GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 56 Ten years ago John Holt started W ilhout
khmlurg, not knowtng how
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powerful a chord he was to strike in the hearts ofparents; as our prâ‚Źsence shows, lt is a chord that resounds past hts death. It ls true tbat we are stmggling to make ends meet, but they are meeting. Operating our Book and Muslc Store as well as publishingGWS and our otherHolt Associates titles is qulte achallenge nowthat we have more young children among us. Shane (12), Lauren (9 months), and ournew friends, Vincent (5) arrd Celj,a (l5months), take up a lot ofHolfs floor space these days. I wonder if there are any other city offices that have children romping around tJreir parents
and co-workers durtng buskress hours. Our colleagues at work harrc changed several times over the past ten years, but this has never caused GWS to miss an issue. This can be directlv attributed to the efforts of DonnaRichoix, whobegan as associate editor and then took on theJob of edifing GWS, wLrlch she has done
forthe pasteightyears.
What I leamed when I first started vrcrk here is that Donna edited the maJority ofeach issue so thatJohn could spend timeon his lc.cturing, traveling and wridng (she is also the person who tweaked John to get his
ON CHANGE published an exccrpt from John HoIf s essay about AS. Neill, and I want to repeat part ofit here: 'The worst thing that can happen to anygreat pioneerof human thought is forhts ldeas to fall tnto the hands ofdisciples and worshippers, who take the living restless, ever-changing thought of their masterand trv to carve itinto imperishable graniie, so that not aword shall TWo issues ago, we
ever be lost or changed. " At HoltAssoci,ates, we stand inourown pardcularindividual and
collective relation toJohn the pioneer, and howwe interpret that relation elfects howwe
seeourdailywork. Whlle John was publtshtng GWS, clear about style, formatorcontent that he made. ButJohn's legary to us was not only these reasons and policies but trrstin ourown ability to make sense of the homeschoollng movement, the broader issues ofchlldren and society, and how GWS can best present tJeese issues. In condnuing to publish Grourirg Willwrtt Scholing, we are not merely keeping a promise or nphddbg wtatJohn believed; we are taldng those beliefs and runnfngwtth them. GWS ls not merely a monument; lt pulses with living thoughts and concerns. Some months ago, a letter from Nancy Wallace, who ls nowatrporkon a second book, helped focus these thoughts for rne; She said: "I'm ffnding that my book is dweloptqg into a sort of conversadonwith Johnwhere reErsons supported every decision
ardcles ln on time). Donna also organizd open houses, publictty and fundratshg efforts, and manyotherproJects - notto mendon pitchtng h anywhere HoIt Associates needed help when she could take a breatherfrom GWS; she has certainly packed her share ofbook ordersl Donna ls having her firstchild now, and understandabhwants to
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lessen herworkload here. Donna'scomrnitrnent to GWS is such that she can never really leave us, and we are fortunate that she is stayingwith us as Contributing
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Editor. yearwe were all so busy wlth our dailywork and addidonal proJects thatwe needed anothercolleague to do some importantwork thatwas betng put on the back burners: editing a book ofJohn Holt's letters and assisting in the production of GWS. My search for the right person wErs a short one. I knew about Susannah Sheffer from her correspondenc'e with John (she first wrote toJohnwhen shewas tn the elghth grade, agreetngwith the ideas in tris books), herworkwith Clonlara's HOME BASED EDUCATION PROGRAM, and herardcles tn and editing of Tle PerrII Sharpner ln Eastem Pennsvlvanla. It ls now almost avear since she mov& to Boston to be wtth us. ihis
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I-a.st
I'm actuallybuilding on his tdeas oron
discussions thatwe once had, so that I'm almost assuming that if hewas still around he might have said this or might have said that. In otherwords, I'm not letdng him die. I'm notletting himJust stop wtth the things he sarrl but rather tmagtning what he might now. I'm keeplng our conrrcrsadon going." Thts is what GWS has to do. We have to *dnk - for e:<ample - not only about what homeschooling has been but about what lt is becoming. If the movement and its systems of local support are growlng so strong that rnany state newsletters provide the immedi,ate news and encouragement thatwas once available onlyinGWS, we have to thtnkabout howto be somethlng that the local newsletters cannot be, so that readers will flnd both publicatlons valuable . If the rrpvement is "growlng up," so thatweare nowaddresslng the concerns of teenagers as often as those ofyoung children, sâ&#x201A;Źry
we have to think about howto malntain thls balance. These and other guesflons continue to invite and challenge us. In thls issue, several wrlters whomwe have admired but whose work does not deal dlrect$ with homeschoollng have responded to our invitaflon to address GWS's sympathedc audlenc.e. Gareth Matthews,
ttrinldng aboutchlldren's art, and Alffe Kohn, looldng at the harm.firl eflects ofexternal reurards, will (I suspect) fi nd our readersi eager to hear their somewhat unorthodoxviews. Readers, in turn, will be able to place
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Homeschooler Briu Bar*er writes about Frursuing adult work outside of insinrticrs in this issue's focus on the older homeschooler, page 25.
is Susannah's flrstcornplete lssue as editor, and I hope you'll agree that herwork shows a healthy respect for our past and exciting direcilons for our fu ture. --- Patrick Farenga
homeschooltng ln the richer conte><t that thesewriters' thoughts about children and societ5r provide. Also ln this tssue, we have built on the tdea of GWS as a "c,onversadon" by gtving contributors a chance to respond to each other be3brepublicatlon, so that readers are able to witness many views at once. Penny and BrlttBarker. fore:<ample - motherand daughter - each address the issues of growing up and findfng meaningful work from their own perspectives; three children comment on each other's experlenc.es with "after- school" classes; parents discuss the feasibility of having a "conflnuum" atdhrde toward household chores. In these and other instances, the feeling of "conversadon" is especially clear. In her letter, Nancy adds: "Ifwe can honestly Gel tbatJohn's work ls ourwork that we are capable of carrying it forward -
thenwe have to trustourselves to make decislons, to carryon." Ifure do something wldch is consistentwith a policyJohn set years ago, it is not "becauseJohn did it that way," butbecausewe too belierrc it is right. Likewise, as we make changes and venture into uncharted territory, it will not be out of disloyalty but rather trust in ourowrl competence and understanding. As John ahvays did, we will contlnue to quesflon, to experiment, to think about whatweVe done, and as always we will need you wlth us. --- Susannah Sheffer
\trIIAT 'S INSIDE: Discussion: Involving Ktds tn Work p. 9- lO ' Irlla Berg on Children's Questlons: p. I I Alfie Kohn & Others onThe Effect of Rewards: p. 19-20 I Gareth Matthews on Children'sArt: p. 21 Penny & Brttt Barker & Nanry Wallace on The Older Homeschooler: p. 25-28 2 Reports: 3-6 === Challenges &Concerrrs: 7-8 ===WatchlngChildren Learn fiellingTtme, karningktters, OlliceAnnouncements: -=News& Writing) : I l- 14 === Bcok& Record Reviews: 15- l8 ===JH, Nanry Plent: 22 ===VisionTtaining: 24 === Resources & Recommendaflons: 30