Issuu

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 58 In 1 976 John Holt wrote in Iraitead of Eltrcation, "There may be no one publishing Grcwing Wbfwd &hrcling to prove himself wrong. He found, to what must

else who feels this way except me." Ayear later he started

t o

John Holt in 1983 with the Baternm faml\r. whosc rellectiors are part of thls issue's l0th Amiversary celebration.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: OFFICEANNOUCEMENTS P. 2 RecentPublicitv "One Homeschobler's Answers"

1988Directory Donating Holt Books NEWS &REPORTS

p.3-4

Principals Oppose Homeschoollng Jointurg School Activities

Forming Admissions Policy

CHALLENGES & CONCERNS p. 5-7 Dilliculties with Groups Considering School Meeting Other Children Cure for School Phobia

DISCUSSION: JOHN HOLTAND TEACHING. JOHN HOLTAND CFIANGE p.7-9 Thoughts from Herbert Kohl,

JudsonJerome, &Mabel Dennison

CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF GWS EarlyDays ln the Ofiice p. 16 Reflections from State Leaders &

Editors p.17-21

Evolving ldeas, Evolving Lives

p.22-25

The Experience of Homeschooling

p.26-34

have been his great relief and happiness, that many, manypeople - more he did, or were eager to hear why they ought to. Growirg Wfifwn Scttcr:rlirg grew from a 4-Wge newsletter to a 32-or-more-page magazine (still as chock-full of prlnt - there was so much to say) and its scope and implication far exceeded John's expectations. Or perhaps not so far, because Johnwas skilled at imaglning the future. Many of his early choices about GWSwere deliberate and conscious efforts to enable the publlcation to dowhat hewanted lt to do.

with each year of publication - already felt as

From the beginnlng, GWSwas an lnteractive publicatlon. It depended on readers for its material, which meant that the readers were encouraged to be active - to question, to argue, to help each otherwith suggesfions. It meant that people who had never thought of themselves as having anything to say or as able to put their thoughts on paperwerewriting long letters about their experiences and reflections. Seeing these letters in print took the mystery out of publication and invited other people to write as well. Being an interactive publication also means that readers have always told us what they thought of us, what we ought to do more or less of. Sometimes this makes us feel like the man inAesop's fable'The Mlller, His Son and The Donkey'' who concludes, "Ifyou try to please all, you will please none." But we are grateful that our readership is not a silent audlence whose interests and concerns we cannot lmagtne. As I work on GWS, I feel as if I am talking to people I know. Schoolteachers often say that they never talk about what really goes on tn their classrmms when they gather fior coffee in the teachers' lounge. If they have any secrets about what works, they keep them to themselves. If they have any problems, fears, worries, they are careful not to orpose them. GWS readers, on the other hand, spread informatlon rather than hoardturg it. "I have to write and tell you about what we Just tried," you often say. When one ofyouwrites, "l don't knowwhat to do about thls," reader send more suggesflons than we have room to print. Reporters often ask us what research has been conducted about homeschooling. We can point them to studies, surveys, charts of figures, but in manyways the real research is going on right here in these pages. When people ask, "But how do you know how children learn, or whether homeschoolingworks?" I give them an issue of GWS and say, "Listen to these people talking. Look at what theyVe seen." You cannot arglre wltlt another peron's experience, and after a while that experience, and the eloquent descriptions of it which bring it so vividty to life in these pages, stands as evidence. When we asked you to write us your thoughts and reflections for thls tenth anniversary issue, you responded as enthusiasflcally as you have been responding for ten years. What ts interestlng about the letters in thls issue is that they are as similar as they are specific. So many of them say, "We were so relieved to discover..." 'We thoughtwe were the only ones..." '\)Ve have done things we never believed possible... ". In the section of this issue devoted to thoughts from leaders of homeschooling organizations, Sharon Hillestad wrttes that when she was sent a copy of a magazine which listed state homeschooling leaders, she "looked eagerly for the Minnesota contact. It was me." Many of us have lmked eager$ for leadership or expertise and have found it, through reading, writing for and working on GWS, in ourselves and tn the people who areworkingwith us. Happy tenth anniversary, then, to all of us.

Susannah Shelfer

SPECIAL TENTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

OFFICE NEWS & ANNOIJNCEMENTS RECENT PUBLICITY workshops on "ContinuingJohn Work' and "Responding to Children's Writin$' at tlre MARYIAND HOME I led

Holf

EDUCATION ASSOCIATION conference ln June, where I met many GWS readers from the Mid-Atlantic states. The conferencewasl a nice mixofold and newhomeschoolers, and often the veteran homeschoolers were the ones leading the workshops, passing on their knowledge and experlence. I'll be leadtng these two workshops agaln at the CLONLARA conference inAugust, While in Marvland I had the pleasure of

stayingwith Maniied Smlth of ugBeand his family, where other ggests were the Richmans (PA), the Plents (NJ) and the Giesys [VA).

Talldnglate into the ntghtwith such thoughtfirl and e4perlenced homeschoolers was

wellworttr the trip.

A reporter from the NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION Journal called to ask several ouesflons about HoltAssociates and homescfioohng, so we should be reachfurg

their audlence before long. Alffe Kohn, author of the book No Contest (GWS #55, #56), spent

long ttrne i-n the ofrce tnteMenring us for ?he Atlanfic,so watch tlrose pages too. - SS

know something and your parents don't lorow the answer?" 'Would your parents let you go to school lfvouwanted to?" and "Dovou ever think about your future?" Amandis detailed answers girrc an extraordinarily vivid picture of one homeschooler's life, and I think the flyerwould be a useful lnclusion in packets of lnformatlon to leglslators and school olllclals as well as somethlng to enjoy yourselves. The cost is 25c plus a S.dSE tf you're not ordering any other materials from

us; lOcopiesfor$1, This is agood timeto remindyou ofour other reprlnts, many ofwhich would also be usefr:l to you as you educate your legfslators, school olliclals and netghbors about homeschooling. Many people have told us thatJohn Holfs ardcle tn thePlntuIta Kqpart "Schools and Homeschoolers: A Frultfi-rl Parbrershlp" has lnlluenced superlntendents to adopt a more farrcrable atfl tude toward homeschoolers. John's critique of Sesarre Str@( "Big Bird, Meet Dtck andJane"will also i:rterest many ofyouwho are thinking about telewislon and how chlldren learn to râ‚Źad, See our Book and Music Store tnsert ln thls lssue for lr:rformaflon about orderlng

reprlnts. -SS

HOW YOU CAN HELP We are gratefrrl to so

1988 DIRECTORY We want to remind you again thatwe will discardlng all the names in the Directory, and we ask that ifyou want to be listed in the next complete Directory, which will appear in GWS#@, you send usyourentryby

September3O. We're hoping that the 1988 Directory be as blg (or bigger) than the current one.

manyofyou for

ttrinldng ofways to publtclze ourwork. Manfred Srnlthofthe MAFYLAND HOME EDUCATION ASSOCIATION has ofiered to take out an ad for us in a local publication

whlch ts distributed to 60,0O0 parents. Many ofyou contlnue to distrlbute our literature and represent us at falrs and conferences. We

will

Please use theent4rformirr theback ofthis issue, or send us a sqrarate 3 x 5 card (one card per family). The only peoplewho do notneed to tell us again to put them in the Directory are thosewho already told us tn 1987 - that ls, thosewhose addidons or changes appear ln the summar5l of changes tn #57, or ln thls

issue,

Ifyou re not sure whetheryou were ln the last complete Dkectory or no| please do us the favor, lfyou can, of checking tn GWS #54, thelssue Lnwhich the lastcomplete Dilectory was printed. Thls saves us the tlme it takes to look up your name ourselves, Youwill notice that someadditlons to the Dlrectorytntlds issue are followed by art (H). Ttrts lndlcate that the farntly is wllllng to host GWS travelers who make advance arrangements ln wrltlng. There ls space on the Dlrectory entry form to tndicatewhether you would be willing to host travelers, so please be sure to let us know about that as

want to remlnd you of a few other things you cando: 'Askltbraries to subscrlbeto GWS. Many universit5r libraries, ln pardcular, have large pertodlcal secflons and would be lnterested tn

maklngGWSavailable. ' Thlnk of centers, organlzadons or

groups ofpeople lnyourarea thatwould be tnterested tn arrangtng for someone from HoltAssoclates to speak to tlrem. Marry groups that are not spectffcally tnterested ln homeschoollng are lrrterested ln other aspects ofJohn Holf s work, such as clrtldren s rtghts or school and society. Tell us about these places, or tell someone there about us. ' kave GWS flyers and John Holt's Book and Muslc Store catalogs ln chtldren s clothlng stores, toy stor,es, health food stores, bookstores. t Referreporterswho askyou about homeschoollng to HoltAssoclates (after answerlng the quesdons yourselves, of coursel)

well. -SS

''ONE HOMESCHOOLER'S ANSWERS'' We are addtng to ourllstofreprints a Ilver called "One Homeschooler's Answers.

whlch lo-year-oldAmanda Bergson-Shllcock created to answer people's common quesflons about her horrrschoollng. Among the quesdons she answers ln the flyer are, "Do you have a reg;rlar schedtrle for doingyour worlf" 'Who teaches you more, your mom or your dad?" '\tt/hat do you do when you want to

COMMISSION FOR ADS Some dme ago we made an offerwhlch many ofyou may have forgotten: Wewtll pay a 2O9o commlsslon to anyone who can soliclt and then send us, wlth payment, a display or classllled ad forGWS. Ifyou knowofanyone whomyou think would be a likely adver$ser, ask us to sendyou coples ofour adverdslng rates. Afteryou send us thewrlttentextof the classtfted ad orthe camera-readyartwork of the dtsplay ad, along with the paJrment, we

will sendyou the commlsslon. Ad deadllnes are the 15th ofodd-numbered months.

APPRECIATION FOR OUR PICNIC Ow ptottc utJwe 7 Sth was a great ueess, tolth a rrrrn-crrryntllfin be asure hunt, pog rtdes,bubble-nuktng, mustc, and lots oJ waterrrclon at the ertd. oJ the dag, We une deltghtd. tlut pple tawld Jrun as Jar ausag as Neus Yotk to arne to tle plcntc, s

ad. us

tlds

lr,ol'D

bttartomPqgg

bnpttdnt

ernntscanb:

tle*

Webb (NY) rentnd.s

lone schdlng

For over threeyears I've been

lMngwith

the ptrtlosophy, readtngthebooks and GWS, planntngmy moveswlth the school board, collecttngthe tools I thlnkwe'll need forour learntng and, ofcourse, Just moving along on a datly basls - all thts wlthout wer having seen or talked to another llke-minded person outside the family. I'm used to going rrry own way, and don't need a lot ofreassurance. Sflll, there ls asenseoflsoladon and arecurrlng depresslon as I take l-ena on our ltttle trips and watch tlre theft of ctrlldren's dignity occurrlng eveqrwhere. So when my husband asked me why on earth I wanted to bavel four houns for a plcntc, I slmply answered that I needed to be near people who treat thelr ctrildren llke human befirgs, And what fu n we hadl Lerra ts sflll talldng about it and lt was a shot tn the arm for me. I dtdn't rea\r engage in any meardngful c.onversadon wlth arqrone, Just absorbed theafternoon. I saw lO-year-olds helping toddlers up and dorvn the sltdes. I watched my 4-year-old become a dny speck as shecllmbed fartherand fartherup the sH tr:all wlth some older gfrls and then rolled down urtth a flush and a flourlsh, only to climb rlgbt back up again - ln the 90 degree heatl At one point, I reallzed that even with all those chtldren ofall those ages, there is more conlllct and personallty dash ln my drivewaywhen fourschool lidds come over to ride thelr btkes after belng let out of thelr sagFs. So, tn response to Wendy's rhetorical closlng quesdon, "Aren t homeschoolers

wonderful?" I sayY-E-Sl

DONATING HOLT BOOKS Rebg.lc,a M&hee (GA), tulv t,r.s fu en oryanlzbg tle drhE to ddrate JotnHdts

fuks

Mrgia.

librantes, wrlte s :

We have received donattons ofthree books, and then recently GEORGLANS FOR FREEDOM IN EDUCATION donated $3O, so we ordered several cnptes of ?eachYour OwnWe have rrn into several llbraries that have thebooks already. ISS:I Rebecca sent us a copy of a letter written to people in herareadescribing howto set up llbrarydtsplays. Tlrose lnher she'd

group dtsplayed photographs and samples of thek chlldren's unrh flyers, and sample copies ofbooks and magBztres. Ahomeschoolerwas presentat the dlsplay areaonce a'vreek to ansrper quesflons. Ifanyofyou declde to try this "lfbrary dtsplay'' tdea, we'd like to hear about iL and do keep us lnformed ofarqr newcampaigns to

donateJohn's books. GROWING WTNIOUT SCHOOLING #58

NEWS & REPORTS PRINCIPALS OPPOSE HOMESCHOOLING OnJune lOth. at the tnvitation of the Departrnent of Education ln Washlngton D.C" attended an informal discussion arnong homeschoollng advocates and rePnesentadves of the educatlon establishment. Ed Nagel of the NATIONALASSOCIATION FOR THE LEGAL SUPPORT OF ALTERNATWE SCHOOIS and MichaelFarrls ofthe HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION were the primarlr panelists, and each gave strong presenta-uons of the legal and social support for homeschooling. An administratoifrom the Florida Department of Education then discussed his experience ofworking to create reguladons for the accountabifity of home i6hools, saying that he feels his department has created a productlve reladonshlp with Florida homeschoolers. The main topic discussed at this meeflng was how schools and homeschoolers ca.n avoid adversarial reladonships. The I

NATIONAL ASSOC TATION OF ELEMEAIIARY SCHOOL PzuNCIPALS caused some sparks to

flvwhen thev distributed their 1986-87 piatform, on-e plankofwhrich urges its memters "to support legtslaflon which enforces compulsory school attendancr and protrtbits at-home schooling as a subsdtute for compulsorv school attendanc.e." Whlle thts was alarmtn-g to hear, tt soon became apparent that the NAESP had done llttle research. Patricla Llnes, an analyst and attorney for the Departmentof Educadon, went through thetrobJections to homeschooling point by point and argued persuasively agatnst them. Attorney Michael Farrts sald that to avoid adversarlal relafionships between schools and homeschoolers, educadonal associrations must llrst acknowledge homeschoolers' rlght to

erdsL One olficial quesfloned the scant research thatis available on homeschooling

and expressed concern that the public doesn't hear about homeschooltng's failures. Ed Napel polnted out thatwhen a student in sch-ooi has problems, school olhcials can discuss and implementvarious remedi;al strategfeswithout having t]re student taken away from thelr tnsdtutlon (unless that's what they want). When homeschoolers have to deal with problems, on the other hand, if thqy ask the schools for help or advlce they risk having their child taken away. If schools openlv acknowledAe that homeschoolers have a'righi to eost, Ed argued, they wtll be creadng anenvlronment more conducive to open dlscusslon. Ed also noted that a concem about lostng funds from homeschoollng students might underlte the NABSP pladorm, but ttrls cpmmentwas neltllerdenled or acknowledged.

Fortunately, ttis unlikely (wen impossible) tlrat the NAESP wtll get tts way. The Departrnent of Education clearly recogpnizes thCleglttmacy ofhomeschooling; in the lssue brlefwe recetved at the meedng, the Department states that while homeschooltng is not for wery parent and child, "homeschoolers do contribute slgniflcantly to the enterprise of Amerlcan educatlon." Homeschoolfueg declslons art not, furthermore, currently the provlnce ofschool prtnclpals, but rather of iocal superlntendents arid school boards (and ln some states, none of these). GWS readers can help counter the NAESFs posltlon by CROIVING WTII{OUT SCHOOUNG #58

olfering support to prtnctpals who are

welcoriing-ti home-schooling, since these

principalsprobably feel themselves to be in the mlnority. Write letters to superintendents and school-boards commendlng the work of helpfirl or supportive principals, and conllnue to provide literature and a positive example ofhomeschoolers to those principals who are less friendly. - Pat Farenga

JOINING SCHOOL ACTIVITIES us

inJwv

to tell us that her

to meet to dtscrtss

FORMING COLLEGE ADMISSIONS POLICY I n M arch.

J oarue M alc orne oJ brne c ticut

plamtng

children to take Part ln. At one point I asked, 'What happensif somethingc'omes up in the middle of theyear thatwewant to take part in?" Aboard member's rep$ was, "Seewhat problems this is going to causel" Ohwell, we're not finished with themYetl

charl

ald

batd

un-s

wlvt]-er

lame schrcb rs unuld fu allotued to take part bt public schal acttuitie s. We suggestd that slle malce apies oJrclevantltterahre abut homesctreltg ond disfibute ft to tle schlcnlbard memfurs. Nter tfe meetitlg,

Jantnewtotc:

I attached a cover letter to the materials askingthe members to read thembefore the meetlng the next day. I ffgured that all of them knew dbout homeschoolingbeing on the agenda, but several members called to ask us w-hywehad delivered the materlals. They dtdn t wen know that homeschooling was on the agenda, and they knewvery little about

homeschooling in general. I had called our local newspaper to tell them what was going on. They â‚Źrre Prohomeschoolingand had been fiollowing the issue tn our area. Homeschooling covered t.Ile front page of the lssue that was to come out the day after the board meeting. I went to the newspaperofflce the nght of the meetingand got enough advance coples to glve to the chairman, ass{stant chalrman and secretar5r. This did have a positve effect. At the meeting5 the superintendent proposed the policy that "no homeschoolers be allorped to take part in any Public school actfirlfles." Every flme he gave a reason for barring homeschoolers from school actMtles, a board memberwould give a posltive response or ask, 'Why ts this a problem?" Manv made comments which had clearlycome fnimthe materialwe had given

them.

The board discussed the proposed poliry for forty-Ilve minutes, and then gave me tirne to speak. I told them that socialization is always brougfrt up as a problem concerning homeschooling, and that letting homeschoolers take part in school acdvities was one way to address that problem. I read a letter from a stxth grade teacher sa5dng that havlng homeschoolers pardcipate dld not inconvenience her teaching and in fact was a Dosidve erperience. I told about school

ilistricts that have friendly relationships with homeschoolers and howwell ttds is workingout. F'tnally, the superlntendent said that

each board would have to vote separate$ on the lssue. flhis was a district meeting rnade uP of threeboards.) Hewanted thewhole diskict to vote the same vay so that all three towns would have the same policy. I went to the local

meeting, where after much discussion they finally agreed that horneschoolers can take part ln non-academlc school activities (like irt and chorus), but not anyttring involving school buslng. I have to submitwith our curriculum a list of anythingwe want our

J ane W ilson (TN) wrote :

I've been asked by nearby Maryville ColleEe to help formulatean admissions

policiwhich irclcomes homeschmlers. I am io meetwith the Academic Dean, the Director

Admissions and Registrar to help them become famillarwith homeschoolers and to suggest ways that the college can encourage them to apply. I need some quick advice. Besides artlcles about the Colfax brothers at of

think of arry other lnlicrmadon I should provide? I hope to inlluence the c.ollege to go beyond merely accepdng homeschoolers - I'd like them to begfn actively recruiting them. Harv-ard, can you

[SSlIrepli& I advtse going one steP at a time. First, help the c.olleEe ofllcials feel comfortable considertng homeschoolers as applicants by gMng them a sense of what other means they mlght use toJudge such students besides a convenflonal school record. In time, particularly as they deal with actual homeschoolers, they may become so lnterested that theywlllwant to acflvely recrult them. But for now. I think it's marvelous that theywant to take up the question and have asked foryorrradvice. The polnt about Grant Colfax ls not so much that he got lnto such apresd$ous lnsdtution, but - pardcularly from the point of view of the discussion you'll be havlng that the Harvard admisslons olficerwas willing to look at Granf s liG as he had lived it up to then and see how tt had prepared him for college. Grant trad taken the SAT - many colleges will not give up this requirement evenwhen they don'tinsiston agrade point average - butwhat he had to offer, after that, were his experiences and hts descripfions of them. Now, I don't mean that colleges must accept students on the basis ofa conversation (although the interview certainly did inJluence Grant's admissions officer) but the question ls, howcan colleges find outwhat homeschoolers havebeen doing, what they ale interested in? Well, they can do this in much tlre sameway that elementary and high schools that are truIy interested do tt - by looldng at portfolios ofwork, talktngwith the student, reading letters written by others, etc. You might add that homeschoolers are often willing to take placement tests if the

GROWINC WITHOUTSCHOOLING #58, Vol. lO No. 4. I SSN #O745- 53O5. Published bi-monthly by Holt Associates, 729 Boylston St, Boston MA O2l I 6. $2o/)rr. Date of Issue, August I' 1987. Semnd-class postage pa.id at BostonMA. POSTMA'STE& Send address charges to GWS. 729 Boylston St, Boston

MA02r 16. ADVERITSERSI: Deadllnes are the 15th of odd' numbered months. Contact Patrick Farerrga for

newly-rcvised ratcs.

4 college ttrtnks tfs necessar5r. Also stress the very lmportant polrrt that homeschoolers who go to college go because there's sometldng there thattheywant, unllke so rranypeople who go stralgtrtfrromhlgh school to college wtthoutthtnldngabout lL Thts canonly be to thecollege's adnantage - presumably, actlve, curious, interesdng and tnterested people are

whattheywant. l.et us know how ttre meetlng goes.

Afur

the

nwtlttg, Jane wrote:

You gave rrr such good advtcel I had been madly collectlng lnformadon ofrrarlous sorts to shove at them, butyour suggesflon to make themllrst feel comfortable screeched me to a halt. I settled down, stopped worrytng about what I was golng to wear (ofall thingsl) and gotbackto mybastc ideas: that homeschooling ts challengtng and fun, that my years at Maqrvllle College were challenging and fun, and that therefore homeschoolers and Maryvllle College would

beagoodmatch. I arrtved at the meedng wtth my chlldren (6and 9) in toq and c.oncrntrated onhavlng ozeryone feel comfortable. The college people knew nothlng about homeschooltng, so I tried to gtrre them a feeling for wtrat tt was all about as well a.s for the variety of styles and reasons irrvolved. B5r tlre end of the meeffng the Dtrector ofAdmlsslons was asldng if there was away to get names and addresses of homeschoolers so that the college could

recmitthernStnce the meetlng they have become more and more enthuslasdc about homeschoolers, and have asked me to make

public thelr pollcy ofwelcomlrg thern The Dlrector ofAdmlsslons ls kslle Nier, Maryville College, MaryvtlleTN 378O1. Toll free number outsldeTennessee ts I -8OO-E181226: lnstdeTennessee | -80o-227 -2976.

[S:] I lope Jarc's exanple wflI erwrtrage otlws to apptoochaUeges wlth wtdchtleg arefanfllnr ard perhaps o;ffer ta

telp Jomunab a pd@ Jq lame scdd opfltcants, or atleastto a4trobrttie @Uege offbtals utth la nesclrrl;trg. Do let us krloltp

{goudot}tls.

STATE NEWS For oddtesses oJstate atdlrcal ory anlz.attorts, se GWS # 54 or our Homescdttg Re srllwce l[st, atnllaHe

$I.

Jor

Colorado: The State Board of &lucadon heard recommendattons for "changes ln the nrles forapproved home study programs" at heartngs in June and July and wtll present the new rules at a meeting onAugust 13, accordtng to Ttglre Yorranolf of the NORIHERN COI,ORADO HOME SCHOOL A,SSOCIAION. Among the proposed rule changes are: homeschoollng parents wlll roffg the school dlstricteachyearlnstead of asldng permtsslon as they must do nou[ parentswlll have Aree cholce about currlculum lnstead of uslnt the state's "establtshed systemof home study"; annual e\raluatlons of homeschoolers will conslst of a standardlzed testtngrades 2, 5, Sand lO (wlth testtng locaflon chosen by the Par€nt, not the school) and another method of erraluadon durlng the otheryears. Ttghe said that the Board of Educaflon wlll lnsfltute "emergency reguhdons" at theAugust meeflng stnce the actual reguladonswlll not

take elfect undl October l. Illlnolg: S€nate Btll 1202, whlch unuld dlsttngutsh home schools from prlvate schools and requlre home schools to reglster wtth local school dlstrlcts, was tntroduc.ed tnto the leglslature in late April, according to Dorothy Werner of HOUSE. The btll qras passed out ofcommtttee by a narrow rnarglri, andJustbeforeituras to come up foravoteon the floorthe State Board ofEducatlon attached an amendmentwhich requlred a "uniform puptl attendance acrountlng system," under wtrich parents of homeschool and school chlldren who failed to report where thelr chlldren aftend schoolwould be subJect to truancy charges. Homeschoolers, aided by prtvate school groups, successfully lobbied agalnet thls amendment, which was defeated tn late May. The bill itself, meanwhile, was returned to comrdttee, where lt remained, with no acHon taken, undl the end of the leglslattue sesslon. Iowr: HF 65O, whlch would have made "private lnstnrction' expltcitly legal (see GWS #56), passed ln the House and Senate Commltteesbutdld not make ttonto tlre floorofthe House before the leglsladve sesslon ended on May 9th, acc,ordlng to the newsletter of the IOWA HOME EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION. The bill ls on the calendar for nextyear's sesslon, and wlll not have to go back through the commltteeswhen itcomes up nextyear. Maryland: On June 24th the State Board of EducaUon passed a resoludon approvlng the Home Instrucdon Bylawwhlch wtll take elfect tn LateJuly. Underthe bylaw homeschoolers may keep aporfolto of materlals and be subJect to a revlewby the local superlntendent at the end of each semester or rnay frrstead choose to be under the supervlslon ofa state-approved nonpublic school. Mlnncgota: House E!ilI432 (seeGWS #56) pass€d tn May alter many homeschoolers tesdlled on fts behalf. Under the newlaw, parents must submlt an annual nodc= of tntent, provlde lnstrrcflon for l7O days a year, and submtt an annual lnstrucdonal calendar, accordlng to the lVIarchJune issue of The Honte *hrcl but ReporL "Ilre law requires that homesctrcoltreg parents elther be ccrttlled teachers, have a college degree, be enrolled wlth an accredtted educaflonal program, or have the ctrlldren take an annual standardlzed test. Sharon Htllestad ofTHE BASIC LEARNING NETWORK says the new law makes tht:gs easler for new homeschoolers, because lt clearly states that homeschooltng ls allourcd. Sharon said that sorrr people who have been homeschoolingfor several years wtth no state gutdelines, howerrcr, are finding ltdllllcult to conformto the new

regulafions. North Carollna: Homeschoolers lobbted successfu lly agalnst several restrlcflons ln the btll whlch was tntroduced lnAprll (see GWS #5? and ls nowbacktn commlttee, accordtng to homeschooler Lua Wells. The orlgtnal billwould have rcqutred homeschooUng par:ents to have a cnllege degree and to gtve 5 I /2 hours of formal instrucflon perday, and would have lowered thecompuGory sc-hoolagefrom 7 to 6. Allof these restrlcdons areabsent fromthe current

verstonof theblll. Oregon: The restrtcflve btll lntroduced tnto the Hous€ &lucaflon Commtttee (see GWS #52 was tabled in response to callsand letters from par,ents, according to theJuly Hcrrle,slc,faarllbrs' Voice (aWashington state publtcatton). This btll would have requtred homeschoolers to go through a lengthy and

much more diftcult registraflon process than is currently requlred.

COI.JRT NEWS Michigan: From the May ISth OaWnd. Press."'Oakland Count5r Prosecutor L Brooks Patterson said Wednesday that homeschool parents will no longer be dragged into court here. Educaflonal neglect charges were dismissed ln Oakland County Frobate Court by Judge Norman Barnard Wednesday against five Oakland Count5r familleswho teach their chlldren at home. The charges were dropped after Patterson made a special appeamnce... to ask that the charges be dismissed because the state 'set the nrles but doesn't enicrce them."'

North Datota:

Ftlve

famllles have been

tded forvtoladonof the state's compulsory attendance law since January, according to a matllng from the NORIH DAKOTA HOME SCHOOLASSOCIATION. At GWS's press tlme three ofthefarntlles havebeen fcund gullty and areappealtng tlre declslonarrd no rullngl has been made on the other two cases, according to Chris Kllcka of the HOME SCHOOL

LEGAL DEFENSEASSOCIATION. In several instances, the chlldren have been subpoenaed to testtfy agalnst thelr parents ln court. Ohlo: Judge Arthur O, Fisher ordered homeschooler Franklln Dean to enrolltrls chlldren in school by the beglnnlng of the 1987-88 schoolyear Ar a Montgornery County Juvenlle Court rullng inAprll, according to an artlcle ln the DogtutDafug News. At GWS's press Ume, Dean ls ln the process of tr5dng to establtsh lrts home as an unchartered private school so tlrathewtllnot have to enmllthe children ln publlc school in the fall, ac.cordlng to Otrto homeschoolerlouann RebbtnShaw.

CALENDAR August 27. 1987: HoltAssociatesOpen House: "IVot golng back to school: Aworkshop for newand prospecdve homeschoolers," led by long-tlme homesclrooler Carol Hughes. At our ofllce, phone 437- 155O. September 7: Dr. Ra5rmond Moore's semlnar on homeschooling fur St. Inuis, MO. For lnformaflon: Jo-Ellen McDonald, 3 l475.2-4990. September I 2: Minnesota Basic Leamtng Network's "&lucatlonal Extravaganza, " with Marva Colllns as kqrnote speaker. For lnformadon: Sharon Htllestad. 6L2-437 -3049. September 13: Northem Califcmta Homeschoolers Assoclaflon's 2nd annual 'Uohn Holt Memortal Muslcal Picnlc." l2-5 at Mneral Sprtngs tnTtlden Parh Berkeley. For lnformadon: Ellzabeth Hamill, 4 I 5-8481969. Seotember 14: HoltAssociates Open House: "RememberlngJohn Holt." We wtll mark theanntversaqr ofJohn's death aswe did last year, wtth a gathertng of old and new filends and a readtng of some ofJohn's unpubllshed work. At our olfice, phone 4371550. October 22 : Holt Assoclates Open House: Basket5r Workshop, led by Wendy Baruch. At our ofic.e, phone 437- 155O. We are happy to nrn noflc€s ofmaJor homeschoohng events, butwe need plenty of noflce. Deadline forGWS #59 (errents ir: November or later) ts September 15. Deadltne for GWS #6O (events inJanua4r or later) ts November 15. GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #58

CHALLENGES & CONCERNS DIFFICULTIES WITH GROUPS &re

no. G ing

old (CN urXe s :

In response to the letters ln GWS #56 about being ingroupswith school lddswho Just want to goof around, I want to tell you about my own experlences. I have been ln Brownles forthe past threeyears and although I loved belng together with my Brownie sisters wery week, I had quite a bit of trouble getting along with thern Each time we did some sort of project orcraft theywould runaround and slide onthe floororbangon the piano , and we would never get anything accomplished. I always had great ideas forwhatwe could do in Browrdes, things I can't do alone at home butwould be fun to do as a group, like put on a play that I wrote. But I dldn t ever get to do any of the things I thought up because the girls were always fooling around and

wouldn'tlisten. For example, I once thought up the idea

formytroop to haveanewsletter, and the leaders thought it was a Cir€at idea. But when I tried to get the other girls lnvolved they had no reaction. My first idea for the "Brownle Bulletln" was towrite "name poems." I flgured thiswould be easy foreverybody. Theywere invited to write down (or actually dictate to the leader) what they would like to be or do when tley grewup, usingeach letterof their names as the begirurlng of aword or sentence. But instead everybody keptyelling and scrcaming and telllng each other what they ought to be when they grerv up. And some of their answers were so dumbl Some of the weird things rvere "tnk gadget" and '}lam maker." It seemed to be that they didn't even thjnk or care about what they were putting down. It made me feel so bad and angry. They never careabout anything. They onlygiggle. The girls were excited to see their names and what theywrote in print though, and the leaderwanted to glrre lt another try. So for the nextissue my rnomand I thoughtup a new idea - we would make up a sort ofwork sheet (which is what they're used to ln school) for them to followdirecdons. Then thevwouldn't get so confused by erreryone tallidn! at once. This kept them quleter, but I was amazed by the quality of theirwork. I neverdo "school work" athome, so I'malways thtnlAng that kids in school are so far ahead ofme. But although I asked them fu n thlngs like to make a picture from the letters ln their names and to dnaw a funny self-portralt, they drew stick figures wtth purple halrand couldn't even answer simple questions like how old are you and when's your birthday. The on$ time I am ever with other lidds is in Brownies and I wanted to use that flme to work at accomplishing things and learn a lot ofvaluable lnformatlon. But for the other girls I think Browntes wasjust an extenslon ofschool and babysitters and people telling themwhat to do and when to be quiet. I

thought ltwould be fun toworktogetherbut they didn't really'urant to be there at all. I am really proud of my badges and ttdngs that I eamed, but I actually have seen some of the othergirls throwtngthelrbadges away in the

tr:ashl In September I startJunlor Girl Scouts and I hope that will be a more serious

organizauon. GROW]NG WTTI{OUT SCHOOLING #58

Ard fiom CfuIstopler McKee

ffi)

I have had similar experiences with ha neshmlers not really wandng to be at classes. Recentl5r a homeschooling parent olfered to do aclass on alr pollution. I dectded to take theclass. I had problemswlth the lidds clowningaround and teasing each otler. The

classwas sortof ruined forme. The method ofignoring people does not work too well. I agree with tunanda (GWS #56) that the kids keep pestering you ifyou ignore them. The method thatworks best for me is to tell them howyou Gel about the situation. It ts hard to get the courage to say what you feel but onceyou say it, tt really makes them ttrink hvtce before thry tease again. I gUess there are some ldds that like to tease and some that don't. lfvou are a kid who does not like to tease and sorireone is teasing you, tell them howyou feel about it.

Andjomalaterletter: I have been homeschooled all mv llfe. I have always wondered what school G llke. I have asked ldds who go to school what tt ls like, and almost the only thing they menflon ls recess. I would like to hear from lidds that are homeschooled now but havebeen

schooled before about their school experlences.

[SSlKallePeebles wdtes abut th[s in this {ssue (p. 30 ). Perhops otfters will onsuter Chrtstople/ s qtrcstiorl- bt Jutrtre issues oj GWS.

BEING A SINGLE PARENT F}om Kathe rhe M a^lp ine (fN) :

Afewwords on the lssue ofgetdngone's own work done with ldds around. Because we're aone chlld/one parent fami$, and because I've alwaysworked outofour home, we've had to cope wtth thls from the beginning. I'm avoice teacher arrd a freelance writer. From the time hewas 3, Nathaniel (now 9) understood thatwhen Mommy was worlrdngwtth a student, thls was hls ilme to pursue his own lnterests in hls room, Itwas harder for him to comprehend how my staring mkrdlessly at the t5rpewrlter (or pactng amund the house muttering to myself)

had any connectlon with keeptng peanut butter ln the cupboard. But he's learned. He's also come alongMth rne to buslness meeUngs, on trlps to the prtnter, the radto staUon, the recordlng studio, because we often had no babysltter and no other alternatlve. Sometlrnes I felt uneasy, uras afrald c.olleagues would percelve me as unprofessional. More often Nathanielwas treated llke vtsftlng royalty. He's been taken onexclusive gl.rided tours of radio andTV stadons, assorted office buildings, and prindng facllities. He's shot the breeze with corporate executlves and count4r music stars. I think he's benefited tremendouslv from achlally seeing me atwork. .Just r&ently he asked me about a proJect, '"[tr/haf syourword count so far? 9,OOOurcrds?That meansvou're -rl,nd 3/4 ltnlshed wnh a l2,OOO-word script. you've be.enworlidng for six days, so at lOf a word that meansyourdaily payavera€1es..," I hadn t realized he knewthis much about math. We haven't even begun "studyingl'

fractions. Though IVe tr:atned myself to concentrate through anythtng (including Nathaniel pracflctngdouble stops on his violln), there are tlmes I have to work like a demon to meet a tough deadline. He's come to respect that - notalways gracefully, buthe does cooperate. He enjoys helptngoutby fi:<ing a simple meal forboth ofus. And he loves to wash dlshes (an ecc.entrlclty that I don't dare hope wlll conttnue). I always try to show my appreciation in both word and deed. I don't rnean bribes. But I mlght say, "I expect to be flrdshed wtth this article by Friday. So Saturday's all ours. Want to go the park, a movie, or the sclence museum? You choose. " On another toplc, I was lnterested in Sury Dodd's remarks tn GWS #55 about her daughter betng "grtlled" by other children. We run into tJrls annoyance quite frequent$. The scenarlo goes llke thls: Nathanlel mendons, in response to some quesdon, that his mom teaches htm at home. The other person, elther anotherchtld or (more dlsgusdngly) anadult,

thenbegtns qulzztnghlnx '\llhatis 8 flmes

36? What ls thedeflnlflonofan anton5rm? Where is Argentlna? How many miles from the moon to the earth?" IVe had to teach Nathanlel a few assertlveness strateges, l.e. we don't play thos€ games. He's learning to say, '\Ve followourown currlculum. And we

don't need testsorqutzzes to provewhatwe know."That usually puts astop to thtngs.

Understand Spanish, French, German, Russian and Chinese All New

Language Teaching System.

Look at pictures and understand the foreign language almost immediately.

Beginner's Series

1,000 pictures and five 45-minute audio cassettes.

Complete Series 4,000 pictures and Twenty-one 45-minute audio ldeal For Home Sludy iIl

cassettes.

vl9

Write for information

9L Internatlonal Llngulstlcs Corporatlon 3505 East Red Bridge Road o Kansas City, MO 64114

(816) 765-8855

IVe Just reread Nanry Wallace's

HIGHLIGHTS OF BACK

"Rethlnking'Ietdng Co'" (GWS #56), and I want to add

ISSTJES We want to remind you of the material in these back issues, which we do not plan to reprint elsewhere. Please tell others that these issues are still available. (Prices for subscribers: $1 per issue, plus $2 per order.

hices for non-subscribers: $3.50 per issue.)

a few thoughts from thls slngle mom's perspecflve. I'm always getdng dlre wamings, from avariety of self-styled social workers, on the dangerof Nathaniels developing an "unhealttry attachmenf' to me. "He needs to be awa5r fr,omyou more ofterl" they say. Or "He needs awidervariety of male role models." Or "Muslc ls ffne, but he needs to take part ln more 'all- boy' acdvides llke baseball and football." The tmpltcaflon, of course, ls that if I don't watch tt, I'm golng to

tum htmlnto Chtldren's DrawlnEs... Enellsh Unschoolers... BeYour Own Experf I Ltvinp With l-oneliness... Young Magtcian,.. On a " cWSl #25:

Farm

GWS #26: Llncoln's Education... Teena{ers

at Home... WorldnE forCousteau... Bables at Jobs... TV... Refushg Labels #27: Elitism.,. Successfu I Currlculum... On Conflict.., Informal Routine... Modcan GIWS

Circus Family... First Boston Farnily

GWS #28: Unwanted Help... Repetiflve

Reading... The Flrst Monihs... Homeschooled Condudtor... 6-year-old Sculptor GWS #29: From College to Farm,,. School tur

Indta... Muldplicaflon-Game... Work. Plav and Social Life... karninEWhen Deaf

G'Wlt #3O: Handtcapped Parent... Baclrurard

Irtters... FieadtuxAv3: DoinE... Talklns to Yourself... BilnAlal Familv... SchoolS Weren't "F4ualEers"... African "Dlsc{pline" GWSI #3

l: ReadtnEvla Computer... Writlnp a

Curriculum... Griduates I aikStdls... ke;l Insurance. .. Recovering from "Special Ed.{ GWS *32: Self-Taught Computer Deslgper...

Single Mothet's Arran€emeits... Apprefrtices inGrmany... How MdiryAreWe?' ^

DealtngWlth ThouAhtlessness... Blamtng the Unco-nvendonal. - Leanrina Dtsabili1es... LeaminA FromTiavel.., GWSi #33:

I-anguage Through Ac-fi on

GIPS #34: Liklnq School is Not EnouEIe..

Spaceship School... Housework... "DEffniUon ofSchoolncase GWSi

#35: Homeschooler at Haruard... On

Teen Social Llfe... Mtnd not a Muscle...

Computer Vandallsm... Einsteln

#36: Thoughts on'DavAfter,',.. AStrele Parent's Year... Dtsapproviri{ Relaflves... Ii Defense offi.. . Chililir:n in ihe Workplace GWSI

(horrorofhorrors)

homosexual Or at the very least, a dependent "Mama's boy." I used to lie awake ntglrts

worqdngabout this. And I knowanumberof otherstn$emotherswho do the same.

Yet Nathaniel's oneof tlre most lndependent-minded klds I know. And he doesn t &Jcefootball; he ltkes music, wildlife, and hStory. Why shouldl forcehlmlnto actMfles he doesn't care firr because of other people s hangups and an:defles? What's more, why shouldn tourldds also be amongourbest friends? Whafs so unhealthv about that? Ofcourse male role moiels are trnDortant for a boy. But notJust any male figure, ior heaven's sake. (Charles Manson, afterall, was aman.) Qualitycounts. And I don'tthlnklfs all that important that a role model be som@ne we actually know. Mister Flogers can be a role model. So can a trlstorical person or even a character in a novel. In fact, unless you're Ilvlng on a desert island, there are role models practically ever5nrrhere you turn. There's a lovely, very moving lfttle book by Charlotte Zolotow called A Fatlar Llke That, It begtns, "Once I had a father. But he went auray before I was born. " As the ltttle boy's mother sits qutetly listening and

sewtng, he tells he all trls fantastes about hls absent father - what he'd look like, how he'd behave, all the things they'd talk about and do together. Enally he asks hls mother lf she thtnks hts dad wlll ever come back. "Probablv

not," she says. "Butyou knowwhat? I ltke your ldea of a father." And she assures hlm that he can grow up to become the lidnd of man he's described. I

like to thtnk that Nathaniel, like the

boy ln the story, ls creatlng hls own deflnldons of the man he wants to become. And so far, I see every eirtdence that thls ls exactly what he's dolng.

CONSIDERING SCHOOL FlomMurtelPallo(MI): Recentlyl vlslted avery atkacttue alternaflrrc school ln Grand Rapids. Ttrere was a strong emphasls on developlng sensitMt5r to envlronmental concems and strlvlng for\r,Drld peace. The atrnosphere was nrarm, frtendly and relaxed. I hked the place a lot. My son thought tt vras OK. Now

thatthere ls avlable altemative to

homeschoollng for me, I've been thfaldng GWll *37: LawverWith No School... Stress Alfects IQ... Teachlng Outside ofSchool... .Iohn Holt on Dtsctpllne... Museum Run B5r Ktds... Self-Taughf Muslclans

All back iszues of GWS

are kept in print.

aboutwhatitrpould beltketo send ourson to thts school He's been homeschooled from dav one, sothlswouldbeadramaflcchange. came to reallre thattherewould be an lncrediblevoid ln my Me tfmy sonwere to be away from home flve days a week And how

would his 2 l,/2-year-old stster handle tt? Stmon ( I l) and Zoe deltght ln each other's company. And what would happen to the other actMdes he's tnrolved trr? He would have to eltherdrop all ofthemto have dme for the farnlly, or drop farnily tlme for trts

acflvlfles. Would therebe tlme toJustfool around? Slmon used to be so dependent on havtngotherlidds around to playwith. Now he knows how to occupy htmselfforlong perlods. He ts always busy, tn a relaxed, unhurrted uay. I hesttate to deprtve himof

this time.

I guess homeschoollng ls so very much

part of our lfues that not homesdrooling would alter thewhole structure ofour f,amllv. Of course, tf Stmon reallywanted to go to schoolwewouldn't hold hfm back But ln sptte of a strong deslle for more contactwlth otJrer lidds, he sdll prefers homeschoollng. Thls surprlses me, ln away, because he doesn't seem to get enough attenflon and stimulation now ttrat therc ls a toddler tn the family. It takes a lot of energr to keep my toddler happy while worlidng one-on-one wlth

Simon. So, academically, Slmon has been prett5rmuch on hls own. We have cometo thlnkofschools as much more harmful places than we flrst thought. At one ttme ln Westem tristory, chlldrenwere regarded as troublesome. Then they were sentirnentalized, Now, in arvell-

lntendoned effortto portray lidds as they really are, awhole new setof assumpflons and ster€otypes has taken root. Thtngs like teasfng, boy-g[rl stlllness, and competld\rcrEss ar€ r€gafded as norrnal, lnerrttable parts ofchtldhood. "Real" ktds, espectally boys, are not supposed to like

vlollns or collectkrg starnps or thetr little brothers and slsters. As homeschooled ldds continue to glrow tn age and ln numbers, I thtnk these assumpdons will be questioned and a set ofnew, mor,e posldrle assumpUons will take theirplac.e.

TRYING SCHOOL tr)om Diarur Foster (IIY) : We have been homeschooltng for four years. I ^ct fell my husband Gar5rytelded to the pleas of three of our chlldren and placed them ln a prtrrate school for the 5rear. Since I work full-tirne as a regfstered nurse and Gary ls home and llstentng to them all the time, I said ltttle about the arrangBment. After a year, IVe found posttive and negattve aspects ofhavlng themtn school. Flrst the posldves: l. Ouryoungerchtldren, Pennt (6) and Psamantha (4) have establlsh€d a strong reladonshtp wlth their hther. Patricfa ( I 3) had alwqrs been thelr second motherand enJoyed gtvtng and recetvtng thelr attentlon. Now she was gone all day, so they dlscovered thelr father ls very capable of responding to theirneeds and wants. 2. Patrlcla and Plrtlip ( lO) came to the reallzadon that school ts not fun. The only suq)rlse to me is that tt took themuntiltf,e last nlne ureeks to dlscover thls. 3. It proved to ourfamllles and friends that homeschooUngdoes not make ldds dumb. Thts uras abtg shock to all of them. Another homeschooling farntly had placed two cldldren ln ttre same school as ours, and at the awards cerernony a fewweeks ago, the former homeschoolers took all academlc awards exceptone. Now the negatfves: 1. Meettng appolntrrrnts, malOng lunches, and getUng erreryone to school on tirne got very tlrlng. It was a dtffcult adJustrnent for all the chlldren. 2. The clrlldren no longer helped wtth housework orwtth our 77-year-old bedrtdden auntwho llveswlth us. GRO\ryING WTII{OUT SCHOOLING #58

3. I became llke abroken record, always saying 'That's the way lt ls at school," or 'You wanted to go, tt's the ruIe." My husband was more padent wlth their complaints. Patricla and Philip want to go back to homeschooling this year, and we are looking forward to lt. Pennl did want to go to school to "leam to read," butwhen a friend told her that the teacheryells sometlmes, she declded she will stay home and read. Patrick ( I 5) will probablybe AolnAto school. Hewants to and ioes we-ll. Psamanttra' ouryoungest daughter, has Down'sSyndrome. We planto homeschool her as well. I enJoy readlng about otherswho are homeschoollng their spectal

chlldren, andwlshyou heard more from them. Ifwehad lastyearto do over, would wedo it dilferent$? I don't lmow. I thtnk when childrenwant somethlng so badly, lt ts someflmes betterto let themlearnby e:rperlence - and now two of the cblldren, at least, are content to learn at home again.

FINDING OTHER CHILDREN FtomBarbaraNye NT): When we moved to a rather lsolated house inVermont, we found no cornmunity

support nor other homeschoolers with

ctrlldren the same ages as ours. We have no support from relatives. It is hard to go against the normandGWS ts ahvays awelcome and needed sight. We are alllliated with an altematlve school that ts very supporttve, and ourchlldren have gone there part-tlme over theyears. Our chlldren don't have many frlends thelr ages, whlch doesn't seem to bother them. It is hard to find other children as nice as our children. Do other homeschoolers llnd this aproblem?

CIJRE FOR SCHOOL PHOBIA F}om Arulrltta Morelg oJ Callfa nta-

want

to thank you fcryour article, "School Phobia: Illness or Real Fear?" (GWS #57) Our oldest son had had school phobia slnce he started school. We got through HndergartenMth onl5r a few days of pantc, but in first grade thlngs got worse. His teacher I

told us that he was manlpulatingl us, She strongly urged us to seek psychological counselfurg.

We decided to transfer trim from public school to a prhrate Chrlstlan sdrool. The first fewweeks were a nighhnare. He crled arrd

dldn'twant me to leave. Hls teacher, the prlnctpal/pastorand I trted everythlng bribes, threats, phystcal restralnt. Then one day whlle we were chastng trtm around the school parldng lot, trylng to get trlm back into the classroorrl the princtpal asked lfwe had ever consldered homeschooUng. At first I thought there was no way in

theworld I could teachourthree sons at home. But alter four months of sittlngwith hlm ln the classroom wery day (thts was the only way I could keep hlm ln school), my husband and I satd,'\Mhy not?" That was almost two years ago, and we have not regretted ourdeclslon. Our son is nowavery happy, secure 9-year-old. He loves to bake and garden, two Lrterests he could not pursue wtrile in school all day. Undl I read your ardcle I thoug;ht we were the only familywtth thts "problem." Thankyou agatn forallowlngme to realizewe are notalone. GROWING WTII{OUT SCHOOLING #58

DISCUSSI'N:tt%Y][Y'%"#NB1""t!ffl MORE INTERESTED IN LEARNING In ApdL Sbrra llnltprsify ouatdd John HoIt a posthurnous honorory drctorate oJ human serulces, Herbrt KolX author oJ36 Children and s erpral otler brlry'ts, acepted the drctorateJor Jofut and tlvn sent us a

tanxriptoJtle

renrotks he made

attle

ceremofw: In the summerof 196Tmvwife and I moved to Calfomla from NewYorkCtty. Right before we moved there were decisions to make everywhere, declsions my wife Judy and I knewwe should have made soonerand hoped would work themselves out without intervention. Should we take all our books? Where could we store or gpe away things at the last mlnute?Was there a friend we forgot to call? Were all the goodbyes we wanted to sav- sald? At that flme our oldest child, Antonia, was flve months old and demanded almost as much attendon as the move itself. The day before a maJor change ofplace has always been a tlme of panic for me. And that very day John Holt called us and said he d like to visit and have dinnerwith us. The pleasure of havlng dinner, of argu.tng wtth hlm about educadonal ideas and finding out about trls latest thinldng and his latest discoveries was trresistible. We invtted John toJotn us fordlnner among theboxes and sultcases. I don't remember what we trad fior dinner but can sflll seeJohn heading forTonia's crib. Hewas more lnterested in her ttran he was in talklng about ideas and fads ln educafion. John liked to look at young people and was the most astute observer I have ever encountered. He had a passion for understanding how learnlng happenned. Tonla and John played all eventngand well into the ntght. They both seemed delighted in the presenc.e of each other. John had a personal magic when he was not in a situadon of havlng to teach. He was much more interested tn leaming than teaching and that was the source of marry disagreements between us. I believe that children do not have to recreate the whole world, that there are many ttrtngs ure can shar,ewith them so that tlrev can become smarter and }dnder than w6 are. John, as I knew htm, belleved thatwe should leave kids alone and let them create tlre world. He was closer to Rousseau than to Dewgl; a libertarian anarchist, not a socialist. He saw the future in the baby and I saw the baby as not totally newbut partofaworld thatneeds to be

reconstructed. John did not believe in fundamental change. Hebelteved thatchange should come from within, from the famlly, from the dny world ofpeoplewho belteved asyou did. He also believed that insdtutions are by nature antt-human and preached a philosophy of withdrawal. Homeschooltng is justa small part ofJohn's fundamental commitment to the tdea that tndMdual decency could redeem

theworld. John hated violence and struggled to ffnd a way to be decentwtthout becoming involved lm conllict. This was at the c-enter of our . disagreements. I do not see any way people

can become liberated without struggle, paln

I?ANGE

and commltment to the llves of peopleother than themsefues. To me the past has a lot to teach; adults of good will have things to pass on to children and freedomis nota personal consideraflon but a c.ollective necessit5r. I hate vlolence as much as John did, but cannot rule out dellance to destroy oppression. The vlolence ofapartheld ls aproblemforall ofus all and there seems to be no altemative but vlolence to end lt. The premature loss ofJohndeprives us of the ability to argue issues ofviolence and education and beauty; of learningand fatling with someonewho rerrered and thought about the qualityofltving. The central things that anyone must feelwho was privileged enough to knowJohn are the lntensi$r and honesty of hls convicdons and the amazingway he could see very largp thlngs in small e'vents. What is wonderful ls that he strared them ln his books whtch have avoice wbrlch is unmista-kenlv

hisown.

LETTING FLOWERS BLOOM g oJ Herbrt Kohl's Jerome, long-tlneJriend. anad corre spordent oJJohn s (readers uill renemfur ltunjorn tlre..frst issues ojGWSJ,

fSS;/ I sent c

remo*s

to Jud.son

Judrespond& I

was foundering about what to wrtte for

t]..ls memorial issue unttl Susannah Shelfer sent me a copy of the remarks by Herb Kohl

and asked what I thought about them. I recognized lmrnediately a paradox. Most of us who came to be recognlzed as educadonal reformers in the 6O's and 7O's, and so, as it were, gathered in company under the aegis of John Holfs ttreless correspondence (and his practice ofpassing on photocopies ofmaterial he knewwould interest us), were at first school reformers. In my case the schools were colleges; itwas my article tn the November, 1968 issue of Life, 'The System Isn't ReallyWorking" that first put me ln

touch with John, and he wrote a compllmentaqr blurb for my book, Culture

At oJ Anarchy : Tte Reorl.sbl.rction oJ Anwican Htgher Leotntg, which grew out of that and other magazine articles. By the tlme I finished thebook, howwer, I râ‚Źalized thatif thecolleges madeeveryone ofthe radtcal changes I suggested, theywere sdll not a place foran honest man to earn a lMng. I quit - for my sake - and started a communewherewe ralsed ourctrlldren wlthout schooltng. Others, like Herb Kohl, rematned more or less in the system - for its sake, or, rather, for the sake ofthe kids caught in it wtthout recourse. John's first books were relevant to schooling. After he started GWS his writing was relerrant to deschooling. It is understandable to me that, though they rematned friends, Herb (whom I've nwer met) and John had very dillerent intellectual and soclal ommitrnents. Herb almost implies that John was opposed to teachhg. I would interpret him as betng opposed to unasked-for teaching (and I'll say more about teachlng in a moment). Herb also says thatJohnwas opposed to fundamental change. I would lnterpret him as seeking such atotal tr,'ansformadon of society that most, if not all, of our institutions , includlng schools, would disappear. But tlat

l8 were lntroduccd

tnJapan by

a sertes

artlcles wrttten ln aJapanese newsPaPer by a reporterwho had been sentto Amerlcatovlslt free schools. Hewent flrst to John Holt, whose books had b€en translated lntoJapanese. John told theyoung man that he was "no longerlnvolved ln schools" and that I uras the person to call slnce I was then presldent of

TheNATIONALCOALfiONOF ALTERNATTVE COMMUNffY SCHOOIS. The

reporter did phone me riglet fromJohn's olfice. He vtsited Clonlari and serreral other altematlve schools. Thrls prompted rnore ar$cles and books and much tnterest on the part ofJapanese parents, students and teachers. Iwas tnvtted to address groups irt Japan ln 1982 and agaln ln 1984. I coau-thored abook, FleeSchols: Reallly and Dream wtrtch was publtshed ln Japan. SeveralJapanese sdrools admfre and lmltate the tdeas and pracflccs ln American private altemative schools. HBEP serrres nine homeschool families there now. HBEP has, of course, grown ln physical slze, Our olBce stalf has grown from one in 1979 to el{ht today. We now have a network of Clonlara S-atellite Schools - five ln Ohto and fourtn Mtchlgan. These are bmnch schools set up by parents and teachers to asslst home

educitors wtth

a rrade$r of servlc.es close

home. An arflcle in Worncur's Day thls past Aprtl brought ire over IOO requests for lnformadon per week for the followlng tuo months. "I am a newly-wed," wrote onewoman. "My husband and I plan on stardng our famtly soon. Please send me lnformaflon and reserve a space for

ourctrtld lnyour program." I see through the eyes of these new$-weds who are already plannlrg to nurture thelr family fn ways that

would have been unthlnkable ficrourown parents and grandparents. As Alan Hogan, the Australian televtslon director who carrr to film Clonlara in June, said at the end of his workday here, 'This homeschooling is the wave of the future, it is."

GTVING ADVICE Ftorn Sharontlfllastod oJ Mlnrr.sota's BASIC LEIRNNIG NETWORK:

In 1979 when I started homeschooling mv son. mv onlv contact wtth ltke-mtnded ptilple rvai thniugh cWS. I rememberbelng senl a copy of Homesteadss Neussln l98O' I was excited to see that tt featured homeschoollng. I discovered that lt contained a dtrectory of state contacts and eager$ looked for the Mnnesota contact. It was me. John Holthad glven rrle the responslbility and privilege ofbeing a homeschool leader' In the beginning I was veryevangelistic about homeschooltng. I held meetlngs ln my ourn home. I would flll a basket with matertals and go to varlous towns to meet wlth groups oftnterested famtlies. Mostof them were Just tlrtnldng about homeschooltng and the ctrtldren were prcschoolers or tn the prtmary grades. I ialked before several church groups, farmers and beekeeper."s, mothers who had had home btrths. I wai trrvolrrcd wlth the beglnning stages of homeschoolfng fur both Mlnnesota and-, for several months, Maryland. In the beglnnlng lt was necessa4r to hold regular support meetlngs to help famtlies

learn hou, to homeschool, stnc€ tt was a kind trlal and error leamtng experlence. This also kept up ercryone's clura€F, glnce we were crtdcized by errcryone from Grandpa. to the of

school board. Therewere lots ofunderground families in the early days, and there are sdll some. These chtldrenwere tr:ained to

tell

anyone who asked that they went to a private school. They did not leave the house durlng school hours. Ifs qulte a feat to keep the fact

thatyou are homeschmllng six chtldren a secret, but I knowa famllywho's doneJust

thatforyears. Thts pastyear I have led no meethgs at all. I advise people over the phone, put them ln touch with support groups that I knowof and keep themapprtsed of things through a sporadically-published newsletter. Occasionally people sflll c.ome to my home if they ltve nearby. MyJob now is more of a

referral servtce. There are lots ofsupport groups, lots of books, catalogs, and a lot more agreement that homeschooltng ts OK There has becn one very noflcable ctnnge in the last trvo years. I am getttngl more calls from peoplewho are removing teenagers from school. They take thelrolderchildrenout of school because "he ls l 3 and can't read" or "the teachers say he needs to take drugs because he is a behavtor problem" or "he thlnks he can learn more tf he lsJust left alone." The MINNESOTA HOME SCHOoL NETWORK has evolved lnto TTIE BASIC LEARMNG NETWORK We now have pald stalf. We will soon set up a learning c€nter whichwtll be avatlable to schoolctrlldren after school. We plan on donatlngbooks to schools and librarles, and have a large educafional extravagarza planned for September 12 whtch wlll be for both teachers and homeschoolers. I'm really excited about reaching out even further, helping more farnilles and enlightenlng more teachers.

"WE THINK YOU IT''

SHOI.JLD DO

FlomSusonRtchnanoJ

PEAINSYLYANIA HO M ES€.HAOI,EfiS :

Tenyears agg thls summer our son Jesse was bom, and that's also when I olllctally dropped out ofschool teactrtng. I was ahvays sometblng of a mlsfft as a teacher ln schools, but I dtdn t qutte know then that I'd flnd my ntche as a parent, teachlng and learntng with mv own ldds at home. Bv the dme he was 2 I f2, Jesse uras firmly arinounclng *rat he'd never go to school - no nursery school, no preschool, or the school where hls father taught. No school, About that flme I was vtsiting my mother ln Georgia and happened to catchJohn Holt onThe Donahue Show. I remember my sister and mother saying with dlsgust, "Oh nol Just see what that craz5r John Holl b up to nowt Have you ever heard of something so ridiculous?" I admit the tdeadid sound somewhat rldiculous to me then, but lt also woke up new posstblltfles and ldeas, and I couldn't get the thought out of my head. Homeschooling: no school. Atall. Ever. Contlnuing to learn with my lidds. No

rlgamaroleoftrytng to s€t upourown altemaflve school, wtth worries about money and stafflng. Soon afterward I found GWS, found one frlend who was serlously contempladng the whole ldea, and after a whlle I convlnced my husband Howard thatwe should do lt. He flnally realtzed how much lt meant to me, and tlrat it wasn't one of those declsions thatyou could comeback to ln etghteenyears. Jesse of course needed no convlncingat all - he'd held ftrmto his earlierfeelings about schooling. It's funny to thlnkofhowwe fellinto dolnga state homeschooling newsletter. In

March of I 982 I was rldlng with a friend down to see John Holt at a Pittsburgh televtsion

shrdio. Shebegan salnghownice itwould be lf someone would gather the names and addresses of evervine ln the audience that day. I agreed wholeheartedly. Then she said someone could even send out c.opies of that llst, so we could all stay ln touch. Agaln I satd, "Great ldea. " She conflnued, saylng it rntght also be ntce lf someone c.ould have a llle of sample curriculums and letters people had written to thelr school distrtcts. I agreed again, thinldng of course that shewas

thinldng ofdoingall thls herselfand tryin! to encour:age her ln lt. Then she added that maybe someone could periodicallywrtte up

somethtng aboutwhatwas avatlable ln the ffle and send lt out - ltke, perhaps, a sort of neursletter. Agaln I told herthatwas agreat tdea. Then she looked me squareln the eye arrd sald, "And we all thtnk you should be the one to do itl" What could I say but, "Great ideal" And so it began - a llttle 2-page noflce at flrst, then ffve pages, then we began getting more responses from readers and more contacts from new folks, and thingslust grew and grew. As a friend told me, IVe really found my

nlchenow. I somedmes look back at myself as a paid

teacherln schools and shudder. I was so green, so unaware, soyoung. I fancied myself as someonewho ltked to read aloud to groups

ofkids, forexample, and dtd ttprettywell. But though I tried to stock my classroomwith good books, the truth ls that I had never read

mostof them. And I thlnkwhatajokeitwas to imagiree that I, as a teacher, actually knew any of the children I taught. Compared to what I know about my own childrn, I knew nothtng about the kJds who came to my cliassroom. Thelr backgrounds and home ltueswereblanks to me. I dldn'tknowwhere they'd been, what they'd read, what they wondered about. Howdifferent to know a chtld indmately, my own child.

PENNSYLVANIA HOMESCHOOLERS has broadened ourfaml$so much. Weve certainly gained errery btt as much as weVe given out, and more. When I think of the

pallid, complaintng con/ersations of the smolgr teachef s lounge at school, and mmpare them to the friendly, open, in-depth

conversations and letters with homeschooling parents and become close frlendswlth, therelsJust no comparison. And our liilds have filends through this wonderful homeschooltng network that's formed in the past tenyear. We'rre beenwithfamilies that open up whole newworlds to us - the ballet, owrrer-built homes, plano, scienc.e ProJects we d never thought of, sculpdngwith old apple logs, groMng orchards of dwarf trees. One sure slgn of homeschooling coming of age a bit at our flrst Homeschooling Weekend five years ago, a session on "Older Kids" was clearly meant for anyone with a child over 7. Thls year the session ts called "Looklng Down the Road - Homeschooling tnto Htgh School," and ltwasn'thard to find a

numberofparents to lead iL So I lookabout me and thinkoftenyears ofchanges, and howgood lfs becn. I've seen Jesse grow from a toddler polnting chubby fingers at ptctures ofcows to acompetent readerwho finishes a book ln two days good

because heJustcan'tput it down. Jacob is almost 7 and ahvays experimenung, concocting new "mlxtures" and invenflons and dlscusskrg alr pressure and vacuums and trylng to read all the slgns he sees around him (thts, achildwho I knowthe schoolswould have qulckly labeled LD). And Molly, GROWING WTTTIOUT SCHOOLING #58

f' 19 representadves. We now have eight support gr6ups across Alabama and five more that are Fhniring to becorne chapters' These leaders handle all the mall, phone calls, meetlngs, fteld trtps and seminars for their area. They also atlend state board meetings and send

approachlng 4, ls wrttlng stortes datly, abso-

triteV teartess aboutputdng thoughts lnto prlni, and drawtng astonishlng plctures all the tlme. And now another one ls cornlng along, IdcHngaway tnstde, alnrcst ready to loin our Aang. I remernber onc.e wrttlng in a \nas about I I /2 how iournatwtren.lesse 'excltbrs ttu/as to show htm the btrds that came td our IHer. I wondered what good thtngswe'd belearningwhen hewas 4. It's gone on long beyond that now, and tf s still

current lnformaflon about their group's actMdes on to us for the newsletter. Ifrpe recetve an inquiry from someonewe simply refer them to the representative ln their area, knowlne thev wtll be helped. ThEsec-ond goal hai been to have photocopies availableof any lnformation homeschoolers mfulht be inGrested in obtainlng, so that we were not constantly handutriHng

veryexdtlng.

GROWING ACCEPTABILITY H elen He gener o;ftIome Educadon

Nlagazirrcufltcs: Forus, the stngle most tnterestlng aspect ofhomeschooltngtn thts country bas been tts rapid rtse to acceptabllity. Fhrcyears ago homeschooltng was a newword, one that most people had not even hearrd. These days

would be dtltcultto llnd someonewhohas notread orheard aboutthe ldea, orknenrat least one famlly who was teachlng their own chlldren. We see many parallels ln the home

bfthfng/nah-rral ctrlldblrth rrprrcmertt, so

much ln the news sevemlyears ago' llke homeschooltng, nahrral drlldblrth was met wtth reslstance from the "experts." Parents-tobe were told all sorts of scare storles. I know three dilferent doctors trted to dlscourage us from home blrth by ocaggeratlng the dangers. But the slmple realtty of awarrrl safe, personal birthing experlencc was too Prorntstng. Thts was wbat wewanted for our chlldrerL and forourselves. ln smch the same way, homescttoollng ts ffndtng tts uray around the obJecdons of educatlonal "experts" and authorldes and teto the homes of liarnilles who want to share the lorre of learnlng and Mewlth each other. John Holtwrote mar5rttmes aboutthe effect of the homeschooltng moneinent on soclety, and how the lnteresttn teachtr4 ourorrtn chlldrenwas aktn to many other dmnges happenlng concurrently. For us, watching those changes happen has been the most rervardtng part of ourJob. [SSl In ter letter to us, Helen adds : All ffue of us ldds were pretty much homeschooled. Momand Dad tookmeand my brotherout of school ln the nlnth and seventh gnades, respecdvely, partly due to our farnily's very frequenttnavels butmostly due to the bad atrnosphere they sawlnthe schools' They taught us to be self-sulBctent" to ffgure out whit we wanted or needed to know and then to go leam tL If s worked very well for all of us.

IMPROYING GROI]P'S ORGANIZATION Lee Goret oJ NABAMA HOMEEDUCATOFS: FJom Hfl

arvd,

As founders

ofAtIE and edltors ofT?E

Vofoe, our state newsletter, we had an over-

whelmlng demand on our tlrrr. We spent appro:dmately fourteen nolunteer hours Per uEk on media lntervtews, answertng rnatl and phone calls, planntng and attendtng lleld Hps, meetlngs and semlnars, comPlllng our nervsletter, etc, To mhe our lcb .aqler, weworked towards and acoinpltshed turc rr4lor goals tn the past threeyears.llee flr:st ts areachapter GROWING WTITIOUT SCHOOIING #58

letters. These are the ltems rpe found necessary to have: ( l) a form letter thanlcing them for thetr lnquir5r and letttng them knowwho they can co'ntait ln thetrafua for further lnformatlon; (2) The HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION's brochu-re and thelr one-pagle brtef on the AlabamaeducaUon statutes; (3) a ltst ofrnaterials that are arrailable from our organlzadon, whlch lnclude attendance liaws, proposal forestabItstring church school satelllte Programs, gldelnes forworlidngwtth a tutor, bylaws of Atlg, T'lE Vobe, books, and a home educailon brtefanswerlng the most asked quesflons; (4) a brochure errplahfngAlabama home educators' bellefs, acflvlfles, and statement of untty. Thts also ltsts court precedents and suggested readtng. These four ltems coverJust about any quesdons that one mlght have concernlng liome educadon ln Alabama and now all we do ls stulTan envelopel Ofcourse, there are manv more lobs to be done, but these two acc-oinpltshinents have saved a tremendous amount ofour tlme, and we encouragp others to tr5r the same. If anyone would llke coples of our handouts to use as samPles, send $ I and a SA,SE to AIIE, Rt 3, Box 36OD, MontgomeryAl

361lo.

FOI.JNDING PRIVATE SCHOOL Flom John Elcs ton oJ tle

*HAOL OF

HOMEI,&4F,NIIfi(CN: In Calfiomla, havlng a prtvate school ls one way to be legal. Stnce we established the SCHOOL OF HOME LEARNING, WC hAVC enmlled over 2OO children in l3O famtltes. The school arranges for arqfone to leam at

home, When drlldren enroll lnourschool, thetrparents become tlre school's kMted teachers and thelr home lts resource c€nter.

WeVe kepttnformed throughGWS and

the NAIIONAL COALXTION OFALTERNATTVE COMMUNITY SCHOOI.S NCACS). When a Callfornta newsletterwas not arrallable, we started one. Itls nowastatewlde organtzatlon wtth a malling lrst of oner 2OOO familles and frtends - the CALIF\fRNIA COALXTION OF PEOPLE FORAI.JTERNATWE LEARMNG SITUATIONS (CC-PALS). We have a telephone tree for qulck communlcadons, wtth ceordtnators ln turcnt5r counfles to help the neurcomer and dlssemtnate lnformadon. We gave our son Sean the cholc'e of home-

ccntered leamtngwhen hewas ln the publrc school's Sfth graile. He ls now 18. He ls able to adapt eastlv and qutcklv to new sltuatlons

and^can se6 the overallirictur.when solvlnga problern He has been succrssful tn college,

publtc speatdng and theworld ofwork. We 3ullget 6omments frompeoplewho rrret hlm for the flrst tlme a.bout hls senslttve, cartng and pleasant behavlor. He ts sflll growlng

wlthout schoollng, and

so are we.

Joseph McCurdy and Lleutcnant GovernorJohn.{. Chcrbc4g at the ffnat passagp of the blll that legallzed homcschooltng inWashington, 4/ I 5/85.

LOBBYING IN

1985

Frcm KatlilenM&wrdy LEARNING ORGAI{ITATION

tlw FA ilLY

NV'A)

When the bill whlch made homeschooltng legal tn Wastrtngton was passed by both houses of the legtslature, tt had to go back to the senate for c.oncurrence and Ilnal passage. Joseph Mc€urdy (then lO), who had Leen trlelprng 6is mother lbbby for the bill for weeks and weeks, uras on hand for tlat event, whtch took place on Apr[ 15, f 985, near the end oftlre sesslon. Joe had been sttttnglnthegallery for most of the dayu/atchtng to s€e tf theywould get around to "ou/ blll. Part ofthe time he heloed hts motherlobbv. When she sentanote m dsHng to speak to a legSlator, .Joe would nrn up to the gallery and watch until the rrote was deltveredbya page. Thenherpould race backdowntlre stairs and reportthat the senatorwas onhlsvrayoutto speakto her, or that he had stuff tlre note tn hts pocket and gone out to speak to someone else, or that all the senators had adJourned to a caucus meeflng and there was no polntn aiting any longer. Shortly aft er 5 pm word flnally came that thry "mrgtrt' get to ttrc bill that nigttt. Joe's motherJoined hlm ln the gallery and watched for another hour undl the presldent ofthe senate flnally plcked up theblll they

werewatttng for. Therewas awaveof excltementas tlleclerkbeganto read. Many of the leg;lslators had watched tn fasclnaflon as thls controverstal bill made tts way through the long proc.ess, The president of the senate looked up atJoe tn the galleryand mofloned

forhlmto comedown to thepodtum. An:dous$, Joe stood bestde him and watched as the debate proc.eeded. Nearl5r everyone trt the room had met Joe , and many loeeu/ hlm

well. &en the doormen and pages held thelr breath as the "JunlorlobbSttsf'wentup to wltness how tbe votewould come out. He had long ago memorlzed the roll call" and knew each leglslator's party allltadon, commlttee responslblltdes, and general atdtude toward the homeschool lssue. At orre polnt a senator tesdflng for the measur€ sald,'Thatyoung man standtng up there ltves ln my dtstrlcl He is a homeschooler and I want hlm to be legal. Please support tlds btlll" Then whlle the secretary called tlre roll, the prestdent handed the garrcl orrcr to theyounghomeschooler. When the 0nalvoGuras arurounced (34yeas,