GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING
46 As I write (7/26), John Holt is in a hosp ita l in Bangor, Maine . In April, he caught a cold which turned into bronchitis and made him feel as if there was fluid in his lungs. By late June he had lost a lot of energy and appe tite; extensive tests showed new cancer in his lung, liver, and back, as well as unusually high blood pressure. John refused radiation or chemotherapy. In July he went to visit his good friends Peggy and John Hughes in Deer Isle, Maine, where a family practitioner tapped his ribs and said "You have fluid in your lungs." As soon as some of the fluid was drained, John felt better and his blood pressure lowered. He was admit ted to the Eastern Maine Medical Cen ter in Bangor for continued draining and a procedure using tetracycline to patch up the lung. Now, eleven days later, he is regaining strength a lit tle more rapidly each day, and he hopes soon to leave th e hospital and stay with George and Mabel Dennison in Temple, ME for a while. A number of close friends and staff have been able to spend time with him in the hospital, and although John has had to restrict visiting, he does enjoy getting cards (best to use the office address) . Mary and Mark Van Doren, with their children Anna and Helen, took John's place at the "Homesteaders Good Life Get-Together" in New York. The homeschooling workshop was six hours long, and Mary says that although she had wond ered how on earth to fill all that time, it did not turn out to be a problem' Every thing went we ll, and they even got a possible invitation to be on a panel at a homeschooling conference. On June 24, John went to Washing ton, DC to take part in a US Depart ment of Education meeting on home schooling . He was impressed by the amount of good will on the part of federal, state, and local officia ls present, though many had strong inclinations to control and regulate home education. While visiting friends in Illi nois, John dropped in to see Dr. Robert Mend elsohn, author of CONFES SIONS OF A MEDICAL HER ETIC and HOW TO RAISE A HEALTHY CHILD IN SPITE OF YOUR DOCTOR . John had a delightful time and found Dr. Mendelsohn to be a wonderfully warm man . Much important legal news in this issue - two state supreme court victories (Minnesota and North Caro lina) and the complete text of three new homeschooling laws: Washington, Florida, and Tennessee. --- Donna Richoux ALL·NEW 1986 DIRECTORY
As we said in GWS #45, we have decided to toss out our last complete
Directory and to print an all-new . up dated Directory in GWS #48, made up only of those who lell us in 1985 that they want to be l~sted . We'r e do ing this in order to eliminate all those nar~s in th e current Directory which are of people who have moved without telling us or who are no long er interested in homeschooling. So if you wish to be in the "1986 Directory," send your entry using the form on page 23, or use a postcard or 3x5 card (one family per card). The only people who do not need to tell us again are those who have already sent an entry or change during 1985 (most of these appeared in the summary in GWS #45 . ) As of the end of July, We have received a couple of hundred entry forms and hope t o receive many more . A surprising development - many, per haps a third, of the forms are from people who have never been in' the Directory at all' Remember, we are switching to printing only birth years for child ren, not ages. This is your last reminder. We need as many responses as possible by the end of September . Thanks . HOW MANY HOMESCHOOLERS?
quests to ed uc a te creir ch.i ldren 3t home and all wer~ approved. he says. ... Genna:-i says that ... ir. . arg., district s Su::11 as Clark County - wit,· 90, 000 ~ tudcnts - the hss d - 58 pUDils is not financi<.lLy ~ign ifi car.t ... Toronto Globe & Mail, 7/4/85: ... The Ministry of Eriucation estimates that n pproximaLely 200 children are taught at home by [heir parents [ in OntariO]. However, the ONTARIO HOMESCHOOLERS ASSOCIATION puts the figure much higher, with a conservative est imate of about 500 children. The 3ssociation has 100 mem ber families, and claim5 to know of "t-oout 200 other families where the children are taught at home . .. A note from Pat Putnam of HOME SCHOOLERS OF LANE COUNTY: whole movement has ex in O~ego n. In our district, where there are about 450 students in grades 1- 12 in t he public school, there are at least 10 families home schooling, wi th 25 , kids. We were the only family fo~r years ago ... •• • I~£
~loded
The Detroit News, 6/24/85: .. . Parent-run schools still enroll only a fraction of Michigan's 1.9 million pupils, but their ranks have swelled in the last 18 months, according to new estimates by the state Department of Education. The state now has at least 1,200 home schools - more than four times as many as in November 1983, when the department first s'urveyed the phenom enon and found 273 home schools . More over, officials suspect that at least one-third to half of the alternative classrooms operate in defiance of state law requi~ing attendance at a certified school . ... The new state report, based on an informal telephone survey of the state's 57 intermediate dis tricts, also reveals that most local officials don't prosecute parents who teach children at home. Only about a dozen court cases were pending ... Racine, WI Journal Times, 6/30: ... Carl Carmichael of the state Department of Public Instruction said about 600 families operated home sc hools in Wisconsin in 1984. There were 94 the previous year. He attribu ted the huge increase to a 1984 change in state law that took away the state's and school districts' leverage in monitoring home schools . ..
COURT VICTORY IN MINNESOTA ...
On July 19, the Minn.:sota Supreme Co u~t ruled in favor of two homeschooling families, the Newstroms and the Budkes (GWS #36). In State v . Newstrom, the supreme court declared that the current requirement that pri vate schoo l teachers have "q1...alifica tions that are ess e ntially equivalpnt to the ~inimum s=andards for public school teachers of the same grades or subjects" is unconstitutionally vague. "Where a sratute imposes crimin al penalties, a higher standard of certainty of meaning is required," the c.ourt sa id. '" Essent ia lly equi va- lent' is at best an ambiguous term. It has no common law meaning nor i;; it a term of a rt with an established meaning. If the legislature had ir.tended that the qualifications of a nonpublic school teacher be the same as the minimum standards for a public school teacher, it would have said so. It did not. Instea d. lhe legisla ture chose a term which implies a judgement without indicating who is to make the judgement c r what cI'iter ia are to be used ... That tne ~ta tute lacks even minimal guidelices is evi denced bv the fact that the trial courts in Minnesota have arriVed at directly conflicting ~nterp retations of the statute. " The court specifically rejected arguments supplied by the Rutherford Institute, an "amici curiae" [or Jean
Jacksonville Times Union, 6/18: ... Rep. Tommy Hazouri, D-Jackson ville ... estimated there are 1,300 to 1,500 home schools identified by the Florida Dept . of Education, and at least twice that number that educa tion officials don't know about ... Las Vegas Review-Journal, 7/16: ... Dr. Victor Gennari, pupil per sonnel director for the Clark County school district ... says his office received hundreds of inquiries about the first book [dis trict homeschool ing guidelines] and 150 were printed. 58 families actually submitted re
INSIDE - Court (NC, other): 2 --- AR law: 3 --- Extremists: 4 --- College admis sions: 4 --- Pool test scores: 4 --- Test results: 5 --- Co llege at 13: 5 --- Lines / Study: 5 --- Williams/new job: 6 --- Few pre schoolers: 6 --- Alternative work: 6 -- 3-Fami Iy: 6 - -- Barker/apprentice: 7 --- Audu bon trips: 7 --- Teen : 8 --- McCutchen: 8 -- Peace: 9 --- Competent: 9 --- Garage sale: 9 --- Just plays: 9 --- Back to school: 10 -- Back home: 11 --- Art camp: 11 --- Nursery school: 11 --- Richman / questior.s: 12 -- Grades: 13 --- Part-time: 13 --- Prison: 13 --- New laws: WA, FL, TN: 13-15 --- Discip line: 16 --- Clean: 16 --- Queries: 16 -- Reading: 17 --- Texts: 17 --- Tests: 18 -- Math: 19 --- Writing: 19 --- Calvert: 20 -- Geography: 20 --- Language : 20 --- Music: 20-21 --- Books: 21 --- Pen Pals: 22
WHAT '~
4
tee then added a section requiring that pare nts aotify the local super intendent, a n it restored the test ing ~equir ement , although it would allow parents t o choose from an approved li s t of tests and to have the test administered by a "qualified neutral person." If the results do not s how " sa tisf ac tor y educa tional progress, t o be defined by adm inistra tive rule," the child must return for the remainder of the school year. Pat Putnam of HOMESCHOOLERS OF LANE COUNTY wrote, "The committee knew that the original bill would not pass the full House or Senate, so some compromises had to be made. We worked for inclusion of an optional portfolio instead of testing, but they did not include that. We also wanted to delay testing, or require it less often, say every three years ... The House Ed. Committee was very clear in its intent to make it easier and more fair for home school ers, and put that in their records, so we hope that the Dept. of Ed. will heed that intent. "My 17-year-old son, David, and I testified before the Senate Commit tee ... David's testimony was especial ly effective and well received, since he could tell of his own experience he is graduating from SETON HOME STUDY HIGH SCHOOL, and has been invited to apply for ROTC scholar ships on the basis of his PSAT scores (99th percentile/mat;h, 97th overall)." On July 10, Candace Syman-Degler told us that the bill had passed both houses and had been sent to the governor. PENNSYLVANIA: From a letter by Susan Richman: " The May 29th Legisla tive Breakfast with Raymond Moore was a success . Good turnout of legisla tors, as well as parents and POLITE children. I think the legislators must have been especially impressed by the children - probably most of them had never met a home schooled child before, and here was a whole batch, poised and friendly and NOR MAL. One legislator was heard to say to another as he left the meeting, 'Wow' That was the first time I've ever been to a meeting about educa tion where no one was saying GIVE MORE MONEY" Another representative, known for being a teacher union cham pion, delayed going to another educa tion meeting because he found this to 'be much more interesting'! Most par ents had a chance to talk informally with their legislators after the breakfast . . . "We're trying for LOTS of good publicity this whole month - as many articles in newspapers as possible, describing specific homeschooling fam ilies across the state. Trying to get our own story told first, rather than having to rebut a negative picture ... We're urging families to write lots of Thank-yous to legislators who came to the breakfast. We have a phone tree now to contact everyone in the state, and that is a great help . " TEXAS: Kirk McCord wrote in the Texas~ Educators Newsletter that none of the bills affecting home schoolers passed this session. "Rep. John Smithee (Amarillo), the pro homeschool sponsor of HB 673, intro duced an amendment to HB 317, exemp ting homeschoolers [from criminal penalties for violating the compul sory schooling law]. A heated debate on the subject of education ensued for the next several hours, during which time many attempts were made to impose various restrictions on the home education exemption, including registration, certification of par
ents , and mandatory te s ting. Miracu l ous ly, a ll of those a ttempts failed (some times by on ly a couple of votes') ... [HB 317 ] was overwhelming ly defeated ... The two bills which were favorable to homeschoolers, HB 431 and HB 673, never made it out of the Public Education Committee. In fact, public hearing on these two bills were never held . . . " A family was advised by their state senator that Dr. James Clark of the Texas Education Agency (201 E 11th St, Austin TX 78701 ) could give them the guidelines under which the state of Texas will allow homescho o l ing. WISCONSIN: Homeschoolers are con cerned about Assembly Bill 58, which would permit a law enforcement offi cer to take into custody a child who is absent from school without a valid excuse. Under current law, children who are absent from school cannot be taken into custody unless there is evidence that they are habitually truant. - DR UNEASY ABOU T EXTREMISTS
From Indiana: . .. As to events on the home school front here, the Christian ex tremists are getting into this with a vengeance locally, seeing homeschool ing as a way to force confrontation with the bureaucrats in order to air their ideology. That's really scary . .. . 1 attended a meeting of about 40 of these folks, although I did not stay to the end . The rhetoric was hinging on sedi tion and was flying the banner of homeschooling. Scared the heck out of me' I am on good enough footing w~th the local superintendent that I do not feel my situation would be com promised, but I think those who come after me will have a difficult time if these radicals succeed . .. It's a little weird to hear the same dia tribes from these people that I used to hear from Abby Hoffman and Bobby Seale in the old days; the stuff about rights being taken away and the government is against the people and we must not fall for the brainwashing that tells us this is a democracy . They said that a democracy is an i nferior kind of government because the majority is always wrong. They perceive Reagan as a radical liberal, which gives you some idea of where they are coming from. . . . 1 believe these people should be able to do what they want with their kids, but I don't like it that they may jeopardize what I want to do with my kid. Actually, they are fight ing a battle that does not exist, since most homeschoolers in Indiana have had little difficulty. What they want is the platform for a fight . These people believe they will be fighting from bunkers, literally, for their right to practice their reli gion . A lot of the "sermon" sounded like quotes from the MOVE organiza tion . But theJ are calling themselves homeschoolers. ARGH' . .. A COLLEGE ADMISSIONS OFFICER Chris Pedersen wrote in the May COLORADO HOME SCHOOLING NETWORK news letter:
.. . The speaker for the April homeschooling meeting was John Bal lard, an admissions officer from Colo rado State University . He spoke of
the requir eme nts which our child ren, as homeschoolers, will need t o apply for admission to CSU. CSU is used to dealing with st udents th at come from schools which they consider in an "ex ceptions" category. These schools of ten have no grades or ranking of s tudents. Homeschoolers would a lso be included in the "excepti ons" group ... The three main requirements stu dents will need are: - SAT or ACT test scores (CSU will take just the highest score out of several attempts at taking the tests) - a letter of recommendation from an objective person - someone like an employer if the student is working in a job related to the field that the student is interested in. A manager at Burger King who writes only general things like, "John is a hard worker" would not offer much help to admissions officers in making a decision. - a potential to succeed. Mr. Ballard said he could usually tell about the potential in the individual in an interview, which may be requested. He did seem interested in having an outside, accredited source verify students' work when a homeschooling student assembles a portfolio of work . .. The university is interested in the ability to handle academic work, not just following strong inter ests . Other things CSU would be inter ested in are GED test scores and how a student meets adversity . CLEP cred its are also accepted. John Ballard seemed confident that our home schooled kids will have a good and equal chance to get the college education they want .. . Judy Gelner, the newsletter editor, added: . . . 1 was surprised at the skepti cism which our members expressed before this meeting . They felt that all "education officials" would be equally negative in their advice to homeschoolers. What became apparent to us during the meeting was tha t peo ple who see every day what kind of students the public schools are turn ing out do not have any preconc e ived notions that sending a child to school will guarantee that his life will turn out for the better. In building friends who can help home schoolers, groups would be well advised to let college officials know of their existence . Mr. Ballard also stressed several times that he was grateful for the chance to learn about this new phenomenon called home schooling, so that they know how to help homeschoolers of potential gain admission to their college .. . CO MPILING TEST SCORES
A good idea from the wiOming Home Educators Network News etter. If homeschoolers are testing their child ren anyway, they might as well pool the data: ... During the legislative debate on the homeschooling bill this year [GWS #44], it was evident that some compilation of standardized ach i eve ment test scores from testing of home educated children would be valua ble evidence in any future legislative action. This value would be at least twofold: first, as evidence of the viability of home education as an institution, and second, as evidence
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #46
that parents do [voluntarily] use standardized achievement testing and thus do not need the state to mandate testing. W.H.E.N. would like to assist home educators in such a compilation. A suggested mechanism is: . 1. Parents administer (or soli cit administ ration of) some standard ized test annually in the spring. It would be good, though not necessary, for us all t o use the same test like IOWA or Stanford. 2 . The individual test results are kept with the parents for their own purposes. 3. The test data (though not stu dent names) are sent to WHEN for com pilation . 4. The compiled test data - no individual names - are used to sup port or negate home educators' conten tions about the viability of home edu cation as an institution . . . . The higher the percentage of participation, the more reliable the results. The following would be helpful for submitting data: 1. Student birthdate. 2 . Years educated in school out side the home. 3. Name and level of the test. 4. Raw scores, percentile scores, and grade equivalencies on all parts of the test taken. We're mostly interested in compiling read ing, math, and language scores, but we could do science and social studies also ... HOMESCHOOLERS TEST HIGH The MANITOBA ASSOCIATION FOR SCHOOLING AT HOME newsletter reports: ... At our get together last November in Ile des Chenes, we dis cussed the issues with our guest, Roland McCurdy, Education Administra tive Consultant, Mani·toba Department of Education. Roland McCurdy is the homeschooling person with the Depart ment . Much of the discussion centered on the use of the Canadian Tests of Basic Skills as a means of evaluating home schooled children. Mr. McCurdy reported that, in ~eneral, the home schooled childrene tested last June tested above the~r grade l evel ... The ma~n purpose of the test ~s d~agnos tic - to help the parents in their teaching. The Department and school divisions are ready to assist home schooling families, should the tests reveal problems ... FINISHES COLLEGE AT 13 In GWS #26, we wrote about an ll-year-old homeschooler who entered Oxford University . In July, several newspapers ran this Associated Press update: ... A 13-year-old girl was award ed a mathematics degree at Oxford Uni versity yesterday after two years of study. Before that, she had never even gone to school. Ruth Lawrence was one of two math students who received special commendation from the examiners when exam results were posted at the 800-year-old university in central England. Ruth finished college in two years instead of the normal three, but she cannot pick up her degree until next year because the universi ty has a three-year residency require-
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #46
ment. She said she would be staying in Oxford for at l east another three years to do research toward a doctor ate. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Ruth said: "I don't think I am a genius. I think it's got out of a lot of hard work. It's not sort of born in you. I think you just have to work hard and have good teachers." Before college, her father, Harry Lawrence, a computer consul tant, taught Ruth at home. Her tutOY at Oxford, Mary Lunn, told the BBC that Ruth was now a better mathematician than she is ... SUPPORTIVE STUDY From an article, "States Should Help, Not Hinder, Parents' Home Schooling Efforts," by Patrica M. Lines, published in Education Week, 5/15/85. Ms. Lines is director of the Law and Education Center at the Educa tion Commission of the States in Den ver, and is author of a recent ECS report, " Compul sory Education Laws and Their Impact on Public and Pri vate Education": ... The more puzzling question is : Why do some states oppose the homeschooling movement ? Home instruc tion has a long and respectable his tory. John Stuart Mill received his early education from his father. In isolated places in early America, homeschooling was the only choice. In a few places in Alaska, Montana, and other sparse ly populated areas, this is still true. More important, homeschooling seems to work. A single outstanding example was the admission to Harvard University last year of a young man who had been taught entirely at home. And from the broader pattern of avail able evidence one must conclude that, on average, children educated at home do well academically. Alaska and Ari zona, two states that test home schooled children, report that they perform at above-average levels as measured by nationally standardiz ed tests. One study of children in a home tutorial network in Los Angeles showed that the children in the net work sco red higher on standardized test s than did the children in Los Angeles public schools. The "concern" about homeschooling, therefore, should be tempered by the knowledge that more children are failing academ ically in public schools than at home. . .. There is great irony in this: It is now more common in this country to use compulsory education laws against parents who are making a good faith attempt to educate children than to use them against truancy in the classic sense . That is, there is much more enforcement involving home-educated children than children who aren't being educated at all. Most of the estimated 50,000 children being taught at home are in states that accept home instruction as a legitimate activity ... A small number - perhaps 5,000 - are in states where home instruction is eith er illegal or so strictly re'gulated that their parents cannot meet the state's requirements. A few states require, for example, that a parent be a certified teacher, even though there is no evidence that a noncerti fied person cannot do as good a job as a home instructor. The numbers of truant children, in contrast, may be in the millions.
WHAT ARE YOUR CHILO'S/YOUTH'S
SPECIAL NEEDS AND INTERESTS?
Language arts? English? Social studies?
Mathematics? Science? Visual arts?
IDEAS FOR TEACHING GIFTED STUDENTS is a series of 7 books containing challenging and excit ing teaching units and project descriptions. $29.85 each. (Specify elementary or secondary social studies.) Poetry?
PATHWAYS TO POETRY: "Kaleidoscope" (Gr. 4-6). "Mosaics" (Gr. 7-9), "Visions" (Gr. 10-12) improves understanding and appreciation of poetry with self instructional , self-checking, and self-scoring modules. $15.95 each. Short stories?
FANTASIES - ten 45-minute ca5selte tapes - a total of 25 short stories by '!laster storytellers (Hawtt>orne, London , Poe, Conrad, Saki , and others) recorded by professional actors. Copies of the scripts, a Teacher's Guide, and a Lesson Plan for the first story on each tape guide meaningful discussion of the stories. $15.95 per tape; $75.00 for the SAVER'S SPECIAL (any five tapes with related print materia!s); $139.50 for THE BIG TEN.
IS YOUR CHILD/YOUTH GIFTED?
HOW DO YOU KNOW?
REACHING FOR THE STARS: A Minicourse for Gifted Education lets you concentrate on a specific aspect I)f giftedness in each of 10 books and involves you with your child/youth in related activities. Char acteristics, Needs, Underachievers, Handicapped Gifted, Disadvantaged Gifted, Intelligence, Creativ ity, Enrichment, Programs, Counseling. $19.85 per book; $159.85 for the set. EVERY child has special gifts in one or more areas!
DIAMONDS IN THE DUST guides you to discover and develop whatever, special abilities your child or youth has for his or her own well-being . Packed with activities to encourage creativity and nurture intellec tual growth. $24.50. SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR HOME SCHOOLERS: Take 20% off any price listed! Use this coupon (or copy of it) and mail to publisher with your chp.ck, money order, Visa or Mastercard information.
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