ront page , a [,Ja shington PosC ( 10/ 3 i c I e cuoted-6ur-F6?fl-EE-Titl seve ra GtiS families, and homeschooler Becky Rupp's very good arEicle for Country Journal was published in their Decem6er-Tssue. Several ocher interviews, and lots of general inquiries, have followed these articLes. PubI lcity surrounding the Moskos family case in MA (see "Court News," inside) has resulEed in a lot of aEEenEion for our office, too. A locaL TV staEion interviewed the Maher famiLv. and another TV crew spent a coufle of hours here inEerviewing Pat Farenga and Eilming us aE work for a three-parE series on homeschooling, to be aired in late November. Adding Eo Ehe excitement, a fire in an office above us caused us some Donald Graves has deve'loped an innovative inconvenient buE minimal water damprogram for cl assroom writi ng. In an i nterview age. l,Je spenE a couple of days sorton page 8, he and Virginia Stuart share their ing wet back issues from dry ones, findings with homeschoolers. but our insurance will cover the cost I was not successful Unfortunatelv. of the damage. hacod nn ILy wrL'r v" "'r ssilruI l,Je've been en joying the very wel- Tnci6..l T was ofFered a job as the state, come volunteer help of Chris Honde, a Safety and HeaIth Inspector. This is GWS reader who has lived in Japan for full time and requires a great deal several years. and Jerry Puzo, who nf fravol brrr heinq unsuccessIul met us at Ehe Holt Associates Picnic in AugusE and whose article on sEory- getfing what I reaLly wanted, I decided to Eake it. telling appears in Ehi s i ssue. The first quesEion my husband Lauren Farenga, almosf six asked was what I planned to do with months o1d at this writing, has begun Annike (aclually what school I spending time in the office wiEh her decided to send her Eo), I decided father, Pat. We haven'E put her Eo not to send her to school, but rather work yet (even around here young back to her former sitEer. I prepare people get a few months' grace) so a List of work for her each daY' she is able to enjoy life as not jusE check her work at night (and do anYan in-arms but an in-manv-arms babyl Ehing Ehat needs to be done orally). --- SuEEifiah Sheffei f
GROWING
WITHOUT SCHOOLING
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ing just fine. Frank and I are Planning a home birth with a midwife connecEed wiEh Elizabeth Noble's Maternal and Child HeaLth CenEer. For a long Eime iE's been a goal of mine Eo have a child and still see GWS come out on schedule without any drop in quality. Now that Susannah SheFfer ic hcre- T feel confident thaE this Eransition can be a realiEy. Susannah has been doing an increasing amount of the producEion of GWS. and we still have Ewo more issues Eo work on togeEher before the babv is due, I exDect thaE she will ao CWS #57 (put tbgeEher in May) preEty much on her own. Afler Ehat I'11 see how I feel, buE T expecE to keep my work load quiEe LighE for some Eime, perhaps working at home' perhaps coming in to the office occasionally. I expecc I'lI always be available for reading maEerial, ediEing, and discussion. What comolicates maEEers somewhat is that iE is also time for us to make another Eransition - to producing GWS on the Macintosh computer. The Olivetti word processors are wearing out and geEtinE more difficulE to geE somefix, so we know we have co Ehing new, and the Mac's I'desktop pubIishing" ability is jusc coo tempEing to delay any longer. PaE Farenga has been using the Mac to produce Ehe 'rBook and Music StoreI inserts that youtve seen this year in Lhe center of GWS. Our cests have shown that Lhere are several attractive typefaces available that are more readabLe chan whaE we use now-Tfcan hear some of you cheeringl) and still allow us'to bring you as mudfi-fr6teriaI as ever. Susannah and I are going to do our darnedesE to Droduce Ehe nexE issue of CWS entirbly on the Mac - should be an inEeresting two months for us. Please bear wiEh us during Ehese changes. In particular, please remember that we always welcome and depend on your letters, even though we may not have rime to respond individuaIly. --- Donna Richoux NOTES FROM SUSANNAH
We've just Learned from Merloyd Lawrence that Addison-tJesLey will bring ouc a collecEion tenEaEively
Eirled A JOHN HOLT READER, made up of previously uncoLlecEed pieces' For this project we may need more volunEeers to Eype Eranscripts of John's recorded speeches. so Let us know if like- to heLp with this. vou'd t^le've had quice a loE of publicitv in Ehe lasE couple of months. The Journai (10/6) ran a wlll sEreet s toEory -e5ouE-TomeFcToo L ing on ic s
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I try Eo do trip type things. I decided to continue with honeschooling anyvJay for a number of reasons. First of aLl, I can see how much more she gets from it (esPecially in Eerms of being allowed to read). Second, Annike wanted to do it. Third, so many things we do we weren't about to discontinue anyway' (For example, piano lessons, horseback riding and swimming') I realLy believe going co school would be a waste of time for Annike and tire her out so she couldn't concentrate on what she likes. We use Open Court readers. This is nice because grammar. comPosition and spelling are all found in one book. I also like it because actual is used. The words are literature demanding and iE isn't waEered down. We are pacing ourselves to do one unit a week. It onLv takes 2-3 daYs to do a unit, and usuaLly Annike finishes one book per week in addition to her reading unit. I, Eherefore' think EhaErs more than wouLd be allowed in schooL. Since she's readshe's giving hering good liferature self a wonderful background. ...There are some nice things On weekends and holidays,
field
PIONEERS AND DISCIPLES
time ago I found Ehis Holt in the book SUMMERHILL: FOR AND AGAINST and was struck by how directly it speaks to Ehose of us who are conEinuing John's work, if we substiEute John's name for NeilL's: ...The worst thing thaE can haPpen to any greaE pioneer of human thought is for his ideas to falL into Ehe hands of discipLes and worshippers, who Eake the Living, restless, ever-changing thoughE of their master and Ery to carve it into imperishable granite, so that not a word shaLL ever be lost or changed. The words may remain, but the spiriE is soon Lost. A friend of mine used to say, "A conservaEive is a man who worships a dead radical." Nowhere is this more true than in education; one thinks immediately of Maria Montessori and John Dewey. It would be a tragedy if : F lrdPPelrs L^^^^-^ F^ \1^i Th^ ,,-,, (\crrr.1 I rrrE urrry wdy t^ Lv LU !L ^-l,, prevent it, to honor Neill as he deserves, is Eo try Eo continue the exploraEion he starEed, Eo move on further into Ehe uncharted territory of human freedom, happiness and erowth . [,Je mus E there f ore take Neill's thought, his writing, his work, and SummerhiLl itsel f, not as a final step, but as a first one. [SS: ] Some passage by John
MOM WORKS, DALJGHTER HOM ESCH@LS
ln GWS #50, we printed several "nrocress renorfs" thaE Diane Chodan of New York ('rCerEified Teachers") wrote about her daughEer Annike (7). RecentLy Diane wrote: ...I believe I indicated to you in a previous Letter my desire to earn some money. I Eried Eo gec a Eeaching posi Eion or part-time job.
WHAT'S INSlDE
Struggling: 2 --- Iso.lated: 2 --- Visiting Schoois: 2 --- Hlgit School: 3 --- Trying School: 3 --- Publicity in TN: 3 --- Local News:4 --Court News: (AL, Alta, lvlA, PA' TX): 5 --- How l4any: 5 --- Calendar: 5 --- Kids & l'Jork: 5 --J.P. in CA:6 --- Helping Ballet Teacher:7 --Toys: 7-B --- Intervievi/ Down Syndrome Graves, Stuart: 8 --- Candidate for School Bd: 1 1 --- Fantasy P1 ay: 1 I --- Storytel 1 i ng: 1 2 --- JH/Good Times: l2 --- l,lal lace/Math: l3 --Radost'i/Curriculum: l4 --- Book Reviews: l5-.]8 rv --- ur'gdrrr4dLrurr: 0rganization: l9 --- Mothers at Home: 19 ----- Lncyclope EncyclopedK.rds: l9 ----- Current Events for Kids:
ias: l9 --- Notebooks: l9 --- Puzzles:20 --Reading Program: 20 --- Dating 0ur Issues: 20 --- l'lusic !,lithout Fear: 20 --- Directory:2) --Tchrs, Groups, Lawyers, Profs, Di stri cts: 28-3 1