Growing Without Schooling 81
Justin Pfeifer is among those who wrlte for this lssue's Fmus,
Wthln the
Inside This fssue News &
Reports
p. z-s
Importance of Parental Warmth, Access to School Ltbrary, Homeschooling Cooperatlve
Homeschoolers and College p. +-s
In the World of Work p.5-7 Stories about Young People Doing Volunteer and Pald Jobs
Challenges & Concerns p.8-lo Blind Mother Homeschools. Son with Cerebral Palsy, Shyness, Homeschooling with Toddlers, No Support from Family
Watchlng Chlldren Learn p. I l-14, 28 l,ovlng the Mechanlcal World, Overcomtng Negative Attltude, trarning German, Math, Reading, ArL Music
BookRevlews p. 15-18 Flndtng Prlvacy Wlthln the Famlly p. t9-22
Flndlng the Rtght Teacher p.23-24 Flndlng One's Work p.24-25
Letter to a School Offlclal p.26-27 Addltlons to Dlrectory
p. 28-30
Occaslonally someone, asking us about homeschooling, wonders whether having their parents so involved tn their education gives such children less privary within the family than they would have if they went to school. After all, parents whose children go to school don't see everlrthtng that happens durlng the day or know how their chlld did on every asslgnment. In partlcular, the need to keep records about children's activities to saUsff homeschooling laws sometimes means that parents have to watch their children more closely than either would like. We knew this was an lssue for some familles because we had printed letters about the subJect tn the past. For this issue of GWS, we decided to raise the question agaln and ask several young readers whether they felt they had enough privary within their famtlles and how homeschooling allected this. We were lnterested in diflerent kids of privary: physical privacy, such as the ability to spend time alone or to know for sure that a private diary would not be read by others, and then something we might call emotlonal or intellectual privacy - the ability to read a book or do a project without your parents knowing all about it, and the opportunity to make friends that are not necessarily friends of the entire family. People's needs for privary, in all these forms, vary, of course, so some of the young people who responded to our questlon were more concerned about finding ways to satis$r the need tltan were others. But the general feeling seems to be that homeschoolers are not finding privacy to be a big problem. Most sald they had as much as they needed, and knew they could get it if they asked for tt. Several believed they had more privary at home than they would have ln school simply because thelr parents respected their need for it, and because school's physical set-up makes it harder to do things
privately. Several of the writers mentioned that they liked having their parents lnvolved in their activities, and liked talking about books they were reading and things they were doing. It seems to me that chtldren who know they can have privacy when they want lt are also more llkely to open thelr lives willlngly to the adults in thelr lives. We only have to guard our privary flercely if we are afraid lt wtll be violated. When the young people who wrote to us did complain that privacy was hard to come by, the lssue usually seemed to be less a homeschooling lssue than slmply a condition of living tn a family. The lidds talked about wanting to do things without their siblings, sometimes, or wanting to talk on the phone Mthout others listening. A couple of writers did talk about how the need to keep records allects privacy, though. Coltn Roch wrote that he doesn't like knowing that hls mother will want a written proJect out of everything he happens to "mess around with," even though he understands that this ts often necessary. It does seem as though familtes in states with fewer record-keeping requirements are freer of this problem. Shart Bromfield and Maggie Adams mentioned one solution, which is for the kids to keep their own records, and indeed we are hearing of more and more homeschoolers dolng thts. Even when physical limitations or record-keeping requirements infringe on homeschoolers'prlvacy, the bottom line seems to be that if families consider privacy a legitimate need, things can be worked out successfully. As Simon Gauthier put tt, 'We don't have a problem wlth privacy because we try hard to respect each other's privacy.' Susannah Sheffer
-
News
& Reports
Parental Warmth is lVhat's Important
obtaln use of the school ltbrary for thelr
children.
Whlle schds @ntturc to nrake the
urtdtunerted. cla,trl' tha;t tlvy o;ffer chldrcn btter scr;laltztttg eryterlences
Lauren Farenga arrang€s Tln-Tln books on our shelves.
Office News & Announcements ISS:I On May 4th we held a homeschooling informatlon fatr Just outside of Boston. at whlch we were able to meet many local readers and frlends. Pat Montgomery of the Clonlara Home Based Education Program gave an tnsplrtng talk, and then gave a workshop on challenges and problems in homeschooling, At the same dme, I gave a workshop on older homeschoolers, and enJoyed meetlng and talking with several of them ln person. The following day Pat Montgomery and I were on the Gene Burns show, a local radio program with a host who ls a strong supporter of home educatlon. On April 2Oth, Pat Farenga debated a school principal about homeschooling's elfecUveness ln an event organlzed by the New England Phtlosophy of Education Society. The following week he gave two workshops, one on 'What ts Unschoollngand the other on 'Homeschoolers and College," at the New Jersey Unschoolers'
Network conferencc. Watch for an arUcle about homeschooling ln a future lssue of Esserrce magazine. We spoke with a writer for that magazine, and are exclted about reachlng Its audience of minority women. And spealdng ofreaching new audiences, Day Farenga was lnteMewed by Boston magazine about bringlng her chlldren to the olfice with her. She ls quoted extenslvely tn the magazlne's May lssue as part ofa longer article on chtld care optlons. Jerry Mintz of the Alternative Education Resource Organization tells us that the curr€nt lssue of Creen Revolutioa the Journal of the School of Ltvtng, ts dedtcated to altematlve educatlon and homeschooling and features a relssue ofan article by School of Ltvlng founder Ralph Bersodi about how he homeschooled hts children in the l92os. The School of Living is offering GWS readers a free c.opy of thts tssue: Schoolofltvtng, RD I Box l85A
Cochranville PA 19330. Some reminders: please be sure to put your address on your letters when writing to us and to other GWS readers or pen-pals. It would be an extra help to us lfyou would lnclude your phone number, too, because we sometlmes need to check thtngs with
you by phone. Also, remember that tf the wrlter of a GWS story ls In our Dtrectory, we print the state abbrevlatlon in parentheses. and tf the wrlter ls not ln the Directory, we wrlte out the state name ln
full. Thts lnformatlon ls ln the lntroduction to the Dlrectory update In each issue,
but here's another remlnder,
tlrr.n honeschmlers can, arather plece oJ evidence shorus tlut sctol maturftg is nast dtrectlg Jostered by qffaflorute parents. FlomThe Boston Globe, 4/8/91: Parentlng for Success - Study llnds warmth at home enhances chlldren's prospects as adults. There ls no recipe for
That compromlse wErs reached after a lengthy School Commlttee meeflng Monday atwhtch Leach had proposed that the youngsters could use the ltbr:ary after school hours at a cost of$12,6O an hour but no books could be removed.
The School Commlttee has barred use
of the ltbrary to the chlldren, malntatnturg It ls for students enrolled tn school, .., Commlttee member Catherlne Salem asked tfthe parents had exhausted the town's publlc lfbrary. Commlttee member Lyrn Randolph satd the school's lfbrary was much superlor for the chlldren and there was no ltbrary fee charged to anyone
ratstng chtldren to be successful adults, but parental warmth and allectlon make more of a dlfference than any other factor, according to a study that tracked how chtldhood experlenc,q.s allected adult dwelopment 36 years later. Most of the factors that mlght conceivably alIect how children turn out do not make any difference at all, the researchers report. That lncludes whether parents are punitive or permlsslve, how well the parents get along (according to the mother), and whether the tndtvidual's chtldhood was difllcult. Chlldren who lost a parent or sibltng, moved many dmes, or whose parents divorced did no worse by c-onvendonal measures of social acoompllshment than those wtth less stressful
Mrs. Randolph said the real lssue ls who can use the lfbrary. "The library ls for the chtldren of the communlty - all the
chlldhoods. These findings are being reported In the Journal oJ PersonnlXy ad. Sor:lal Psgchology by three psychologists who used data at the Henry A. Murray Center of Radcltffe College to IInd out how lndivtduals who were flrst studied at age 5 were
Mrs. Rina Cavalltnl satd she polled school olllctals tn Southbrtdge, Irlcester, Quabbin Regtonal, Wachusett Reglonal, and Charlton and satd none had any obJecflons to openlng thelr school Itbrarles to homeschoolers. ...
dolng at the age of 4 I . The maln findtng, they wrote, was that "subJects who had warm mothers or warm fathers were more likely to be rated as hlgher ln soclal accompllshment 36
years later." The original study of 379 mothers of 5 year olds, begun ln 1951, focused on chtldrearlng pracdces and concluded that maternal warmth and alTection correlated more strongly with social maturl$r ln children than any other liactor studted.
else
ln town,
Ralph Nlchols asked how much of a burden would there be on the ltbrary stalf lf the shrdents used the ltbrary durlng school hours. Commlttee member John OToole satd thtngs could get out of hand. 'Last year we had one chtld betng homeschooled,' he said. "And thls year we have nine. Next year maybe we wlll have 18. Wlll we have to run a tr:atn through here? What if they rvanted to use the computers or
showers?'
children.'
We rccendy aslced Lee Totten tJ the
slhtafronhadcharyed" ad.le told tts publlc presswe corusi'rr'ed ttre School
tlvt
C.ammiftee to rergrse lts declsdon altlaugh tleg uill revleu the lssue agaln bt Attgrtst. Ftom the WorcesterTelegram and Gazette, 1 / 15/91:
The School Commlttee has rerrersed a prevlous declslon and wtll allow use of the elementary school ltbrary by puptls taught
at home.
Access l*e
to School Library
Totten o/Massachusetts wrcte
tr
Januarg: Recently my wtfe and I read a dlsturbing newspaper article saytng that our town (North Broolcvllle) School Commlttee had denied homeschooled children access to the school ltbrary. We thought that was certatnly not in the proper spirit of educatlon, so we wrote a letter to the superlnten-
dent and attended the next School Committee meeting. Also enclosed are two newspaper articles concernlng that meetlng.
Flomthe 12/ 13/90 issueoJtheNew
kaden
Parents of children betng taught at home will meet wlth school Superintendent Wtlltam S. kach in their efforts to
... Last nlght, the board approved guidelines proposed by Leach. ... The gutdelines are: library ttme will be assl€ined; use of the ltbrary wtll be after school hours, one day a week wtth tt being the same for all pupils: ltbrary tlme will be allotted as the same tlme glven ln-school puptls at the same grade level; the dme and day wtll be
mutually agreed on; library use will be directed by the elementar5r princlpal or designee; the same numberof books canbe borrowed as allowed ln-school pupils; books can be borrowed for one week. ISS:I Lee wrltes that the proglrarn appears to be worklng smoothly. lt seems to me worth nodng that thls lsn't an lssue ln towns with good public ltbrartes. Maybe It's even more lmportant for North Brookville residents to lobby for a greater portlon of the town's resources gotng to the publtc ltbrary, whtch ts already open to everyone.
Growlng Wthout Schoollng #81
-l 3
Homeschooling Cooperative Gcril Siclcel 0V.D urrites: We have been fortunate enough to flnd like-minded friends over the years, starting with a l^a lrche League frtendshlp, and
have been members ofa cooperadve home-
schooltng group. The group started ollwtth three liamllies. We are now slx famtltes (one famtly sends thelr chlldren to school, but theyJoin after school). We meet once a week.
Origlnally each mother/asslstant couple would plan acdvlttes for the day, usually reflecdng the lnterests of that mother's chtld. We would rotate homes weekly. Now that the chlldren are older (the oldest ls 8, the youngest ls 5), urcVe asked them what they are lnterested fur and tried to work wlth thaL There ts a new genera$on of stbltngs cornlng up, so Happy Day School wlll take on a new form as they Joln tn the actlvlttes and the older ones become more lndependent,
It's fascinailng to watch the children divide up for games like house and then regroup when the energ/ lwel changes. The older children have started some other
activides together, like wrldng, but Corlanna (5) ts not yet ready for thal Yesterday the ktds watched ?he Miracle Worker. Corlanna has seen verv little TV tn her life and no movles of this $pe, and was qulte fllled wtth quesdons rangtng from why the women wore the t5rpes of clothes they dtd to the purpose of the violence she saw. Sincc I was with Amarynth 1l | /2) during the llrst half of the movie, I couldn't answer some of Corianna's questions because I didn't know the context. Today we borrowed the IIlm, watched it again, and have talked at length about many aspects of tt. The result is that she is more comfortable wlth what she's taken ln. If we weren't so close, her questions would have gone unanswered for years perhaps. Today ls one ofthe days I'm feeling so lucky that we spend so much
time together.
Local News For addresses oJ state and,Ieol organizatlorts, see GWS #78 or our Homeschrclhg Resource Ltst auallrlble Jor $2.5O. (Note: add.resses of tlese oryanizations change treqrrcnllg. fu sure to add the updates kr CWS #ffi ard tn thts issue @. 3O) to your llst bt CWS *78.)
Court Rulee Agalnrt thc Dcpartnent of Educatlon Mlchlgaa: For most of the lg8os, Michigan was one of the few states in
which homeschoollng parents were
required to be certified teachers. The requirement was suspended ln February 1989 when Clonlara School and two homeschooling families llled sutt ln Circult Court to restrain the state from enforcing this restriction. The Judge granted a permanent inJunction against the state. The Department of Educafion then appealed the decision before the Michigan Court of Appeals, and on April l, l99l the court again ruled against the Department, according to a malllng we recelved from Pat Montgomery of Clonlara. The ruling
Growtng Wthout Schoollng #81
declared that the Department had no rtght to require that crrtilled teachers be present ln the home for l8O days or that that lnstrucdon be glven for 9OO hours ln reading, Engltsh, mathemaHcs, soclal studles, sciencc, clvlcs, and htstory (these requlrements had been part of the ortginal procedures). Pat Montgomery wrltes, 'So, for the flrst dme in a dozen years, Mtchtgan homeschoolers are free to teach their
own children without lnterference from the state or other publlc school olllclals. There is one membershtp form which the Clrcutt Court dtd permtt the Department to clrculate to those home educators lt can locate. The form has four slmple questlons on lt - none as lntnrslve and vlolaUve of parents' rtgfrts as the ortgtnal procedures.'
Lcglrtetlve Actlvlty
Conncctlcut: Flepresentatlve Ann Dandrow lntroduced a restrlctlve homeschooling btll, #5898, earller ln thts legfslatlve sesslon, accordtng to the Maypune lssue of the Connectlcut Home Educators Assocladon newsletter. The Educadon Committee y61sd agalnst considering the bill, and Rep, Dandrow pedttoned for tts reylval, resulting ln a publlc hearing, at which many homeschoolers spoke, on March 25th. At the heartng Rep. Dandrow sald she would change the wording of the bill so that lt would establtsh a task force to study the new home educatlon guldellnes (see GWS #78) and publtsh a report after a year. Now CHEA reports that tt looks as though Dandrow plans not to lntroduce this bill after all, but they wlll contlnue to educate thetr legfslators about home education In case this changes. Malnc: The legfslature considered four bills allectlng homeschooling, acc.ording to the Aprll l99l issue of the Home School Assoclates of New En$and newsletter. The legislature's Joint Standing Corunitee on Educadon voted unanlmously to kill the one whlch would have requtred mandatory home vlslts to each homeschoollng farnily every month, after hundreds ofhomeschoolers opposed it. The three pro-homeschooling bills were comblned tnto one, whlch provtdes for access to 'all public school currlcular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities and resources.' Judy Stoodley of the Maine Homeschool Assoclaflon told us that this bill received a mixed report ln committee; the maJority of members were against giving subsidy to schools for homeschoolers who use their faciltttes, but some members supported the idea. Judy says that the bill now goes to House, which decides which report (pro or con) to go with: lt may then refer the bill back to committee for a formal vote. Orcgon: The newsletter of People Asslsdng the Challenge of Home-Study TPATCH) reports that the legfslature is considering three bills this sesslon. HB 2820 takes discretionary power away from the Department of Educition (the ruies currently deflned by the Department of Education would be deflned in the new law instead) and lets homeschoolers who do not show "sadsfactory progress" be supervised in the home by a certifled teacher, instead ofbeing sent to school. H82574 allows homeschoolers to participate in interscholasdc actlvities in high school. SB 89O lowers the c.ompulsory school age
from 7 to 5.
Challcngcr to Tcrtlng Requlrcment
Ncw YorL: In GWS #8O we wrote that some homeschoolers wer€ pr€parlng to
challenge the state's standardlzed testlng requlrement for homeschoolers, and that the State Educatlon Department was consldertng whether tt would be possible for homeschoolers to obtatn a varianc€ ftom these regulatory rcqulrements. The Marah l99l lssue of the Honc Schoolers'Exchange newsletter now neports that homeschoolers carr ask thelr superlntendents to apply to the Department for a varlance, but cannot apply themselves, as tndtvtduals. Seth Rockmuller of HSE says that thls probably means that homeschoolers who llve ln cooperatlve school dlstrlcts wtll have the best chance of applytng for the rrariance, but lt remalns to be seen how many people wtll actually apply and how elfectlve thts will be. Wert Vlrgtnlr: The West Vtrgfnta Home Educators AssoclaUon trted ttrts year to amend the homeschool law to provide an alternatlve to tesdng, but the bill was postponed tndeflnttely, wrote Nancy Imhoff ln the group's Aprtl l99l newsletter. The btll had gotten tu/o sponsors in the House. and was dlscussed at a public heartng ln an Educadon Subcommlttee mectlng on February l9th. The SubcommltGe members rervonded the btll so that the proposed portfolto optlon would be a supplement to annual tesdng, not an alternatlve to tt (chtldren would sttll be requtred to take annual tests, but pa.rents could subrnlt a portfolto as evldencr of educational progress tf the chtld sc-ored poorly on the test). After some back-andforth between the full cornrnlttee and the subcommlttee, the members declded not to consider the bill durtng the current session. Nancy Imholf writes that there are stlll some leglslators who are supportlve of the proposal, and WVFIEA plans to lntroduce new leglslatlon next year.
Calendar October 4-5. l99l: The Alliance for Parental Involvement ln Educadon Famllles and Learntng conGrence ln Albany, NY. Keynote speaker Pat Montgomery, workshop by Susannah Sheffer. Workshops on home educatlon, educational enrichment, alternatlve schools, more. Children's actlvitles. For ireformation: AllPlE, PO Box 59, E Chatham NY I 2O6O; 5 I 8-392-6900. We are happy to prlnt announcements of maJor homeschooling events, but we need plengr of notlce. Deadltne for GWS #82 (events tn September or later) ls 7 / lO. Deadltne for GWS #&l (errents ln November or later) ts 9/ lO. GROWINC wnHoUT SCHOOUNG #81. Vol. 14. No. 3. ISSN #0745-5305. Published bl-monthly by Holt Assoclates, 2269 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA02l4O. $25lyr. Datc of lssuc: Jrme l, 1991. Sccond-cla*s postage pa.ld at
Boston. MA. POSTMAS'TER: Send addregs charges to GWS.
2269 Massachus€tts Avc, Cambrldge MA O214O. ADVERTISERS: fleadllnes are the lSth ofodd-
numbercd months. Contact Patrtck Farcnga for ratel|.
Homeschoolers and College Applying to Military Academy Calt Colen oJ Neus Mexlrc ux-Ites:
I read with lnterest the letter from the Director of Undergraduate Admlsslons of Boston Unlverslt5r tn GWS #79, I 'rst year, when my homeschooled son was a ntnttr grader, we lnvestlgated the many ways that he mlght spend hls htgh school years. Hls
ambition is to attend the US AIr Force Academy. We intttally felt that he would have to return to some sort of formal school settlng ln order to have the appropriate paperwork (transcrtpts, dlploma) when lt came time to apply. Counterlng this was the fact that he and we knew that the eclectic approach to learnlng had worked very well. We wrote directly to the Air Force Academy and asked them about the following three courses of ac$on: (l) public high school; (2) correspondence hlgfi school, at home: (3) self-devtsed program, also at home. We were pleasantly surprtsed by their answer. They say they have admitted 2-4 homeschoolers annually for several years. Opuons 2 and 3 were both acc,eptable to them. Apparently homeschooling is not a bar to gaining admlttance to these htghly structured envlronments. Jeffrey has elected alternative #2 he's pursuing a htgh school dtploma through the Amerlcan School ln Chlcago. He's able to pursue several other actlvttles as well (amateur radlo, Ctvtl Atr Patrol) that should make hlm an attractlve candidate.
First Time in
a
Classroom I4me Tfuinderstorm (BC) sent us this arttcb Jrom the Grand,e Pratrle, Alfurta Herald Tribune abut ller d,znâ‚Źhter, Leqf: When leaf Thunderstorm llrst saw her classmates taking notes she figured it was
weird. But that's understandable, The entlre formal classroom settlng was something unusual for her. "lt wasJust the whole experlence that was so strange,' says Thunderstorm, a l9-year-old Grande Prairie Regional College student. "l've never been talked to from the front of the classroom - it was welrd, werybody scribbling notes like crazy.' Thunderstorm ls well-practiced in taking notes now - her courses this semester include calculus, zoologl, and entomolory, and her grades, she says, are good. She's even sold her notes to a needy classmate. But last September, the beginning of her college education, marked the flrst time she'd been lectured by an lnstructor in a classroom with other students. Thunderstorm was homeschooled on her parents' remote farm about 685 kilometres northwest of Prlnce George, BC. ...
Thunderstorm decided she would go
to college because she'd neverbeen to
school and wanted to try tt, 'Bastcally, IVe it,' she says. 'I have a genulne lnterest. and I want to do as well as I can," But the adJustmentwas tougfr, and her name has been causing lts moments slnce she ffrst moved to the ctty. A game of catch near the beginntng of the year found Thunderstorm ln a conversatlon about her name wlth a cliassmate who dldn't know who shewas. ''Have you heard of this gfrl named ka{,'' says Thunderstorrr\ quotfueg her catch partner wtth a grln growlng on her face. ''She's some klnd of weirdo from way out ln the boonles.' -Then a couple days later: You're enJoyed
kafl' That was really funny,'
And wallidng lnto a classroom was tough for a shyyoung woman who didn't erren relish golng lnto a store full of people. She still gets hvinges of that fear sometimes before her classes start. "lt was a maJor culture shock the first two weeks. I was kind of walktng around in adaze,' she says. 'lt was a combination of gotng to school and belng on my own and livtng tn the c{ty - I've never llved in a
ctty.'
Thunderstorm says she's adjusted nowand intends to continue college next year, perhaps in southern BC. She hasn't ruled out pursulng a university degree. ...
In College - And Out
Morc stortes abrlft lwmeschmlers In
college
jom tle
Mag
l99l
lssue o/Mentor,
the neusbtter oJ tlle Home &llrcation Icague oJ Perrysburg: HELP member Franclne Llovd ls now
a freshman at Shlmer College
t;
I[inois.
She began homeschooling at age 16, at the end of the first semester of her Junior year in high school. She descrlbes her home-
schooling days as Vonderful days of freedom in which I matured a lot. I took a monthJong trip out west; then I took acHng lessons and appeared ln several plays. I pursued lnterests that I really didn't have time for ln school." Then, at the end ofherJunioryear, she decided to apply to colleges. She did not take the SAT, ACT, or any other standardized test. She found out that Shimer College has an early entrance progftrm that accepts students who haven't flnished high school. She had an intervlew ln December, at whlch dme she was invited to be$n ln February. Then she was asked to go through the formality of applying. She began attending Shimer this past Febnrary, a half-year earlier than her schooled peers. Mitchell Ross of Delta, Ohio began homeschoollng when he was I L He spent his last three years of homeschooling as a student ln Clonlara School's Home Based Education Program, devoting much time to flnding out what he was good at. This turned out to be computers. He also worked for his father, who owns a construction company, and built a room addition. With the money he earned, he bought a computer. He took a computer programming course at Owens Technical College when he
was I 3 and another one at age 16. He earned college credtt for both courses. The only unusual requests made by the college were that he submlt a letter of recommendation from his prtnctpal and a htgh school transcrtpt, and that hts father attend the llrst class with htm. At age 16 Mttchell graduated from Clonlara, havtng earned 22 credtts. He then spent a year worldng as a computer programmer for a Toledo computer company and earned all the money he needed for hls llrst year of college. He took the ACT, and did so well that, based only on hts ACT s@ne, one college oflered hlm a full scholarstrlp. He was accepted at several colleges, but dectded to go to Messiah College ln Pennsylvanla. Mltchell ls now ln his flrst year, malntalnlng a B average with a l7-hour course load. ... Now thatyou know college ls definitely posslble for self-educated chtldren, you may wish to explore the quesHon, "ls college the best cholce for me?" HELP member Andy Endsley thlnks not, at least not In hls lmmediate future. Andy left school at age 14 and regrets that he wasted so nrany preclous years ln school. Now that he's been educattng himself for three years, he doesn't want to give up hls freedom to erplore the world around htm and choose his acdvities. He has been pursulng hls lifelong love of rriltary htstory, whtle worhing tn the fanrily buslness, and learning the sldlls of silk-screenlng, marketlng, financial rnanagpment" horseback rlding, film producdon, and acting. His rntlttary reenactlng in some maJor fllms has opened hfs thought to a career ln the motlon plcture lndustry. He says, 'I could nerrer have predicted several years ago that today I would be constderlng a career ln the motion picture tndustry. Nelther I nor anyone else could have created a program
that would have brought me to where I arn now. The course ofevents I have encpuntered is quite unlque, even though the process ts probably slmllar to that of others who have followed thelr lnterests. I believe that if I can present myself as someone who is lnterested ln and dedtcated to accompllshtng the work at hand, I'll make
it into that industry.'
New Student-Aid Rules La.rry kwack, admissions olllccr for Burlington College in Vermont {95 North Ave., Burlington VT O54Ol) and interested in applications from homeschoolers, told us about new rules whlch he had thought might affect homeschooled college applicants who apply for federal financtal aid. It turns out that the rules do not appear to have much ellect on homeschoolers, but we want to tell you a bit about what we learned, ln case you have been hearlng about the rules as well. The mles, which became lawas pa.rt of the Omnibus Budget Reconclllation Act and took elfect at the start ofthls year, require students who are applylng for linancial ald to have htgh school dlplomas or GEDs, or to pass one of twenty U.S. Department of Educadon-approved ability
Growing Wtthout Schooling #81
tests. Larr5r sent us an artlcle fmm the l/ 16,/91 lssue ofThe Clvonlcb oJ Htgher MrrcalTonabout these rules whlch sald,
'Lawmakers sald the provlslon would
decrease loans to studentswho were
In the World of Work Storles about Young People at Volunteer and Pald Jobs
unprepared to leam and more ltkely to
default on loans.' We were concerned about thls provlsion because we have always enJoyed betng able to tell homeschoolers that htgh school diplomas are not requlred for college admisslon (and tndeed the homeschoolers we knowwho have been admttted to Haward, Rlcc, the Rhode Island Schml of Design, and Boston Unlverslty have not had hrgh school dtplomas). It seemed as though the rule mlght have an unlntended dtscrtmtnatory effect on homeschoolers, not to menUon the fallactousness of lts tmpllct assumptlon that havlng a hfgh school dlploma makes a student more 'prepared to learn' or more ltkely to pay back a student loan. Thtnldng that homeschoolers mtght want to wrlte to the leglslators who had been involved wtth thts Law, we called the Federal Informadon Center number listed in the phone book's blue pages to flnd out which legtslators that would be. Thls lnformadon number seems to be a very useful servlce, by the way. The man we spoke with satd he would call the Department of Educatlon and get back to us. Later that day he called wlth the name of someone tn the Department for us to call. The representattve from the Department of &lucatlon explalned that these rules will very llkely not change anything for homeschoolers. for thls reason: the twenty Departrnent-approved tests whlch students who do not have a dlploma or a GED score can take lnclude the SAT and the ACT, tests whlch many colleges requtre anyway. Students who are routtnely taldng the SAT because lt ls requlred by the colleges they are applytng to don't have to do anythtng else to become ellgtble for federal Ilnanclal ald. Of course, some colleges do not requlre the SAT or the ACT, but homeschoolers who do not take elther of these tests, don't have a htgh school dtploma, and don't want to take the GED either, can still take the very basic test that the government offers, whlch sounds as though tt ls even more baslc, and much easler to pass, than any of the tests weVe Just mentioned. So the polnt ls, most homeschoolers won't have to do anything special to quality for federal ald, other than what they would have to do anyway to apply to the colleges they want to go to. In the few cases tn whtch a college doesn't rcquAe any tests at all and a student doesn't have a dlploma ora GED, taktng the government's baslc sHlls test doesn't seem llke tt wtll be much of a burden. It appears that thts râ‚Źguladon was destgned for people who left school early (dropped out, by the cronvendonal way of thinlidng, lnstead of homeschooltng) and now want to apply to trade schools that don't have many admlsslon requlrements. You may sUll want to protest the assumpUon that these people are more ltkely to default on their loan payments later on, but lt seems clear that the new reguladons are not going to allect homeschoolers much at all, kt us know lf you hear otherwlse or have a dlflerent Interpreta-
tlon. Growing Without Schooltng #81
Building Houses, Making
Quilts, Helping at Archaeological Dig
Pofficta Roberts of Cdorado sent us an artlcle thrrtt'ar daughter, Isra Le, wrote Jor the January / February 1 99 1 Issue
oj the Mountatn Home Journal:
On T\resday mornlng, my mom and I woke up at6:OOAM becausewewere golng to be volunteers for Habltat for Humanlty
ln Denver. Habltat for Humantty ls a volunteer organlzadon that butlds homes for low-lncome people. We had to be there by 8:3O.
Whenwe
arrlved, Galen gave us the Job of caulking the baseboards and doorJams. At llrst we had a hard time getdng the caulktng to go where wewanted tt. But by the dmewe finished caulking the four-bedroom house we were very good at lt. After we flnlshed caulklng we used a nall set where one person would set a nail lnto the wood and the other person would put wood putty on it. Thls house ls golng to awoman who ls a slngle parent wlth etght chlldren. I know they will enJoy the house desplte tts small size.
Pafficia nentlo'lcd that bra mokes qutl* Jor a ubtim asslstance prqrotn antd. tnlwteers lor an archaedogrcol dlg, We askd btra to te|x ts abrrut tlese actlvllTes, andsllewrcte:
People Comforts ls a non-profit organlzation that my mom and I volunteer for. People donate scraps to People Comforts and then the volunteers sew them together and glve them to the Shertffs Department, which in turn hands them out as needed to people who are ln need, In each patrol car we have two children's c'omforters to one adult's comforter. The volunteers also make mufls and bags contalning a washcloth, soap, comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, and sometimes shampoo or body lotion, which are glven out to homeless people. People Comforts ls located about flfteen mlles from where my mom and I llve. We go there wery Wednesday and work for a while. Then we take some materlal home and sew lt together througlrout the week to make a quilt. Volunteers are what make
organizations like this work. I had always been lnterested In going
to an archaeologtcal dtg and worldng, but either they were too far away from home or they cost a lot. But last year when I was I I we found out about Swallow Slte, which ts a dig about ten miles from where we hve. You don't have to pay for tt or anything. They provtde the tools and dl we have to do is brtng plenty of water and lunch. When I go to the dig I usuallywork wlth Charlotte, the paleontologtst, and my mother works in another section. I think it is a lot of fun. The dig is open on weekends (unless there ls bad weather) during the summer but they close durlng the wlnter.
What we do is go and get a trowel and
brush, and then get a cardboard box for our speciflc secdon ofthe dig. In the box are three cpflee cans taped together, whtch work ltke contalners, There ls one for flakes ofbone, another for chlps ofbone, and the thtrd for charcoal carbonate, wtrtch put slmply ls burnt wood. Also there ls a record book where we document larger bones, pottery, and tools that the prehis-
torlc Indtans used. To do ourwork, we take a trowel and
start scraplng the earth ln our quarter of the sectlon. Then lf we hlt somethlng hard we scrape around lt and then take our brush and gently sweep the dtrt from
around the obJect. When we get a ptle of dirt we scoop tt up and dump lt tn our dirt bucket. When our dirt buckets get full we take them up and stft them ln case we missed any bones. Most rocks areJust rocks but we have found stone tools, llke
grinding stones for grinding kernels, and ln one case we found three layers of rock which created a fireplace where the prehlstorlc lndians cooked thetr food.
The charcoal carborrate !s used to determlne how old everythlng tn that layer of dtggtng ls. When we ffnd the charcoal, we can'tjust plck tt up with our flngers because we would get oil from our flngers on the charcoal and that ls what alfects the canbondatlng, So tnstead we ptck lt up with our trowel and put tt tn an alumlnum fotl contalner tnstde the colfee can. When we llnd a bone, plece of pottery, tooth, or arrowhead that ts recognlzable (that you could put a name on by how tt looks), we take out our recprd book and measure from the north and west sldes of the section to our obJect. Then we write lt down ln the book wlth the depth, description, what number ltem lt ls and what sectlon lt was found ln. Then on the back of the paperwe draw a picture of it. We wrap the ltem ln a paper towel and put it in somethlng like a fllm contalner so lt won't break or become scratched.
lVriting for Newspaper In GIV|S I 76 ue publtsH a letter tlnt Jesse Rlclrurlrrn (PA) had wrllten to hls InaI tleusspoper aslcttg IJ he a uM whnteer tlerc. We reentlg aslaed Jesse tle neu spaper had. re spdd" ard
uletler le
u)tote: When I ltrst asked our newspaper about volunteertng, what I wanted was to help around the ofllce and go out u/tth reporters. Our local paper ls an understalled rural datly and they dtdn't feel that they would have anyone in the olllcc to help me and show me around. So I was put tn charge of wrtttn! up the actlvltles of our support group for "The School Page,' whtch ls wrltten by students at the varlous schools. They send ln stortes to be published. 'The School Page' was a way I could get my wrltlng lnto the paper, but lt wasn't exactly what I had asked for, or what I
wanted.
6 That does not mean that lt was dl bad. In the course of wrlttng storles for *The School Page," I learned how to use a 35mm camera, and I learned how to work under time pressure, somethlng very lmportant to reporters. What I have done, because I still want to go out on a story wlth a reporter, has been to contact a reporter I know
directly. I got a really nlce letter from a homeschooling liather who ls a reporter after I wrote to him. He works for a blg ctty paper and ts going to set up somethlng for me so I can go out on a story wlth either him or some other reporter he knows. Not all reportlng ls done by newspaper reporters, and I thlnk I recently cpmpleted a paper which took plenty of good r€porting. I visited some nearby locatlons and inteMewed thelr owners, and wrote off to far ones for lnformadon. My paper was for
the American Express Geography Compedtion. I hope lt won, but even tf tt didn't I will still have the satlsfacdon of knowing that I did research llke a real reporter, and that I am one llttle step closer to my goal of becornlng a Journalist. I think that I have made great strtdes in my abillty as an Interviewer. Last year I felt I couldn't think up questlons on the spot, so I almost never did, Instead I would write down my guestions beforehand. I still do that before lntervlews, but I also augment those questlons wlth others that I think up on the spot. Somethtng that I think helped me a lot ln developtng my
lntervlewing skills was the weekly International Student Nights at a local branch college. Each week a student from a forelgn country comes, does a presentatlon about his or her country, and answers questions for more than an hour. I try to ask many questions there and I thlnk that has improved my inteMewing.
Filming Commercial Marg fuksteln (ME) wrttes: We're into our second month of homeschooling and I thought ld letyou know about an lnterestlng experience Mtke (7) had last month. I a"t year, through a children's actlng class he was taking, Mtke was selected to do a publlc service TV spot at a local statlon. He subsequently acquired an agent who lets us know ofany auditlons he mlght be lnterested ln. So, last month he trted out for a local drrg
frffi#ffi,ffi _&fG( L'qd W
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store commercial. He was verv calm about the whole thtng, talked wtth [he dtrector for a few mlnutes, and shook hands at the end.
Well, they called us a few days later and offered htm theJob. But then we found out we had to be on locadon at 4 AMI That meant getting up at 2:3O ln the momlng, It was really neat, though. He was treated the same way as the other adults ttrere were treated - as a professional, We had qulte a wait for his scene (three and a half hourst), but he handled it well. He played cards with the little girl who was ln his scene and asked a lot ofquestrons. When they shot his scene they dtd about ten takes so as to have somethlng to choose from, and through it all he uas patlent and oooperative. There were techniclans all over the plac.e and carneras and wlres, but belieye me, it was anything but $amorousl We got out ofthere at about 8:3O, and I asked him tf tt had all been too tedlous for htm, but he satd he really enJoyed lt all and was looking forward to the next dme. The thtng that struck me about all this was that thls was real life and Mike was doing what education ls supposed to prepare us to do - functlon ln the real world. Homeschooling has not made my life arry smoother, but tt sure has made things more krterestlng. Mtke ls much happier now and asks a great deal more quesflons than when he was tn school. As the days go by he watches less and less TV (many days none at all) and seems to rely more on amusements that involve mental conc€ntration. Currently he wants to play card games with anyone who will slt silll long enough. His favorlte g€unes are poker and glin rummy. He wants to learn brtdge but I don't know how to play so we'll have to find someone who does. I strongly suspect he ts gifted in the areas of math and sclence and it'sjust as well he can pursue these at home slnce our state Just put oll for another flve years any mandate to provide enrlchment opportunldes for gtfted and talented students.
Eaming Money at
5
Marg Goncarcv (NY wrltes: Alexandra (5) has been earnlng and saving money since last summer when she was 4. She is saving ficr a beauUful but outrageously expenslve castle (dollhousesize) that costs about $2OO. She admittedly has a good set-up due to our home buslness, a whole foods bakery. Our products are mostly marketed wholesale and through catalog sales, but we also retall at local farmers' markets. Alexandra mlxes up a batch of some*dng to sell, usually every week. She can make mulnns by herself from start to flnish. My only involvement ts telltng her what ls needed, since shedoesn't read vet. I also watch the ovens. She can also hake giant chocolate chip pecan cooldes, She likes to make these better than the mulllns because we sell them for 750 each (mufflns 5O+) and it ls easier to handle the dough for several dozen cookies as opposed to the six dozen mulllns our recipe makes. She does her set-up at the market and I require her to be present, selltng, for about an hour hut I'm not watching any clockl).
Sometlmes she glves samples lf buslness ls slow, but generally she greets each customer wlth an 'I made these.' People have developed an lnterest In how she ts dotng with her savlngs. The markets are long - tvro go from 9;OO-2:OO and one goes from 9:OO- l2:OO, so she does spend a lot of ttme playlng and vistttng with other market folk. She does handle enoug! ofher own money, though, that she has learned what quarterc, dlmes, nlckles, and pennles are and the dillerent
dollar denomlnatlons. She dellnttely
needs help maldngchange, but so do Il
Leftover mulllns can be dellvered to
our accounts but leftover cooktes usually are bartered or glven away. She does some
tradtng of her own. [.ast Saturday, for example, she dectded to spend her endre eamlngs on a backpack she loved (and needed). On her own she brought her llttle bag of money down to the rvoman selllng the backpacks. The woman helped her count lt but she hadn't earned enough yet, That led to negodadons wlth me about advanclng her money, whtch I agreed to. She went olf wlth $lO but returned once more, upset, because the backpackwas $14, So I had to get lrrvolved, The woman satd she'd take elther installments or $12. Alexandra ended up negouating for $lO plus two sweets from our table, whlch she then had to do a ltttle babysitdng of her slster for. A btt compllcated, but e\reryone nras happy. Aletrandra ls really able to bargaln but lt ls deflnttely helped by the liact that people are taken aback by her frankness and self-assurance given her slze and age. We are golng to start marketlng
another product as well. Several weeks ago Alexandra made beaudful potholders out of some of my many callco scraps and some batdng. She used rlckrack or blas rape for loops so she dldn't have to do any compllcated close sfltchlng and turntng. For thls proJect I do have to be dtrectly lrrvolved. She can cut the materials because I've made templates. She ts gettlng more adept at pinntng but I sttll check her work. But the sewlng machlne ls an obstacle. I have her slt on my lap whlle I work the knee pedal, and she gutdes. So she ls leaming to s€w, but I don't feel safe having her use the machlne herself, not to mentlon that lt ls not qulte posslble wtth the knee pedal. We trade my Ume for her tlme, She helps wtth household chor€s for the same amount of tlme I put ln on the sewlng proJects. I-ast year I dldn't subtract rnonry for her supplies because lt seemed dllllcult for her to understand, but thls year she ls paytng one quarter of her eamlngs to us for the c:ost of lngredtents of her baked goods. Before the end of thls year I wtll show her how we flgure thts out. As for the potholders I have plenty of scraps. The only ttrtng she will have to purchase for qutte a while
are materlals for the loops. Old blankets can also be used for batting. She ts developlng an eye for scraps and recycltng sktrts, etc., lnto proJects, For us, Alexandras experiencr wlth earning mon€y has already been valuable because we are a family wlthout lots of disposable lncome and Alexandra ls already leamtng to work for what she deslres and the value ofwork and rron€y.
Growtng Wthout Schoollng #81
7 She also has a savings account to which we add small arnounts every week. That ls for college or to get her started ln her adult ltfe when that time comes.
Teens Run
Thrift
Shop
Sarah Srnith wrcte ln tle March 1991 issue oJThe Grapevine, tle newsletter oJ tte Mtntlesota Homeschrcbrs Alltance: I am l7 and a homeschooler of nlne
years. My sister, Katle, ls 15. We bought a buslness a little over a year ago. It ts called The MercanUle Thrlft Shop. We work there
about seven hours aweek. In the sprlngand fall, when we change seasons, we work more hours ln order to move out fall merchandlse for sprtng or vlce versa. We sell clothes (werythtng you would wear from head to toe). We also sell curtalns and coolide cutters, dolls and dlshes, books and bikes. When a new consigfrer comes lrt, we give them a number and a copy of our consi€lnment policy. We look through the Items they have brought and keep what we think will sell. We then tag the items with their number and a price before dlsplaylng them ln the store. The conslgner ts pald 65026 of the money that thelr merchandise brings in. With the 35% thatThe Mercantlle makes, we have to pay electrlc and fuel bills besides advertislng and lnsurance. Whlle running the thrtft shop, we have leamed how to keep buslness records, deal with customers, and an added advantage of leamlng how to buy secondhand clothes at a very rleasonable price. Selllng the ltems
ls my favorite part. Somedmes you can see the dollar signs ln my eyes. I also enJoy meeting the people. We are located ln the coun\r. (Our store ls actually ln a remodeled barn.) Our lnvolvement ln The Mercantile has glven us an educatlon you Just don't get ln a classroom.
I destgned a six-lnch look-altke, whtch f.rt.ttI, my fourth chtld, named a Granny
We have a speclal room of homeeducatlng materlals. One of the familtes tn our home school group has a family bustness of rubber stamps. We have a selectlon of their products for sale, too. Stop in if you Erre near Hartland, Mlnnesota. We'd enJoy meetlng you.
Involving Kids in
Doll Business
Kristin Willtr;.lns Ml) wrltes: I make dolls that I sell to serreral stor€s. In the past I also sold at craft falrs. When the oldest of my slx chlldren, Jtlo, was I I and the fifth, James, was under l, I used to pay Jllo 2O96 of whatever I cleared at the craft fair to babystt James while I was gone. There were times when she made $ l5 or $2O and tlmes when she made $1.5o. I took Ife, then 9, wlth me to the fairs, and somedmes Ayanna, then 6, so there was someone to watch the table for me when I needed to take a break. I paid them somethtng too - less than Jllo got because they were getdng out ofthe house and golng somewhere. Sometlmes lfe would make handkerchief or clothespin dolls that I sold at my table.
When the Cabbage Patch madness hit,
Gouglefump, and also a slxteen-lnch lookaltke. (In fact, lt was because T\rlanl wanted a small doll made from stretch materlal that I dectded to try sculPtlng the facr and came up wlth the doll that has sold the best for me errer slnce. She must have been 4 at the ttme.) We werc swamped
wlth orders that Chrtstmas and for
months afterurard. The livtng r@m was a doll factory. At that time we weren't yet
homeschoollng. When they were home, erreryone except James, who was 18 months old, helped shrffarms, legs' bodtes. They wrapped yarn around books to get tt ready to be sewed for halr. We hadJust moved from Mlsstsstppl to Mlssourl and needed a lot of wlnter things for the farntly' whtch that money bought. The ktds got patd tn stlckers, and seemed to love lt. On Chrtstmas e\te we wereJust Bnlshlng up thetr dolls, whiich seemed rather funny. Thts pa.st Chrtstmas season, Ayanna' now 14, futant, 12, andJames, 9, helPed stulf dolls and wrap hair. Cabral, 3, helped stuff too, although someone had to go behtnd htm and stulT tt fuller. Ayanna also sewed twenty doll dresses and I gave her $l each, and Tulant made twenty clothespln dolls for what I get for them, $1.75. I mlxed them ln wtth the ones I made and they sold same. -lust the I ltke havlng the kids lnvolved. In fact, sometlmes I wouldn't have a doll business without them. Some of the ktds are more lnvolved than others. Some, llke Ife and T\rlanl, enJoy maldng thtngs.
Others like making mon€y.
clortLc-R.cr scYllol Home Based Education Program Creals your own homo Echool currlculum wlth the holp of Glonlara Homa Base<l E<lucalfon Program, lhe wall-balanced home $chool program offerlng flexlble or slandard approach. Scho<.rl
"Cllonlara slresses nranipulative haning lools and real'llte experiences ln pllge oJ endless wor.lboolery....You creale ygur own individualieed program wilh lhe help of tho Clonlara curriculum,The Clonlara slatf ls avallable lo anewer quostlons ovor lhe Dhone or bv mall. Any concornr famlller have whlch rolals lo homs oducAtlng can be
addrsssdd.
Clonlara graduatas recolvo our prlvalo school dlploma and lull lranscrlplt. Clonlara graduatos have gone to collegee ahd unlversltler, to mllltary reMco, lo lhe mlnl3lry and lnlo lhe work force.
Clonlara atlends to all of lhe admlnlrtratlve dutles assoclatod wlth homo oducallno wlth and fol our onrolloos. We know the regulatlons In ovory stato and counlry, wo handlo conlacts befiareen schoot otllclall and our onrolloos. Thal leavas parenls froe lo ailond lo thelr home oducallng.
'Mary
Pride's
Ris Bnnt nf llnms
1289 Jewett
Ann Arbor, Mlchlgan 4810{
Growing Without Schooltng #81
l-earninc
Pat Montgomery, Ph.D. (313) 769-4515
Dlrector