Growing Without Schooling 79
Childrcn's Llbrarian Adelaide Gardner fieft) works wlth homeschooler Sarah-Kate Glddtngs. Sce our Focus on Chlldren Jointng Adults at Work, pages l9-21 .
Inside This Issue News & Reports p. 2-4 College Welcomes Homeschoolers, Allowed on School Teams, Certilled Doesn't Mean Better Qualified, Support from Federal Gov't, News from Outside U.S.
Changlng Rrbltc Attltudes p.
5
Challenges & Concerns p.6-7 Homeschooling with Toddler, Valuing Mothering, Critical Relative, Illness in Family
Watchlng Chlldren Lcarn p.8-12 Math & History, Newspaper Volunteer, Cartooning, John Holt on Children's Questions, Involving Neighbors, Support vs. Encouragement, Belng "Behind," Ballet School
EnJoytng Mathematlcs p. tz-t+
BookRevlews p. 15-18 FOCUS: Chlldrcn Jolnlng Adults at Work p. l9-21
Intervlew: Glenda Blsser at Work p.22-24 Older Homeschoolers p. 24-25
Llfelong Lâ‚Źarnlng, not Llfelong SchooUng p.26-27
FYom ttme to tlme we hear stories of homeschoolers having a chance to help out at an adult workplace, and we've printed many of these storles over the years. Such an opportunity is often one of the best parts of a child's homeschoollng experlence, and it's easy to see why. Helplng out an adult workplace gives chlldren a chance to be taken serlously by someone outstde thetr own familles, to do real work (often work that colncides wlth their lrterests), to get a better sense of thelr own lncllnaUons and abiliUes' For this lssue of GWS. we've talked with the adults who have made some of these work opportunltles possible for homeschoolers. We wanted to gtve them credlt for havlng dared to try something so experimental, and to flnd out what tre their experience would help other adults feel able to make a child the same offer. The chtldren ln the storles we focus on here were all under 12 when they helped out at the adult workplace, so their stories are a bit different from the ones about teenagers llnding lnternships (which we also love to printt), most obviously because they are about working once a week, on a fairly experimental basis, rather than full-time. None of the childrenJolned the adult at work as part of an already established ]oung volunteers' program. Each was an tndividual arrangement, set up specillcally to fit the needs of the partlcular adult and child. These arrangements seem to work more successfully than volunteer programs, especially for young children, preclsely because they are flexible and made to fit the tndividuals. All of the adults we talked to made thls point tn one way or another. It's tmportant to remember that although these ecperiences have been so valuable to the chtldren, the adults didn't agree to the arrangement out of altruism alone. They all point out that the child has gtven them real help - that's what makes them value their young volunteer, although they may also like giving a young person an opportunity, havtng a child around, and so on. And having seen that one young person can be helpful, they will be that much more open, ln the future, to the ldea of taking on another. One note about strateggr: lt seems that when children are younger than, say, 12 or 13, it works best lf the parent takes the Ilrst step and proposes the ldea of a work arrangement to the adult with whom the child wants to work. It seems that children maklng such lnquiries on their own - unless they are very well known by the adults ln questlon - can make some adults uncomfortable. I gather thts is because people worry about agreeing to something that the child's parents may not approve of - or maybe it's stmply that such an tnquiry coming directly from a child isJust too unusual. On the other hand, IVe heard from teenage homeschoolers that at that age, the reverse becomes true: people seem to expect teenagers to make their own phone calls or write their own letters of lnquiry, and would be skeptical of the lndependence of a teenager who needed his or her parent to do that work. This may seem strange, but I pass tt along as a plece of advlce. Whether the young people approach the adults themselves or whether thelr parents act as lrntermediartes, it appears that homeschoolers have some advantages: they are more available during traditional adult worliiing hours, and they can present their interest in volunteerlng as part of their'home education program,' which seems to help some adults to better understand what ts being proposed. Susannah Shelfer
-
News
&
Reports
College YYelcomes Homeschoolers
/ Worldng;wlth baby closc byl
-
Office News & Announcements [SS:l TWo pieces of good nervs from the publishing front IVe slgned a contract wlth Helnemann-Boynton/Cook for a book about the homeschooled writers IVe becn working wtth (and stlll am - new ones are always welcome). The book is tentaflvely scheduled to come out ln the spring
of 1992; I wlll be v/rfUng the flnal third of It durtng the next slx months. My editor, by the way, ls Peter Sflllman, whom we tnterviewed ln GWS #73 and whose book Faniltes Wrfthg we carry in our catalog. Also due out ln the sprlng of '92 is an Addison-Wesley edltton of Ner;er Ta l-ate. Slnce we sold the last of our low-cost, homemade edltlons, lots of people have inquired about the book, so we're delighted that tt u/tll be avatlable again, and this ume to a broader audlence. Homeschoollng and Holt Assocl,ates have had lots of publtctty stnce our last lssue went to pr€ss, Pat Farenga appeared on the ?bday show rtght before Thanksgivtrrg, and Tle NewYorkTtnes then had a front-page story about homeschoollng on Thanksgiving day. We also hearrd about a story on the CBS evening news, and a few other arUcles ln newspa.pers around the
country. We want to thank our customers for helptng to make thls holtday rush season a good one for John Holt's Book and Muslc Store. Three cheers to our strlpptng stalf, tm, for fllling so many orders so smoothly. In GWS *78,we lncorrectly prlnted as "Diana Cross" the name of the writer who asked to hear from others who lilce GWS but are not homeechooltng. The wrlter's name ls Donncr Cross. We apologlze for the
mlstake. T\vo lssues a€lo we asked to hear from people who enJoyed math and were doing lt in unusual ways. What about hlstor5/? Is
anyone doing history by vtstttng hlstorlcal places, talldng to hlstorlans or to older people, readtng prtmary sources? Has anyone gotten teterested ln a parttcular histortcal perlod or event as the r€sult of another tnterest - perhaps ln muslc, or art, or somethlng else? In our liast lssue we sald that we are c,ollecflng materlal for two posstble booklets: one on klds (under 13) earntng mon€y, and one on the relatlonshlps between homeschoollng slbltngs. We'd sdl like to hear from you about elther or both of these toplcs. See GWS #78 for a fuller descrlptlon ofboth projects.
[SS:l Although we contlnually remtnd older homeschoolers t}rat college ls not thetr only opfion, we're always happy to hear that a homeschooler's admlsslon to college has gone smoothl5r or that a pardcular college ls actively welcomlng to homeschoolers. We want to s€e as nrany optlons avallable to homeschoolers as posslble. Thus, I was pleased and lnterested when a member of the undergraduate
admlssions stalf at Boston Unlversit5r called us to ask howto reach out to homeschoolers and encourage them to apply to BU. George,4. Schlller, Jr., Director of Undergraduate Admisslons, sent us thls letter: To Homeschooled Students:
Boston Unlversi$r welcomes appllcations from homeschooled students. We belierre students educated at home possess
the passion for knowledge, the tndependence, and the self-reliance that enable them to excel in our lntellectually challengtng prograrns of study. Ttvo homeschooled students curently attend Boston Universit5l. One is a sophomore tn the College of Ltberal Arts, the other a freshman tn the College of Engtneerlng. Both students are dolng very well, Thelr educatlonal and personal transltlons from homeschoollng to the Unlverslty ar€ a proven suc€€ss. If you are a homeschooled student lnterested ln attendlng college or simply concemed to know more about your optlons in lrtgher education, we rvould be pleased to talk wlth you, To get tn touch with us, please call or write to Kathy Mackln, Assistant Director of Admlsslons (telephone 6 l7-353-48OG). An lnteMew can also be arranged. Our address: Boston University, OIIice of Undergraduate Admlssions, 881 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston MA O2215. Because Boston Unlverslt5r happens to be so close by, I ofrered to meetwlth members of the admlsslons stalTto help them
understand homeschooling and how appllcations from homeschoolers would dtfier from appllcatlons from students who had attended tradiflonal lrtgh schools. It ls clear to me, from that meeting, that the BU admlsslons staffls lndeed lnterested ln homeschoolers and understands that homeschooltng does not only mean taldng correspondence courses at home. The freshman that the Director's letter refers to ls Mike Dodd, who has wrltten to GWS several times and whose mother, Suzy, described his orperience of taking
the Prelimlnary Scholasdc Apdtude Test
tn GWS #71. At that time Suzyurrote, 'I'm not telling ttrts story to brag about Mlke, but rather to let others know that tt's posslble not to play the school game for most of your life and then to Jump ln and play lt successfully, relatively late ln the game, lf that's whatyou decide to do.'We hope Mike will write about hls college
experience, but ln the meantime it seems clear that Suzy's potnt held true for Mike's admisslons prrrcrss as well - homeschoollng tn a very unschool-llke way does not make tt tmpossible to get tnto college later on, lf that's what you want. Back ire GWS #58 Jane Wilson wrote about meedng with the admlssions stalf of Maryvllle College ln Tennessee, to help them thtnk about considering applications from homeschoolers. Ifothers ofyou have such meetings with olllclals at other colleges, do tell us about them.
Allowed on School Teams in Maine F\om the to fine (nast recentlg tt *78) use print stories abo,ut whetlvr lameschmlers ate allowd. to play on sclwl athletlc teans. The Jdlowtng atfrcle jomtE 12/6/90 Isste o:f the Augusto, Mairre Kennebec Journal girrs Malne's latest neros ln this arecc GWS
Htgh school students who are taught at home can play basketball and other team sports lflocal school boards give their approval. But the ruling by the Maine Secondary School Principals' Association nray mean students in one school can play whlle others cannot, dependtng upon the whtm of the local boards. 'Inequltles wlll occur, rlght next door to each other," sald Stephen Moltozo, dllector for Home School Assoclates of Norl England ln Auburn. 'It's gotng to cause problems." Moitozo said legtslatton may be needed to provide a uniform pollcy to allow homeschooled children to use publlc school facilittes and pardcipate in school competlUons and events. At lssue, Moitozo satd, ts discrimination a€lainst a group of students whose schools receive halfsubsidy on the students whtle they are schooled at home.
Forbtdding students from partlcipating ln actlvitles would mean school olficlals "are getting half the pay for dotng none of the rporlq' Moitozo sald. Richard Tller, executlve dlrector of the princtpals' assoclatlon, adrnitted the lmpact of the new ruling could differ from school system to school system. -There are some @nrmunitles that feel that tf a famtly opts to educate at home, thryVe made a choic.e,'Tller said. And that choice sometimes means the
chtld ts forbidden from taldng part tn school acttvlUes, he sald. Tller satd the assoclatlon's declsion matches the state guideltnes for ertracur-
rlcular actlvitles for
homeschooled
youngsters. The state also leaves parucipatlon up to local boards. last sprtng, the prtnctpals' assoclatlon refused to change lts sports elf$bility rules to lnclude homeschooled students. T\rro weeks ago, alter lntensive lobbylng from the Maine Home School Assoclation and dlscusslons among the associatlon's members, the princtpa.ls changed thea
mlnds.
The declslon was spurred by a case in
Growtng Without Schooltng #79
3 Fort Fatrlleld, where a boy who had been homeschooled returned to hfgh school and was denied the opportunity to play basketball. So far thts year, the state Department of Educadon has recelved 1,353 home-
school applications, 181 for htgh school students...
Certified Doesn't Mean Better Qualified The issue of teacher certification for homeschoolers never seerrts to go away, wen though only one state (Iowa) current$ requires homeschooling parents to be certilied. There are now three studles that address thls question, and all three show there ls no Justlllcadon for requlring crrtificatlon of homeschooling parents. The flrst, 'An Analysts of Home Schoolnrg for Elementary School-Age Children ln Alabama" by Dr. J. F. Rakestraw (a doctoral dissertadon done at the University of Alabama in 198fl, notes, 'After comparlng the scores of children whose parents were certlfied to teach to those of children whose parents were not c.ertified to teach, no statistically significant dillerences were found to erlst between the flrst-grade chlldren ln mathematics or between the second-grade children ln listening and mathemadcs. 'Thts flnding suggests that those ctrlldren in Alabama whose parent-teachers are not certified to teach perlorm on standardlzed achievement tests as well as those whose parent-teachers are cerdfied to teach. Therefore, it ls concluded that there is no reladonship between the cerdficatlon status of the parent-teacher and the home-schooled children's performance on standardlzed achlevement tests.' The second study, "The Relationship of Selected Input Variables to Academic Achievement Among Washington's Homeschoolers' by Jon Wartes (Sept. l99O), is the latest report from the Washlnggon Homeschool Research ProJect, 'a cooperative and volunteer effort on the part of thirteen tndividuals, lncluding homeschmlers and public school educators, to
gather obJectlve informaUon about
Washlngton's homeschoolers and to make
that information available to the public."
Jon Wartes, a homeschmling father, educated hlmself about research methods in order to do this work. He writes ln his introducdon, '...If parent educatlon level, teacher lnvolvement, structure, finances, and other variables are genulnely important to the educational proaess among homeschoolers, then these relatlonships should be measureable. It ts the purpose here to begln thts process ofmeasure-
ment.'
Wartes notes these results regarding 'The reladonship between crntact wtth a c.ertified teacher and homeschooler
outcomes': 'As a group, homeschool children of certilled techers did outscore chlldren of non-teachers but the dlllerence appears to be assoctated wlth a hlgher education level of teacher parents rather than teacher
certillcation. Students who had virtuallv no teacher contact scored, as a group,
around the 65%ile on natlonal norrns. "ln general, thls evldence provides no support to policy declslons that would
Growtng Wthout Schooltng #79
requAe contact with a certilled teacher as a condiuon to homeschool.' AIso of lnterest: "Thls test data suggests that there ls llttle or no reladonshlp between level ofstructure and academtc outcomes. Poltcy declslons that might lmpose a curriculum for the sake of lts structure andr/or requlre mlntmum hours/ week of schooltng are not supported.' The study follows homeschooled chlldren over a three-year perlod ( 1987 - 1989) and ls available for $ l5 from Jon Wartes, Washtngton Homeschool Research ProJect, l6lOg NE 169 Pl, WoodtnvllleWA9SOT2. Third, the Home School l-egal Defense Assocladon (Paeonlan Springs, VA 221291 prtnted Dr. Brlan Ray's 'A Natlonwlde Study of Home Educadon: Family Characteristics, Legal Matters, and Student Achievement' in lts Chlstmas, l99O Horre *h@l hurt Repoft'The target populatlon of the study was all home educatlon farntlies who are members of the HSLDA,' says the study, and one ofthe research quesuons dealt dtrectly wlth 'Achievement by Cerdllcadon Status of Parents.' From the report: 'This shrdy found that there was no difference in students'total reading, total math, or total language scores based on the teacher certiffcation status of their parents (i.e. neither parent had been certiffed, one had been, or both had been). The findings ofthls study do not support the ldea that parents need to be trained as certified teachers to assure successful academlc achlevement for thelr children.' If any of you are still stmggling wtth the certilication lssue on a statewide or local level, we encourzrge you to make use of these studies.
Support from the Federal Gov't. We've seen two indlcatlons of support
for homeschooling from the federal government recently. First, former Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos wrote tn his 1989 report to Presldent Bush dtled "Educating Our Children": "Home schools, permitted in all ltfty states, allow parents the option ofeducating their children at home in accordance with applicable state regulations. The growth of home schools in rec.entyears is an indication on the part of individual parents of their concem about the education of their chlldren. For those parentswho have chosen to teach thelr children at home, the benellts accrue both to the educadonal attainment of thetr ctrlldren and to farntly life. (Flichman and
Richman, 1988)" Dr. Cavazos cites the research of Pennsylvania homeschoolers Howard and Susan Rlchman to bolster hts point. Later ln the report, in the section fltled 'What States and Incal School Districts Can Do" [to encourage educational choice], he writes, 'Examine state regulations to see whether they tmpose unduly restdcdve burdens on parents who choose to teach thetr children at home. Alter those regula$ons when appropriate to facilitate effecflve home schooling." And from an ardcle lnthe l2/5/9O Washfutgton Fost :'Education Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos yestenday called varlous plans for broader parental choice of schools, including home schooling and
prlvate school vouchers, 'the best way' to reach natlonal educatlon goals. ...The report... entitled Choosfu:g Better Schools,' describes parental cholce as taking eight forms - spectaltzed magnet schools, open enrollment wtthtn a district, open enrollment between dlstrlcts, college courses for hlgh school students, alternative Programs for dropouts, tultlon tax credits, educaflon vouchers and home schooling. When a reporter asked ifthe varlous apporaches have the same educadonal value, Cavazos
replied: 'I'm not saJring one ls better than the other. I know home schooling goes on out there, and ln some places, it probably
works prett5r god,* We don't know yet if the new secretar5r of educatlon, Lamar Alexander, has Cavazos' posldve opinion of homeschooltng. Let us know lf you hear arry lndlcatlons either way,
Baby in the Offrce I*da *hroth (C'I) sent us this story Jrom the Mog 7, 1990 {ssue oJMedtcal Economics ba Richard J. Riful M.D.: How does a caring family doctor respond to the news that a member of his ollice stall is pregnant? Sharon was the best front-ofllce assistant I'd ever had. I didn't want to lose her. My wife, June, an RN who'd been working with me since our own children were grown, felt the same way. To encourage Sharon's speedy return to work, we told her she could bring the baby along. So, seven years ago, Sharon brougfit a cute Itttle redhead named Bt[y into the offIce, and our farntly practice became a real
family.
We converted a small spare room into a nursery, complete with basstnet and changing table. We made space in the supply closet for boxes of diapers, and in the refrigerator for baby bottles. At least one of us was always available to meet Billy's needs - for food, or a diaper change, orJust for cuddling. Before we knew tt, he was crawling. We put up gates to ltrnlt the scope of his exploratlons and childproofed the olllce so he couldn't electrocute himself or swallow something lnsalubrlous. He walked before he was ayear old, talked a blue streak at 18
months, and turned olllce routlnes lnto games.
Every mornlng, Billy and June tested the colored ltghts outslde the examlnlng rooms that slgnal 'room empty,' 'patlent walting,'and so on - and he soon learned to name the colors. He demanded and got hts own stethoscope. Occasionally he'd wander lnto a treatment room, and you can imagfne the surprise and amusement of the paUent, expectlng to see a full-size doctor, GROWING WTTTIOUT SCHOOLING #79, Vol.14. No. l. ISSN #O745-5305. Published bl-monthly by Holt Assoctates. 2269 Massachusâ‚Źtts Ave, Canbridge MA O2l4O. $25 /yr. Datc of lssue: February I , I 9S I . Sccond-class postage Pald at
Boston. MA. POSTM,{,S'TER: Scnd address changcs to GWS,
2269 Massachusâ‚Źtts Ave, Cambridge MA O2f4O. AITVERTISERS: Dcadlines are the lSth of odd-
numbered months. Contact Pat Farenga for rates.
4 on belng confronted by a 2 year old wlth a
burned out rtght now. After worldng wtth
stethoscopel...
the proposed Act, we\re spent the past two years betng a support egoup only, and have
News from Outside
the
LI.S. Aurtrellt
New homeschool legislation, part of the Educaflon Reform Act 1990, was passed tn NewSouthWales tn May, accorrdtng to the September l99O lssue of Other Wogs, the newsletter of the ALTERNATWE EDUCATION RESOURCE GROUP. Homeschooler Jo-Anne Belme wrltes that'the new legfslatton legltlmates tn law the rtght of home educatlon and sets It up as a vtable alternatlve to govemment and non-government schoollng and furthermore sets up appeal proc.edures for homeschoolers, so although the Mlnlster ls still the ultlmate arrcnue of appeal, dtspute must be referred to a THbunal as well. We do not Gel that the leglsladon ts ldeal, but tt ts far superlor to the 1987 legislatton and tt gtrrcs homeschoolers a good breathing spa.ce to growand meet
poltttcal challenges.' Cenede: Sandy Paulson of the HOMESCHOOLER.S' ASSOCIATTON OF NORITTIERN ALBERTA (note new address: l@68 - 35Ave, Edmonton, AltaTAJ 2V3) writes: 'In the past our group has been
quite active polidcally as we struggled with the proposed new School Act and lts homeschooling legtslatton and regulaflons. We met wlth the Educatlon Minister and also presented brlefs on varlous aspects of the homeschool lssue. These tncluded "A response Rattonale for Homeschooltttg,' " was very to the llrst draft of the Act (wtrtch negauve), some deinlte suggesuons as to wodtrng and a plea for poslttrrc and supportlve leglslatlon. TWo of our members presented our brlefs to the kgfslatlrrc Commlttee concerned wtth the proposed Act and dealt wtth the quesdons from the Commlttee, We were lnvtted to comment on the second draft later, and two other members attended that meetlng. They did, ln the end, lncorporate some of our suggesdons, but we feel lmprovements c-ould still be made.' The Act, which has been tn effect slnce January 1989, requlnes homeschoolers to work wlth the board of thetr local dlstrlct. Sandy contlnues: 'Some school boards and dlstricts are very good to work wlth, providlng a homeschool advlsor and a resource rmm or materlals. Others are very negaUve and wlll only allow homeschoolers to use Alberta Educadon Correspondence Courses. Most people use avartet5r of materlal - thelr own books, texts from a school, a muslc class from the school, local libraries and nature centers, communitSr art classes, etc. 'Some prlnctpals and school board members feel that homeschoolers take up too much of the prlnctpals' tlme (they help organlze a currlculum and assess student achlerrement on a regular basls). We have been tr5dng to explaln that all we feel ts necessary ls to have parents reg;lster thelr lntent to homeschool elther at a local level or at the Departrnent of Educatlon. Ftrts ts what BC requlrres - reglstertng lntent at a local publtc, prlvate, or separate school.) We don't feel the currlculum should be examtned or achlevement tests rcqulred. We ll contlnue to lobby for a more relaxed set of reguladons, but we're feellng rather
enJoyed the break from lobbylng.'
Children's Advocate JanHwt
[OR/ sent us tttls oficle bg Mbttrel FQ,anfrthe Julg a, rcgO Parade
nugazlnet Ttre chlldren ln Claus KonoCs hometown had a problem. The authorltles were plannfng to close down a grade school and rnake all the puptls attend a school three miles away. Therewould be no school bus, and the chlldren would have to crf,,ss a maJor trtghway. The ktds and the parents got together and sald, '\ile aren't golr4; to accept this,'" Claus, now 15, remembers. 'We had demonstratlons. We collected stgnatur€s. Then we wrnte to the Barneorn-
budeL'
In Enette
Letuestad's netghborhood,
where they could play games and even go ektlng tn the wtnter. "It was the only place for chlldren around where we live,' says Enette, who also is now 15. Then a developer announced a btg houstng project for the slte the kids would have no place left to play. "My mother said, Wrtte to the Baneombudet ^ Enette remembers. Haakon Gruglun was only 4 years old, but he knew what he didn't llke. A new TV show, fllled wlth monsters and dragons, gave hlm nlghtrnares. 'My mom helped me with the numbers of the telephone," Haakon says, 'and I called t}rre Banambudet' If you were a Norweglian, espectally a Norwe$an chtld, you wouldn't need to be
clrlldren had
a rvooded area
told that the Batnrcntbudetls an olllclal of Norway's government who holds a poslilon unlque among natlons of the world. The word means Advocate for Chtldren. In the nine years slnce lt was created, the olffc-e has lntervened on behalf of thousands of children. The first Barneonbudrt, Meffdd Flekkoy, says that the Job ensures
that'chtldren are seen as people, wlth
thelr own needs and thelr own rtghts rtghts equal, but not tdenttcal, to those of adults." When theJob was created tn 1981, lt rvas highly controverslal. 'A lot of people were frlghtened, and they had good reason
to be,'Flekkoy told me ln an InteMew ln
Oslo as she prepared to leave the ol[ce after serving two four-year terms (the madmum allowed under Nonrregtan law). 'If people appealed to thls oflIce er/ery tlme there was a problem tn the famtly or every time thcy dfsagreed wlth a soctal servlce agency, lf we became some klnd of Super
Farnily Theraplst or Super Psychologlst to the natlon, lt would be crazy.' But the law that set up the olllce spectltcally ordered theBonsmbudetto stay out of dlsputes wlth famlltes - and MAlfrtd Flekkoy thinks that's exactly as lt should be. "If there's anything we can do to help parents function better as parents, I want to do lt,' she says. 'Parents need suPport, but I don't want to cut down on thelr
responstblltt5r.'
,,.The Baneontbudettns spoken for chlldren on a wlde vartety of lssues. The olllce worked wtth the energf mlnlstry to move trtgh-tenslon wlres from areas where children play and learn - studles showed
that the electromagneilc radlatlon could tncrease the risk of leukemta. lt won relief for an Oslo grade-school class whose teacher ltked to keep the classroom temperature above 90 degrees. Flekkoy even lobbied parliament for a law that made tt lllegal
for parents to strlke thetr chlldren. 'Ifs not a law that says pa.rents wlll be puntshed for strilitng thelr child,' she says of the btll, wtrlch was passed two years ago.' It's an attltude-creaffng ptecr of legislation. It says that soclet5r does not aPProve of phystcally puntshtng chlldren.' ...Now that she has left oflIce, Flekkoy acts as a UNICEF consultant ln other countrles and ts worldng for the adoption of The Conventlon on the Rights of the Child, whlch seeks to protect youngsters worldwide fromvlolence, abuse, hunger, and lackofeducatton. I asked whether she thought the ldea of a chlldren's advocate
could be adapted to other countries espectally the Untted States. -They're already s€ttlng up an ollice ln Costa Rtca,' Flekloy told me. 'But Costa Rlca has 3 mtlllon people, and Norway onlv 4 mlllion. I don't ttdnk the Untted States could do lt on a federal lwel, except as some sort of natlonal coordtnaflng body. But tt certainly ts feasible to have children's advocates on a local level. 'The lmportant thlng is not how the olllce ls organized. The important thing ts the prtnclple: Children are people of equal value - human belngs of equal rtghts, tncludlng the rlght to state thelr own opinlons and vlews on thtngs. The lmportant thtng ts to glve them a channel through whtch they can be heard.' Young GWS readers: What do You
thtnk of thts? What rvould lt be ltke tf we had chtldren's advocates here? Have you errer been tn a sltuatlon llke the Norwegian ktds, and wtshed you had someone to call?
Calendar
March 4. l99l: Farnily and School Semlnar wtth Raymond and DorothY Moore ln l.oulsvllle, KY, For tnformatlon: Sue Boatman, 502-935-5627 or 5O2-9353257. @bL9: Mtd-Atlanflc Home Educaflon Conference tnTakoma Park, MD' Workshops wtth Nancy Wallacr, Nancy Plent, Theo Giesy, Susannah Shelfer, others. For lnformaUon: ManH Smith, 301-73GOO73.
March I 8-22: Hulbert Outdoor Center program for homeschoolers 9-15 years old fur Fatrlee, Vermont. For lnformatlon: Kim Alger, Hulbert Outdoor Center, RR # I, Box 9 lA, Fatrlee VT, 802-333-9840. April 13: New Me:dco FamtlY &lucators Hands€n Workshop ln Albuqueryue. Keynote speakers Davtd and Mtclid Colfax, 15 workshops. For tnformation: Karee Sowands, 5l12 SptnntngWheel, NW Albuquerque NM 87 I 20; 505-899-0652. Agrll 26.-27:, Wscpnsln Parents Asso-
cladon 8th annual cpnferencc on home educatlon ln Stevens Polnt, For lnforma-
tlon: WPA, PO Box 25O2, MadtsonWI 53701, or call Mellssa Rtce, 7l$3416378' We are happy to prlnt noUces of maJor homeschoollng and related events, but we need plenty of notlce. Deadltne for GWS #80 (events tn May or later) ls March lOth. Deadltne for GWS #81 (events ln July or later) ls May lO.
Growlng Wtthout Schoollng #79
Changing Public Attitudes Herb Hough oJ New York torltes: Fleference ltbmrlans, tn servlng cllents, try to get beyond parttcular ques-
tlons asked, to find out what they really
want. Ltkewtse, the real moflvatlon behlnd the request ln GWS #71 to see more homeschoolers portr:ayed ln flcflon seemed to be
the lmage of homeschooltttg
("t somet}rlng
longago,'before therewere schools') and a desire to see lt change. If so, llcuon ts only one means of effecttng change. What ts really needed ls a whole ongotng PR campaign to change publlc lrnages, expose biases and barrlers on all fronts, letting nothing get by unchallenged (as ln the case of sex stereotSplng, errcn challengfng such things as MENWORKING stgns on trtghways).
School ls often an lncidental aspect of fictlonal storles, and ls taken for granted, whereas an lncldental reference to homeschooling would probably cause a reactlon. When people are tntroduced to school-age children, how ltkely are they to say, 'Do you go to school?' rather than, 'What grade are you ln?'There are automatic assumpilons and mlndsets that people tend to harrc regardfurg chtldren and school, wtrtch need to be e:rposed.
Take the phrase 'school dropoul' What does lt assume positlonally about school? Do we reGr to panolees as prison dropouts? Self-learntng upurardly moblle students (what do we call them?) do not drop out ofschool - they rlse out They could drop te at times, though, lf school
were s€len as a resource to be used. Askyour
local school olllclals for thelr statlstics on
school drop-tns.'Huh?' Taktng thts a step further, do students drop out ofschool when they graduate? Do teachers drop out of school when they retire? Teachers sulfer burnout. Is this dllferent from dropout? What are the statistlcs on student bumou9 Taktng a cue from Irwls Carroll, we could have slgns erected to tdendff unschool zones, in areas where chlldren are being educated at home, Thls ts a practlcal rrratter - school zones are only a concern when school ls about to start or lets out, whereas ln un-school zones chlldren could be around at any tlme, But beyond thls, there would be an awar€ness created that would go far beyond just those trrvolved ln homeschoollng. Such slgns would ralse curloslt5r, cause talk, and generate a good deal of publicity. There ls a turf-battle aspect to all of thls, that needs to be recognlzed (whtch zone slgns are a part o0. Why not claim the real estate that schools don't clalm - like a squatter, or a rebounder spreadlng out under a basket. Ifthey clatm that school ls the base for learning, then clatm all terrltory outside of school. In addiuon to usiixg stgins, thts can be done by makfng greater use ofsuch phrases as non-school educatlon and communlty-based learntng, rather than Just homeschoollng. The lllp stde of thts ts to apply restrictive termfurologl to school and lts activities. Why use the term'textbook'when 'school book' ts more conllntng, and more
Gros'lng Wthout Schooltng #79
accurate.
In thts regard, lt ls unforhrnate that the term homeschoollng has becorne a predomtnant deslgnatlon. Astde from h""tttg a self-contradtctory rtng to tt, the term has a terrttorlally conflntng connotatlon, that doesnt usually aPPlY. The Ubrary of Congress, fn tts 1988 edltton of L.C. SubJect Headtngs, adopted a new Home Schoollng category (as dtstlnct and separate from the older Domestlc
Educatlon), The scope note descrlblng lt says that Home Schoollng lncludes works on the 'provlslon of compulsory educatlon' tn the home. [Do parents provlde thelr klds wtth well-balanccd meals for neasons of compulsory gro*'th?) The assumpdon here seems to be that educatton ls somethtng that ts provtded (rather than asslsted), and to unwllllng reclplents (betng compulsory). Do homeschoolers accrpt thts as an adequate description of whai they do? Is homeschooling deffned only in relation to what schools do? When the books TeachYour Ourn by John Holt and Better ltran School by Nancy Wallace came out, they were classiIled under Domesdc Education, but lf they were belng catalogued today they would no doubt go under Home Schooltng. But are they really about an alternatfue form of compulsory educadon, or rather an alternauve to compulsory educatlon altogether - somethlng quite dlllerent ln nature? These are notJust esoterlc games wlth labels. They alfect how knowledge gets pigeon-holed - the world accnrdlng to the Library of Congress (and a lot of other librartes). The indexing scheme ts pa.rt of the medium. How do you access materlal on the type of free leamlng assoctated with most homeschooltng, if there ls no specllic category for lt? But has anyone taken lssue with this, as part of a PR campalgn? It ls evtdent that some books have not been easy for the Ltbrary ofCongress to classtfr. In the case of TIE Dag I kanle an Audldact by Kendall Hailey, they have no
'self-taught" or "selflearnlng' category,
and tnstead used the loose catch-all category of 'self-culture' (whaterrer that means). They also classlfled tt under htgh school dropouts, whlch ts hardly accurate (for premature graduadon). But they had no closer way to peg tt, wtth thelr e:dsting subJect headings. ffhe subject headings used for a book are llsted tn the l€ Cataloguing tmprint at the front of the book.)
The book CompeLLW tutbJ: The Culhre o.f Anlrrtcan Sctrooling by Stephen Arons deals at length wtth legal battles lnvolved wlth homeschooltng, but there were no subJect classiflcatlons given to lt that even allude to educadon at home. Someone dotng a subJect search on home educatlon would mlss thls book completely. The subJect classillcaflons that were asslgned to it seem tangendal, and don't really tdenttS what ls at the heart of the book - the capactty of publtc schoollng tn the U.S. to stifle dlssent and efforts at reform. But agaln they had no way to Peg
(or lack thereo0 on lts ovm' ln 1982 ERIC [Educ. Resourccs Info' Center) created anew
Home Schoollng category, dlstlnct from Domestlc Educatlon, wtth the identlcal scope notes used Later by the Library of Congress.
ERIC, tn each new edttlon of lts Thesaurus ofERIC Descrtptors, adds new descrlptors and deletes olderones, and asks for tnput and suggesflons on thls from users. It seems that they have been getttng one-slded lnput - how many homeschoolers took lssue wlth ERIC for the vray they characterlzed homeschoolfurgf ERIC does notJust do tndedng of
educatlon Journals. They tndtcate that therr are looklnE for alternative vlewpotirtr, and urcl&me dlrect submisslons. total ltstlngs for Home Schooling a1e sfill nreager, lncreasing from four tn 1982 to 27 tn 1988, etght of which were ln oneJournal issue. (By contrast, there were 279 listtngs ln 1988 pertaining to school dropouts.) Most dtrect submisslons have been PaPers that were presented at educational conferences, wlth vtrtudly none from anyone dtrectly lnvolved wlth homeschooltlg. And yet, as they say, they welcome alternauve vlewpotnts (thts ls part of the library pmfesslon's code). Guldelines for submittlng material to ERIC can be obtalned from ERIC Processtng and Fleference
Faciltty, Acqulsltions Dept, 2440 Research Blvd Suite 4OO, Rockyllle MD 2O850 3Ol258-5500. Along wtth etemal vtgtlance, we need to develop automadc blas detectors for anythtngwe come actoss, particularly the
practlce of automatlcally equating school wtth educadon. When something ltke Campbell's Iabels for Education comes along, be alert enough to check tfthey tnclude homeschoollng ln their Program (they do).
A PR campafgn also means keePtng
track of what legislators and other
policymakers say and do, and Jumplng on ihemwhen necessary, such as over the matter of malrfng htgh school attendance a prerequislte for getting a driver's llcense. It
meansbelngaware of howwords are used, of the connotadons and value-bias tn labels used. In schools a current concern is rnainstueaming handicapped students placlng them ln ttre classroom, wtrlch ls termed the least restrlctive envhonment whereas the cliassroom ts probably the most restrlcdve envlronment, and the quesdon should be whether any students should be mainstreamed. It means applytng labels where none crrrrently sdst, ltke tdenu$rtng pre-set currlcula as such - to counter the unthinklng assumpdon that all currlcula are by natur€ pre-sel ERIC has no descrlptor for thts. It also has no descrlptor for classroom learnlng. How can you compare lt
wlth non-claisroom learnfng
f
nelther
has a descrlptor to deslgnate lt? There are also no labels to deslgnate the currlclrlum
thts.
mlndset or currlcular acdvlfles (as opposed to extr:'a-currlcular or non-currlcular actlvltles). There ls much work that
The Ltbrary of Congress dld not dwelop these categorles and dlstlnctlons
stratghtenlng labels.
needs to be done ln terms of app\rtng and
6
Challenges
&
Concerns
Homeschooling with a Toddler flom Ruth Madlskg [Nr; I have read letters from homeschoolers who have dealt wtth havtng a rambunc-
tlous toddler around, but I don't think anyone has descrlbed tt as betng as dtltcult as I am flndireg ft dght now. Maybe tt's because IVe been chaslng babtes for eleven years nowr but I'm havtng a lot of trouble deallng wtth Mattheds exploraflons of hls world.
There's nothlng vnong wtth Matthew heJust wants to know everything and be ln the center. IfI stt down to read to one ofthe older klds, he's elther clfrnbtng tnto my lap pulling at the book, or singing real loud, or else he's ln the Htchen unloadlng the dishwasher or pulltng a chalr over to the stove. If I try to take the liiids to the llbrary he's pulling the books olT the shelves or screamlng as I hold hlm while I try to look ln the card catalog. I do nodce thatwhen the older klds are gone he's a lot less rambuncdous but it is the fate of the fourth born not to have Mommy's excluslve attentton. And even so I makdsure to plan playground trlps for trim and outslde acflvides where he can explore to hls heart's content. But I am only one persron, and even wlth Terry's help, lt ls stlll lmposstble. Terry ts now taklng Matt to work onc.e or hvice a week There Matt cllrnbs the steps for hours and tears the olllce apart. No work gets done, but I get a breather and Matt gets to see somethlng new. The sense of communlty that we have been nurturlng wlth our food c.o-op crowd ts actually wonderful for the older ktds. When we have a gatherlng or go to the store to shop, there are any number of adults who are happy to relate to my older ldds. Ttre thing wlth a baby ts that usually other people are happy to tell me when Matthew ls pulllng a bottle oll the shelf but they don't really want to have to chase him themselves, And so I Bnd that I get to chase the baby and change the poopy diapers while other folks get to do some lnteresting stuffwith my big kids. I was really envious last year when my slster-ln-law took Sara museum-hopptng tn NewYork. I adore my baby, but I Gcl as though I'm mlsslng out
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on my older lidds' ltves sometlmes. One soludon ls to spend a fortune on
babysltters. At this potrrl tf terry and I go out for a walk or out to dtnner, we learrc Sara ln charge, and lt nrorks out well. But I'm startlng to get a babysttter for Matthew so that I can take Sara, Jake, and l.aura places.
And I do know that time wlll llx thts
one. IJust need to qulet the nagghg worrywart lnslde me that fears that the older kCds a.r,e beingl shortchanged.
Valuing Mothering lc
sleg We sburn
(OIil write s :
In response to the letters from horrrschoolers in two-career famtlles: A part of me resents one of the wrlters' saytng that she works outslde the home because'women need to be taken sedously." As for me, I do notwork outslde the home because women need to be taken seriously. How can socie$r leam to value
the art of mothering lf the mothers are all looldng for something 'tmportant" to do instead? Ten years ago, tn the communit5r where I lived, women dtd not nurse bables in publtc (if they nursed at all). The acceptable thing was advance preparation. Ifyou had to take your baby to a public place then you were to express your mllk, put tt tn a bottle, and bottle Ged the baby in publtc. I refused to do this, for a number of re:rsons. Among them: l) It seemed bastcally dtshonest. Why
should I pretend that the milk my baby drank dtdn't come from my breasts? 2) I felt that lt was politically lmportant (although at the time I wouldn't have called it that) for mothers to be seen nursing thelr bables. Soctet5r needed (and stlll needs) to see mothers and babies as a part of life, a part of weryday actlvltles. So I took my nursling to church, stores, librarles, museums - whererrer I went she went, and nursed. And although thts allegedly 'vrasn't done,' I got only posidve cornnents from people I met. I leamed that contrary to all the hush-hush about lt, most people have very posltive Gelings about nurslng, if they only allow themselves to open up to those feelfuegs, and the stg;ht of a nursing mother does open people uP.
3) I felt that nursing ln publlc was lmportant because I belleve tt wtll help to heal our societ5r. In a world where women
are still all too often considered sex obJects, I thlnk it is good for men to see them ln a mone nurturlng llght, as persons who gfve rather than as things to be used. I hasten to add that I was always careful to nurse dlscreetly - keeplng covered, and not trytng to call attentlon to myself. But, face It, babies do sometimes slurp... . In the last couple of years I've met half a dozen young men ofwhat I see as the new generadon - men who can llterally remember nursing as toddlers. Thelr way of looldng at women (flgurauvely and Itterally) ls qulte different from the atfltudes I recall seelng ln the boys I dated
at their ages. I thtnk they have a more c.omplete plcture of what we're all about. It gfves me hope for the planet. Now, excuse the dissertaflon on nurclng, butyou see, home educaflon and
motherlng are the same sort of politfcal/ social statement. IfyouVe got enough sense to do lt, then don't hlde what you're doing and don't allow yourself to thlnk you should really be dolng somethlng more chic or more lucratlve or more trendy.
Critical Relative B*a Tlast (CN wdtes: Thts ls a comment about homeschoolfng that I hadn't heard before. My step-
mother, who was a Gacher for twentythreeyears, said about our homeschooling, 'But, slnce you're not tndependently wealthy, what will your children do when you die?" What she meant is that slnce the children haven't been taught, they won't leam anything and won't loeow anything. Also, slnce they haven't becn forced to be trained, they won't have any way of eaming a ltvlng, nor will they want to. This was at the end ofa several-hourslong dlscusslon of homeschooltng, and tn spite of her knowtng that our cldldren (3 and 4 L/21know most of their letters and numbers and lots of other stulT. But since thry taught themselves rather than being taught ln a structured fashion, it doesn't cpunt. I have a funny feelfng that perhaps she thlnks lt doesn't count because they chose to do it rather than being forced to, and they enJoyed it.
Coping with Illness
in Family
Matbn Colen oJ Pern-sgluanlo wrttes:.
Thirten years ago my husband was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosls. At the fimewe had two children ages 8 and 4, and we have slnce had two more (currently ages 20 down to 4). Our lives have been chock full ofJoys and challenges. At the beginning tt w.as merely 'Daddy can't walk long dlstances,' later lt was 'Daddy can't walk,' but now our roudne is very dlfferent from most famllles'. An agency pays for a personal care attendant for slx hours a day - four tn the mornlng, two ln the evenlng. Our lidds have seen Daddy Mted from bed to wheelchair, Aom wheelchalr to stalrgltde, stairgltde to tollet, etc, They have seen him belngdressed, washed, and sometlmes fed. And durtng the other elghteen hours a day (and nfght), they have helped np do lt. They have charmed each attendant; Jerome takes Derr (4) to the park, Prlncess arrives an hour early to play the latest vtdeo game with Bret (f l). Both attendants have been supportlve of our homeschooltng and non-weanlng of the 4 (soon to be 5) year old. The ldds have wltnessed my very vocal anger, my unwtllingness to e:dst only as a caregfver, my u/orry about being, Growing Wthout Schooltng #79
7
or seemlng llke, an'unltberated woman,' my lnslstenc€ on contlnulng as a wrlter, teacher, thrtft-shopper, full-dme mother, etc. They have also seen my husband Jeffs not-so-vocal anger, Lrls broodtngs, his outbursts, his sometimes-dental; the older ones went through stx years of not belng told'what Dad had'because Dad wasn't emotlonally ready for them to know. They have themselves gone through'the ffue stages" agatn and agatn, Each has done and is dolng this ln her or hls own way. Bret takes an actlve lnterest and concern, and lately has erren been dofng nfght-duty with Dad errery other ntght, handing him Jars and turning him when necessar5r, to gfve me a much-needed break. flhey call lt a slumber party, but we sflll pay Bret as an attendant.) Both Bret and JeIf, when they see I'm extra rundown. declde on what else they can do to relleye me. I have wrltten and had published turo books on famllies with chlldren [vtng wtth a disabled parent, and for our homeschooling program (acc,ordtreg to PA Law we have to keep a log of at least some of our homeschoollng acdvides) I have had Bret read, or be read to, from these books. Arin, hurt and troubled for the last 13 of tds 17 years, wants no part of it, will only help out lf we express\r ask, and we usually don't, We hope therapy, hls friendship with me, his own lnner life, and life
itself will wentually Joggle things into place for him. The oldest, our only living daughter, is now away at college, but she is extremely concemed, helpful, and mature,
and also extremely close wtth me. She often talks to me about how'Daddy's M.S.' has affected her attltude towards ltfe. The four year old ls not too young to brtng Daddy things, turn on the TV for hlm, unspasm hls legs, etc., and he takes pleasure in helping out. He also s,eerns to understand my outpou-rlngs - of anger or despondency patiently stands and waits through them, seems to belteve me when I say, tn the rnidst of it, 'You're OK, Btnlry,' and - when I'm ready, not before - ls ln my arms, someumes nursing. Reading this over, I hope it doesn't sound too neggtive. The sltuadon t,s grh& but what I mean to convey ls that all the klds have seen the strength, love, and determlnatlon within our family, and although they are probably far tm young to be witnessing the decay of the human body (aren't we all?), they have also witnessed that this is not the end of the world. Dad goes to work, publishes physics papers, and the solar collector he lnvented and patented recently won llrst prize at the Franklin Instltute Invendon Conventlon; he ls now worldng slmultaneously wlth several manufacturers. Dad and I together stlll work on math problems, read over my poetry, house Slerra Club and homeschooling meetlngs, and celebrate our twentyflfth anniversary wfth a bfg party. The lilds have s€en not only that llfe goes on,
but that Me urants to go on. There's also a lot of laughlng: I mean spectflcally about Dad's M.S. One ntghl as we were all tn the bedroom playtng with the cat, she suddenly got up and walked out of the roorn 'Probably she has to go to the bathroom," sald JeIL Bret answered, 'Oh, she didn't hafta leave. I could haveJust handed her one of Dad's Jars.' There were real belly laughs over that one.
Growtng Wthout Schooltng #79
I-ast year, durtng a conrcrsadon wlth another well-spouse, I excttedly told her that we had recently begun homeschooltng. Her doubt and cauflon came rtght through the wlres. 'If lt were me, I would worry that the ldds dbeddy have so many dlfierent
classroom. Wtrllewe apprectatewhat Rtada had to say, we also know that the redtty of what happens to klds who attend school even for
Yes, that thoughthad occurred to me, and had been partly what kept us so long
orlglnal letter.
thngs rn thea lives.'
from homeschooling. But now I can wholeheartedly say, Ilrsl that belng home - or allouedto be home - has made Bret less tense, probab$ becausewhat goes on at home all day ls no longer a scary unknown to hlm. Second, the fact that he's so often avallable to help out ls god for all. Third, h"r.ltrg 'dllferent thtngs' ln one's Me ls more an asset than a liability. Fourth (and matnly), I would hate to tlrtnk that the dtabtlity tn our famlly would cause us to declde not to homeschool, and thereby make our ktds mtss out on erren more. I'm €ver so glad we didn't let tt.
Recovering from School Isn't So Easy In GWS # 7 8 Rtada Ror,h re spondd to a letter ttrr.n Jttn Bergh ail, Judg GanreV hod uritten irr GWS #76 abr;rut their chdren's aSustrnent to tameschoolbq qftcr t'r:virrg spert sewral gears in school. Now Jbn and. Judg write: Like R:irada, we saw some great improvements in both our sons after ta.klng them out of school. In our original letter to GWS, we dld not want to imply that our children did not improve. Fliather, we were trylng to tell parents that from what we can tell, and from what prelimtnaqr research from other families shows, children who have becn exposed to schools up to a certain point - probably after two or three years of schooling - have lncurred some forms of permanent and lrreversible mental and emodonal harm. Nelther of our sons was able to improve to the point where they regatned the
natural curiosity, creativity, and lnterest ln Me and ln the world that was clearly evident tn both prior to attending school. We were also trying to tell pa.rents that, while our boys lmproved, tt took super-human efforts on the part ofboth of us, and our friends, to make those limited lmprovements posstble. Unless parents are wtlling and able to put out a monumental effort on behalf of thelr previouslyschooled children, they may want to consider leaving them ln school. It isn't
that all children ar:en't worth thls elfort, because they are. But some parents are so depleted by what happened to them during their own schooling years, ln addidon to being pressured by the economlc demands of our ttmes, that they may not have such large quantities of personal res€rves to sPare.
Agaln, parents who never send their
children to school tn the llrst place do not face thls dllemma. Ttretr chtldren are stlll whole and lntact, and r€maln capable of giving something back to thelr parents. Chlldren who have been exposed to curr€nt educatlonal practlc€s, past a certain polnt, don't have anythtng to give. They are all used up because they've been trylng to
surrrive ln the hostile conditlons of the
a fewyears ls very nega.flve, so much so that perhaps we should have been erren
more reallstlc about tlrts condiflon ln our
At the same tlme, we would not change our declslon to take our chlldren out of school, and will be forerrer grateful for the gatns they have made toward their own peace of mlnd. For more on the toplc of going from school to homeschooling, see GWS #76,
#74.
Group Learns to
Administer Tests Maggt Ellbtt NVV) wdtes: We're in a real dtlemma about the testtng situatlon, because enen thoughwe ttrink the tests f;atl to ellclt what a chlld really knows and are probably classist and racist to boot, our law demands that we administer them every year. Ena views her upcomlng fir:st test with dread. John slogged through the third grade SAT in two days and looked absolutely glazed by the end. It's a bitter ptll for all of us, but lt must be done. And erren though we tell the kids that the tests don't mean much, we ane all grtrnly aware that they must do well. Any child who falls to score above the 4Oth percentlle for two vears ln a row must be enrolled in school. I iaughed at first when I heard "4oth" because I didn't understand nonning.
Fordeth percentile ts in the heart of 'average," not D or F performance.
Here's how we run testlng around here. Our state homeschooling organlzadon has teamed up with people who are capable of
betng "blessed'by the testing compa.nles people who have the rtght degrees, alltli-
ations, etc. One of these folks ls a nlce guy named Bill Mullett, who ls a testlngl maven and gutdance cpunselor wlth the Kanawha Coungr publlc schools. He'll travel to wherever a dozen lnterested people can assemble and deltver a four-hour sernlnar on how to admlnlster the tests. Those who take thts semlnar are then ln turn 'blessed'as test proctors (or ls that proctologists?). I organlzed one of these sesslons for our area. The materlal was lengthy and dry, but the allair was entertalning nonetheless. It had been a long tlme sinc'e I'd seen that much wit, sawy, acerbity, and radlcal attitude together ln one room. The state orgarrizatlon has "testlng coordlnators' (local homeschoolers wlth advanced degrees ln educatlon) scattered throughout the state. In cooper:adon with ours, we will find a spot, order the tests we want throug;b the state organizatlon, set testing dates, and match up ldds at the same 65ade level. Armed wlth our proctors' certlflcates we wlll go forth and test. Because the law forbids parents' testtng thelr own klds, we test each others'. We hope the fact that we have a large number of test admtntstrators wtll help us spread the tesflng over more days so each day will be less grueltng.