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Growing Without Schooling 82
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What if homeschoolers become lnterested ln somethlng that their parents don't know anyttring about? Will they ever be able to learn about it, or is their education limited to what their parents can teach them? Many people wonder about thls, among them
Mona Welner ls among those who wrlte for this lssue's Focus, '\Mhcn Parcnts Aren't FamillarWith a
Inside This Issue News & Reports p. 3-4 Homeschoolers in Israel and Spain, Homeschoolers
in
College
Are Ilomeschoolers Abandonlng Schools? p. 5-6
$fuestlonlng the Labels p.z-9 Further Challenges to Attentton Deficit Hyperactivity Dlsorder and Perceptual Handicaps
Challenges & Concerns p. 9-12 Privacy, I-oosenlng Up, School Decisions
Watchlng Chlldren Learn p. 13-14 Numbers, Spelltng, Grammar, Biologr
BookRevlews p. t5-18 FOCUS: When Parents Aren't Famlllar wlth a SubJect p. 19-22
Homeschoo[ng Slbltngs p. zs Hlstory \Flthout Tertbooks p. 24-26 Playtng on School Teams p.2T-2a
some homeschooltng parents. For this issue's Focus. we asked several children and teenagers to write about what happened when they wanted to learn something that their parents dtdn't know much about. As so often happens, the young people explained reassuringly that what adults might have thought was a problem ls not a problem at all. They wrote about tumlng to books and to other people as a matter of course. Sometimes their parents helped them flnd these sources of lnformatlon. Often they were able to do the searching themselves, so familiar were they with how one goes about finding out what one wants to know. When people wonder whether homeschooled children will learn only what their parents know, they are thinlidng in terms of the old bottle metaphor of education: kids come down the assembly line and get filled up with the knowledge that their teachers are prepared to teach. Thtnldng in these terms, it makes sense to worry about the limitations of home educaflon. If chlldren are walting to be filled up with knowledge, and only one or two people are doing the pouring, the children will get only what those people happen to be able to pour. People who say, 'l never learned geometry because my school didn't teach it,' are thtnking of themselves as passive vessels in Just this way, asslgning the enttre responsibtlity to the one who was supposed to flll up the bottle. If no one poured geometry in, well, that's too bad, but there wasn't much the bottle could have done except roll on down the line. The homeschoolers in this issue, on the other hand, talk about finding things oul looking for books, aslidng questions of people, signing up for specific classes - in other words, actively making an ellort to learn what they want to learn. The matter-of-fact way in whlch they talk about their methods makes me wonderwhy anyone even needs to ask how they can learn about what is not immediately available to them. Clearly they know how. Sometimes the culture surrounding the particular interest suggests possible ways to pursue lt. Colin Ktng knew how to pursue his interest in stamp collecttng because he was familiar with the catalogs adult collectors used and the auctions they participated in. Amber Clifford got ideas about how to take her interest ln archaeologr further after hanglng around dlg sltes and getting to know the people who were doing what she wanted to do. Of course, sometimes it takes a speclal effort to find a way to pursue something that is not immediately available. Some interests present a particular challenge and it ls not automatically clear how to flnd help. Sometlmes people ln this sltuation write to us at GWS, and we try to offer suggestlons. Sometlmes theyjust keep talking to everyone they know until an opportunity or a lead turns up. But it's worth noting that many of the lnterests that the kids wrote about in thls lssue wouldn't be easily pursued in school either - not every school offers cartooning, or ornithology, or archaeology, and especially not to the age groups that these kids would be in if they went to school. So in many ways they had to do what any young person would have to do to pursue such interests, while having the advantage of being confident, active learners who take such efforts for granted. Susannah Sheffer
-
list: Renting our llst to a group does not mean that we support them or that they
The following organizadons have
In the shlpptng area
Offrce News & Announcements [SS:l In June, Pat Farenga gave workshops at the Clonlara Home-Based Educa-
tlon Program conference and (with Day
Farenga) at the Home School Associates of New England Conference. AIso ln June, a
crew from ABC televislon came to the olllce to Interview me briefly for a general story about homeschoollng. It was apparently alred as part of a Gd. Monthg America segment on June l7th, but I didn't see
lt.
Sarah-Kate Gtddings, the homeschooler whose photo'was on the cover of GWS #79, has begun coming into the ofllce once a week to help out and learn about howwe put out the magazine. She is an eager and capable worker, and is willing to ride the bus for an hour each way in order to get here. On her most recent trip to the oltce she brought another homeschooling friend, Jennle Curtis, who also worked hard all day. Jennie's mother, Buffu Curtis, had already done some volunteer work for us at home. Every once ln a while we get a call from someone who ls trytng to oppose mandatory standardized tesung of homeschoolers on the dlstrict or state level. We always reGr such people to all the material about tesdng that we have published in GWS forJust this purpose, but lt takes time to look through lots of lssues and llnd the relerrant stories, and people who need to challenge testlng requlrâ‚Źments are often in a hurry. To make thlngs a bit easier, we've made a list of all the GWS stories about standardized tests that would be useful to anyone who needed to present a case against them. We list the lssue (going back about 25 lssues), the page number, the title of the story, and a brief sumrnary of it. It will still be up to you to copy or quote from the storles and compile them in whatever way makes sense ln your particular situatlon, but thts should make thatJob more manageable. To get a copy of the list, send us a SASE,
Holt Associates and Homeschool Associ,ates of New England have arranged fior a speclal Homeschoollng Outing at the Edavtlle Ratlroad In Carver, Mass. on August 24th. Homeschoolers can get l/3 oII the admlsslon price on thts day only by presenting a discount mupon that can be obtained from Holt Assoclates or FIANE fust send a SASE). Edavtlle Railroad has rides, antique train and car museums, a petting zoo, and boats, and this day will be a good opportunlty to meet other homeschoolers. We reallze that many of you will be getting thts issue of GWS Just days before the 24th, so we wtll also have discount coupons avallable at Edavtlle for you to pick up on the 24th.
rented our mailing ltst, or swapped matling lists with us, in tlte past year (some rented regional lists only): Home School Associates of New England, Frlends of Home Birth, Boston Museum of Science, leonardo Press, Heartleaf Catalog, HomeBased Education League ofParents, Boston Computer Societ5r (Soctal Impact Croup), Sudbury Valley School, IDEA Inc./ Provoking Thoughts Magazine, and True School. As you cErn see, most of these organizations are like-mtnded groups wlth which many people on our mailing list are already familiar. We have recelved several complaints about our having rented the list to True School, however, because of its assoclatlon with the Church of Scientolog5/. People wondered whether thls tmplied that we were affiliated with Sclentolog/, or vice-versa. It doesn't. We are not alfiliated with that organization, nor any of the others to which we have rented our list. Some reminders about our mailing
support us (though thry have ofcourse paid us a few hundred dollars to rent the list). We nener sell our list of GWS subscribers, but only those book customers and people requesflng information who have agreed to let us rent their names. If you don't want your name to be on this list, Just tell us. We do check the organlzation's proposed mailing piece before agreeing to rent the list, and in the future we will try to look at It even more carefully, but we can't promise to have done a thorough investiga-
tlon of the organlzation ltself. Please just throw out (or recycle) any unwanted mail
you may get. Even though unwanted mail can be trrttating, one way ln which you
may conslder lookcng at lt ls that allowing us to rent your narne is one very easy way ofsuppordng ourwork and helping us brtng in much-needed income. But again, if you don't want your name rented to others, Just let us know.
REWARD
to those who bring in new GWS subscribers! We have known for a long time that GWS subscrtbers are some of the magazine's best promoters. You often tell us thatyou persuaded a friend to take out a subscription when she told you she was thinldng about homeschooling, or suggested that relatives subscribe so that they c.ould better understand your
family's choice. Now we want to take advantage of our subscribers'ability to interest new people in the magazine, and at the same time glve you an extra lncentlve to make the effort to do this, by giving subscrlbers who bring in neur subscribers a gift certificate to our book and music catalog. Here's how it works: I . Think of someone you know who does not yet subscribe to GWS but who
might like to. Convince that person to take out a new subscription. 2. kt that person cut out the subscription form at the back of thls issue, including the part that has yourlabel pasted on it. Or photocopy the whole page. Have the new subscriber send it to us, with his or her name and address written in the form, and $25 for a new lndividual subscrlption. Remind the new subscriber to check the box under your address label that lets us know that you are the one who encouraged this person to subscribe. (Iook at the form on the back page ofthls issue so you'll see clearly what we mean here.) 3. When we receive the form wlth your friend's payment, we will process the new subscrlption as usual, and send you a $5 gift certincate whlch you can apply to any order you place with John Holt's Book and Music Store or to your own subscription renewal. The results: we will have a new subscriber whom we rnight not otherwise have had: you wtll have a gift certlllcate and the knowledge that someone else is leaming about homeschooling and supporting our work. Some questions you may have:
Can
I usc thig offer tf I gtve
a gift subscriptlon?
aomcone
No. It only applies to new subscribers who pay for their own subscriptions. You don't have to pay anything: all we want you to do is convince someone new to take
out his or her own subscripdon.
What
if I
pcreuade aomcone Lo reneu,t
What
lf I
persuade ceversl pcoplc
a
subecription?
We value renewals enormously, but this particular offer involves people who take out neur subscriptions only.
tlon?
to tale out a
Slroup cubscrip-
This offer only applies to people who take out individual subscriptions, at the regular $25lyear rate.
I recclve a $5 checl lnatead of a gift ccrtificatc? prohlbldve for us. If one friend of nlnc gubecrlbee and I gct thc $5 gift certilicatc, It worth lt to mc to cncouragie anothcr &lcnd to do the aamc thlng? Can
No. The cost of processtng the check would be
is
Yes. As long as your friends enclose or copy the lnformation on your label and claimyou as the one who convinced them to subscribe, we'll send you a $5 gift certilicate for each new subscrlber who is taldng out an Individual subscrlption at $25/year. I already bave convinced geveral friends to subgcribc in the past.
Ie thig offer retroactive?
Sorry, but it only applies to new subscribers whom you bring in from now on. We hope to keep the offer active indelinitely, though, and we have confidence that if you were able to bring in a new subscriber once, you wtll be able to do it again. We are very grateful to those ofyou who have done this in the past, and it's because of your efforts that we've decided to make this offer now.
Growing Wthout Schooling #82
News
& Reports
Homeschoolers Fayga Tannns
(I
in Israel
srae[ unltr's:
Ttre law tn Israel râ‚Źqulres schooltng from age 5 through 16, but lt has an exemptlon clause. The clause states stmply that the Mntster of Educatlon can exempt a chlld from school. There are no guldellnes as to requlrrements for exemptlon. When I called the Mtntstry to llnd out about previously or currently exempt chlldren, they had no ldeawhat I was talldng about and assurned that I \ras aslilng about a handtcapped chtld. Thls wlnter I was supposed to have stgned up my daughter for klndeqgarten next fall. When I came to stgn up and told them I uranted an exemptlon, lt was as lf I had spoken ln an allen tongue. The reply was that there are no truant o{Ecers for klndergarten, only for llrst grade and up, and to please go away and not bother them tf I had no lntendon of stgnlng my daughter up at one ofthe Hndergartens in the city (we live in Jerusalem). We will see what happens next yearl
...And
in
Spain
ElsoHaas, wla publtshd. c SparrJsh edtltonoJGWS and.E ulrllelng to
spred
Jolvt Holt's ldeas In Spalrl sent us arr Ergllsh tanslafron o.f a lettcr she rece&d. Jrom a Span{sh Frrneschrr/;lng motler. Elsa comrnents, "Appatently, sle had. nerrer b;fore leafi. oJ ang l&td, oJ Inter-
national ftonesclrolhg motnrnert
Just decld.ed on thelr own to do th!s,"
- tleg
We've been lfvhg tn thls town for a year, watthg for a house to be butlt ln
another town, also fn lthfs provtncel. The
town where we are now ls mostly a surnmer vacatlon place. There are three chlldren the age ofB. and L., and they go to school. At llrst people asked us why our ctrlldren dtdn't go to school. We told them we were only gotng to be here a short tlme (although as lt turns outweVe been here longer than we expected) and that we would watt to send them to school unfll we move to the town where we're going to llve. Slnce then no one has satd anythtng else on the subJect - at least not to us. The three children who go to school, as soon as the school bus brtngs them back, come runnlng to pl,aywtth B. and L. and stay untll ntghtttme. Thelr mother..s, meanwhfle, are usually ln a nearby bar plaldng cards. The town we're planning to llve ln ls much smaller than thts one. In the wtnter there's onl5r one couple wlth hvo chlldren. The older chlld goes to school. We've talked wlth them rnany Umes about the subJect of school and we have some oplnlons ln cornmon. They're walttng untll we go to llve there so we can do thtngs together with the four ctrildren. For e:<ample, a ceramics
workshop. What ls a typtcal day llke for us? In the morntng rny husband M. goes to work on the house we're butldtng. He cpmes home and spends the afternoons wlth us.
Growlng Wtthout Schoollng #82
After eatlng breakfast, B. and L. go outslde to play wlth N. (a dog that llves with us). After about a half an hour, they come back ln and we do "homework,' as they call tt. Sometlmes I have to call them, because they try to get out of lt. We have school material for their age level (7 and 5). We work on lt for about two hours. Then they start drawing or help me a llttle with cleantng the house. About two days aweek we watch a documentar5r weVe taped about anlmals, nature, etc,, so we can learn somethlng new. ... Whtle I wash the lunch dlshes, they read (the younger one has learned to read almost excluslvely from her slster). I've noHced that I parttctpated more ln my older daughter's leamlng, whtle the younger one has leamed a lot from her sister. ... Some afternoons we go on a walk to the playground. Other aftemoons we go to the hills and take the opportunity to learn the name of some plant or animal. [.ast year we went horseback riding on Saturday mornings, We hope to start this aget'r 1n the sprint. Some afternoons we bake bread for the week. We used to make cheese from the milk of some goats we had. ... There's one very important thing: muslc. M. plays the guitar and a little of everythtng. He's going to teach us some of what he knows, so we'll spend a little time a couple of wenings wery week dolng something related to muslc - we already
llsten to it often.
... Sometimes we go into [the cityl to visit their grandparents and at the same time to have some contact with the city. We'd like to offer the gtrls a wtde range of possibilides, so that they themselves can choose. We live in the c.ountry but wewant them to be familiar with the city, too, We're vegetarlans, but when they go into the ct$r to see their grandparents they know they can eat meat or flsh lf thev want. ...
Homeschoolers in College Shau.rn Kendrlck oJ Massachusetts wrote InGWS #75 abutler daughtcr Celia's admissbn to tte Rhde Island. School oJ Desigrt Now Shau.rn turlles: Cella graduated on June lst from the Rhode Island School of Deslgp. She may have been the llrst homeschooled child to do so - at least she's the flrst ln recent memory. She was honored for her aca-
demlc achlevement and recelved râ‚Źcognttlon for the creative effort that went lnto
her senlor Illm proJect, an anlmated fllm Utled, "Fur and Feathers.' Our second daughter, Anna, Just turned 18 in May. She dectded not to rlralt unfll the fall to start c-ollege, so she got her SATand GED taken care of, and was accepted at Rhode Island College where she ls majoring in theatre. At first Anna was self-conscious about having been homeschooled, and would tell anyone about lt whether or not they asked her about her backgSound. But the more shewas there, and the more obvlous it became that her
homeschoollng had prepared her for c.ollege, the lesg self-consclous she became. She made qutte a few friends, worked hard at her studles, and dtdn't mlss a day of classes all semester. She made the Dean's Ltst wlth a 3.75 GPA and ts transferring lnto the Honors Program.
National Merit Scholar Ftom tlv 5/ 1 1 /91 Rutland W) Herald, sent ln by Debbte Kn{fin
...When lllltng out college and scholarship appltcaflons, Joshua Berger never, 6ter wrltes ln the name of a lrtglr school. He lsn't a smart aleck. He's schooled at home. But he ls srnart. He's awhlz at math and sclence, plays the gpitar, cawes wood, has a strong karate ldck. And this month, he was named one of the llve Vermont reciplents of a Nadonal Merit Scholarshlp. Wtnning the prestigious scholarship ls an achlerrement for any student, let alone one who has spent the past slx years leamtng sclence and social studies from hls mother and English, math, and l-atin
from hls f;ather. ...Lesson plans have been challenging - not only for the student, but even for a father employed as an Engftsh teacher. Joshua presented a problem ln math and sclence: he grew lnto The Man Who Knew Too Much. As a result, he's taken some courses outslde of hls home, tncluding chemistry at Proctor Htgh School and calculus, physlcs, and French at Castleton State College.
...Throughout an intervlew, Berger replles to several questlons wlth the same answer. Is there tenslon because your parents are your teachers? Do you mlss having classmates? Is school at home confintng;? "No,' he'll say. 'We're a very closekntt famtly." ...Berger wlll attend Dartmouth College thts fall wlth plans of majortng tn math or physlcs. "Ifs very small. Close to home. Ifs a good school," Unfll then, he'll continue to work part-time at the Rutland Free Ltbraqr, llsten to kd Zeppelin and other 'old stulf," accept congratuladons for the National Merlt Scholarship. ...
Colleges Want Homeschooled Applicants DanDtdsleg (OH) sent us th{s an$om Hills{l]rlo Cdlege:
nouncefiient
Hillsdale College ls interested ln GROWING WIHOUT SCHOOUNG #82. Vol. 14, No. 4. ISSN #O74$53O5. I\rblished bl-monthly by Holt Assoctatcs. 2269 Massachusctts Ave. Cambrtdge MA02l4O. $25lyr. Date of lssue: August I, 1991. Second-cla.qs postage pald at Boston, MA. POSTMT{,STER: Scnd address changes to GWS, 2269 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridgc MA O2l4O.
ADVERISERS: Dcadllnes arc thc l5th of oddnumbcrcd months. Contact Patrlck Farenga for ratcs.
4 r€c€tvlng app[caflons from homeschooled students. A qualtty, personallzed educaflon recefired at home Is exctllent preparaflon for cpllege. At Htllsdale College thls type ofpreparatton has proven ttselfto be sucressful. Homeschoolers enrolled at Hillsdale have experlenced sucoess tn both the classroom and tn college leadership poslflons, last year's freshman class tncluded four homeschooled students who were very actfue on campus. Next year's edltor of "The Collegtan,' Mlchlgan's oldest college newspaper, ls also a homeschooled student. For hformaflon: Jackle Sulltvan, Assoc,late Dlrector of Admlsslon, Htllsdale College, 33 E College St, Htllsdale MI 49242t517-437-7341. And a letter from Strlmer College (PO BoxASOO, Waukegan IL6O079: 7Oa-62384OO) says that 'Shlmer College condnues to be very lnterested ln r€cetvtng appltcatlons from homeschooled shrdents and
other students wtth non-tradltlonal backgrounds,.. Our admlsslons requlrements are fledble. We look for reasons to admlt a student, not r€asons to turn them down,' Shlmer ls a srnall ltberal arts college. and lt has an earf entrant proeFam for students who want to enter college after tenth or elwenth grade.
Local News For addresses oJ state
ondledl
oryanlzntbns, see GWS ll78 or our
ta neschailkrg nesoune Ust auaflo,He Jor $2.5O, (Adfuesses ojtlrese grcups cha nge oJterc b sure to rate the clunges tlvt lwn funprlntd ln the lssues sbtrc 1t78.) Netg Les -
Ccrtlflcetlon No Longcr Rcqulred Iow* Iowa had been the only state sttl requtrtng homeschooltng pa.rents to
be cerHlled teachers, but a new law, which was passed on May 3, 1991, slg;ned on May 23, and went lnto elfect on July l, modtlles
thls requlremenL Acc€rdlng to a report
from Ed Dlckerson, the lobbylst for the Iowa Home Educatlon Assoclatlon, under the new law homeschoollng pa.rents can choose to have thetr ctrtldren take annual standardlzed achlevement tests and report the scores to the local school dtstrlct, OR to keep a Journal/portfollo whtch they submlt to a cerdlled teacher at the end of the year for enaluadon, OR to be 'under the supervtslon of a ltcensed practltloner' (1.e, certlfled teacher). When we spoke to Ed Dlckerson he explatned that'under the supeMslon of does not mean that the certtlled teacher must be present ln the home every day or actually dotng the lnstrucflon. Parents wlll have to give the teacher's name at the begtnntng of the year, but at thts potet lt doesn't look as though there are any speclflc requirements about how much or ln what way the Gacher needs to supeMse the farnfty. And parents who choose thts optlon don't need to keep a portfolto or have thelr chtldren take tests: the three opflons ltsted above are three separ:rate ways to fulffll the law.
Blll thrt Vould Rcqulrc Tcrtlng Ncw Jcrcy: Nancy Plent of the New
Jersey Unschoolers Network told us that a btll that would requtre homeschoolers to
take standardlzed tests was lntroduced lnto the educatlon commtttee of the Assembly on June lSth. The bill, #4936, was apparently tntroduccd by one member of the Assembly ln response to concems about an lndividual homeschooling famfly. At GWS's press tlme no hearlngs were scheduled and homeschoolers were wrlflng to thelr leglslators to explatn thelr obJectlons to tesflng. Nancy satd that the btll may very ltkely dle before golng any further, but homeschoolers are keeptng
watch.
Uectlng wlth Regcntl
New YorL: The June l99l issue of the Home Schoolers' Exchange newsletter reports that for the Ilrst time ln two and a halfyears the Board ofRegents reccived a
report on and discussed home educatlon, Seventeen homeschoolers met with the Regents on May 23 and heard the report that the Deputy Commissloner, Asslstant Commlssloner, and Program Manager for Home InstrucUon had prepared. The report mendoned threc lssues that needed to be addressed: that standardlzed tests were lnadequate for measurlng the success of home education programs; that current assessment measures for speclal needs homeschoolers are lnapproprlate; and that homeschoolers are excluded from servic€s that are available to school students. HSE comments, 'Each Regentwho participated in the committee dlscussion spoke very posltively of their contacts with homeschoolers. In fact, much of the dlscussion centered on what schools could leam from home educators with respect to issues such as authenflc assessment, parent partlcipatlon In educatlon, and the nature oflearntng in general. At least at the state level, the attitude toward home educatlon appears to have tumed decrdedly toward cooperation and communlca-
tlon...'
Dlplomar for Homeschoolen
North Dakota: The Department of Public Instruction ls now authorlzed to issue a high school diploma to homeschoolers who demonstrate that they have met the requirements for graduation, according to the May l99l lssue of the North Dakota Home School Assoclatlon newsletter. The diploma must lndicate that the studentwas homeschooled, and the DPI may charge a fee for issulng lt.
ln Compuleory School Agle Penneylvanls: Homeschoollng
Cbange
parent Peter Bergson told us about a proposed bill that would lower the state's compulsory school age from 8 to 6 and lncrease lt at the other end from l7 to 18. Peter sald that legislators have gotten more resistance to the proposal than they had anticlpated, so they are conslderlng holdtng hearings on the issue. At GWS's press time a meettng had been scheduled between the Secretary ofEducadon and anyone opposed to the proposal.
Calendar Sept. 9-13. l99l: Hulbert Outdoor Center program for homeschoolers aged 9l5 tn Fairlee, VT. For lnformatton: 8O2333-9840. Seot. l3-15: Families Leamlng
Together Fall Gatherlng at Camp Gwynn Valley, near Brevard, NC. For lnformation: send SASE to Doug Woodward, 68 Lakey Creek Rd, Franklin Nc 28734. Sept. 2l: Georgfans for Freedom tn Educatlon conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Pat Farenga wtll be speaktng. For lnformaflon: I(athy Hatrer, 404-396-71A4. Sept. 29: Semlnarby Raymond and Dorothy Moore at the Holldome in Lafayette, lA. For lnformadon: 318-334-
2812or98l-1276.
9CLl5: The Alltance for Parental Involvement tn &lucadon Famllles and IJarnfng Conference tn Albany, NY. Keynote speaker Pat Montgomery, workshops by Susannah Shelfer. Workshops on home
educatlon, educatlonal enrlchment, alternative schools, more. Children's activities. For information: AllPIE, PO Box 59, E Chatham NY I 2O6O;
5I
8-392-6900.
West Vlrginla Home &lucators Assoc. 5th annual conference at the Souls for Chrlst Church ln Hunflngton, WV. Guest Speaker John Taylor Gatto. For lnformaflon: WVHEA, PO Box 37O7, Charles-
@Ll2:
ton WV 25337-37O7t 304-733-4735. Oct, 2*27 2 Natlonal Homeschool Assocladon 4th annual networlidng conference at Sacramento City College in Sacramento, C.{- For informaflon: NHA, PO Box 29O, Hartland MI 48353-O29O; 3 136s2-5208. We are happy to print announcements of maJor homeschooling events, but we need plent5r of notlce. Deadline for GWS #83 (events ln November or later) is September lOth. Deadllne for GWS #84 (events tn January or later) ls November loth.
How to Find Out about Laws and Regulations Hcrc arc some ways you cm find out the lcgal sttuauon tn your statc. l) Look up the lawyoursclf, in a publlc libnry or law llbrary (courthousc, law school, ctc.) Laws anc lndexcd; try "school attendance'or 'cducatlon, compulsory.' Many statcs havc rcvi*d thcir homc cducatlon laws since 1982 so check the recent statutc changes. We have prfntcd or summarlzrd tltcsc new law ln our backlssues. 2) i{sk thc statc dcpartmcnt of educatlon for arr5r laws or regplatiorrs p€rtatnl4g to homeschoollng and/or starttng a prlvatc school. In some states thcrc are fcw regulatlons concernlng prtvatc schools and so you can call your home a school. 3) Contact state or local homeschoollng
groupe. Thts ltstwas last prlntcd ln Cws *78, and ls updatcd and sold separ:ately for $2.5O as part of our'Homeschoollng Rcsourcc List.' Some groupo havc prcparcd handbooks or guldeltnes on legal matters. Often. these groups can tcll you more about thc lcgal cllmate ln a state than an5ronc clsc can - whcther new leglslatlon ls pendtng, for cxample, and how the present law ls bcfng cnforccd. 4) Contact othcr famthes llstcd In our Dlrectory. Thls ts parttcularly uscful lfyou ltve ln a statc that leavcs homeschooltng declslons up to lndivtdual school dlstrlcts. When you contact thcsc familtes, hclp thcm by havlngldone some rcscarch on your own ffrst. 5) In gcncral. lt ls not wlsc to start by ashng your local school dlstrtct; they usually don't knorr thc law elther. Bctter to gpther the facts ftrst on your own.
Growtng Without Schooltng #82
Are Ilomeschoolers Abandoning Schools? Involved with Public School Issues Flom Shart Heruy MN): In response to Krlsdna Felbeck's'Are We Abandontng Schools?' tn GWS #81, I
would say that there are many ways ln whlch homeschooling parents can "fulffll our obllga.don to the larger soclety, speclffcally to the publlc schools.' For me, It means attendfurg school board meetlngs, becorntng actfue ln school board elecHons, and worklngwtth a group of parents (mostly publtc school moms) for statewtde legtsLatton that would favor rmre parental
tnvohrcment ln the educadonal system at large (sometlmes bllls y/ould dlrectly alfect homeschoolers, sometlmes not). I am constdertng nolunteertng for one of many poslflons open on currlculum commlttees ln our school dlstrlct - commlttees made up ofparents, teachers. and admlnlstrators to revlew and recommend curriculum fux \rarious llelds of study. I tlnd tt ls very lmportant for me to kcep abreast of what ts gotng on ln tlre publtc school arena (lt's amaztng how homcschoolers can feel the 'trlckledown'efliects of what goes on there), and I rvould hope that my tnrmlrrcment may make those ln the publtc school system a llttle less paranold about homeschoollng ln general. On thewhole, I have found tt nrorthwhlle to become lnvolved wtth public schol lssues, and would enoourage any homeschooler lnterested te such actlvlUes
would dtctate)? I tend to Gel the answer ls no, At this point my chlldren are young and they really do need me. I haven't got acc.eptable childcare avallable to me, but there is that future looming ahead and I for one wlll try to do somethlng to improve the school system for my children, for all
chlldren.
Demonstrating an Alternative Ftom Dale Vostitsonos (GAJ:
If there ls lndeed an obllgadon on our parts to the publlc schools, I do not belleve that tt lies in volunteering our time or pardclpaflng ln school commlttees. If, as it appears, the school is providlng soclal and tntellectual outlets for the famtlv to the
I belleve that we are already fulfllltng our responslblllty to the publtc schools by
lllustratlng a vlable alternatlve to lts methods... We are llvtng an example of another vray of educatlon.
to do so.
Concerned about Children in School A rcoder
'.l'lrrl;tes:
I am very tnterested In what goes on ln the local schools. My chtldren have nerrer been and wtll probably never go. I have been ura4r about approachtng my local schools because they do not seem to be all
that homeschool-frlendly.
A.s
the dollars
shrtvel errery student becomes a greater Ilnanctal asset and I don't want to draw attentlon to myself. Also, I expect the attttude of "What are you dotng here when you don't thlnk we're good enough foryour ldd?' would come out from the local
prtnctpal.
There would be some truth to that. It urasn'tJust my ptrtlosophy of what educatlon should be that made us a homeschoolhg fantly. But I urould be at the school because I am concerned about what ts happentng to other chlldren tn thls world. how they are belng treated and how they have to spend thelr tlrne. I upuld be there because these chtldren wlll ulflmately grow uP to tnherit and poprrlals the world that wlll be my chlldren's, and lt ts these schooled students whom my chtldren will cpntend wtth daily throughout thelr adult llves. If we homeschoolers are tnrly dotng what we are dotng for the sake of our chlldren, then can there be one among us who feels we can allord not to be twolved wlth the schools tn some form (as our talents
Growlng Wthout Schoo[ng #82
seems that most people wtll only address a problem when tt has gone past the crlsls stage to tmpendtng doom. We ane here, taktng part ln the c-ommunlty, livlng an example of another way of educaflon, olfertng guldance and help, asldng to be consldered; we need do no more.
extent that the Felbecks are concemed about flnding suitable replacements, ongoing lnvolvement can probably be worked out wlth the school, by seeing to lt that homeschoolers are included in sports, music, library privileges, etc., and organizlng local homeschooling families into an acdve and reliable partner in helplng the school in return. For most of us, I believe that we are already fullilling our responslbility to the public school system by
tllustrating a viable alternatlve to lts methods, by fomenting reflectlon and dialogue, and by forcing the exarnlnadon of goals, standards, and accreditation. Something to consider: since the Felbecks are so actlve and such a reltable prâ‚Źsence ln the classroom, other parents are mone easily able to excuse themselves from slmilar activities ("the Felbecks will be there, I'm sure - anyway, too many people would be too confusing - orcrowded - or whatever"). If the school and the classroom su{fer as a result of the Felbecks'absence, and other parents fatl to IIll the votd, one needs to ask how serlous they are about their children's educatlon, and why, tf they don't care enough, we should take up the slack. Many of us are out of the public schools preclsely because we have found that people do indeed get the school they want, and our requirements are dlfferent from other parents'. In some ways, although it is an ugly and destrucdve process, tt might prove better for the schools left behind to plummet into lost programs and fatltng standards, for lt
A Badly Designed Boat F-rom
Ardre a
Ro s e
ttbrg
(M E :
I want to respond to Krlstlna Felbeck's oonoem about abandonlng schools. I see tt as very llke approachtng a boat that, due to poor destgn and/or leadershlp, ts traveling around ln clrcles, golng nowhere. The people aboard are desperate, ofcourse, and obvlously need help. Do you get aboard, offer encouraglement, brlng supplles? Or do you say, 'Hey, maybe you oughta get off tbis boatl Can I help you?' Ifthose aboard refuse to get oI[, you can tell them you're wllling to help them dlsembark and llnd a new boat any tlme. But lt's clear you're helpfng no one tf you get on wlth them,
only helplng malntaln the lllusion that thls boat is indeed getting somewhere. Thls ls the sltuatlon I feel we home-
schoolers are ln wlth regard to schools. I do not feel we should serve the schools, for they aren't golng anywhere, Just ln hopeless clrcles. But I do feel we all need to commlt ourselves to seMng children in some wEry. Many homeschooltng parents I know do thts, espectally when thelr ctrildren are past those consumtng beforechange-of-teeth years. One parent I know reads and wrttes and thlnks about homeschoolng - hts thoughts have been very helpful to me over the years - and also organlzes and supeMses a weekly lddsag;alnst-parents t-ball game. Another nurturlng, pailent soul spends hours on the phone - hours - wlth unccrtaln parents encouragfng them ln thelr trust of themselves and thelr children. For my part, I started a Brownle troop whtch wtll start tts thtrd year as a Junlor Glrl Scout troop this fall. My husband ls teachtng boatbuilding to a few of the brothers of the Girl Scouts while we meet. The last tlme I was ln a school was a year or so ago, when the Brownles and I led a second gra.de class In games and songs that they ltked. I dtd not enJoy tt. Maybe it wasJust the dead acousUcs (all those absorbent c.etltng dles made lt terrtbly hard to stng) but I had the dellntte feellng of trylng to r,evlve a dead person - itwas very hard to get the second graders to show any enthuslasm. After that experlence, I made an lnner commltment to serving my communlt5r outslde lts lnsdtudons. No schools, hospttals, or nursing homes. I think tt ls posslble to serve tn other ways, though lt may take a llttle more research, I thlnk lt wlll ulttmately do much more good. To get back to the analogr, I think it's tlme to bulld new boats. ISS:I lfs funny that Andrea uses the analogr of a boat thafs gotng nowhere, because thls ls almost tdentlcal to the analogr that John Holt uses ln a letter
1 WRITING STRANDS The hardestjob you have is teaching writing. Writing is seen as being so complicated that rhe critics of American schools maintain that teachers can't do it because they don't know
how.WRITING STRANDS was written to help homeschooling parents do what the public school cannot do.
If you er,
are not a trained writing teachif your children are sick of gram-
mar drills and workbooks, if you want them to leam to use their language effectively, you owe it to them to look at this complete language arts program.
Eight levels of writing were designed o teach specific skills in explanatory, crea[ive, argumentative and report witing. Each 90day level has listed objectives, models for the srudent to follow, prewriting experiences, and a day-by-day breakdown of each assignment. They produce essays, reporB or creative pieces.
READING STRANDS The other half of your chil&en's language arts program Eaches you, in one book, to help your children understand ( on their levels) what the fiction they read can mean to them. Yotu children need more than just reading experiences, more than just comprehension. Interpretative techniques are explained in a dialogue format so you can see a parenvteacher leading a student to understanding. A most complicated process made easy and fun to
school reformers seem to htm like people who are trytng to plug up the holes ln a lealry boat, and bail out the water. Obvlously thts seerns lrnportant, and our lncllnadon ls to help. But what tf the people keep worklng and worldng and the level of water ln the boat gets no lower? What lf lt tums out that the whole deslg;n of the boat ls wrong? John sald that he felt he had to spend at least some of hls time thinktng about'what the destgn of a much less lealqr boat mtght be.' He wasn't exhorting everyone to turn thelr attention to new designs, but explalnlng why he felt the need to do that work. It may be posslble for some people to do both - help batl out the water ln the leaky boat, and also work on deslgnlng a new boat. But to my mtnd lt's also qulte Justlffable to deflne one's work largely tn terms of thinking about and actually lmplementing the new destgn, knowlng that others are at the same flme helptng to ball out the old boat. We have to choose what work makes the most sense to us, and to work where we feel we can be most helpful. And as Andrea says, worlidng on the new boat is not simply a way of retreating from the old one. It can be a way of helping the people on it. To put this ln terms of educatlon, |f we look only at schools, every .uisumpdon we make about education necessarily arlses out of school's framework and school's assumpdons. We look at a sltuatlon ln whtch chlldren are required to leam certaln things, for example, and from that lnfer that children won't learn unless required. But what if we deslgn things another way? Then what happens? This is what homeschoolers are findi:rg out. The
work of llnding it out ls important. Kristina Felbeck said that she was concemed about Mthdrawing her own involvement in the local school when she withdrew her son. Some people flnd ways to help schools while homeschooling thetr own children. Shari Henry descrlbes several ways of becomtng lnvolved ln school politics and poltcy, for example, Some homeschoolers may flnd thls to be a good way of helptng and influenclng the
use.
TAPES
schools. Others may be more tnterested ln
Dave Marks has taped inuoductions to the assignments in levels 3 and 4 as an effective and fun way to start the exercises. A 45 minute workshop tape gives the research justi$ing this approach and discusses grammar and spelling drills and how !o help a "re-
worklng wtth schoolchlldren than tn
helping to set school policy. Quite a few homeschooling parents teach in schools, or work ln them in some other way. If Kristina finds the work of volunteerlng in the classroom interesting and satis$fing, but for whatever reasons wants to take her own son out of school, she nrtght llnd that It makes sense to condnue volunteerlng ln the classroom, or to volunteer there together with her son. Perhaps they could
luctant writef,." This program is guaranteed to please and satisfy you or your money will be reftmded. Inquire:
both pardcipate ln an extra-currlcular acdvtt5r that would allow Krlstina to continue maklng her skills avallable. Or perhaps she wtll llnd that there are other
National Writing Institute 7946 Wright Rd.
Niles,MI49120 (6r6)-6w-s37s
) cr,!1'
wrltten tn 1973, one of my favorlte letters ln A Life Worth Ltuing. He wrltes that
ways to offer herself to those chlldren, outslde of school. People who feel that by worlidng in a school they would be dotng the school's work more than thetr own mtght prefer to consider other ways of reaching children (or teachers). Here's an example from my Itfe: I'm going to oller a wrtting workshop to children at my local library tn the fall, and this will of course be available to
schoolchildren as well as to homeschoolers. I would rather olIer it at the library than fur the local school because I don't want to do the related schoolJobs that I would have to do tf I worked there: enforce c.ompulsory attendance, lssue requlred asstgnments, and gtve grades at the end. Some people, to be sure, ftnd ways to work ln schools wlthout havtng to do these thfngs, or do them but try to outwetg;h them with the poslflve experienccs that may also occur, and under those clrcumstances conslder the trade-off worthwhtle. This ls somethlng we all have to decide for ourselves. I sald that ln uslng the boat analogr John wasn't offerlng a mandate to everyone, but descrtbtng what he felt he had to do brr,ausehc belteved schooltng to be a lealry boat wtth a terrtbly poor deslgn. People who don't see school that way won't see these optlons tn the same way, elther, and wtll naturally dellne their work and choose thetr prtortttes te a dillerent way. I tmagtrae that the boat analogr ls most helpful to people, ltke many homeschoolers, who already see school as John did. It may help some people clariS exactly how they do sec it. Recently I spoke on the phone with a wonuur who wanted to do something to contrlbute to the education of the children in her town. Should she try to work ln a classroom? Start a school ofher own? Nelther ofthese opHons was qulte what she wanted. 'Do you want to contribute to their educatlon tn general,' I asked, "Or spectflcally to thelr schoollng? Would you be wtlltng to work ln other ways?' She satd excttedly that other ways were what really interested her. We talked about libraries, museruns, corffnunlty c.enters, Scouts. If you have something to offer, there is more than one way to offer lt. I read in a recent lssue of Ttre Neur Yorker about a man who, on his own, has started a newspaper for whtch young people can wrlte, because budget cuts have ehmlnated many such opportunides tn the local schools. Once we put our mlnds to the questlon of how to help chtldren or oller them access to partrcular skllls or experiences, lt's easy to see that worklng ln schools lsn't the only way to do thls. For some of us, lt may not be the best way. One advantage ofgetting to know schoolchildren outside of school, by the way, is that (ln my experienc.e) lt is often easler to help them deal wtth dtfficult aspects of school when you ale not seen as workingJor the school. The chtld doesn't have to worry that lf she conffdes ln you you'll get her ln trouble or lower her grade. Of cpurse, some children llnd their school teachers to be wonderful sources ofsupport and lnsptratlon. But others may have a hard time trusttng someone who holds c.ertaln klnds of power over them. F\rrthermore, rnany children are so angry at school, and so alienated from what goes on there, that an adult will have a better chance of reachtng them under other circumstancâ‚Źs, I loeow these aren't easy issues. I would be lnterested to hear how Kristlna resolves the conlllct for herself, and to hear how others ofyou have chosen to help your local schools or the schoolchildren in your communit5r,
Growlng Wthout Schoollng #82
Questioning the Labels
Further challenges to Attentlon Deflclt Ilyperactlvlty Dlsorder and Perceptual Handlcaps
Experts are Divided Ftom a new fuk by Tlonas Annstorg calld. Awakentng Your Child's
Natural Genius (tatr,ler 1991):
The newest learnlng dlsease on the educatlonal scene ls somethlng called attendon dellctt hyperactMty dtsorder (ADHD). Characterlzed by a wtde range of s5rmptoms, tncludtng fldgetlng, dlstractl-
rnature. Although we agreed about the time to mature, we didn't foresee that thts would be the beginning of the 'I'm stupids.- No rnatter how hard we tried to reassure hlm of the positive reasons for repeating kindergarten, other children calling hlm "stupid' and 'flunker' carried more welght. When Matt flnally entered {lrst gFade, he was ftne for the first few weeks. Howwer, by Thanksgtving hls unhapplness w€$ pronounced. He was angry, tearful,
billty, lmpulsMty, lnattentlveness, and
emotlonal, and figh$ng constantly with
lmpatlence, ADHD ls satd to alfect around 5 perc.ent of the schml population. Yet experts are sharply dfufded over the legttimacy of this new Label. Whtle the American Psychlatrlc Assocladon has included ADHD tn lts newly revtsed Dlo1grlosttc and. Statlstbal Matual oJ Mental Dlsor&rs, some researcliers are
Several thlngs happened to convlnce us that the problems were wlth the lnstltu-
not sure that hyperacdvlty and attendon deficits ln chlldren should be consldered abnormal behavlor. Diane McGuinness, professor of psychologr at the Unlverslty of South Florlda and author of When ChIMrcnDorr't l-errn, says that many of the behavlors attdbuted to attendon dlsorders are actually the normal behaviors of htgh\r actlve boys (the dtsorder ls satd to strike up to nlne times as many males as females). Ctttng studtes suggestlng that young boys like to change activities frequently ln the classroom, she also polnts to research showlng that when socalled hyperactlve children are allowed to regulate thelr own acdvides (something seldom allowed ln many classrooms), they
perform normally. Thus, attention dellcit hyperactlvtt5r dlsorder tn many cases nury be more a functlon of the envlronment and the expectatlons that adults have for ctrlldren's behavlor than a result of some lntrlnslc btologtcal problem.
"I'm Not Stupid Anymorett
IlndaJolnsonurcte tt the June 7997 lssne ojMentor, the newsletter oJ tle Hone Basd. Mrrcatlon Leog ue of Parents (Otn : When Matt was 5 years old, he wanted to go to school. We felt that slnce he was so posiflve about it and a brtght, outgoing ctrlld, he would be ffne. Within a couple of weeks we were rec€lvlng phone calls from the teacher tnforrnlng us that Matt was having trouble complettng worksheets,
would rather draw than wrlte, and, ln general, walr very easlly dlstracted. These problems contlnued up unHl Thanksgivtng, when we furformed the school that we were golng to remove trlm from school and gfirc trim another year at home to mature. They convtnced us to switch teachers tnstead. We dld, and he ffntshed out the year ln a rtom that resembles a Montessorl school wtth an acc€ptlng, understandtng, and energetic teacher. By the end of that flrst year, she felt that another year in ldndergarten would glve hlm more tlme to
Growlng Wthout Schooltng #82
tlon, not the chlld. ... Perhaps Matt was normal and school was the problem. his brother and sister. When we discussed thts with our pediatrician, she felt 95% sure he had'Attention Deliclt Disonder (ADD),"To be sure, she sentus homewlth the Connors rating scale - one for us and one for the teachers. [The Connors ratlng scale asks parents and teachers to rate how corunon various behaviors are to the child.l TWo weeks later, we were back in the oflice with a lirm diagnosis of ADD. We spent thirty minutes being counseled on life with an ADD child. which included beharrior modification and, of course, the drug Rltaltn. (It ts interesting that the Connors scale ls provtded to the doctors by the company that makes Ritalin.) Matt's prtmary teacher was very good about working with us on maklng hts life at school easier. He accomplished the same work, but ln a way that was litted to his leamtng style. The teacher also noticed and encouraged his drawing and storytelling abtltties. The negative cornments by his classmates continued but didn't seem to bother him as much. Matt's second grade teacher had an ADD child of her own. Rather than belng empathetic and working with Matt, she felt a great need to make him more responsible. We found out later that this is what she had been told was the greatest problem wtth her own son. We trted to tell her that Matt was a very responsible child at home and perhaps his problems were related to school. Thts had little effect, except to ctnvlnce her that ln addltion to Matt's belng irresponsible, he had emotional problems and we were overprotecflve parents. Between October and December of that year, we went for family therapy because of the strain all this was putdng on famlly life. We were told that we were a stable.
well-functloning family, but Matt needed more attention and behav'lor modifica-
tion. Several things then happened to c'onvince us that the problems were with the
lnsdtutlon, not the chlld. Matt's teachers gave stlckers for each week's completed asslgnments. Tttese were openly dtsplayed
ln the classroom, The chlldren who didn't have rnany stlckers were called "dumb,'
'flunker,' or 'stupld' by thetr
classmates.
Suggestlons about how tb,ts affected the chtldren and how to change thls system dld
not meet wlth enthuslastlc response. Also, chlldren wtth behavlor problems were threatened wtth not belng allowed to go on
the year\r overntght camPlng trlp. Instead of helptng, ttrts threat made the hds, tncludtng Matt, more anxlous, resulting in more behavlor problems. We began to nodce that on days when Matt dtd not take his Ftitalin, he usually did better at school. The days he dld take lt were some of his worst. (We didn't give it to him on weekends.) We also notlced that Matt didn't feel he could control himself if he were not talrdng the Rttalin - he had become psychologfcally dependent on the medlcatlon. All of this conc.erned us and at the end of the year, we dectded to take hlm otr Rttaltn and to keep htm off lt. The thlrd grade began hopefully. His two teachers had requested to have hlm in thelr class. Ttrey Glt that he was very brlght, had lots ofpotentlal, andJust had not been handled properly. Our hope lasted two weeks. Matt was once again unhappy, angry, and begtnning to hate learning. The teachers felt he wasn't c-omplettng PaPers because ofdlstraction and possibly learntng dtsabtlitles. Matt showed that he knew the material they were teachlng, but he couldn't see why he had to 0nlsh awhole worksheet tf he could correctly answer the ones he dtd. He was also betng plcked on a lot. But the teachers denled thls and sald rather lt was a case of hls betng the bully. There were almost weekly phone calls about hls behavior. They pushed hard for hlm to be put back on the Ritalln, c.onvtnced tt would solve all hts problems. We were becomtng more convlnced that school was not the place for him. After Halloween we declded to homeschool. We saw an lmmedlate improvement in all areas. In sptte of this, and after daily phone calls from school personnel, we declded to retum Matt to school and have hlm tested for learning disabilttles. The school told us that even tf we declded to homeschool, knowing what dtsabtlitles he had would help us to help htm. Whtlewe ar*ralted the tesung lnJanuary, I went to the medtcal ltbrary and checked out several pediatrtc psychtatrtc textbooks. I
found a lot of lnformadon about learnlng
dtsabtlt$es and how to help the children cope wlth school work. The textbooks were very speci8c about dlagnostng a learntng disabilfty. I gathered all thls lnformadon and went to the teachers, thlnldng that we could put this lnformadon to work lmmediately. They told me to stop worr1ring about the situadon. Even lf I was right, they could not use .u-ry of the lnformatlon to help htm unfll after he had been evaluated. Bastcally, I was told to stop lnterfering and