Growing Without Schooling 64

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 64 John Holt wrote rn the revrsed How chitdrenleam. 'children use fantasy not to get out of, but to get tnto, the real world.'It's adults who seem to thtnk in terms of escaptng the real world; children are passionately tnterested in malrtng sense of tt, figuringl out how to use lt, and the o storles that parents tell tn this lssue show how crucial fantasy play is to o o thls process. Perhaps because we still thlnk that anythtng children o . choose to do on thelr own can't be lmportant, or because we distinguish wgrk from play in our own lives, we forget to notice how much is going on when children play. The storles tn this issue help to remind us. All of the play described here, though of course full of silltness and plagftiness, has serious purposes. Often the play ls a way of maklng sense ofdilflcult or confuslng things that have happened - a death, i car accldent, a burglary. B5r reenactkrg the events chlldren come to understand them, defuse thelr power, and ln some cases orplore what might have happened instead. Helen Van Doren at play. Mary Van Doren, Helen's Just as often the play tn these stories is used to prepare for thtngs mother, wrltes for thls lssue's Focr:s. "The Uses of that are going to happen, or to help lmagine what mfgfu happen. Fulls Conroy's children, playlng at being famous g5rmnasts, are broadening thelr sense of what is possible ln thelr llves. John Holt used to say urit rr INSIDE THIS ISSUE: he couldn't imagine something in fantasy, tt probably wasn't likely to work well in reality, so that if he found himself unable to imagine i uootOFFICE NEWS p. 2 in-progress betng read and appreciated, selling well, and so on, it sig_ NEWS & REPORTS p. 3-5 naled to him that there was somethlng wrong with hts approach to Ge book as he worked on lt. OLDER HOMESCHOOLERS p. 5-6 Play also helps us understand tradttionally academic or cognittve tasks. often this is because we get to mess around with whatevei it b we're trylng to understand - the parts of a machine, perhaps, or the CHALLENGES & CONCERNS p. 6-8 letters of the alphabet. Through the messlng around, we become so When Friends Dlsagree familtar wtth the way the parts work that we're able to use them for whatResponses to "Feeltreg Isolated" ever purposes we choose later on (to assemble the machine, to make words). Also, role-playing can give us a sense of power where we might RESPECTING CHILDREN'S PRTVACY not otherwise feel tt, as I suspect was the case for socorro Finn who. as p.9 her mother Ktt tells it, needed to be teaching her doll to read to feel comfortable learning herself. WATCHING CHILDRENLEARN p. rO-12 several of the writers in thts rssue talk about play's usefulness to Writng Speeches chtldren trylng to understand human behavior and relationships. The John Holt on Hlstory children cast other members of their family ln roles that help them Dental Apprentlceshtp experiment wlth dlfferent ways of betng, different lidnds of lnteractions. karnlng to Teach Five-year-old Billy Shipley gets to be Daddy and see what it would be like to make the rules, and by listening to hts mother play at belng Billy, he FOCUS: THE USES OF FANTASY PI,AY gets to see htmself ln an lnteresUng kind of mirror. p.I7-2O Fantasy play is a kind of spontaneous but ongoing theater, and it requlres theater's suspension of disbelief. Anyone who has suggested to a BAE}IES AND MOTHERS TOGETHER: child that a doll or stuffed animal isn't really real, for erample,-knows how INTERVIEW WTTH KAYE LOWMAN annoyed or even angry the child becomes at this. I suggest that thts ls not p.2r-22 because children don't know the difference between real and pretend, but because talking about that difference too expllcltly robs fantisy of tts CHILDREN IN THE WORKPLACE p. 22-25 power and value. How could socorro have used the fantasy ofher doll learning to read, for example, lf the adults around her had lnslsted on THINKING AEIOUT COMMUNITY p. 23-24 talktng about the fact that dolls can't really read? Maybe some of our occaslonal nervousness about children's play INVOLVING OTHERADURS IN arises because chtldren are, much of the ilme, so much better at play HOMESCHOOLING p.24-25 than we are. They are tlreless about staylng ln character, skillful at lmaglning themselves ln seemtngly imposslble situations. Kathleen HOWADULTS LEARN p. 25-26 Mccurdy asks adults, "wouldn't lt be neat lf we called what tle dld play?' Many adults do think of themselves as playlng; Richard Feynman, tn ADDITIONS TO DIRECTORY p.26-22 Surelg You're Joktng, Mr. Fegnman, says that he was playing when he first came to the ideas that eventually led to hts winning the Nobel prize. So let's spend more time playing, and learning from those among us who are especially good at it. Susannah Sheffer

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2

OFFICE NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS OUR NEW ADDRESS Exciting newsl As we go to press, we've

just signed the lease on our new olfice, a 2-

story space in Cambridge that gives us a little more room than we have now. We're able to design it to accomodate our flow of work and to make it welcoming to chlldren and visitors, which we very much look forward to. By the dme you read this issue, we will have moved in (hard to beltevel), and we will be able to tell you about the space in detail in our next issue. Our enormous thanks go to Day Farenga, Donna Richoux and Mary Maher, who spent months (without gi\dng up any of their otJrer responsibilities) searching for a space that met all of our

speclflcations. You'll see the new address in the usual places in this issue, and here it is again so that you can be sure to write it down: 2269 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02l4O. We don't have the new phone number at this writing, but callers to our old number will be given that information when lt's available.

IN THE OFFICE Donna Richoux, with the help of Day Farenga and Pat Gould, has spent the past

couple of months developing a program which wlll enable us to computerize the book business's shipping and receiving funcdons, making things smoother and more ellicient and leaving several of us more time for other proJects. We've been enjolng the help of homeschooler Yaron Goldman, who came to Boston from Illinois for two weeks to visit relatives and work in our oflice. We expect a similar visit from long-time GWS reader Theo Giesy (VA) too.

OUR BACK ISSUES A reminder: As we said in GWS #63,

printing costs have forced us to raise the

price of back lssues. After September l, subscribers will pay $2 per back issue plus $2 per order; the entlre set will cost $lOO. Until then, you can order them at the old prices: $l each plus $2 per order.

TRIP TO THE WEST [SS:l As I mentioned in the last issue, I spent ten days at homeschooling events in the West, and was able to meet many GWS friends. In Seattle, I spoke at the Washington Homeschool Organization's conference, whichwas, with 2OOO people, the largest event of its lidnd IVe attended. Washing;ton's favorable law has encouraged many people to homeschool in recent years, and support Is available everywhere. At a support group brunch that my host Sandi Hall (who has done volunteer work for us in ttre past) organized, about thirty people attended, and this was a

small gathering for thts group. In Seattle I was able to meet Mike Farris of the Home School l.egal Defense Assoclatlon, and Pat Llnes, whose research on homeschooling for the Department of Educatlon we have mendoned ln the past. I also had the pleasure ofsome

an even Larger scale than when John Holt flrst wrote of these rrratters. But a vlslt to schools tn any part of the naflon wlll rerreal the sarne unlnspired children and lack of attention to what is betng taught of whlch John Holt wrote a quarter of a cenhrry ago...

unintermpted tlme wlth Clonlara's Pat Montgomery, a rare treat, as those who know how busy Pat ls can attest. Finally, I was able to tape two radio programs for the Washlngton Homeschool Organizatlon, which has made arrangements wlth a local staflon to have its own rcgular program. Others lnterested ln doing the same thing might contact these folks to flnd out how they did it. Next, I took the beautiful ferry ride to Victorla, Brltlsh Columbla, where GWS reader Jan Hunt and several others had arranged for me to speak to local homeschoolers and other interested people, and to tape a local televislon program. I met many of our long-time frlends there, and also had a chance to speak with Ian Hunter, whose work on behalf of youth suffrage I mentioned ln GWS #63. Also ln Vlctorla. I had the wonderful opportunit5r to talk at length with Frank Smith, whose books we sell here and whose work we have enthusiastically discussed in many prevlous lssues. I write about some of what we dlscussed elsewhere in this issue, and I expect further thoughts to develop over time. Finally, I spoke at the Family Learning Organizatlon's Homeschool and Famlly Lrarning Falr ln Spokane, where I met Kathleen McCurdy, Raymond and Dorothy Moore, Mark and Helen Hegener (of Home Mucation magazlne), and many other GWS readers and friends. It was wonderful to meet so rnany homeschoolers and to

hear them talk about their llves.

McGOVERN ON FAIL Here ls a brleJ e:aerptJrom George McGotrem's new irtb..odtrctlon to Jotvt Holt's How Chtldren Fail. ?tre neus edXlon oJ

tte tuk wlll tu out ln the JdL

During the l96Os and l97os I developed a friendship with the late John Holt based in considerable part on our mufual lnterest ln the educatlon of children... As a member of Congress especially interested ln the educatlon of chtldren, I exchanged correspondence with John Holt when the Ilrst edltion of his book Hotu Chidren Fail was shaking the educatlonal world ln the mid- l96os. He exerted a strong lnlluence on my own thinking about educational matters. Indeed, as a preslden$al nomlnee ln 1972, I carrled John Holfs book tn my brlefcase on the campalgn plane. I knew the book well and my farniliarity wlth tts tnslghts gave me the capacity and conlldence to speak forcefully and meanlngfully on educatlonal concems. I remember drawtng on John Holt's wlsdom ln a rnajor campaign speech ln New Jersey before a huge con-

ventlon of the Natlonal Educatlon Association. It is sad to note that chtldren contlnue to fail tn America s schools - perhaps on

Q&A Here are some questlons about olfice policy we've received recent$: Q. Whenyou say, 'Please put separate items of business on separate pleces of paper, do you mean put book onders on one piece and letters on another, or do you mean put dilferent topics of a letter on dilferent pieces of papefl" A. Generally, we make thls request so that we can give the ltem to the proper person wlthout copytng it - so a book order goes ln one place, a Directory entry goes ln another, and a letter that needs to be

answered or considered for publlcailon

goes in yet another. Different toplcs within one letter don't have to be split up

unless you particularly want to do thts. Q. I always thlnk I shouldn't write to GWS because you're all so busy, you don't need to hear one more person's experiences, A. Yes, we dol

Whatwould GWS be

without your letters? Q. How come I can't always lind the person I'm looldng for in the Dtrector5/? I trled to wrlte to someone dlrectly, but they weren t listed. A. When a writer ls ln the Dtrectory, the name is followed by a state abbreviatlon tn parentheses: John Smith fn$. ne sure to check not only the Directory ln the back of the particular issue, but the year's complete Directory and any subsequent additions. If the writer is not ln the Directory, the name ts followed by the whole state name: John Smlth of Tennessee. If the writer wants to be anonymous, we say, iA reader writes.' In elther of these latter cases, you're welcome to send us

mail to forward to these writers, but please

use the Directory if the writer is listed. (Of course, you're always welcome to send us a copy of a letter that you think rnfght be useful to others.)

CALENDAR September 1988: Holt Assoclates will hold some kind of "oflicewarmln$' event

in September, perhaps in cnnJuncdon wlth our annual "Remembering John

Holt" wening on September 14, perhaps sepa.rately. Checkwtth us about the

detalls.

November 5-7. 1988: Nadonal Home Schoolers Organlzadonal Meetlng trr

T\rcson, Arizona- For lnformatlon send SASE to Becky Olson, NHS Conference Coordinator, 7O2lA Thunderbird Dr, Tucson AZ 857 OA; ffi2 -7 90 -7 57 2. We are happy to rrn announcements

of maJor homeschoollng and related events, but we need plent5r of notlcne. Deadline for GWS #65 (errents ln Novem-

ber or later) ls September loth. Deadline for GWS #66 (events in January or later) is

November lOth. GROWING WTTHOUT SCHOOLINC #64

NEWS & REPORTS SUPPORTIVE UTAH SUPERIN. TENDENT Uny erraldsora on our 'pro;fessors

and Otlvr Allies" llsg sent us tluts at1,tcle Jrom the Utah Deseret News, 6/ B / aB

In a speech that surprised some homeschool proponents, Utah's state schm! suqerlntendent volced hls support Saturday for the homeschool concept. 'Technologr is ra-pldly changtng the way we learn thlngs, freeing people to learn in thelr homes," James R Moss, Utah

superlntendent of publlc lnstrucfion, told home educators. "Old insUtutions are raptdly enaporadng. It's tlme for homeschoolers.' Ttre boldness of the superintendent's endorsement surprtsed and pleased the more than 6OO people attending the Utah Home Educatlon Assocladon's etghth annual convendon. They praised Moss for tris courage, as a publlc educadon leader, to yalldate an organlzaflon they say sulTers from an unJustllled stlgma....Moss sald the role of publtc educatlon ls changlng ln part because of the lnlluence of the homeschool movement. Year-round school, which places a resDonslbtllty on parents to 'keei kids learning during the olf-tr:ack months,' ls leadins educatlon to a homeschool posture, thesuperintendent said. ...A state educaflon planntng commlsslon intends to come out wtth a statement soon that focuses on the conceDt ofeducatton belongtng ln the home between parents and thetr chlldren, sald Moss. 'All that we (public school educators) do must be tn support of that,' By thetr own deflnldon, the UHEA includes those who teach their chtldren in their homes - prfmartly outside the public school system - and those who teach- their chlldren at home to supplement public educatlon. In trts remailis, Moss dld not speclry hls deffntUon of a homeschooler.

PHONY RITALIN RESEARCH

indlctment satd hts research, "as described,'was never done, and 'the results as descrlbed under each ofthose studies had not been obtatned.' .. Prosecutors today noted Breuning's well-establlshed reputaUon tn the fleld of drug therapy up to that time. His work involvtnt h5rperactive retarded children was lnstrumental ln formtu:rg publtc health poltcy natlonally.

DOESN'T FIT SYSTEM Ftom an drtlcle In Angeles Tlmes:

tle 6/ 13/58 Los

Ltfe ts turnlng lnto a Catch-22 for ll. year-old Adragon Eastwood De Mello of Santa Cruz. De Mello ts a math whlz who was Just gaduated wtth a bachelor's degree from UC Santa Cruz's Cowell Collele. But he now faces a problem that

has no lmmedlate solutlon, even for genluses. If De Mello, known as "A,D.,. cannot

ftld a graduate school to accept

him - and a number have turned him-doum because of his age - he must - believe lt or not - return thls fall to Junlor high school,

according to state law. 'Our system is not equlpped to deal wtth chlldren like him,' satd AD.'s father, Augustln De Mello, who added that he may move hls famtly to sklrt the state educatlon code. 'l d rather stay here,' sld A,D., who also has a diploma from Cabrlllo College, a two-year school. .But I don't want to go back to Junlor high. I already know that stuff... I mlss not havlng frlends my own age. But I don't regret not being tn the slxth grade now.'

WRITING TO NEWSPAPERS Susan Weinlrob (IN) urlies: I want to tell you how something posltive came out of a situadon that mtght have been otherwlse. In March, our local newspaper printed an article that was unfavorable to homeschooltng. It con-

The Spring 1988 lssue oJ the MARyIAND HOME EU]CATION ASS@IATTON ne.taslettcr reprlnted this ercerpt Jrom the 4 / I 6 / 88 W ashtngton Post:

tained much mlslnformatlon and mlsleadlng remarks. Its four main points were: (l) Parents really don't know what a

BALTIMORE, Aprtl 15 - A narionallyknown drug therapy researcher was tndlcte{ today on charges of falsifring medlcal research that has helped jhaie

be academlcally behlnd their peers; (3)

drug treatment pollcy for mentally retarded chtldren tn the l98os.

Dr. Stephen Breunlng, dlrector of psychologtcal servlces at the polk Center tn Polk, PA, was charged with subrnitting plrony_research studtes when he applied in 1983 for two grants tofalhg morethan $2OO,OOO from the NaUonal InsUtute of Mental Health tn Bethesda for further study of the controverstal drugs Ritalin and Dexedrine. Breuning's reseach lnvolved at least seven studles that he clatmed he conducted 1t th9 U$verstty of Ptttsburgh, showing that Rttalln and Dexedrlne were helpfuiin controlltng h5rperactlve retarded children with fewer adverse slde elfects than other previously-used dmgs. But today's GROWING WTTHOUT SCHOOLING #64

good educatlon ts; (2) Homeschooled

chlldren who return to school are found to

Homeschooled chlldren are lsolated and not properly soclahzed; and (4) Certilled teachers should teach homeschooled children, as they are better qualtfled. I was angry, needless to say, but I declded to do something posltive. I called the newspaper edltor and told hlm I had a companlon plece to the one already prlnted, whlch showed another vICw of homeschooling. While he was polite, he did not seem overly enthustasfic. I told him he was under no obligatlon, but that I would send htm my arttcli. My arflcle was

full ofreports ofresearch and substandation to prove the artlcle's premises wrong. I tried not to condemn schools, but to sho=w how homeschoollng was a posldve approlch to education and family life. I had to call the edttor several dmes.

He flnally agreed to publish the arilcle after he dlscovered that I had several

degrees and ten years teaching e:rperlence. It was publtshed as a guest editorial tn a Sunday paper about a month after the origtnal arttcle had appeared. In response

I got several calls from parents interbsted

ln homeschooling, and met numerous

people who were interested in what we were doing at home. Even those who send thelr chlldren to school without much thougfit were lmpressed with the facts as I presented them. Our local organizadon had never responded to an artlcle ln the press before. Thts ls a mlstake. Many readels are left wlth lncorrect lnformation, and some of these readers are legislators or fufure eC|ucators.

ISS:I I hope others will follow this example-and correct, politely but persis-

tently, the liind of mistnfoirnafion that

Susan describes. You don't har;e to have degrees or teaching experlence to be persuaslve - you are the ones who know the most about homeschooling, and many nâ‚Źwspaper will print letters to the editor lf not guest editortals.

BAD TESTING CONDITIONS F}om a lctter, prinled in tte MayJme Issue oJ Homeschooling Families, that lnneschder fundg Mdsen urote to the Tervessee Commissioner of Mrrcafion a;fter her daughter tcrli tte achier.tenent test rqutred oJ honeschmlers tn ?ennessee:

J am lvrlting to express my e)dreme dlspleasure wlth thts year's second grade homeschoolers' SAT experience. Thi portable classroom was small and consequently overcrowded with students and parents. The air conditloner did not work, and the heat was oppressive. That combined wlth 7 and 8 year olds subJected to three hours of conflnement and-tesilnq made for a tedious, stressful and unplei.s-

ant experience.

The breaks scheduled were too short and too few. The schedule of 9-12 for two consecudve days was too long for chlldren of thts age. I understand that school children take at least a week, with one subeach morning and each after-

h"j$*"

My daughter and I went to the tesUnA stte with c-onfidence high, looktng upon the test as a chance to showoff. Ttrts child reads fourth grade textbooks easily, works tn a thdrd grade math book and is cur-

rently mulitplying and dividtng high

numbers, borrowlng and carrytng fourdtglt numbers. Yet ioward the endof the second day oftesdng she had gpeat GROWNG WITHOUT SCHOOLING #64, Vol. I I No. 4. ISSN #O745-5305. h:blished bt-monthlv by Holt Assoclates. 2269 Massachusctb Ave, Canbrldge MA O2t4O. gZO/yr. Date oflgsue,

August

I,

1988. Sccond-class postagc patd at

Boston MA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to GWS, 2269 Massachusctts Avc, Cambrldge MA O2l4O. ADVERTISERS: Deadltnes are the

lbth of odd-

numbered months. Contact patrlck Farenga for rates.

4

dilliculty doing simple math, such as

17-71

She was not the only one alfected so

adversely. Halfivay through the testing days these bright children began losing their places and showing signs of stress in various ways. One girl broke down in

uncontrollable tears. Another child left the hot room to tJrrow up. My daughter burst into tears halfivay through both days of testing and left at least one and a half pages of "easy math" incomplete. More than one child left questions

unanswered due to tiredness and stress. The scores these children receive will not reflect their true abilities, nor tell us what they need to work on. Instead they will indicate how well or poorly these

children work under stress. ... I reallze that testing homeschoolers is a relatively new procedure and that mistakes are bound to be made... I have discussed this matter with Dr. Fichard Hooper, who is tn charge of the testing schedule for homeschoolers. He was very

kind and sympathetic and apologized, saying he wouldn't want his young daughter subjected to a similar experience. He stated that the schedulewas the same one used last year arrd was planned for the parents' convenience rather than the

children's. ... My daughter has to live with unfair and invalid test scores, as well asi some very negative feelings about testing and public schools. Homeschoolers require no textbooks, teachers, supplies or space from the state. Surely when they do meet with the school system they deserve a pleasant and positive encounter. Sandy adds that when she suggested to

Dr. Hooper that homeschoolers should be tested at home, he objected that that would give them an unfair advantage over kids in school. Sandy replled that homeschoolers ought to be tested in their usual and familiar environment, as children in school are now. Sandy writes, 'After this conversation, Dr. Hooper said that he

would probably avotd the use of schools for testing all grades lof homeschoolersl next year.' Let us know lfyou have had similar problems with testing situations,

what you have done about them, and ifyou have managed to elfect any change in

policy.

NATIONAL HOMESCHOOL. ERS'' GROUP FORMED ''

Dan and Harriet Shultis, along with John Boston, Nancy Oh, and Beclry and King Wilson, founded a group called National Home Schoolers at the National

Coalition of Alternative Community Schools Conference in Tennessee this past

ApriI.

Accordlng to a mailing that followed the conference, National Home Schoolers has as its primary aim 'the recognition of the right of homeschoolers to legally educate their children at home. All of the serrrices provided by the National Home Schoolers will be worldng toward that end by providing a feeling of communit5r and a membership in strength... The National Home Schoolers would be essentially a seMce organizadon which would provide various seMce functions to homeschool-

ers on a national level. The organlzatlon would be nonproflt and tax exempt.' The matling explains that the group will be 'natlonal ln scope" and will "encompass all racial, religious, economic and philosophical backgrounds,' The group deflnes homeschoolers as 'families where the chlldren are educated prtmartly at home'but adds that 'this would not exclude students who partlclpate ln other structured learnlng situadons.' Membershtp "would be from lndMdual homeschool familles as opposed to state organized groups. Thts ls ln order to keep the greatest degree of poltttcal neutrality ln the new organlzatlon.' The group lists among its proJect ldeas apprentlceshlp exchanges, travel lnformation, a legal fund to atd tn the defense of homeschoolers, and a htgh school exchange program that would enable homeschoolers to make

cross-country vlslts. Dan Shulds lnvltes homeschoolers to contribute ideas. He says that the group needs a full-ttme employee with secretarial and computer skills who ts willtng to move to Rodeo, New Merdco, the gpoup's base. For information, write Dan Shultis, Box 167, Rodeo NM 88056, and see the Calendar llsttng tn this lssue for lnformation about the group's llrst organlzatlonal meeting.

NEW REGULATIONS IN NY In GWS #62, we wrote that the New York State Board ofRegents had voted to require standardlzed testing of homeschoolers ln grades three, flve and slx. At that time, the Regents were ln the process of formulatlng more extensive regulatlons conceming homeschooling, and homeschoolers were maklng every effort to have these regulations provide for alternative methods of evaluatlon, so that testing would not be the only option. The Regents passed the llnal regtrrlatlons in late June, and they took effect on July l. Under the new regulatlons, parents must {lle a form notllring thetr local school district of their lntent to homeschool. According to Katharlne Houk of the Home Schoolers' Ercharge, thts form has not yet been designed, and plans (not yet llrm at GWS's press tlme) are to have homeschoolers, superintendents, and olllcials in the Educatlon Department work together to design lt. Under the r€gulatlons par€nts must also provlde lnformatlon about courses to be taught, materlals to be used, and hours of lnstruction. School superlntendents then have ten business days ln which to

noUS the parents that their Individual-

ized Home Instrucflon Program, or IHIP, compl{es with the r€gulatlons, or ls found to be deflcient. If the latter, the parents have flfteen days ln which to 'submit a revised IHIP which corrects any such deficiencies," at which point the superintendent determlnes, agatn, whether the program ls in compliance wtth the regulations. If lt lsn't, the parents may contest this determlnatlon at the next Board of Educadon meetlng, and may also appeal to the Commissioner of Educatlon, lf after all of this the program is sdll deemed noncompllant (or if the parents don't contest the determinatlon of noncompliance ln the flrst place), parents

must 'knmediately provide for the lnstrucdon of thetr chlldren at a public school or elsewhere ln compllance with

Educatlon Law sectlons 32O4 and 3210." It seems that "elsewhere' means a private school. Finally, the new reguladons do allow for alternative methods of annual assessment, although tn a lirnited way. If parents choose the "commerctally published norm-referenced achierrement test" option, they then choose between administration at a public school, nonpublic school, or "at the parents' home or at any other reasonable locatlon, by a New York State crrtllled teacher or by another qualified person, provlded that the superlntendent has consented to havtng said certified teacher or other person administer the test.' The test score ls consldered "adequate' lf lfs above the thfrg-thtrd percendle or 'reflects one academlc year of gou/th as compard to a test administered durlng or subsequent to the prior school year." If the score ls lnadequate, the home lnstrucfion program is placed on probation for up to two years, and the parents must 'submit a plan of remediation which addresses the deficlencles tn the ctrlld's achievement, and seeks to remedy said

deficiencles." The alternative method of assessment ls a'wrltten narrative prepared by... a New York State certllled teacher, a home lnstrucdon peer Elroup rewiorr panel, or other person, who has tntervtewed the chtld and revlewed a portfollo of the chlld's work. Such person shall certify that the chtld has made adequate academtc progress or that the chlld has failed to make adequate progress.'The pa.rent, with the consent of the superlntendent, chooses the person who wtll wrlte the

narratlve. The ltmitaflon on thls alternatlve ls that te grades four througfi etght, lt may be used only every otheryear; in the alternate years, tesflng ts rcquired, as

lt is ln

ninth and tenth grade as well. Thus, the new regulatlons do not fully elimlnate required standardized testing of homeschoolers.

LOCAL NEWS For addresses oJ lrcal organizations, see Gli[S *6O or ow l onr'schcrilW resource ftst, avallableJor $2 (Item *354).

Ilawrli: The State Board of Educa-

flon approved new reglrlatlons under whlch homeschooling parents must flle a nodce wlth nearest public school prlnclpal, accordlng to an AP notice ln t}:ie 7 /

/ 88 Kauat Garden Isle newspaper. Under the new regiulations parents must also keep records of their children's progress and have them take standardized tests in grades 3, 6, 8 and lO. 8

Iowa: A bill that would have eliminated the crertlflcation requirement for home and prtvate school teachers dtd not get out of the House Educauon Committee thls year. Legfslators who had been in favor of thts bill managd to pass another bill, however, which will put a moratorlum on prosecudons of homeschoolers undl the end of next year's leglslaflve session, according to the May IOWA HOME EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION newsletter GROWING WTTHOUT SCHOOLING #64

and tlre Sprfng Hone

*lwrl

Court ReporL

The newly-passed btll works to prevent prosecutlons by sdpulating that homeschoolers who flle a report wtth thelr school dlstrtct before September l, 1988 cannot be prosecuted unfll afterJuly I, 1989. The report must lnclude the cldld's name and age, and an outllne of the tntended course study, matertals used, and time spent on each areaAn lnterlm study cnmmtttee wlll report to the legfslahrre next year and will probably propose another btll to ehmlnate the certillcaflon requlrement. Malne: Over a hundred homeschoollng parents attended a Deparhnent ofEdu-

cailon and Cultural SeMces hearing on June 8 to discuss proposed revlslons ln the

rules regardtog'equlvalent tnstrucdon'

(homeschoollng) programs, acrordlng to the ,June Tdk Abut lzarnlrlg newsletter. Ttre proposal that most concerns homeschoolers lnvolves handlcapped students (this apparently lncludes students

wtth ldenttlled 'learning dlsabilides'

as

well). Cunently, gutdelines sdpulate that a report from the Pupil Evaluation Team, which tdentilles and evaluates such students, must be submitted before a superintendent can decide whether to approve the home school ln quesflon. The superintendent can disregard thls report, however. The proposed revlslon ofthts guidellne, on the other hand, would require homeschoollng parâ‚Źnts of handtcapped chlldren (and ig-atn, thls ls a ,r..y 6rbaa deflnlilon of handtcapped) to follow whatever plan of lnstructlon the Pupil Evaluaflon Team sttpulated. Earl Sterrens of Talk ala1ut Leantq says that the DECS ls ln the process of consldering the various commentary that

both homeschoolers and professional

educatlonal orgErnizations subrnltted after the hearlngs. Pennaylvanla: House Bill 2SOl, an omnlbus bill (deals with serreral issues) which tncludes a section on home education, passed out of the House Eclucation Commitee with a unanlmous vote before the end of thls year's leg[slaflve session, accordlng to Howard Rtchman of pENNSYLVANTA HOMESCHOOLERS. When the

next sesslon beglns, the btll must pass the full House, and then the Senate Educaflon Commlttee and the full Senate. If the blll became liaw, homeschooling parents would have to file a notarlzed alftdavit, rather than seek approval as they must under the currentliw. There is

no provlslon for 'qualillcadon" of par-

ents, and at the end of the year parents would submit to their superlntendent a portfollo of records and materials, and efther standardlzed test results or an erraluatlon from a cerdlled teacher or psychologtst. Superlntendents' power would be Itrntted: tf, after recetvlng the above-

menfloned documentadon, they thought that educatlon was not taHng place lna parHcular home, they urould tell the parents which part of the documentaflon was lnadequate and would be required to glve them a chance to change it. Ifnecessary, the family would be able to call a due proaess hearlng to present lts case to an

tmparttal olllcer.

Homeschoolers had been concerned about a provlslon of the btll whlch sald GROWING WTTHOLI SCHOOUNG #64

that parents of chlldren who have been

identifled as ln need of special educailon (other than gtfted and tal-ented) would not be allowed to homeschool unless the parent was cerdfied in special educaUon.

They succeeded ln addtng an amendment to the version of the bill that was passed out of Committee, however, which removes thls restrlctlon and says only that the parents of'special ed" children

must lnclude ln their portfolio of materl-

als a letter from a certlhed spectal education teacher or licensed psychologtst approving of the homeschooling program. South Carollna: The South CaroLna legfslature passed a bill which took elfect on July lst, accordlng to the HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION. It requlres school boards to approve home schools ln whlch (l) parents have a hlgh school dtploma or GED, (2) parents submlt seml-annual progress reports, and (3) the children take standardized tests, whtch may be glven at home but must be admlnistered by a ccrtilled teacher. The new I aw also requires parents to take a basics skllls test required ofcollege junlors majorlng ln education. The law stlpulates that thts testlng provlslon will not take eflect until the 1989-9O school year, because the test must llrst be validated for use with homeschooling parents. A group of homeschoolers is advlslng parents not to partlcipate ln any studles that would attempt to valtdate the test for such use, ln the hopes of making it impossible to enforce thts part of the law.

OLDER HOMESCHOOLERS ISS:/ When

I uas at tle Fanrily

Learnhg Orgonizatlon's Fair in Washtutgtor\ I staged

withtlw

Spokane, Keyes

had, a ch.nce to trrlk l)Xh 16gear-old. &nily, toho wert to schml thtough elghth grade and then fugan

Jatrflg and

hontescfrrcI/ul.g. We recorded our conrsersallon" and. the Jdowing are ercerpts Jrom Emilg' s corr,tr:rlnts,

When I was irn school, I never did mv homework, even ln first grade. I hated school, I hatcd going, I thought it was useless. But I didn't know that I could be doing anythtng else. I thought schoolwas a necessar5r evil, - In seventh grade I went to a private Chrisdan school. My parents thought that atmosphere would get me to do my work, but it didn't work. In fact it was worse. Maybe tt was the strictness. I was more rebellious than ever. In eighth g,r-ade I went back to public school, and at first I liked it better, but I still didn't do any of the work, and it got worse and worse. I got in trouble for not doing my homework. My parents knew I hated school, and thel they heard about homeschooling, I thtnk from a friend. Thev told me about it and I thought it was great. Even when I thought I'd have to use a curriculum at home, I still thought tt wouldn't be as bad.

But as the surunerwore on, I began to

INSTRUCTION FOR PRE. SCHOOLERS ISS:I The

July/August tssue of Mother

Jones mentlons the new Home Instrucflon Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) in Arkansas. According to Mother Jones's description, "HIPPY asks mothers of four- and flve-year-olds to work through- a package of basic learning materlals for 15 minutes a day, 5 diys a wee-k, 3O weeks a year, for 2 years. Aparaprofessional - often a mother who has herself completed the course - makes periodic vislts to monl-tor the progress of both

mother and child.' F\rther on, the descripUon says, "The pr_ogram's goal ls not only to educate preschoolers, but to build mothers' conlldence in their abtlity as eduacators.'A worthy goal, but ts this the only (or the best) way to do lt? Granted, the parents

who take advantage ofthis program probably would not have thought of homeschooltng, and probably do not, as yet,

necessarily trust themselves as educators. But I wonder whether giving these mothers a package of basic learntng materlals is the best way to build thls trust. Is there a way tg help mothers recognlze how blg a part they are already playing in their chlld's education, even without speclal materials from the schools? Can we help such mothers (which Mother Jones describes as often ln "poor, rrral communlties') feel that education ls not somethlng you have to get from a professional, or even a paraprofesslonal? Have any home-schoolers had experlence helping

other parents ln their communities dwelop this trust?

think of what it would involve, whail would have to do. My parents didn't know whether or not to use a curriculum - the

whole thlng wasJust so new - and then my

mom took Kathleen McCurdv's homeschool class [SS: Kathleen M-cCurdv runs the Family Learntng Organlzadon-of Washtngtonl and learned about natural leaming, and we dectded we would do that and not use a curriculum. At {trst my parents thought about homeschoollng Just for me, but then the

boys thought it was such a good idea that they wanted to do it too. Nobel was I I at

the time, and Bryan was 7. I think my parents were surprised that the boys-were so excited.

I still dtdn't know what to expect, or what I would want to do with the itme, because back then I wasn't interested in much of anything. We decided to start homeschooling on the day that school started, and it should have been like anv other day, except we didn't know what t6 expect of one another. We didn't know

what Mom was gofuig to do, if Mom was gotng to assign lots of stuff. My attitude

was still so rebellious. I was so fed up with school that I felt I dtdn't want to learn anything. There was so much tension that

Ilrst

week.

The change was very gradual. Your whole thinking changes. In school, werything's programmed for you, this is

howyou have to think, and then all ofa

suddenyou're on your own, and you don't know what you want to do. It wai so hard at the begtnntng, but I knew there was no way I would go back to school, and I think we all knew it would get better lf we stuck

it out.

I still don't have a clear vlsion of