Growing Without Schooling 91
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MaIi Sastri is among those interviewed for this issue's Focus, "Publicizing
Inside this Issue News
& Reports p.2-4 Homeschoolers and Libraries, Working with City School District, Allies in Gifted Community
From Homeschooling to College p.
5-6
Feeling Comfortable with School Children p. 7-9 Challenges
&
Concerns p. 9-lo
Worried about Test, Family vs. Individual, From School to Homeschooling, Child Chose School
Watching Children Learn p.
11-12
Reading at 10 & I 1, Writing Together, Don't Force
Independence, Prejudice and Tolerance
Still More on Video Games p. 13-14 Book Reviews p.
15-18
FOCUS: Publicizing Homeschooling
p.
Intenriew with David Guterson p. 23-25 Is Homeschooling Opposed to Community Life? p. 26-27 Resources & Recommendations p. 27-28 Dlrectory & Lists of Resources p. 28-31
19-23
Many of us who speak about homeschooling to newspaper reporters or who appear on television and radio shows seem to be ambivalent about this kind of publicity. On the one hand, we want to spread the word. On the other hand, we're afraid of being misrepresented or misunderstood. Almost every discussion among homeschoolers about doing publicity seems to express this ambivalence: 'Well, it's helpful to show people that homeschoolers aren't freaks," we say, or'It's a good way to let other people know that they can homeschool, too." But we also say, 'That article gave a distorted impression" or 'Television doesn't allow you to speak in depth." We want to speak out, but we're sometimes frustrated by what happens when we do. More and more these days, young people are joining their parents in speaking publicly about homeschooling. They are talking directly to newspaper reporters and appearing on radio and television shows. For this issue's Focus, we interviewed four homeschooled kids who have done publicity of some sort. They seem to feel ambivalent about it in much the way that adults do, but their enthusiasm for sharing their homeschooling with others and helping people know what is possible seems to overshadow their concems. Mali Sastri says, "You can't just be off in your own world; you have to be involved in the politics, too, and in trylng to have other people understand you." Amanda Bergson-Shilcock talks about wanting people to understand what is wrong with traditional education and trying to change the existing stereotypes about kids who don't go to school. It's apparent that these kids feel something of a mandate to speak out, despite the occasional limitations of the media. John Holt wrote in TeachYour Own about the value of individual people making changes in their own lives. He went on to say, "But are these kinds of small-scale personal changes political, that is, do they or could they help to bring about change in societ5r as a whole? It depends. Are the things these people are doing things that many others, not rich nor powerful nor otherwise unusual, could do if they wanted, without undue risk or sacrifice? And are these people, as they change their lives, telling others about what they are doing and how they might also do it? Private action, however radical or satis8ring, only becomes political when it is made known." Using the mainstream media is certainly not the only way to speak out, and indeed other ways might sometimes be less frustrating. One state newsletter, for example, tells about kids creating a county fair project to inform their community about homeschooling. But no matter how they go about it, it is noteworthy that these homeschooled kids feel the impulse to do more than just make a private choice. They want to make ttrat choice known, and thus, perhaps, to bring about change Susannah Sheffer in the lives of others.
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