GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 27 John Holt came back recently from his two-month lecture trip to Europe; he had a wonderful time, see ing many old friends and making many new ones . He also thinks he planted a few home-schooling seedlings here and there. John writes about his trip later in this issue. He spent last weekend in Ithaca, NY, and at a Sunday afternoon home schooling meeting organized by Nancy Wallace, more than 150 adults (and countless children) came, despite pouring rain' Several exciting pieces of news in this issue . One is that Hal and Lynn Kapplow now have the official approval of the Boston Schools for their home-schooling. They are the first family we can think of that has dealt successfully with any big-city bureaucracy. In fact, in the last few months we've heard from families in half-a dozen Massachusetts towns who have gotten permission for home-schooling. These victories seem to be a direct consequence of the Perchemlides court case and the "Mass . Memo" guidelines that clearly spell out what a Massa chusetts family needs to do in order to get approval . John wrote an article for News ~, published 4/30/82, which may-De PICked up by the wire services and re printed across the country. Also, Education Network News (PO Box 6006, Al hambra cA 91801), a newsletter dedi cated to the transformation of educa tion, asked me to write a short arti cle about GWS for their June issue, which I did. It was fun to try to con dense everything I've learned in the last three years into 3~ pages' Many of the volunteers who have typed for us in the past can no longer do so. If you can do any typ ing for us, we'd be most grateful if you'd send us a note. Volunteer Mary Van Doren has been coming into the office several mornings a week, bringing her 10 month-old, Anna . Not only does Mary get a lac done for us, we love having the baby around' --- Donna Richoux JOHN'S COMING SCHEDULE July 22-25, 1982: Homesteaders' Festival. Contact Norm & Sherrie Lee, RD 2 Box 151, Addison NY 14801. July 26: Florida Atlantic Univer sity, Boca Raton FL 33431; 305 395-5100 . Contact Edward Dejnozka, College of Education. July 27: Florida home-schoolers. Fla. State U., Tallahassee. 7-10 PM. Contact Ann Mordes in Marianna or Mary Ann Balthrop, Tallahassee. Aug 24 (tentative): Colorado Home-Schooling Network. Contact Nancy Dumke, 1902 S Oneida, Denver CO 80222. Oct 16: Maryland Home Education
Assoc. Symposium. Contact Manfred Smith, 9085 Flamepool Way, Columbia MD 21045. Oct 22 or 31: Child Education Conference, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pisa, Italy. Contact Connie Miller, phone (050)68976-68894. Nov 4: New York State Reading Association Conference. Kiamesha Lake NY. 9:15 AM. BOOK CUSTOMERS WANTED We are working on finding ways to expand our mail-order book busi ness. Many people have told us they appreciate our making available at a discount so many interesting books of high quality that are not easy to find in local stores, even in big bookstores. You don't have to believe in unschooling or alternative educa tion to like the books we offer children ' s classics, literature, science fiction, art, music, social change, and so on. We see a real opportunity for growth here. Increasing our book sales, especially by getting more cus tomers, seems the most likely way to get our organization on a much more secure financial footing . GWS itself has never been self-supporting . Right now the book business is bringing in a little extra revenue, but not much; we would like to see it contribute much more, so that we can continue to publish GWS and provide the other ser vices that we do. We are going to start mailing out our booklist on a regular basis to non- subscribers who have bought books from us in the past or might want to in the future. This is where you come in. Think of people you know who you would like to see get the booklist - relatives, friends, neigh bors, co-workers, and so on. John and I would like every sin~le GWS reader to send us the name an address of at least one such " Prospective Custo mer, " and by all means more than one rr-you want. We will send all of these people a copy of our booklist (and probably also a short letter) in the fall, so it will reach them in time for Christmas shopping . That means we need these names and addresses from you right away, preferably by the end of July. A post card from you will do, or a separate sheet of paper. Please mark the names "Prospective Customers" so we know. In case you're wondering, nothing in our mailing will indicate from where we got the person's name. So, please send these names and addresses to us right away before you forget. This is a painless, cheap way for you to contribute to our work, besides doing your friends a favor. We're looking forward to getting bushels of postcards and letters from you all' - DR
EARLY G. E. D. From the mother in Washington who wrote "20 Years of Unschooling," GWS #25, page 1:
. .. Last February, our daughter (16) became impatient at having to wait till she was 18 to take her GED test and start her course at the Tech nical Institute (she has decided she wants to be an astronaut!) So she talked me into appealing to the school superintendent for permission to take the GED before reaching the required age. After much soul-searching (we
felt the three younger children's home-schooling might be jeopardized if we got an unfavorable reaction from the authorities), I called up the superintendent and requested a statement of release from the age requirement. I really expected him to ask us to come in for an interview at least, but he seemed to know all about us, and as soon as he under stood our request he said he would be happy to oblige, and that was that. I was amazed' To make a long story short, she took her GED test, was congratulated by the head of the testing department at the community college for having obtained the second-highest score in their records, and has gone on to improve on her brother's record at the Institute - so far, grade average is 100% . Does this all seem beyond belief? ... Child Number 3 is getting ready to wind up his preparation for the GED by next summer . He'll be 16 then and his most burning desire is to get a job on the railroad crew and work up to becoming an engineer . . . SURPRISE FROM ARIZONA From Eldon Evans, 1890 E. Don Carlos #1, Tempe AZ 85281:
... We are elated. Our home edu cation bill passed the legislature, and is now law! It is a major vic tory, for it allows parents to teach their children at home without ask1ng the local school boards. When the bill made its way through the legisla ture, it focused attention upon home schooling in a way that had never be fore occurred in this state. Hardly a day went by without a major story about home schooling in the papers or on TV . The bill was opposed by the NEA, and most people thought it didn't have a chance, but we had the facts on our Side, and kept the legis lators' phones ringing and the let ters coming to them. In two days alone, the Governor's office received over 500 telephone calls supporting the bill, and only 4 against it' We gave each member of the Senate Educa tion Committee a copy of GWS #24 and presented the Governor with a copy of John Holt's TEACH YOUR OWN, which we think is a beautiful book. The Gover nor has young children of his own, so he may give the book serious thought. We were delighted to have John Holt speak by telephone hook-up to a local radio talk show. Also Dr. Hal Lenke, a local educator, appeared on the Michael Dixon Show. Actually, the NEA's lobbying efforts against the bill were rather lame . . . We organized the ARIZONA HOME EDUCATION ASSOCIA TION and testified under that name before the Senate . The mere fact that a home education bill was even being considered stunned the general pub lic, who, for the most part, had never heard of home schooling . We are sure that many people now take it ser iously . . . Home schoolers, under the new law, must, unfortunately, submit to standard achievement tests once each year. In achieving freedom from the school boards we conceded this irksome requirement, which we hope will be abolished someday. Actually most home-educated children learning under natural conditions will have no trouble passing the tests, but we fear some parents will be intimidated and create rigid curriculums. We are trying to get copies of the tests so the children can study them and see
2 what they are up against . A beautiful part of our new law is that private schools are untram meled. They are not required to give tests, or get permission from school boards in order to operate. It was because of the oppression by specific local school boards that this whole home-teaching bill got started. They were trying to shut down some small religious private schools in some rural areas in a very heavy-handed way. As a result, these ministers went to Representative Jim Cooper, a stout friend of family and home liber ties, and this legislation resulted. Parents wishing to bypass the irksome standardized tests may incor porate their homes as private schools by paying the initial $50 filing fee. As long as they do not teac h persons outside their own family they will not be bothered by zoning laws, fire codes, etc. Several parents have oper ated as private schools in their own homes for a number of years and there have been no problems, no tests, no interference at all. The new Arizona law also re quires parents teaching at home to pass a 3-R proficiency test, a minor concession. We consider the child's tests more serious a problem, but not insurmountable. And if parents find them unpalatable, they may incorpor ate as a private school . We sent news of the liberal home education law to radio commentator Paul Harvey, who has been friend l y to home schooling ... His secretary says he is appreciative of material sent to him, so other readers might a l so send him their success stories, to 360 N. Michigan Av, Chicago IL 60601. .. [DR: 1 Eldon later told us that Paul Harvey started one of his broad casts with the story. The Arizona Home Education Asso ciation newsletter contains an enor mous directory, almost 80 fami lies. 33 of them are in two neighboring cities, Tempe and Mesa' John wrote to the A. H.E . A. : ... Terrific' I think that's the biggest piece of news (good or bad) that we've had since we started GWS . ... Two words of caution. The pub lic school people are probably in a panic about this new law. It is impor tant to try to calm them down and tell them it doesn't mean the end of the world. I think it would be wise to make that point to them in private conversations, and also in whatever public ways you can. Talk up the idea of schools cooperating with home schoolers, children using schools on a part-time voluntary basis, etc. Also important, as far as you can, to keep an eye on the school people they are surely already planning to try to repeal the law . . . NEWS FRO M ALL OVER
From local grou~s: The COLORADO HOME SCHOOLING NETWO K (Nancy Dumke, 1902 S Oneida, Denver CO 80222) has an excellent legal packet available for $3. It clearly spells out the legal options for Colorado home schoolers. A reader writes, "I am one of a number of group subscribers who receive GWS through Patricia de Fernos (GWS #21). We recently had a meeting and officially became the PUERTO RICO HOME SCHOOLING ASSOCIA TION. Our next get-together is a pic
nic for home-schooling families in June . " Patricia's address is 503 Barbe St, Santurce PR 00912. In the April newsletter of the NORTH OLYMPIC LIVING LIGHTLY ASSOCIA TION, Jana Michel wrote, "There is a group of people meeting from the Port Townsend area who are presently teach ing or planning on teaching their children at home . We are meeting quar terly and would invite any interested parent to join us . . . Contact me at Rt 1 Box 6l-D, Port Townsend WA 98382; 385-3189." The HOUSE newsletter (2923 W 7lst St, Woodridge IL 60517) for March had several pieces of good news, including a positive comment about home-schooling from the Deer field Superintendent of Schools; the fact that in Chicago the planetarium, arboretum, aquarium, Oriental Insti tute, and University of Chicago exten sion courses all permit children in their programs; and the formation of an incorporated home school in Chica go that may help other families (con tact Deb Martin, 968-6447). Courts: Clara Goss (Eden Private St, Alloway NJ 08001) sent us clippings about her family'S prosecution in municipal court for truancy, and wrote, "We finally won . After the school's resolution stating our program was equivalent though they wanted to monitor us through testing, the judge found us not guil ty and threw out the conditions . " The HOME EDUCATORS NEWSLETTER (Rt 3 Box 324-B, Gallatin MO 64640) reported, "Robert E. Morrow of Cen tral City, Nebraska, has just won his truancy case' ... Representing him self, Mr . Morrow appealed to a jury that later admitted that they were against home education . Even though the prosecuting attorney wouldn't allow any evidence to be presented that related to religious or Constitu tional rights, Mr . Morrow received a unanimous decision for acquittal. Dr . R~ymond Mo~re ... was an expert w~tness ... Schoo~er
Legislatures: The HOME EDUCA TOR'S NEWSLETTER also reports that a bill in Kansas to lower the compul sory school age from 7 to 5 was defeated after seven witnesses testi fied against it . Peggy Lentz also told H.E . N. that the two Wisconsin bills mentioned in GWS #26 were killed in comittee . Events: Laurie Huffman of the UTAHOME EDUCATION ASSOCIA TION (641 E Malibu Dr, Salt Lake City UT 84107; 801-261-3521) told us on the phone that their convention will be August 14 . She says the UHEA mail ing list is now about 500 families' Ted Wade is offering two home school seminars, July 4-7 and July 11-14. For information, contact WEIMAR INSTITUTE SUMMER PROGRAMS, Box A, Weimar CA 95736; 916-637-4111. And the AMERICAN CHRISTIAN ACAD EMY is planning "Home Educators ' Semi nars" in 26 cities. For info, contact Basic Education, PO Box 893, Lewis ville TX 75067; 204-462-1316 . upcomin~
people who are willing to form a pro vincial organization . The purpose would be to provide information and moral support to home schooling fami lies, to connect hom e schooling fami lies across the province, and to inform education personnel and MLA's about home schooling ... There will be dues to finance handouts and mailing costs so a few individuals are not picking up all the expenses as has been happening up to now . If the organization decides to have regular meetings, they can be advertised at no cost in free distribution community newspapers .. . Many of the inquiries about home schooling I have received lately stemmed from advertisements I put into the community paper regarding the conference to be held in Olds, Alberta this weekend. The new contact person for what we are still calling THE ALBERTA HOME SCHOOLINC INFORMATION SERVICE is Kay Wilcox, 45 Haysboro Crescent SW, Cal gary Alta T2V 3Gl . She has nine child ren, two of whom are still in school. She's planning on delegating adminis trative tasks to her older children so she won't get stuck with too much work . . . . There was a big uproar when a Calgary Herald reporter claimed that the Honourable David King, Minister of Education, was thinking of drop ping the compulsory schooling require ment from the School Act . The Minis ter now says he was misquoted and that his remarks were taken out of context, and he wishes he had never said anything . . . I would almost be inclined to believe him, except that I received a copy of discussion by the Legislation Council of the Alber ta School Trustees Association on the proposed new attendance section of the School Act. And 10 and behold, the first sentence says, "The Minis ter of Education has advised that he is considering removal of compulsory attendance laws." ... 1 wrote a response about the Minister's remarks in a column of the Herald reserved for outside opinions. Not only did it get published, I was pleasantly surprised to receive $40 for the piece . . . REVIEW PUBLISHED
From David Eastman in Indiana: ... As for the review of TEACH YOUR OWN that I did in my hometown paper, I just sent it to them cold along with a letter that was very com plimentary of their book review sec tion . I had no connection with the paper previously other than as a regu lar reader. I would think other TYO fans could approach their local papers in the same manner and hopeful ly get good results. Most small -t o medium size papers don't have regular book reviewers, and so accept well written free-lance material as long as it isn't too contr oversial . . . MORE CHEAP TEXTS
From a Missouri reader: ALBERTA ACTIVITIES
Devon Blean (Alta . ) wrote: ... After picking away at the problem of finding other home-school ing families and publicizing the possibility and advantages of home schooling for the past three years, I have finally gathered together enough
... 1 was recently able to find Catholic school books - free - from a school that had closed in 1972 ... The priest told me he would give these books to a n yone who wanted them, only he couldn't afford to pay the postage Tat least 75¢ per book). His name and address: Father Gregovich, Sacred Heart, Verona MO 65769; phone 417-
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #27
3 498-6754 .. . And from Deirdre Cox, 1919 .W Mel rose, Chicago IL 60657: ... 1 have a lot of u sed text books ( hardc over) . I f your readers are interested, they should send a list of grades and subjects. Books are $1 each, postage included. This service would be most helpful for those who don't live i n cities a nd can 't get used books cheaply ... A NEW JERSEY FAMILY
Karen El der (NJ) writes: ... When Krista was in first grade, I began to talk about teaching h er at home. My husband and I thought it was illegal, howeve r, and he wasn't very ke en on the idea. In Krista's first months of second grade, I began formulating plans to take h er out any way possible: keep ing on the move, visiting far-away relatives, etc . I was ready to do any thing. Our second child, Robin, was 2~ and she was just blossoming before our eyes, while Krista's spirit and joy in life were withering. Then we saw John on "Good Morn ing America" (I knew TV was good for something) . A week later we bought TEACH YOUR OWN - and in our financi a l situation we n ever buy hardbound books' Two months lat er, Krista was out. .. . Wh en people ask me how it's going I always say that it is even better than I i magi ned it would be. I am answering a different question than they are ask ing , however. They want to know if it i s actually possi ble to sit your child down every day and give six hours o f le ssons. I am answering that freedom suits us Krista smiles more, gets i n her Mini mum Daily Requirement of reading (f r om some internal nee d), and has plenty of time for running, dancing, and, especial l y, jumping (s he says that's her favorite exe rcise). The people who ask don't believe me when I tell them that there hav e been no drawbacks and that the benefits seem to touch everyt h ing we do. ... Both sets of grandparents h ave been supportive of our switch to home-schooling, but partly because before we started I only committed myself t o doing it for th e rest of this sc hool year . After these past three months, h owever, I will certain ly not send Krista back t o school un less s he asks to go, and eve n th en I would cast a heavy vote against it and remind her that she could a lways come back home. (So far she has want ed to go back for gym - "They have really neat equipment and in April they let you use any of it for two weeks." Actually the gym teacher is probably the best teacher they have there - ot h er parents have commented on this to me.) We did not have any trouble with the scho ol when we told them (by 3-page letter, using much from TEACH YOUR OWN) we were taking Krista out. We had a conference wit h the princi pal, Krista's teac h er and a member of the child study team. Only th e teach e r was actively negative, although the principal star t ed the conference with a statement that we " s hould know t hat the sc ho ol does n o t think this is in Krista's best interests." The member of the c hi ld st ud y team was truly interested in how we would actually teach Krista, but I had t o
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #2 7
say that I did not know what we would do exactly. It turns out that we leave her pretty much on her own. We have a lot of books, some textbooks (which are the least used, being the least inter esting) and lots of paper, various machines (typewriter, calculator, TV, tape recorder, stereo, electronic game s, and, .soon to be borrowed from a friend, a mini-computer), sports equipment, small animals, and our selves and our work ... [From a later note: 1 The grand parents are still wonderful, even now that they realize we intend to contin ue home-schooling. My parents, who live nearby, see the kids about once a week, cook with them, have them help in the garden, take them on pic nics, etc. The far-away paternal grandparents have flown us out to Ari zona (we put it down as a field trip on the curriculum we sent to the school), and have given us a couple of magazine subscriptions and other good materials and ideas. We are still struggling with Krista's left-over aversion to wri ting, with how much structure we re a lly want and need, and with what to do about the l~-year-old's persis t ent desire to be right in the middle (literally) of any project we are doing. But we are all learning, especially me, I think' ... SUCCESS INS. C.
From Tina Manle y (SC): March 15: I have read all 23 newsletters three times - once quick l y , with great relief to find other people saying what I thought; once thoroughly to absorb the ideas; and once with a r-~n to mark sections that would be help £~ l in my argument with the local school board . My husband and I are currently t ea ching our four children at home. Before we moved to Rock Hill, we wrote the local school superintendent requesting permission to teach our children at home. He replied that they had never had such a request and would first have to draw up some guidelines. We met the assistant superinten dent later a nd he presented us with several pages of guidelines. We gave him a letter covering most of the ma terial required by the guidelines. He admitted that he was surprised we were so well prepared ( thanks to the n ews l e tters' ) The additional informa tion r e quired concerned my qualifica tions (I'm not certified), a list of our r efe renc e books and materials, and a description of our schoolroom. Next we are to mee t with the school board for an interview and approval or disapproval ... If they turn me down, I can appeal to the State Board o f Education. In the mean time my children are enjoying their freedom. They can easily finish their Calve rt lessons in the morning and thei r af ternoons are free for read i ng, special projects or "just play ing." They are much happier and say they are learning more than they did in school ... May 12 : To bring you up to date - we are now legal' We have per mission from the local school board t o teach our children at home for the rest of this year. Permission for next year will depend on the results of the standardized tests the child ren took with the public school child ren last month. I'm not worried since
my children are good test-takers. ... At the school board meeting, the people from the administrative office said I had an impressive pro gram and they could see no reason why I should not be able to teach my children at home. The school board members interviewed me for about an hour. The questions mainly concerned what objections I had to their excel lent school system. I tried to empha size the positive aspects of home school rather than the negative aspects of public school . They final ly voted - 7 in favor, 1 abstention ... ... AND IN OKLAHOMA
From Linda Ashton (OK): .. . 1 have not been ready to come out into the open until now. Ours is not a very big town; we have not had a specific routine or schedule for our home education, and I've felt very uncomfortable. I had made no con tact with the local authorities, real ly fearful of their response ... But I decided I couldn't start a new year without going public, getting estab lished with the local board of educa tion, no matter what the response. So on New Year's Day , I wrote a letter to the local superintendent and to the state superintendent asking for minimum requirements by grade and cur riculum by grade . . .. The state superintendent sent me a handbook for administrators and principals, describing the basic approach to education - no help at all~ .. The response I was most anxious about was from the local superintendent. I role-played in my mind numerous res ponses, losing a little sleep, and sweating a lot' So when my daughter called me to the phone at 8:30 in the morning, six days after I'd mailed my letter and said, "Mom, it's James Roberts," I nearly melted in my tracks' He's the administrator for elementary educa tion and I had taught across the hall from his daughter one year. I had expected a written reply. A very friendly conversation ensued, the bottom line of which was there is no such thing as a paper with curriculum by grade and minimum requirements. I was amazed ... Mr. Roberts informed me that the curricu lum was taken from the textbooks adopted by the system and whatever was in the textbooks was the basic curriculum. He agreed that I could come to the board of education and obtain this information by copying it from the texts I needed. ... So I went down to the school board office that afternoon. I had "prepared" my basic curriculum from the World Book pamphlet recommended in GWS #20, all ready to check off my objectives against those in the texts. Instead, Mr. Robert's secre tary showed me to the bookroom where we picked up the teacher's editions of texts and workbooks and I was able t o bring them home to use ... We hard ly ever use the books. They are so tedious. ... What has amazed me is there have been no questions asked about what we're doing or why we're doing it. A lot of my anxiety is gone now and I find it fun to wander through . the department stores during the day with my children, with next to no one else there shopping' And very rarely does anyone say a word about why they aren't in school .. . PS - I do not need a personal response, as I feel responded to with