Growing Without Schooling 80
Ollvla Basernan (centcr) ts arnong thosc who wrltc for thts lssue's Focus,
Inside This fssue News & Rcports p.2-5 In Portugal, Reachtng Out to Professors, What Teachers Can Learn from Homeschoolers, How Support Groups Evolve
John Holt Answers Teachers'[fuestlons p. 6 You llon't Eeve to Ifomeschool to ReadG'WSI p.7 Challenges & Concerno p.8-12 No LongerTeased, Shyness, Down S5mdrome, Involvlng Toddlers, Testlng, Tr5dng School,
Leavlng School
Watchtng Chtldren Learn p. 13-14, 2Lz-28 Electronlcs, karnlng Wthout Busywork, Dolng Real Work, Helpfng Sctentlsts, Ballet, Wrtting and Spelling
BooL Revlews p. 15-18 FOCUS: When
llelp ls Helpful p. 19-22
The Adventure of Self-Educatlon: Intervlew wlth Kendall Ilatley p.23-24
Hlstory Wlthout Tertbooks
p. 25-27
Regources & Reconmendatlons p. z9
What ktnd of help ls tr$ helpful to another person? What klnd ls unnecessary or even lrrltattng or confustng? Adults who want to help chlldren stmggle wltJr these quesUons all the ttme. Sometlmes when we try to help chlldren they let us know qulte phfn$ that they don't need our help, dldn't ask for lt, and don't appreclate our maklng them feel that they can't do wlthout tt. A lot of the storles ln GWS are about adults flgurlng out when lt's better not to help. ButJust as often chlldren really do want our help ln learnlng somethlng or ngurtng out how to do somethtng. A lot of the storles ln GWS are about gMng help, too. So how do we know when to help, and what ldnd of help to gtve? Perhaps more than any other, the questton of help seems to be one that adults stmply cannot answer wlthout tnvoMng chlldren ln the dlscusston. The most lmportant general potnt that comes out of the chlldren's responses ln thts lssue's Focus ls that good teachers are those who let the learners deterrnlne what klnd of help they want and when they want lt. Over and over agaln the klds say, 'Ask me lf I want help." If we do nothlng more than glve chlldren that courtesy, lt wlll go a long way toward lessentng frustratlon between adults and chtldren. Chtldren are better than we lmaglne at knowtng what ked of help would be most helpfrrl to them, given thelr parUcular styles, temperament, and needs at the tlme. OlMa Baseman descrlbes a sltuatlon tn whtch her mother was trytng to ercplain a procrdure ln artthmetic by wrlting tt down on paper. Ollvla, knowlng that she understands better lf she can hear the errplanatlon rather than see lt, asked her mother to tell her about the procedure lnstead of showlng her. It worked; OlMa understood lmmedtate$. We usually thlnk that the teacher ls the one who has to come up wlth alternatlve methods of ocplalnlrg or helplng lf the current one lsn't worhlng, but OlMas story demonstrates that the leamer can - and lndeed, should - partlclpate ln thls process. OlMa's mother dldn't have to be clever at thlnktng up new e'cplanaUons as much as she had to be responslve to what OlMa was aslidng for.
The children's vlvld storles of belng ln sltuatlons ln whlch they dtdn't understand and dldn't feel they could say so wlll probab$ evoke memorles for many adult readers. They remlnd us how damaglng unhelpful help can be. But there's a hopefi:l stde to thls, too. When the chlldren told stortes of thelr parents gMng too much help or helplng before they were asked, they also descrlbed how parent and chlld worked things out and managed to turn a frustratlng sltuatlon lnto a better one. We can make mtstakes, and chlldren wlll forglve us, as long as we admit that they urere rnlstakes and back off when we see what we've done. A btg dtfference between belng ln school and beIrg at home seems to be that tn school chtldren often don't feel they can say, That was too much help," or -That didn't help me at all," or even something as slmple as, "I don't get lt.'But at home ctrlldren do say these thlngs, elther wlth words or actlons. Let's pay attenflon so we can learn how to become better helpers. Susannah Sheffer
-
'x
News
& Reports
Homeschooler in
Portugal C,loda Hantson ("Resoute People,' ryg of a letter that slre tarote to ElsaHaas InSpaln: cWS * 79) sent us a
I am homeschooling tn Fortugal and ln our officc. Katherine Dooltttle (ccnter) shows I^aurerr and Allson Farcqga how to usc the Hitmaster.
Office News & Announcements ISS:I As we go to press, IVe Just come
back from glving workshops at the Mary-
land Home Education Conference, where I saw several GWS readers and frlends. In Februa4r, Pat Farenga was lntervlewed on the World Monltor televlslon show. The show then aired several times at the end of
the month. Readers around the countqr may be
lnterested to know at whlch uPcomtng homeschoollng falrs and conferences we'll have our materlals avallable. Here's a pardal list: the Vermont state currlculum falr (4/2V, NewJersey Unschoolers Network (4/2n, Clonlara Home Based Educatlon Program (6 / 7 -91, Homeschool Associ,ates of New England (6/ 14-15). In the past couple of lssues we mentloned ldeas for booklets that we were cpnsiderlng publishing. WeVe dectded to begin with the one about ways ln whtch kids 13 and under have eamed thelr own mon€y, so here ls another lnvltaflon to send us storles about those experlenc.es. We are lnterested tn hearlng from chlldren dir,ectly, so wrlte us a letter about your experiences or let us know tfyou would prefer to be lnteMerved lnstead, If you're older than 13 but want to wrlte about ways you earned money when you wene younger, thatwould be great, too. Dlana Baseman (PA) wrltes, 'I have beenwantlng to wrtte and commend you for what you are dotng tn GWS wtth dtalogufng wtth chlldren about learnlng. Whtle tt ts ahrays tntercstlng and supportive to hear from other parents, those of us who truly believe ln leanrer-led educatlon really need to hear more from learners than from teachers, For one thtng, the children, espectdly those who have never attended school, have valuable lnstghts to gfve those of us who have been schooled.' Dtana glves me a good excuse to thank all
theyoungpeoplewhowrtG to us about thetr thoughts, oPlnions, and experlenc.es. You're telltng us thlngs we can't leam any other way, whdch makes your wrlthg a valuable contrlbudon to the dlscusslon of homeschooling and educaUon tn general. A small note about sendlng mail to the oftIce: when you are sendtng mall to one of us ln pa.rticular, make sure thatyou wrlte GWS or Holt Associates on the envelope
ln
addidon to the lndtvtdual's name. Mail addressed to an fuldtvldual and our street address only sometmes gets r€tumed or ls delayed in reaching us.
as far as I know I am the only one here. I
have met about slx homeschooltng famtlles slnce we moved here two years ago, but they were all Amerlcan, Engltsh, or Canadian. None of them are lMng here now. I have nerrer nret wtth the slightest lnterest arnong the Portuguese ln horneschooling thelr chlldren. I know plenty of Portuguese famtlles, as I am Portuguese myself, although marrted to an Arnerlcan and basically followlng an Amerlcan Itfestyle. My hrrdly and frtends think that what I am dotng is very qualnt, very brave, very unusual, but heaven forbtd that they should do lt themselrrcs. And yet thls ls not through lack of love or ooncern for thelr
children, but rather because ofa generdly held beltef in the omnlpotencc of teachers and the government In general. As far as homeschoollng my own chlldren, I have never met wlth any hassle. First, my husband and the chtldren betng Americans, most acqualntances assurne that the clrlldren are attendlng a foretgn school. Second, Fortuguese schools, due to the fact that there ls a scarclt5r of them, funcflon ln trvo strtfts. Chtldren go to school mornlngs only or afternmns only. That means that one ahrrays sees chlldren around In the streets, and my chlldren and I don't stick out like a sore thumb when we go out. No one has ever asked them why
they're not ln school.
Parents here are very dlssatlsfled with the state ofpubltc schools. Although schooltng is free, textbmks have to be bought by the parents. At the beglnning of wery school year, the chlldren come home lrith a list of the books they have to buy. Then the parents must go to the papelerias (statloner's) or large supermarkets to buy them. Often, there are not enough books prlnted, the shops run out, and the chtldren must go to school wlthout books for several weeks and share wlth thelr 6:lends. Another problem ls that the teachers are so badly pafd that they often take on a second Job, and sometlrrcs don't show up for classes. My frtend's teenage daughter says that one teacher ts regularly absent wery other Saturday morntng (the gtrl has to go to school on Saturday rnornings, but somedmes she sklps, as she feels the teacher wfll probably not be there anyuray). With these problems, what do the parents do? Well, the very poor harrc to lump it. The mtddle class, at great ffnancial sacriffce, try to send thetr clrtldren to prlvate schools. These prlvate schools usua\r start out ln a prtvate house, with maybe ten ctrlldren. Wtthln a few months they have a\valtlng ltst and must expand
thelr facllitles.
My brother-ln-law told me that homeschoollng fur Portugal ls not agalnst the law, but he dldn't thtnk many people would do tt, because of the sttgma attached
to tL Tradtdonally, tn Portugal, lf you
don't send your ctrlld to school lfs because you'ne a Srpsy or want to keep your child home to help rrn the liarm. People see school as ollbrlng a way out of poverty, no matter how lnadequate the educadon. I have often wtshed I could meet Portuguese homeschoolers, but frankly, I don't know how to go about lt. We are on a very
lhfted budget and I can't alford to travel
about the countr5r, or put ads ln the paper regularly. I don't know of any alternative organlzatlons that support such thlngs as breastfeedtng, home blrth, health foods, savtng the envlronment, etc. Any ideas? I am blessed ln the liact that I stumbled acFoss an ldeal home business about ayear ago, wtrlch ts stardng to show a small proflt, Just enough to keep us from goireg hungry. I tmport and sell Engltsh children's books to the foretgn cornmunity here. I hold book fatrs at the various schools and church baJzaars,I have somettmes thought of adverttstng GWS and John Holt's ldeas at some of these bazaars, but don't know how to go about lt. After all, most parents have thelr lidds ln these expenslve foretgn schools out ofchoicel
Reaching Out to College Professors Jaque
W,llllanrs,on
MN writes:
I nnally got brave enough (cpnfident) that I was dolng somethlng ln the educatton fleld rvorthy of others' knowledge and tnput. I wanted to establlsh professional communlcatlon between homeschoolers and the unlverslty. Another homeschoollng mom and I have had astounding responses, all postuve. Several professors ln the educaflon department at the unlversit5r are exclted about llnally having contact wtth homeschoolers. They ar€ supportlrre and want to lnfuse many of our thoughts lnto thetr work with educators but undl now were relylng on printed materlal. Upshot ls we've been videoed several dmes (our wrlflng club and math otympfad) for posslble use ln classes to show how meanfngful leamlng sltuafions canbe. WeVebeenasked to attend asmall dlscusslon group wtrlch ls focuslng on educatlonal theorles and lmplementation: actually a free-for-all look at education and learnlng.
Our publlc school has welcomed me to attend professlonal development classes for crrtlffcatlon renewal and I've done so. I'm amazed at how open and supportlve
they are. The supervlsor of language arts for the count5r (who ts also tn charge of homeschoolers) ts worktng on gettlng Permlsslon to brtng some teachers out to obs€we ourwrltlng club. The county ls doing a lot to enoourage teachers to observe each otlrer, but I'm amazed that they'd edend it to homeschoolers, I can't think of better PR than others seelng our writing club. They can ident$ wtth us slnce it is close enough to a school sltuatlon, tn that lt ls a group of slxteen students, but tt ls unusual ln that it has an age range of6-14, not to mention the enthusl,asm and quality of wrtting.
Growlng Wthout Schooling #8O
3
Andfiom Debrah
MerXa oJ New
York: About six months ago I approached our communlty college about teaching a one-night, three-hour cours€ on homeschooling. The school was very receptive and onJune 2l I'm going to do tt. The woman who lntervler red me about the course tnqutred about errery aspect of homeschoollng imaginable. My btggest surprise came when she asked me what the college could do for high school homeschoolers. Evidently homeschoolers were a topic of discusslon in a prenlous meeting at the college and the school wants to make Itself avallable to the homeschool
community, I conducted a limited sunrey of homeschoolers to see what thelr needs were. The number one requestwas acoess to chemistry and biologr labs. I called back my interviewer wtth thts lnformatlon and she sald she would take tt from therc. New York ls experlenclng maJor budget cuts ln educatlon so I don't know lf we wlll get the use of the labs or my suggesUon of a six to elght-week lntensiffed study ln these two areas. But I detected an openness and acc€ptance tourard the homeschool com-
munlgr that I didn't expect.
What Teachers Can Learn from Homeschoolers Tttercsa Morris oJ tle Neu York Citg Hone Edtrcators Alllan'rce sent us aapg oJ apapr byJatet Renordcalled, -fhe
Unr:omnon Sense oj Home *hooltg: How Teaclers Mtght LeanJromTlnse Wlw
Don't Teach-" We quoteJromtle paft oJ tle papr In whlch the autlrorr descr{bes go@ on aJbA W w/f,hhomeschmlers tn Theresa lvlorris's group:
I began to look into what ts called homeschooling with the assumptlon that those of us who plan to teach [ln schoolsl may beneflt from ffndtng out more about how learnlng takes place outslde the classroom. ... I have tried to focus mainly on homeschooling parents' approaches to language derrelopmenL ...
I ast month, I spent an afternoon at the Brooklyn Museum, where seven adults and twelve children, ranging ln age from ten months to twelve years, wene taktng a tour of the section on anclent Egrpt. My first lmpresslon was that the children were happy, relaxed, and conlldenL Morrts had warnd me that adults are often taken aback by homeschooled chlldren because of theway they speak - because they are around adults more often than peers, they tend toward adult speech mannerlsms and vocabulary. Thls seemed qulte true, erren if they did not always behave like miniature adults; the younger children seemed ordinarily playful, the older glrls were concerned wlth boys and secrets. They spoke as easily to me (a strange adult) as they did to thelr own siblings, friends, mothers, and other adults. For the flrst hour of the tour, the children were attendve; thry llstened to the guide, asked and rtt"*.i.d questions
Growing Without Schooling #8O
generally as a gFoup. I was lmpressed wtth the length of thet attendon span and by thetr egalitarlan treatment of each other, despite the large age dlfferenc.es. After thls sustalned perid, however, they began to drtft. A four year old uras becoming frustrated: 'Why can't we touch the thlngs ln here?' she asked her mother, not ln a c.omplaining tone but rather ln a tone that suggested shewanted a real answer, whlch her mother supplted. Other children beg;an to pair off, lag behtnd, sldp ahead, play games. B5r the end of the tour, the mothers were the ones llstenlng to the guide, asldng and answering his questions. In the cyes of comnon sense, the tourwould have perhaps becn deemed a failure - the chlldren seemed to have stopped leamtng. In unoomnon sense terms, howsrrer, the children probably learned a great deal: their mothers were providing exc.ellent role rnodels; they ltstened carefully, dtscussed what they were seelng ln terms of thetr past experlence (books they had read, a museutn tour they had prevtously taken, slmllar obJects they had seen elsewhere), and, most of all, they were genuinely lnterested ln the Egpdan artlfacts. The chlldren came ln and out of thls clrcle freely, sometlmes pauslng to llsten, sometlmes asking questions that (whether related, tangenttal, or unrelated) were treated with conslderatlon. I cannot imagine that chlldren could find a better set of what Mayher calls 'living examples' of people usfuig langauge competencles to make meanlng tn thetr own lives. At the end of the tour, when the gutde produced drawtng materlals and suggested that the children could IInd somethlng to draw, most of them eagerly dld so, elther alone or ln small groups. One glrl, howerrer, mmplained, 'I don't want to; do we have to?" Her mother answered, 'Of course you don't have to, butJust take some paper anyway..,'A few mlnutes later, I saw the same glrl absorbed tn repllcatlng htero$yphics from a stone tablet. Obvtously, she was not dotng thts to please her mother orthe guidebutbecause she had dectded tt was worth dotng after all. ... As a result of my readlngs and conversations, I have begun to form a tentative concluslon about how educators and schools may benefft from llndlng out more about homeschoollng: I would not suggest thatany sort ofsystematic study be undertaken - no nadonwlde or statewlde stattsttcal analyses of homeschoolers (breakdowns by lncome, level of educatlon, degree of formallty, number of chtldren, matertals used, etc.). Instead, I would take my cue from the homeschoolers who belleve that the best (lf not only) way to learn sornethlng ls to make sure tt ts embedded wlthln a meantngful contexL What would happen tf teachers' own children dld not attend school? Perhaps then real school reform would not only be possible but inevltable. But for those who elther have no children or who would find tt tm dillicult to support a famtly on Just one salary even for a yearor two ..., I would suggest that they make friends with a homeschoollng family. Have lunch. Spend a day at a muselun. Let thelr chlldren play with your baby. Read to the children. Let the childr€n read to you. The opportunides for leamlng are endless.
How Support Groups Evolve I 9"9
Susan Ricfunan urcte tt tle wlnter lssr.re oJ Pennsylvania Homeschool-
I
Travellng across the state thts fall we had the good opportuntt5l to meet with so many dtllerent support group leaders and hear how thlngs are gotng all over. Ten years ago lfs safe to say that not one support group sdsted anywhere ln Pennsylvania" and nowwlth errery issue we hear of new groups. One cpmmon thing seems to be that the groups are growing by leaps and bounds - and somedmes thts leaves families struggling a bit ln c,oping with such sudden growth. Ifs a welcome challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. One leader, for fuestance, mendoned that norv thetr group has well over ftfty familtes, and thcy haven't found a good uray to ltmtt lleld trtps to certaln numbers of chlldren, and sometlmes the numbers attendtng are ovenrrhelmlng. 'We don't hear as often as we used to what a wellbehaved group ofktds we have, There are Just too many and we're runnlng lnto problems of not enough supeMslon.' Some g;roups llke to oller chlldren's acfivlfies ln downstairs rooms during the parents' meetlng upstalrs. Numbers have made thls dtfficult. Sixty chtldren of all ages may show up, and that's a lot of kids to plan for. Parents aren't so eager to sign up for thls volunteer spot, and some have dectded toJust leave the ktds at home rather than brtng them tn to all the hubbub ofsuch a huge gathering. In some groups, espectally those that have been around for years and years, the
original leaders who used to do everything haveJust recently stepped down. Maybe thry've had a new baby, or maybe tt'sJust tlme to refocus on thelr own famllles for a wtrile. Those who then take the relns often IInd they need to lead tn a new way, using delegaflon and commlttees where before thatJust wasn't nec.essar5r. One leader told us that she very quickly realized that the Job of coordtnadng all the various actlvities that her group was now doing muldn't possibly be done by only one mother - if she wanted to have any tlme left over for her own hrnlly. She let the group know that unless someone came forward to take over the group's newsletter and head up various spectal events, shed have to take that as an lndlcaUon ttrat that service just wasn't needed an5rrnore by the group. You can guesswhat happened - people came forward who had never been involved ln leadtng and planntng before. She also found that lt was a much better use of her
time to help other mothers learn the sim-
ple baslcs of planntng a lleld trip for the group than to plan all the trips herself.
GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOUNG *8O, Vol. 14. No.2. ISSN #0745-4305. Publrshcd bl-monthly by Holt Assoclatcs, 2269 Massachus€tts Ave, Cambrtdge MA 02 l4O. $25lyr. Date of Issue: April I, 1991. Sccond-class posroge paid at Boston, MA. POSTMT{STER: Scnd address changes to GWS, 2269 Massachusctts Ave, Cambridge MA 02140. ADVERTISERS: Dcadlines are the l5th ofodd-
numbcrcd months. Contact Patrlck Farenga for rates.
4 These plans can then be'shared tn the local
newsletter and at monthly meetings. They have also dweloped a slmple stgn-up registratlon sheet for trtps, wtth clear limits on the size of the group. If someone can't get ln, they are stmply urged to bry to set up another tour at the same locaflon themselves and open that to the group too, Many groups have found that they now need to charge famlltes for the group's services. Where at flrst dues were not erren consldered and all servlcc.s (newsletters, counsellng, fteld trtps, actlvtty days, etc.) were olfered free to whoever phoned, showed up, or took part, now the numbers mean that thls is an unfalr burden on those who arc paying the prtntlng costs, matltng out notlces, putttng tlme and
money lnto acUvlues.
Phone counseltng has also been a
tricky thtng for groups to handle. Usually
one person tn a grou.p llelds all calls, and when that starts growlng tnto saneral long calls each day, many llnd tt's flme to fan out the responsiblllt5r. Some gnouPs no\v have several numbers llsted for people to call for baslc info and help, and leaders are feeling more comfortable suggestlng other people for a new caller to contact lf the call has come at a very busy ttme. Although tt ts so excldng and energlzlng to hear from so nrany new homeschoolers and we are all eager to help, tt can be exhaustlng, and we can s€e somedmes that these cdls can eat tm far lnto our own homeschooltng and famtly ttme. Many leaders now have telephone answerlng machlnes, and espectally use them during the dayttme hours. Famllies who leave messag;es mtgfrt want to let the support grcup leader know that tt ts OK to return thet call cpllect, out ofrespect for the leader's phone blll, Some groups have needed to spltt tnto two to continue meeflng the ne,eds of famllles. Sometlmes thts means that famtltes that used to travel 45 mleutes now only need to go a few miles to the monthly meetlngs. Espectally around large cldes we now see a halfdozen groups tnstead ofJust one or two. One new group fur the Pittsburgh area has seen their membershlp grow from six famlltes to over 35 ln one year. Thetr new geographtcal locatlon ls otndously meettng a need they hardly knev odsted. A few areas have longtlme 'old hand' groups that meet very lnformally, mostly
for acttvltles for their chlldren. Some-
tlmes these famllies feel, especlally as thetr chtldren get older, that they are mor€ lnterested tn ollering and coordteating these small acdvity groups than tn organizlng open support SFoups thatwelcome new
famllles.
Sometlmes ne\Jv, younger mothers are eager to do the legwork and organlztnt ofa group op€n to everyone, but feel stymted by the group of establtshed famtlles. Would tt be stepptng on toes to ofllclally start a new group? They feel left out of the local gotngs on, want to se more local publtctty and regular meetlngs fcr everyone. But when they approach the older famllles about dolng thts, those longtlme homeschool moms feel they are befurg called upon to organlze yet one more thtng to drain thelr time, and lnstead of encouragement maybe Just say that it can't be done, lt has been tried before and no one was tnterested. In at least one area, wtth outside encpuragernent the new famtlles Just formed
thelr own Elroup, welcrmed the longterm homeschoolers to take part, too, and everythtng ts worlidng out wonderfully. The older leaders 1r"6rr'1 patt.ed that new farntltes were read5r to take on organizlng work themselves. They u/ere genutne$ thrtlled to be able to attend meetlngs set up by others, sttttng back and enJoSdng themselves at a homeschooltng functlon for maybe the flrst tlme. The phone counsellng
work was also spread out more errenly wtth new c.ontact people establtshed. No hard feeltngs ocrcurred, and the new group has a thrlvlng memberstrtp and glowlng vttalfty. One large group was reallzlng that
thetr growlng size mtght mean that new famllles would feel lost, wtthout someone speclal to talk wtth. They are starflng up a bU stster/ltttle slster program, matchlng experlenced homeschoolers ready to reach out and help wtth new famtlles. Thcy are trytng where posslble to match famllles who llve near to each other and who mtght have chlldren of compatlble ages.
trust thelr turstlncts wtth their children. They should feel empowered,'says teacher Sandra Edson, 'to use lots ofpracttcal and hands-on t54pe e4periences to teach baslc sldlls to the young and eager leamer tn the chtld's datly life... We hope parents wlll come to recognize what a ioectal sltuaUon thev are ln and how to use that sltuaflon to the fullest. We speclflcally hope home teachers wtll feel confldent enough to throw away much of the workbook pa.ges and prlnted materials whlch may have been created to keep a cl?"s,roorn full of ctrtldren busy and qulet while the teacher ran around and tried to give tndtvldual attentton, and lnstead use real-llfe
materlals, real-ltfe storybooks (as opposed to sttlted, controlled langn"g. found tn many basal readers), and real-llfe situattons to gutde thelryoung charge through lrts/her ear\r tratntng.'
State News For addresses o;f state rrndlocrrl
How Many in AR, \lT,
dgarizAlbna see GII/|S *78 or our Honesclwling Resource Ilst avallable
ANd ND
Jor $2,5O.
The December l99O lssue o f Updote,
the newsletter of the Arkansas Chrlsttan Home Educatlon r{,ssoclatlon, llsts the followtng numbers of chlldren (not famllles) who are homeschooltng tn Arkansas, based on letters of lntent ftled wtth the State Department of Educatlon: l99O: 245O; 1989:2O40; 1988: ITOO; 1987: I 138;
1986:81& 1985:536.
From the November l99O lssue of the
Vermont Homeschoolers Assoclatlon
newsletten 'Nine years ago, m farnllles homeschooled thetr children [in Vermont]. Currently there are 497 fanrtlies (6O6 students) enrolled wtth the Department of Educatlon ln Montpeller.' And from the March l99l issue of tlre North Dakota Home School Assoclatlon newsletten "The Department of Publtc Instructlon r€ports that 483 students are belng horneschooled tn the l99O-91 school year. This ls an Increase ol 2796 from the 1989-90 scholyear when 357 students were homeschooled.' The newsletter adds that these flgures refer to 232 and 163 JatnIIIe s, respectlvely.
News from Canada
Wendg fusrdE wrote tt tle March I99I fssne oJChild's Play, tle rewsletter oJ tle Canadlan AlIIarce o;[ Hone Schoolers: The Support Ftom Unexpected Placcs Departmenf i In response to a wholesale overhaul of educatlon tn Brlttsh Columbia, the Mtntstry of Dlstance l.earnlng and Conttnulng Educadon ls updating tts prtmary level correspondence materlals. ... The new BC style follows many of the phllosophles long ln use by home-based educators. It's good to note that the wrlters who are putttng together the new provlncial primary correspondencc currlculum recognlze that - even tfthey suddenly seem to feel the need to teach us to do what many ofus have been flghttng for the rtght to dol Acctrdlng to a member of the team of writers quoted ln a recent newsletter from the Canadtan Home &lucators Assocladon of BC, tt ls their task to teach parents to
Chellenicr to Prlvete Scbool Optlon
Cellfornle: The February /March
l99l
lssue of the Northern Californla Homeschool Assoclatlon Nerus reports two lnstances of confuslon about homeschoolers reglstertng as prlvate schools by filing R-4 allldavtts (one of the legal optlons ln Caltfornta): On November 26, homeschoolers met wlth Roger Wolfertz, the State Departrnent of Educatlon's Asslstant General Counsel, to dlscuss hts tnterpretation of the prlvate school secdon of the Educatlon Code. Wolfertz plans to send a legal oplnlon to all school dlstricts ln the state saytnS that a prlvate school ls more than Juit a-school tlttat tras llled an R-4 alfidavit; It must charge tuttlon, teach more than one famtly's chlldren, and have a buslness llcense. Melissa Hatheway of the NCFIA stresses that thls ls oPlnlon, not law, but is cpncemed that because the oplnlon is comlng from the Depa.rtment of E<lucatlon, school dtstrtcts wtll tr,eat lt as law' She says that homeschoolers plan to challenge
thls lnterpretation of the law'
The NCHA newsletter also reports that
some of the home schools regfstered as prlvate schools ln Alameda CountSr have recelved letters from the County Superlntendent suggesflng that home schools are
not legfflmate prlvate schools. The Ietter refers to thls tdea as an 'Alameda County Counsel oplnion,'and the NCFIA reports that Meltssa Hatheway has wrltten to the Alameda superlntendent "to cladry the
homeschooler,"s' posltlon and polnt out that tndeed thls ls opinlon and suggestion only, NOT the law.'
Chellcngc to Ccrtlflcetlon Rcqulrc-
ncnt
RcJectcd
Iose: In GWS #7O we wrote that the
rcqulrement that homeschooling parents
be cerflfled teachers was back in effect in Iowa, and that the Home School Lcgal Defense.{.ssociatlon had filed sult on be-
half of llve famtltes who had been threatened wtth prosecuflon, When the lawwas changed to requlre homeschooling Parents to have teachtng ccrtlllcates (in 1953), the
Grorrlng Without Schooling #8O
c btll dealt wtth more than one toplc. The Iowa consfltudon requlres that bills deal wlth one toptc only, so the sult charged that the law was passed ln vlolatlon of the Iowa consUtutlon. OnNovember 16, 1990, thelowa Supreme Court reJected this challenge to the teacher certlllcatlon law ac.cordtng to the January,/February lssue of Tfte llonre *tropl &urt Reptt HSLDAg newsletter. Meanwhlle, the March l99l nenrsletter of the Iowa Home Educators Associatlon newsletter reports that two House Study Btlls are belng comblned lnto one a tnranqr blll and the proposed Govemor's btll on homeschoollng. The home school porUon provldes only two opdons for homeschoolers, certlffcatlon and testtng. Ed Dlckerson of IHEAwrltes ln the newsletter that homeschoolerc want to add to the btll the optlons of enrolltng tn a satelItte schol, and keeptng aJournal and/or a portfolto of work. He adds that'shrdy btll' status means that many changes can be rnade to the blll before lt ls {ntroduced as a
regular bill.
Homercboolcr Oppore Uendetory Strnderdkcd Tcrtlng I[cr Yorl: The Januar5r l99l lssue of the Home Schoolers' Exchange nervsletter reports that some homeschoolers are pr€' pared to challenge the mandatory standadlzed testtng requlred under the state's homeschoollng regulaflons. Ihthartne Houk and Seth Rockmuller wrlte, "Many famtltes around the state are flrmly op-
posed to the testlng and have lndtcated that thcy urant to use an alternaUve a.ss€ssment ln the sprlng of 1991. A statewtde support glroup has formed for those who oppos€ testlng so that they wtll be able to
approach any dllffculiles that arlse ln a unlted way. It ls easler for Large lnsdtutlons to lnttmtdate tndtvtdual famllles than lt ls for them to tntlmtdate famlltes that have the support ofmany others. The contact people for the group are Allen Fannln, Box 62, Westdale M 13483; 315245-2aa7 andJudtth Utttng-Ford, I 158 Cartl's Stralght Path, Dlx Htlls NY 11746;
local publtc school superlntendent; rpnltorlng of home schools urould harrc been done through prhrate schols; parcnts would have pafd all costs for the erraulatlon that the law rcqutres for chlldren whose standardlzed test scores are below
the 29th percenflle. Meanwhlle, horneschoolers tntrroduced SB 25.12, wtrtch calls for the recognltlon of horneschoolfng as prlvate educatton, allows parents to have thelr ctrlldren tested outstde the honre, and deals wtth quesflons that have come up about the requlred monltorlng of homeschooled chlldren (how many hours are requlned, who ls quallfled to do the rnnttorlng). The March nenrsletter reports that ttrls btl passed ln the Senate on Febrrar5r l8th, 48-4. Itwas arnended so that recognltlon ofhorne schools as prhrate schools ls no longer pa.rt of the btll, but lt nras also amended to allow any certtfled teacher to rrpnltor homeschoolers, In the pa.et, rnonitors had to be employed by a stateapproved public or prfirate school. Under thls new blll, homeschoolers who are certilled teachers would be able to monitor
others. At GWS's press time thls blll was about to be heard ln the House &lucadon Commlttee, so check wlth the NDHSA for the latest lnformatlon,
Wclt Vlrglnh: Homeschoolers are urcrldng on proposed amendments and addldons to the homeschool law wtrtch they hope to lntroduce durlng the current legfsladve s€sslon, accordtng to the January 199 I newsletter of the West Vtlgfnta Home Educators Assocladon. Among these prcposed addtflons are a clarlllcadon of the requlred outllne of plan of lnstmcilon; an alternatlve to annual testtng (the famtly would keep a portfollo, submlt lt to a certlffed teacher, and then submtt the teacher's wrltten evaluadon to the county superlntendent tr lleu of test scores); a way for homeschoolers to get htgh school crcdtts schools wtll acrcept (by scorlng above the 4oth percentlle ln the particular subJect area, or by presendng a portfolto ofurcrk).
5t6-242-7579. 'At the January 9 rneettng at the State
Judge Ruler Ageln.t Sulrcrlntcndcnt Pennrylvenlr: Federal .Judge Don-
Educatlon Department, ure dlscussed one posslble route for an alternatlve to standardlzed testtng. The Commlssloner's r€gulatlons provide for a varlance from the rcqulrements of Part IOO of the reguladons (the home lnstmcdon regulaflon ls ln Part IOO). The State Educatlon Department is currently consldering whether the nariance procedure can be applted to the tesdng rcqulrements of the home lnstructlon regulation, and we lntend to stay ln close cutact wlth the Educatlon Departrnent, encouraglng lt to use the varlance procedure as .rnlrry'.erlrremeasure untll the regulatlon can be amended to expltclt\r provlde for alternaUve assessment procedures at all grade lerrels.'
ald J. Lee rrled agdnst Ptttsburgh School
Blllr Pcndlng
trorth Delote: The March lssue of the North Dakota Home School Assoctatlon newsletter reports that HB 160l, whlch had been tntrcduced on behalf of publlc school adminlstrators, nras defeated 82-22 on Februaqr l5th. The btll unuld have requlrred horneschoolers to report to the county superintendent rather than the
Growtng Vlt{hout Schoollng #8O
Supertntendent Rtchard Wallacc and tn favor of the homeschoolers ln'nolved, accordtng to theWnter l99l lssue of the Pennsylvanla Homeschoolers newsletter. The case tnvolved the superlntendent's attempts to make requlrements of homeschoolers which arc not ln the state law. Hourard Rlchman wrote ln the PA Homeschmlers newsletter that at the beginnlng of the 1989-9O school year, Wallace wrote to Ptttsburgh homeschoolers telltng them to brtng thelr chlldren to publlc schools to take the Monttorlng Actrlevement tn Plttsburgh [MAP) tests. These tests ar€ part of the Ptttsburgh publtc school currlculum but are not requlred ofhomeschoolers. The families refused to do thls. Wallace then told them to brlng tn their portfollos and get mtdyear e',raluatlons, whtch superlntendents may do, accordlng to the homeschool law, tf they have 'reasonable bellef that educatlon ls not taldng place. When the superlntendent refused to wlthdraw thls request, the famlltes, ln ctnJuncflon wtth the Horne Schol Lrgal Defensc Assocladon, Illed sutt.
The PA Homeschoolers newsletter quotes from Judge Lee's oplnlon: 'A reasonable beltef should be based upon substantlve fact and af[.rmadve knowledge, not upon nonocclurenoe and presumpdon. Wthout an evldentlar5l foundation upon whtch Wallace could base lts'belief,' Superlntendent Wallace was without statutory authort$r to requke that the pordollos of records and materlals... be subrnttted prlor to the concluslon of the school year. Fatlure to pardclpa.te ln MAP testlng, a requlrernent not found ln the home educatlon stahrte, ls not determireadve of the measur€ of achlerrement of the home school program.'
Lcgl.htlo! Illot Rccomncndcd
lPlrconrln: In GWS #76, we wrote that a Irgtslattve Council planned to study horrrschooltng, wtth proposed legfslation a posslble result The Wsconsln Parents
Assocladon opposed the sfudy because lt beltcved the current liaw was worktng well. Durtng the past several months, homeschoolers worked to educate leglslators about homeschoollng and the effecdveness of the curr€nt law. T\vo thousand suPPorters of homeschooltng came to the Capttol on Februaqr 6 to rally, present a petldon wtth 50oo slgnatures, and speak wtth legislators. WPA now reports that the commlttee of the kgtslattve Councll did not flnd any substanflal evldence of problems with homeschooling ln the state, and voted urrantrnous$ not to r€commend new
homeschoollng leglslatton. Thts Februa4r lssue of theWPA news-
letter (arratlable for $3 from WPA) c.ontalns a detatled look at the results of the l-egtslattrrc Councll's study and at how homeschoolers' elforts were successful. One
excerpt:'Homeschoolers throughout Wisconstn remalned unlted and worked together through WPA.. We did not offer leglslattve proposals, Ttrose who use car€fully selected, admtnlstered, and lnterpreted standardlzed tests dtd not say that state-mandated testtng rvould be okay wtth them. Famtlles that choose purchased currlculums dld not su€lelest maldng them
mandatory...,
'We were able to butld on our pa.st
work. Many homeschoolers had
alrready
c-ontacted thetr leglslators and establlshed good worlrdng relaHonshlps wtth them.
Thls work had to be grassroots and lnvolve many people; lt crould not have been accompltshed by a ferr lndivtduals. For example, l@ homeschoolers ln the northwestern part of Wtsconsln attended a meetlng wlth thetr leglslators. Other homeschoolers met ln small study groups wlth thetr legislators: sdll others had one-on-one meetlngs. All of these approaches were effectlve,'
Calendar
Mav 17. 18. 19. l99l: Families Leamtng Together of North Carollna
sprtng gatherlng ftr Wnston-Salem, Actlvltles for adults and chlldren. For lnformadon: Sarah Honrc, 16l I Maryland Ave, Durham NC 277O5: 9 I 9-286- I O84.
We are haPPy to prlnt announcements
of maJor homeschoolteg and related 6/ents, butwe need plenty of nottce. Deadline for GWS #81 (errents tn July or later) is May lOth. fleadltne for GWS #82 (events tn September or later) ls July loth.
6
John Holt Answers Teachers' Questions Q. How are children lrats€d tn non-traditlonal waysl gotnS to
conslder a waste of dme at all - thlngs such as talklng wlth one's frlends. The talk I had wtth my frlends durlng my own schoollng uras wlth very rare excepuon more valuable tn my educadon than almost anythfng I heard ln class.
A The quesflon tmpltes by lts very words that
thts, that, or tlre other?
Some questlons that teachers asked John Holt ln 1968, and trls answers:
IIt tnto socteM
Q. Won't ctdldren be sorry later lf we don't make them study
a Ilxed, unchangtng thlng tnto whtch people must IIt, ltke keys tnto keyholes. The assumpflon ts false for two reasons. Flrst, and thts ls the r€ason thatJefferson urged publtc educatlon, tt ts the duty of a citlzen ln a free country not to..;flt tnto socteg, but to malce soclet5r. Secondly, our soclety ts changlng so rapldly that no one can any longer be prepared to fft lnto lt. A person who qren thlnks of hls Job as 'fftttng'wtll to ttnt extent be at a hopeless dtsadrrantage. What urc must have ls curloslt5r, resourcefulness, tma€Irxasoc.lety ls
tlon. Q. How are ctdldren going to learn selfdtsctpllne If they are not made to do things? A. One does not learn selfdtsclpllne by betng made to do thtngs. One learns tt by dtsctpltntng oneself; tlnt ts, by dotng dlfflcult thtngs of one's own choostng. Self-dtsclpllne ls not a hablt one learns by belng tralned, llke PavloCs dog. It ts a sklll, whlch one learns by practlcc. The fact ls that chlldren at all ages, lncludtng the earlles! urork much harder on the tasks of thelr own chooslng than almost any children work ln school. In fact, one of my chtef crlilclsms of convenflonal school ts that tt makes tt nearly lmposslble for chlldren to leam self-disctpline or what lt ts ltke to devote one's full energles to a task of one's own chooslng. Q. Won't chlldren Just waste thelr ttme if they are gfven a chotce of thlngs to do?
A. Interestlngly enough, rnore than a few students have asked me thls quesdon themselves. They often say, "If I weren't made to do thtngs, I'd never do an5rthtng worthwhtle.' When I hear thls, what I answer ls, 'In the flrst plac.e, I don t believe you, In the second place, lf tt were tnre that afteryears of schooltngyou had found notltng that rvas sullclentl5r worth dotng, so that you would do tt wtthout betng made to, then thls ls the worst lndlctment of your schooling that I can lmagtne.'The fact is that a gr€at many chlldren, exren when under hearry pr,essure from school, spend a great deal of ttme and concentrated effort on acdvldes of thelr own chooslng. I must add that tn my opinlon, a great many of the thtngs whlch schools generally call a waste of tlme I do not
rd Sometlmes people say to rrr, 'Iwas made to study such and such, and dtdn't lfl<e lt, but now I am glad.' Posstbly. On the other hand, they mtght have come to tt anyway, or they mtg;ht have dtscorrcred sornettrlng else for themselves that rnight have given them more pleasure. The argument doesn't prove anythtng. Nobody can do all things ln one llfetlrne and whatever we do, and howerrcr much we enJoy tt there may always remaln the possibtltty that urc mtght have enJoyed other things as much or more. This ls not an argurnent for trylng to run other people's llves for them. The fact ls that rpst cldldren do not learn to llke the thlngs they have thelr noses rubbed ln, and that when we with rntsguided good lntentlons try to make a chlld do somethlng tn the hopes that he wtll ltke tt later, the most probable result ls that he wtll hate lt. What ts even mone to the polnt ls that chtldren must be given the opportuntty to tqr what they wtll do, since tt ts only by maktng cholces and Ilndtng out that some of them are bad that we ever learn to choose wisely. Furtherrnore, tt ls only when we are free to llke somethlng or not to ltke tt that we ever llnd out what we really like - somethlng that too few people know. Q. Won't children waste all thelr time playing? A. Thts question shows how much we are sdll vlctlms of the CaMntst-Pr-rrttan notlons about work and play. We can sum up these nodons as follows: work ls what you don't like to do, but do because you have to, and doarg lt ts good for you. Play ts what you Itke to do, and dolng tt ts bad foryou. Thesc dlsdncflons are nonsense, Nobody who ls really ltvtng, really involved ln what he ts dotng, makes any such distlnctlons. Ask a person who ts truly allve and deeply tnvolved with Me whether what he is dolng at any moment ls worldng or playlng, and he wlll say, "I don't know.' As Robert Frost says at the end of hls poem, 'TWo Tramps ln Mud Tlme,'only when work and play are one is the deed ever truly done for heaven and future's sakes, Q. How do you get a child to erraluate htmself and his work
wlthout dotng tt ln comparlson wlth the progfess of other children?
A What Bllly X. wants to know ls not whether he ts doing somethlng better than or as well as Jtmmy Y., but whether he ls dotng tt better than he dtd tt yesterday. When ctrlldren are very young, learntng to walk, talk, and acqulre many other sldlls, they are very much aware of thetr own progress wlthout betng continually compared to other chlldren. What they do, as they learn, is oompare thelr own performancc wlth the competenc€ models that they see all around them, adults or older chtldren. And thts is what any serlous learner does at any age. I am a writer. I want my wrldng to be as good as I can make lt, and to get better. I don t need to have people around me telllng me that I am better or worse than otherwrlters. Such people, lf there were any, rvould be of no use at all. What I need to know ls how I can lmprove, and I can best ffnd thls out by compartng my work wtth the work of other wrlters I admlre. In the same uray, learnlng to play a musical lnstrument, I learn to compare the sounds I make with the sounds I hear rnade by good muslclans. In short, the standards o€alnst whlch children rreasure thelr performance must lndeed come from the outslde niorld, from people more sktlled than they are, but the actual comparlng must be done by the ctrlldren themselves. Gro\rtng Wthout Schooltng #8O
You Don't Have to Homeschool to Read GWS! ... or to contrlbute to lt. These wrlterg are respondlng to Donna CrosB'B query
ln
GWS #78.
Remaining Connected F}om Kanen
*hulb.
oJ IEtnoIs:
To answer your question about what GWS olIers to someone who ls not home-
schooltng: For me, lt ls a way to remain c.onnected with a manner of chtldreartng and teachtng that I respect and admlre. I know that I feel somewhat dtsappotnted tn myself for not keeptng all my chlldren home, and ln away contlnuingwlth GWS helps to assuage that gutlt. Many of my friends cnntinue to homeschool their children, so lt is also a way for me to keep abreast of and be sensltlve to their lives. For the future, I plan to keep myyoungest daughter at home at least through kindergarten and hopefully longer, so the lnformaflon I glean from GWS ts and will be valuable. Llke you, I think that homeschmlfurg extends beyond school hours, so what I gather from GWS applles to my two schoolers as well. It helps me remain close to them by remfndhg me to value their unlqueness and to help them tdentifr and value that as well.
Viewing All of Life Educational
as
Flom Krtstirra Felfuk oJ Mbttesota: We have been receiving GWS for three years. Ouroldest son ls 6 l/2, and we are not $etl) homeschoolers. With each issue we are challenged by the vision of a ctrild's
full potential and by the idea that there are
alternatives to the publtc schools. Before kindergarten we struggled wtth the'do we send hlm or not' quesdon, but after meeting and observlng the teacher whom Daniel would have, ure felt comfortable ln sending him to the publtc school. F)rst grade was a much sadder situailon, however, with a new teacher and a room of needy ldds, and I am convinced that lf we
had not been readi:ng GWS fafthfully all these months, wewould not have had such a clear ldea of what we expcted and would not have been able to act as qulckly as we did. It was still a long and dllllcult decision to remove Dantel from the school, full of gutlt on my part for deserdng the public schml system. We enrolled hlm tn the Friends (Ouaker) School of Mlnnesota ln late November, and have been happy wttlt our declsion, although it ls not a pennanent change (we cannot aIlord it over the long term). Danlel ts still not homeschooled, but er,ren the change to Friends School would not have happened so quickly tf we had not loeown about all the people out there who are not content with the status quo and who are always searching for better ways of raising and educatlng
their children. Groqdng
Wthout Schoollng
#8O
A secondary lmpact of GWS has been
to glve us permlsslon to vlew all of Me as educational. Ttris means that we do not hesttate to go on famtly trtps durtng the schoolyear, râ‚Źgardless of the school calendar. For example, tn February we wtll be gotng to Sarrannah, Georgfa for four weeks to help butld some Habitat for Humardty
houses. Danlel wtll be away from formal cLasswork for fourweeks, but I am conlldent that he wlll contlnue to learn as avidly and as wtdely as he has done slnc.e
hewas bornl
I condnue to vlew homeschoollng as an altemadve, but am not ready for lt yet partly due to my netd for a reg;ular break from the bickering that goes on between Danlel and hls younger brother, and partly due to Dantel's deltght tn all lrts frlends. Perhaps when our 3 year old ts ready for school, homeschollng for the two boys mtght make rrrore sâ‚Źnse.
Helped lVhen Daughter
Left High School
Flom furnle Norman oJ Cal[fornto: I have been subscribtng to GWS for flve years. I have a l6-year-old daughter, Kelly, and a 6-year-old son, Paul. I have lots of ambivalence about schools and publtc educatlon. My husband completely supports Paul betng ln school (lidndergarten, whlch he loves a lot). Kelly dropped out of high school Just before she turned 16 (tt's a very long, emotlonal, and turbulent story). She teaches swtmmtng at the YMCA and plans to go to IA Valley College for the spring semester. Readlng GWS all these yearrl gave me the perspecflve to feel IIne about Kelly belng done wtth htgh school early. But I don't thlnk I am as nlce or latd back as most of the GWS parents seem to be. I do have high expectatlons and often feel frustrated and resendul when Kell5l is Just lying tn bed readtng for hours, although ru admtt that school seems to be not the least of our motherdaugfiter conftct. I would welcome nr,re correslrcndence; IVe often wondercd if any other GWS readers don't homeschool.
Learning About Learning Flom Motle In Drug: I am a GWS
involved
Wrut autltor oJThe Plugsubscriberwho ls not
ln homeschooling tn the narrow
sense of the term. My offictal schooling took place tn regular schools, and so did that of my chlldren. Nerrertheless, I have nerrer considered our school experlences to be the stgnt8cant part of my or my ctrtldren's educaflon, and ln that sensewe have all been homeschoolers for a long ttme: what we learned at home and ln the world has alurays seemed rlcher and more deep$ educafional than anything transmttted to us ln school. It ls for that reason that I enJoy reading GWS so much: by readtng
about the llves and problems and thoughts of parents and children lrrvolved tn the adventure of educatlon outstde of the offlcial school stmctures I have learned more about the nature of learntng than any course ln eplstemology rniCht posstbly have taugfrt me. I also find the accounts of parents and especlally ofchildren describlng thelr strrggles, thelr successes, and even tlrelr fallures to be most lnsPiring.
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