GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 40 Just came back from a trip to Phoenix, where I taped a short inter view wi th the Rita Davenport show and l ater spoke to a meeting of home schoolers; to San Diego, where I spoke to a number of meetings of home sc hoolers in wha t is o bviously a very active area; and then on to Washing ton sta t e , where (w ith many ot he rs) I spoke at th e Cleve land Conference at Washington State University i n Pull man, and then later at some very we ll attended and enthusiastic. public meet ings in Wenatchee, in the heart of the frui t country. The Cleveland Con ference, held annua ll y, ordina rily brings together sc hool adminis trators and archi t ec t s t o discuss school cur riculums and buildings . This year the spon so rs of th e conference decided to discuss instead the question of the law as it relates to i nd epe nd ent schools, mostly religious, a nd home schooling. Whether for thi s reason or some ot her, only abou t half th e usual number attended, but th ese seemed to find the conference lively and stimu lating. Returned home t o hear the very welcome ne ws that our dear frie nd and colleague Donna is going to be mar ried this November, probably in the Boston suburb of Concord, to Franklin Ross, who, among ot her things, works at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. Another old friend and staff mem ber, Jim Hayes, has l eft to work full time at the Westin Hote l. Hi s place is being t aken by Ross Ca mpbell, who arrived here recent l y from the West Coas t to work as a volunteer, and now becomes one of the regular crew . Mary Gray, meanwhile, is recovering some what from mononucleosis, so it may not be too long before s he is wi th us again. The response t o our recent story about possibly starting a tax-exempt corpo r a ti on called Fri ends of Home Schooling has been so encouraging (about $6000 in donation estimates) that we have decided to go ahead . Bar ring unforeseen and extremely unlike ly legal difficulties (there are thou sands of t ax - exempt co rp orations of a similar nature), we should have the new corporation formed by the end of the year, though it will of course take some time after th at to get our tax-deductible status from the Inter nal Revenue Service . More good news about home school ers and college admission. Theo Giesy, one of our pioneer h ome school ers in Virginia, wrote me that her son Darrin, who has not been to school in the many years I have known him, has been admitted to Antioch Co l lege, one of our most selective col leges, for this coming fall . Brief note on late star t s i n reading . Heard from one homesc hoo l friend that her youngest child, age
11 last winter, has only in the last year or less taken an interest in reading and is now reading we ll, and in fact wrote me a very interesting and well-spelled letter. And on my travels I met a 10~-year- o ld boy who only began reading four months or so ago and is now reading far beyond his grade leve l. Will try to get a l i ttl e more complete story ab out th ese by no means atypical children . Children l earn very quickly when they hav e chosen to do so for th ei r own r ea sons. How much trouble and pain would be saved if more schools could on l y l ea rn this . --- John Holt JOHN HOLT'S COMING SCHEDULE Sept . 8, 1984: Connecticut Home-Schoolers Association. Contact Laura Pritchard, 203-634-0714 . Sept . 13: Holt Associates Open House (seco nd Thursday of each month, 6-8 PM ) . Sept . 28: Sunrise Session, D'You ville College, Buffalo NY 14201 . 8 AM. Contact Robert DiSib io , 716-881 3200, ext. 6112. Oct. 13: Missouri homescho o lers. U. of Mo., Ro lla. Co ntact Albert Hobar t, 314-674-3296. Anyone who wants to coo rdinat e ot her meetings o r lectures around these times, contact Patrick Farenga. GWS T-SHIRT CONTEST Ever want to create an award winning design ? Now you can indulge in your most creative talents - enter your design for our first-ever GWS T-SHIRT CONTEST . Mary and Richard Zimman, the owners of the company HORSESHIRTS', have offered to sponsor the contest. The rules are:
1) The winner will be awarded $25 . 2) Entries must be no larger than 8" wide and 10" high, drawn in black ink on white paper, and be ca mera-ready original artwork. 3) All entries must have name and address of the entrant on the back . 4 ) Multiple entries are accep table. 5) Judging will be by GWS in con junction with Horseshirts' Inc . 6) The winning design will be imprinted on T-shirts as a fund raisi ng and publicity activit y for GWS. 7) Entries should be postmarked no later than Oct. 31, 1984. Once a winner is chosen, the win ning design will be printed on Hanes 50/50 T-shirts in 8 sizes (4 you th and 4 adult). The postpaid pri ce s will be $4 . 75 for youth and $5 . 25 for adult sizes. GWS will receive one dollar for every T-shirt sold, so c reate a design that'll sell a mil lion' We look forward t o your crea tions and encourage all ages to enter. Good luck' --- Pat Farenga REPORT ON GWS SUPPLEMENT Delighted to see that YOUNG CHILDREN: NATURAL LEARNERS is moving briskl y - over 100 sold so far, with n ew orde rs steadily coming in. I'm especially pleased that many peo ple a r e buying extra copies for their frie nds and relatives. For those of you who did not see the announcement in GWS #39, YOUNG CHILDREN: NATURAL LEARNERS is the
first-ever "GWS Supplement, " made of letters and articles we have n o t had r oom for in the regular magazine , and a ll pertaining to chi ldr en from birth to age 6. It turned out to be 12 pages, not 8, in the GWS for mar-with a few i ll ustrations. In the introduction, I wrote, after a few words on our history: "Thr ough GWS, a sizable network has formed of people concerned abou t the tr ue nature of learning . To ou r delight, many of our readers ha ve wri tt e n us about the way they and their children actually do lea rn, and it was has been our great pleasure to print these perceptive, warm, and often witty letters in GWS . Through these shared experiences, like the ones you will find in these pages, a new picture is emerging of what the role of the parents may be in produ cing children who are happy, crea tive, and independent - parents who trust their children's innate abi lity to learn, who provide only as much help as the child asks for, and who allow th e child to become involved in their li ves and work instead o f nar rowing their world down to the tradi tional limits of childhood . We hope you will find these letters and arti cles stimulating and encouraging ." Several of the stories relate to family businesses - an employer in New Hampshire who requires workers to bring pre-school-age c hildren; start ing family-style health food store; a 3-year - old who answers the phone for her parents' construction firm . Some of the other titles: "When a Toddler I nt e rfer es," "Twos Aren't Terrible," "Having Faith in Special Kids ," "L earning to Ice Skate, " and "Thought s on Pre-School." As I expected, because the print ing and postage costs are higher than we estimated, we have had to r ais e the price already to $2, including postage ( make checks payable to Holt Associates) . But to encourage the mul tiple orders to continue, the price will be $1 . 50 each for 2 or more shipped at one time to one addr es s. We'd love to hear feedback on th is booklet . The first response we got was from Joyce Spurgin in Okla homa: "I received YOUNG CHILDREN: NATURAL LEARNERS today ... It is just what I needed. When will you have a not her issue? . . If it was a regular periodical, I would subscribe' " --- Donna Richoux NOTES FROM DONNA Looks like the next four months are going to be very, very busy, what with the wedding, moving house, and the projects at work - the fa ll book list mailing, updating the Directory, the Mass . kindergarten law (see "Legislative News") - not to mention
WHAT'S INSIDE Trading Post: 2 --- NC, MO News: 2 --- Other legal news: 2-4 -- Test results: 5 - -- Frank Lloyd Wright: 5 --- Early grad: 5 --- Zambia: 6 --- On their own: 6 --- Neb raska fami ly: 7 --- Part-time school: 7 --- Success : 8 -- From 14-yr-old : 9 --- Teacher test: 10 --- Cer tificates /Private schools 10 --- Advantages of home-schooling: 11 --- JH Testimony: 11 -- Earning Money / Teacher: 11 --- Montessori: 12 --- Kids & Work: 12 --- Calvert: 13 --- JH/ Violence: 13 --- Schadel/map le syrup: 14 -- Science/nature: 15 --- Computers: 16 --- TV: 16 --- Kids & Money: 16 --- Typewriters: 17 --- Writing : 18-19 --- Co ntests : 19 --- Read ing: 20 --- Scu lpture supplies: 20 --- Text book catalog s: 20 --- Suzuki: 21 --- Music tape le ssons: 22 --- Book reviews: 22-26
6
years. He said Miller is one of the most sought-after graduate students in the nation. Miller was taught at home until he was 10, enroll e d in college at 11 and also managed to become adept at karate and basketball. Although he does not have a high school diploma, Hillsdale College admitted him at 11 because of remarka bly high Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Miller attributed part of his educational success to schooling at home from his parents Lincoln and JoAnne Miller - both teachers. "My parents educated me. Mostly my father in mathematics and science and my mother in English. I spent half-days at home and half-days at school dur ing grade school." Miller said his parents sent him to school half-days for social contact. He entered the fifth grade at 10 and simultaneously took science and mathematics courses in high school ... WORKING & LEARNING IN ZAMBIA From Laura Hills (Box 23, Kafue,
Zambia) who is a missionary:
... David, our youngest child, had one year in a nursery school, one year in first grade, and about five months of 4th grade in U.S. schools. He attended a Zambian school for three years, from the second half of Grade 2 to the first half of Grade 5. In this school he was the only whit e pupil and the only one who heard Eng lish spoken in the home. School, how ever, was taught in English, with Tonga (the vernacular) taught as one class only. Hence you can see the academic standards which were possi ble to maintain were not very high ... I tried to do some supplemental work with him from Calvert School ... This, however, went very slowly as anyone knows who has attempted extra school after their child has completed a full day of public school . We did some things and skipped some things (we did not subscribe to the Advisory Teaching Service). When we returned to Zambia i n 1977 after Dave had spent several months in Grade 4 in Michigan, we went to live on a houseboat - be came nomads in a sense - and since that time, Dave has n ot been in any public school. We struggled with Cal vert through the beginning of 7th grade. In May 1980, we were called home because of a very serious health problem for one of our older daugh ters. At this t ime I first read the Plowboy interview wi th you, John, in Mother Earth News. This intrigued me and I got and read one or two of your books from the library and ordered a subscription to GWS. What I read really supported my observations of the way c hildr en learn, made both with my own children (including trying to teach Dave) and watching the way the Zambian children learn. Not the ones in school only, but those many who were unable to go to school - mostly because there are not enough schools in Zambia for all children. They learn by mimicking adults, they learn by using real tools, by doing real things. Girls by the age or 2 or 3 have their own tiny tin can of water which they carry back from the well or river on their head along with their mothers who have their own six gallon tin full of water on their own he ad. Girls of this age have ·t heir own corn cob or rag, etc., tied on their backs like a
baby - but girls of 5 or 6 have their baby brother or sister strapped on their backs part of the time. This is not forced child labor - this is what children want to do. And the examples could go on-8nd on . Zambian children learn the survival skills they will need as adults in a normal, natural way because they want to and because they see adults doing them. They will not learn how to read by themselves because the printed word is not readi ly available nor used by most adults (in the rural areas, anyway) . We were in the states for 17 months in 1980 and '81. GWS gave us the courage to not insist Dave go to school during this time - he did not want to attend. When we returned to Zambia he also did not want to go to boarding school for secondary school. Boarding school was the only possible way, since we moved up and down the river, too far from any day sc hoo l. This surprised me as we had had a lot of friction over the Calvert courses, with "When are we going to get them done?" When Mom was ready, he was not - and he saw that Mom had a lot of excuses (even if good ones) when he might have been more willing . Neither one of us really had it as a top pri ority, I guess. So we sent for the American School course which he chose himself out of several possibilities. We had not finished Grade 7, only barely started it. But because he was consid erably older than most 7th-graders he felt a bit touchy about being "be hind." So we skipped the rest of Grade 7 and all of Grade 8 and deci ded to try Grade 9 to see if it would be too difficult. It was not and thanks to GWS I no longer pressured him. It was his course, anyway - he had bought the whole four - year course with money he had earned working on his uncle's blueberry farm the summer of ' 81. So he felt responsible and did it whenever he wanted to (which was oftener than when I had pushed him, incidentally). I do not think that to date he has gotten any less than 90% on any exam they have sent back. He is in the third year now. Meantime he was learning in many other ways. His dad always made it a point of teaching him the various things he was involved in . David learned carpentry while helping to build our first houseboat (a glori fied Huckleberry Finn raft, floated on 49 oil drums). He learned mechan ics while repairing our various out board engines and pickup trucks. Late ly he has been learning diesel mechan ics as we now have a diesel houseboat and diesel pickup . He learned to drive a speedboat when he was 11, be ing careful, among other things, to watch out for hippos that like to stay submerged until you are upon them. Then he could take his mother up the river to the houseboat while his dad drove the vehicle around by road. I never did learn to drive the speedboat and in the rainy season the road was often impassable, so I did not want to drive then . He learned to survey and helped his father mark farms for the farmers and later plots for the fishermen. After that at a crucial stage of digging a ca nal, when his father had to be away for three days, he was able to use what he had learned to keep a huge excava tor working on the level. This meant being there from 6 AM to 4 PM or so when the excavator operator quit for the day. A long day and a big respon sibility for a boy only 12 years o ld' But he loved it because he was using a skill he had learned and doing an
adult job. He learned metal work, fiberglassing, and more carpentry when he helped build our present houseboat onto a 24-foot trimaran hull, two and a half years ago. Six months ago he began helping a nearby Seventh Day Adventist mission build a similar superstructure onto the same kind of hull for a medical launch ... He learned a lot of things while helping to build the other boat: how to live and work with a team other than his parents, how to weld, and many ot her things. They we re very hap py to have his help and especially the knowledge he had picked up in mak ing the first boat for us. So he had the added bonus of being able to feel useful to someone else. He now is teaching the mission driver how to operate the boat and how to navigate the very intricate maze of waterways which make up the Kafue Flats. This he learned by being our driver for the first twelve trips ... Yes, he still is probably a bit "behind" academically, since he is now 17 and is still in Grade 11. But he speaks three Zambian languages flu ently so that Zambians who do not see him while speaking are convinced he is a Zambian, and he understands three other Zambian languages. (His parents are not yet fluent in the first one.) He still finds many other things which seem to be more of a pri ority than academic studies - like re pairing a waffle iron today for anoth er family. Or repairing a shoe for his Zambian friend with his "speedy sti tcher" (I forgot to mention his leatherworking abilities), a shoe which if it had been owned by most people in the US would have long ago been thrown out . His friend was ex tremely happy to have it made "like new" again. And tomorrow Dave leaves with the health boat for another two week trip giving further training to their driver. In between stops he will translate for them, so he won't have much time for school then eith er. But we are no longer concerned about those "academic studies " and neither is he. They will be done later on when there rs-time . . . FOUR ON THEIR OWN From an Oregon reader:
... " On Her Own at 10" in GWS #37 moved me to write ... I am also a single mother (of four teen-agers). My children have been ou t of school for six years now. When I first took them out of school in '78 there was pure chaos in our h ome . They ·did nothing but fight, only taking breaks to eat and use the toilet, for about six months. I didn't try to do anything with them because I knew they had a big adjust ment to make . When I first took them out of sc hool, their father and I were still together, so I wasn 't working. I took the gang on plenty of field trips to distract them from their boredom which led to fighting. When separation became imminent between their father and me, I began to take in sewing and other children to care for. The children were help ful with both endeavors . We worked together on various money-making schemes which were fun, educational and profitable. The importan t thing, I felt, was that we stayed together. Their father had abandoned them, so I could not. As time went on the children got involved in various projects, all of
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #40
---------------------
- - -
7
which were beneficial in several ways . The single most beneficial pro ject was their stamp collection . That went up and down in importance for them over the years until they sold out at a profit last year . My children also read a lot . They take 10-15 books out of the library at a time, and read most of them cover to cover. I take them to community meetings with me so they can learn how our local government works, and I also take them to patriot meetings. When I had to get a full-time job a little over a year ago, I made sure that it was all right for at least one of the child ren to come to work with me some of the time. Sometimes all four of them have come with me. The deal is that they must not be disruptive and must be helpful. Together the children and I have worked out numerous problems that had existed between us for years. We have established a good solid working rela tionship. My priority has always been the children first, and as a result things have always worked out one way or another .. . PRESSURE'S OFF IN NEBRASKA From Ronaele Berry (NE), whose five children are ages 13 to 3:
... We are so isolated - at least now the legal pressures have been removed (trial dropped at the last minute so we'd have a chance to com ply with the new Nebraska law [GWS #39]) so the isolation isn't quite as threatening. Still - we receive a cer tain amount of "hate" comments from neighbors and others who are sorry we are "getting away with it . " They worry about the "poor abused little children" - "How will they ever get an education?" "Whatever will happen to them?" . .. We almost always hear the comments second-hand so can give no rebuttal . This spring in preparing for our trial we decided to have the children tested, as our district attorney had said she would view willingness for testing and appropriate results as reasons for withdrawing charges. So we talked to Pat Montgomery at Clon lara where the girls had been enrolled earlier and she sent CAT for the three girls plus a "Teachers Com petency" for myself . We had made arrangements with a local teacher to administer/monitor the tests. All the children thought the tests were easy . (Pat had sent some pre-tests for prac tice so they were comfortable with the style). They all tested grade level and above on all tests. Inci dentally, ~ test was easy, too . It was interesting to feel my brain set tle into the old "test-taking gear" and really plow right through it . The math problems brought to mind whole pages of math I could see as though the books were open before me . I missed four on the entire test. I am hoping my score from this test will be accepted by the State Department. Otherwise I wifl have to take the National Teachers Exam. A county superintendent told me no par ent would be able to pass this test with 50% or above so he recommended trying all the other options first (i . e. sending letters of recommenda tion, high school transcript, etc.) Anyone know if the Nat'l Teachers Exam really is this difficult? .. . 1 enjoy l~vin~ with my kids and do not like t e i ea of having to insert "force-feeding" to prepare for
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #40
tests (wh ic h we did before the tests t h is s pring because we could not have withstood the repercussions of low test scores - children removed from us, we could go to jail, etc.) . We know our children are bright and intelligent but our everyday living had not really prepared them for test type learning . . .. 1 have spent hera little time sitting down with a c 1 for "les sons . " They all have YEARBOOKS (1505 Wellington Dr, Bedford VA 24523) which they really like but they work at them very sporadically - when they are in the mood . .. . Susan Peterson says in GWS #39, "Now (at 9) he is a master of doing the absolute minimum to get by . .. " This is exactly the attitude displayed by my t hree older kids when asked to do anrthing they do not wish to do . Especia ly true if ever I try to get them to write in a journal or do schoolwork of any kind. It has taken me almost two years to learn that it never pays for me to bright ly, subtly, or any other way push schoolwork or make suggestions or hints about something being education al. They are not sullen or nasty about it - they just give it the abso lute minimum of attention and effort and drop it. "Not too many super extra special wonderful things have hap pe ned" - Does my 01' heart good to hear that from another home-schooling mother. I sometimes get depressed reading about all the super things some children do/are doing. It would give me so much pleasure to say my children are excelling in their music, t h eir writing, or that they have grand business ventures, high ambition, high motivation, etc. I do have to fight my own anxiety and need for my children to excel . But the truth is without pressure from school and teachers they have not pursued any of their interests they seemed to have while in school ... I do some times feel that I need to pressure them but I am so uncomfortable with doing that that I don't. . . . If I were to say that my children excelled at anything it would be at verbal communication and perception and sensitivity about oth er people (no tests to measure this' ) . .. We discuss moral issues, political issues, social mores, ethics . Everything comes up for dis cussion. They may be more qualified (informed) to vote in local, state, and national issues that many regis tered voters' This is one of the government's concerns about education - that the future citizens would be wise and capable voters - again - no tests show this ability and intelli gence' . .. "OK To Be Ordinary" (GWS #39) was just what I needed to read' So I've got ordinary kids, capable of runn ing a house, entertaining them selves all day, communicating with people of all ages, discussing theor ies, ideals, realities . [DR: But this is not "ordinary" - very few kids can do arr that.] Why then do I retain this almost physical longing for them to play the piano more, draw more, create more, write more??? ... One thing I have done for a while, without making any big deal of it, tas been to limit library visits. I allow other things to crowd them out. It seemed to me that all other plans and projects went wanting until the library books were read. I would see nothing but bodies draped around, behind, over, under furniture as girls read and read and read. We
would discuss what they read - I ge t lots of verbal book reports! - but their energy seemed to fizzle out through the books. They've bee n wit h out new books to read for almost two months. Of course, they re-read books from our own home library but t h ey can be more easily distracted from them so they've all been doing more sewing, cooking, playing, badmin t on , baseball, skating, bike-riding, wo r k ing (for neighbors for money) .. . SCHOOL ONCE A WEEK Deirdre Purdy (WV) wrote in Alternatives in Education (Rt 3 Box 305, Ch loe WV 25235; $3/yr):
. . . Last school year, Jed, now 9, and Hannah, now 6, went to "Talented and Gifted" at the local elementary school one afternoon a week. This is a special education program availab l e at all the public schools in the state . . . My husband and I knew and particularly liked the teacher so felt it would be a good progra m, some excitement for the children, and would allow them to familiarize t he m selves with the school . They enjoye d T&G; however, three of the four regu lar participants were homeschoolers, and the class had no contact with t he rest of the school as it was held in a separate trailer. This year we wanted them to con tinue with T&G, and they wanted to go, but we thought it would be good for them to go to their assigned school class in the morning and have regular school activities for t he day, except to spend the few hours i n T&G. Our thinking was that school is the main experience of children in this society, and it would be good for them to know what it was about, get to know the ropes, maybe meet children their age, and give us a day off . .. Jed and Hannah's initial reac tion was extremely negative . The first Monday morning we woke them at 6:30 they began to fuss, whine, fig ht with us and each other, couldn't eat, didn't have anything to wear, and made us all miserable. The first Mon days they attended were all like th is before school, although t hey always came home saying they had had a good day. Neither of them liked getting to school early . . . . 1 started driving them Monday mornings so they could arrive just as class started rather than having to wait in the cafeteria, and they bo t h appreciated that . Also they kept hav ing good days and would come home full of tales of everything their teachers had said, how someone got in trouble and had to stand in the cor ner, a question they answered right . . . the usual school stories . However, the whining and complaini ng kept up, beginning Sunday afternoon, about how tomorrow was Monday, t heir day of torture, and we were so mean making them go to school. They are both very adept at argument and brought out all the reasons why home school was superior, how they hadn't learned anything, and now they had learned their way around at school as we had wanted, so they didn't need to go any longer . Finally, about Thanksgiving, I OUR TOWN, EXPLORERS, MOU NTAINEERING
PLUS 50 OH£R
Cooperative Games that Teach Sharing &. Helping
" PLAY TOCiETI-£R i'lJT AGAINST EACH OTHER"
Illustrated Catalog,25C Family Pastimes (GS) ,RR 4, Perth, ()-1tarl0 , Canada K7HJC6