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