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things. In GWS #63, Donna Rjchoux wrote about having a friend come in to hold and care for her baby while she worked in the offic-e - another example, to me, of creaflng community withln a very modem, Western situation. The exchange, rather than being monetaqr, ls of energy or interest - Donna beneffts from having another person's arms Into which she can safely entrust her baby, and knard, her friend, benelits from the chance to dwelop a real friendshtp wfth a baby. I'm also interested in your wish for more safe spaces for children to get together. I think adults need this too - not only safe spaces, but welcoming spaces, doing spaces, as John Holt called them, meaning places where people get together to do things. So often, we think in terms of school, so that it can seem to the family who is learning outside of school that the choice is between learning at home in isolation, or going to school to get cornmunity. But of course school as a communit5r is so flawed - the argument could even be made that it's not a tme cornmunity at all, but that's for another timel - so homeschoolers have been very resourceful in creating communities for themselves ln
other ways. Every now and then the question about an actual spacâ‚Ź to serve as a locus for this comrnunlt5r acttvlt5r arises - what would that be, lf not a school? Frank Smith and I spent a lot of time talldng about this when we had the opportuntty to meet in Victoria recently. He described his vision ofan ideal school, and because it sounded so unlike a school to me, and so much more like one of John Holt's doing spaces, I asked whether schoolwas really the best thing to call it. He came to think that perhaps it wasn't. We can say that a
place that is noncompulsory, gives no grades, involves all ages of people dolng all kinds of work, etc, Is a very nen/ kind. of school, but it seems to me - arrd I'm paraphrasing something John Holt said about the same question - that lf we're going to make something that's so dilferent from school as to be Just about unrecognizable as such, isn't it better to come up with a new name for it than stretch the old name to such lengfhs to llt? So we do need more and better places for people to get together, to see others at work, to help each other, though we do have some already in the form of libraries, communit5l centers, Ys, and maybe some workplaces. I think we also need to think of ways to create community wtthout requiring a physical space (since physical space is often the hardest thing to get and maintain), and I think we have manv useful models in what homeschoolers (ior example: of course there are other places to look as well) are already doing.
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homeschooling. Nurturing the magical time of childhood. Send $20 to Nancy Aldrich, RR2, Box 2675G , Westford, VT 05494
INVOLVING OTHER ADULTS IN HOMESCHOOLING In GWS #63, we asked readers to tell us about how other adults, besldes parcnts, are involved ln children's homeschooling lives - one way of creating community. Below are some responses.
AN ARTIST FRIEND F)om Patti Pitcler MA): When we lived in Maine, almost all our friends had small children. They were very interestlng people, but all were already spendlng enough ttme wlth young
kids, so they were not very exclted about having more such relatlonshlps at that
point.
Slnce movlng to Seattle thls wlnter, we suddenly have lots of friends without young chlldren. Thts has opened up a new arena for our ldds. They now have many adult friends, some of whlch are our friends, some of which are not. Most of the friends that are excluslvely thelrs are people in the neighborhood whom thry have taken the time to meet. Since they are outside playing they seem to meet more folks than we do. Both our ldds love to garden and often they trot next door to help our neighbor in her yard. Sometimes they play, sometlmes they help. Thts sprtng an artlst frlend of ours asked Becca (6) tf she would like to come and paint wtth her once a week. Becca loves any klnd of art, so sheJumped at the chance. Natalie, our friend, offered to show Becca how to prepare a canvas, how to use oils, and how to mix colors. Once Becca learned a few baslcs, Natalie has pretty much stopped teachlng and the two just paint. Natalie actually nqr'er wanted to specilically teach Becca to paint, she just thought tt would be fun to have Becca
around. So far, this relationship ls working out well. Becca loves thls chance to work without taura (3) around. Becca and Laura have completely dtfferent temperaments. laura often dlstracts and fmstrates Becca by her bouncy, energetlc ways. Natalie, on the other hand, ls very serlous and slow to act. FIer presence seems to lnsplre Becca. She watches Natalie very intently. Sometimes Natalle talks about what she ls trying to do: why she chose thls or that color, what this represents, why this pattem was palnted this way, what ls working, what lsn't. Often, she doesn't say much. They work side by side for three or four hours, quitting usually because I call to say it is tlme for dinner. (Someday soon maybe I can let go enough to Just let her come home when they are donel) Three hours ls longer than Becca ever gets to work on anythtng at home - she seems to love this chance for serious, unlnterrupted
work. One of my favorite things about thls relationship ls watchtng Becca learn that art is a process. Artlsts don't necessarlly create exactly what they urant the llrst time. Sometimes it takes months or years to achieve the ldea they have in their head. In the short tlme that Natalie and Bec.ca have been worklng together, Becca has seen Natalie make slx or seven revlslons of a color or shape until she gets exactly what she wants. Recently Natalte has been
working on a series of paintlngs where she patnts the same general plcture IIve or slx ttmes, vaqdng the colors or making slight changes in shape. Natalie ls very excited about the visual symbols she can create by malOng subtle changes withln the same
general framework. After being around Natalie, Becca now talks about her own art ln a newway. She talks about the symbols she ls creadng, about her color choices, etc. The process behind her art seems much richer and her pleasure gireater since her associatlon with Natalie. I don't know how marry artists would enJoy thls type of relationshlp. Often, artlsts speak of that special state of mind ttrat they have while they are creattng. It can be dtstractlng to have other people around. I know it is for me when I draw. Natalie seems to enJoy working around other people somefimes, as long as she has time by herself too. Since she asked Becca toJoin herbecause she llkes her, not because she thought she was a great budding artist in need of encourag;ement, her motlvaflons seem clear. There ls no pressure for Becca to lmprove or perform up to a câ‚Źrtaln standard. They areJust pahtfng together because they enJoy paindng and they enJoy each other. In my oplnlon, what could be better? Becca also took a wonderful sculpture class this spring from another artist who uras teachtng the class because she enJoyed watchlng children create. The teacher talked often (to the pa.rents) about watchlng the children create out of thelr own intelligence. I was Just fascArated by thts idea- When I started looktng at their work I could see what she meant. I always thought that children's art reflected their personaltty ln some ways. But when I looked closer I could see that lt was also a reflection of the way thetr minds worked. Thls gave me a whole new way of looking at Becca and her art.
INVOLVING RELATIVES Florn Kath7 hndg (NY): We do not live very close to farnily, but when rrDr sister Marianne, who thrives on artlstlc expression, comes to visit, I always get out a plece ofpaper large enough to cover the whole kttchen table. My slster and my children slt down and draw wlth markers or crayons. She always draws these weird cartmn-llke characters, and my chlldren pepper her wlth questions: Who's that? Whafs he dolng? Marlanne wlnds up creating a story about these unusual faces. I haven't seen my children initate her carlcatures, but Rundy (6) draws trecredtbly detatled drawings that are full of action. They always tell a story, and when he explatns them to me he irrvari-
ably tncludes sound elfects as well.
Actually, my children often treat drawing as a group acfivit5r. They stt at the table with thetr indtvidual pieces of paper and gfve each other a runnfng oommentary on GROWING WTTHOUT SCHOOLING #64