Issuu

Growing Without Schooling 77 'You'd have to go to school for that,' people say, about experiences or opportuniUes that it's hard to imagtne homeschoolers having access to. "What about biologr labs? What about team

Susan Shilcock (center) is among those interuicwed for this issue's

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: i

News & Reports p. 2-3 New Law in New Hampshire, Speaking

to Estonian Teachers, Organizing Homeschoolers' Dance

Feellng OK About Belng an Older Reader p. 4-5 An Experlenced Homeschooler LooksBack p.5-6 Challenges & Concerns p. 7-9 TWo-Career Families, Single Parents,

Special-Needs Children

Watching Chlldren Learn p.

1o-13

In the Movies, A Day in the Life, Working in a Bookstore, Reading, Helpful and Un-

helpful Teaching Resources & Recommendatlons p. l3 How Adults Learn p. t+

Focus: You Don't Have to Go to School

forThat

p. 15-19

Questlonlng College: Interyiew wlth Herbert Kohl p. 20-21

sports?'Sometimes these questions are posed as challenges from a critic of homeschooling, someone who wants to point out that at least some things are surely impossible for homeschooling parents to provide. Just as often, though, these questions come from homeschoolers who are feeling stuck about a particular issue. Maybe theyVe been homeschooling successfully for a while, but they've come up against a problem: their child wants to play a team sport, or have access to school's social life, or whatever lt may be. If we take that interest seriously, the family wonders, will school be the only way to satis$ it? This is the kind of challenge that we at Growing Without Schooling like to meet. If someone says it can't be done without going to school, we start thinking of, and looking around for, ways that whatever it is can be done. For this issue of GWS, we've interviewed homeschoolers (both parents and children) who have found a way to get or provide the experience in question without having to give up homeschooling. We're hoping that their experiences, and even more important their ways of thinking about such questions, will help others who may be feeling stuck. These homeschoolers have in common what they refused to believe: that they had to accept the whole of the school experience in order to have access to a part of it, and that what they wanted could be found only in school. Jesse Schwerin and Kevin Davies didn't believe they had to enroll in school full time just to get the parts of it (running on the track team and riding the school bus) that they wanted. Susan Shilcock didn't believe that enrolling her child in high school, or even enrolling her in one class, was the only way to give her access to biology labs and equipment. When this refusal is combined with a willingness to think creaUvely about what else might be done, it becomes relatively easy for parents and children to find alternate solutions. Often, families find that focusing on the specific activit5r or experience that they are looking for, as opposed to thinking that school must be the answer, brings results that are closer to what they really wanted in the first place. After all, if what you want is to run on the track team, do you need to go to classes, take tests, and all the rest of it, just to get that one activity? If what you want is the chance to use lab equipment, is school the only place where that can be done? John Holt wrote to a group of students in l97O , ''..We have to push out against the walls of circumstances that hem us in. One of the reasons we have to push is that unless we push we can't really be sure where the walls are. We may find that we are walled in, not so much by a real wall as by a wall that we have built ln our imagination...'John was writing to people who thought they had to go to school to get a good job. The same is true of people who think they have to go to school to get biologr equipment or sports teams. It mag be true in a particular situation, but lt may not. It has certainly not been true for everyone. The only thing to do is to test those walls, see how far they expand, find out for sure what can't be Susannah Sheffer done and what is, in fact, very possible.

News & Reports New Law in New Hampshire Just after GWS #76 went to press in July, we recelved a cnpy of New Hampshire's new homeschooling law (previously

Crawling on the olhce floort

Office News

& Announcements [SS:] "Back-to-school" season has

brought us more calls than usual from reporters wanting to do stories on the chil<iren who are not going back to school. In the past few weeks we've spoken to writers from Tfrne, The Natior, The Boston GloLr-, HatTters, Parenting, and Neur York Newsdag. An article in the Utne Reader, which listed us as a resource, has brought in many inquirles, too. Some ofyou may have expected to see our fall John Holt's Book and Music Store catalog bound into this issue of GWS. At the last minute, we learned that postal regulations now prevent us from binding a thirdclass piece of mail in with a second-class piece, so we are mailing the catalog to subscribers separately. This issue of GWS is only 24 pages because we expected the catalog to be included in it. In the catalog you'll see Nancy Wallace's new book, Chfld's tVork, which we have published here at Holt Associates, and A Life Worth Uvtttg: *lected, Letters oJ JolnHoIt You can help us by askingyour local bookstores to order these books, and by reviewing them for newspapers or magazines. We've also put together a collection of John Holt's book reviews (from GWS and elsewhere) called Shanng ?rea.sures.

One note about the availabilitv of A LiJe Worth Lruurg: just as we were gbing to press, we leamed that there had been a delay at the publishers of about four weeks, so that instead of having the book here in late October, as we had anticipated, we will have it in late November or earlv December. We encourzrge those ofyou iho want a copy of the book to order it as soon Ers you get the catalog. We will malntain a list of requests for the book, in the order we receive them, and will fill them as soon as the shipment ofbooks arrives. Ifyou order by credit card, we won't charge you until the order is shipped. We especially encourage you to order early if you're hoping to have the book by Christrnas. We would like to hear from people adults or children - who enjoy math, and are perhaps doing it in lnteresting or unusual ways (other thanJust out of textbooks, in other words, although if you're enjoying that, tell us about it too). We would also like to hear from or about young people who are doing science with real, working scientists - in the lab, in the

field, etc.

called Senate Btll 373). According to a mailing from the NEW FIAMPSHIRE HOME EDUCATORS ASSOCTATION, two parts of the lawwent into elfect as ofJulv l99O: (l) the compulsory attendance law now includes home education as one of the exc.eptions to the public school attendancr requirement, and (2) a Home Education Advisory Council was establlshed, appotnted by the c.ommissioner of education. The muncil will have six members nominated bv New

Hampshire homeschooling orjanizations, two representatives from the State Department ofEducatlon, and a representadve from each of the followtng: the Schml Board Association, the Principals Association, the School Administrators Association, the Nonpublic School Advisory council. The rest of the bill, which will go into effect in July I99 I, includes the ficllowing provisions: l. Parents notifo, byAugust I ofeach year, the commissioner of education, resident district superintendent, or principal of a nonpublic school, of their intent to homeschool. The notlflcation must include a list of subjects to be taught, name of correspondence school used, if any, name of curriculum provlder used, if any, an outline of'the scope ofand instructional sequence for each subject,' and a list of textbooks "or other instructlonal mate-

rials used." 2. The State Board of Education is

given authority to adopt rrles for administering home educaffon programs (more about this below). 3. Parents must maintain a portfolio of records and materials pertaining to the program for at least two years from the date ending instructlon. 4. Parents have a choice ofevaluation methods: a written evaluation bv a certified teacher who has reviewed the child's portfolio and met with the parent or child; a national student achievement test (composite results must be at or above the 4oth percentile); a state student assessment test (ditto); or 'any other valid measurement tool" mutually agreed upon by the parent and whoever is overseeing the education (local public school, private approved school, or commissioner of the State Dept. of Education). 5. If the evaluatlon does not show

educational progress'commensurate with lthe child'sl age and ability," the parents are allowed a probationar5r year of remedial work. If after another evaluation at the end of that year the child has still not shown progress, the commissioner must notiS the parents that they are entitled to a hearing and due process procedure. The hearing officer can order that the home education program be terminated if educational progress is deemed insuflicient, if the parent doesn't comply with the statute requirements, or if the

parent fails to provide the minimum course of sfudy as required by the law. The hearing olficer can also allow the home education program to condnue ifthe parents are found to be in compliance with the law after all. The New Hampshlre Home Educators Associaton cornrnents in its letter: "Durtng the next year, the State Department of Educatton will be working on rules and regulations for administration of the statute. We as homeschoolers hope to hold these at a minimum level, but we believe that there will be pressure by educators to restrict and dellne the law as much as possible. In addltion, we believe that challenges to this law, even though it doesn't go into effect fully until July 199 l, will be issued during the l99l legislative session. Therefore, although we believe that this statute represents good homeschooling legislation, we know that we must continue to be part ofthe process so

that additional requirements and restrictions do not become burdensome."

How many in MT and ND? Whenever we receive them, we print reports of how many homeschoolers are in a particular state. The l99O-9 I reference guide of The Grapeutrc, a Montana homeschool newsletter, says: 'The Oflice of Public Instruction reported lthatl 564 home schools notified county superintendents in 1987-88 and 725 in 1989-9O in

Montana." And the August l99O issue ofthe North Dakota Home School Association newsletter reports that an oflicial in the state's Department of Public Instruction told the

NDHSA that 'he estirnates there will be 6O0 homeschooled children [in North Dakotal in the upcoming school year.' Do any other states have such figures

to report?

State News For adclresses oJstate andLrcaI organizations, see GWS #72 or our home-schrcling resource lbt, auatlable Jor $2.50. Arlangag: The July issue of Update, the newsletter of the ARKANSAS CHRISTIAN HOME EDUCATION ASSOCTATION, mentioned that homeschoolers had requested a meeting with the state Department of Education to discuss streamlining the state's annual testing of homeschoolers. We spoke with Tom Holiman of ACHEA and learned that this meeting did take place in August, and ttrat one result was the formation of an ongoing task force, made up of both homeschoolers and Department of Education members, to meet once a month and monitor the state's testing situation and procedures. According to Tom, homeschoolers had complained that staffing problems within the Department had made test administration during the past couple ofyears unnecessarily chaotic. Mainc: A new law which protects the privacy of homeschooling families' records became effective on July 14, 1990, according to theJuly/August issue of the

Growing Without Schooling #77

,l1

ReMAINEing At Hone newsletter. The law is an addition to the prevlously existing law,- as follows: 'The United States Family Education Rights and Privacy act of 1974... governs the dissemination of informaflon about students, as well as appllcations fior equivalent instruction through home instrucflon. comments on the complete-

equlvalent lnstruction throuph home instrucdon.' flhe underlined part was added

this year.) South Dalota: The August newslet-

ter of the SOUTH DAKOTA HOME SCHOOL ASSOCTATION discusses the state's new regulatlons: (l) Homeschoolers will now be able to take achievement tests at home; (2) The state ls attempdng to delegate the responsibility for home visits to local school districts: and (3) The state continues to

hold minimum time requirements for homeschoolers, despite homeschoolers'

objections. SDHSA comments about the homeschooling climate in the state in general:

'Our relationship with the state depart-

ment of education appears to be the best it has ever been. I [t]re president of SDHSAI and other state leaders met with the department earlier in the summer. We were received ln a spirit of cooperation as they believe that most homeschoolers are doing a good Job."

Tenneseee: In GWS #76 we wrote that homeschoolers had filed suit against state Commlssioner of EducaUon Charles E. Smith, charging that his policy of denying their requests for waivers of the BA degree requirement (for parents teaching grades 9- 12) was unconstitutional. The judge ruled against the f;amilies on that lssue. In the September newsletter of TENNESSEE HOMESCHOOLING FAMI. LIES, Sandy Madsen adds that also at issue in this case (oflicially called Crites v. Smith) was the August lst deadline for annual registration of home schools. Up to now, families who have failed to register by this date have been denied permission to homeschool. The case involved the Crites family, who moved to Tennessee from Tercas (where they had been homeschooling legally) on August I, 1989. They tmmediately filed a letter of intent but were denied the right to homeschool because they had registered too late.

Prior to filing the recent lawsuit, Commissioner Smith was advised bv his lawyer to issue a memo to all superintendents saying that the August I deadline no longer applies to homeschooling parents from out of state who plan to move to Tennessee after the deadline for that year, so that is where things stand now. Homeschoolers who move from one district to another during the school year and those who decide to homeschool after August I must enroll their children ln school or homeschool illegally.

Speaking to Estonian Teachers Merike Tamn oJ South Carolina wrote us abut her recert Hp to Estonia:

This w:ui my ffrst trip to Estonia, my

Growing Without Schooling #77

parents' homeland. It was wonderful to meet and stay with many reladves and to attend the largest song festival in the world, held every flve years, with 3O,OOO singers. It was also tremendously exciting to pardcipate in the Estonian Teacher Conference, which lncluded about twenty-flve foreigners of Estonian orlg[n from around the world and more than a hundred native Estonians. The conference was organtzed at thls time to take advantage of the fact that so many 'outside Estonians' (as we're called) were coming to Estonia for the Song Festival. Estonian teachers, who have lived ln a closed, communlst societ5r for flfty years, were hungry for any information from Western countries, and invited us to speak on any topic connected with education. My forty-minute address on "Home(g[ven in schooling oling Thn Throughout the World' (given Estonian) nian) was scheduled first among the ln outsiders. I answered many questions lmmediately afterwards and was told by many that it was the most popular talk. I also led a two-and-a-half-hour discussion sesslon on homeschooling the next day, whichwas supposed to be a small group discussion, but about one hundred teachers showed up. I was exhausted and excited by the experience. Homeschooling is not a new idea to Estonians. In fact, I was probably drawn to teach my children at home in the U.S. because I had heard many times that Estonian mothers a century ago often taught their children to read at home before sending them to schml at age 8 or I or lO. Estonians are the strongest individuals I know, with the strongest passion

for education. They are also traditionally rural people and are unc'omfortable wlth large institutions. So homeschooling suits the Estonian people well, and they know it. Homeschmling in Estonia has a long history, but very few chose it durtng the recent decades of communist rule. Everyone wâ‚Źrs astounded to hear of its recent growth in many countries. Estonian teachers seemed much more comfortable with the idea of homeschooling and of helping homeschooling parents than American teachers do. In fact, the national Department of Education wants to help parents

who choose homeschooling by publishing special materials for them. I am trying to help with this, by sending some samples of homeschooling teacher' guides, materials catalogs, etc.

I'm sure Estonians would be interested

in John Holt's books, but right now their economic situation makes

impossible

for them to undertake translating and publishing them. Maybe in a few years. Many people do know English, however, so I plan to send English-language copies of John Holt's books to some people I met at the conference.

Organizing Homeschoolerst Dance Areader asked us tofirdoutmore the la neschmlers' darne that was advertised fn CWS #74, so we askedJevtA Rdriguez the Massachusetts teertager who hnd. orgonized the dance, to tellus abut

abut

tohotshe'ddone: I wanted to organize some kind of event for homeschoolers. I like to dance, so I decided to organize a dance. I wanted it to be for the whole family, not just for teenagers, so it could be supervised, and so parents could have fun too. The llrst thing I had to do was find a hall to hold it ln. A friend of mine had had a dance the year before, so I asked her what hall she'd used. Itwas at a church in Melrose, Massachusetts, so I called them and they told me I had to write them a letter telling them what I wanted to do. I wrote the letter, they approved of it, and I had to give them a small donation. I advertised the dance in GWS and in our state homeschooling newsletter. I didn't get a very big responsâ‚Ź to the ads, but I invited my homeschooling friends, and a few others came, so there ended up being about ten f,amilies at the dance. The day before the dance I decorated the hall, and went to a warehouse to buy some drinks and snacks. The night ofthe dance, I set up a table and the stereo. I

didn't have to do much work other than these few things. I was the DJ, so I didn't get a chance to dance myself, but I enjoyed setting up tJre event so others could have

fun. I knew everyone who came to the dance, so it wasn't an opportunity to meet new people. If others are thinking of organizing a dance as a way of meeting new people, one thing to do would be to putyour ad out earlier than we did, and try to get the word out to people in different parts of the state. I already had a group ofhomeschooling friends, but I think organizing a dance would work wen if you didn't already have a group of friends. It might help in that case to say a little more in the ad about what you were planning. I used to go to school dances,

but

wanted this to be for homeschoolers. The atmosphere was different. There was more supervision, and it was more fun with parents there too. The kids didn't mind having the parents there - the parents weren't getting in the way, and sometimcs they were getting up and dancing too. I made sure to have different kinds o[ music, and we even had some square dancing. I wasn't sure how to do that, but my friend's father is a square dance caller so I had him do it.

I think this could be a good way for homeschoolers who have never been to a dance to have a chance to go. Afterwards people came up and told me they'd had a nice time. I rnight do another dance again sometime, although I'm not planning anything delinite right now. GRoWING WITHOUTSCHOOLING #77, Vol. 13 No. 5. ISSN #0745-53O5. Published bimonthly by Holt Associates, 2269 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02I40. $25/yr. Date of Issue: October I , 199O. Second-class postage paid at Boston, MA. POSTMASTER Send address changes to CWS, 2269 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02l4O. ADVERTISERS: Deadlines are the lSth of

odd-numbered months. Contact Patrick Farenga for rates.

Feeling OK About Being An Older Reader ISSJ When Giesg social

was lnterutewtng AnXa

abut lvr eryederce

urith school's li.Je Jor th{s tssue's For;us (see poge 19), our corusersation twrcd tD tle subject oJ older readers, AnXa" bA her own

descriptloa onlg bgan. to read Jhrcntlg at about age 1 2 (sfe' s nou 1 7). I had,ben

tlrilr/t@ abut the stories abut dder

readers tha!. u.tere tnthe past a uple oJ rbsues oJGWS, a nd. X seemed to ne tho:t oJten uhrrt was tnrdestJor tlese gourE people was ratthetoctoJ ratbtng oble to rea{ but tlw pro$emoJ handlttg sihtations irr uhbh reading usas eryeted or Jeelng pressured or d!{ferent Jrom others oJthe sane age, Anltaandl talkd. abut hotu sfle handled tftese sifuatlrcns rn the Iwpes tlwt others unuld.firtd. ter perspectiw ottd. eryerience telpfuL We alwags sag thr:.tttdresn'tmatter

ulenyoulearnto read but

oJtle seem tofind it

nugb

a chiW could. come toJeel tlut tle adults usere gtultrg ttp on ller, tlnt theg

net-ter eryected. her to

red at aIL funehow

you lotew thot people dtdn'tJeel that abr:,ut aou,

Mom said in so many words, 'You can read, youJust need to work on lt more.'She always made it clear that I could do it, but I would have to put time into it to get to the

goal of being able to read smoothly. At ffrst I read slowly, one word at a dme, and it was hard to get the flowofthe sentence. I knew that I would have to work on lt to be able to read more smmthly, but that lf I could do that, reading would be less frustrattng. When Mom read aloud to me, I would follow along. I could learn without feeltng that I had to read myself. Then Mom

some

ktd.s u:e hearJrom" or abu| so hand. rlot to fu able to read. at, so:g, 9 or 1O ' fucantse otlers tease tltem or tlink theA

ought to know how. Ftom uhat gou've told us inthe past, rt seems as gf you managedto escape thot"

I didn't escape it totally, but I escaped enougfr of it to relax. When I babysat, there were some kids I was very comfortable reading to because they weren't judgmental. One girl was old enough to know that I was supposed to be reading better at my age,

but she wasn't judgmental if I stumbled on aword. I still, every once ln a while, get anxie$r attacks at the thought of reading aloud, even if lt's something I could read to myself. I have to put my fears aside and say, "Yes, you can do this.'

A mother turcte to us abutter daughter being in a situatircn tn uhbh otlwr kid.s wanted to plag a gane tlut ;ntnhrcd readtng and. writltg. ?his girl cotildn't reallg participate, ard. she satd. tlteg didn't

understand. th.at st'e wos tryW ler hardesL Should panents try to protect ttet kids Jrom tlese situations, or lelp them cope

with

only saymg, "It's OK, don't twrry abut tt""

them?

I was lucky because I had my friend Ellie, and she understood. We often played games with her younger brother, who, being younger, wasn't a great reader either, so she would Just read all the questions (or whatever tt was). At home, we played a lot of games that lnvolved question-reading, and Mom would either help me or just read them, depending on how tired I was and whether or not I was ln a mood to trv reading them myself. I think parents have to say to their child, 'Yes, there are going to be kids out there who read better than you do, but if you want to try, or to work on this, I'll help you.'That was always Mom's line: 'If you're ready to try, I'll help you any time." But it was my choice one way or the other. Just try to tell the child that it's not bad that she can't read, but it is going to limit

her sometimes.

It seems to me tlrat lf anryone was

Mom sald ln so many words, 'You can read, you Just need to work on lt more.* She always made lt clear that I could do lt, but I would have to put tlme lnto lt...You get to a polnt where there's enough readlng ln the world that you want to be able to do lt.

take my time, but if I was afraid that people would think I was dumb tf I reallv took the entire time that I would need, I would try to read every other word to get a feeling for what itwas about. When I was in Camusel when I was 8, we went out for something to eat afterwards, and I looked at the menu and thought, "Oh no, what am I going to order?' But I ended up ordering what one of the other people had ordered. But when you use a trick you do think, itwould be easier ilI just knew how to read.

I wrote to one girl wlo had. been bt a dinicult sttuatbn and. said magfu sFe unuld. lntp tn leatn hou to sag, "Reoding is hardJor me and. rt's somethfng I'm unrlctrg ort'Were Aou eter able to sag that?

When I wâ‚Źrs younger I think I was good enough at the tricks. But when I was older and more comfortable with the tdea, I would sometimes say that, like to the kids I babysat for. I would say it's not my best thing, and I can read now but I don't always read fast, and if I get nervous it's even harder for me. It takes being strong, knowing that this is a weakness, not a failure, and it will come in time. One thing that happened a lot, that I would never give in to, was other people qr:izzirrg me: "What's this word?" 'How do you spell this?" IJust refused. I said, "l don't get qwi,zzd.You said that you knew gou unuld.

started real?ing that I was reading along with her when we would read at night. She would start to fall asleep, and I would get impatient and want to go on with the story, and I would point to where we were, so she knew I was reading enough to know that. And later I would read to myself when Mom was sewing, and when I came to a word I didn't know I would spell it out, she would tell me what it was. and then I'd

continue. That's interestittg, br:cause X remind.s us that it's not as tJ gou suddenlg started rea.dbtg at 12 uittwut hauing ben able to read. at all fu-fore thenNo, lt was definitely a gradual process. TWelve was when I was able to read

smoothly and comfortably. Let's come back to the kids who are in ula erytect

dillicult situolions with people them to read..

It would be even harder if we were in a daily situation, like school. But also, yoir learn to adapt - I've read about tricks that adult non-readers use, and when I read that now I think, 'Oh, I know that onel'

Wlwt's an exanple oJ a trbk? Reading every otherword to try to get a quick sense of what something's about. I often felt that I would have been able to read something if I could slow down and

haw to unrk on readirtg, ond that it gour claice when to do thof. I think

Lurrs

some

people wonder whetlvr kids rlrll eLter trA to do sonething tlut's so lwdJor thenL Wlat made gou decide to usork on iL?

I don't think there was anv one moment, but it was just a basic feeling of, for example, being sick of having Mom read me the menu in a restaurant, wanting to be able to read over the descriptions myself. I was getting to the age w'here I might be going out with someone else besides Mom, and I didn't want looklng at the menu to be a big deal. I also wanted to be able to read to myself. If I got a letter, I wanted to be able to read it privately. You get to a point where there's enough reading in the world that you want to be able to do it. I think kids in school who can't read would get to that point, but they're ashamed of it, so they keep it to themselves and there's no one to help them.

tlahk X tuill

so heIpJuI to people

just to lear Jrom Aou tlwt it all unrks out eventuallg.

I feel it has worked out, and you know, zrn even bigger accomplishment for me when I finish a book. I went through a period where I would read parts of lots of books but never finish any, so now I'm proud that I can Ilnish them. I still have to stop myself from shying away from things that involve reading in public. The camp that I go to is divided up into tribes, with chiefs, and I used to shy

I feel ifs

Growing Without Schooling #77

..l

away from

hing

a chief because I knew

involved writing down information and relaying it to the group. But this year I was the chief, and I found that the wrtdng in that situation was verv easv. So I have to say to mysel{, "You can do it, don't shy away from something just because you think you can't."

tltlul,k that questlon abr,ut shglng awag collres upJor laneschrorlers wla might tike to get to kranu someone in

another state but are aJraid. oJ

part

tle wrhing

oJ tL

My mother's my editor. John Holt was the only person I felt comfortable writtng to by mysel{, sounding t}rings out and spelling them as best I could, because I knew he wouldn'tJudge it.

Igness sorteonre might say, 'Butwhot happens when gou leove home and. don't lunse gow mother anourtd?"

I have a dictionar5r. And when I'm traveling next year, my Journal will be for me, so I won't worry about how it's spelled. It's tnterestbtg tltot gou talk abut keeping aJournal - It means that uriting has a place in gour tlfe even { It's fuen hardJor gou

I've always loved writing. I'm the only one of Mom's children who has written for the Joy of writing. It was always made clear to me that I should go ahead and spell something how I wanted to spell it and then correct it later. or I could ask Mom how to spell a word. My grandmother once asked if I wouldn't learn to spell the word better if I had to use the dictionary, and I told her no, after you call out a word and have it spelled to you enough times, you remember it. And it's interesdng - my older sister developed her spelling skills by spelling words to me.

A lameschder I krtotu, wla fnd.s dlfficull wrrrXs to get indt-ted

readlng

with tteater, but ts qfraid oJ lwvvtg to read Wtvt should she do - rot get inrnhrcd uith it, do X and eryLain to

scrrpts, people,

fnd. an improuisation grcup that

won't require readtq...?

I think she should either find time to get away by herself to read it as slowly as she needs to, or explain to the group, "l am a slow reader, I need time to work on figuring it out, but by the time we go on I ulll have it ready." When I did that play when I was 8, I took it home and memorized it right away, so I dealt with tt that way.

I like tle idea oJ sagtg, "fm a slow reader" t Btead oJ'l can't read or -l'm a bad reader." I Like the wag tlnt tnpties tllrrt you cant do it, euen lf X will take a Little exta time.