Growing Without Schooling 12

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING

12 Sorry #11 was so late in getting out. We sent it to our printer on Sept . 21.

About mid-October we called to find out what had hap­ pened to it. They told us we would have it in a cou­ ple days. Nothing came.

Next time we called, we were told they had lost not only the photos of our copy, but the original copy as well . So Donna and Peggy had to spend three hectic days laying out the whole issue again.

Thanks to Louise An­ drieshyn and other unschool­ ers there, I spent three very busy days in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in early November lecturing and doing TV in­ terviews, one for a CBC pro­ gram on home schooling.

Meetings were packed, audi­ ences friendly, interview­ ers perceptive. By the way, an Ontario court has just ruled in favor of an un­ schooling family, one of the first Canadian rulings I have heard of . Details ln the next issue.

Some readers may won­ der what happened to that program on unschooling that ABC's 20/20 filmed late in the sprr~ The answer is that they decided not to show it. Some higher-up de­ cided that it would be more sensational and exciting to do an entire program on the Singer family instead.

(Whether they have done it, I don ' t know.)

More articles about home schooling: McCall ' s (Sept . '79), Wall Street Journal (Sept~~on MagazIne (Oct.), chkcafo Tribune (Nov. 7) . -r e a s t two, in particular, were long, thorough, and friend­ ly. The list of magazines, newspapers, radio and TV stations that have inter­ viewed us, in person or on the phone, now runs to three pages .

Mother Earth News (Hen­ dersonville NC) which now reaches more than 3 mil­ lion people, wants me to write an article on home schooling, which I will do as soon as I finish my book (same subject) for Dela­ corte. We may want some pho­ tos of home schooling child­ ren to go with it. More about this in later issues .

John Merrow inter­ viewed me here in the of-

fice for his National Pub­ lic Radio program O~tions in Education. When hear the cassette of it, I will report; others might want to order the cassette.

The subscription count for #11 was over 2600. A group in New Zealand has taken out a 40X subscrip­ tion . And a group in Maine has bumped their sub to 48X. Good news, of differ­ ent kinds, from California, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and North Carolina (details in this issue).

A HOLIDAY GREETING To all our readers, ,,'e send with ou~ very best wishes

this poem by William Blake: THE DIV[NE IMAGE To Hercy, Pi ty, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress;

And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness .

For Hercy, P1 ty, Peace, and Love

Is God, our father dear, And Hercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

Is Man , his child and care.

For Hercy has a human heart, Pi ty a human face, And Love, the human form divine,

And Peace, the human dress .

Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form, In heathen, turk or jew;

Where Mercy, Love & Pity dwell There God is d,'elling too.

COMING LECTURES

Jan 28, 1980: Phi Del­ ta Kappa, Central Mass.

Chapter; 7:30 pm, Assump­ tion College, Worcester MA. Free, open to public . Con­ tact Manuel Zax, (617) 755-3960.

Feb 13: Unity Church - Unitarian, 732 Holly Av, St. Paul MN 55104; aft. mee­ tings, 7 : 30 pm lecture. Con­ tact Margaret Hasse, Wider Ministry Program .

Mar 29: NCTE Confer­ ence on English Education, 12:30 pm luncheon, Omaha, Neb. Contact Robert Harvey, NCTE, 1111 Kenyon Rd, Urba­ na IL 61801; (217)328-3870 .

Apr 14 : Huntingdon College, Huntingdon IN; 8 pm . Contact Dal Hammel, Art­ ist-Lecture Committee .

Apr 17: Dept of Spec­ ial Ed, U of Wisc at White­ water; 8 pm at Playboy Re­ sort, Lake Geneva WI. Open to public. Contact Garry Libster (414)472-1660 .

Apr 19: Confer. on Li- · terature and the Urban Ex­ perience, Rutgers U, Newark NJ; contact Michael C. Jaye, conf. dir.

Apr 26: Children Stu­ dies Symposium, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Gen­ eva NY; contact Marilyn Kallet .

Some of the above lec­ tures may not be open to the public; check with the contact listed. Of course, if you can come, it will be nice to see you.

LOCAL GROUPS

Organization of un­ schoolers at the local lev­ el continues to grow. In two states and Canada, small groups of unschoolers have started their own news­ letters.

In OhiO, the group OCEAN (Ohio Coalition for Educational Alternatives Now), 66 Jefferson Ave, Co­ lumbus 43215, has started publishing the newsletter Children at Home. Cost of the newsletter is $5/yr.

The West Virginia news­ letter is Alternatives in Education, Rt 3, ~IA, Spencer 27276. Cost is $2/yr.

Both newsletters are about five pages long. They contain announcements, news

on legal developments, let­

ters from parents sharing ideas and experiences, chil­ dren's art and writing, etc . The Ohio group organ­ ized a state-wide meeting; the WV paper lists a whole page of names and addresses of members.

Wendy Priesnitz of THE CANADIAN ALLIANCE OF HOME SCHOOLERS, Box 640, Jarvis, Ont . NOA lJO, wri tes: "Al­ ready we have helped a num­ ber of families with advice and received much media at­ tention for the side of lov­ ing nurturing of children as opposed to the proces­ sing procedure of many school systems .. . Member­ ship costs $3 per family and includes a small period­ ical newsletter, as well as access to the resources that we have compiled. Spec­ ific requests for informa­ tion from non-members must be accompanied by a self-ad­ dressed~ stamped envelope ...

And, families in Mani­ toba can join the MANITOBA ASSOCIATION FOR SCHOOLING AT HOME. Write Mary Cather­ ine Figuel, 824 Barry Ave, Winnipeg R2C lMl .

We are delighted to hear about these groups, and would like our readers to let us know of any other local or regional groups forming .

GOOD NEWS FROM WISC.

From Michael Ketter­ hagen, adminstrator of the New Learning Network, 3569 W. 34th St, Greenfield WI 53221 : . . . We have started a school specifically to al­ low parents to educate their children at home. Ini­ tially, it was for our son,

Joshua, who would have been in first grade . Brigid and Larry Horbinski encouraged us to go through the neces­ sary Wisconsin state law procedures to become a bona fide private school. We are now listed in the 1979-80 Directory of private schools in the state of Wis­ consin .

Presently, we have 10 families involved in the "school," the New Learning Network, and 12 little peo­ ple enrolled. They range in age from 6 to 12. Recently, because of the growing un­ rest in the Milwaukee Pub­ lic High Schools, I have had a number of requests from high school age peo­ ple. It's really exciting and we're learning so much . .. . Our students are from six different school districts in Wisconsin and t he parents meet regularly, on the last Tuesday of the

month. At our parent meet­

ings we give each other the

support and encouragement

that we need .. .

These folks also re­

commend a helpful public of­ ficial: Mildred Anderson, Private School Liaison, Wis­ consin Dept . of Public In­ struction, 1425 E . Washing­ ton, Madison.

WRITING FIRST

Ann Kauble, 1706 W. Huntsville, Springdale, AR 72764, writes: . . . 1 would like to tell GWS my story : it might help others who, for one reason or another cannot or do not wish to take their kids out of school. Our girls, ages 11 and 7, are "working independently above grade level" and have "very poor attendance re­ cords . " In other words, school is a place where the body has to be sometimes, but you learn what you are interested in learning and not necessarily when the school says it's time to learn it. This has worked for us because our girls have wanted to learn the ba­ sics before the school has been ready to teach them,

and I discovered that any­

one, even me, can "teach,"

i.e. simply tell my kids

what they want to know, or,

if I don't know the answer

I can learn along with them.

I will explain our

7-year-old's experience so far. When she was 3, she wanted to learn her let­ ters, so I taught her how to write her upper case man­ uscript letters properly ( I like Zaner Bloser method of penmanship instruction . ) I taught upper case only, be­ cause it is so easy to learn with all letters touching headline and base­ line, and no worry about when to capitalize. Then we

2 started learning phonics .

Eventually she learned all the phonemes and sound-sym­ bols as they are taught in the Kottmeyer Basic Goals in s~elling series, only sne1d them in upper case.

We sounded out and she wrote short words like KAT. Th en on one h istoric day wh en she was five and a half, she discovered on her own that she could sound and write any word she could think of . This came about when she was SO MAD at me she left the dinner table and was gone t o her room with door closed for about an hour. Then she si­ lently presented me with a paper that said, "I HAT U MOM. I AM GOOIN TO ET MI VE­ NCHTUBULZ BUT I AM NOT GUIN TU ET MI FICH . IF YU DO NT FED ME I AM GOEN TO ET ALSO (all the) CUCEZ." [Ed . note - there are appropriate marks over the long vowels that we cannot reproduce here.l It wasn't even per­ fect sound-spelling, but it communicated' (She ate her fish next day in a sandwich and liked it, and no cook­ ies.) My older girl made the same spontaneous discov­ ery that she could write her thoughts when she was 5 and a half.

Anyway, Gena, my young­ est, was now free to ex­ press herself in writing.

She was SOUND-SPELLING, and she knew this was sound­ spelling, and that later she would spend years learn­ ing how to REAL-SPELL. Much of her early writing was practical : IOU's, lists, maps, instructions for us to follow, reminders for herself or us, mad notes to people she wasn ' t speaking to, money accounts, etc.

Some was poetry . My favor­ ite was: "A SONG UV LOVE. AZ TH MIWZIK PAST BI A HIW­ MIN SED U R TU BE A SLAV." I saved a lot of it.

I never really taught her to read, but my older girl and I took turns read­ ing to the three of us at night. At this time Gena was learning to recognize lower case letters because I had started teaching her lower case manuscript. Al­ so, I had ordered all the Basic Goals workbooks and teacherrs-manuals from Mc­ Graw-Hill, and Gena first joined in on our nigh t ly reading by reading the Read and Spell boxes in the 2nd grade level Basic Goa l s speller . She-waS-Very-happy to read just individual words, and these were groups of words with one spelling option (or two spelling options) for one particular sound. Following this same principle, we did lots of "WORD FAMILIES": ex­ ample - the ALL family ball tall hall, etc.

When she was six, she announced one night that she was going to read us a book - a 37 page Disney ed­ ition of Peter Pan . I know that what made her long to

read that book was that the illustrations were so exci­ ting and mystifying, and no­ body seemed to get around to reading it to her. It took her a week to read it out loud to us, and from then on she was reading on her own. She continued read­ ing the Read and Spell box­ es and doing word families, bur she was doing this for the purpose of word recogni­ tion more than for learning real-spelling. At this point she had two different skills going on at the same time: writing her thoughts in upper-case sound-spel­ ling, and learning to recog­ nize printed words in lower case while she also learned to write her lower case man­ uscript.

I asked her not to use lower case when she wrote her own thoughts until she had more skill in lower case penmanship, in order to avoid tHis SOrt of tHing. I think many kids may be afraid to write be­ cause real-spelling and low­ er case penmanship are so formidable. But Gena was able to keep up her confi­ dence by relying on sound­ spelling when she wrote her thoughts . She would copy perfectly spelled words in lower case for penmanship practice, but when she had something to say in writing - back to sound spelling .

This seemed perfectly natur­ al to me. When she had mas­ tered using upper and lower case letters together, she started formally learning real-spelling by working in the 2nd grade level of the Basic Goals workbook. It was easy because she al­ ready knew the sound-sym­ bols and phonemes used in this series. If she has for­ mally learned how to real­ spell a word, I mention that she got it wrong here and help her get correct spelling, but she is still free to sound-spell any oth­ er word she wishes to use ...

UNSCHOOLED CHILDREN From a letter by a mother of four: ... Another myth brought up on the show is the "kids drive me crazy having them around all day" retort. It just ain ' t neces­ sarily so ' I have four, ages three to ten, and most of the time we enjoy each other and get along very well. We have our off days but that in no way overshad­ ows the good times. In my "experiment" of never send­ ing any of mine to school, I have had the opportunity to compare my experiences with women sharing my phil­ osophy of childrearing who send theirs to school. I no­ tice a syndrome which causes them to feel sorry for me for being stuck all year with FOUR . It comes from their having three or

four at home all day during three months ' summer vaca­ tion with "nothing to do" (that is, nothing scheduled by some authority) and bick­ ering constantly (because they don ' t know one another as well as they know their cronies at school) . These mothers think that is what I put up with daily, but mine who have had the re­ sponsibility for most of their own time, who inter­ act constantly with family with little interruption, I find behave quite differ­ ently.

Another myth is that socialization is retarded with children at home. I have not found that true, but quite the opposite .

They may be somewhat shyer and naive about cruelty but they seem to be extremely sensitive to the needs of others and possess advanced conversational skills . In­ teraction with peers is limited but when it happens they handle it beautifully.

My mother (who was a super­ visor with the state board of education) used this argument exclusively as the reason I should send mine to school . As you said, the social life kids get in schools is, to me , a good reason to keep them out of schools, not the other-way around .

Still another myth is the time it takes to teach a child some skill. Observ­ ing how my babies learn motor skills taught me a valuable lesson and gave me my favorite educational concept ... READINESS. In a nutshell, when they're ready, they'll do it with minimum effort. Sounds too simple but it works every time with everything from toilet training to riding a bike, mathematics, reading, etc. . . . The time spent in teaching a child who is ready is minimal - no rote, no busywork. Just minutes for most things . . ..

People tell me that I am protecting my children from the cold, cruel world, and think children should have to take bad treatment in schools in order to cope with the real world . By that logic we should be putting the child ' s head in a vise every day to prepare them for the headaches they will suffer as adults . . ..

Each child of mine is unique. Nighttime is often the only quiet, uninter­ rupted time for us, so lots of " learning" and interact­ ing go on in the middle of the night. Our "school" is open twenty-four hours a day ( even on snow days), seven days a week. The teachers love the students and often the roles of teachers and students are exchanged - I am the child­ ren's best student as I have probably learned the most from them about love, psychology, and subjects

they show an interest in and share with me . . .. An­ other difference in the way we feel about our home-ed­ ucated children from par­ ents who struggle with theirs in traditional ways is that we like our kids ­ as well as love t h em . I find in my dealing with fami l ies t h at t h ere is, just as Ashley Montagu said, "a disdain for the state of childhood" in Amer­ ica. Children are toler­ ated, but rarely liked for just what they are . The rewards of my motherhood I am getting now, not looking forward to the future when they are grown

NJ CENTER Ann Bodine sent us a notice s h e is putting in the N.J. Unschoolers : I am organizing an Ac­ tivity Center - School With­ out Walls to provide compan­ ionship for unschooled chil­ dren and some free time for their parents. Although the Activity Center will not be in full, twice-weekly opera­ tion until the next school year (1980-81), the Center will offer four Gym Days (active free play in a gym­ nasium) during Feb . 1980 and two Nature Education Days at the Great Swamp Out­ door Education Center in spring 1980. Participants ' evaluation of these activi­ ties will determine the 1980-81 program .

The Activity Center will employ no teaching staff and parents will par­ ticipate on a rotational ba­ sis. Attending children will share the cost of in­ surance, gym rental, snacks, and supplies . Costs

will be kept as low as pos­

sible .

In addition to its

primary function of provi­ ding companionship for un­ schooled children and free time for their parents, the Center will enable our chil­ dren to participate in some activities which are only open to school groups and to receive certain services which are only offered to schools .

For further informa­ tion contact me at 201-464­ 0149. Address: 83 Knollwood Dr, New Providence, NJ 07974 .

RESEARCH Stephen Arons, a pro­ fessor of legal studies, is doing research on conflict between parents and school authorities over value so­ cialization in schooling .

Examples might include struggles over home educa­ tion, selection or censor­ ship of books, secularism and religion in schooling, etc . Arons is trying to dis­ cover the strains which such conflicts place on the

3 family, and the political and institutional interests which the school authori­ ties are seeking to protect during such conflicts.

Means of resolving these disputes without resort to the courts are of special interest. Professor Arons will protect the privacy and anonymity of any will­ ing to meet with him to de­ scribe their own struggle .

Please contact him at 20 Madison St . , Cambridge, MA 02138.

HOME STUDY SCHOOL

Pat Montgomery, dir­ ector of Clonlara, 1289 Jew­ ett St, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104, wrote us this summer: ... Clonlara does ha ve hom e-st udy students. I have received four calls since last spring and out of the four, three have enrolled as home-study students .

Please continue to keep our name as one of the schools offeri ng home-study and keep publicizing it. We cur­ rently ha ve eight bona fide hom e-studi ers . . .

HELPFUL

From a father in a

town near Boston:

. . . We spoke on the phone nearly a year ago about a home-gr own educa­ tion for our then 4 year old daughter. Now 5, she is enjoying her "kind ergarten " year more at h ome than her friends seem to be at sc h ool. We are in a very amiable process with the su­ perintendent of schools to secure authorization to con ­ tinue the home-learning up through the grades.

We h oped it would be amiable, and came on that way, not criticizing the sc h ools, just earnest about the obvious student-teacher ratio advantage any inter­ ested parents can offer at home ... he had received from the Massachusetts Asso­ ciation of Secondary Super­ intendents a copy and sum­ mary of Jud~e Greaney's d~­ cision on t e Percnemrrctes case:-rt-nasoeen sentout [o-all Mass. Superinten­ dents. And it made him amiable.

He proceeded to use that document as the guide­ lines for our arrangements with the school district.

What an enormous service the Perchemlides have done for us' And probably for all would-be Mass. home­ sc h oolers ...

NEWS FROM ILl.

From Cinny Poppen, Valley Cooperative School, RR 2, Box 518 , Dundee IL 60118 : . .. Last spring we had growi ng w;thout schooling # 12

an adventure with the local au thorities that you might be interested in. After almost ten years of a fair­ ly placid existence as a free school we were written up by a reporter for one of those newspapers people use to line their garbage pails with, investigated by the truant officer, and cal led in for a h earing with the county superintendent of schools. We got legal ad­ vice from the Alternative Schools Network in Chicago and the Northwestern Univer­ sity Legal Clinic and asked t o postpone the hearing until we felt ready. We prepared a set of documents including ou r philosophy, hist ory, curriculum, creden­ tials, and current sched­ ule, and went into the hear­ ing five strong, two women and three men. The offi­ cia l s were expecting two mothers and were impressed with our organization and the way we talked about education. (I 'm guessing that; they didn't exactly say there were impressed.)

They told the newspaper reporter, for hi s follow-up article, that we were doing a good job of educating our children. If you think any­ thing in that experience would be helpful to other readers of the newsletter, let me know. We have copies of the newspaper articles and our documents which we'd be glad to share ...

LETTER TO SCHOOLS

Shawn and David Ken­ drick, of Rehoboth, Mass . , recently wrote a letter to their local Superintendent of Schools saying why they were teaching their c hild­ ren at home. It seems a mod­ el of what letters should be. We are quoting large parts of it here. If you would like a copy of the complete letter, please send us $1 . ... The purpose of this letter is to respond to the issues you raised at our meeting on August 23, 1979, and to inform you of changes in the learning plan which our daughters will follow and the reasons for those changes .

We ha ve always felt and continue to feel that, as the people closest to our children, with the greatest opportunity to know and observe them, and with the most compe lling mo­ tivations of love and con ­ cern for their mental h eal th and emotional well­ being, we h ave the ultimate duty and responsibility to provide them with the best possible environment in which they are free to learn and live as God and nature intended them to. We firmly believe that that en­ vironment is a loving home in which the natural author­ ity of the parents does not

exclude the child's rights as a person. Through close, meaningful interaction we are able to observe and know our children well, and to supply them with the emo­ tional support necessary to the development of a posi­ tive self - image. In such a setting we can best present our own spritual and moral beliefs while simultaneous­ ly satisfying the State's interest in an educated ci­ tizenry.

An additional advan­ tage of the home environ­ ment is the small child -t o­ adult ratio which allows the individual differences and needs of our children to be recognized and provid­ ed for with greater profic­ iency. Our study plan is based on each child's inter­ ests and abilities because we feel that true learning, the kind which lasts a life­ time, is self-discovered and cannot be communicated directly to another. Such learning is frequently in­ hibited by the fear of fail­ ure, by ridicule and humil­ iation, by overstimulation, by the tension which accom­ panies competition, and by pressures to achieve beyond one ' s present ability. In order to encourage true learning, therefore, we have provided a calm, posi­ tive atmosphere, learning materials, and access to friends, mentors and commun­ ity resources. We have chos­ en to avoid the above-men­ tioned pressures which of­ ten prevent learning or make it a negative experi­ ence.

As a result, we have modified our use of the Cal­ vert School correspondence cou r se. Although we will continue to include the Cal­ vert instruction in our plan, we will no longer ad­ here rigidly to the time­ frame of the lessons . We h ave found from last year ' s experience that such adher­ ence interferes with an in­ dividualized program which allows the child " satura­ tion learning,!! i.e ., to study a subject thoroughly before going on to another area of interest. Our daugh­ ter Anna, for example, will often complete several days' reading or math as­ signments in one sitting be­ cause we allow h er enthusi­ asm for the subject to take precedence over notions that one must study only what is allotted for in that period . Similarly, be­ cause of a high interest, she read the first-grade health book over the past summer a nd is now reading the second-grade book. The idea that one learns more over the nine-month school year than at any other time is foreign to our children, since their school year is year-round. Not having been encouraged to believe that one must go for certain months of the year to a place called school in or­

der to learn things, they view the world around them and every day of their lives as the place and time in which they are free to learn. To respond to their broad interests, we have ar­ ranged for our children to meet regularly with Mr .

Jack Friedel, a certified teacher and natural scien­ tist, and are including oth­ er subjects, such as photo­ graphy, film animation, and zoology, in our study plan.

Whereas our daily activi­ ties will not follow a set pattern, over a period of days or weeks all of the various subjects will be studied and discussed.

We have found that our children learn most readily and with retention when they have a need to know something and an opportun­ ity to assimilate in experi ­ ence what they have learned through their own initia­ tive. One example was our daughter Celia ' s difficulty learning to write cursive ­ ly. Despite daily attempts, little progress was made.

We discontinued the writing lessons for a period of time until Celia asked us to help her learn cursive writing again. This time, with her own initiative as the key factor, her pro­ gress was rapid. As another example, Ce l ia did not seem to recall the various ways of telling time when work­ ing in her arithmetic work­ book . Her interest in the exercises was minimal. On her birthday, however, she received a watch as a pres­ ent, and the next day was able to recite the time ac­ curately and with no diffi­ culty at all . Similarly, a page of arit hm etic problems holds little appeal to Celia, yet when working out a purchase, budgeting h er allowance, keeping track of a game score, or measuring an object to construct, her interest is high. Celia es­ pecially looks forward to selling berries next summer that she is helping to grow in our garden and handling the cash flow herself. The practical application of ar­ ithmetic in her life stimu­ lates her toward achieve­ ment.

It is the close and continuing relationship we have with our children which enables us to observe their growth in skills and comprehension without the use of standardized, rou­ tine testing ... Although quantitative testing may be the most practical method of charting students' pro­ gress in school where a high teacher-student ratio exists, it is not necessary in our own situation.

A tremendous amount of confusion shadows the is­ sues of competency and ac­ countability, all pointing to the difficulties of meas­ uring a child ' s needs and development in a system of

4

mass e ducation . New stan­ d ardi ze d tests are bei n g de­ vised to determine at a late stage in a c h i ld' s school years what his class ­ room teachers would be able to ascertain at every grade l evel if more individual­ i zed attention were pos­ sible . Testing itself is n ot n ecessarily an accurate indi cator of a person's knowledge or capabilities .

The tensions and pressure of the testing process it­ self a r e enough to obscure facts from memory. The lan­ guage of tests is often am­ bi guous , so that more than one answer wou l d seem logic­ al to someone wh o has not acquired "test conscious­ ne ss " or does not h ave t h e cultural bias wh ich would point out the best answer.

Tests are designed to cover a certain area of know­ ledge, but one is not given credit for knowledge out­ side of that area . Even the state of one ' s health and mental outlook on the days of testing can make test scores vary widely.

It is the objectives of testing, however, with which we primarily disa­ gree. Because of the admin­ istrative difficulties of mass education and its un­ derlying assumption that c hildr en must be taught something in order to learn it, it is deemed necessary that by a certain age a cer­ tain body of knowledge must have been accumul ated . This premise denies the individ ­ ual differences between peo­ ple, th e fact that many children are n ot rea d y to learn certain things by a certain age, and that child­ ren h ave the capacity to l earn independently. The fact that a child does not know a particular math skill or hi story date by age 7 o r 8 does not mean that h e or she will never know it. Conve r sely, that a c hild does know that skill or date at age 7 or 8 d oes not mean that he or she wi l l retain that knowledge into a dulthood. Indeed, when a c h ild is especially motivated to learn some­ thing, the material that woul d normally take years to cover repetitiously in public or private schools can be assimilated in a mat­ ter of days or hours.

A natural approac h to chi ldr en ' s learning does n o t force facts and skills o n them b efore t h ey are ready, but allows t h eir own interests and talents to l ead them i nt o areas of knowledge and provides them with assistance and resour­ ces wh e n they are as k ed for . Having been read to frequently, our daughter Ce ­ lia began to recognize words whe n s h e was three years o ld. I decided to en­ large this ability and sat down wit h h er intending to teach h e r h ow to recognize other s i mi l ar words . This first and only " reading les­

son " laste d five minutes; Celia close d the book a nd said that was e n ough. Sh e simply was not ready to be taught, and yet, before s h e was five, s h e lea r ned to read on her own. The fi r st book she read unassisted at age four was Curious Geor~e

by H. A. Rey,-a-500~on t first or second g r aae lev­ el . At that young age s h e was able to read as fluent­ ly as most adults . Stil l there are words to figure out and questions to as k whic h we a r e more than will­ ing to answer . We provide d her with reading materials, the time to read aloud to us, verbal language games, and the a n swers to her ques­ tions. By n ot compe ll ing her to read, but rather sup­ plying the opportunity to do so, her ability grew at a tremendous rate. Given this approach to learning and instruction, we feel that t h e only legitimate form of eva luatio n is qua l­ itative and descriptive rather than quantitative.

be influenced in their for­ mati ve years by people whom we do not know pe r sonally and wh ose mo ral s, val u es , and po lit ical and religious b eliefs may dif fer from ours . Once a c hi l d s ta r t s school, the hom e becomes school cente r ed, not family ce nt ered . Th e h o ur bef o re school getting ready, the six h o ur s of school, the h our o r two of unwinding af­ t erwar d s and th e h o ur or more of h omewo rk later in the evening leave little time for parents and child­ ren to communicate and in­ volve th emse l ves jointly in activities not directly re­ lat ed t o sc h ool . We d o not f eel that this amount of r o utine a nd regulation is essential to education ~ se, but rather is the out ­ come of attempti n g to t eac h large numb ers of people with few teachers. The nec­ essity for control and di s ­ cipline outweighs the ene r­ gy devoted to di scove ring and meeting each c hild' s needs.

Our concern t o lead as natural a life as possi­ ble is a factor in our deci­ sions regarding our chi ld­ ren's educa ti on. Our life­ style is based on a vegetar­ ian diet, and a philosophic outlook and spiritual be­ liefs which rely on fai th, intuition, common sense, and traditional ways of life, suc h as natural c hil d­ b irt h, more th a n on ana lyti ­ cal science and technology.

The idea of grouping large numb e r s of children all th e same age with o n e adult fig­ ure in a room for six hours a day, nine months a year, is certainly not based o n any natural or traditional way of learning or living.

Schooling as we know it to­ day is a social experiment founded not on proven psych­ ological, sociologica l , or scientific grounds , but rather on politics and econ­ omic need. When the Massa­ chusetts Compulsory Atten­ dance Act was first passed in 1852, attendance was re­ quir ed for a minimum of 12 weeks per year, only 6 of which had to be consecu­ tive , and for a duration of just 6 yea r s. Attendance was not required of a c hil d being " otherwise furnished wit h the means of educa ti on for a like period of time," or a child wh o h a d " already acquired those branches of learning which are taught in common sch ools ." What the legislators first i nt en­ ded by compul sory education is completely different than wh at is intended now.

Even Thomas Jefferson, who emp h asized that education was essential to t h e wel­ fare and liberty of the peo­ ple, was reluctant to di­ rectly force i n s tru ction of children "in opposition t o t h e will of the parent ." ... We h ave not fe lt right abou t sendi ng o ur children out of our home to

... In o ur own county just recently, a Some r set couple appeared in the Bris­ tol County Juvenile Court to a n swe r to charges o f failure to comply with the compulsory attendance law after they h a d withdrawn their two children from the Somerset schoo l s . The at­ t ending judge agree d wit h th e co upl e's claim to a Con­ stitutional right to edu­ cate their c hildr en at h ome . On the grounds of the Fourth and Fifth Amend­ ments, th e couple asserted that the results of th e evaluation whic h they we r e best qualified to make on th eir children's progress could not be made available t o the Sc h ool Commi tt ee without their permission.

The judge again agreed with th e co upl e ' s position, a nd the issue was settled with the understanding that the couple would eva lua te their children's performa nc e, but that the resul t s wo uld not b e se nt to the Sch oo l Com­ mittee.

Interested by their arguments, we began to rea d material relating to o ur situat i o n a nd h ave f o und re­ assurance in both Federal and State court rulings that our decision to e du­ cate ou r c hildr en at h ome i s a Constitu ti o n al ly-pr o­ t ecte d right and that o ur actions are wit h i n the l aw.

In a 192 3 decision the Uni­ t ed Sta t es Sup r e me Court stated:

e

Corresponding to the r ight of control, it is the n atural duty of th e parent to give hi s c hild­ ren edu cation s uitable to their s tation in life . ..

In 1925, t h e Supreme court held: . .. The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all

governments in this Union repose excludes any gener­ al power of the State to standardize its children by f o rcing them to accept instruction from public teachers o nly. The child is not the creature of the State; those th a t nur­ ture him and direct his destiny, have the right, coupled with the high du­ ty, to recognize and pr e ­ pare him for added obliga­ tions.

In 1944, the Supreme Court

sa id:

It is cardinal with us that th e custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the par­ ents . . .

This deci sion also re­ cognized " ... the private realm of famil y lif e which the state cannot enter. " In 1965, the Supr e me Co urt sta­ ted that " . .. the right to ed uc ate one's children as one chooses is made applica­ ble to the Sta te s by the First and Fourteenth Amend­ ments . " In 1972, the Su­ preme Court noted ... The history and cul­ ture of Western civiliza­ ti on reflect a strong tra­ diti on of p are nt a l con­ cern for the nurture and upbringing o f their child­ ren. This primary role o f the parents in the up­ bringing of their child­ ren is now es tablished be­ yo nd debate as an endur­ ing American tradition.

The State courts, r e ­ lying o n the position of the Federal Supreme Court, have reaffirmed the rights of parents. An 1893 Massa­ c husett s Supreme Court rul­ ing provides for " .. . in­ struction ... by the par­ ents themselv es , provided it is given i n good faith, a nd is sufficient i n ex ­ tent." In 1904, an Indiana co urt s tat ed : One of the most important natur a l duti es o f the par­ ent is hi s ob lig a ti on t o educate his child, a nd thi s dut y h e owes n o t t o the c hild, on l y, but t o the commonwealt h.

In 1976, the Ohio Supreme Court wrote: It h as long been r ecog ­ niz e d that the ri ght of a par en t t o guide th e educa­ tion including the religi­ ous education, of his or her children i s indeed a 'fund a mental right' guar­ anteed by the due process clause of the Fourt ee nth Amendment.

And in a rec e nt Massachu­ setts Superior Court case it was written: Without doubt, then, the Massachusetts compulsory attendance s tatut e mi g ht growin g without scho oli ng #12

5 well be constitutionally infirm, if it did not ex­ empt students whose par­ ents prefer alternative forms of education.

This same decision held: Under our system the par­ ents must be allowed to decide whether public school education, inclu­ ding its socialization as­ pects, is desirable or un­ desirable for their child­ ren.

Whereas the United States courts recognize that the State has a "wide range of power for limiting parental freedom and author­ ity in things affecting the child's welfare," they also caution against unre­ strained police power in matters pertaining to con­ stitutionally guaranteed rights. In 1923, the United States Supreme Court stated : Determination by the leg­ islature of what consti­ tutes proper exercise of police power is not final or conclusive, but is sub­ ject to supervision by the courts.

This same ruling said: That the state may do much, go very far, in­ deed, in order to improve the quality of its citi­ zens, physically, mental­ ly, and morally, is clear; but the individual has certain fundamental rights which must be re­ spected .

In 1948, a New York court found that: free dom of choice as to the education of child­ ren, and the teaching of subjects not immoral or clearly inimical to the existence of socie t y may not be denied under the police power.

A U.S. Supr eme Court deci­ sion of 1972 reads: . .. a State 's interest in universal education , how­ ever highl y we rank it, is not totally free from a balancing process when it impinges on fundamen­ tal rights and inter­ ests ...

This decision also says: ... however strong the State ' s interest in uni­ versal compulsory educa­ tion, it is by no means absolute to the exclusion or subo rdinati on of all other interests.

Many other courts have ruled that it is the goal of education, not the means of obtaining it, that is the crucial factor. In 1893, a Massachusetts court ruled regarding the compul­ sory attendance law: growing without schooling #12

The great object of these provisions of the sta­ tutes has been that all the c hildren shall be edu­ cated, not that they shall be educated in any particular way.

In 1904, the Indiana court stated: The result to be ob­ tained, and not the means or manner of attaining it, was the goal which the lawmakers were attemp­ ting to reach .

This was reaffirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court in 19 50 : The object is that all children shall be educa­ ted, not that they shall be educated in any partic­ ular manner or place.

The recent Massachusetts Su­ perior Court ruling held that the State: may not use regulations or standards as a means of discouraging alterna­ tives which are not iden­ tical to the public schools .

This decision also said: There are certain ways in which individualized h ome instruction can never be the 'equi valent' of any in-school education, pub­ lic or private. At home, there are no other stu­ dents, no classrooms, no pre-existing schedules.

The parents stand in a very different relation­ ship to their children than do teachers to a class full of other peo­ ple's children. In view of these differences, to require co ngruent 'equi v­ alency ' is self -d efeating because it might fore­ close the use of teaching methods less formalized, but in the home setting more effective than those used in the classroom .

For example, certain step ­ by-step programs of grad­ ed instruction, in volving the use of standardized texts and tests periodi­ ca l ly administered, might be unnecessary when the parent-teacher enjoys a constant communication with the child, and so is able to monitor his or her comprehension and pro­ gress on an individual­ ized level impossible in a school setting. In any event, whatever the mer­ its of any particular pro­ ·gram, institutional stan ­ dards in a non-institu­ tional setting cannot be literally insisted upon.

That is, one may assume, why the legislature chose to impose the equivalency standa rd only on other than public schools .

The situation as the courts see it, then, is

that both parents and the State h ave an interest in the education of children, that the State must be cau­ tious in its use of the po­ lice power, and that it is the goal of education more than the means of obtaining it which is crucial. It is not only our own rights as parents, but also those of our children which we feel ob ligat ed to uphold ...

In this matter, you as the Superintendent o f Schools, the School Commit­ tee, and we as the parents of our children all h ave the same goal in mind, that is, that our children be ed­ ucated. We h ope that we have made it clear to you in this letter that our children are being e du ca­ ted, that the manner in which they are being educa ­ ted is of their own choice, as well as ours, that the Massachusetts Supreme Court respects that c h ildren need not be educated " in any par­ ticular way, " and that the U.S. Supreme Court recog­ nizes that parents have "the right to educate one ' s children as one chooses."

We have made a de­ tailed presentation of the facts and our beliefs to as­ sure you that our actions are sincere and within the law, and that in coopera­ ting with our plans to edu­ cate our children, you are satisfying the State's ob­ jectives and interests. We do not wish to go to court; the courts are overburdened already . Yet we d o believe that our position would be upheld .

In view of this state­ ment, we do not feel t hat it is necessary for you to meet with our c hildren. We thank you for your concern and again assure you that our deepest commitment is to our c hildr en 's welfare .

[Ed. - there follows a complete list of the cases cited. J

KY. RULING News story from Frank­ fort, Kentucky: The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Tuesday [ 10/9/79 J that the state cannot force private schools to meet the accredi­ tation standards regarding courses, teachers and text­ books that it sets for pub­ lic schools. . . . But the high court left open the possibility that the state can monitor the schools ' performance through a standardized achievement testing program.

In effect, the ruling shifts the burden of proof from the schools, which pre­ viously had been required to show they were worthy of accreditation, to the state, which now can take action against the schools

only if it demonstrates t hey are inadequate.

The decision, written b y Justice Robert Lukowsky, h ardly touched the federal constitution around which many of the oral arguments centered.

It focused on the state constitution [Ed. ita­ licsJ, spec~fical l y Section 5 which never has been test­ ed in Kentucky courts and which says in part: " ... Nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscienti­ ously opposed ." ... The justices said the question was to what ex­ tent the state can control a school outside the free public system .

They concluded that the state constitution does not permit the state to pre­ scribe standards for teach­ ers and textbooks in pri­ vate and parochial schoo l s.

They said the state must approve operation of such schools unless it shows they really are not schools as contemplated by the authors of the state constitution .. . ... Former Gov. Bert T. Combs, who defended the state board during the leng­ thy court proceedings, said he'll recommend the state board seek a rehearing in the case. But Combs said he doesn't know whet h er the board has t h e right to ap­ peal to federal courts be­ cause yesterdah's decision was based on t e Kentuck Const~tution, not federa law . ... Yesterday ' s opin ­ ion delved into the debates of the 1899 constitutional convention . It relied on the " Beckner Amendment," which the court said repre­ sents the position "that while the state has an in­ terest in the education of its citizens which could be furthered through compul­ sory education, the right s of conscience of those who desired education of their children in private and par­ ochial schools should be protected. " Hence, the court said, that does not "h amper fu­ ture legislatures in con­ structing a system of free public schools and requir­ ing attendance at them by all save those who hold con­ scientious objection to them.

"I t is beyond quibble that the delegates ( to the constitutional convention) meant to leave to the legis ­ lature the question of com­ pulsory education . " .. . it becomes neces­ sary to identify the limits of this state power where the boundary between the state's interest in quality education and the individu ­ al's conscientious object­ ion to public e ducation is indistinct," the opinion said ...

t

6

The moral of thi s sto­ ry is that hom e - sc h oo l e rs and would-be hom e - sc ho o l ers s hould r ea d not o nl y th e compulsory sc h ool statutes in th e ir states, but also th e ir State Constitutions, t o see what these may have to say about rights of par­ ents, religi o u s freedoms, etc. There is at l eas t some p ossi bilit y that th e claus­ es governing these matters in th e State Constitution may be more expl i cit and mo re favorable than any­ thing in th e Federal Consti­ tuti on . In any case , we should a s far as possible try t o get decisions based up on s uch c l auses, fo r the state will probably not ap­ peal the se decisions in the federal courts, wh ere I be­ lieve our chances are much worse.

co ntr ol over private sc h ool t extbooks, teacher cer ti fi ­ cation and curricula .

The amendmen t also cleared the way for parents to operate sc h ools at h ome under religious charters . ... Calvin Criner, co­ ordi nator of t he state ' s Of­ fice of Nonpub lic Instruc­ tion, said Clend en in said in an Oct. 11 l etter h e was sett in g up t h e "M a r anat h a School " and wou ld use the Iowa State Achieve ment Test to c h art students' progress. . .. " Th at ' s all that ' s required (under the new law) in setting u p a pri­ vate religious school, " Cri ­ ner said . " Nobody h as to ask permission, they just tell us they intend to do it. " ...

A TROUBLED UNSCHOOLER

NEWS FROM NC Recently the North Carolina State Supreme Court rul ed t h at the state h ad no p owe r to regulate private schools . I h ave not s ee n deta i l s of the case, and d o n ot know whether thi s was the case under pre­ sent legislation, or wheth­ er th ey were taki ng the ra­ th er broa d er position that any l eg i slatio n on private sc h ools was i n violat i on of the state constitution.

This d ecision is, natural­ ly, of great interest to un­ schoolers in NC. Some one on the State Boa rd o f Edu cation , per h aps the Chairman, perhaps the Attorney, at the same time said that this did no t cov­ er people teaching their own children at home . But, as the courts already ruled in Virginia in the Giesy case (GWS#l l ), if the law says the state cannot regu­ late private sc h ools , by the same token t h e state cannot say that a sc h ool registered in the h ome is n o t a private sc h ool .

Her e is anot h er un­ schooling news sto r y , from th e Charlottesville (NC) Ob­ se~, Oct. 25, 1979 : STATESVILLE - Joe Clendenin, charged with vi­ olat ing th e state ' s compul­ sory sc h ool attendance law, will not be tried in crimin­ al court. . . . " Th e wh ole ques­ ti on is whether Cl e ndenin is operating a legal sc h oo l or not, " [t h e Assista nt Dis­ trict Attorney] sa id, " and that' s not a question to be d eci d e d in criminal court." ... Clendenin, who lives near Statesville, h as refused t o send hi s three c hildr en to Ir ede ll County public schools . He has told state officials h e is open­ ing a private religious sc h ool .

During its l as t ses ­ sion, t h e Ge n eral Assembly amended th e private educa­ t ion l aw a nd relaxed state

The fo l low i ng excerpts are from letters written by one GWS reader to anot h er: Ma~ ... 1 am sending fo r GWS now because I am t r y ing to change the sc h ool­ ing for my e ld est, Phoebe, wh o is in first grade ...

Reading through GWS 1-8 I am reassured by much that read, but there are still several issues to settle .

Th e biggest is whether I want to take ca r e of my own c hildr en full time; whether it will be mutually benefi­ cial . I would like to th i nk yes, but there are times wh en a week of vacation seems too long. Pe rh aps that's because we a r en ' t used t o a lways being togeth­ er. My preferred course of action would be to send h er for t h e music-art part of t h e day and keep h e r h ome the rest of the time . A half day away would be fine : s h e still would have the energy wh en h ome to di­ rect h er own ac ti vities . ... We ha ve two ot h er children. Jennie is 3~ and so has one year before s h e would enroll in kindergar­ ten . Nat h aniel is 8 months, and it was because h e was born that I was glad to send Phoebe off l as t fall .

He is o ld er now, my perspet­ tive seems different ... I am s l owly thinking of wit h­ drawing Phoebe next year and trying a year at h ome.

If it doesn't work out , I'll l et h er go back the n ext year wh en s h e and Jen­ nie would go off together .

With no alte r native sc h ool close , this is a very h ard d ec i sion for me to make. ... 1 s hould add that I took Ph oebe ou t of publ ic kindergarten last year in Pennsylvania when the teach­ er wouldn't let h er r ead, and put h er into a n alter­ native t h at was ver exci­ ting growth for mot er and daughter. I guess I h esi­ tate now because I ha ve no suc h " sc h oo l" t o offer. ... Sc h oo l vs. n o sc h oo l seems to come down to the issue of h aving

h

faith in the inherent na­ tur e of growing . . . My fait h grows; our fam ily nurtures and h elps s trong people start .

July 11 ... We went to the principal and second grade teacher and asked to be able to do h ome-stu dy with Phoebe in t h e morning and have h er attend sc ho o l in the afternoo~ when they do a lot of non-academic stuff - gym and a r t and mu­ sic . Today the pr i ncipal fi ­ nally returned our ca l l and said t h at we cou ld do this.

We will be meeting with the superintendent of sc h ools, etc, setting up a Calve rt program and ha ving a ce rti­ fied teacher check h e r ev­ ery two weeks or so and re ­ view what she ' s d oi ng.

We 're free' I am really h opeful that thi s will me e t our needs - to be more in touch with her growth, make sure s h e is getting the emo ­ tional as we ll as the aca­ demic, and free her to read to h er interests and do pi­ ano and bake with me (t hi s is h ow we work on frac­ tions.) And half a day i s somet hin g I can easily live wit h .. .

Seet . 14 - We h ave be­ gun our-rarr-sc h edule of keeping Phoebe at h o me half the day. I am very happ y to h ave h e r her e but I strug­ gle wit h record-keeping t o h e lp u s justify what we're doing, and confrontations with the pri ncip al over t es ­ ting a nd so forth. I am somewhat timid by nature a nd all of this is diffi­ cult for me . We a r e o p e rat­ ing o n guidel in es from the state office of educatio n whi c h allow h omestud y wit h a correspondence cou r se wi th " progress " monitored by a certified teacher eac h month, with written reports to a superinte ndent each quarter. Our superintendent is most cooperative; Ph oe ­ be's principa l is still try­ ing to control wh at is no longer hers to control . ..

Sh e wants to t est Phoebe three times a year for read­ ing level and h as sa id s he expects to see " more than a yea r' s growt h" from Phoebe because s h e is bright . . . We have been told that we are a test case in Maine in that we want h a lf- and- h a lf spl i t t ime , a nd hen ce are being " watc h ed c los e l y. " What a nuisance' Th e time we h ave Phoe­ be now is grea t - s h e has time to read and br eat he and do h er own things. I find I struggle with allow­ ing h er mistakes in h er work - I kn ow that to deal wit h her long t erm I must r elax - but I still wonde r if s h e will learn to spell with out spe lling tests, al­ though s h e does most other things wel l. How lovel y it is to h ave h er again, eve n th o ugh school h as s tarted . .. . 1 feel our adven ­ ture is wel l begun. Ph oe b e

is happy a nd relaxed. And learning. All else is super­ fluou s . ..

Oct . 16 ... The reason we sougnr-nal f-time was be­ cause I felt Phoebe was ex­ p ending too much energy in sc h oo l and needed more free­ dom each day; I missed her pr ese n ce five d ays a wee k; and she wasn't being cha l­ l enge d or stimulated enough academically . But, I felt there was some benefit to h e r being there. I n eede d a br eak from all thr ee kids all day, and I think there are ma n y ben ef it s from reg­ ular cont ac t with the kids and feeling part of the group. As we get into t h is plan I ha ve misgivings a ­ bout trying to mix h ome and sc h ool , and wonder whethe r we will end up pulling her completely out ...

Since September I have h ad both happin ess and sa d­ ness over this whole thing .

The sadness r ef l ects my uncertainty over what to do (t h e correspondence course i s woefully inade­ quate) and diffi c ulty stand­ ing up t o th e principal.

The h a ppi nes s is th at the routine of Phoebe working with me is getting es t ab­ li s h ed and she p l ods through a little piece of language arts d aily a nd has l ots of free time whi ch she occupies ve r y productively .

I love watching h e r c r ea ­ ti ve juices flow. I didn 't see enough of that last year: I got onl y a cra b hom e in the afternoon from sc h oo l and to b ed ear l y in pr e paration for t h e n ext da y . (I was amazed that the whole s ummer passed this year a nd Phoebe n eve r sa id s h e was bored, or asked me wh at s h e could do.)

I feel that wh at we a r e d oi ng is right . Whether it wouldn ' t b e much bette r to ha ve h er completely free, I ca n't tell ye t. I wi ll hopefully l et that be h er c h o ic e by next yea r. As it is, she hates sc h ool right n ow . Sheds a few tears some mornings befo re s h e goes i n. I fee l that t h is may reflect h er pi c k­ in g up thing s from me that s h e may h ave overheard in a phone conve r sation o r some such . I used to be very dis­ creet, and not speak of my ph ilosophical diff e r ences in f ront of her at all. At a n y r a t e , I am going to bat for th e teacher a l it tl e , and selling Phoebe on it . I enco urage her to talk to her teacher about what goes wrong for h er a nd I think th e te ac h er list e n s . I'll ne ed more time abou t that to be sure. Ultimately, if Phoebe s till wants o ut, OK. Doi ng half time in sc h oo l is almost untenable in a lot of ways . Wh o wou ld believe in freedom and onl y half-carr y it o ut? I fee l guilty making Phoebe go.

(If s h e re s ist s too much longer I ' ll h ave to op t for total h ome study. ) ... growi ng without schooling #12

7 . .. In ways I d on 't really want to unschool at a ll, I just wis h th e r e was a freer sc h ool ava ilable to us . I would like to partici­ pate and be respected for my abilities there and h ave Phoe be and the ot h er kids pace themselves. A commun­ ity . Growtn-ror kids and parents both.

So . A comp l ex picture.

Phoebe does "rea ding" and language arts and art with me and goes to sch ool at 10:45 to join in lunch and recess before the after­ noon classes begin. After­ noons feature math, gym, mu­ sic, and odds and ends .

Phoebe is telling the teach­ er the math is boring and the teacher promises more stuff .

We a re under a spot­ light to a ce rtain ex tent.

We ha ve been to ld how peo ­ ple are watching t o see h ow this turns out - new in the state o ' Maine, etc . Th at probably makes me a little reluctant to let her out of her half day right n ow, without a good trial. ... The correspondence course doesn't measure wh at she does and how she is growing, but neither do those tests the principal so loves. But then again, the sc h oo l is hard put to prove that s h e benefits from the r epetition s h e gets in sc h ool (t he y c l aim that they individualize within the classroom and they do only some) or that o ur way of dealing with her h as in any way failed to h elp h er develop her poten­ tial . . .. 1 am rereading THE LIVES OF CHILDREN and enjoy ­ ing it. I think I never read it through before.

There is much foo d for thought a nd much sti mulu s for me. I am jus t beginning to be comfortable in a for­ mal teaching relationship ­ though the same rules app l y as in the informal one we ' ve been doing for years - I try to quit when I meet resistance. Often it is me, not Phoebe, wh o flies off the handle. I am learning to expect less . This little 7-year - old body doesn't know punctuation because she ' s never been told about it or given it much thought. Muc h , much joy in dealing wit h h er. Jennie, who is 4, dema nd s a t1ace at the stuaytabl~ [ . ita­ Tics] and struggles to read. How ni ce it i s to see the girls together learn­ ing ...

MORE ON 'EQUIVALENT' A mother from Georgia t old me that wh en s h e as k ed her local school district wh at they did about child­ ren who were too sick to go to school, they said that they would send tutors to th e c hild' s h ome - tw o days a week, an h our and a h alf a day . growing without

SClloo]in~

#12

The disciplinary vice­ principal of a high sc h ool in a Chi cago suburb told me that his district h ad a very strict policy on drugs - students using drugs in sc h ool were without excep ­ tion expelled for the rest of the term. When I aske d if th ey co uld ke ep up with their sc h oo lwork, h e sai d, " Oh, yes , they can attend evening classes . " I aske d how many classes they had to attend . His answer - two nights a week, two hours eac h night. Th at h as proved to be enough .

I urge as many read­ ers as possible to find out wh at schools do about sick children, etc, in their dis­ tricts and/o r states . When you find out, please l e t us know. This information can be very useful, eit h er in act u al court cases or fo r people trying to persuade their local schools to sup ­ port home sc h ooling.

MINIMIZING SCHOOL More from Ann Kauble: .. . Gena was six years old and sti ll not in school, because Arkansas law says c hildr en must be­ gin compuls o r y sc h ool atten­ dance on their 7th b irth ­ day. I researched state law and l ocal sc h ool policies to find out how I could MIN­ IMIZE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE .

I did several th ings before Gena's 7th birthday: (1) I taught h er stu­ dy methods that would ena ­ ble her to work in work­ books witho ut much instruc­ tion or supervision. Exam ­ ples : circli n g important clue words in instructions; crossing off a n swers a l­ ready used when all answers are provided in mixed-up fa­ s hi on; doing what s h e KNOWS first so she can find right answers to what she doesn't know through a simple pro­ cess of elimi n ation, etc .

(2) I went to the sc h ool and discussed th e wh ole situation wit h the person I thought would be most helpful and understand­ ing; in this case, the in­ structional supervisor, wh o is stil l t h e person who makes it all possible for me.

(3) I h ad the instru c­ tional supervisor inventory Gena's reading abi lit y , and I saved the inventory re­ sults for future documenta­ tion .

(4) I decided whi ch teacher would be right and saw to it that Gena got that teacher. Schools will generally [Ed. - well, some­ times] let the parent c h oose if they do so before sc h ool actually starts .

I picked a teacher who isn ' t like the usual "model good teac h er . " Sh e ' s my idea of the perfect teacher. Sh e ' s disorgan­ ized, wh ich means s h e isn't hung up on h er own str u c ­

ture or routine - the kids can move around a little more in h er class . She does not demand "hi gh levels of achievement, " which means the kids in h er class don't get so nervous and aren't as likely to compete vi­ ciously with eac h other .

She doesn't u s ual ly get "th e smart kids" put in h er class . Sh e could talk real­ ly gruff, which bothered some parents who were used to sticky-sweet - voiced teachers, but it never both­ ered the kids, because they knew she was all bark and no bite (she almos t never spanked), and s h e just plain loves kids and treat­ ed them like real people.

Her class h ad a calm spir ­ i~, and Gena l oved her!

Gena star t ed out in a n advanced reading group, but befo r e long I asked that she be allowe d to work independently in reading be­ cause, since I taught her to read by Kottmeyer enco­ ding methods, the decoding methods taught in the read­ ing series couldn 't help her learn what she already knew, and could only con­ fuse, at best. ( I think it helps to know some educa­ tion-related terms.) (I did not formally teach h er to read, but I think th e sc h oo l is more re ceptive if I say "I' m teaching," be­ cause they are trusting in ~y_~ompetence, even though rtiave absolutely no "aca­ demic qualifications.") Ge­ na says, "The spe ller teach­ es you h ow to read'" Permission granted to work independently; and goodbye reading groups ­ hopefully forever . She just does the workbooks with my assistance and the instruc­ tional supervisor test s h er out of that leve l when I say s h e ' s ready. I asked for a copy of the re ader, but she is not required to read from it or answer any "comprehension " questions.

Sh e reads what she wants to read, in or out of sc h ool, and we usually discuss her current book.

As for spelling, she jus t took HER O\.JN \.JORKBOOK to school and continued on in it. As for math, she has casually learned much math and is far beyond grade lev­ el (Dataman h elped) [Ed . ­ a small calculator] , so the instructional supervisor will test her out of any le­ vel when I say s h e 's ready.

It should be the same for language. Sh e wi ll probably do science and social stu­ dies projects in her class, working on grade level. I save all work she does . Ge­ na got tired of watching El­ ectric Co . at school, so she asked her teac h er if she could go someplace qui­ et and read a book while the class watched TV . Per­ mission granted. She was en ­ grossed in the "L ittle House" series by Laura In­ galls Wilder - a wonderful­ ly easy-to-read series [Ed .

- we'll be adding it to our list ] .

As I mentioned ear li­ er , I researched state at ­ tendance laws and local at­ tendance policy . Any school district should have a book of school board policies: parents s h ould know t h is' Gena was absent a lot last year, and wil l probably be absent more in the future .

Her birthday is in January, so she started in the sec­ ond semester . ( Too bad her birthday isn 't in June!)

State law allows 25 days ' absences, and local policy says a student wh o leaves school after 10:30 will be counted ~ day absent, so theoretically that's 50 days she's allowed to leave at 10 : 30, alt h ough I didn't use that many.

State law only consid ­ ered two types of absences : parentally caused absence and truancy, which is when the parent thinks the child is in school and he is not .

State law gives the parent complete control over deci­ ding whether the child is truant or not, inasmuch as they require a written statement from the parent saying that the absence is the fault of the child be ­ fore they will prosecute for truancy. Th is is impor­ tant to know because the lo­ cal school district has lots of policy concerning "acceptable reasons for be­ ing absent " and " counseling for more judicious use of absences " and giving t h e im­ pression that the school can declare the child tru­ ant, but it is all a lot of baloney for psychological effect. When I write a note to the school , I just say "Gena was absent on ( date)," wh ic h shows it is a parentally-caused absence and not a truancy . Actual ­ ly, I communicate a lot more than that with the teacher, but that's all I say in the note . This has been a long digression, but it may help others under­ stand about absence .

Once Gena had estab­ lished that she was working above grade level in all subjects, I started taking her out every day at 1 : 30, because students who leave after 1 : 30 aren't counted absent at all . Even if she ever became in violation of the 150 days compulsory at ­ tendance requirement, and was referred to the Prosecu­ ting Attorney's office (tru ­ ants - so declared by the parents - would be prosecu ­ ted in juvenile court and parents causing more than 25 days' absences would be prosecuted in probate court), there is some ques ­ tion in my mind as to wheth ­ er or not the prosecuting attorney would choose to prosecute under-rne-circum­ stances. Prosecuting attor­ neys like to win cases, and the fact that I can so well document the fact t h at Gena

8 is working above level, and she is, after all, enrolled in t h e school and continu­ ing to attend, ~tght make the case seem a ittle pointless and ridiculous .

Anyway, now it is time for Gena to start second g r ade . My conversation with t h e instructional super­ visor went like this : Me: Could you test Ge­ na out of the (3rd grade) level workbook in reading, spelling or math groups? Al­ so Gena wants to learn cur­ sive now, so I will be teaching her that for the next couple months . She won ' t start working in her third grade spelling worK= book until she has learned cur sive, because she wants to do it in cursive .

Her : Fine!

Me: I think she is ready to test out of the se­ cond grade math book, but she has gotten to the point wh ere she will not do all the problems and assign­ ments, because once she knows how to do the work, s h e rebels against having to do tedious and repetiti­ ous work, and I want her to stay i n terested and not get turned off' Her : Yes. Once she knows it, it's just busy­ work. I ' ll talk to the teacher. Will you be send­ ing things for Gena to do to school each day?

Me: Yes, but she ' ll be doing music, science and social studies with the class.

Her: Okay. I ' ll talk to you about testing next week .

This is NOT a liberal school district; the super­ intendent has extremely tigh t control. This school district has one of the toug h est attendance poli­ c i es in the state, and they expel and suspend more stu­ dents for poor attendance in secondary (secondary is not compulsory by law) than any other district of com­ parable size. They even h ave a policy, which I be­ lieve is illegal, which says they will ex~ K-8th graders for truancy . So we are getting by in spite of a very tough attendance pol­ icy here . I go to school board meetings so I can get a real education regarding whar-I would be up against if it ever comes to a con­ frontation.

I ' m afraid I've given t h e impression that Gena spends most of her time drudging in workbooks. Actu­ ally, she does a week's worth of work in the time t h e teacher allots for a day's worth, so many days she doesn ' t work in the workbooks at all. She might read a book, or just play , or be absent. She really likes and needs t h e spell­ ing a nd penmanship work­ books I have provided and

she takes to school (they will provide consistent les­ sons through the-eigntn grade, whereas the school may adopt a different ser­ ies in a few years . ) She completed one reading work­ book in a week this summer.

We don ' t take the reading workbook skills seriously ­ just " do the page." In read­ ing and math, she is just doing enough to learn the skills taught in the book, to be tested, so she will spend a lot less time doing assignments than most kids .

The important thing to the school is that her progress is tested and docu­ mented, and the important thing to me is that she still wants to learn .

So that is our story .

It is not an unschooling story. But I wonder what would happen if the schools had to deal with a lot of students who were " working independently above grade level and had very poor at­ tendance records"?

Years ago I did take one of my boys out of school for the last part of his third grade year. He was in a bad situation and developing signs of severe nervous tension. The doctor said there was nothing phys­ ically wrong with him . I asked him if he thought I should try to get permis­ sion from the school to take him out . He said, "The trouble is, we ask permis­ sion too much these days.

If you are convinced it is the right thing to do, then just do it . " I did . The principal called after a while, and I told him Steve wouldn ' t be back. His teach­ er wrote a nasty evaluation of his "immaturity and irre­ sponsibility," which is still in his school file .

This happened in another state, and the next year he changed schools and repeat­ ed third grade and did bet­ ter . I know that both my boys were harmed by public school, but I have now learned not to expect the schools to teach my child­ ren, and to be sure they are happy in class .

I took my older girl out of school for a couple of weeks when a substitute had them doing things like writing "I will obey " 400 times a day' I finally man­ aged to get rid of the sub­ stitute and get Linda back in school . (I pointed out to the administration that this lady was not a certi­ fied teacher, and they-are supposed to hire only certi­ fied teachers for extended ~iods.) I don ' t t!iTn1{­ tney are being harmed now.

I would get them out some­ how if I ever think they are being harmed.

Th ere is one more thing I would like to share regarding school and home study. Gena knows that she will always wind up getting

100% on the work she does, but not always on the first try. The first try tells you what you know and what you need to study. It does NOT EVER tell you how smart or dumb you are, and it does NOT EVER have anything to do with anybody else, ev­ en though the school makes you think you should com­ pare how you did with how someone else did. There is no point at all in grading a paper if you don't cor­ rect the mistakes afterward and wind up with 100%' Th is year I am putting a note in my kid's file that says I do not want them to ever be punished for academic fail­ ure, as I do not think the state corporal punishment law (alas' there is one) al­ lows it. ..

WORLD OF 'WEEPULS'

A mother writes : .. . But at the same time we are, deep inside, ready to "un-school . " I am absolutely convinced of its rightness. My problem is my children, especially the older one (10). After five years of schooling h e has made it palatable and even enjoyable by creating a world within a world there with a couple of his friends. The school work is no problem; he goes so that he can get together easily with 2 or 3 other boys for playing baseball or whatev­ er. Also, their world con­ tains its own society of "weepuls" - scores of ping­ pong ball sized fuzzy crea­ tures of different colors with big feet a nd tiny an­ tennas . For almost a year they had their city cover­ ing our 20x12 ' sun porch (forced to be dismantled because we are re-model­ ing). I haven ' t read GNOMES, but doubt if it could be a more complete study than these kids have with weepuls: the case of characters, layers of their society, their soccer and football fields, space­ ports and ships, disco, museum, school, movie thea­ ter, transportation system, all made in detailed minia­ ture with great care and skill; their diet of only bananas and banana juice, their death by contact with water, and so on . When J went on a scout trip to the snow, the weepul King Eeker went with him on skis made out of tongue depressors.

The weepuls go to school and hide in the desks until break time when they come out and make school their place and the boys can do what they want with and through them . Homework and boredom are put up with for the chance to meet A and K and play with weepuls. One wonders about our art forms and rituals helping us ac­ cept and overcome boredom and mediocrity without get­

ting at their sources. I wish my son would actively dislike, fight sc h ool, and refuse to do the work. That would make it easier. But he has created a strong and attractive world within the world of school from which I cannot pull him .

He wants letter grades now because he was the on l y one who didn't get them last report, and since his are high, why should he let the others think they are no good and he has to have them covered up wit h checks instead. He will take the standardized (but not even required this year) tests that I have been fighting about all year because he doesn't mind . I cannot fight this amorphous enemy .

As you said in the last chaptEr of INSTEAD OF EDUCA­ TION, I try to provide as much l ife outside of school, but SCHOOL TAKES SO MUCH TIME FROM KIDS. We had to return HUCKLEBERRY FINN to the library because we didn ' t have time to finish it because of school . . .

COPS 'N ROBBERS

This letter was writ­ ten to the mother in " Books and Guns," GWS #10 : The thoughts you shared concerning " playing guns " brought to mind some old memories.

Nobody ever told me not to play guns. But, when I was a kid, and the gang played cops 'n robbers, I had a problem because I couldn't "die. " Some kid would shoot me, and I would want to fall down and die, but somehow I couldn't, and I would just stand there and look dazed. And if I shot somebody, he would just ignore me because h e knew I hadn't really killed him .

After I grew up and had kids of my own, and they had taught me how to play cops ' n robbers:-I rea­ lized that I had been a very schizoid child, very uptight, totally lacking in spontaneity, frozen out of the NOW - and playing guns is a kid ' s way of getting really " with" other kids and into a very fast-mov­ ing, action-packed p(e£ent.

My observation 0 about 15 years watc h ing such games) is that only very free-spirited kids can play a really good game of cops 'n robbers, and that many games of cops 'n rob­ bers are ended by a child who does have feelings of violence and cruelty and causes an "accident" to hap­ pen in which someone is hurt. Usually that child wants to put an end to the game because of jealousy ­ h e can ' t s h are in t h e fun; not-oecause he has been ex­ cluded by the others, but because he isn ' t capable of playing . growing

,,,j thout

school; ng #12

9 I don ' t t h ink " play ­ ing guns " us u ally has any­ thing to do with guns, vio­ lence, host il ity , or cruel­ ty ; it is a game of aware­ ness. Feelings, other t h an joy, get in the way of awareness, and you can ex­ plode your feelings by ex­ perienc i ng the sound of the cap exp l oding in a cap pis­ tol, for instance .

In playing guns, I be­ lieve i t goes like this : If I am aware of you firs t , I can snooe-you, and you have to die' If I get surprised by you, t h en I KNOW you are more aware t h an I am be­ cause y~~ surprised me, so I ' ve go t to die . I just give up all awareness (fall ­ ing in the process) until I feel a surge inside me t h at says I ' m ready to be born again - MORE alive than be­ fore' Sometimes you and I catch each other at exactly the same time, and then we have to battle it out Bang' Bang' Pow ' Pow' I got YOU' NO you didn't, I got you FIRST' - until we both know that one of us h as bested the other. One of us must die and be born again' If, instead, one of us gets MAD - then the game quickly ends .

Oh, I l ove a good , noisy game of cops ' n rob­ bers ' I am an old fossil of almost forty who couldn ' t play guns now to save my soul, but at least I still remember t h at I learned something f r om some kids a long time ago .

I ' m trying to tell you somet h ing that can-only be experienced, which tells me that I ' m a fool . So, my suggestion is that you find a free - spi r ited kid (maybe you have one in your home?) and see wh at you can learn f r om him.

I believe t h at it ' s best to learn to look at the spirit - the feelings expressed - i n what your c h ild does, and see through the material object . After a l l, a c h ild can express his feelings of cruelty and hostility when he pets the dog, and h e can express his joy and delight when he shoots his gun . If your child is a joyful child and he WANTS a gun, I think you can trust in his joy, be­ cause t h e Bible says t h e things of t h is world are perishable, but the things of the spir i t are eve r last­ ing, a nd I, personally, think kids are born knowing t h is .

Even if a child uses h is toy gunplay to drain off his ange r and hostili­ ty, without h urt i ng any­ thing or anyone in the pro­ cess, what ' s the ha r m in it? My h usband says h e can remember having those feel­ ings wh en he played guns as a ki d (whereas I never saw s u ch feelings expressed wh en our kids played guns).

He sai d h e t h oug h t it was a good thing t h at h e had that growing without school ing #12

outlet, as he had a very un­ happy home . . .

READING POETRY ... 1 am reminded of my six-year - old daughter, who is so intent on expanding her reading ability that she has recently taken to memorizing Em i ly Dickin­ son ' s poems in order to suc­ cessfully read them . She struggles fo r sometimes an hour at a time, totally ab­ sorbed in "solving " her own "mystery . " No longer con­ tent to have me read these very challenging poems to her, she allows me to read a poem aloud only after she has mastered it. I suspect this labor of love has lit ­ tle to do wit h the class­ room ritual of reading groups . ..

LEARNING TO TYPE Donna Richoux writes: The remarks in GWS #8 about typing reminded me of how I taught myself to type when I was around 13 . I got a manual from the library that s h owed which fingers to use and provided step-by­ step drill. Th e manual (and my mot h er) emphasized the importance of not looking at the keyboarQ~-Once I had the basics down, I took my favorite book, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, which I was deep­ ly immersed in at the time, and just started copying from it , page after page af ­ ter page . Sometimes I worked on speed, sometimes accuracy .

Also, when I was on the schoolbus, or sitting in class, or otherwise in need of passing the time, would type mentally, think­ ing of sentences and light­ ly tapping my fingers . . .

The Boston WANT ADver­ tiser, a weekly EOOKIer-Df classfied ads , offers many typewriters (both manual and electric) for $50 or less . Surely in other parts or-the count r y they are av­ ailable for similar prices .

Definitely worth the invest­ ment .

GAME IDEAS Ann Kauble writes: . . . We all study lots of things at home . We p l ay a lot of games. Here's a list of games t h at are good learning experiences . They are more or less listed in order of difficulty, easy to hard .

Chutes and Ladders ­ for counting 1 - 100 .

Alphabet blocks - for learni n g the alp h abet .

Peanut Butter and Jel­ ly - for fractions ~, ~, two ~ ' s make ~.

Avalanche - how can

you get the most marbles to fall ?

Chinese checkers and checkers - sequencing Obsession - for add­ ing 1-12 on the dice .

Hangman - I use words from her speller that she knows .

Monopoly - decision­ making and handling " money" Clue - logic and de ­ duction Anagrams and Scrabble - we use the tiles to make up simple word games for be­ ginners.

Uncle Wiggly - for reading the instruction cards, which rhyme.

Dataman - I can pro ­ gram it, putting in ten math problems of my choice .

Mastermind - we have all learned so much from this game. When we play (Ge­ na plays the simple form well), we think out loud, so the kids can learn how we figure it out. Example : " If I have only two right colors, that's lucky, be­ cause now I KNOW the two co ­ lors I didn ' t use are right colors for sure'" A marvel­ ous game for thinking .

Chess - young kids can learn.

The wonderful world of computer games has not yet reached our neck of the woods, I'm sorry to say.

There are so many more. I hope GWS readers share things like t h is, about books and games and things kids like .. .

TEACHING CHEMISTRY To a parent, I wrote: .. . With respect to your question , about h ow a parent could teach some ­ thing like chemistry, t h ere seem to be a number of pos­ sibilities, all of whic h people have actual l y done in one place or another. 1) The parent finds a text­ book(s), materials, etc . , and parent and child learn the stuff together. 2) The parent gets the above for the child, and the child learns it alone. 3) The par­ ent finds, or the child finds, someone else, per­ haps an individual, perhaps a teacher in some kind of school, or even college , who knows this material, and learns from them.

As for equipment, you say that your h igh school had a very extensive chem lab, but I ' ll bet that very few of the students ever used more than a small part of the materials in the lab . I have known kids who were interested in chemis­ try and did it in their own basements, wh o were able to do a great deal of work with, at today ' s prices, less than $200 or maybe $100 worth of equipment.

The catalog of the Edmund Scientific Corp. is full of such equipment. Same thing

is true of physics. As for biology, except perhaps in the heart of the city, it is not difficult to find an­ imals for examination, dis ­ section, etc, if that is what children want to do .

I won't say these are not problems, but people who want to solve them can solve them .

You ask "Would you ex­ pect a parent to purchase test tubes, chemicals, in­ struments, etc . , that would perhaps only be used for one or two years, only to have the child become an artist Or musician? " Well, why not? People purchase bi­ cycles, sports equipment, musical instruments, with­ out knowing that their chil­ dren will ever become pro­ fessional athletes, musi­ cians, etc. None of this equipment (unless broken) loses any of its value - it could probably be sold la­ ter for at least a signifi­ cant part of the purchase price. And, as time goes on, and more people are teaching their children at home, it will be easier to get these materials from other parents who have used them, or to arrange for swaps, etc .

I see no real need for "institutional" education at any age. There is a man namea-Ovshinsky, in Michi­ gan, who stood physics on its ear by inventing a theo­ ry by which non-crystalline substances could be used to do things which, according to orthodox theory, only crystalline materials could do. For a number of years orthodox physicists dis­ missed Ovshinsky ' s ideas.

But he was able to demon­ strate them so clearly in laboratory experiments that they were finally obliged to admit that he was right.

But he never finished htrh scnool.There-are proba y more cases like this than we know, and there would be a great many more except for compulsory schooling laws. It is a kind of Catch 22 situation to say, first, that all children have to spend all that time in schools, and then to say that all kinds of things can only be learned in schoOIS. How do we know?

Where have we given people a chance to learn them some­ where else?

A very important func­ tion of institutions of so-called higher learning is not so much to teach people things as to limit access to certain kinas-of learning and work. The func­ tion of law schools is much less to train lawyers than to keep down the supply of lawyers. Practically every­ thing that is now only done by people with Ph . D's was, not so very long ago, done by people with no graduate training or in some cases even undergraduate train­ ing . Schools do not create much learning. What they

10

mostly do is collect it, hoard it, and sell it at the highest possible prices.

Thank you for writing.

I hope you will not doubt your competence to help your child/children learn anyt hing they want to learn, or indeed th eir com­ petence to learn many things without your help.

SCIENCE RESOURCES

National Geographic puts out a children's month­ ly magazine called National G~raphic Worl~. We-senr-­ for a copy, and I think it is delightful . The photo­ graphs are colorful, inter­ esting, and exciting. What is important for children, a great many of the photos s how children ~~l~ things - feeding or petting an an­ imal, working a piece of scientific apparatus, etc.

Th e text is clear and easy to read, bLt not a bit cute or written-down. I would guess that most children from ages 5-12 (a nd perh aps even older) would love it .

Subs are $S . 8S/yr . (for Can­ ada, $8 . 06 in Canadian funds). Can't recommend it too highly. Write Na t'l.

Geog. Society, P.O. Box 2330, Washington DC 20013 .

rington NJ 08007; $1 . 00 .

The company sells many kinds of scientific equip­ ment, much or most of it more cheaply than you could get it anywhere else . There is a big section on astro­ nomy - telescopes, lenses, etc; a large collection of magnets; also microscopes; magnifiers; biofeedback; all kinds of science con­ struction kits; kites; 8 ft. and 16 ft. diameter wea­ ther balloons; hot air bal­ loons; lenses; motors; la­ sers; holography; a machine for making badges and but­ tons; weather instruments; and more .

Some of this material is too expensive for most families. But there are ma­ ny good bargains here, and the catalog is fun to read, just for what it says about what is out there in the world . Well worth the $1.

A valuable resource for many unschooling fami­ lies might be the quarterly Medical Self-care - $lO/yr, $257J-y~-TfIr-or $28, Can­ ada), PO Box 717, Inverness CA 94937. The magazine's sub-title is "Access to Med­ ical Tools," which includes books, information, etc .

One chap ter in a recent is­ sue reviews and rates vari­ ous medical reference books. Some of the books listed and recommended in the magazine are for child­ ren . But many children would find the magazine it­ self very interesting and instructive.

A magazine I very strong ly recommend for old­ er children is Natural Hi s­ t~£y. From the few issueS-I nave seen, I judge that it is mostly about the sci­ ences that deal with living c reatures (includ ing hu­ man), as opposed to sci­ ences like physics, chemis­ try, etc. It ha s more text and fewer photos than the ~atio~~l_Ge~ra~£ . But tnere are st irr many color photos, all beautiful and some astonishing. A recent issue carried an article about wasps, with some close-up photos of queen wasps fig hting. How those photos were taken, I can 't imagine. The current issue has, among ot h er things, a fascinating article about butterflies and how t hey get their needed body heat from the sun, and another about a culture in Africa in which people learn (starting when they are very young) to tell very complicated stories on drums. Natural Hl~to£y is not a cnrroren'S magazine, and the text, though clear­ ly written, would probably be too hard for most child­ ren under seventh grade.

But for children who are in­ terested in nature and sci­ ence, and who read well, I wou ld think that it would be fascinating. Subs are $lO/yr ( 12 issues) in the US, $12/yr elsewhere.

Write: ~~~ural_History, Box 6000, Des Moines IA 50340 .

Dear People, You would be doing the undersigned and his son a great service if you would put the accompanying notice on your bulletin board and make its contents known to anyone of your acquaintance who might be interested . It would benefit you directly in the amount of lift tick­ ets sold and ultimately per­ haps in acquiring the ser­ vices of a teaching profes­ sional and member of the ski patrol, as S earnestly desires a career in that field.

Another useful re­ source is the catalog of the EDMUND SCIENTIFIC CO. , 101 E. Gloucester Pike, Bar­

To Whom It May Concern: My son, S, is a 14 year old who wants to be where the snow is more of­

We have a few single copies of Medical Self­ ca£~,

NationalGeog~aphic,

~~it~so~ia~~gaz~~~, and NaturaT His~~~y w ich we wirr sena-free to people who want to see them. Send large S.A.S . E. First come, first served.

SKI ADVENTURE

ten than the weekends which the Ski Club grants him. He is a r esponsible, independent person, who wishes to demonstrate to himself and to the world that he can assume the responsibilities of his impending manhood. He is already a skillful skier who can manage himself and assist those around him. He would like the op­ portunity to do more. To be specific: I wou ld like to place him with one or more adults in a responsi­ ble env ir onment during the coming ski season of 1978-79. He can live in our camper, thus taking care of his food and s hel­ ter. I will pay you $100 monthly for any inconveni­ ence and out - of-hand ex­ penses . He is capable of taking care of himself, but the state requires nominal supervision by an adult. Anyone interested please contact the under­ signed.

Only one ski area an­ swered . S spent an interest­ ing, difficult, exciting, productive winter there.

CAPABLE

From the "Kid s Did It" section of National Geo­ gra~~World :

-------

DANCE, DANCE, DANCE. Austin Grunde, 15, manages a teen-age diSCO, called The Zodiac, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Most of the work in running The Zodiac i s done by Austin and his friends, wh o range in age from 14 to 18. Austin has managed the Zodiac for the ~st 2~ years [Ed. ital=-­ ics J . The disco is open on Friday, Saturday, and Sun­ day nights . On Saturday nights, as many as a hun­ dred teenagers crowd inside to dance to recorded sounds.

From a father: This is a copy of the letter I sent to all the ski resorts in the West . I guess I did just the right amount of work in publicity .

EXPLORING WORK

From a letter I wrote to a high-school student who had said that she want­ ed to work in Interior De­ sign: May I ask you a few questions about Interior Design. How much do you know about it - as work?

That is, how mucn-ao you know about what interior designers do on an average working day7 Do you know any interior designers?

Have you ever worked for one? Have you ever designed any interiors yourself? Do you like to draw pictures of rooms, furniture, floor plans? Do you read maga­ zines about architecture, art, painting, design?

These are not ques­ tions for you to answer to me, but to yourself. If you have answers to those ques­

tions, then maybe your de­ cision to choose interior design, not as Ita career" but as work, may be a sound one . -rr-you don ' t have ans­ wers, there is a danger that you may have picked interior design because it sounded good. "What would you like to be?" "Oh, I'd like to be an interior de­ Signer." "Gee, that sounds exciting." And so on. That isn ' t a bad reason for first getting interested in a-cer ta in kind of work, but you should know a lot more before you commit yourself to it.

I would strongly urge that before you spend money on some-KInd of school of interior design ( how could you tell whether one was any good?), and before you even leave high school, you begin to find out all you can about that subject.

There is a magazine called INTERIORS. Have you seen it? Ask at the library about it - if they don't have it, and they probably won't, they have an index of periodicals from which you can get the address .

Another good one is Archi ­ tectural Digest. Fina-tne names of some interior de­ signers near you, tell them of your interest, see if you can visit their stores o r s hops or studios, see if you can find out what peo­ ple do th ere, and what you would have to know in order to do it. One thing you would probably h ave to know is mechanical drawing .

What I'm saying is, learn all~ can on your own-Defore you spend any money on a school. Don't spend money on a school until you have found that there are some things you have to know in order to work as an interior design­ er that you can learn only (or most easily) in schools. The people to ask about that are interior designers. Find out where they learned what they now know.

Another skill to learn, and to learn right away, is typing. It is easy to learn, you don 't have to go to school,I taught my­ self when I was in the Navy and I never learned any­ thing more valuable . One reason for learning it is that you will n eed it in business, and indeed, when you are looking for any kind of work, you will be much more valuable if you are a skilled typist. (All it takes is practice.) An­ other reason is that if you write someone a neatly typed, error-free letter in good s tand ard business form - like this letter - you are muc h more likely to get an answer than if yo u do it in handwriting . Many ad­ ults, I'm so rry to say, don't take yo ung people very serious ly. But if you type neatly, and don ' t say grov,ring \d tbout schoolj ng # 12

11

how old you are, they will assume you are an adult and treat yo u accordi ngl y .

Now mec h anica l dr aw­ ing, or engineering dr aw­ ing, or drafting (not sure which they call it) may be somethi n g they teach at your local sc h oo l, in wh ich case try to t a k e it. If they don 't teac h it, or won't let you take i t, find out what kind of equipment t h ey use and wh at books, if any, then get some of the equipment and start teach­ ing yourself. I don't know how big a town yours is, but there is probably some­ one somewhere near ther e who will help you get start ­ ed on this.

Go to an art supp l y store and see what sort of books and materials they h ave about colors , for you will need to know a lot about that .

Write a letter to the Dept. of Architecture at the State University asking for whatever information they can give you about the study of interior design.

As you read about this subject, every time you see something that interests you, write a letter to the aut hor saying so and asking for more information . Some people won ' t answe r your l e t te r, but many will. Much of wh at I know I learned by writing letters.

Start doing some of t h ese things right away, and let me know what h ap ­ pens . I h ope to h ea r from you agai n before l o ng. Good lu ck .

PS - If none of this sounds ve-ry interesting or exciting , t h at ' s OK, but it is probably a pretty good sign that you don't really wa nt to be a n inte ri o r d e­ signer .

NEWS ABOUT TESTS

From Newsweek, Oct .

29, 19 79 : - - - A COURT BAN ON I Q TESTS - For a decade , the State of California placed pupils in classes for the mentally retarded on the ba­ sis of intelligence -t est scores, and a disproportion­ ate number of black c hild ­ ren were falling in t o these classes . Contending that the tests were " cul tur ally biased" against blacks, the NAACP filed s u it to stop the practice. Afte r a fi ve­ month trial, U. S . Judge Rob­ ert F. Peckham last week de­ clared the IQ tests uncon­ stitutional as used and or­ dered them h alted .

Peckham found that ed­ ucators were using Han as­ sumed intellectual inferior­ ity " a mo n g black youngste r s to avoid solving their edu ­ cational problems . " We can­ n ot truly define, much le ss measure, i nt ellige n ce, " he said . The rulin g, whic h Cal­ ifornia officia l s expect to appeal, applies so far only growing without schooling #12

in that state . but Peck ­ ham ' s decision, based in part on violation of the Fourteenth Amendment ' s equal-protection clause, is likely to encourage similar lawsuits against intelli­ gence tests in other states.

The Summer ' 79 issue of !he Testin Digest reports tnat in Ju y , r~E the Na­ tional Educational Associa ­ tion, to which most Ameri ­ can teachers belong, en­ dorsed the following resolu­ tion :

r

The National Education Association recognizes that testing of students may be appropriate for such pur ­ poses as a) Diagnosing learning needs. b) Prescrib­ in g instructional activi ­ ties. c) Measuring studen t progress in the curricu lum content uITITzin~ tests ~­ pared or selecte ~tne Classroom teacner . -rEa~it­ alics) The Association opposes t h e use of tests that deny students full access to equal educational oppotuni ­ ties.

The Association opposes the use and will continue to seek the elimination of standardized tests, wh ic h are a . Damaging to a stu­ dent's self-concept and con­ tribute to the self - fulfil ­ ling prophecy whereby a stu ­ dent ' s achievement tends to fulfill the negative expec­ tations of ot h ers . b . Biased against those who are economically disad­ vantaged or who are cultur­ ally and linguistically dif­ ferent . c . Used for tracking stu­ dents. d. Invalid, unreliable, out - of-date, and restricted to the measurement of cogni­ tive skills . e. Used as a basis for the allocation of federal, state, or local funds . f. Used by book publish­ ers and testing companies to promote their financial interests rather than to im­ prove measurement and in­ struction. g . Used by the media as a basis for invidious pub­ lic comparisons of student ac hi evement test scores . h . Used to test perfor­ mance levels as a criterion for high sc h ool graduat i on.

the subcommittee on postsec­ ondary education was de­ layed, probably until next spring, but h e remained con­ fident that it would final­ l y be approved . ... The bill ' s opponents, which include the Ed u cation Testing Service, the com­ pany that develops the Scho­ lastic Aptitude Test, have argued t h at the measure would substantially in­ crease the costs to stu­ dents because it would re­ quire making the test pub­ lic after their administra­ tion, therefore making it impossible to reuse them ...

.. AND TEST INFO

McGraw-H ill Pub li s hin g Co . , 1221 Avenue of the Am­ ericas, New Yo rk NY, lists a number of books designed to help students prepare to take certain standardized examinations . Among their titles are HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST ( SAT); HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE AMERICAN COLLEGE TEST ( ACT ) ; HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE MILLER ANALOGIES TEST ( used by most graduate schools); and others . Worth reading, for any who may be getting ready to take such tests . And younger c hi ldren mig h t find them interesting to browse through - another slice of the Big World .

Some of them might be inter­ ested in making up some test questions of their own .

From the New York Times, Oct. 28, 19~----

Parents who a r e tr ying to avoid having their un­ schooled children tested by standardized tests, or who hope to avoid this in the future, will be interested in two new anti - test in g or­ ganizations and their pub­ lications. One is PROJECT DE-TEST, 1129 21st St N. W. , Washington DC 20036. They publish a quarterly called The Testin~ Di§est ($6/yr., $27Copy) . he ummer ' 79 is­ sue has some extraordinar­ ily important material on the history of standardized testing, the assumptions of the people who first thought of the idea, and the ways in which the tests are designed to support these assumptions . Th ere is far more good material than we have room to quote here, except for ( elsewhere in this issue) the NEA state ­ ment on standardized test­ ing . Much of it would be very valuable ammuniti on in home schooling plans and/or legal briefs.

Consideration of a Fed­ eral truth-in-testing law was put off this week be­ cause of opposition by the companies that administer the examinations taken by most students in the coun­ try planning to go to col­ lege.

The measure ' s sponso r, Representative Ted Weiss, Democrat-Liberal of Manhat­ tan, said that action by

The other magazine is The Measuring Cup ($lS/yr ., ~723 , Savannah GA 31403 ) . Per h aps sligh tly more t h an PROJECT DE -TEST, they are concerned about, and opposed to, standard­ ized test in g and minimum competency exams as they re­ late to l ow-income groups and racial minorities . This difference in point of view of the two papers is

slight, and both are very much worth having.

HER OWN DE CISION

... While we sensed from the beginning that school was an evil, we also thought that forcing our child to stay out of school would be almost as bad as forcing her into school.

Our daughter is almost six, so she ( and we ) are approaching the dread e d t ime when she is suppo s ed t o start school . The ap­ proaching deadline has up until very recently brought a lot of apprehension.

Peer pressure was moun­ t ing on our little girl; all her friends, of course, are in school or getting ready to start . Until re­ cently C tho u ght school would simply be another adventure and a chance to meet new friends.

A blessing in disguise appeared: A prestigi o us private school offered a f our week summer camp . Ap­ proximately half the time ,,,ould be spent in "academic l earning" and the o th e r half in activities such as swimming, bowling, skating, hiking, etc .

We decided to let her go, risking the possibility that she might equate this " fun time" with school . We felt that if it were truly a good experience, then she should have it anyway .

The first week was great . She met new friends, the activities she loved, and the "academic learning" was all right ( even though sitting in class seemed to be something of a bore ) .

The second week the pressure began and all of a su dden C couldn ' t seem to do the academic work even though she had done more advanced things at home. C was visibly upset and all her behavior showed it .

Our role at this point was to talk and listen as openly and honestly as we knew how .

We talked to th e teach­ er and told her that "aca­ demic learning" was not important to us and we told C t h at she could just go later in the morning and skip the lessons . She skip­ ped a couple of days that week .

She continued to go d uring the time for "academ­ ic learning" with mounting frustration; apparently, she didn't want to be dif­ ferent . She wanted to be involved in the activities but even these seemed to change for her. Too, it seemed as though her new­ found friends, who were so much fun the first week, weren't so great in the third .

In order to avoid con­ frontation she began to play games wit h the teach­ er. Instead of giving her teacher the opportunity to

12 chastise her about her work, she simply did n' t turn i t in (papers were graded and turned bac k , but not recorded). We we r e un­ easy about this game - play­ ing as we were afraid it was building bad hab i ts .

But we were deligh ted that she confided in us almost every detail about how she " tricked" the teacher . Af ­ ter talking with h er we realized t h at s h e di d n ' t think trickery was good, but under the circumstances it was al l s h e could d o.

At t h e end of th e third week there was a whole day of activities and we expected her to be excited. Instead, she an ­ noun ced rather matter-of­ factly s h e could do those things anytime with mommy - she didn't return to school after that .

Little or not h ing was said about the subject of sc h ool for several weeks .

(We also dec i ded early that we would not preac h or blud ­ geon our c h i l d wit h t h e moral evils of sc h ool . ) One day a neighbor of ours, a large, loud , t h reat ­ ening woman demanded of C, " Are you ready to start sc h ool?" C very frankly stated, "I ' m not going to school. They never do any­ t h i n g there ."

We find now that our apprehension was for naught. We merely had to support and nurture our child - s h e seems to h ave fer r eted out ve r y well wh at was good for her . Sh e want­ ed new frie n ds and exciting activity. We suspec t t h at in sc h ool s h e found some ­ t h ing wrong with th e child­ ren and, therefore, s h e found the activities there to be lifeless .

Now t h at s h e h as made HER OWN DECISION to stay out of school, we feel s h e will have no trouble being "different. " We notice that if her friends press u re h e r on the subject of school, if a simple explanation will not do, she simply changes friends.

We think children do want the companions h ip of peers, but t h at children get nothing from frie n ds who are under pressure to perform like circus a n i­ mals. We t h ink t h at c h ild­ ren, if allowed, will natur­ ally choose l oving support at home ...

BOOT CAMP Ann Kauble writes : ... Here ' s another item - a quote from a local Head Start worker, on a tape recording I made of a re ­ cent school board meeting.

The Head Start people were asking to continue t o use a school building for their program, and they justified their impor t ance to the school board as follows: " I think we should be

considered part of the Springdale school system be­ cause we are teachers . As a Head Start teacher, I ' m not in there running the schools, but when our kids get read for the first grade they are TOTALLY READY FOR THE FIRST GRADE. They have been through the school "system " : I mean THEY KNOW ABOUT SETTIN' STILL, ABOUT RECESS, ABOUT LUNCH TIME, BECAUSE THEY ARE TAUGHT THIS from the time they get into Head Start until they get into public school. " Board member asks: " What ages attend Head Start? " She anS\oiers: "Three t h rough six. " Th ey got continued use of public school proper­ ty (an old house).

THEY HAVE A CHOICE Many people write to say t h at when they take t h eir c h ildren out of school and the local school superintendent begins to take legal action against them, he says that he " has no choice ." Most of the peo­ ple wh o say this are probab­ ly sincere. Because they don ' t know the law about h ome-schooling, t h ey really think it is illegal, and so believe that if they allow it to happen, they will be aiding and abetting a crime, which is itself against the law. This may well be why so many of them move so quickly - though there are surely other rea­ sons .

The fact is, however, that i n thinking that they "have no choice, " they are mistaken. This is true not only because of what the courts have said about the rights of parents to teach t h eir own children, but even more, because the com­ pulsory education statutes in all states - certainly all those I have heard about - say that for one reason or another, children may be excused from regular school attendance provided that the local school au­ t horities approve this . In other words, the law in most, and I suspect all, states very specifically gives the superintendent the right to approve home schooling if he wishes to do so. There is no legal burden of proof on him to show to some other author­ ity that his reasons for do­ ing so are justified . If he says it ' s OK, it's OK, and that is an end of the mat­ ter . So if and when a super­ intendent says to you that he has no choice but to take you to court, or that it is his legal duty to do so, be sure to correct him on this matter. If he take s you to court, it is only be­ cause he wants to, not be­ cause he nas-to. And it would probably be a good

idea to make this point clear early in the discus­ sions, even before the ques ­ tion of court comes up .

TENN . REPORT A teacher writes: . . . 1 work for the pub­ lic schools as a sort of re­ former . I started out as a homebound teacher, teaching kids who can't come to school for one reason or an­ other. I started getting students who got p h ysically sick from school itself it made some-KIQs so ner­ vous and upset that they would get headaches, throw up, run away, cry, just at the mention of school.

These kids were great stu­ dents at home with the pres­ sure off, but compulsory at­ tendance laws have com­ pelled the superintendent and director of special ed to tr y to figure out what to do with these kids . Th ey have to be served somehow, oue-homebound was not-con ­ sidered the way to do it.

Teachers complain that home­ bound is being abused by these kids who have no phys­ ical reasons for not going to school . ( Their problems are emotional and therefore not "real . " ) After checking into the situation in more depth, I found an incredi­ ble number of kids not go­ ing to school at all, first graders througn-rztn grad­ ers . ( Kids cannot quit un­ til age 17 legally, lower limit is age 7.) I started some digging, going throug h old attendance records, talking with kids and teach ­ ers, and came up with a list of 300 kids not going to school in our county, out of about 3000 students total. I figure this is a conservative estimate be ­ cause a lot of kids probab­ ly never start school here and therefore we don ' t know about them. Also, the atten­ dance records were mostly garbage - obviously falsi­ fied for the purpose of get­ ting state money . Some teachers had no absences marked for the entire ~ar .

With so many kids not going to school, it seems like a physical impossibil­ ity to do much of anything about it . In the past, no­ thing ever was done about it . The " attendance teach­ er" (o ur version of the tru­ ant off icer ) has never ta­ ken any kids to court-for truancy, and doesn ' t want to start . No truancy cases have ever been brought to court in the histor y of the county . If someone reports a child to the attendance teacher, he will go and check it out, talk to the people, and that's all.

I've been working on setting up alternative classes next year as a sort of "haven" where some kids can go to sc ho o l and not be

pressured by gra d es and ex ­ pectations, and wh e r e h ope ­ fu l ly they can fee l comfo r­ tab l e and at h ome . Of cou r se t h ese classes cou ld not even begin to t ouc h th e numbers of kids u nw ill ing to go to sc h ool .

I t really ma k es se n se to me for th e sc h oo l t o of ­ ficially approve h ome edu ca ­ tion, because tha t i s wha t is h appening h e r e on a f ai r­ ly large scale. Our superi n­ tendent is open - minded en­ ough to realize t h a t t h e schools are inappr o priate for large numbers o f k i d s, and he's not wil li ng to fo r ce t h e kids to go to school, at least not un til there is somet h ing bet t er to offer.

I have no inten t ion o f sending my own 4 year old son to school when h e is school age . I an t icipate no problems either. Ab o ut 15 other like - minded families are getting together to start our own private school - which I anticipate will be our lega l structu r e for getting around t h e laws, while most of the teac h ing will go on at home . In Tenn . , only a c h a r­ ter is nee d ed for starti n g a private school . It is no t necessary to be approved, t h ere are hundreds of pri ­ vate schools in t h e state now that are no t approved.

We have requested a c h arter application but have not r e ­ ceived it as yet - so I don ' t know yet wh a t t h at will involve .

Some families say t h ey are willing to move to es ­ cape legal battles . We wou l d welcome t h em h ere and offer our support . . .

UNSCHOOLING IN HOLLAND Brigitta Van Daam se nt us t h is translation of a Dutc h news story:

1 May 1979 - NRC Ha nd els­ blad, Rotterdam PARENTS AGREED WI TH BY JUDG ­ ES OF DISTRICT COURT , CHILD ALLOWED TO STAY HOME Gr oningen, 21 Ap r i l - Par ­ ents who object t o wh atever education is available may keep t h eir children h ome .

This is the most importan t conclusion from t h e verdic t given by two judges f r om Groningen, M. H. de Wildt and F. V . Gimbrere, t o two fathers who had refused to enroll their lit t le sons of six and seven years of age in an e l ementary school .

Th e two fat h ers, Ma rk Dunning Lester, 32, and Simon Chajes, 31, are mem ­ bers of the alternative living community " Impuls " in the village of P i eterb uren .

Simon Chajes was exemp ­ ted from sending h is son to school for one year, last year, by t h e mu nic i pa l­ ity of Eenrum . Prior to this, a lengthy correspond grO\d ng \d thout schoolj ng

#l~

13 ence and countless meetings with th e municipality of Eenrum, the superintendent, and the department of educa­ tion wer e neces sa ry.

The city refused to renew th e e x e mption for this year, also to Mark Dunning, whose son became of school age . Both parents were summoned for breaking the compulsory e ducati on l a w.

Two weeks ago, the public prosecut o r requested acquittal based on Article 5b of the compulsory educa­ ti on law . It states that parents, if the y have con­ siderable objections aga inst the e duca tion of th e schools in the neighbor ­ h ood, are exempted from the duty to ha ve their chil ­ dren schooled.

Th e Groninger district court judges accepted th e conclusion of t h e public prosecutor. Th ey did s tat e, though, that the co ns eque n­ ces of the verdict could ~e less happy. Parents could also ob j ect to a school with a democratic and a nti-auth orita rian dir­ ect i on or object to a sch ool admitting Jewish or black children . "A law­ ful exemption in that case goes against the grain," said th e judges in their accounts .

Th ey did find the con­ sid e r a ti o ns o f the two " Im­ puls" fathers respectable.

SUCCESS STORY - ARK . ... With the s tart of the new year we t oo k our three children out of pub­ lic school . We f o llowed th e procedure suggested by Ha l Bennett in NO MORE PUBLIC SCHOOL, sending· a letter to both principal and home room te ac h ers, exp laining that the children would no longer attend that school and h ad been enrolle d in a private school . Everyt h ing wen t very s moot hl y, with which we are ve ry plea sed.

This is a s mall community, pop. 5,000, and the news abo ut o ur kid s o ut of sc h oo l spread from people just being curious to peo­ ple wanting t o do the same thing . Some people wond e red which private sc h oo l they were a tt e nding as there are o nly two s mall pa r ochial schools in th e area . We ex ­ pla in ed to them that we h a d enrolled them in the Cal­ ve rt Sc h ool which is a cor­ respond e nce school that of­ fers a home study program, and that teaching my own children was something I had been wanting to do f or many years and felt the time was right for us t o t a ke thi s step .

The law on sc hool at­ t endanc e in Arkansas says that c h ildren need t o be e n­ rolled in a public, pri vate or parochial sc h oo l . On fur ­ ther c h ecki n g wit h the State De partment of Educa­ tion, I found out that a growi ng without schooling #]2

private sc h ool need not be state approved and there are no rules governing unap ­ proved private schools, ex­ cept that it would be ex­ pected that the private school work toward state ap­ proval . ... There are several ot h er un sc h oolers in the ar­ ea . One family wh o took their child o ut of a neigh­ boring school several years ago h ad a l ot of troub l e in­ cluding h aving to go t o court. Eventually the case was dropped. This year two other families took their c h ildren out without any re­ sistance . We are ve r y pleased to see this cooper­ ative attitude . . .

LEGISLATIVE APPROACH People in a number of states and pr ovinces of the U. S . and Canada (notably N. H. and Manitoba) have told me that some of their state/provincial legisla­ tors are interested in pass­ ing some kind of resolution or law favorable to home schooling. And even where legislators have not yet ex­ pressed any suc h interest, we should be t h inking about ways to get them to do so .

The question i s , what kind of resolution o r legis­ lation d o we want? Some un­ sc h oolers h ave suggested some kind of special state board or commission to re­ view al l proposals for home sc h ooling . Others have sug­ gested that the legislature draw up a set of guidelines for h ome sc hoo ling propo­ sals .

I h ave been thinking hard about this, and my strong feeling right now is that both of these propo­ sals would work against u s sooner or la t er, and probab ­ ly sooner . The idea of the impartial board, mediat in g between unschoolers o n the o n e hand and the schools on the other, is appealing .

But what has happened to the regulatory commissions of t h e U. S . governmen t would almost certainly hap­ pen to this board - it would soon be taken over by the organization it was try­ ing to regulate . It seems almost certain that any un­ sc h ooling board of review, or wh atever it was called , would very quickly be domin­ ated by professional educa ­ tors, wh ose real inte r est would be in protecting the interests, not of h ome sc h oolers , but of the sc h ools .

In the same way, if legislatures were to set up guidelines governing h ome sc h ooling, the c h ances are, first, t h at professional ed ­ ucators would h ave a lot to say about these guidelines, and secondly, that the guidelines wou ld be so stric t a nd narr ow that many well qualified unschoolers wo u ld n ot be able to pass them, and if they did,

would find that they did not have much real choice about how to teach their children . In s h ort , under such gUidelines many people now teaching their own chil­ dren would not be allowed to teach them as they chose, or even to teach them at a l l . Th ese regula­ tions would s ur ely be biased in favor of af flu ent people wit h much sc h ooling.

What I think we want from the legislatures - and this might be much easier to get - is a statement of general princ ip les whi ch will make it much easier for unschoolers to bargain with their local schools on a case by case basis . Some­ thing like the following might do the job: The compulsory sc h ool attendance l aws of this sta t e/p r ov in ce s h all not be construed as authori­ zing any educational au­ thorities to impose on students under their jur­ isdiction a uniform curri­ culum, or uniform methods of instruction or evalua­ tion. There are and will continue to be large and l egitimate differences of opinion, among experts and laypersons alike, on t h e subjects that s h ould be taught to children, on t h e order and ways in whic h these are to be taught, on the mate r ials which are to be used, and on the ways in which t h is teaching a nd l earn in g a r e to be eva luat ed . Only by allowing and support ing a wide range of education prac tic es can we have the diversity of experience from whic h we can learn to educate our children more effectively, and i t is the intent of this leg­ islature to allow and en­ courage suc h va ri ety .

I think we may be able to get statements of this kind passed in a number of places - though we can ex­ pect the professional educa ­ tors to oppose even this much with al l their strength - and I think that any such statements of leg­ islative intent will make things much easier for un­ schoolers .

In talking to legis­ lators about this, we s h ould point ou t that wh at we are asking the legisla­ tors to say is only what the U. S . Supreme Court has already said, first in Pierce, then again in Far­ rrngtOn v . Tokus hi ge 271U. S . 284 (1927) . In the la t­ ter, speaking of legisla­ tion passed by the legisla­ ture of the territory of Ha­ wa~~ to regulate Japanese­ language priva t e sc h ools, t h e Court sa id: " Enforce men t of the Act probably would d es tr oy most, if not all, o f [the Japanese-langua ge p riv ate

schoo l s); a nd, certainly, it would deprive parents of fair opportunity to procure for their child­ ren instruction whic h they think important and we cannot say is harmful.

Th e Japanese parent h as the right to direct t h e education of h is own chi ld without unreasona­ ble restrictions .. . Ap­ parently all [ the provis­ ions of the Hawaii Act) are parts of a deliberate plan to bring foreign lan­ guage schools under a strict governmental con­ trol for which the record discloses no adequate rea­ son ... II In short, the courts have always h eld that while the states have a right to regulate private schools, they do not have a right to say that private schools must all do exactly what the public scho o ls are do­ ing. Parents are entitled under the Constituti o n to choose not just which school building they will send their children to, but what kind of schooling they want ror-them. They are en­ titled to a real education­ al choice, which means, the right to an education which may be in many ways signi­ ficantly different from that given-SY-fhe-public schools (which, by the way, differ widely among them­ selves).

NEW BOOKS AVAILABL E HERE We are adding UNDER­ STOOD BETSY by Dorothy Can­ field Fisher to our list of children's books ( $1.35 + post . ) . Donna Richoux writes : "This was one of my absolutely favorite books when I was younger, and I was delighted to find, upon rereading it recently, t h at it h ad lost none of its ap­ peal . Elizabeth Ann is a shy nine-year-old who lives with aunts who constantly fuss over her, until she is sent ( because of an aunt ' s illness) to live with her strange, forbidding Vermont cousins . We see almo st ev­ ery moment of those first few days through the eyes of Elizabeth Ann - now 'Bet­ sy ' - and with her, we find that her cousins ' silence and ' queerness ' is actually acceptance , warmth, and hu­ mor . Bit by bit, her awk­ wardness and fear drop away, as she starts to learn how to help on the farm, to understand the jokes, and to look after herself. GWS readers will appreciate ~he contrast be­ tween the big, brick, mod­ ern school she went to in t he city, and the tiny, friendly one-room school­ house in Vermont . The book is funny, touching, and very pe r ceptive - I wh ole­ heartedly recommend it. " MAN'S DOMAIN: A THEMA­

14

TIC ATLAS OF THE WORLD (Mc ­ Graw Hill, pub; $5 . 35 + post.) is a fascina tin g book to browse through. The back cover tells a lot abo ut how maps are made. In­ side a r e lists of the most populous countries, the lar­ gest countries, the most densely populated co un ­ tries, the largest cities, the largest islands , the largest mountains (by conti ­ nents), the ocea n s, th e l ongest rivers, t h e largest l akes, the highest water­ falls - just the k i nd of world-book-of-records info r­ mation that childre n (and many adults) like .

Did you know that, not counting t h e Great Lakes themselves, there are seve n lakes bigger than Lake Erie?

On pages 2 - 27 there are maps of the wo r ld, s how­ ing Glaciation; Continental Drift; Volcanic and Earth ­ quake Zones; Ocean Cur­ rents; Time Zones; Relig­ ions; Races; Languages; Pop­ u lation; Income; Popu l ation Growth; Climate; Agricu l ­ tur e; Rainfall; Precipita­ ti on; Winds; etc, etc . La­ ter, more of the same kinds of maps, but in mo re de­ tail, for the conti n ents and regions of the wo rld.

In short, the kind of book that makes you turn the pages thinking, "Well , I never knew t h at ."

POSSUM LIVING, by Dol­ Freed ($3 . 50 + post . ), a delightful book , di­ rect, candid, unsentimen­ tal, a nd very funny, about h ow two people, the aut h or (a n 18 year old girl) and h er fat h er, live very com­ fortably and happily about 40 miles from Philadelph ia on a cash income of about $1200 per year. They raise, make, or else do without most of the t h i n gs that most people h ave to buy (o r think they have to) . They are not mystics or fana­ tics , or even ascetics they enjoy the pleasu r es of good food and drink , among many ot h ers. Wh at t h ey h ave done is solve a problem that most people would like to solve but don't know h ow - how to live a life they enjoy without havi ng to pay for it by spending a l ot o f time doing work they h ate .

The schools like to say - sincerely - that they are teaching c h ildre n surv i­ val skills . What they in fact teach children is to be totally dependent on eco­ n omic institutions over which they have no control and which often break down unpredictably (as now) .

This book does teac h s u rvi ­ val skills, and as such, will be very valuable to un­ schoolers and their child­ ren. ~y ~s

STEADY STATE ECONO­ MICS by Herman Daly ($5.85 + post . ) Thi s (as fa r as I know) is the first serious economics textbook for the

ge n eral reader abo ut h ow a stable and non-destru ctive economy would wo rk, and why the convent i onal arguments against it a r e bas e d on false assumptions and bad reasoning. I e mpha size " for the general reader ." Though it is a textbook, a careful ­ ly and closely reasoned piece of scientif i c wr i­ ting, it is not at all ob­ scure, nor does it depend on a lot of mathematics that only specia li zed ex­ perts can understand. With a litt l e effor t, th e o rdin­ ary reader can grasp most, if not all, of what Daly is sayi n g, a nd it is well worth the effo r t, for it wi ll convince us that our h opes for a d iffe rent world are practical, even as th e wo rld unders t ands the term.

A book to feed the mind and sti ff en the spi n e .

Current postage chirge for 1 o r 2 books : O¢; or 3 o r mo r e books: 25¢ per book.

We are planning to a dd ma n y n ew t it le s to our book li st during th e next year, particularly books for c hild ren . If th ere are any books (stil l in print, preferably paperbac k) that you loved reading as a child, or that your c hild­ r en love, plea se t e ll us about them.

SUBSCRIPTIONS "'e have put ou r subs\.'ri p­ on ' pr i ccs in the form of a t a­ b] e. I X means you ,!Set one ('opy of eac h isslle, 2X means you get two coples of each issue, 3X means three copies, and so on . tj

tl

12

19

issues

issues

issues

1X

$10

$1"

$2 4

2X

S12

522

S30

JX

$ 14

$26

$36

and so on .

In other words, with a group sub, you pay the cost of a si n ~lc s ub, plu s $2 per person per year . Please note again that t his \"i11 not go dm\'11 to S I per perso ll per-year afte r gro up subs reach 20X . as it did at one time .

Please remembe r that when two or more peopl e take out a group Sllb, all ropjcs of each is­ Slle will be sent to one of them. who must then rna i ·1 ordeli vel'

the ot ll er ropies to the othe r subs~ribers. Sending all ~opies to one address is y.'ha t makes it possible for us to se nd ,joint sllbscriptions for l ess .

You may buy extra ('t'pies t'f I s sue /I I for ':;0 ...' each. or ~ ~\. ea~h for orders of 10 or more.

Extra copies of later iSSlICS. S~ earh, two (of t he' same i SSlIC) for Sl , 5J each fO l' orders t'f five or more lof the samc is­ sue). ~O~ each for orders of tell or more (of tllC samc iSSlIP) . for all subs or orders of G"'S (not books)' please send

chec ks (U.S . S) made out to GROW­ ING l, lTHOlJT SC HOOLING. If se nd:i ng Canadi an money o rde r , pl ease exp lai n when buying it that it is to be cas hed in t he U. S. Peopl e have asked whet her th ey may tlbum p" th ei r subscr i p­ tions i . e . convert a si ngle to 2X, a 2X ~o a 3X, etc . Ye s, but th e minimum bump must be 56. It takes about as much time and work to change the number of a sub as to enter a new one, a nd we can 't afford to do that f or on l y 52 .

All subscriptions begin with I ssue # 1, unless you tell us otherw i se . "Ie strongly urge that you begin your sub with the earliest issue of G~S tha t you do not have . Host of what we print In Gil'S wil l be as useful i n later years as when we first prjnt it, such as the a rt i~les in GI,S# l about Jud's girl sta)·­ ing out of s~ h oo l , or counting, or the s tud y tip, etc . We don't want any of our readers to miss any of it .

1980 DIRECTORY Thi s is t he fi r st compl ete si nce #9 . In the next t wo issues, we wi ll only list th e additio ns a nd cha n.es that have come in since the previous -.i ssue .

Th is is not a list of al l G\\'S subscri bers. but only of those who have asked to be list­ ed, so that othe r GWS readc r s . or other interested persons, ma~­ get in touch with them . If your name does not appear here and you would lik e it to. please send us t he i nforma ti on .

Sote that we are listing names and or a~es of childre n in many families. Le t liS know is you want us to add yours to t he list . To keep the Directory Cllr­ rent, we have added one year to th e ages of all childre n listed previously . Th is may mea n some children'S ages are not ct'rreet rLght no\\'. but they \\'i11 be cor­ r ect sometime in 19~O. ~I isti n g

AK - Alvin & Kathy Amason Box 5h2 . Kodiak 9<)615 --- Stan Long. Rox 2R 10, Ke nai O<)6IJ --- Lori & John O'Hare (Eamonn 2) Box 1<)32 . Kodiak qqb15 --- Margaret & Rill Ro b­ erts (J e nnv b. Jesse 2) Box 17JJ. Kodiak 00b15 --- Frank 50denkamp & Carol Lambert ( R~n ja ­ min 2) General Deljyer~-. Kodiak 0<)(1] 5 A: - Gi J I ian Amundsen.

5511 F.~DthersfieLd Rd. Scotts­ dale ~525 4 --- The Carstens (Sa ­ than 1) 7i07 E Carfi~ld. Scotts­ dale ~5257 Hal Lenke, 020 ] ~th Place " 1 . Prescott 5630] AR - Kenneth & Gisela Beck ­ er (Dan1 3 . Ani ka 1] , \\'a yn e "') Rt 2 Box 202A. ~ I ena 71q~3 Shirley Dye ( Al an l~) Rox 32~.

Keiser 7~3)1 --- ~I argaret \, ie,~s .

PO Box 4. DeC'r i2t'~ '" CA - Bob & Liar. Ad ler .

HOlilld MOuntain CC'C'pe l~ati\'e Commu­ nitv. 1201 Pardllcer Rd. lkiall 05 J ~2 --- Jill McLaron Al e.ander (en-sta l. L2) ,;' J J ,;I'd St . Oak­ lan~i qJ (lOO - -- ,I sha & J oti /Ima­ ra . 4 ~~1 ~ltadena. San Dieg0 02]1~ --- Fnlnk & Jeannette Baum­ .al·dner (Joel n. Will ,) 520 Hllena Vista ,\\' e. Redwood City 0 4 0(-,1 --- Tina Bell-Clllllaer ( L ~na

:rr

(Chava 4) c/ o Hammady, 27B5 Shas­ ta Rd , Be rkeley 947 08 --- Steve n Belli ng, 316 King St, Santa Cruz 95060 --- Gal e Braxton , PO Box 202, Lewi s ton 96052 --- J ohn &.

Ha rl e ne l3umgarner (Dona Ana 7, J ohn Rowland 4 J PO Box 1326, flor­ ga n Hill 95037 --- Eugen e C. Cade, 1037 X. Genessee Ave #10-A , Lo s Angeles 90046 --­ Sh irley R. Chapma n (Howard 14) 900 Southhampton Rd #140, Beni­ c ia 94510 --- fls . Syd ney Clemens (Alex 12, J en ny 10 ) 73 Arbor St , San Fran cisco 941 31 --- Kat her­ i ne Davis, Box DH, Lomita 90717 --- Toni de la Garza, 21265 Pin e Rid ge, Apple Vall ey 92387 --­ Claes &. Marcia Diederich (Cather­ in e g, Tony &. Marcus 6) 415 Beres f or d, Red"ood Ci ty 94061 --- Rita Domingue:. 6389 Cooper, Fontana 92335 --- Ca thy Earle, 1215 NAllen Av , Pasadena 91104 --- fir Free, Keris t a Village, 935 Stanyan St, Sa n Fran c i sco 94117 --- Su zann e Ge t chel (Amy 7) 23 ~illow Grove, Irv ine 92~l J --- Donald &. Susan Goewey (Bren ­ to n ~, Sam 5, Hollin 3) ~5 3 Lake­ vi e" I,ay, Redwood Ci ty Q406l --­ Rosie Hackett, 1270 Co lt on Ave, Colt on 92324 --- Herbe rt Hamm e r , 7001 Alvern St, Apt A, Los Angel­ es 90045 --- Harrv & Hel e na Ha r­ aut unian (~ti chac J -14, \ ao mi Q, I a n 7) 320 w. Garfield Av, Glen­ dale 91204 --- Denni s &. Elly J ames, l70-R Fall e n Leaf La ne , ~evada Cit v 9 5959 --- J a vn e ~I. Joyce (Lau~a 7, Alex J ) ~~5 Eli :­ abeth St . Broderick 9 5605 --- Ja ­ net &. Bill Klngs epp (Stev e 6, Tanya 1) 2Q 50 Knoll,'ood =1. La Verne 01750 --- Sydne v &. David Ki ssi nger (dtr Ki;~s te~) , PO Box 370 . Ha,ppy Camp 96039 --- Frank & Regina ~ alla t , 22100 Henry Rd. Desert Hot Springs 92 2JO --- Den ­ nis & Janet McAul e y (Ell:abeth J ) 265 Poplar Ay e.· 'Iillbra e 9;1030 --- J a n 'Iey er. 1375 De So­ lo Dr. Pacifica 9;10JJ --- Robert & Susan Moerk ( J e nna ~) 222 Bel­ mont, Red,wod Ci ty 9;1061 --- SA­ T1 0~ AL AS SOC IATIO:\ TnORT!lL SER­ VICES. PO Box 160. ForestYi lle 9).1 36 --- Ste ve & Sa 11.'· Paige .

Rt 2 Rox 71JH. Arroyo Crande 03J 20 --- Rudy &. BOllnie Rodrl­ ~ue : ( Holly 7~ :\i cole 5 . Shannon 2) 3QQ~ Ka1k er Av. Sa nt a Rosa O)J OI --- TOll i Shy. 5100I"00dman :\\' =2~. Sherman (laks o1 4 ~3 --­ Sandra &. Joe Smith ICarlos J ) l2~ ~ ~la~nolia Av e . Ramona Q2065 --- Jan ;t & Miles ' Standish (Timi .:~). 3~.3 ~ Sautell e B1 =3 . Los An­ ~~les --- Ka th,· Summerfelt Llm'~ 5. Ad am 2) Box' 721A. Alle gheni Star Rt. ~evada City Q59)0 --­ Steve & ~I ari] vn Swift (Taggart 1) 2(0)0 Hemm"ing\\'ay St. Ca;l oga Park 1)l30J --- J. E. Va"a '·o.

4('0 1 Hm\"keye, Turl('!('k t)).3"'l" --­ Jeff & Julia ~hitt (Jeremy 3) 102 - 15th Ave. San Francis~~ Q411S --- Carl t Andrea Kil son lLaura 2) Oi) 3rd Ave. Red\\'0od Ci ty I)JOo3 --- Phi! & J a il :um­ br0. 1000 \\'a terbrC'C'k Ct. Santa Ro sa "5J Ol CI."' - L,,"'Illi s Krllrni ck . l::!lj Oth ,\\. ~ Gr~l"' l ey 'll(.'~~l --- Sed .

Lll:. Cassidv , si, Rlake. Cle ll­ \,'ood Srl'i n!!'s 31601 --- Pam &. Tom O' Brien . 1'0 B0X 01~' . Asp0n 510 ll CT - Anita Bibea ll. 33 0 PI·ospect St . E. Ha rt ford l'l'10~ --- Spence," & Eileen Trombly . ~o S . Kashillgton Ave. Sianti c 0b537 DE - Lvn & Har rv Andersoll (Peter~ ) ~l)' l pland Ct. SPh'aJ~k ]07~~ --- William E. ~Iorris.

15 2124 nrandywine Dr, Wi lmin.ton loS IO DC - Hobert Alexander.

Dil' .. liVI NG STAGE, 6th {, ~1.1 i ne Ave SW. liash. 20002 --- Hobert , Sharon & Susan (10) Dickey, 401 A St NE, I,ash 20002 --- El 'l en Pe­ reo (N i kki 7) 4707 Conn. Ave NW # l09 . Wash. 2000R --- Sheridan Pettie, 391S W St, Wash. 20007 --- Pam Tucker (Dar ian 4) 172\1 Park Hd NW, Wa sh 20010 VL - Li II ian H. Blumen­ feld, }400 Ce ntral Ave. Fort ~I~'­ ers 3390 1 --- Ron & Linda Lar se n IAdam 3 , Nicholas 1) -1") , S. Kirk Rd. Lake Korth 31 ~61 --­ \an cy ~Iarsh. 12]2 Crestwood, Lake Worth ~3 J bO --- Patricia ~ordes

Ann

Rt J Box ~Ijke

--C).

(Daniel 7. Gabriel

]t1L)~I .

~larial1na

~)

i2.+4b

& Pam Murphre e (Jesse

: a\,"h .i) 610 FLamin.go Av. Stu­

art 3:Ul)4 --- Pat ricia 01 iphant.

101 SW 4th Av, Boynton Beach 334 35 --- Ka thncll & Gerrv O'Shea (Kim 11 , Layne 9) j548 Nli 4th St, Roca Raton 33432 --- Su­ san e.. David Prl('e 01att '), Faith

7) 1455 OOth Ave , Lot 45. Vero Deach 32960 --- Hickie & A. J. Taylor (Sam 4) PO Box 5')7342. fli­ ami 33] ':;5 --- Judy Vesel its. 402

NW 19th Ave, Gainesville 32601 GA - Patty Blankenship (flark 14, PatJ'ick 11) Box 205, Roswell 30075 --- Al ice & Jerr.

Teal (Jay 6, Andy 3) 106 Briar~ wood

DI~,

Carrol "lton 30117 --­

Jerry Vance , 15~JB Holcomb

Bridge Rd , ,orcross 30092 HI - Ala na & Luke Aitk en, PO Box]7 33 . Kealakekua <l6750 --- Rob.n & Teren ce ~el c h (Es­ rael 2)' Box 772. Ca pta i n Cook 9670" ID - Lynn T. Fifeld, UNI­ TED LliiERTARIA~ FEL LOIISHlP. Box 356. Elk City \3S25 IL - Mr & Mrs hm Biven s (Tia Lyn .3) 295 ALie/,:hany, Pk f orest 60466 --- The Cam pbell' ., 51ll 78th Ave. Lot 11. flnan 61264 --- Ed Oobmeyer , LEAHN] NG EXC HANGE, Box 920, Evanston 60204 --- Desiree Frischma nn­ Full (Colleen, 2) 12 Plover Ct , Iloodridge 60515 --- Adr,ienne Gel­ ler, 88 27 Ce n tra] Park Ave , Evan­ ston 60203 --- Loren & Melissa Heuert o (Tionne 13, Michelle 10, Nikoli q, Joshua 5) Rt .3 Box 17.

Aurora 60504 --- Stan & Susan Howard (Christine 12, Kathryn 9, Sara 6, Aaron 4) 1~07 Sherman Blvd, Crystal Lake 60014 --- Su­ oanne Lynch (Mary 20, Jim 19.

Liz I S, Annie l.J, David 51 7619 W. Argyle, Chicago 60656 --- Sue & Mark ~IcGartland (Dawn 6, Na­ than 5) 221 Polk St, Pontiac 61764 --- J ean Nobisch-Smi th (7,4,2), RR 1, Trilla 62469 --­ Richard Porpura , Penny Wi 11 (Tristen 3) 202 Ash, Pk Forest 60466 --- lianda Rezac (Ronal d 5.

Jean 3) 454 Enterprise St, Elgin 60120 --- Frank Richard s, 422 S .

Lombard, Oak Park 60302 --- Hob Sc hach t er, 1337 West School, Chi­ cago 60657 IN - Paul W. Hyatt, RH Box 94--:-Zionsvi lle 46077 --- The Lesters (Nathan 9, Ely 7, Damian 2) 1 liest 169th St. Westfield -1607-1 --- Penny ~esbit, 65 Oak Meadow, Evansville 47711 IA - Debbi e IlI'ennan. lS61 Park,,'aY:- Dubuque 52001 --- Jan­ ine Calsbeek, 222 Alba ny Av SE. Orange Ci ty 510-11 --- Nancy & Stephen Cree, RR 2, Marion 52302 Ann C. Edgerton. (Lisa 12.

Per 2) RR 2. Decorah 52101 growing without school i ng # 12

Bru ~e

& San ~y Frederick ( : ack

~.

: eb 3) ~orthside Trailer Ct. Al­ ta 5'1002 --- R. Hayden, Box .)tl2, Ames 50010 --- Bob & J am ie Ro sen­ fcls (Jaia 'l. Jaffa h .. Jeremiah 4, Sage 2) R#l, Maquoketa 520tlO --- Robert & Linda Sessions. Rt 2, ne cora h ,)210] --- Jeff & Phyl­ li s ~eih , Hural Box 162A. To ledo 52j42 KS - Terry & .Joe Prid e .

Box q 5--:-Buffalo' 66717 --- Bar­ bara & Rich Robert s ISathan h)

01257 --- David & Shawn Kendri ck (Celia II . Anna 7, Eva 4) -10 Brook St, Rehoboth 027()\I --- Kar­ en C. Ki mba 11 (Becky 11 '6' , Ben­ ,jy tl 71) 1b 3 Hillgham St, Rork­ land 02~70 --- Cathe rine Low­ ther. Box 5h6, Truro --- Ed &

~cCumber (Vanessa 10) Star Rt 2, Charlestown 01603 SJ - Luc i lI e Bend e r. 1'0 Box

210, DCal 07723 --- Janet \1. Ren­ nett, 20~ Essex ,\v c . Boonton

--- Ci ndy & ~ike Kood (Seth -1, Chris 1) Ht 2 Box bh . ~apleton

(Tc~an 7, Jannah 5. Tara 5) ~7 Vay erwcat her St. Cambridge 021J' --- Jame s &. Chri st ine Ostrow, ~ Caro l Av #11, Brighton 02 1.)h Anne Perkins. RFJ) -#1 . Orange

0700S --- Anne Bodine IJonathan S, Karina -1. Ila"id II \.1 Knoll­ wood Dr. \e,,' Providence 07l)7~ --- Pam & nan Delaney (Danie] IS , David I." Petel' n) 2646 Hiv­ er Rd, Manasquan O~716 --- Erik Erfel, 4 ~bb. Court, Colonia 07067 --- ~tephen & \anev Gerard IBob 20, Lill ian 10, Sterie ') HR 1 Box 50~. Phi I hower Ave. Cal ­

OUN --- S,l' lvia Pigors. 1-10

i fon

tl67~ 4

land. Camb rid ge 021-10 --- James

KY - Kevin & Tri sh Akers IDevin15, Cassity" G004 Pre s­ ton H~y. Louisville -1021Q Kell)' Darrow, PO Box -1b,), Crest­ wood -10014 --- ~il & Bill Duncan (Graham 5. lan 4) 106 LOI'ra i ne Ct . Berea ~040~ --- Patri c ia & Victor Foote (Dagmar 6 , J ason 3) Toad Hall , Gulnare 415 ~0 --- Kev­ in & Patti Van Bu skirk . Rt 5 Box 442. ~inchester 40.191 . ~ - June & Allan Conley .

426 ~axine Dr. Baton Rouge 70-ob --- Peggy & J.D . Demarest , 2519 Short St. Sew Orleans 70]2,) --­ Keith & Andre ~ill er, Rt 1 Box S2 F. Carencro 70520 ~ I E - ~Iarilyn Bacon (Chris 7, John'). flaya .') N. Sullivan 0466-1 --- Bha s ha, Ili v)'o (Tanya 2) c 0 Leonard. 605 Pool Hd, Bid­ deford 04005 --- Shepard & Lin­ ette Dli ss Erhart (Seraphina 6) Shore Rd, Franklin 046,-1 --- Su­ san & Jame s Davis (.Jimmy 2) RFD 2 , Clinton 0 -1 9~7 --- ~abel Denni­ son . Box 53\, Tempi e 0-1G'4 --­ Betty nexter. RfD 1 Box 'OE I Dur­ ham). Auburn 0-121 0 --- John Gold­ fine. HD 2 Box 1,)1, Ilelfa s t 04Gl,) --- ~aria H, Holt, ~ithy­ "'indle . 11,) High St, Bath 045 30 --- Anne ~artina (Gabrielle J) Box 15. Harborside 04642 --­ Kathleen Mikulka (11.G) HD 2, Coope rs )li11s 0-1341 --- ' Iaria

B Smi th, 34 Edge\,'ood Hd, Shre\,'s­

,1~ -1

\,T.

Stll. Juncti on Cit,'" 66 4 41

Toms & David fulton, Box 213, Oquossoc 04Q64 --- Carol & Bill

lihite (Erina 4, Kir s ten 3) RIl#1.

Box 211-D, Charleston 0-1422 '10 - )Iary Daly (J 3, C 2) 400 Greenhill Ave, Laurel 20>'10 Billy & Linda Dunstan (J) 14024 Cuba Hd, Cockeysvi 11 e 21030 --- ~Iary fel ber, 206 Sud­ brook Ln, Baltimore 2l20 ~ --Ga ry Good enough (10,7) 21201 Heathcote Rd , Freeland 21053 --­ Gail Kuehnle Himes (5,4) 21201 Heathcote Rd, freeland 21053 --­ J lid Jerome, Downhi 11 Farm. Han­

cock 2]7)0 --- David Keating. ~201 16th St, Silver Sprin~ 20910 --- Linda Kester. 1130 Oak­ land Rd, Freeland 2]053 --- Don­ ald & Phyllis Phillips. 101S Ri ckenbacker Rd # F. Baltimore 21221 --- Chris Stadler, SOq Gor­ s uch Av, Baltimore 2l21B --- Don

Wood. 6233 Fernh'ood 'fr . .#T2. Ri \'­

erdale 20 40 ~IA - Ed & ~ I i chele Bennett.

1.15 E. Nain St M-S, "estboro OISRl --- Emily ReI'., 22 Hock­ well St, Dorchester 0212-1 --Mrs lialter Canfield, 13 Fernwood Ave, I3radford o18~o --- Jjrn Char­ bonnet, 23 Hubbard St. Lenox

012 -10 --- Bob & Katherine noolit­ tle (Kate h. Simon

.~)

QL Pleas­

ant St , Reading 01~h7 --- Hill & LOl'e tta Heuer (Tad 2) 10-1 ~or­ folk St, Holliston Ol746 --- Kar­ en & ~Iichael Tdoine (Justin & Gillian 12) Star Rt Box -1 -1 , Wen­ dell 0137G --- The Inger solls , Sky Farm . Barnum St. Sheffield

~laSOll

Galc

(Jenny Q. Dave

~ .

13cn

-1) 25 'Iayflower }\pt s . Belcher­ town 01007 --- .Jean & Ilon )Iurray

['p­

07 ' ,~0

--- Barbara Lafferty

IBoy, lll. I,) . 10: girl il) 107 Surre. Rd . Voorhees 0 '0-1, --­ ~ahony.

1~1

bur. 01')-15 --- Hachel K. Solem (Br'iana Pearson 2) 20 Hobin,,'ood

Stephen

I\\' e . Jamaica P1ain O~130 --- \'a1e ri e \'aug han, ~Q Pine St. Am­

tri. 10,1 lIth\\' =2. Belmar

0771ll --- Charlette

herst 01002

l~Ol)

MI - Stephen Davis.

7'~7

II'. Lakevi e,,' . Tra vel'se Ci ty .) Q6' -1 --- Ri chard & Kay De]le Koch (BirO\itta I,), Hans lO) 27') Ridge­ "'ay. St Joseph -1 90~5 --- Susan Ekstrom (Aaron, ') 22 7'). 120Q Mari~old. E. Lansing 4~S2 3 - - ­ Kate & Ed Kerman , 55~ S . Dickin­ son, Ht 2, Hesperia -1Q421 --­ Bro. T.L. )Iichael. Capuc hin Com­ munity. 121 E. Boston Dlvd. De­ troit 4'202 ~\ - SandI Anderson (And. Il) .) 11 7Regent St. Duluth 55'04 --- Ja nn Garritty. 25]7 lbth Ave ~E,

Co lumbia Height s

~,)-1~1

--­

Ro semary & Lyle Hlil sing . RR 1 .

Houston ~~U~3 --- ~ayne Il . J en­ i ngs. 449 Desnoyer. St Paul

5'il0.) --- Robert Silsbee, lQl-1 PortJ and Ave So ..

~Iinncapolis

5')-10-1 ~IS

-

Doug &. Connie Oa] 1.

Rt 2 BOx 21' Il. Pa ss Chr istian

--- Cherrie Brown . Rt 2 Box 274, Lot o. ~. Biloxi 3L)5.~2 ~Q571

--- Barbara & TonI' Ell i son , Bo, "75 . Ro sedale 3"769 --- 'Iarv Schick. 7tlO Lak eland Ilr 6-B. J ackson1Q2H' ~O

- Gerald Carlstrom &

~liriamHa1ljday ( Ian &. Ingc Car1-

strom-Ha11idav. S & 2) Rt 2 Hox

lq7

Oak Gr~ve 6407') --- June

n.

& Allan Conl ev (Crail 14. Frank

10) 1501 Broa~wav, Webb Cit. 64"70 --- Albert & C.nthia Ho­ bart. Rt 7 Box 1.1,) , ~icking 6S542 --- Jim &. Jeanin e House (Peter 9. Jason 2) -18 1-1 Libert., Kan sas Cit . 6-1 112 --- Jean Ker~ (Josh). 62~ W. Harrison. Sprillg­ field 65\06 --- Stephen Kovac, ~ln4 Humphre~' . St Lou i s 63116 --- Ted & Brenda Parr~' (Girls .

Ca l' l). Soelani " Rebekah 7 : bo~, Toan ~O) 10-1 Blan che Dr, St ChDrles 6330] --- Jane\' & Terr.

Smith (Sarah .j. Lindse;' G) 6 C~n­ ter Rd. Kirksville 6J5~1 )IT - June & Ral ph Sanders.

Brookside

Dr , 'led ford 0'0,),) --- Pat 'Ias­ ~ .

~i kulka .

Seenil' Or . Sl'lIJders Falls O'tlZ" --- Bal~bara 'Ii 11cr.~O Lindstrom Or. Somel'ville O"7h

--- \ancy Plent. G H O~ TSG ~ITHOCT SCHOO LISG \J. 2 Smith St . f arm­ ingdale 07727 --- Sue & Charles Preg2er, 125 0~',) 4

way

~arvin

Ln. Piscata­

--- Sandy Sapello. 207

Coari Ave, Minotola O']~l Dean Schneider. 77 Custer Ave.

Se"ark 07112 ,\~I

- 'Ianon Charbo nn eau, Box

2Mb,Santa Fe '7501 --- Anna ~ari a Deardorff. General neliv­ ery. Cerri ll os '70l0 --- Ed \a­ gel. \ ,\T1 0\A L AS SOC IATlO\ FOH THE LEG \L SL'PPOHT l'F ,\LTEH\ \T 1 \,E SCHl'OLS I\\LS\Sl. Pl' Bo, ~'~l.

Santa Fe ~7:;l'l1 --- John t. Peggy (l"lara '1l"lahon (Lall."

~.

Finnie

-1. Bramll 1710 \I'lene Rd. Rio Rancho '71~-1 --- S\\T\ FE CO~~[,­ \IT)' SCHOl'L. PO Bo~ ~'~;, Santa Fe '7,)01 ~y - Diane & Paul Abell (Joshua ~ . Ariel 2) 121 Henry St. Syral'use 11210 --- Peter & Lorraine ,\ ('ke rman, 46 E. "3 St.

E4-A. \YC 1002' --- Sue & ~ich­ ael Carroll I\athan " Killow 1) RD I, \I' OCd 1-1'Ol) --- Jonathan Daitch. -1 l"l Cascadi lla St. Ith­ aca 14~~0 --- Cvnthia & Timothy D e'll1ldel~ fChe~'e~le I). l.l Chlll~ch St. [,nadilla IJ' -1l) --- Richard & Anna ~Iarie t-aheY (7.l',:;.~.~) Hom esteading Ce~ter. RD 2. Ox­ ford l~'~O --- Linnette & Jeff

Ganaposki (\lia ; . Kalan Pine St, Endicott

Jo

1,~7hO

Chris Ha"'kins IV

&

I) JJO

~.

2~th

1)

1401

---

~Iary

(>,

St. h20-C.

E 4, K ~YC

10001 --- Jul ia & Dennis 'lcCa­ hill (Colleen 1-1. Ilichael 11.

Sean q. Kevin 7) Staff C l\ CrS~ AV­ EVR, Jlo~ " FPO. \YC 0 0 510 --­ LOlli se & 'lark Scarlett. Rllt]cr Rd. Rossi e 13o-1n --- Li nda Tsa­ boukas. 1'\ Bay ~2 St, Brooklyn 1]21-1 --- Tsana )'u. 170 Henrv St :!2C, \YC 10002 ' ~C - ~anda & T,'e Hunt e l' I Su­

Rt 1. Terra Verde Heights. Butte

sanna h ,1) 27 Cedar Terra ce Rd ,

59701

Chape l Hil I

&. David Arm­ ine:tor1:' Box 72. K~ar sargc 03"~7 --- Arthtlr Harv e v & El i:abeth ~H

- Ro semary

Gravelos (Emi.ly :1) , \,Iea re OJ2~1 --- Albert &. Janina Lanlb (Jllno

9 . Ro s. 7. Jasmine -1, Roland

~)

Ilrown Hill Rd, Tamworth O]b'b

--- Thorn

~ c ~11i ster

& nebi Fad­

den. Box 1 "6. '\orth\\'ood 0-320] --- J al'k, Gail . l1ud) 'like & Tim ~.les .

141 Locke Rd. Rve 0)\70

-~- Peggy Sando: (Kate' .10. No]i

Q, Jesse 7, worth

O _~ "1.,6

~olly J)

HFD Tam­

--- J ennifer Seip,

2] ~ew Rd. \orth Hampton 03~b2 --- Bob & San cv ~allace (Ishmael ". Vit a ~) Sta~ Rt 2. Goshen 03752 --- Jennifer Kright & Stan

~7~1-1

--- Laur el K.

~Ielson.

201 Oakside Dr. Harri s­ btlrg 2"07~ --- Tana \eighbors (Carrie 1. Kri stin 3) PO Box

Jh4 , Coats 27521 --- George & Ju­ lia Petride s (Christv 1. Sarah ~) ~Ol~ 'Iaric Dr. ~i~ston Salem

--- Ch ip & Ali se Stroup (Kristin & Jennifer -1) PO Box

~7107

1322, Lin co Jnt on 2'OQ2 --- Gre2 t Gin2er keit=el (Sky1ar 2) PO

Rox

4~ J .

\ewport 2~~70 \D - Paula K. Allmaras,

11-15 \. 'th St, Fal'go ')\10~ OH - Dr. Stephen Corwin .

The RaTnbO\,' ~Ianor. 12 ke st Jef­

frey 1'1, Co lumbu s -1 ~21 -1 --- Pen­ ny & John Ellis I~arnie 3) Kil­ lowood Farm, 17-1 )Iorgan Rd. Jef­

16 ferson 44047 --- David & Lor elei Gibbs (Cat hry n 7, Seth 4) 5720 Willnean Ln , fhlford 45150 --­ Richard & Kathryn Holland (3 ch, oldest 5) 6092 SR 323, fit Ster­ ling 4314 3 --- Gai J & Michael Hood (Anna 7) RD 5, 8884 Dell Rd, Cambridge 43725 --- J anet Howel l , 1081 Kingsway, Alliance 4460l --- Mrs. Robert ( Kay) Hu­ bert, RD 2 - Rock Rd, Shel by 44875 --- Sandra Huss, 516 S. Hain St, Bowl i ng Green 43402 --­ Jocelyn & Steve Kope 'l (5,4), 8079 Goldsmi th Dr, Heynoldsburg 4 306~ --- OCEA (OHlO COALITION FOH EDUCATlO AL ALTERNATlVES NOW) 66 Jeffer son Av, Columbus 432 15 --- David Sowd, 2380 Nimi­ shillen Church St N. E. , North Canton 44720 --- Ron & Jennell Woodard , 338 Storer Ave, Akron 44302 OK - James & Carol Stirling (Jim TIl, John ll , Charity 5) 1028 Valley Dr, Sand Springs 74063 --- Cary Wood, 3412 Oak Grove, flidwest Ci ty 73110 OR - Donna Anessi, (son, 6), Gen. Del. , Arch Cape 97102 --- Steve & Cathy Dee se (SunbOl,' 6, Cloudrobc 3) 6~26 N. Pitt s­ burg, Port I and 9720.1 --- Ann & Ri3 ck Lahrson (Alice 2) 5360 SW 192, AJ oha 97005 Ho lly Por­ ter, PO Box 592, J ohn Day 97g45 Linda, Allan & Forest Riek­ e n , 23]15 Doane Creek Hd, Sheri­ dan 97378 --- Ru th, Paula. Scott & Shirley (Teall, Keddy 1) 113 .10 Takilma Rd , Cave Junction 9752" --- Terry & Teri Sander­ son. Star Rt. Wa sco 97065 --- Su­ san Walton, 2433 N. W. Quimby St. Portland 97210 PA - J oseph F &. Lorrai nc

Clark(Linda 20, Carolyn 17, Lor­ raine 7) .345 S. Old Hiddletown Rd , Media '19063 --- Steve & Ka­ thy Conrad (Jesse Sky 8 , Ajna 6) HD 4215, Fleetwood 19522 --- Da­ vid & Diane Grajek, RD 4 Rox .'l5A, Cochranton 16314 --- Sydney & David Hall, 1212 Midland Ave , York 17403 --- Joann Hamer (12, 9,7 . 3) 128 Old Rid ge Rd , Corao­ polis 1510S --- Adam Levine, 4037 Spruce St . Ph i ladelphia 19104 --- flo!,:han f1cDougall (a..,e 9), I Sylvan Ave, Rutledge lQ070

berg (Amy 4, Sarah 3) Rt 1 Box 358, Pearland 77581 UT - Susan Wolfe (Andy 3, Bentley 1) 8694 Spartan Dr. San­ dy 84070 VT - Cheyenne Autumn , Box 49, RTPton 05766 --- Kathi e & Herbert DeWees (Hannah 9, Esa 5) General Ilelivery, Vershire 05079 --- Ruth & David Ga i llard (Jack 'i, Luk e 1) HFD Box 123, East Hardwi ck 05836 --- Art Harrl s, Hed Hount ai n Rd , Arlington 052'i0 --- Hi lary Jean & Barbara Lytton (Krystal 10) RFD , Concord 0)B24 Truman &. Su :,j Prj ce (Dei rdre

13, Je ssie l2 , Howan 6, Ami » Dox 17'i, Saxon ' s River 05154 Mrs. Stanley (Carrie) Smith, Hain St, Derby 05~29 VA - Jim & Hosi ta Baker (Jay 14, Len 13, Wayne 10 , Kesha 3) Rt 4 Dox 227ft, Mechani csv ille 23 111 --- Pierre & Linda Blondel (Dimitri 'i, Emile 1) PO Hox 93, Covesv i l l e 22931 --- I\n n & Tom Brown (Todd 5, ~Ieri s 2) Rt 1 , Dox 135A, Callao 2243) --- Mike & Kelly Darrow (B 12), PO Rox 620H. Virginia Beach 23456 --­ Dan & Theo Giesy (Ilanile 14, Dar­ rin J2. Susie 10. Anita 7l 7,309 Hidfield St, Norfolk 2'l'i0'i --­ Peter & Betty Goodman, Ht 1 Box 20 1, Amher st 2412J --- Dorothy Harri ngton (M 14, L 11. C 9) J4006 ~Iapledale Ave, \Ioodbride;e 22J93 --- Ro se McLane Jon es ( T. .!. 16, Eddle 13) 311 Chamb er­ Li n Av, Hampton 21663 --- David & Carol Kent (Robert 4 , Susannah 2) R3 1 S . Frederick, Arlington 22204 --- Donna Kj rk. 'no Ca t­ skill Ct, Vjrginia Beach 2'l~)1

Jim Pinney, Orcas

9~2 B o

--- Dale

& Katherine Reed, 12027 10th Ave S., Seattle 9'i168 --- Dave & ~Iar­ i lyn Sa bold (Ananda ~, Ben .3) Rt 1, Winthrop 99~62 --- Ethne Ann Vik, 3405 37th Av S. , Seattl e 9S] 44 --- Al & Joyce Taylor (Charles 5, Sabrina 4) 9917 ~E ~H Ave, Vancouver 98662 --- Don & Lisa Zook (Lindsay], J oshua I) 10922 W. Lakejoy Dr. N.E., Car natio n 90014 \IV - ALTERXA TI VES D EDUCA­ Tl ON, Rt ,j 130x 171A, Spence r 2 'i2 76 --- Jan & Howard Ever­ green, Rt 5 Box 202, Ylarti nsburg 25401 --- Ed & Vicki Meyer (Jere­ miah Gullion 9, El i sha 4, fair­ li~ht 2) Hix Rt e Box 143A, Sand­ stone 25985 --- ~ally & Delrdre Purdy (Jed -\ , Hannah 2) Box 71\ , Chloe 25235 --- Ja cques & Grace Trud e l (Stella 14 ) Otto Rt , Box 117L. Spencer 25276 --- Danny van Leeuwen, Rt 1 Box 2~O, hfes­

ton 26452 WI - Ella Ruth Ade s, Rt 1, Ri verF alls )4022 --- Judi th A. Carlson (Gar~' &. Vicky Reimer, 14 & 10) HR 2 Box 1791, ~ild Ho se

549"4 --- J oel Ottenstein . ]"7) X. -Oth St, ~ilwaukee )]222 --­ J anet Wright &. E . G. \a dcau fluke & I saac ~adcau, 7 & .:;. ~rady

Nelle

Wri~ht

St. 'Iadison

2) 424 S. Orc hard ':;]7l~

Pres.} 82 4 Barry Av , Winnipeg

R2C 1,\11 ~B

- l aurence

~I ari

e &. I an

Cu rry(,athalie 10. Oonagh 5) RR 3, Lower Coverda] e,

ElC 8J 7 ~s

-

~I oncton

Gary Arnett, Carleton,

Yarmouth Co . , BOW !LO --- Rocke Robertson t, Al rna ~I arks (Laurel 6, Cai 4) RR#.3, ~ort h Gra nt, An­ tigonish Co .

O\T - Don Greenh ow, .39 Lin­ ,01n Green, )Iarkham L3P l R6 Pat & Ri c hard Kerr (Carolyn 11, Sunny 6, Gordon 4 , Roseann 2) RR 3, Dalkeith KOB lEO --- Sidney Ledson, 80-155 Dolly Varden Bl., Scarborough MI H 2K8 --- firs. ~Iargaret

LeFevre (Mathieu 7,

Jocelyn 4) Box 1197, \ew Li s­ keard POJ 1 PO --- Aarney & Pat ~cCaffrey (Bla i se 14, Ammon 12 , DaniellO, Gabriel 10) \liln o --­ )Iary Sun Rose flcDade (Cro'" 9, Ah­ nee 7J Ki 11aloe KOJ 2AO --- Burt & Anna ~yers (Drew 6, Beth 4 ) RR 1, Brooklin ZOB lCO --- Rolf & Wendy Prie s nit: ( Heidi

5,

~Iela ­

nie 7) Box 444, Oakvil le L6J

5A'

--- ~Iary Syrett, 2.t ;' Airdrie Rd,

Toronto '14G IXl QCE - Joanne & Stephen Dar­ linHOil(Hannah 4. Tom 2) RR 6, Lachute J~H ]~, --- Peter & Jill ~hitmore ( Thomas ~ , Den 2) 116 Sed~efjeld Ave. Pointe Claire .

HqH 1 X5 SAS - ~elanie Steel e, )24 12th StE, #2 11 , Saskatoon S7 X OH2

CA,A DA --CilNADIAN ALL1AX CE OF HO'IE­ SC HOO LERS , Box 6~ 0, Jarvis, On­ tario XOA IJO

OTH ER LOCA TIO\S

ALB - L;' nne & T'i m Spauldi n~ (Tundra-Leaf 'I Elm"orth, TOH I JO BC - 'like & Barbara Baird (ToglTa' 9, 'Iakeef 6. R.Il. ~ ) Box 204, Tofino VOR 2: 0 --- ~ a rk &

John & Caroline Porter (~is ­ eha ~) PO Box ~ Q7. Koror. Palau , Caroline Island s Q69 ~ O --- Barb & Jim Joyner (Cosette 6) PO Box 11311 . Y i~o, Guam 069 12 --- Pe­

S.

ElainC' COllsins (Jeff 10. Chosan 2) RR 3. Site J. , anaimo fqR 5KJ

(Dob

--- \\'a &. Caro1~'11 FOlltaine (Omi

ter AaCOll & R0sari0 Fial10s De Bacon, Escllela Amcl'i~ana. Embaja ­ da .\ mericalla. Tl" 21Icj2a]pa. D.C ..

H0nduras --- Hope &. Einar Knllts­ son (Tr"!!!!\' -i Einarss011 l1. Katla Eillarsd~ttil~ .~), ,\Esllfe1l 4 ­ ·\pt ~F, h'\ll Re~ -kjadk . l cel.1nd --- Tri\""111 Chee] lSilllOIl Pert ::- .

Cat0 5) 1 ]'0 Stap]eford rres­ cC'nt. Bl"0hllS Bay. ,\ll~klalld 10. \C'\\ : ea 1 a nd

--- Ed"' i na & James 0 I Toole. Box

256, King George 2245) Mela­ nie Shook. 38 Tidemi11 Hd , Tabb

GROll ] NG \HTHOUT SC HOO LI NG 308 Boyl ston Street Bos ton 'IA 02 J16

THIRD CLASS

--- Andy &. Lynette Peterson

(Drew 3) 5 Long St, Smethport 16749 --- Gai l Heynolds, 53 Greenwood St, Empori urn 15834 --­ Cecilia Severin, J2 4 ~ Parkview Av, Pittsbul'gh 1 'i2 'I ,1 --- Lynda Skaddan , 1140 Old Ford Rd , Hunt­ i ngdon Van ey 19006 --- Len & Carol U,efara (Michael 7, Hark 3) 284 Temperan ce Hill . Plymouth 1 86'il Rl - Peter &. Brigitta Van Daam TIu1ja 10, Jessica 7, Perci­ val Christoph er .1) 46 East George St, Provide nce 02906 SO - nett. Bre ck IKriss.

6). Groton 'i7 44'i --- Shirley' Frederick, 'i007 Pierre . Rapid Ci ty 5770J TN - Goore;e & Pa t Hu ck (T 5, C

TI

Rt :! Box 203, E] i:;abeth­

ton ,,7M3 --- DRY CREEK Cmlfll l ~­ ITY SC HOOL, Ht I , Dow el ltown .l70'i'l --- Jim & "a rbal'a Holt (Seth .I) 207 Heed Av . Gree"~­ vi Ile 17741 --- Cynthia ~IOOI'~, Rt ,1 Box 2(1)A, \~ayncsbol"o ,1~4~') --- GayJon & Terrie Smit h (Kish 4) 165.1 Sa i 1 O I'S, Hemph i s 38 I Oil

TX - Haro ld Baer', HALVI EIlU­ CA TIONilL CLI NIC, IH'l4 Clevo land St, "rownsv i I Ie 71l'i2 1 --- La ura & John Knol -I. 134 Val el~o, San An­ tonio

7~211

---

M~g

& ~ayn~

~I~se­

2.11>02 --- Beth Stoffel .

Van 00rn St, T-1.

~l 'l

~lpx andria

22.104 --- Lina & Ed

~ilhelm

.:;. David :1) 70hl Autumn \\(\od Lane. HO<lnokl" 2.t Ol l ) - - - L\' nda &.

St~ve Wi I I inghaln (A b , S ~. R 1) Rt 2 Box :101", Ikrr,\'v i 11 ~ :12(' t I h Rich <lI~d &. Sarah B i-lI~­ r -i ck TTamrn~' l1 . Steven 3) Rt 1 II ox ~17l. Eatollvi 1 Ie ~~ , ~~~ --­ Bind a Co l ebrool, (Dorje (l) hl)C'n Goodw in Rd, Everson q'~~7 --­ Greg & lorett a D0cker. E ~ ~:1 ~ J2nd. Spokane l)l)~0~ - - - J i III & l(>­ Ann EI I is (Ap"ii '1. Bobby (1) Ht 2 Box 10 1M3. Hoses Lake l)""\~7 --- Ralldy Vrallcis~o. 1~~31 ~Icrid ­ ian ~ . ~ S('(l ttl c q\ I ,~.~ --- llav0 & T ,\

_

Cal'o J Hove l (David .Ir . 2) <)3 1 hl\."st Park Pasc0 QQ10 1 --- Ann Kc'lle,v (:~e- 0) 1:11)~ Ih'0<ld\\'<l~' .

Eve-ret t ~1":101 --- .Iessie- L00 &

7.

nllarma Joe .t, Tallila C1air~ Good Rd, ROllse Bay. la squeti f sla nd \'OR ~.I0 --- ~llIrray f.. Al­ il'e ~Ic'Eadlenl tErni~ -\(" , I sa'h~ L)

7 . : 0(, 3) L7~'2 .~ ~Ild t\\'. \\' hit~ Hock f~R 5\' --- Edith & fictor \e"l1l<1n l~lal'i('ln ..... CarC'~ .:;) 1 0 7-1 Kaltasin Rd. HH I. SN"k('. \'('5 1.:\0 --- JlIlil~t Sa\'a~e (Sean 7 .

Eri k :;. J a SOil ~) GI.... IH... ra I ne Ii \'­ en' , :'-.('ls('l11 \'-Il )I\~ --- TerI'\' t~ Ja~'h. Staffl,rd (\mie ' . \ nika'~) Ilox .t 3 ..... V0rt Lall~l~y VO\ 1.10 ~IAS - TI,C' ~ndriC' s llyn s , RH I , '\n'0T; RllE OAO --- l ,n1l1C' Dav­ ies. ~O.~-~l ~cwdal(' Av, ~inllipeg

Editor - .iohn H0lt ~ l allag -i

n2 Ed i t01' - I'eg nllrk\.~~ EditC" l" - n011na Ri c houx

'\ss0l'iat~

InT 4l~q --- THE fl;\N I Tl~Il ,\ ASSl'C IA­ T I ON Fl'H SC H l~l~L I 'l~ \ T H l~)IE

('.l' p~'J'ight

plASH) , \Iar.\' C<-ltI1l.... rilll~ Fi 2\11'\" I,

eiates.

Cl Illii

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