment and lrft tickets paid Brown, had read and understood our for when she skis. She is learning to materials and asked many friendly but ski on this trip (and doing great). thoughtful and probi ng questions. The She brought schoolwork with her people who called in by phone (inclu and I assist her if necessar y. It ding two home-schooled children) also takes very little time. We play , asked good questions. As is their usu games, mainly Pente, a game requiring al custom, the show ran a poll of its logic, patience, the ability to look audience, asking them to vote by ahead, and the ability to see many phone on the question, "Do you think situations developing at one time. that our public schools are doing a I've introduced her to THE CHRONICLES good job?" When I left the studio OF NARNIA and Madeline L'Engle's book that night, the No's were leading by A WRINKLE IN TIME, which she read in about four-to-one . And more than a two days. She, in turn, is teaching thousand people had called wanting to me to play the flute. I'm excited to ask a question on the air. Since we finally get my hands on an instru ,were competing with the Ontario elec ment. We are good teachers for each ti on returns, my hosts were very other because we have a close, loving pleased about this. relationship. The "Calendar" TV show (WCVB-TV One of the main things I think Channel 5, Boston) will have story on Shannon is gaining from this experi home schooling May 29 at 8 PM; the y ence is that she is doing useful work taped a s hort interview with me, as in the real world. She's exchanging well as with three Massachusetts fami her ability (she's a good "mother" lies: the Kimballs, t he Mahoneys, and for Lindy) for money - that's part of the Mulcahys of Yarmouth. the real world. She's giving me a There was a good home schooling break which allows me to be a better story in the Home section of the Feb. moth er and improves our total family 26 New York Times, and a shorter relati onship. We're having fun and I story in the Feb. Nex t magazine . see lots of learning going on ... Also, a syndicated story on home schooling by Ken Frankl in has been [From a later letter: J , •• On our appearing in newspape rs around the ski trip we treated Shannon as we country - a number of people have would ha ve treated any adult. She sent us clippings of it. went to bed when she wanted, got up Paula Allmaras in North ' Dakota when she wanted, fixed herself a meal if cooking wasn't going on when she writes that a bill sayi ng that anYfine can teach their c hildren or sen t em was hungry, and so on. As a result, to non-certified schools has passed she responded to us an an adult and the N.D. Senate and is in the Ho use. was really fun to be with. When I say Robin Smith, a senior at Smith
as an adult, I mean she didn't try to College who is doing a research paper manipulate us or whine or fuss if
things weren't going her way. There were times when I know she would rath er have gone with us instead of baby sitting but she never mentioned it. I feel we were all fair with each o ther and Shannon responded to that. Our agreement was that Shannon would take care of the baby any time during the day when we didn't feel like it. We always took care of Lindy at night and got up with her in the morning. Shannon took complete con trol of feeding Lindy, including food preparation, changing diapers and clothing, keeping her safe as she explored the house, and seeing that she got sleep when she was ready for it. That is a full-time job and physically very tiring. She never lapsed. Lindy was safe the whole time and I could leave knowing that Shan non was totally responsible. Knowing this let me have a good vacation ... WORKERS NEEDED
From Kathleen Meyers in Utah; . .. A couple of years ago we called you when we took our son Brian out of public school . I put him on the line and your comment, "I see you're not in school today - thank goodness'" was a turning point in his Hfe. I guess it' & difficult for adults to appreciate what it must be like to go about one's business absorbing steady comments like, "What are you doing here? Aren't ,ou sup posed to be in school?" As if your very existence is a violation ' requir ing stern disapproval. ... It's such a delight to read in GWS of family after family discov ering the same basic truths in so many different ways. My particular axe is the denial of society to allow children to make meaningful contribu tion of their labor. Whether for trade or money, the next generation should be eased into this essential part of life naturally as their inter est and ability increases . Instead we force them to stand by the sidelines as spectators until 16 years of age, then wonder why we have dropouts from society' ... My ideas on how to include children and teenagers in the adult working world were greeted generally with suspicion or yawns. So I am do ing something about this situation myself. Our family has a company which designs and assembles a family management system. It's called GOLDEN TIME because I developed it original ly to have more of the stuff l ife is really made of - golden moments with our family. We have eight children and the time crunch is very real. After a year of backereaking work involving everyone, we are going retail this month, which brings me to my. soapbox : I HAVE WORK AVAILABLE FOR CHILDREN' I was astounded at the results when I put my own children (ra nging from 4 to 17) to work assembli ng packets o f one dozen forms each. The four-year-old spreads hers out on the bed, "One, two, three ... " and never makes a mistake' She's paid 2¢ each, just like big brother. Big brother, who doesn't play the piano like HIS big brother has found a remarkable talent: he can pick up a form packet and tell you if it is sho rt by ONE' Of course, he is now Quali ty Control Manager ... and how his self-esteem has grown. He is a very fast counter having developed his own speedy sys tem; he averages $3.60 per hour and is eleven. Each of our children shows
2 an interest in some area of the busi ness: accounting, form design; market ing, etc. When we started this I realized it would be th~ end of home school as we'd previously known it. Most teach ing moments would have to be "on the firing line" doing what needed to be done. After one year I thought, "I think I'll give them a written assign ment like before, just to see what's been going on." I still can't believe it. With no formal grammar, punctua tion, or spelling lessons for one whole year, my former "slow" English student produced a BEAUTIFUL paper! It had correct indentation, proper paragraphing, correct spelling, and even good penmanship. Was it all that reading? Was it the business letters? Was it being left alone finally and not pressured? Anyone who would like work, please contact me at GOLDENTIME, PO Box 194, Pleasant Grove UT 84062. We pay 2¢ for loading packets and l¢ for stapling the tops . Your staples, our bags and tops. We ask that you pay postage both ways ... SUCCESS STORES
From Marti Mikl (AZ): ... Things have worked out great ... We wrote a letter to the Deer Vall€ y District School Board requesting a meeting "to make the necessary arrangements to officially remove our son Darris from the public sch901 system and educate him at home." We also sent letters to the school principal and 5th grade teach er informing them that Darris would be absent from school pending a meet i ng w"i,th the Board. For our meeting with the board, we prepared a written statement as to our reasons for removing Darris from public school. Some of our thoughts were borrowed from the Kendricks' let ter (GWS #12) ... Af~er a grueling (though friendly) "inquisition," the Board granted us permission to edu cate Darris at home. It was difficult not to shout "Hallelujah'" ... We had expected the District to "wash their hands of us" regarding curriculum. We were pleasantly sur prised and grateful that they were willing, even anxious, to have the Superintendent of Curriculum work with us. I met with him shortly after and, in effect, he simply approved of the way I was handling Darris' studies and told me to keep up the good work. They are allowing us to continue using Darris' books from school and have even supplied us with all of the corresponding teacher's books. The Board is requiring that Darris take standardized achievement tests ... Since ours is almost a land mark case in Arizona, we feel this is a small price to pay in exchange for the approval ... We will test him at home. Actually, we feel testing may be helpful in knowing the areas where he needs extra help ... From David and Ellen Dombek (PA): . . ~Last summer we placed a des perate call to your office trying to find a way to teach our eight-year old daughter at home again this year as we had been doing in the past. Donna gave us the name of Mr. Boel houwer in Harrisburg [See GWS #16, page 6J. He was most encouraging and said to have our superintendent call
him and he would recommend that we be granted permission to teach under the Pa. tutoring law. This we did. Within a few days we had tentative permis sion pending our submission of a cur riculum which would assure the author ities that we would include all sub jects required by law. We are very grateful for Donna's help and for the letters we received from several others in Pennsylvania who are also teaching t~eir children at home ... From California:
argue with our decision (made jointly by parents and child) and has offered us instructional materials and assis tance in setting up a regular program. The greatest difficulty I face in teaching my children (ages 5 and 7) is finding time for instruction on a regular basis. Although we try to use the time between morning chores and my leaving for work at 11:00, other things have a way of cropping up and being given priority. Perhaps other subscribers could suggest ways they set up their programs on a regu lar basis. We try to involve our children in every activity we engage in. As a librarian, I often bring my children to work with me. My husband is self employed as a cabinetmaker and teach es them woodworking and measurement skills. We feel that LIFE is an educa tion and no part of it should be ignored when teaching children ...
... It is interesting to hear
that you favor teaching children at
home; this is what we have been doing
for years with our daughters, ages 10
and 8. They both taught themselves to
read and each read at least 7 thick
books every week. The teaching here
has been bordering on no teaching at
all for the past year, but since they
are unusually happy, healthy, crea
tive, curious, and self-confident we
BILL IN WASH. STATE feel comfortable with what we are
Julie Titus (Rt 1 Box 386, East doing (or not doing') Because our
sound WA 98245) sent us a clipping house is very isolated, they often
from the Seattle Times: spend weeks playing only with each
other. When they do see other child
... A bill that would allow pri
ren they are friendly and generous,
vate schools to operate without get
behaving as well-adjusted human
ting state approval "has a good
beings .. .
chance of passing the House," the
chairman of the House Education Com
mittee said yesterday.
From Elaine Murchison, Glass
Representative Renn Taylor, ville, New Brunswick EOJ lLO:
Spokane Republican, made the assess ment after private school interests ... 1 have a seven-year-old son, testified Thursday on House Bill 196, Jonah, whom I am teaching at home. We sponsored by William H. Ellis, sent him to public school for the Seattle Republican. first ,month of grade 1 and then · .. The measure, backed by the decided to keep him home. Our reasons Washington Federation of Independent were mainly that we just didn't , Schools [PO Bbx 1098, Olympia WA approve of the way public schools 98507J would allow private and church operate. I felt that I could do a schools to have noncertified teach much better job and that Jonah would ers. A certified staff is one of the grow naturally in a natural environ requirements for present state appro ment. val by the state Board of Education. We have had our vi~it with ihe On the other hand, the bill pro Director of Elementary School Pro vides for standardized achievement grams and received a letter from the testing of students, Taylor said, and Minister of Education, stating that continues to require that all schools he is willing to approve Jonah's meet certain health and safety stan exemption from school, for the cur dards . rent school year. If we wish to con · .. Taylor noted that in several tinue home-schooling next year, which states, courts have upheld the right we do, we have to approach the Minis of parents who do not want their ter again, before the next year children in schools that are subject begins. They are being very helpful, to state approval. "The fear is that giving advice a.nd recommending'mater if the state's approval procedure ials . The School Supervisor- of our goes to court, it will be thrown district, who has also been a teacher out," Taylor said ... He sees "quite a for 20 years, has offered his help bit of support" among fellow state whenever needed. He is an understand representatives for the bill. ing, kind man, who believes very · .. The state attorney general's strongly in the family and its func office says students in nonapproved tions. We are satisfied and happy schools are truant, with parents sub with the outcome ... ject to be fined $25 a day for each day a child isn't in an approved school. A reader writes: Prosecutors in Benton and Frank lin Counties have said they would ... When I moved to a rural set await the legislative outcome before ting and began to have children of my prosecuting cases involving schools own in the early seventies, I planned in their jurisdiction. to set up an alternative or "free" school. Instead, and because of the · .. The bill is opposed by the powerful Washington Education Associa variety of laws set up to restrict tion, the Washington Association of the physical plant, I have been teach School Administrators, the state ing my children at home. Michigan School Directors Association, and laws allow a person to teach their other public school groups. own child if they hold a valid Mich . Don Johnson, the W.E.A. 's assis teaching certificate. A child also tant executive director for governmen does not have to attend a public tal relations, said the association school if they are enrolled in a regu has many reservations about the bill, lar course of instruction in a pri but a chief concern is the loss of vate s,chool or under the direct super certified teachers in such schools, vision of a person ho lding a valid . because "qualified teachers are an Mich. teaching certificate. Since my important ingredient in maintaining certificate is still valid until June qualit y education." ... 1981, our local school board did not
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #20
3
Julie adds, "Opinions on this matter can be expressed by calling a toll-free legislative hot line and indicating your opinion and residen tial area. The toll-free number is: 1-800-562-6000. Even more effective would be contacting your representa tive directly by phone or letter ... I am hoping you will help me reach other deschoolers in the State of Washington. If we can get enough l~tters and phone calls into our representatives in Olympia perhaps we can help the unschooling movement along in the state ... " HELPING SCHOOL - N.J.
From Ann Morris, SCHOOL OF THE ARTS; PO Box 114, Stillwater NJ 07875: ... Ed Nagel (GWS #8) mentioned the Santa Fe Community School, which gave me an idea about using our incor porated School of the Arts as a vehicle/shelter for easing pressure on home teaching parents. Dick and I incorportated our school in 1953, eight years after we began teaching our children. ... We continued teaching our seven children until in 1958 we decided to enlarge our school family on a farm in rural New Jersey to the number of 16-18. We all lived as a big family, rebuilt the old farm house, tended the cows, goats, sheep, chickens, horses, raised a huge gar den, baked our own bread, cakes, pies, cleaned our home/school. Studies had to do with our immediate life interests, which we enlarged by extensive travels in our small buses, camping, cooking over the fire, visit ing industries, unique environments, talking with people. We believed, all of us, teache~s/students should involve our SELVES with life on this earth. After 30 years, without good cohorts any more, I've had to seek alternatives, which I'm developing in the form of advisory outlines for par ents wishing to teach their own child ren. As you describe time and again, education is around us everywhere, waiting to be discovered. Any parents who would like to enroll their child/ren in an incorpor ated school could write to me at the address above. IncidentalLy, our School of the Arts name refers to lib eral arts, which we believe essential to all learning. Our services would be free, except for the paper-work cost ...
also has a lot of other good informa tion available, and t~lls us, "I usually figure if people send $10 they are covering the costs of all the materials I currently send out. But I don't want people to think they can't get the materials for less if they can't afford so much. I am doing okay on donations ... " - Donna Richoux COMFI CARRIER OFFER
From Metta Brown in Texas: ... As an eventual home-schooling parent (children presently ages 3 and 6 mo.) and as an interested subscri ber, I would like to make an offer that I hope might, in some small way, help you to keep up with your often not-so-small business expenses. I am a regional sales representa tive for Comfi Baby Products, Inc. Comfi makes a lightweight, easy-to use, and comfortable baby carrier. It is a front carrier, designed to per mit child and mother to remain together, in close physical contact, throughout the mother's normal daily activities. I would like to know whether you might be interested in offering such a product through your mail-order booklist. ... Through your own experience and your familiarity with THE CONTINU UM CONCEPT you are aware of how impor tant it is for an infant to be in close physical contact with its par ents and for children to be included in the work and play activities of adults ... I have used the Comfi carri er with both of my children and have found it to be of inestimable value ... (DR: J We know about and like the Comfi carrier; John believes it to be a very good product. Ho~ever, we're not sure how many people who read GWS are in the market to buy a baby carri er, so we don't want to get into this in any big way. So what we've arranged is this: we will offer the Comfi carrier for a limited time at a price of $20 (this price includes postage; allow six weeks for delivery.) If you would like one of these carriers, send us a check payable to Holt Associates, Inc., by May 31, 1981. You'll be pay ing $3 less than you would in a store for the same item, and GWS gets $7 for each carrier sold. If you'd like more information first, we can send you a brochure. We'd also like to hear from anyone who doesn't. want to buy one now but thinks they might later, if we contin ued to offer them.
LIST OF MATERIALS
Meg Johnson, who started the HOME EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER (GWS #18J, now has availabl e a very good list of where to get textbooks and educational materials. It includes addresses (and some description) of several major publishers, the Cuisen aire Company, McGuffey's Readers, Neinhuis Montessori, art prints sup pliers, children's magazines, and more. Many people ask us where they can get books and materials to help with their home-schooling; usuall y we tell them that they'll find a lot of ideas about that in the back issues of GWS, and of course we also send them a copy of our own booklist. But for quick general reference, Meg's list looks very useful. We suggest that if you want this list, send $1 and a SASE to her at 337 Downs St, Ridgewood NJ 07450. Meg
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #20
PSYCHOLOGIST
From Andy Peterson, 25 Rose Hill, Smethport PA 16749: ... In GWS #9 you asked that sym pathetic professionals might let GWS readers know of support services for prospective and current home school ers ... The professional credentials I have earned are a Pennsylvania license for clinical psychology and a Pennsylvania certificate for school psychology. My primary service would be to help parents negotiate with the educational bureaucracy to gain and maintain approval of a home schooling plan with as much freedom as possible. In Pennsylvania, a home school ing program is approved and super vised at the local school district level by the superintendent. The par
ent must be seen as a "properly quali fied tutor." I think an official psycho-educational evaluation and recommendation from a psychologist would be helpful in convincing the superintendent of the merit of this educational approach for a particular child and family. The GWS network would be a good format for informing parents of the assistance I propose. I would request those interested to send a descrip tion of their situation and a self addressed, stamped envelope. Due to space and time limitations, my per sonal evaluation or consultation with family and school district is probab ly limited to Pennsylvania and west ern New York (we are about four hours by car from Pittsburgh). As I have two little ones and an old house to remodel, l will probably determine a suggested fee for a personal consulta tion which would be negotiable pend ing individual family financial cir cumstances. But, I would respond in writing to anyone about these issues and will be putting together an infor mation packet (legal, administrative, philosophical items) to be made avail able for a few dollars ... HELPER IN ME.
... 1 have a master's in Ed. and have had a Maine teacher's certifi cate. My 5-year-old is home and prob ably will be staying home. My 10-year old may be home next year when we move to another part of Maine. We have plans to start a small private school in our own home. I would also like to help other home schoolers, say, if having a certified teacher check in once a week or so would help satisfy local authorities in those situations where the families are homeschooling by arranging with local school authorities ... At this stage of the game, I would appreciate it if you would not print our name and address. You said that people could write us c/o GWS ... ACTION IN N.J.
From Ann Bodine (NJ): ... You ·ask what we do in our NJ groups? Most of us consider ourselves a very loose association with focal points, rather than an organization with a hierarchy. Of the various focal points, I only know about the several in my vicinity. Norma Ritter organized a book buying co-op so that people can buy the English "Ladybird" series of beginning readers at considerably less than the bookstore price. Norma also worked with Sue Pregger in organ izing weekly field trips for home schooled children. The trips contin ued through fall and early winter until Norma!s baby (her 3rd) was born and the snows fell. Sue Pregger and her 7-year - old daughter Becky also edit and print Elsewhere News, a children's newslet ter. One woman calls school boards and school prinCipals, pretends to be someone who is moving into that town, and discusses the law with them, even to reading them sections of court interpretations favorable to home schoolers, trying to put them in a receptive frame of mind in case they ever discover the home schoolers. Meryl Feinsod and Jenny Nepon have organized a weekly activity day. It's held in rotation in the homes of