Growing Without Schooling 78
Screna Gtrggold ls among thosc who urrltc for thls lssuc's Focus.
About Other
Inside This Issue News & Reports p.3-4 News from Spaln, Getting Permlsslon to Joln School Team, Counilng Homeschoolers
IFatchlng a Chlld Teach Eerself p. 5-6 Observlng Wlthout Interferlng orJudgtng p.7-a Challenges & Concerns p.9-12 Soclallzation, TWo-Career Famtlles, Recoverlng from School,
Children with Dlsabllltles
Book Revlews p. l3-f 6 FOCUS: Learnlng About Oplnlons p. 17-19
Other
Rethlnklng uathematlcs: Intervlew wlth Wllltam glgglnson p. 19-21 EnJoylng Math p.2r-23
Watchlng Chlldren Learn p.23-26 Uslng Other Teachers, Flndlng An Internshlp, Muslc, Htstory, WrtUng Group, Ballet
1991 Dlrectory of Famllles & Organlzatlons p. 2Z -38
Some people accuse homeschoolers of shelterlng their chtldren and allowlng them access only to the vtews and optnlons of thelr parents. These crltlcs say that homeschoolers will nwer get a chance to hearabout differtng oplnlons, much less form some of thelrown. Of course, thls @uldbe true. Llke so many of the criUcisms of homeschoollng, lt would have some \alldlty lf homeschooltng meant keeplng klds ln the house all day, noses ln thelr workbooks, unaware of the outslde world. But any ktnd of closer look at what homeschooltng really lnvolves shows how lnaccurate thls plcture l,s. When we asked several homeschooled children and teenagers to tell us what they thought of ttris critlclsm. and to defend themselves agalnst tt by descrlbing ho$' they get to hear about and fcrm optnlons that dlffer from thetr parents', what was most conslstent in thelr replies was their lndignatlon at the question. 'It makes me angry,'writes Amber Clifford,'when people who actually know nothing about homeschooling ,rssume that I rely only on what my parents tell me. The truth ts that I am more aware of dllferent oplntons now than I ever was tn public school.' Jeremlah Gtngold echoed that feeltng when he wrote, "I thlnk that the questlon ltself... ts totally absurd." Whenever we want to address crlUclsms of homeschooling, I always enjoy gotng stratght to the young people themselves for Ernswers, because tlelr responses do such a good Job of laylng the concerns to rest. If parents were wrltlrg about how they made sure thelr children knew about other oplnlons, lt would be less persuaslve than hearlng the conllrmation from the young people themselves, although tt would also be good to hear. It seems to me that there is nothtng as strong as the kids speaking to the lssue dtrectly and clearly. Thetr surprlse at the questlon because lt seems so obvious to them that they hear all sorts of oplnions - and the many examples they offer, go farther than any parent's defense could go. Reading these letters, I was struck by how much a part of life other people's oplntons really are. The thiregs the llds described - readtng newspapers arrd magazlnes, hearlng relatlves or frlends of the famlly discuss current lssues, meetlng other people through groups and communlty acttvlUes - are so much a part of ordtnary llfe that tt's not as lf homeschoolers have to go to great lengths to set up situatlons ln whlch theywlll hear a vartety of oplnlons. Of course, some ldds do make a speclllc point of seeldng out thls lnformaUon, but agAh, what struck me was how tntegral to regular daily Me tn a communlty most of thetr examples were. It shows how limlted ls the notlon that without school, young people wlll bâ‚Ź deprtved of a variety of vlews. It would be more accurate to say that without a community of other people, and perhaps wlthout access to books, magazines, and newspapers, such deprlvatlon could result. Or, perhaps even more central, wlthout the sense of oneself as a peron capable of havlng oplnlons and thlnking lndependently. This. more than anythlng else, ls what these young people tell us they have. It's tnteresttng to thlnk about how they managed to get lt. Susannah Sheffer
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