Growing Without Schooling 19

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING

N>EX

19 Still very busy here in the office. The mail slackened a little during the holidays, but not much; our newest volunteer, Tim Chapman, has put in many hours helping us cope with it.

Latest news from Delacorte is they will delay the publication of TEACH YOUR OWN until August, so they can promote the book on radio and TV during September, which is a good month for that. My editor just showed us what the cover will be like - a great photo of the Van Daam family.

An AP story in the Jan. 8 Boston Globe says that the new U.S. Secre­ tary of Education, Terrell H. Bell, is "a devout Mormon who believes that the desires of parents should always take precedence in the education process." He has been commissioner of higher education in Utah, on the whole a good state for home-schooling - though he may not have had anything to do with that. Let's hope that home schoolers may find a sympathetic ear in Washington. ieople magazine recently ran an artic e on an uns chooling family, Charles and Eva Webb and their two sons (So. Calif. directory). Charles is best known as the author of THE GRADUATE, and has written us a number of good. letters.

Some readers may be surprised to find in this issue letters they wrote a year ago or even longer. While cleaning up my office in December, Donna found some wonderful letters that had been earmarked for GWS but overlooked in the general confusion.

Good news this time from Ari­ zona, Colorado, Idaho, ' Nebraska, and a number of other states. - John Holt COM~G

tact Bob Morrow, 416-627-3685.

June 11-14: 6th International ,Congress, Yoga and Holistic Living, 'Himalayan Institute. New York Statler Hotel, New York City. Contact Ms. Dale Colton, RD 1 Box 88, Homesdale PA 18431, 717-253-5551.

Aug 3'0 - Sept 2: Aus tralian Read­ ing Conference, Darwin, Australia.

Contact Bob Counahan, PO Box 38221, Winnellie NT 5789; Ph 84 4277 ext 40.

SCHEDlli:

March 2, 1981: "Morning Break," WDBM-TV, Washington DC; 10 AM . To be in audience, call 202-686-6160.

Mar 18: William Rainey Harper College, Palatine IL 60067; aft mtgs, 8 PM lecture. Contact Jeanne Pank­ anin, Stu. Act., 312-397-3000 x 242.

Apr 7: Fairmont State College, Fairmont WV. 8 PM program.

Apr 9: Education Writers Associa­ tion Seminar, Barbizon Plaza Hotel, New York City. Director, Charles Har­ rison, PO Box 281, Woodstown NJ 08098; 609-769-1313.

Apr 24: Music Educators Nat'l Conference, Arena, Minneapolis MN. 11 AM mtg, ' Minneapolis Convention Hall.

Contact Gene Morlan, 1902 Assoc. Dr, Reston VA 22091.

May 2: New England Philosophy of Education Society, Northeastern Uni­ verSity, Boston, 11 AM. Contact Rich­ ard Lyons, 617-452-5000 ext. 2450.

May 9: Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Conf:, Airport Holiday Inn, Lancaster, Ontario. Con­

front (until then I'd hated wearing anything that spoke for me!) On an impulse I pointed to the word and asked Nicole what it said. Without hesitating she said, "The Fi'iendly Book." I somehow knew she'd say that but I was so excited anyway my eyes filled with tears and I grabbed her up in a big hug. She thought i t ' a big joke and was ready to get on with other things but I remained ecstatic over the episode . ... Nicole got magnetic letters

for her birthday. As she stuck them

to the rafrigerator for the first

time, we suddenly realized we were

taking it for granted that she put

them all on right-side-up. Oh , this

is such fun ...

This all comes from nothing more than having plenty of books around since Day One that we've shared with her, memorizing nursery rhymes, etc, at her instigation. This is the way I want her learning to continue. If I can only hold back my excitement enough to keep from "helping," we'll do fine ...

We now have an index of the first eight issues of GWS. Thanks again to Jeanne McDougall and Jack and Nancy Wilson for their work on this. If you would like a copy, send a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Or, ask when you're ordering books and other materials, and we'll include one in the package.

We haven't had time to proofread it thoroughly, so if someone would like to do this and send us a list of any corrections, we'd be grateful.

Also, if anyone would like to help index the remaining issues, please let us know.

OHIOC~T~

LEARNIIIG SWAP

An important story from the

Cleveland Plain Dealer, 12/31/80 :

Anne Perkins (MA) writes: ... Grace has company this year, as the Idoine children started home schooling this fall. Grace and Gilly spend at least two days a week togeth­ er and I thought you would enjoy hear­ ing about those days.

On Tuesdays, they ride bikes or pony/bike (weather permitting) to a friend's house who is a weaver.

There, in exchan~e for work they do (childcare, stac ing cordwood, etc.) they learn spinning, carding, dyeing, and weaving. Grace has been doing this for l~ years, and having Gilly along has increased her interest. She sometimes teaches what she's learned, thus learning it better herself.

On Thursdays, they are driven to the stables at 8 AM. There they feed horses and muck stalls for two hours, in exchange for a one-hour riding lesson. At noon they take a bus to the university. They walk up to town, go to the library, picnic on the com­ mon, shop - have "city" time. They catch another bus at 3:00 to a gymnas­ tics school where they have a class.

They are picked up there at 4:30.

It's a rich day for them - both 12 years old.

The other days are spent closer to home, usually. Grace spends hours reading and at the piano - she's just memorized the first movement of Beet­ hoven's "Moonlight Sonata." Home schooling is perfect for her' ...

... Ohio's compulsory education law cannot interfere with parents' rights to send their children to reli­ gious schools, even though such schools do not meet minimum state 'standards, the Ohio Supreme Court said yesterday.

The ruling was in the case of a Knox County man who had been convict­ ed of violating the statute.

James Olin was charged because he did not send his daughter, Jenni­ fer, to a school ' certified by the State Board of Education . Instead, he sent her to Kopper's Corner, a one­ room Amish school near his home.

The Olins are not Amish.

Records in the case showed the religious school was without plumb­ ing, and tbat the teacher, although having had 14 years of experience, had gone no further with his own edu­ cation than the eighth grade. But there was trial testimony in which school officials said Jennifer's show­ ing on certain achievement tests ranked fourth grade and higher when she was 7 years old.

Although the high court said deciding the case was "a delicate risk," it was done withov.t dissent.

"Until such time as the State Board of Education adopts minimum standards which go no further than necessary to assure the state's legi­ timate interest in the education of children in private elementary schools," the court said, "the bal­ ance is weighted in favor of a First Amendment claim to religious freedom."

DlSCOVERN3 READN3

Juanita Haddad (BC) writes: ... I'd like to tell you about Nicole's reading (she just turned two.) Her favorite book lately is THE FRIENDLY BOOK -by Margaret Wise Brown and pictures by Garth Williams. For some time now, Nicole has "read" the title and various lines inside while running her finger under the words as we do when we read to her. We've assumed she spoke from memory although she usually underlines the correct words as ~he speaks.

Yesterday, however, I put on a T-shirt for the first time that says FRIEND in big red letters across the

READER'S DIGEST STORY

On the front cover of the Jan.

1981 Reader's Difest is a picture of

a child and, in arge letters, the

words : "Is your child's teacher fit

to teach?"

Inside, the magazine has reprint ­ ed excerpts from the Time magazine cover story of June 1~80, called "Help' Teacher can't teach'" Below that title appears this sub-title: "The crisis in our public schools grows worse and worse - at least in part because many teachers are themselves undereducated, unmoti­ vated, and incompetent."

2 These words, and parts of the itself, may provide many un­ schooling or would-be unschooling fam­ ilies with useful ammunition, for' their home schooling proposals, for their legal briefs if they are forced to court, or perhaps for letters about home schooling that they may write to legislators, editors, etc.

A word of caution about using this material. As we said in an earli­ er GWS, you must be careful not to put judges (or educational officials) in a position where, by approving your proposal, they will seem to be giving official support to the posi­ tion that the public schools are no good. If judges or officials think that giving approval to your plan is going to be seen by the public as a sweeping condemnation of public schools, they are not going to approve your plan. So don't put them in that spot.

What you can say, and with some hope of success can ask judges or officials to support, is that such criticism from Time and Reader's. ~~gest shows that the performance of t e public schools does not justify their saying, with respect to your home schooling plans, that ,if you don't do it their way you can't do it at all. And you would probably be wise to add the point that it is ,pre­ cisely those methods of instruction and evaluation which the public schools try to impose on home school­ ing parents that are among the pri­ mary causes of the schools' bad per­ formance. You should say that you are not asking judges, etc, to agree with this statement as such, but only to agree that the right of parents to teach their own children loses most of its meaning unless the parents have the right to use methods of in­ struction and evaluation which may be very different from those used in the schools.

If any of you put such a state­ ment into a home schooling proposal or legal brief, we would very much like to see a copy of it, particular­ ly if your proposal is approved. ~tory

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM GROUPS

From Michael Krell, DEAN POINT SCHOOL, Box 266, Nehalem OR 97131: ... We would like to spread the word through ydur newsletter about an alternative school and home school­ ers' festival that we expect to host this coming May 31 - June 2, 1981, at our school out here on the Oregon coast. This gathering is sponsored by a group of alternative schools in the Northwest that meets twice a year to celebrate our endeavors. The focus of this festival will be' music and move­ ment. . .. We have begun working with parents in home schooling activities this year, and are now developing a correspondence school pr6gram. We can offer legal coverage at this time; we would like to encourage parents of home schools to contact us ...

The first issue of Joyce Kin­ mont's (see GWS #9) Family Education Association Newsletter announced a regular weekly children's program, and a day-long picnic for members.

She writes, " ... The Family Education Association is a non-profit organiza­ tion devoted to supporting and assist­ ing parents who want to be the pri­ mary teachers of their children, instead of, or in addition to, the

public school system ..• The Yearly membership rate has been set at $5."

The address is 575 South 5th West, Brigham City UT 84302.

with us, they may. We received about one inquiry per week last year! ...

A California reader writes:

Fro~ Deborah Martin, 22 W 231

7lst St, Naperville IL 60540:

HOUSE (Home Oriented Un-School­ ing Experience) is the name of our support group. We meet monthly to share ideas, philosophies, curriculum materials, and upcoming educational events. We have talked about alterna­ tive schooling in general, but our main purpose is to explore with each other the ed ~ ation of our children at home. Occasionally we have a speak­ er. If you are interested in joining us, contact Pam Chernivsky (106 56th Court, Downers Grove IL 60515) or me.

From Sue Welch, CHRISTIAN HOME EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, 8731 NE Ever­ ett, Portland OR 97220: ... Christian Home Education Asso­ ciation is a newly-formed and small group of parents who are beginning to teach their own children in their own homes. We have individual reasons, goals, and methods. ... We originally organized as a registered nonprofit corporation to buy educational materials at a dis­ cou~t or wholesale price. We soon found, however, that the sharing of information, resources, and encourage­ ment was an even greater benefit.

We hope all will feel free ~o write and share questions, needs, sug­ gestions, etc. If you have questions, you may call one of the officers: Pat and Sue Welch, (503) 254-9162; or Bar­ bara Eng, 235-7137 ...

ANOTHER SCHOOL N PA.

From Joan Kephart, 1 High St, Malvern PA 19355: . .. Our school, GUARDIAN ANGELS ACADEMY, has been registered with the state for three years as a non-public religious school. Since the school is parent-operated and family-oriented, we accomodate each family's particu­ lar needs. Anyone in the Phila.-Main Line area who would like help in avoiding attendance hassles with the establishment schools, or anyone who would be interested in our experi­ ences (successes and failures) thus far, could get in touch by calling 215-,644-8319 ...

GOOD NEWS

From Bruce and Diane Hintze, Star Rt 1 226, Woodland Park CO 80863: ... For the school year 1979-80, we chose to teach our children at home. Though totally ignorant of the process in the beginning, we visited a law library, looked up Colorado's laws, and then proceeded as pioneers (we felt) through school board meet­ ings, etc. We were given approval, finally, and had a delightful )(ear at home with our three boys, ages then 7, 9, and 11, using the excellent Pen­ sacola Christian School Correspon dence Course.

This year we chose to try a Christian School, new in our town, but our experience with home study was 50 neat (though hard work!) that we may do it again.

If anyone wishes to correspond

... 1 just wanted to mention that a "concerned" neighbor reported our children as truant to the local school board. We were paid a visit by the principal and the health nurse last week. When I told him I'd filed a private schoof affidavit, he said that was all he needed to know. He then gave us an open in,vitation to uSe any of the school facilities we cared to use - any time we cared to use them! I was pleasantly surprised - not to mention RELIEVED! ...

From Jeanine Lupinek (CT): . .. I'm enclosing a check for sub­ scription renewal. Thanks to your help in sending a sample legal brief ahd a Jist of home school material suppliers, our five-year-old daughter is ours again!

My husband presented our written request for school board approval yesterday. The Superintendent was very friendly and helpful, even sug­ gesting that we use the facilities at the elementary school (library) and let Mary participate in special pro­ grams they have if we desire.

We're using ABEKA books advanced kindergarten materials (just books, not curriculum). The cost is under $100. There are three other unschool­ ing families in our area we know of .. ~ TEACHER AS MND READER

A reader sent us an evaluation sheet that her 6th-grade son had to fill out after a classroom art pro­ ject. The boy wrote the answers in the blanks; the teacher then wrote remarks on the form in red ink , shown here in capital letters.

1. Did this activity add to your store of knowledge? no I TRUST YOU MEAN YES' 2. Did your individual pro­ ject(s) stimulate your thinking and creative imagination? no If yes, how? because I was usrng-wood YES, BECAUSE YOU DEvELOpED AN IO~ROUND THE MATERIALS THAT WERE AVAILABLE. 3. Did this activity increase your awareness of and of sensitivity to design in nature? no, because it was a coat rack MITTEN RACK' BECAUSE vuu-NEEOEO TO USE SOMETHING FROM NATURE AS YOUR DESIGN. 4. Did it offer you an opportun­ ity for creative expression? Why? Why not? 'because I cut my Hnter BECAUSE YOU WERE FREE TO C EATE WVrH MATERIALS YOU ENJOY .

5. Did this activity stimulate your curiosity and desire to explore materials? Explain yes, because I have learned how to make a coat rack.

YES, BECAUSE YOU HAD TO FIGURE aUf HOW TO USE THE AVAILABLE MATERIALS. 6. Has this activity increased your confidence in your ability to ex­ press your ideas? Explain ~~ because we got to use wood--vES, BECAUSE YOU FEEL NOW MORE ABLE TO CREATE SOMETHING USEFUL. SUCCESS N FLA.

Patricia Ann Mordes (FL) writes: . .. My husband and I were threat­ ened by the school board this week.

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

3 We had thought they would leave us alone because my husband teaches at the local junior college, and has been there for 22 years. He has more than 30 hours above his master's de­ gree. The school board members are his former students and "friends."

They are only doing their job, they say.

We went to Tallahassee yester­ day, to the Department of Education.

My husband thought he could register as a tutor with the state of Florida.

He found he would have to take 26 extra hours in elementary education and be recert i fied for that. No way!

I went to the office of Mr .

James Kemp, Room 275, Knott Building, Fla. State Dept. of Education (Talla­ hassee). He was vefiY polite and coop­ erative. He said t at anyone in the state could register their homes as schools. The many different religious groups had lobbied to get very flexi­ ble laws passed regarding education, so they can run their own schools without being certified and without worrying about separation of church and state. Kemp said that what applied to them also applied to any­ one else in the state. We cannot be discriminated against just because we are uncertified or just" "small fish."

There are no regulations regarding content, certification, or minimum number of students. One must keep a roll of students, and they must attend 180 days per year. That's it. ; . . Kemp agreed with me that a child could get a sound education at home.

I am sending you a copy of the one-page form required for legality in this state. As of tomorrow I will be +egally registered as a private school. Terrific' ...

Another Florida reader just wrote: ... We are listed as a private school here in Fla., since last Octo­ ber. After writing the Dept. of Ed., as~ing about laws on correspondence schools, I was informed that the state does not approve nor does it regulate private elementary and secon­ dary · ~chools ... I was worried about not being a certified teacher, until I dug a little deeper in some books I have and found a clause that states the requirements to hold a Fla. cer­ tificate to teach do not apply to pri­ vate schools.

So I held my breath and decided to call the Dept. of Ed. to see what they suggested. Imagine my surprise when the person I'd written a few times knew exactly who I was and was so helpful that there wasn't a doubt in my mind that there still are some real people in some of those depart­ ments. When I said that he ' was well informed on this somewhat awkward matter, he said he's talked with many other parents wanting to te.ach their own children (but not as far back in the boonies as us).

According to him I've fulfilled my legal requirements for a private school- by filling out the one page registration form he sent us in Octo­ ber, He'll send us one each year afterwards until we decide to discon­ tinue pur private school. And if any­ one questions our legitimacy, have them call him and he'll confirm that we're a registered school. He said call again any time if we have any problems or just to talk, and if we could collect a pile of paperwork such as attendance records, etc., someone would have a very hard time disputing our school.

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING *19

I've done a lot of research and written a lot of people when it wasn't necessary, but I'~ glad to have all'the knowledge ~ ve gathered under my belt. And now I have a lot more time to give to my daughter in h~lping her with things she wants to learn. She visited her friends down the road for the first time since summer. Their mother,.. the local first grade teacher, was glad to h~ar we were on our way with · our school. We should be seeing more of them now, Jennifer to play and myaelf to swap ideas with the teacher •..

MAKING BASKETS

Jeanne McDougall (AR) wrote: ... We three have just returned from leading a very successful two­ week basket-making seminar, held in an open air tent tn a hay meadow in the beautiful Ozark hil!s. The envir­ onment is so , relaxed, congenial and so conducive to learning in a no­ pressure atmosphere; we are continual­ ly amazed and delighted with the results. The baskets our students are able to make in two wee~5 ' are compar­ able to those it took Doug and me two years to make on our own (back then there was no available instruction).

There were a few children in evidence, as the seminar is termed a learning vacation, but many of the students are retired. But with the exception of one nine-year~old boy who was enrolled in watercplor, none of the children were students. His proudest painting was a gift to my 3-year-old daughter, Plum Blossom (self-named). It was a simple, lovely watercolor wash of a single red plum.

Who else but a child?

The young boy of anether instruc­ tor hung around the bask~t class, with many questions, dying to make his own material and basket from a tree. We worked with him during lunch until he had woven his own.

As for Plum, she had a wonderful time, wandering freely and visiting with everyone, often successfully con­ ning forbidden sweets, Her favorite class was the woodcarvers, as she watched fascinated as a Raggedy Ann appeared from a solid block of wood, and then, miracle, WaS given to her!

Almost everyon~ there talked of their children aop grandchildren, whom they missed while on this "learn­ ing vacation," and how well their children were dQing in school, etc.

Knowing how far back in the woods we live, many aSKed me what we were go­ ing to do about school for Plum. When I replied th3t she would remain at home with us, we became even more of a curiosity, and the familiar threat­ ened look appeared in their eyes. So, cautiously, I pointed out to them that if Plum could attend "learning vacations" such as this seminar, I would be all fer it. To which they re­ plied, "This is not school." No, this is not schoQl, as you know it, I thought; this is a far cry from pris­ on, this i~ a learning environment as it should be. Why is this environment available, all across the country, to parents and grandparents and so rare­ ly to 'their children? I know that they would refuse to believe that they but not their kids could learn anything, in such a relaxed atmos­ phere. Apparently learning vacations are a luxury for mature adults. I would love to se~ seminars such ds this for children - I would prefer to see a mixed group : children and their parents on a learning vacation togeth­

er, working side by side. Unfortunate­ ly, it seems that many are also on a vacation from their children.

The upshot of all this and dis­ cussions with my husband is that we shall request that next year's 3emin­ ar brochure state that we would wel­ come children in our class ...

[From a later letter : ] ... Since I have been reading so much in GWS about children at work, I want to pass on that Plum has been involved in our basketmaking for all of her 3\ years, since this is how we support ourselves at home. Instead of being jealous of baskets for having taken up so much of our t i me, as lance feared she m~ght, she loves them, has many of her own, and loves to go to shows with us when we exhibit them.

She understands that we make many of them for sale and this is how we make our money.

She feels that the weaving is too difficult yet for her to attempt, so I'm not pushing her, and she is content (usually) to play and work alongside of me. But her father works outside, splitting the trees and mak­ ing the material (actually much more difficult than weaving) and this pa.st summer she jumped right in on this aspec~ of the process.

After she struggled for days on her' father's shaving horse, he took the hint and built one her size. She was given a very sharp drawknife with brief instructions in the art of hand­ ling it. Although one draws the double-handled knife toward the stom­ ach and it looks very dangerous, the nicks and cuts are only suffered while picking up and putting down the knife. For about a week her chief delight was in the amount of wood shavings she could pile up, but her interest never flagged and she eventu­ ally turned out some beautiful pieces of wood. She was given soft wood at first instead of oak, but now knows the difference and disdains anything but the hard stuff. No one sa i d a word to her about manipulating her tools; she had been watching her dad do it for three years and she figured she knew all she needed to give it a try.

We have watched heT learn skills and techniques that simply cannot be taught, they have ~o be a personal discovery. These are things that I, as the weaver, ~now very little about, for I ha~e not spent much time with these tools. This is a source of pride to her, for she knows that she is adept at something through her own efforts - and though she may not be as adept as dad, she is more adept than mom in this area. So she is com­ fortable in this non-competitive place because we thre~ are undivided , in our endeavours, yet ind i viduals in our accompliShments ...

As we often do, we sent Jeanne a draft of the parts of her l etters we wanted to use in GW5, and she wrote back: ... When I read a "success story" in GWS, .1 always think : "Wow, what a fine job those parents are doing, what wonderful children they're ra i s­ ing," etc. I delight in and learn much from such accounts, but often sense my own shortcomings as regards parenting. One letter made me realize I was doing a lousy job helping Plum learn about money, for example. Thus, my letters seem to convey the same prideful sense that we are ver y far­ out parents doing a terrific job.

4

That's OK - we are all bound to want to share the "best" with others, and as the "money" letter did for me I hope mine will enlighten and encour­ age others. But I would like to say that though we are doing, our best, it often falls far short of perfection, as it must. There is so much for a child to learn and only SOImuch we can do to help them. They, like our­ selves, must eventually search out, discover, and learn the important truths on their own. With this in mind, I try never to be too discour­ aged and continue to do my best ...

CHLOREN HELP OUT Mary Bergman writes in the Home Educators Newsletter (which has ---­ changed its address to Star Route, Smitht on MO 65350): ... Paul Harvey gave us extensive cove rage on his r a dio program, TV, and newspaper column. We understand that the br oadcast was heard as far away as Japan. This has brought a deluge of inquiries and requests for information. There were days when I dreaded going to the mailbox because of the heavy load of mail which was being delivered. (I truly felt like the Li ttle Red Hen taking grain to the mill.) . But, through it all, who have been our staunchest supporters? Who have taken ove r ma~y of the responsi­ bilities which I formerly carried?

Who made meal s and tucked little c hick s into bed whil e mother hovered over the typewriter or talked on the phone ? Why, it was my children, with­ out ever so much as a complaint. They took ove r where they were needed so graciously that I never realized what had happened. The kitchen stayed clean, I was called to meals, the bathroom stayed reasonably tidy, and everything was managed much better than it had before ...

on home schoolers and unschoolers not using them. ... I'm now receiving requests for info from school attendance coun­ selors, principals, etc.! We've got about 250 members in our Canadian Alliance of Home Schoolers ...

ED'S BUSY

Ed Nagel writes from Santa Fe: ... The demand here on my time from all around the country has been unpaecedented so far; I have corres­ pon ed with many more people direct­ ly, conducted more telephone calls/ conferences/ consulted with more parents/schools/lawyers about legal problems with educational alterna­ tives, done more research/outreach on laws/cases I taken part in more meet­ ings/conferences, workshops and worked successfully for more propo­ sals for more funds in the past year than I have ever attempted over the last five years total; this, despite having the regular assistance of a raid person doing research and miscel­ aneous office work ...

A NEW TACTIC Pat Montgomery reported in the newsletter of the National Coalition for Alternative Community Schools: ... Last month a man in Michigan tried a new tactic. In order to com­ ply with the law that says that your child can be tutored at home by a cer­ tified teacher, he found put that there is a rule that if a public or private school advertises three times in state universities for a position and no one applies, then they can hire a non-certified teacher. So they advertised for "elemj!ntary certifica­ ted teacher for home education pro­ gram, 2 students, salary $10 per month." No one applied, so the par­ ents can hire themselves ...

RESPONSE TO CALLIGRAPHY Sherrie Lee (RD 2 Box lSI, Addi­ son NY 14BOl) writes: ... The reproduction of my letter in GWS #lB brought so many requests for the page of sample italic letters I offered that I am encouraged to o ffer lessons in the italic hand through the mail. These lessons are adapted f or home schoolers - both children and grown-ups - from the cal­ ligraphy classes I am currently offer­ ing in the. area ... The first lesson is free to GWS readers (enclose se1f­ addressed stamped envelope). We will explain payment details to apply to subsequent lessons ... Home schoolers may even go so far as Advanced Calli­ graphy if they choose, or merely develop a good italic hand. Early les­ sons require only a felt-tip pen like the 79¢ Flair ...

NEWS FROM CANADA

From Wendy Priesnitz (Ont.): ... The Ontario Education Act is being revised with hearings next spring, so we'll be making a presenta­ tion just to make . sure it stays as positive for home schoolers and other unschoolers. ... 1 must stress that the Ontar­ io correspondence courses [mentioned in GWS #lB] must be acquired "subver­ sively"; the Ministry is very strong

GOOD NEWS FROM ARIZONA

Hal Lenke (AZ) sent this clip­ ping from the Prescott Cour~er, 11/20/BO: ... Reversing a decision of sever­ al months ago, the Humboldt School Board has approved a request by a pair of Prescott Valley parents seek­ ing to teach their child at home.

In a 3-0 vote, the board said Howard and Karen Sheldon may take their child out of school in January ...

Board President Gerald Caton said the fact the She1dons had found a state-certified teacher for their child was a key factor in the board's ' cnange of heart. ... Caton said the board motion will allow home instruction for the Sheldons' child on a one-semester trial basis. Many of the texts the student would have used in his regu­ lar class at school will be used in the home. instruction program, Caton said.

The She1dons' request is based on their claims that their child has failed once and would fail again if kept in school.

Mrs. Sheldon credited their success this time around to education­ al consultant Hal Lenke who made a presentation before the board.

Lenke said the child will re­ ceive regular weekly instruction from

former Humboldt School District teach­ er Pat Robichaux ...

Hal added, "I'm told it's the first victory in the state ... I got into the act, phoning the parents after reading the front-page s tory and suggesting I might be able to do some good. Meetings with lawyers, the school superintendent, the ' parents, and others followed. I boned up on Arizona law and drew up a proposed course of study. I smoothed the the way behind the scenes, kept the law­ yer out of the picture, decided to exhaust administrative remedies first, and to go at it as an exercise in community relations ... I decided to avoid any issue over who the teach­ er would be by getting someone already , state-certified, even though the law only says the teacher has to be qualified ... Then I had to deal with one of the board member's objec­ tions that the boy would suffer soci­ ally by being home and not in school.

Etc. Etc ... " ADVICE FROM NY From Harold Ingraham of the Inde­ pendent Family Schools Resource Cen- . ter (RD 1, Smyrna NY 13464 - see GWS ' #lB) : ... We are now becoming more involved with families who are contac­ ting us before notifying public school officials of the removal of their child'r en. This is wonderful because with this approach the par­ ents are able to sit down with us and review their situation before ruf­ fling the officials' feathers. There­ fore, we can aid them i n outlining their curriculum from which they can work out their own family based plans of instruction. Often we review their write-up when they're done and work out the kinks. ... We are finding that the pre­ preparation of curriculum is making it much smoother for the parents to deal with the school officials. By having a full understanding of the NY law the parents are able to take a strong, articulate position at the initial contact. ' Also, the school officials are somewhat disarmed when they witness a layman's understand­ ing. I always instruct the parents in the fact that they are not asking the school official's permission to teach their child at home. Rather, they are merely notifying him in person (which is not required by NY law - the mail would suffice) of the transfer of their child from his school to their home in compliance with the truancy law. Doing this in a mannerly and gentle way seems to have the best results.

Al 's Q, when the parents stress that they are going to teach their child at home in order to ,give him or her the best possible education, the officials invariably lean toward help­ ing instead of resisting. This atti­ tude is also reinforced by the par­ ents not insulting the public school system .by alluding to their sundry failures. By ignoring the negative and stressing the positive we are get­ ting much better results.

The one fact parents must remem­ ber is that the less they scrap with the public school officials, the stronger and more effective their appeal. . . • Finally I would like to say: by the parents doing their background homework in legalities and curricu-

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOlING 119

5 lum, they are in effect letting the officials know of their ability to fight a good court case. Of course they are not giving all of their best shots at once, but only as the need arises. Once an official backs down or compromises, there's no need to use the remaining ammunition. Save it' ...

NEBRASKA HOME-SCHOOLERS

Rog & Judy Duerr (NE) sent the following article from the Lincoln Star, 11/12/80: · .. School is a daily event at the Duerr home on Adams Street in north Lincoln. At about 8:30 a.m.

10-year-old Jenny, 12-year-old Eric and 14-year-old Randy flip on the living room computer and gather around the fireplace with their mom· and dad to begin a day-long education process that has replaced the public classroom in the first state-approved home school in Nebraska. · .. Both parents are former teach­ ers in Lincoln public schools. Mrs. Duerr had to renew her elementary teacher certification before the state would allow the couple to edu­ cate their children at home.

The state Department of Educa­ tion and Lincoln public schools helped the Duerrs set up their home school. "As long as a family has a certified teacher and can meet fire marshal regulations, there's not much problem in setting up your own school," said Veri Scott, consultant for the Education Department which has certified the Duerrs' home school.

Lincoln School Superintendent John Prasch offered supplementary materials and said the children could attend school part-time.

Besides a teacher, the state requires any elementary school to have a place and a program. The teach­ er can choose the subject matter.

Mrs. Duerr must report regularly how she is meeting requirements put forth i n the state's 100-page directiona.1 booklet.

"Whether or not a parent has his own school, his basic role should be to help the child buy into the idea that he's the only one who can make his education and hi s· life succeed," says Duerr.

Althoug h his children aren't in public sc hools , Duerr has kept his volunteer job as fund-raising chair­ man for the area Parent Teacher Association to encourage parent in­ volvement in their children's educa­ tion.

The couple admits their advocacy of home sc hooli ng is considered heret­ ical. Yet the time has come for home schooling, the Duerrs believe, and they are trying to organize a state­ wide organization. ... The idea of home schooling is "obviously threatening" to many par­ ents of public school students, Mrs. Duerr notes. They often ask her how her children know what to learn and whether s he thinks they're learning the right things. The Duerrs insist that children know what they are ready for, with a little adult gui­ dance. · .. The children learn through jobs like changing the oil and spark plugs in the car, building a tree­ house, helping with the home bookkeep­ ing and delivering appliances from the Duerr's second-hand appliance store as well as by traditional book methods. They partiCipate in the South Lincoln Track Club for physical

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

education and attend weekly lectures at the university or YWCI. They regu­ larly see educational films at the public library and take classes at the Community Playhouse. Each child creates his own weekly goals with his parents' help. .

The youngsters frequently help their father and mother deliver home cleaning supplies from the home-based family business or the nearby store.

They help with carpentry jobs at apartments the Duerrs own.

"We don't believe in standard­ ized tests, but we teach our kids how to take them to prepare for the day they must go back to the public sys­ tem," said Mrs. Duerr. "You can teach your child to score 'genius' on tests." ...

PORTFOlIOS

Dave Campbell ("Helpful Prof in Action," GWS #15) who is getting <in average of 3 inquiries a week about the portfolio plan for evaluation, wrote this handout: There is nothing new about ~he portfolio as a mea~s of evaluating a person's work, talent, ability, or accomplishment. Artists and photo­ graphers have traditionally used pOTt­ foliOS, as have models. Martinville College in New York was, as far as I know, one of the first to use the portfolio in an academic setting.

Portfolios for home study and private schools are intended to re­ place traditional testing, mostly the the achievement tests.

A portfolio - simply - is a record of everything a student has done - either in a specific subject or for a period of time, e.g., one year of study. It should include: 1) All written work.

2) All trips and out-of-doors exper­ iences, i.e., a record of them and what took place, what was learned, the questions and conversations.

3) Books and other items read.

4) The media events seen: movies, TV, radiO, concerts, museums, exhib­ its, etc.

5) Extended travel - a record of, and experiences.

6) The teacher's comments, evalua­ tions, reactions.

7) Description of activities such as: cooking and home repair, science experiments, nature studies, weather observations, hikes, observations, thoughts and interests.

8) When possible - photographs or other ~isual records of 6uch experi­ ences, in addition to special con­ struction projects, should be included.

9) All art work.

10) The student's own personal record of his/her progress.

11) The comments of others directly concerned: teachers, speakers, rela­ tives.

12) A summary by everyone involved during the time/prOject/subject period.

Portfolios should be kept cur­ rent (up-to-date), ready to be exam­ ined by school authorities if required; also, a "history" of the child's education could kept by both teacher and child, showing progress from the beginning to the present and for use by admissions offices.

At the end of ~ome period (six months, ·a year) a careful summary of the child's progress should be inclu­ ded, e.g . , the highest level of read­

ing or math achieved (the latest book read and its difficulty, the latest math skill mastered). ~he portfolio should be a large file (or box) into which these rec­ ords and examples can be placed at any time to be arranged later.

The portfolio is intended to be a complete record of a person's growth and accomplishment and so can include emotional and· personality changes.

LEA~

WITH JOy

From Janet Williams (GWS 16): ... Time is so very limited these days. I had an unrealistic idea of how life would be with home educa­ tion. The constant noise from our very active lively older three is com­ bined with the needed mother ing of the younger two. It has been a drain­ ing experience on many days, but one I am learning to live with. I have shared more responsibility with the children, while reducing my perfec­ tionist tendencies regarding the house.

Things were further complicated from Sept. to Nov. 1 as we provided day care for a migrant child. Now we have had a "multi-ethnic experience," but the value was much greater than that, as our youngest, not yet 2, found a new friend and playmate .

All told, though, every adjust­ ment has been worth the effort. I see such inner peace within our children.

They have a greater sense of personal responsibility in their own lives and in our family life. Oh, I still hear, "There's nothing to do," as they have not completely lost the expectation of having things planned FOR them. So I make a few suggestions - which near­ ly always are rejected because they suddenly get better ideas. Maybe all that is wanted is my caring enough to take a minute to offer ideas . . .

We are finding more and more peo­ ple who want to home-school. Reasons range from inappropriate education (moral or "intellectual," from our contact with "gifted parents") to h~r­ assment from burdensome, assinine reg­ ulations. When people see us, they begin to realize that they have anoth­ er option. People who PHYSICALLY shud­ dered at the thought of home educa­ tion when it was initiated in conver­ sation six months ago, are now giving the matter very serious considera­ t ion ...

I know one family who recently moved to Pennsylvania from the west.

They wrote to their Superintendent using parts of the Kendricks' letter (GWS #12). The Superintendent (Ha rris­ burg area) said yes, requiring 0rAy a written program eac h September. ey were in jubilant shock . ..

[From a later letter:) In August, when we first got the school books, Amy said that she HATED math.

She was so vehement about it that I put aside my fears of the Iowa tests (which we are presently locked into) and said "Just forget your math book.

We wi 11 find other things to do."

Since the gifted ed. teecher had told me that Amy was a visual thinker, I began to think of how to give her some visual math . First step was the Cuisenaire rods. I could literally see the tightne ss loosen. At first, when given 5 + 3, Amy would look off in the distance, trying mentally to see 11111 + 111. Over and over I had to focus her attention down to the rods . Gradually s he learned that she

6 could SEE the answer there - and this is a very bri~ht little girl. Her head was so full of answers and formu­ las that she had forgotten her common sense. With time and freedom to be ignorant, she played with the rods and decided that 5 + 3 really did consistently make 8.

I know that John has written all that over and over, but to see it in your own child makes such an impres­ sion. I also want to emphasize that in spite of the inherent learning, the rods are primarily a toy. We use them to make pictures, lines of num­ bers, roads for cars. The learning is incidental, not primary. And that to me is how it should be. Learning is a game, full of fun, life, and joy. Ie is not the work, drudgery, and pain which is all tdo often associated with it. ~my and I continue to explore the world of numbers. We bake cookies in multiple batches. We play Yahtzee.

Her mathematical wisdom is not always conventional, but it is HERS. There­ fore, it is unlikely that she will lose it or "forg~t it over the sum­ mer." After just three months, math is now Amy's favorite thing. I don't know i f it will, s tay that way, but it reall y does not matter.

When we first started our home ed. I shared the frequently voiced fear that "all they would do is read." I was perplexed by my own atti­ tude because I am an incessant read­ er . Then it dawned on me. The learn­ ing from reading is private. That is hard to swallow. We are so used to guiding (con trolling ) our little peo­ ple that it takes some faith to let them take over even such a small part of their lives. Another frustrating aspect is that I can't measure what is learned. That is really none of my business, but I had gotten caught up in the evaluation fever. The spectre of testing was ever on my shoulder, eliminating my good sense.

As ever, it was a particular in­ cident that made me see the stupidity I had been caught up in. Jenny is studying U.S. geography. We were work­ ing on the southeast states. Our con­ ve rsati on: Me: Do you know which state has the Everglades?

Jen : The what? ( looking at the map ) Oh, Florida.

Me: · Do you know what it is?

Jen: The map shows swamp and National Park.

Me: Do you know what animal is ass ocia ted with it?

Je·n : (t hi nki ng a bit ) Snake? Like a water moccasin?

Me: Are there any others?

Jen: Oh, I know! An alligator!

Nancy Drew was in Florida and there were alligators.

That taught me to quit worrying about wh a t th ey read. I might not know exactly what information is acquired but I have learned that ~f they read for enjoyment, then the book will present some form of educa­ tion.

I also thought about using the reading as a resource, dovetailing the curriculum with their interests.

In studying Florida, I came across some ideas for Jenny. Audubon did much painting there (Jenny is .an artistL. Marjorie Keenan Rawlings wrote THE YEARLING [Ed. - just added to .our booklistl based upon her years there . Mary Macleod Bethune was in Florida. So these are ideas for the future trips to the library for Jen since she loves art, fiction, and bio­

graphies of women. She will learn infinitely more about Fforida that way than if she sat down and memor­ ized the "important facts" in her textbook. This way I am rooted in love of Jenny, not in love of curri­ cula ...

Janet told us on the phone that she's interested in starting a GROW­ ING WITHOUT SCHOOLING group in Penn­ sylvania, along the lines of the New Jersey organization. Interested peo­ ple can call her at 717-528-4049, or write RD 2, Box 181, York Springs PA 17372.

GROWNG N THE COUNTRY From the mother who wrote "Let­ ter from California" in GWS #18: ... Two weeks ago we gave up our house in town, put our belongings into the pick-up and just vanished back into the woods. This is a very poor and rural area with a lot of back-to-the-landers, 20% of the popu­ lation is on welfare, and the county seems to leave people alone. So until trouble comes knocking at the door, we'll keep quiet.

Now a report on what's happening with the unschooling. This house is still being built around us so we have no regular routine which is prob­ ably for the best. Sam and Sara have loved helping with the carpentry (doing well at using the measuring tape), putting shingles on the roof, and getting in our winter wood sup­ ply. They ad~red the I HATE MATHEMAT­ ICS' BOOK and dip into it on their own every day. I also got THE BACK­ YARD HISTORY BOOK from the same pub­ lisher and we've had fun doing family trees and personal histories.

Sammy has always been fascinated by archaeology (he's read many books on Sumer, Ur, Greece, and Egypt) and for the past two years has been dig­ ging up a burned-down homestead on our land - homesteaded since 1860 and once a stage coach stop - and now has a very nice collection of household, farm, and stable artifacts, as well as Indian arrowheads and spearheads.

Last winter he had an exhibition of his finds in the county library and he's planning to build a museum on our la~d. This winter we plan to look up books in the library on the Indi­ ans who used this spot as one of their summer meeting grounds, and the early settlers, and write a little history.

Last week we started ARITHMETIC MADE SIMPLt and Sara has enjoyed do­ ing the first two chapters and is anxious to keep going. She says she loves workbooks and wants more, so I have o rdered ENGLISH MADE SIMPLE and SPELL ING MADE SIMPLE, and will report how it goes with them. She seems to need a few hours of planned work and then happily goes off to paint or play with the animals. She is now reading PENROD by Booth Tarkington and has recently finished BORN FREE

by Joy Adamson.

Although they are twins, Sammy is ve.ry different from Sara. Sammy did Chapter One of ARITHMETIC MADE SIMPLE easily but I have to gently push him in that direction (whereas Sara asks for it). He says he hates workbooks and just wants to read and write on his own. But his spelling and handwriting aren't that great so I want to work on them this winter.

Sam also has a coin collection and spends time buying, selling, and trad­

ing coins. I've told him he has to be able to write che~ks and balance a check book, and that seems to give him an incentive to do math. He is reading all of Tolkien now (I read LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT out loud three years ago) and says it's better the second time. He's writing his own fantasy adventure story, do­ ing sculpture in stone with carving tools his father gave him, and teach­ ing himself to play the harmonica. ... Originally we bought this land with · five other friends, none of whom lived in the area so we've always been alone up here. But now three of the partners and their wives have just moved to the county seat, rented or bought houses, started busi­ nesses, and are spending weekends and holidays on the ranch. Between the three couples there are two children, ages 3.and 5, ~ho are a bit too young to really play with Sara and Sam, but who bring a new energy into our lives. The'partners are all planning or building cabins, planting gardens, and making plans for our future commu­ nity here, and the twins spend their weekends helping in the activities or talking with them. One partner is a beekeeper and botanist, another makes videotapes, and the third is an expert mechanic, and they're all will­ ing to teach Sammy and Sara their skills. In turn, Sam and Sara know more about this place and actual liv­ ing off the land, and are teaching the grown-ups a lot. Already they are welcomed and respected by people twen­ ty years their senior, which really pleases us.

Last but not least, an ll-year­ old friend from town came for the weekend and the three children had a marvelous time, gossiping· and playing allover the ranch. His mother says he can come anytime ... Right now life seems full and rewarding for our fami­ ly, and I'll keep you posted how things progress and what we're doing and learning ...

CASTING OFF THE CURRICULUM From Delores Koene in Missouri: ... 1 am a mother of four child­ ren, ages 7-14, and we had our first unschooling experience this past year. I had my children enrolled in a Christian correspondence program . To me, it was like reproducing a public school right in our own home with me being everything from principal to janitor. While we did enjoy a certain amount of freedom and were not both­ ered by local school authorities (t he y don't even know we exist), we felt bogged down because of the de­ mands in handling the heavy curricu­ lum. I was always busy with paper work till late at night, grading papers and preparing lessons for four grade levels.

My youngest daughter, now 10, whom I know is bl'ight enough, had and still has some handicaps to overcome due to her previous three years in p·ublic school. She was said to .be an "A" student and often had free time to help the teachers, but alas! When she stayed home under my supervision I was appalled at her lack of basic skills. She would read a few stories to her younger brother but would not touch a library book to read to her­ self. After being home for one year, her favorite pastime is reading. .. . The more I read in GWS, the more I relaxed my "public school teacher" image and the more liberties I took with that curriculum. Later on, tests were not used as tests but

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING '19

7 were done with an open book for a final learning experience in that par­ ticular subject. When the children received poor grades, we no longer worried as I told them that the impor­ tant thing was whether they had learned something interesting that could be useful to their lives. All in all, we had little time for things that really interested u~ and many un­ answered questi ons and projects were shelved because of the burden of the "pre-packaged" and "canned'.' educa­ tion. However, I am glad in one way to have had the experience as it brought me r eal ly close to the class­ room (en masse) edu~ational problems and made me appreciate unschooling even more .

This year, we are embarking on a new venture in learning as I have enrolled the child ren in Ed Nagel's Santa Fe Community School and we function as an extension of that school. We are all excited about it as it is like letting children into a candy store wi th lots of money to spend. I asked each child what he or she was interested in learning about, and in spite of their new freedom. all their interests included some "basics." They have already been con­ ditioned and so it will take time for them to view learning in a new light. .. . In our coming school year, we will do away with testing and repeti­ tious "busy work." We will also do away with the study of English gram­ mar which is one of the children's greatest dislikes. Before my children went ' to school they spoke English with very few grammatical errors.

After they were in school for a year, they gradually picked up and started using incorrect grammar in spite of all the drilling they were getting in English class. ... 1 find that an interesting way for children to learn how words are spelled is to do "word search" puzzles. I am very much impressed with some of the methods you suggest in GWS for teaching the bas'ics and I intend to try them in our c.oming school year. ... 1 had considered teaching my youngest daughter som~ basic phonics this year, but after reading your article "Sensible Phonics" lGWS #7; also separate reprint], I am not cer­ tain if it would help her. Do you think that just having her read alo.ud to me and simply correcting her pro­ nunciation would be more helpful to her? ..

In my reply, I wrote: ... Yes, I do think it would be more helpful, and indeed I would like to urge that you go very easy even on correcting her pronunciation. A hard thin~ for us adults to learn is that children will catch and correct a very large part of their own mistakes if we just give them enough time and don't rattle them. What is important is that she think that reading aloud to you 'is a pleasure, for both of you. If she wants you to enjoy what she is reading to you, she will want to pronounce words so that you can un­ derstand. If you don't understand a word she has read, don't hesitate to ask - but only if you really don't understand it.

SELF-TAUGHT READER

A Maine reader wrote: ... In GWS you expressed great

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING *19

interest in children who teach them­ selves to read. I am one of those children, and would like to share with you how I got started. I am the youngest of five children, and most of us like to read. For a long time I thought that my sisters had taught me, because it was so long ago that my memories of it are hazy. They did teach me many things - they all liked to come home from school and "play school," but after giving it some thought I realized that they did not in fact teach me to read. .

It began with a little story book that someone, probably my par­ ents, gave me when I was three or four years old. This was one of the very first books which I could truly call my own, and I loved i't. It was a typical kiddy book, called "Crybaby CalL" Not a v,ery thrilling subject, you may say, but to a very young farm­ ing child, it was wonderful. For weeks I made everyone read me this story over and over as many times as they could stand it. With six other readers in the family, this made for a lot of run-throughs. Just about the time that everyone else was so sick of Crybaby Calf that they would glad­ ly have made him into hamburger, I astonished them all by sitting down one evening in front of everybody and reading the book aloud from cover to cover.

I guess I was a little too smug, because it didn't take them long to figure out that I was not actually reading, but had memorized that en­ tire story, word for word, including when to turn the pages. Because there was generally no more than one sen­ tence on each page, I therefore knew exactly which words were on each page. Certain words a~d phrases kept recurring throughout the book, such as "Crybaby Calf, "Hiram the farmer," "Jerry the horse," and "the pigs." I was soon able to pick out these names and words, recognizing them in print instead of just following the pic­ tures. The in-between words followed, and before I knew what was happening, I really was reading that book. With the beginnings of a reading vocabu­ lary, I was able to go on to other books and, by the time I went to kin­ dergarten, was reading very well.

Another thing that may interest you is the books I have been writing for Jimmy. Before he was born, I bought a blank book and began writing down my thoughts during pregnancy, our preparations for the baby, etc.

While in the hospital, I ' added a detailed account of his natural birth. Since then I have written observations of his growth, activi­ ties and self-education. I am now well into the second volume and would be glad to share pertinent portions with GWS. One aspect which I particu­ larly find faSCinating is how child­ ren learn from other children. We have seen many examples of this in Jimmy's experience . He has both learned from other children and taught them things that he knew ...

since Abbey was born that there were forces at work that would carry me along if I could only resist my socialization.

Anyway, I want to tell you what an incredibly independent and cap,able girl she is. I work a couple of hours every morning and leave her at home with her father. She just waves and says "Bye" when I leave - no tears.

When I come home she welcomes me with a smile and some holding but soon is off to her projects. We have never left her for more than two hours ­ and NEVER at all in her first year.

She was held almost constantly for the first seven or eight months of her life. She took all her naps on my person and slept in our bed at night.

(She still does. Abbey has never slept in a crib.) All this wasn't done with the confidence of parents who know what they'r~ doing, though.

We felt gUilf~ about bringing her into bed at lrst. We held her all the time because we couldn't bear to hear her whimper. Somehow, these inner force~ won out.

She is in love with the world and loves to get into every act. She helps me knead bread, run the blen­ der, put away laundry, wipe up spill's and vacuum. She is also a great climb­ er, and has never taken a fall in all her climbing expeditions .

It isn't always easy being the kind of parents we have chosen to be.

It's amazing how much disapproval we face. One woman, upon seeing Abbey in her Snugli, remarked, "What are you doing to that baby?"

One point I do want to make that I feel needs to be brought up in GWS. Although I agree that home is the ideal place for a baby to be born, r am convinced by my own birth experi­ ence that it is still possible to bond with your crild and implement continuum principles right away even in the most unnatural birthing situa­ tions. Nature has to be more resili­ ent than that.-xDbey was born by Cae­ sarean, but even with all the cold steel and strange~ in green masks, we bonded so deeply that even to this day I can mentally summon the image of her eyes for those few moments.

We've been friends , ever since. I just want to say that birth isn't always beautiful, and it's Often very hard and painful. We tend to forget this in our fervor for things natural. But it still is possible to come out of it with a healthy, well-adjusted baby and a deep, warm relationship. "The Continuum" isn't that fragile .

It is very true that Abbey's independence and self-sufficiency have come sooner ~han we expected. It is a joy to watch her every day. I want to thank you for your book, FREEDOM AND BEYOND, which opened my eyes years ago to many things . Also, thanks for GWS. We look forward to it accompanying us on 'the long road ahead ...

BROTHERS WELCOME BABY

From Laurie Davis (MI): ­ From Diana Kisselburgh (MI): ... 1 have been meaning to write to you for some time now about Abbey (16 m.onths). All my life I have assumed that child-rearing entailed certain problems - such as eating and sleeping difficult~es. How pleasantly surprised I am to find that it is not necessarily so. I shouldp't say sur­ prised - I had a gut feeling ever

... Little Will, now 6 months, is as much a part of all of our activi­ ties as can be and has been in the midst of things from the very start.

Although he is not a continuum baby in the true sense of the word - when it is impractical· (ar too hard on Mom) for him to be constantly in arms, he is in the back-pack or on the floor with his brothers - we try to include him in everything p,0ssible rather than excluding him to 'keep

8 him out of the way." We are all fas­ cinated with his growth and every sub­ tle change. He is quite adept at get­ ting the kind of-'attention he needs or wants - without screaming or cry­ ing, although he can tell pretty loud when he needs to. It s so easy to see, when you're paying attention, when a baby says, "Stimulate me ­ take me somewhere - let me be with someone else - put me where I can touch this or taste that ... " I try to make sure Will doesn't make a pest of himself as far as his big brothers (ages 9, 7, and 6) are concerned; it seems important they not feel burdened by his presence and it really shows in their patience and loving attention toward him. They are surprisingly conscious of his needs, moods, and changes.

The boys were very well prepared for Will's birth to take place at home; being a lay midwife, I have a small library of obstetrical and related books which is available to them at all times. They became (through their own interest in my pregnancy and anticipation of the birth) quite accustomed to technical words and explicit photographs and illustrations - the hows and whys of normal, family-oriented, gentle birth. We also had photo albums of other home births to share, where other children were present at their siblings' births. These guys knew more about the whole process than some women I have known' Indeed, many adults would be shocked at the infor­ mation made available to these young boys; The guys all wanted a lot of details, which they got without hesi­ tation - they had to make sure they had it all down pat.

When we had to go to the hospi­ tal toward the end of my labor, , there was much disappointment and concern.

The boys had to be united with their infant brother as soon as possible, and be assured that we were both OK. We have never had any problems with signs of regression from the older kids, "baby talk" and th~ like. I think it is so important for children to be well prepared well in advance for the-8rrival of a-new little one '" especially the part about how much attention he or she will re­ quire. I have never heard any crude or insensitive remarks coming from the boys regarding pregnancy, child­ birth, or female anatomy. We have always dealt with such things (and all other matters of Real Life) with respect, warmth, and sometimes humor (what fun to discover how mom's baby­ feeding apparatus works - no longer a mystery' ) ...

NO PROBLEMS Homesteaders News devoted their Issue #19 to home schooling, and printed, among other good things, this very encouraging letter from Verne Helmke-Scharf, Lord Rd, RD 2, Candor NY 13743. The same issue re­ prints her complete letter to the school board, a good model for others to follow.

You can get a copy of this issue of Homesteaders News by sending $1 to RD 2, Box 151, Addison NY 14801. But if you live in the country or would like to, or are an active gardener or food raiser, I suggest you subscribe ($8 for 8 issues). It is a very lively and interesting little paper, printed and calligraphed entirely by Sherrie Lee, who did the lovely calli­ graphy in GWS #18.

The letter:

... We wrote a six page letter to our local school board after getting the help of a friend who is a lawyer, and contacting an alternative school in Binghamton who helped us develop a school curriculum, giving us the names of textbooks to list. We deliv­ ered the letter to the school the day before classes began and the school board reviewed it the following week.

Their reaction was one of com­ plete cooperation and cordiality. In our case the American idea of toler­ ance has worked. We met with the superintendent the next week and he told us that we had more support on the school board than we might imagine.

As it has turned out, the under­ standing and interest in the communty and among our neighbors has been a great surprise to us. It seems that we have come to know our neighbors better and that people feel free to ask us about what we are doing and they approve! It has been something which has made us feel more part of our communi ty ...

We have done many things in home school so far. Our younger children, 8 and 10, are completely happy doing home schooling. Our daughter says she can think so much better here than at school, and she can. She still abhors social studies and is indifferent to English but has done almost all her 5th grade math and reading. She is learning to play the flute beautiful­ ly and we exchange thoughts and ques­ tionings all the time. I think that she is coming to the point now when she is asking what she wants to learn, not just what should she learn. There is a lull in outward learning at the moment but we see this as a good thing.

Our younger son, who couldn't add 3 plus 5 at the begi~ning of the year (he could do it at age 3) can now do any multiplication problem in his head. He is an invisible learner.

Much of his time so far at home school has been to let out a lot of that accumulated boredom which expresses itself as a phobia for do­ ing anything that hints of formal schooling. One day he said to me, '~om, you're acting just like a teach­ er again! I'm going to go do some­ thing I want to do!" I said, "OK, just so you're doing something." And then at 10:00 that night I found him reading HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Our oldest son is 13 and he vacillates as to whether home school is best for him. Next year he will have a choice of going back to the high school. We really don't know what the decision will be. For now we are very glad that he is with uS. From the beginning we have kept the hours of 9-11 and 1-3 as our home schooling hours. We pid this at first so that we would feel like a school and also so that I would know that the children would have my attention if they needed it. I tend to get involved in my own projects. As time has gone on we have varied the time a lot with what makes sense. It is easier to integrate the home school­ ing with our lives as time goes on and we feel that the children give as much energy to all our living here as we give out for the home schooling.

We also have a 4H club going here and so the childyen see a lot of other children. During home school time itself though they definitely do not miss other children. They are usually too busy with what they are doing. Since the feeling with the school in town is so easy we often go there for meetings and lessons

(flute), and our oldest son goes to dances, concerts, football games, etc.

We're really feeling good about all of this! If anyone would like to give me a call (607-687-4590) to talk about home schooling in New York State or whatever, I'd be glad to talk with them. I tend not to write letters; the phone is probably the best. But please don't call during home school hours, 9-11 and 1~3! ...

A FRIENDLY SCHOOL . ..

A friend wrote : ... MY ,older daughter has managed to hold on to her scholarship and goes three days a week to an alterna­ tive school. My youngest, 11, goes two days and I managed to get the school to accept that this year. I just called them and said she was ~nterested and I could afford only two days. The school OK'd it and now her teacher tells me that the rest of the kids look forward to her arrival each Thursday and Friday. She manages to find rides for the fifty mile trip there and then stays over, and finds another ride back on Friday or Satur­ day ...

[Ed. note] This confirms some­ thing I have been saying a lot at meetings, that kids who do a lot of their learning out of school are an asset to the school, when they arrive because the other kids are interested in what they're doing. .. .AND ANOTHER

Kate Kerman (MI) writes : ... 1 am feeling very good about Ada's first public school experience.

She is presently going four days a week to a semi-open classroom - actu­ ally it is a four-teacher team of ~ 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades and a "spe­ cial ed" room of kids who are at about 2nd grade level. Several things in the talk you gave at Aquinas Col­ lege really applied to our situation.

Ada is going to school to see what it is like and knows she can chooose to stop going if she wishes. Her big project appears to be learning how to play marbles, as part of an overall objective of making friends. We have been pretty isolated in terms of play­ mates for her.

Anyway, I am volunteering one hour a week in her class and really like a lot of things. The teachers use volunteers a great deal and the kids approach any adult with ques­ tions and no one's bothered by the constant coming and going of kids and adults. My four-year-old, Hannah, is welcome to be there any time and there are always things for her to do. I hope to try taking Jesse (2) along as an experiment sometime.

The teachers ar~ on the lookout for resources and I've already pemon­ strated spinning to the 90 kids, and will be working on a book-making pro­ ject soon. So - the enrichment you talked-about of sharing resources is underway here ...

, DON'T KNOWFrom Robert Smith, 2939 Highland Dr SE, Smyrna GA 30080: . •• 1 am fast reaching the conclu­ sion that the only proper place to

GROWtHG WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

"teach" a child is in the home. I have often said children learn in spite of the school system and not be­ cause of it.

I am a high school graduate with one year of college. But I have three "non-conferred degrees'" One in jour­ nalism - I am a successful writer of over a dozen aviation books. My second "degree" is in aerodynamics, and my third in aircraft structures.

I learned all of these things on my own. I use all of them in my job with FAA (Federal Aviation Administra­ tion), but am not allowed to sign any official documents as I do not offici­ ally have the degree. But, I notice t he "degree-holders" a 11 check with me before the! sign any documents' ... When was in 8th grade I read a book on the P-Sl fighter.

There was a reference in the book that the airplane was aerodynamically superior because its fuselage was con­ structed with a cross-section of "second degree curves." I asked my math teacher what this meant, and rather than tell me she didn't know, she went off into a dissertation about designers of airplanes being so highly trained that no one else could understand them, etc., until now I don't remember what she did say. But, she did not answer my question ...

Now, forty years later, I know the expression was used by the - author of the article to impress the reader.

"Second degree curves" have nothing to do with the aerodynamics of the P-Sl or any other airplane' But, the lesson I learned was not to ask that teacher anything complicated!! I wouldn't get an answer I could use.

And a child can use "I don't know" as an answer:-It merely means he has to seek out someone else for the answer . . . . "1 don't know" furnish­ es the child with a fresh start. Of course, it is good to be able to add some helpful advice on where the ans­ wer might be found. My son Michael (now 17) has asked me questions and I have said "I don't know," but I added that we can look in the encyclopedia and see what it has on the subject and start from there: If that didn't produce an acceptable answer I sent him to the library to find out what they have. Sometimes I had another book that would help. After all, I don't profess to know the total con­ tents of all the books I own! ... Did you ever stop to think that humans are the only creatures on earth whose offspring go to school?

Every other creature on the fact of this earth is responsible for thQ teaching/learning of their young.

Unless, of course, there is a "School for Young Lions" somewhere in Africa that I am not aware of, or a "Gril'zly Bear College" in the Rocky Mountains that we have not yet discovered. ... My wife and I talked last night about teaching children at home. She said some parents aren't smart enough to do it. I asked myself if there are dumb lions and smart 1 ions. All lion cub's learn to hunt.

What about the cubs with a dumb mother lion? Maybe they starve to death. But, it's my bet that even the dumbest momma lion can teach a cub to hunt and survive ...

first time in my whole life I've ever heard anyone say that'" CHARITY OF THE RATS

In ~EARNING HOW TO LEARN, Idries Shah quoted this story from the Lon­ don Sunday Express, 7/9/69: ... Dr. J. T. Greene of Georgia University took ten white rats and trained them to obtain food pellets by pressing one of two levers in their cage. One lever produced fewer pellets and was hard to depress, and the rats soon found this out and ignored it, concentrating on the other. Now the experimenter wired the levers so that when the one which yielded more food was pressed, a rat in the next cage received an electric shock.

What did the food-seeking rats do? First, they recognized that their actions were giving their neighbor pain; then no less than eight out of ten of them went over to the other lever, even though it was hard to work, and concentrated on it, saving their fellow from further harm ...

ASTRONOMY WITHOUT SCHOOL

In the course of an on-going dis­ cussion with me and others about the need for and purposes of schools, the editor of Manas magazine happened to say that a person would have to go to school to study astronomy.

Why so? There is a magazine about astronomy - called Astronom* ­ and there may well be others on t e same subject. The magazine is not easy to find on newsstands, perhaps, but the index of periodicals that one can find in any library would list it, and big libraries would have the magazine. There is also a regular Amateur Astronomer's section in the magazine Scientific American. There are many books about astronomy in libraries. There's the ASTRONOMY BOOK CLUB (Riverside, NJ 0807S). Many cities have museums with a planetar­ ium, and there would surely be people there who would know a lot about astronomy and could tell you how to find out more about it. The Boston phone book lists the American Associa­ tion of Variable Star Observers, and has four listings under Telescopes; all of these people could tell you where and how to find our more about astronomy. So why do you have to go to school?

-These and many other interesting questions, many having to do with important questions about the meaning and purpose of life that are so rare­ ly asked or discussed these days ­ especially in schools - are regularly and eloquently discussed, in good plain English, in Manas, a weekly magazine (Box 3211~s Angeles CA 90032; $lO/yr.)

Since writing the above, I have learned that there is a magazine for children about astronomy called Odyssey. If anyone could send us their address or a sample, I'd be grateful.

LEARNING IT ALlAN

[Ed, note: 1 Many years ago, a college student asked me a question at a meeting. Knowing nothing about the answer, I said, "I don't know, I'm ignorant about that." He came up to see me after the meeting, amazed and delighted, and said, "That's the

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

By coincidence, two GWS readers have written us about learning Ital­ ian . From Valerie Hilligan (IL): ... We've made plans to move to Naples, Italy, at the end of the month. , .. 1 am going to experiment in

9 learning Italian in the way I see babies learning their first language - by being very attentive to people's expressions, gestures, and tones when I hear them speak. Without tryAng to learn it but simply enjoying t e flow of sounds and feelings around me as I listen in a relaxed way, I suspect I will find it coming to me naturally what people mean by what they say.

From there I will gradually pick out separate words, albeit falteringly, to express what I mean to say. I'll let you know how this turns out. But an immediate benefit comes to mind; I and my children lose the fear of fail­ ure to learn when we give up traing to learn. Then there is time an pres­ ence of mind to live more completely in this moment (whenever that is) and absoro-all it has to show us. ... We want to learn to speak Italian but are all "lazy" when it comes to studying out of a book ... It may be unnatural and possibly unhealthy for the soul to pursue know­ ledge ambitiously. Ambition implies a carrot-and-stick, reward and punish­ ment system, and wherever there is punishment there is fear, even if the fear is nontangible as in fear of social ostracism or ridicule. Could it be that ONLY wnat comes naturally out of an on-the-spot curiosity and interest is the life-giving experi­ ence we call discovery? ... I'm begin­ ning to see that this is so ...

And from Judy McCahill (Md. Directory) : . .. Dennis has to travel quite a bit in his current job [Ed. note ­ the McCahills are living in England] and he suddenly decided that we should all come to Sicily with him this time. This is our sixth day away from home, and we have so far been through a lifetime of marvelous exper­ iences (our afternoon at the train station in Milan would make a drama­ tic novel), but what is so thrilling to me that I can hardly contain my­ self is that I am learning to speak Italian. We are all learning.

Dennis is an outgoing person who opens conversations with everyone he meets and as a result received not only countless free lessons from de­ lighted Italians, but lovely gestures of friendship. Today when he was in a grocery store, another customer was so happy that Dennis was interested in Sicilian life that he went out to ~is car and got half of the typically Sicilian cookies that he had just bought for his own children and gave them to Dennis for our three bambini.

Dennis has two language books, one very thorough and scholarly, and the other a practical every-day speech kind of book, and he studies them for 20 minutes or so each day.

He is just as thrilled as I am about learning to speak Italian, though our ways of going about it are different.

Because I am more reserved and would rarely speak to a stranger unless he was standing on my foot, he provides the social contact I need to practice speaking (as well as meet wonderful people. ) But I want to tell you about my way of learning, which is providing a basis for the times when I have a chance to speak. I come to (tallan with a love for languages, having studied Latin, French, and German in school, and having learned kitchen­ and-marketplace Spanish in Spain. We were forced to layover for a day and a half in Milan and that was when this forgotten love resurfaced. We

:10

set 'out for a walk to see II · Duomo, the famous cathedral in Milan. What a walk that was for me, and how exci­ ting it is to be an adult who is not only ' learning but is conscious of the learning process that is taking place.

I was like ~ child. I read street signs. I read store-front advertisements. I read the s treetcar­ stop sign (No tickets sold on the streetcar). I turne d to Dennis: how do you pronounce this? What is that word? I held everyo ne up while I read - aloud - a poster advertising a course on meditation at a university.

I read. political posters. I read post­ ers on the front of La Scala, telling ' of the delights within. I made eVfry­ one stop and read with me the sign on a rubbish bin: "Not on the ground ... but here'" We came to a park which was half covered by a massive modern sculpture which was intend~d " not for contempla­ tion, but to be walked through," and while our boys gamboled'a nd c limbed on its various parts, Dennis and I read the description on a plaque near­ by, walked through the sculpture, read the description again and dis­ cussed it, figured out many meanings by looking at the things described.

I was like a five-year-old for whom written words s uddenl y spring into life. What had all been giQber­ ish one day, the next day had shape and meaning. I felt that. hunger and impatien~e to learn more; surely if could read a few words, I could read them all' Not . to prove anyt h ing to anybody, including myself (which I think is the case with a lot of adult learning), but just because it was there. And not eve n to worry about do­ fng-rt right. DOifig was the thing.

Dennis and I laug ed about how he was doing all the work (studyi ng the lang­ uage books) while I was picking his brains, taking what I needed when I needed it, a pronunciation here, a noun ending there.

My next step was to buy a news­ paper and, when I've kad my s wim and done my bit for t he pea nu t-butter­ and-jelly brigade, I lie in the sun and read it just like a grown-up lady, looking for all the wo r ld like I know what I'm doing . Sometimes I read out loud and sometimes silen tl y .

Friends had told me about the a ncient Greek city of Siracusa a nd wh e n I saw an article about it, I devoured as much of it as I could. (An Italian Air Force pilot whom we met at a party insists we meet him on Sa turday and allow him to s how us Sirac usa . ) I have read articles on Alexander Haig, the Vietnamese refugees, the petro­ leum crisis, th e Pope's appointment of 14 new cardinals . Sometimes I read slowly, milking the words of their meaning, and sometimes I re a d q~ick­ ly; sometimes I re-read, and some­ times I go impatien tly to a new arti­ cle. There ' s a lot of fai th; I know that some day I will figure out nella, nei, and negli. There are moments of ecs t asy, like when the sentence "This building was never carried to comple­ tion" leaps out of me as if I'd been reading Italian for yea rs. There's the feeling of slogg ing through mud, when line after line make s no sense a t all.

The nouns co me firs t. (Yo u s ay to the baby, "Do you want your Tedd y?" and the baby says, "Teddy."

Or: "Look at the ·big doggy." "Dog­ gy''') The names of things jump out at you, and they s t ic k. You understand many adjectives but don't remember them until you've seen them several times. You intuit the meaning of verbs but don ' t linger over them

because of their incredibly varying forms. You know ~hat today is not the day you'll learn the use of the re­ flexive. You run across certain small words that occur so often you know you can't ignore them, yet they defy you to comprehend them; eventually you understand they are prepositions and definite articles - sometimes the little devils combine in the most amazing ways (to the, from the, near the) - it keeps you humble.

Sometimes I get tired and full; I can't take any more words. I go away and do something that has noth­ ing to do with words. If Dennis says to me, ' ''Do you want to review the num­ bers?" I stare off into the distance ( figuratively speaking; he's so good I would never deliberately ignore him) .

And that's it; the story of my adventure . ..

SEWING

Helen Fox (Que.) wrote: ... People who sew might teach their 4 and 5 year olds, as I did, how to use the sewing machine to make their own clothes. Real projects, pro­ ducing something wearable are, of course, more interesting than doll clothes o~ things made {rom old sheets. .

A trip to the store comes first, to look at patterns and pick out materiAL. It's important to choose something very easy to start with ... shorts qr pants with an elastic waist is about the simplest thing (easier than those awful Home Ec. aprons'), next comes a blouse or dress with elastic neck and sleeves. Boys' clothes seem harder, but maybe I lack imagination because I have three girls. Boy s love t o work the machine, as do girls. Kids might sew a Hallo­ ween costume (ghost, pirate come to mind). One 8-year-old boy dashed off a costume on my machine that consis­ ted of many sas hes. Another made a sweatband for his head.

Little kids can pin, cut, and se w with the foot ped~l propped up on the sewing ma c hine under the table.

Eve n littler ones (3) can sit in your lap and learn to guide the material through. The next step is for the c hild to tell you when tp stop and go with the foot pedal, learn ~o lift the pre sse r foot at the corners, learn to thread the machine and make a bobbin. There really isn't that much to it. Lines drawn in chalk on the material are sometime~ helpful to follow in order to get seams straight. You can do the finishing touches, and help cut when small fing­ ers get sore. It's a satisfying pro­ jec t, especially if sewing is some­ thing you enjoy and do easily .. .

HECTOGRAPHS

Two readers sent us information on hectographs, a simple kind of printing press. From Kate Kerman (MI): ... A ~ectograph is basically a gelatin and glycerin base in a cookie sheet. This formula seems to be best : 12 packets unflavored gelatin, oz. each 3/4 cup cold water l~ cups glycerin A squirt of detergent

t

Warm in a pan on low heat as gelatin dissolves. Let stand a few minutes ­

skim off any foam. Pour into a cookie sheet or cake pan, and let harden in a cool place. It is important to have it .level so the gelatin mixture isn't too thin .at one end.

Afte~ it has hardened, sponge the surface with cool water. Let it sit a minute and soak up the water so there are no puddles.

You can get pens and pencils at office supply · stores which can be used simply to write your master copy on plain paper; ask for hectograph materials. Or, for up to 50 copies, we have found ditto masters to be most effective. You write ~n the back of the inked paper so that the copy is forwards, not r'eversed, on the first sheet.

You lay your copy face down on the press, smooth it, let it sit about one minute, then peel it off.

The ink soaks intD the gelatin mix­ ture, with the writing reversed, of course. Then to print a duplicate copy, smooth a piece of blank paper on the press and lift it off again.

You might need to lightly sponge the press if copies seem to stick too much .

You can reuse the press for some­ thing else if you let it sit long enough so the ink sinks in. You can also m~lt down the gelatin. Or for a more dramatic method, pour a thin lay­ er of rubbing alcohol over the gela­ tin and light it!

This press is quite flexible and very easy to operate. You can do any number of colors at the same time. We are presently starting a family riews­ letter ... we've also used the press for making project report forms, book list f.orms for "school," Christmas letters, and birth announcements.

We bought glycerin at a drug store for $6 . 00 a quart, which is enough for about 3 of the presses.

I'm ~till trying to track down bulk gelatin ...

Kristin Peterson of Manitoba also sent directions for a hecto­ graph, along with this note: . . . My brothers and sisters and were fascinated by these and used them continually for many months. I believe we did have to melt them down and reset them, however, as they tend to shred and tear at the edges.

Instead of "hectograph ink" (which I have never seen), we drew over the top of carbon paper of the kind used for spirit masters in schools. I am not sure whether regular carbon paper would work, but a little experimenta­ tion would soon tell ...

STAMP COLLECTING

Nancy Allen ( CA) writes : ... Thought you might like to hear of the good luck we've had with the hobby of stamp-collecting that our 6-year-old recently developed. I can't remember how it all started ­ possibly when we visited the post office and Craig noticed the small stamp album booklets for sale there .

They offer a series of kits on such subjects as "Flowers," "Birds and But­ terflies," and "Space," containing stamps which are to be mounted over the matching pictures in the accom­ panying booklet. These sell for $2 each.

This activity sparked quite an interest' in Craig and we soon visited a stamp shop where we bought the Trav­ eler Stamp Album (published by Harris

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

11 Co., about $7.00) which is especially for beginners; We purchased several inexpensive jumbo packages of world stamps and Craig quickly got the hang of inserting the stamps in plastic •envel o pe s and locating the correct place for them in his album . Soon he was becoming quite selective in the stamps he bought and his memory for ""hich stamps he did and did not have really a ma zed us.

In the meantime he was learning all kinds of things - geography, his­ tory, spelling, alphabetical order, a ttention to detail, about famous peo­ pl e and different cultures . Once while ~xamining an Italian series, we were led to research Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel and then the Bibli­ cal story of creation. Another day Craig wa s curious about the Legend of Sle e py Hollow stamp, and the next time we visited the library we checked out that story along with "Ri p Van Winkle." (They required s ome edit i ng, as they're difficult read­ ing , but Craig enjoyed them.)

The topics ope,ned up by stamps

are practically endless and the

beauty of many of them soon had our

whole family interested. The post

office sells a paperback b90k enti­

tled Stamps and Stories ($3) which

lists current value of us stamps and

other interesting info. Craig looks

forward to hunting for especially

valuable stamps and'discovering the

worth of those he has ...

wanted one - you can round things, square things, smooth things and s culpt them, like magic. It gives you such a feeling of power over your material, e s pecially because the re s ult s a re s o finished. When you're little, it seems as though you can have ve ry little effect on things, and wh a t you can do usually turns out so rough and awkward that you're asha med to show it to anybody (I speak from experience). A disc sander i s good for the ego.

You know, making a set of wooden letter s would be a lot of fun for a child to help his parent with. You could let the m drill all the holes, for instance - J.P. loves drilling holes . You could give them a piece of sandpaper and let them smooth all the rough edges, too. You could guide their hands on the jig-saw or disc sander, a nd you can hold the straight­ edge ruler for them and have them mark , a long it for your cutting line (that's another thing J.P. loves to do). They might learn more about the shapes of l e tters from helping to make them than just from playing with some that have been presented to them. An older child would probably get a real feeling of accomplishment from helping to make a set for a lit­ tle brother or sister. [Ed. note: in GWS #18, Kathy offered to send anyone plans for a wooden alphabet, for $2.]

NATURE STUDY

WOODWORKING WITH JP.

Kathy Mihgl (IL) writes: .. . J.P. has a new motivation for le a rning to read - I'll bet you've n e ver heard this one before. I use a lot of themicals - paint thinner, stripper, stains, varnishes, paint, etc. - that ~.P. is not allowed to mess with. When he gave me an argu­ ment a while ago, I told him that when he was old enough to read and understand the warning labels, he ~ould help me when I use "owie" chemi­ cals. Would you believe that little twerp immediately began to take an interest in all the words he came across and made me tell him what they said? I think he just found out that he doesn't know how to read. Now when I read him stories, he'll pick out a word he hears and ask me which one it is. Winnie-the-Pooh didn't inspire him, but turpentine did. ... One tool I'd like to . recom­ mend to parents whose kids want to m~ke things with wood is a disc sand­ er. All it is is a motor - an old washing machine or dryer motor is per­ fect - and a disc and table attach­ ment that can be bought for around $15 or $20 from Sears or any place tha t s e 11s power tools. You buy a special glue and smear it on the disc, and when it dries, you press on a sandpa per piece that fits on it, and i s supposed to be easily pulled off to change papers.

The beauty of it is that you can e asily mold and shape wooden pieces, and with reasonable care, it's hard t o hurt yourself on it. You can run some skin off your finger if you don't watch where you hold the piece, and you c an bounce the piece off your head if you try to sand it on the part of the disc where it comes ~.in its revolution, instead of down - and stand i n just the wrong place. For an older, responsible child it should be prett y safe, and a younger child can use it with supervision.

Every kid that's tried mine has

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING '19

From two readers: . . . One of the things we have done is gotten field guides to plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, and inse c t s. We try to identify all the plants and animals we come across in our area and learn about them from other read i ngs ... . .• Our 9-year-old really took off on this idea of self-directed "study." He took "trees" as his first project. What a fascinating subject it turned out to be. When "school" was "out," he wasn't ready to quit .•.

With just a suggestion or two, he had a neighbor cut him a slice of one of the logs in his woodpile. He now has one s ide beautifully sanded (his first experience with an electric sander) and is preparing to varnish it so the rings will show. I got some library books and we tramped through our woods gathering leaves and identi­ fying trees. . . .

[Ed. note: We are hoping to add a pocket guide on identifying flow­ ers, trees and b~rds to ou~ booklist.

However, so far we have not been able to make arrangements with the pub­ lisher.]

INDEPENDENT LEARNER

A reader wrote : ... 1 am presently under pressure from friends and family to send my son back to public school, their main reason being that he has to learn to survive the peer group and that the longer he is ou~ of school the harder it will be for him to return. I dis­ agree and he does not want to go to public school. I feel that if he were tO ' adjust to public school and become a "normal 1980 eleven year old," he would lose or suppress his greatest gifts and virtues~ When people can't

act like who they really are, there is danger of them forgetting who they were; from there things go from bad to worse, and the life is wasted in sorrow and confusion .

From earliest infancy it was clear that my child understood much and was hampered by the inability to walk and talk, so I carried him about and talked to 'him about everything he looked at. All this attention did not make him overly attached; rather he showed great confidence and self­ rel'iance as soon as he could walk. I began to read to him when he was four months old, and we were soon go~ng through mountains of children's books .e very week and spending at least two hours B day in that activity. We also spent about that much time chec,ki ng out the town; all the oackhoe work­ ers, firemen, electric workeFs, and all the kids in the playground knew him well. The rest of the time that was not spent in nursing, we walked in the nearby woods.

A friend down the road had a lit­ tl'e girl his age and we mothers took great pleasure in watching them play.

He was frightened by loud noises or loud voices and would shudder from head to toe if someone raised their voice, and he still does. He . shunned educational toys and demanded the real thing - except cars and trucks of course, but he liked Tonkas and avoided the pretty wooden ones.

He learned to climb as soon as he could walk and was over my head in the trees by 18 months. He never wore shoes so he knew where his feet were; he also developed personal relation­ ships with trees. Every time I start ­ ed to walk past a certain walnut tree he'd cry out, "Wanko wanko," and we couldn't pass on until he hugged and kissed it.

For his second birthday I built him a large easel with a tray to hold sixteen colors, as he was not content with a few. He painted daily, some­ times singing and dancing as he did so, sometimes with a brush in each hand or two in each hand. He used scissors very well at two and made beautiful collages by cutting and glu­ ing. He did simple sewing, cDuld sew on buttons and embroider, get dressed, brush his teeth, bathe, vac­ uum the floor, sweep, dig .. rake, plant, ride a trike, and talk wi t h a huge vocabulary, over 2000 words, but only his grandma and I could under­ stand him. He was and is daring and confident and enjoyed rope swing rides that would terrify an adult • When he was two and a half, we made a trip by train from California to New York to visit his paterna l g~andparents. it was a fantastic ex­ perience; things he'd seen in picture books were suddenly appearing at the window and he gleefully identified the things. In New York I felt like he was taking care' of me, he was so mature and calm. He was .still nursing and continued until three -and a half, when he chose grandma's bedtime story instead. He has never yet Fried him­ self to sleep and never feared the­ dark or being alone because I never left him • For his third birthday I built him a sturdy wood working bench and installed my woodcarving vise on it.

Then I made a carry-type tool box and put in real tools: saw, hammer, plane,. coping saw, hand drill and bits, screw drivers, nails, sand­ paper, C-clamps, screws, and white glue. The whole business we set i n the middle of the living room. He never hurt himself, but I also had to teach a'11 the neighbor children how

- - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - -

12 to use tools safely because the bench was exceedingly popular. It absorbed them for hours. I encouraged the use of glue and clamps which taught them patience and spared the constant frus­ tration of having ' the wood split from nailing. I mostly kept my mouth shut and was rewarded every time I resis­ ted the temptation to make a sugges­ tion. Once, lacking a long board, my son put newspaper down (we had an Oriental carpet) and proceeded to glue several boards end-to-end and weigh them with -books. It worked!

Several kids did similar things with surprising success. They usually painted their creations with poster paint from the easel. They learned to make several things at one time while waiting for the glue to dry. I get free wood scraps and paper from print­ er's trash. · .. When my son was about 3~, we spent the summer clearing a vacant lot and preparing it for a fall and winter garden. We worked with child­ ren ages 7 to 12. It was so success­ ful that several children continued through the summer and a church gave us another lot. The children loved using my son's pint-sized garden tools and wheelbarrow and often they just lay around in the dirt and played cars - I let them. After a few months they actually took the garden away from me and I got to just watch.

They grew twenty-six different vege­ tables during that winter and more in the spring. The kids ate it all be­ cause it was theirs. · .. At the time I took him out of school [3rd gradel, he was reading a low second reader with difficulty.

Eight months later he had finished four readers and began fourth grade work on schedule at home. · .. Until we moved to the country I could not afford to give him an allowance. He made things and ~old them at craft faits, in toy stores and door-to-door. He also collects aluminum and recycles it; lots of peo­ ple even bring their aluminum to him!

When he was six he bought a used mini­ bike; he couldn't ride it until he was eleven. When · he was seven, he bought himself a 'used junior-sized ten-speed bike. At nine he wanted a cat. I said he would have to save $100 to pay for altering and shots.

In four months he had it and got his kitten. When he was ten he bought a used canoe, paid for his own swimming lessons, and at 11 bought a tripod so he could make animated films with an old movie camera his grandpa had given him, and a back pack to take to Scout camp. He is now 'saving for a radio-controlled car. I don't much like them, but will let him buy it if he knows enough to explain to me hoW­ it works and to make minor repairs himself. He is delighted, he never thought I'd give in. He can do any­ thing he sets his mind to; he is now starting a Christmas tree farm '(live trees). I'm sure he will succeed, he always does.

Do you think this boy needs pub­ lic school? What about high school?

Are there any ways you can suggest that I can get him to do math and more writing? ..

IT'S NOT All ROSES

A reader wrote: .. ;It makes me sad to read GWS when I see how many parents have their children to themselves and are having a successful time learning together. I had my son out for most

of, the 2nd grade but it wasn't a very good experience. Besides having the school authorities constantly pressur­ ing me and a son turned off most of the time to the wonder and excitement of learning, my husband didn't sup­ port the idea, mainly because he felt our son was getting too dependent on me for everything. All in all, it didn't turn out too well. The con­ stant shadow of not making it on only one income (my husband's) also put a damper on what I saw as the only way to live. I got to the point where it seemed that it was all my plaything and pretty unreal, so my son went back into school. Now all the close­ mindedness and suffocation are again turning him into a miserable, rebelli­ ous, frustrated soul. But I'll keep looking for a solution ...

might call the process by which schools waste children's time - this endless sitting, waiting, being bored, filling out dull and meaning­ less workbooks, the whole dreary rou­ tine - they have convinced him that this school process is learning. And that the real learning he did out of school since he was born, and still does whenever he reads or does any­ thing else that interests him, is not learning.

I can only say to your son, "Don't let them brainwash you that way, don't let them sell you that line of guff. They want to convince you that nothing of importance is learned except in schoolrooms, so that you will try to spend as much as you can of your own life in school­ rooms, and so that you will . judge the worth and capacity of everyone you meet by how much time t~er spent in On the whole, it. seems to be

schoolrooms. But don't e ieve them, true that for home schooling to work, because it isn't' true." both parents (if they are living

Everything the 7th graders are together) have to agree on it.

learning? Most of them aren't learn­ ing anythin&. Much of the curriculum, as my nephew used to tell me year after year, is just a repeat of what DOUBTS ABOUT LEARNNG was taught, and not learned, the year A mother wrote: before, and the year before, and the year before ... Few of those 7th ... Our two girls are very graders could pass a surprise test in pleased to be learning at home and any of what they are "learning," or seem to have adjusted to our non­ even a test on what they supposedly scheduled way of learning quite nice­ learned in 6th, 5th, 4th etc. grades. ly. Our l3-year-old son, on the other The only way the teachers can get them to pass any tests at all is to hand, feels upset that he may not be announce the tests well in advance learning everything other 7th graders and have . plenty of "review," which are learning. He feels that he may means, teach the kids allover again want to go back to school for high what they were supposed to have school and wonders will he be up to learned before. And the same is true "grade level." of high school and college as well.

Quite truthfully I am upset by Very little of what is learned there this also. We do not have the money is permanent or useful. The A stu­ to use Calvert or Home Study Insti­ dents are good at remembering the tute and I don't feel I have the qual­ material of the course until after ifications to set up a program for the test or final exam; then they for­ him. We are just doing some 'math, a get most of it, just like the 0 and E lot of reading (which he does enjoy), students. and we have been using the book PHYS­ We only learn in any permanent ICS EXPERIMENTS FOR CHILDREN - even or useful way what is interesting, our pre-schoolers have enjoyed making important, . and usable to us. If he is the paper helicopters from this book.' doing all the stuff you tell me My husband has shown our son how to about, he is learning twice as much, set up quite a few projects in elec­ three, five times as much, as most of tronics which both enjoy doing. My the kids in school, and in the things question to you is - is this enough? that count - mostly reading, writing, . .. Everyone in GWS seems to be and skill with language. He will be doing so well teaching their children way ahead of them if and when he ever at home. Do you ever get letters from wants to go back to school - we have people like me who are not so confi­ seen this many times. dent they are doing a good job? ..

Yes, I do get letters from peo­ ple like you who worry about not do­ ing a good job, and I say, "Don't In my reply, I wrote: worry, the chances are a billion to one you are doing a much better job ... About the only thing that than the school." You are doing fine, schools manage to teach most of the your son is doing fine, and I only people who go there is that "learn­ nope you don't. let the schools brain­ ing" means, and can only mean, going wash you into being a part of their to a school and being made to do some time-wasting, mind-killing routines. dumb and boring thing by someone called a "teacher" who works there.

When your son was little, like all of us, he learned by using his INEFFICIENCY OF SCHOOlS eyes, ears, hands, and ofte~ mouth, A Washington reader writes: to reach as much as he could of the world around him; by thinking about ... The waste in schooling is $~4 what he saw, heard, and touched; by out of every $15, 14 out of every 15 watching what other people said and years (or months, weeks, days, hours, did and thinking about that, too; by minutes). That is the ratio that con­ asking questions when he felt like sistently emerged in a learning it; and thinking about the meaning of design I ran in a well-known aero­ the answers. But the schools put a space company here in Washington stop to all that. No more exploring, State. To the schooled in our culture no more trying things out, no more those numbers seem unbelievable! inventing, no more asking questions.

But there it was. The in-house What they told him to do in school training school used an aO-hour was the OProsite of learning, and the course to train newly-hired employees worst of a 1 the bad things they have for assembling airliner airframes, done to him ·was to convince him that but with disturbing frequency of this anti-learning or whatever we

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOlING '19

13 non-success among the new workers, having the direct result of airliners or assemblies clogging production awaiting reworks. The alternative design which I was asked to produce

by Headquarters Financ~ accomplished the intended objectives of the training course at 1/15th the cost of the training course.

This was done by means of a one­ to-one facilitator-to-worker ( learn­ er) scheme, eliciting the required skills at the workplace. Cost of this method was the non-productive time (in terms of saleable product) only of the facilitator. Everything else was superbly provided for in the- work­ place: engineering of product, pro­ duction procedures and facilities, role models, etc. No need for "curric­ ulum," "lesson plans," "instructor" (had to scrap that title, hence "facilitator" ) . The ultimate object­ ive of the facilitator was for him to work himself out of that job to get back to producing saleable goods, . thus eliminating the constant costs of the budget-seeking in-house train­ ing establishment.

Finance was delighted with the results, the Training Establishment ~as not, for reasons obvious, I'm sure, to you. · .. My associates in the alterna­ tive design saw so clearly how schools like the in-house training school were (and are) so wasteful of material and human resources. We became certain that 1-15 are valid numbers ...

CHILDREN KEEP OUT!

This AP story (7/12/80) reminds us again that a principal function of schools is to keep children out of adults' way - and indeed, out of their sight and hearing: · .. The banning of tenants with children is on the rise. One HUD sur­ vey shows that the percentage of rent­ al units with "no-children" policies has jumped from 17% in 1974 to 26% this year. · .. Half the families with child­ ren in one HUD survey reported prob­ lems finding a rental home, while more than 40% said they had to settle for housin~ below their expectations. ... 207. of two-bedroom rentals ban youngsters. Other restrictions, in the form on occupancy standards based on number, sex, or age of child­ ren, affect about 55% of all units with two or more bedrooms in build­ ings that ostensibly accept young­ sters. ... "No-children" practices are most likely in newer buildings. About one-third of all units built since 1970 exclude children, compared to only about one-fifth of older build­ ings. · .. "Many people, to put it blunt­ ly, don't want to live near child­ ren," said Michael Solomon, associate general counsel of the National Apart­ ment Association ...

HOW SCHOOLS COULD IMPROVE

People keep asking me, at meet­ ings and elsewhere, what I think the public schools could do to improve. I seldom talk much about this, since when I talk to school people about do­ ing anything differently they usu~lly take it as criticism of what they are doing now, and get angry. I never reply, as I used to, by saying that schools should become places where

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

children can explore the world around them in the ways they like best. Most school people are not ready to hear such ideas, and even those few who might agree with them are not in a position to put them into practice.

Any such talk about radical changes in ways of teaching just frustrates a few and infuriates the rest.

So instead I talk about some changes in structure and administra­ tion that the schools actually could make, if they wanted to. They don't cost more money, in fact would probab­ ly cost less, and they don't require that a majority of people change their ideas about what the schools are for. They are changes in struc­ ture and administration, not philoso­ phy or "methods.

1) Schools should be smaller.

200 students should be the maximum; 100 is better; 50 is better yet, espe­ Cially in the early grades. The model for the school should be the family, not the factory.

Even where, as in most places, the schools (at huge expense) have stuck themselves and the public with giant buildings, they could still make schools smaller. There is no rea­ son why many completely independent schools could not share a building, just as many independent businesses share an office building. The people whose work it would be to keep the building running, heated, lighted, etc. would have nothing to say about the running of the individual schools, just as the people who man­ age office buildings have nothing to say about how their various tenants run their separate businesses.

2) Teachers should . be at the top of the table of organization, ~nstead of, as at present, at the bottom. In these small schools, the teachers, singly or together, should make all the educational decisions - every­ thing having to do with curricula, methods, textbooks, testing, and the like. Among all the reasons why the best teachers so consistently leave the schools, the main one is that they have so little control over their own work. No serious, indepen­ dent, responsible teacher, of the kind that the schools must have, is going to put up very long with having other people tell her/him what to teach and when and how to teach it .

3) The schools should strive, not for the uniformity they usually seek and prize, but for the greatest possible variety. (In a few placis this is beginning to happen. ) 4) The teachers in these small schools shouid be directly responsi­ ble, not to higher administrative officials, but to the parents of the children they teach. People who didn't like something a particular teacher was doing, or wanted him/her to do something different, would talk to that teacner. If the teacher agreed, fine; if not, they could look for another teacher in another school who could and would give them what they wanted.

Just these changes in the struc­ ture and administration of schools would soon bring about great improve­ ments. More good teachers would be attracted to and held by these small, independent, responsible schools, and more bad teachers would be squeezed out, as it became clearer to them and everyone else that they could not do the work.

I -believe . that voucher plans, when we get them, will tend to push public schools strongly in these

directions, and for this reason believe that such plans, though the schools now almost hystericilly oppose them, are in fact in their Qest long-run interest.

WISCONSIN HOME SCHOOLERS

The Ocooch Mountain News, a monthly magazine of rural Wisconsin ( Box 110, Gillingham WI 54633; 75¢, $8/yr ) , had a number of excellent articles by Mari Segall about home schooling in their Nov. 1980 issue.

The lead story says in part: ... The state superintendent has approved home education programs for 15 Wisconsin families for the 1980-81 school year - up from only two or three families ten years ago, said Dr. Mildred Anderson of the State Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Anderson is the woman who recommends to State Superintendent Barbara Thompson whether home educa­ tors' plans satisfy state require­ ments.

A few parents have tried to avoid state jurisdiction over their family schools by simply registering their homes as private schools - an option that may be legally possible in Wisconsin, but one that local truant officers may question.

According to Dr. Anderson, [ home schooling parents ] have that "streak of old-fashioned independence" and a strong shot of idealism. They often tend to be middle class and anxious to maintain traditional, non-material­ istic values. They are scattered over the state; about half live in the country. They include farmers, teach­ ers, church pastors, professors, a pilot, carpenter, free-lance writer and an ex-business executive. Some live what they describe as non­ consuming, alternative lifestyles. ... Nearly all of the Wisconsin parents have a college education, often graduate degrees. But a couple of mothers with only high school dip­ lomas have become state-approved home educators, Anderson noted. They have to use an exper~enced school teacher as a resource. Ten of the 15 sets of parents with DPI-approved home pro­ grams have had college training in teaching.

Relatively few teenagers are being taught at home in Wisconsin, Anderson pointed out. The pilot pulled his four teenagers out of their small northern Wisconsin high school when he learned that it had a drug problem as severe as their previ~ ous Chicago school . He enrolled them in University of Wisconsin Extension courses and helped them start their own housecleaning business.

As individual as the parents are, the values that they stressed can be summed up as compassion and self-reliance.

"Whim our son was in kindergar­ ten, he learned in no time how to be abusive and competitive, and about scapegoating," a mother said . "He changed from the sensitive child who wouldn't hurt anyone to one who . didn't mind hurting at alL" "I want my children to grow up to feel secure in an unpredictable world," another mother said. "But without that dog-eat-dog ethic the schools buy into. You can be self­ reliant without being ruthless."

"There really isn't time in school to talk about feelings or to learn what's important," said Joan Fulmer, 34, who teaches the four oldest of h~r seven children on their

14

family farm near Waterloo. "What's ule; a caiendar adding up to 180 tional hardship." In a major change important" includes basic academic teaching days; curriculum guides for over prior practice, the regulations and self-reliance skills, said Joan, all of the subjects the children nor­ define this hardship to include who has a master's degree in early mally would get in school; and an instances in which "an objective show­ childhood education. She and her hus­ explanation of how the children's ing can be made by the parent that band Bob, 37, a Ph.D. in instruction­ achievement will be measured. there are special benefits to be al psychology and a Waterloo High "For high' school-aged children, derived by the child from a quality School teacher, are Mormons; their we ask the parents to use UW Exten­ home education program," as well as children will go on religious mis­ sion courses, and we line the child instances in which some mental, physi­ sions when they grow older. "They up with an advisor at the high cal, or emotional condition makes wouldn't learn many practical skills school," Anderson said. school attendance inappropriate. The in school, like cooking or building, Parents can rely on school text­ significance of this change is that or even living in the wilderness if books and state approved correspon­ it permits the applicant ~ focus on they had to," Joan said. dence courses - like the Calvert the positive advantages 0 ' the pro­ At latest ~eport, what's impor­ School of Baltimore - in writing posed program rather than naving to tant to the Fulmer children includes their plans. Many list several rely upon the inadequacies of the bird calls, the metric system, sign resource people - artists, teachers, local school in meeting the needs of language, anatomy, drawing, classical musicians - who will help them. the child. music, cooking and Aldous Huxley (Bar­ Whatever the plan, the DPI heavi­ The regulations do not require bara, 11, just finished reading BRAVE ly favors potential home educators that the home educator have any par­ NEW WORLD). who are experienced schoolteachers. ticular degree or teaching experi­ Like the Fulmer children, most But other parents can win state appro­ ence. When an adequate program of of the children in home programs were val by showing that they have a com­ i~struction has been propos~d, the doing well in school and have ·contin­ mitment to education and a background teacher's qualifications are judged ued achieving at a good pace at home, relating to teaching, Anderson said. dUl'ing an evaluation of the child's Mildred Anderson said. The children Anderson filled the new posi­ progress, which is required on a quar­ who have taken achievement tests tion, created to handle growing inter­ terly basis during the first year and score at grade level or well above. est in alternatives to public educa­ at least twice a year thereafter.

"Parents who are so motivated to be tion, only two years ago. Before her Acceptable modes of evaluation good teachers usually succeed," she appointment, DPI school accreditation include standardized testing, third explained. officials dealt with the handful of party review, and examination of the Many parents attributed their home education inquiries, said Dr. child's work under the ·program. If children's a~ademic success to the Wyne Stamm of the DPI. Now Anderson any problems are found, the home edu­ emotional stability of learning at gets at least ten inquiries a month; cator is entitled to an opportunity home. They talked about the stomach but only a small number of the people to correct them before approval can aches, headaches, and tears that have who inquire follow through with a be revoked. disappeared with school's pressures. written proposal, she said.

A special section in the new No court cases have been fought Learning one-to-one or in small Department of Education regulations, groups with brothers and sisters in Wisconsin over DPI refusal to entitled "due process procedures," seems to help achievement, Anderson approve a home education plan, Stamm govern~ the application process. The said. said. But cases have been fought in initial application must be acted ... The home educated children Wisconsin over parents who called upon by the local school board within get together with other kids through their family school a private school.

15 days. Should the decision be nega­ family friends, clubs, church, and The law is murky in this area. While tive. the Board must give reasons and make recommendations about how the lessons. The parents often were defen­ Wisconsin law provides for home sive when asked if their children deficiencies i~ the program can be instruction, it does not formally rem~died. The parent is then given were isolated without school. "It's define a private school in terms of such a stupid remark to say that they number of students, curriculum, or another opportunity to satisfy the local board; if again unsuccessful, won't learn social skills," Joan Ful­ teaching quality, he explained. So he/she has the right to appeal to the mer said. Her children have close parents teaching their children at State Board of Education. friends of all ages, including child­ home simply can inform their school ... The new rules were drawn up ren who would, have been the~r class­ district that they have started a pri­ by a committee composed of representa­ mates in school, she said. vate school, Stamm said. The state tives of various educational associa­ ... Some state school administra­ has no power to regulate a private tions, a home educator, Jon Meyer tors and home educators have negoti­ school's quality. from the NHCLU, and members of the Court cases on home private ated their differences and are meet­ Department of Education. In the first schools have been decided both ways. ing on common. ground; superintendents months of operation under the new have given home educated children per­ Since truancy laws carry criminal regulatiqns, disputes between parents mission to use school books and facil­ sanctions and state laws do not and school board have not dis­ ites like the library and gym. Ander­ define "private school," courts are likely to interpret the term liberal­ appeared; however, the rules have pro­ son tries to set up liaison between ~ded a means for resolving these con­ all home educators and schools. "Some ly, said Max Ashwill, DPI chief legal administrators go out of their way to counsel ... troversies, and have reduced the obstacles facing those who w1sh to be helpful but others just can't be educate their children at home ... bothered," she said. '~e need a ' new state-aid formula NH REGULATIONS if we're going to share facilities that way," said Superintendent Chris­ From the New Hampshire Civil Lib­ NEWS FROM DAHO tel Gf Medford. He has refused to erties Union newsletter, Fall 1980: Debbie Jones in Idaho wrote last lend textbooks to the Nibbelinks and October: won't let the boys come to school fqr ... After nearly eighteen months activities like music and gym. School of discussion and debate, in response ... We went to our local school districts lose per-pupil state aid to an NHCLU petition for the adoption board at their August 13 meeting and every time they lose a full-time stu­ of rules, the Department of Education presented our home school proposal dent. Christel's district lost $1400 has adopted regulatians and proce­ (copy enclosed). They didn't make any when the Nibbelink boys dropped out ­ dures for the approval of home educa­ decision that night but a few days a large chunk when half of the dis­ tion programs. later sent us a letter stating that trict's revenues are paid in state The regulations require approval aids. they did not find our plan "compar­ of a home education program when the a-ble," but if we provided a certified Home instruction is made possi­ parents can establish that: teacher in our home for four hours a ble in Wisc'onsin by a provision in day then they would reconsider our the school attendance laws - namely 1) the child has a "manifest educa­ request.

We didn't do anything, think­ Section 118.54(4) in the Wisconsin tional hardship" which the program is ing they probably wouldn't do any­ Statutes. For home instruction apro­ designed to address; thing. val, parents have to prove to the 2) the program will cover basic Then they sent another letter language and mathematical skills and state superintendent - via Dr. Ander­ [rom the Deputy Prosecutor (their other subjeces required by state law; son's recommendation - that their lawyer) stating that we must either home education plans are substantial­ 3) the home educato~ is qualified show that 'we had a certified teacher ly equivalent to the schools in their to teach; and for 4 hours a day or register the 4) the program provides for evalua­ area for each year they want to teach children in public school, or else tion of the child's progress. their children at home. Their propo­ they would turn it over to the sal has to include their teaching courts. We wrote them another lengthy The crucial standard, set by qualifications; educational philoso­ state law, is that of "manifest educa­ letter in which we quoted from the phy and goals; a sample daily sched­

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING

119

16 Supreme a'n d state court rulings in the Kendricks' letter. We requested to meet with them again.

At this last meeting (Oct. 8) they said they didn't have any argu­ me~t with our right to teach our children at home but their concern was that it be "comparable." They didn't want to go into it any more that night (they had a full ag'enda and it was already late and they were mostly farmers in the middle of pota­ to harvest.) So they asked if they could send someone to our home to observe - we said yes, if we agree upon them and they are not employed by the school district. They asked to set up a later meeting to go over our plans in more detail. We have not heard from them yet, but expect to soon. . .. Mount Vernon Academy (184 Vine St, Murray, UT 84107) is very supportive of home schoo1ers and may agree to represent us to the board.

Next day: Last night we talked to a man on the phone, ' James South­ worth, who was taken to court in another town in Idaho and won. The judge ruled that the school board must hire an independent evalua·tor to look over their program and say wheth­ er it was comparable. They used tne head of the Education Dept. at the University of Idaho. He approved the plan. We are having him send us a copy of the decision ...

On Dec. 22, Debbie sent several clippings from the local paper, the last of which read: ... A cautious Jefferson County School Board has granted John D. and Debbie Jones of Rigby permission to teach their three children at home for the remaining school,y ear. ... For Mrs. Jones, the decision was drawn out. She and her husband appeared before the school board in September to request permission to teach their three children at home. ... But the board had never faced such a request, and the trustees were afraid their decision would set a precedent in the school district. The decision to keep the Jones children out of school at least for the next six months came at a special meeting earlier this month.

The trustees granted tentative approval to the children's home­ schooling provided they show achieve­ men~ in their test scores; The two Jones children were tested last week by the school district, and will be tested again at the end of this school year. ... According to the state's com­ pulso'ry attendance law, children in home education programs are required only to be "comparably instructed" as they would be if they attended the public school system.

The state Department of Educa­ tion releases guidelines for home education, but the individual school districts must set their own poli­ c ies . ..

Debbie added: ... Things have turned out hap­ at least sort of happily. At least the school board has decided to let us teach the kids at home for the rest of this school year. The big catch is they are requiring that the children be tested at the beginning and end of the year. There were also some stipulations about my records being available on request and my giv~ily,

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

ing written evaluations at the end of the year (because I said I didn't grade them) ... But the board members (we know them all personally) have been very friendly to us since then.

Anyway, people keep congratulating us so I suppose we've won - something. · .. At a luncheon given in Boise a few weeks ago for the Idaho Federa­ tion of Independent Schools, the State Superintendent gave a talk about legislation and private schools. Afterwards there was a ques­ tion and answer period. A Seventh-Day Adventist man brought out that . although the law says that all teach­ ers must be certified it doesn't give any recourse for the state if this requirement is not met. The superin­ tendent said , the state board tells people the requirements for private schools, one being certification of teachers. Then if they don't do it there is no legal recourse for the state. This information was given to me by the curriculum director of. a Baptist School in Idaho Falls which doesn't have all certified teach­ ers ... So I am wondering if incorpora­ tion and establishing a private' school might not be the way to go after all. What do you think? [Ed. sounds fine.l The local school board says' private schools ari not their jurisdiction and the state people don't keep tabs on the private schools after they do the paper work to get started. I would like to get out from under their thumb ...

NEW HOME IN TENN.

are looking for a community, write us: Parados, Rt 2, Birch Tree MO 65438; 314-292-3894.

PEOPLE/PLACES WANTED

Joel Ottenstein, 3875 N 80th St, Milwaukee WI 53222, writes : ... This summer ( '81) I'd like to work with a farmer/homesteader who lives within 250 miles of Milwaukee, who uses natural methods .o f farm­ ing ... I am a young adult male who is somewhat dissatisfied with city liv­ ing. More important, I am dissatis­ fied with spectator living, and I want to participate more and more ...

I want to f~nd out whether or not country living is for me ...

Mary Ann O'Connor, PO Box 204,

Forestdale MA 02644 (6 17-477-1875 ):

... We are very interested in the idea of a live-in babysitter. We live on Cape Cod on Pimlico Pond and I would love to talk with anyone who thinks they would like to share our home for a while. We are hoping to move to a farm this coming spring and do some self-sufficient homesteading, so perhaps someone who ha s like ideas would like t o correspond or call.

They would have to like children - we have 11 - and we are Christians if that would be important to know ...

Lynn Cimino, Box 209, Bell

Buckle, Tenn, 37020 (615 -389-6069):

Barb Joyner (TN) wrote: · .. When you wrote in September, we were in the middle of selling our home in Guam and moving to the main­ land. We are now looking ' for some land to buy here among the hollows and ridges of Tennessee. We plan to build our own home, grow our own food, and enjoy.

We came to the area partly be­ cause of GWS. When we were in Guam we wrote to several families from the directory to inquire about laws in their area. We received an answer from the Bealls and so we wanted to meet them. Thank you, GWS, for help­ ing us find folks we will enjoy liv­ ing close to' · .. Cosette has had some difficul­ ties since s he was never around ot h er children who did not go to school.

BUT - since we have moved to Tennes­ see she has met mag¥ children who don't. She sees a ~g difference in their attitudes, values, and inter­ ests. She is delighted.

So are we. We too have noticed how nice, independent, and resource­ ful unschooled chil'dren are. We plan to continue our program of unschool­ ing in Tennessee .. .

... 1 am a single mother with two young boys (3 and 1 ) who has consid­ ered, for quite a while, a live-in teenager. I have been able t o remain at home and through various means make ends meet ... A live-in teenager would allow me to keep my boys out of a child-care center while I take classes at the nearby university to complete my degree, so as to qualify as a state-approved tutor for my children and other families in the area. The funds alloca ted for this child care could be paid to the teen­ ager for salary and I could offer room and board. I live in a small rural community in middle Tennessee which has cultivated a bit of an art/crafts community ...

[Ed. note: 1 We are delighted to run such announcements, but we hope these people are also pursuing other channels wherever possible - bulletin boards, local papers, community groups, word of mouth, etc. Mother Earth News (PO Box 70, HendersonvIlle NC 28739) has a section called "Posi­ tions and Situations" that has much of this kind of info, and another good source of help is Homesteaders News, RD 2 Box 151, Addison NY 14801.

COMMUNITY

The OCEAN newsletter, 1/81: · .. HOME SCHOOLING COMMUNITY in the Ozarks seeks families. We call it "PARADOS" and it does indeed feel like a paradise. We teach our child­ ren as we see fit and no one hassles us. The community that we (8 adults, 6 young people, 4 children) are try­ ing to build is based on spiritual growth and self sufficiency in every facet of life ... We are located on 800 acres of gently rolling, wooded, and partially cleared land on a beau­ tiful river ... If any of you folks

UNSCHOOLING IN ONTARIO

Anna Myers (Ont.) sent this. article from the Whitby Free Press, 10/15/80: ... There is one family in Brook­ lin that has more than returned to the idea of "back-to-basics" educa­ tion . . . . Anna and Burt Myers are "home-schoolers," that is, they have taken the responsibility of educating their two children, Drew (7), and Beth (4), upon themselves. ... The Myers have gotten togeth­

16

er with a few families to form a pri­ vate school, Durham Community School, as a haven for those who wish to prac­ tice "home-schooling." .. . The Education Act, the piece of Ontario legi s lation governing the education system in the province, pro­ vide~ that a parent does not have to send their c h ild to public or separ­ ate school, if that child is getting "satisfactory instruction" elsewhere. ... Mrs. Myers says that she takes her children on regular field trips to places of learning such as the Metro Zoo, t~ Royal Ontario Muse­ um, the Ontario Science Center, Black Creek Pioneer Village, and the Marine­ land and Game Park in Niagara Falls.

Her children also ' do not lack for any physica l exercise. Drew is in­ volved in soccer and hockey as well as being a Beaver. Beth is involved in such things as dance and ballet.

One advantage to home schooling, Mrs. Myers claims, is that her child­ ren's education is not confined to regular classroom hours. "We don't have to stop because of the weekend or the summer ," she said. "We don't have to stop because it's 3 o'clock, either . . . . We can go on family out­ ings during the week when most of the attractions are not busy." ... The Area Superintendent admit­ ted that sinci the Myers have decided to open their own private school, there is not h ing that he can do .. .

SHAKESPEARE & MATH

From a mother in Missouri: ... 1 doubt if many people have had the joy of hearing th ei r eight year old scream frantically, "Mom, The Tempest is on . Hurry, yo u'll miss some'" as PBS showed the play this spring . It was exce llently done. We had read the play the previous year and it's one of our favorites.

How do I hand le Shakespeare? We pick a play - usua lly comedy - and just read it. Some times we share the parts - someti mes I read it . We don't puzzle long over parts we don't under­ stand, we don't dissect anything. My daughter adores the glossary on the same page. And there's no testing, of course. We enjoy the exciting use of words, the humor, just because Shake­ speare is fun.

Someday I s uppose my children will take a co ur se on Shakespeare and dissect a nd get tested, etc, but never shoul d this be anyone's first exposure to him as is often the case.

It was such with me and I never en­ joyed him at all until this experi­ ence. ... We do specific math - it's in­ credible how much fun I'm finding that. I've always felt myself a math cripple but exploring it with the kids and stopping to puzzle about things I never understood - no grades, no getting sent t o a low class - ah, there ' s freedo m to think.

And my not knowing a ll he lp s the kids feel less threate ned too. I'm not sure I ever realize d decimals and fractions were t h e same, or why when multiplying decimals you move the decimal point so many places in the answer. It is fun' I think math prob­ lems arising fro m spon t aneou s situa­ tions are fantastic, but without fear of grades, etc, we find learning basic math methods en joyable and im­ portant. We found it ve ry stimulating to make up real-situation fraction ~ultiplication and division problems.

One wonderful t hing about home s tudy - what is tackled in a "lesson" be­

comes all day's conversation.

Our eight year old writes and illustrates stories constantly and has hundreds of pages. An outgrowth of constant reading. And I think, had she been formally schooled she would never have had the time. As the junior high counselor says, there's no time for reading or writing in school ...

•.. Our two at home will do much they wouldn't do when they were in school. They .use'd to resent schedul­ ing anything after seven hours of school. My daughter took a college typing course this summer and loved it' I think we'll get into university language classes as soon as she's ready. ... She'll also take dance, takes piano, swims extraordinarily, will play soccer, is taking a sewing class, messes with computers at the University. My son is into piano, Boy Scouts, soccer, swimming ...

change anything," she told me. I real­ !;zed that she was hav ing a problem moving do~n the columns and across visually, but by that point I real­ ized also that she didn't want any help, so I didn't suggest that she use her fingers.

I then made a smaller graph, which she liked. She started in and began tracing the columns with her pen. One of the f i r st things she did was to put an 8 at the junct ion of 4 and 3. I (fortunately) d',n't say a word . She dropped the-gr - ~ h for a while and then came back Nith a red pen and instantly saw the patterns that the -numbers were making. She patched up her mistak e and then went on to complete the graph. Twice now, she has gone back to graph No.1, and she obviously "gets" the pattern' Ishmael (9) did a multiplication graph, although he stopped ~ith the sevens. But he did enjoy figur ing out how it could be us ed for div ision ...

EASY TABLES AT HOME

GOOD MATH MATERIALS

From Chris May (OH): ... Last night I read "Those Easy Tables" in GWS #17, and the idea appealed to me so much I made two up - multiplication and addition - for my 5~-year-old soO:-This morning I introduced them to him and he seemed to like the idea.

The first thing he completed was the diagonal row going from 1 + 1 to 10 + 10. When he had trouble with 6 + 6, I had him start on the left side at 6 + 1 and continue to the right until he got it (6 + 6). He worked the left column of the multi­ plication table and then lost inter­ est. Well, they're mounted on our kitchen wall for his convenience and interest ...

[A month later: 1 Let me tell you what happened with the tables on the wall . David has not touched them since I wrote and I think there are several reasons for that. But, a 9-year-old friend of his came over a couple of weeks ago. When she saw the grids she asked David if she could do them, and upon receiving his permis­ sion, filled in the addition grid and some of the multiplication one.

I made a new addition table for David and he filled some of it in ­ even has a wrong answer which I'm waiting to see if he catches. I think he has little interest in it because: (1) he has a lot of other things to do. One of his favorites is looking through science t ex tbooks and playing board games. (2) Having the grids up on the wall is rather inconvenient .

If I put it away and brought it out from t ime to time, there would be re ­ newed interest. (3) His interest in math is sporadic - must be in a "latent" period at this time ...

And from Nan cy Wallace (NH): ... Enclosed you'll find two graphs, based on your GWS suggestion: additions graph s that I made for Vita (a ge 5). With No.1 , I drew the graph and added a couple of numbers of my own (16, 20). Then Vita got to work and I left her al one .

When I came back, she had gotten much of it right, but had put a 9 at the junction of 4 + 3. Instinctively I told her she'd gotten it wrong, and her instinctive response was to get mad. She began going over her numbers as darkly as possible "so you won't

In GWS #14, I wrot e about the Miquon math material s developed by my friend Lore Rasmussen (available from the Key Curriculum Project, PO Box 2304, Berkeley CA 94702). One GWS reader writes : ... Our kids have been out of school now for two months and we all are loving it. We ordered materials from Key Curr iculum Projects, namely Lore Rasmussen' s lab books and her son's books on fractions. We canno t recommend them highly enough. Being a family of independent people, we find these books perfect for our children .

(9, 7, and 4) as they can do them when they want , skip pages (or even books) and still know what's goin~ on. What's interesting is they usual­ ly go back to those skipped ...

Also , Nancy Al len (CA) wrote: .. . 1 wanted t o comme nt on the Key Curriculum Ca. I ordered seve ral of their materials and have been quite pleasantly surprised. Their "Miquon Math Material s" (for ages 6-8) are well-planned and organized in worksheet form. They do not con­ tain deadly pa ges of boring drill but rather a few large-pr int problems per page, plus many pages of follow-the­ dots, Cuisenaire rod activities, etc .. . I wrot e to Key Curriculum to ask a few question s and to comm ent on how Craig enjoyed the fraction~ book I had ordered, and they sent me a com­ plimentary set of workbooks plus a ve r y friendly, personal letter. Alto­ gether s e ems like a very nice company to deal with. They also have geometry a nd alge bra sets as well as other math materials ...

A MULTIPLICATION PATTERN

When she was teaching at the Miquon School, Lore Rasmussen told me about another little pattern she dis­ covered, th at can help children (or adults) know the multiplication tables. It seems obvious enough, once you see it, but in all the years I wa s teac hing elementary math I never noti ced it. One of the reasons Lore ( wh o had no training either in math or mat h teach ing) was such a wonder­ ful ma th teacher was that she did notice such things - she was fasci na ­ ted with numbers and t he patterns they made, and looked for a nd saw

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #19

17 them everywhere.

Suppose we write down the multi­ ples of 2 - 2 , 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, etc. If we look only at the last digit, i.e. the units digit, of each of those products, we get 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, 2 , 4, 6, 8, 0, etc. If we arrange them in a circular pattern

price may be higher now). The trouble with wind-up watches is that young children may overwind and break them.

Until recently electronic digital stopwatches were too expensive to con­ sider. But the latest catalog from MARKLINE (P.O. Box 171J, Belmont MA 02178) lists a digital stopwatch for $14.95 (Model TI56210); for $21.95, a combined calendar watch and stop­ watch, with alarm, and for $24.95 a calendar watch and stopwatch with even more features - times to l/lOOth sec., split times for lap readings, etc. All of these seem to me very good buys.

me do Anacrostics [sometimes called Double-crostics), by reading off the letters from the word lists as I filled them into the boxes. It really was a help (that up-and-down, back­ ana-forth bit can be tedious) - and then pretty soon you were trying to figure out the words, and looking things up in the encyclopedia or the almanac to solve the words.

More I think about it, the more I see that this fits right into the GWS philosophy. Can't imagine how you could have overlooked plugging such a rich, cheap, interesting source of learning and family-togetherness ...

DRAMA SCHOOL REQUIREMENT

Well, I plead guilty. I did think quite a while ago of mentioning the Dell puzzle magazines in GWS, but never got around to writing up a piece. I'm glad my mother got me o ff the hook by saying so much o f wh a t I would have said anyway.

When I showed John an issue, he was amazed at how much it contained, and I counted it up - 21 crosswords, 7 Anacrostics, 7 Diagramless cross­ words, 6 Kriss-Kross, 17 Cryptograms, 6 Word Arithmetic problems, pl us the Cross Sums, Bowl-A-Score, Log i c prob­ lem, and 20 other puzzles . So there's a lot inside besides crosswords; I don't even like crosswords, yet I can still get my money's worth from the other puzzles.

There are three monthly publica­ tions, all very similar : Dell Cross­ words, Official Crosswords, and Pock­ ec-crosswords. You can find them-on­ almost any magazine stand ( I think the price is now 95¢), or subscribe from Dell Publishing Co., 245 E 47th, New York NY 10017. They also put out a magazine without crosswords for peo­ ple like me, Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games, plus a number of special issues, annuals, etc.

I do feel lowe a lot of what I know about words, numbers, and problem-solving to Dell . And I have no doubt that one reason I happen to do well on standardized tests, with their multiple choice questions, analogies, etc, is because I've done so many of these puzzles.

Here's one of the easier Word Arithmetic problems taken from a Dell magazine. It's a long divisi on prob­ lem in which letters have been substi­ tuted for the numbers, ahd your job is to figure out what numbers the let­ ters stand fo~. Each number from 0 to 9 is used, and they are consistent throughout - if X stands for 7, every X in the problem is a 7, and no other letter is 7. See what luck you have with this:

then by going around clockwise we get Judy McCahill wrote: the last (units) digit of the numbers in the 2 tables. ... Just for fun recently, and What Lore then noticed was that if you go round that same circle because Colleen is interested in act­ ing, I requested a brochure from the counterclockwise, you get the last aigit in the 8 tables - 8, 16, 24, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

32, 40, 48, 50, 64, 72, ao, and so on Though we can't know what the future for as long as you want to continue. brings, it was reassuring, unschool­ If you th i nk about it a while, ing-wise, to see this brochure. There you can see it would have to be that are no academic requirements to enter RADA. People of 17 and older are way, since adding 8 to a number is the same as adding 10 (which doesn't admitted on the strength of an audi­ change the last digit) and then sub­ tion. Period. And receive perhaps the tracting 2. But I never noticed that finest training in acting in the little pattern, and I don't think any English-speaking world. Colleen said of the other people to whom she she didn't need math to be an actress and she was right .. ~ pointed it out had noticed it either.

Then she wondered whether what was true for 2 and 8 would be true for other pairs of numbers that add DELL PUZZLE MAGAZINES up to 10 - say, 4 and 6. The last dig­ its in the 4 table are 4, 8, 2, 6, 0, Pat Richoux, who is the mother etc. Go round the other way, and you of our associate editor and has been enjoying GWS, wrote:

do indeed get the last digit in the 6 tables - 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, etc. And,-as you can quicKly see for yourself, it works (as it must) for 3 and 7 and for 1 and 9.

If GWS readers show these pat­ terns to children, I'll bet that a lot of those children say, "Neat'" It is neat, and part of the joy and oeauty of math - true math, not math as taught in most schools - is that it is full of neat patterns like these.

STOPWATCH

On the whole, I think the best way for children t~ get to know num­ bers'is to use numbers, the same way we adults use-them, that is, to meas­ ure and compare things, and think about what our measurements tell us.

My experience is that if children have tape measures, they are going to want to measure the lengths of things; if they have scales, they will weigh things, and so on. One of the most interesting things to meas­ ure and think about is time. In Chap.

15 of WHAT DO I DO MONDAY? I wrote about a number of things that child­ ren might do with a stopwatch. Child­ ren who have stopwatches will probab­ ly think of others - and when they do, we'd l~ke to heat about them.

The SEE catalog (Selective Educa­ tional Equipment, 3 Bridge St., New­ ton MA 02195) lists a simple wind-up stopwatch for $13.50 (1979-80 cat. -

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

... 1 liked the article you and JH wrote about the patterns in the multiplication tables [GWS #18, "Those Easy Tables"). It made me think suddenly of the tricks I use to solve Word Arithmetic problems - look­ ing for 0, 1, 5, and 9 because of the distinctive properties they have. And that made me think - I don't recall you saying anything in GWS about all the neat things kids can learn at home if their parents are Dell Puzzle fans. You certainly grew up on those magazines, and should remember how you helped me work them and eventual­ ly learned to do them yourself.

The letters people write to the Dell magazines often tell about things kids do with the puzzles and how they learn from them. I think someone said that their kid just practiced writing letters in the empty boxes of unused crosswords and enjoyed that. The first third of every issue is filled with easy puz­ zles that any school-aged kid could learn to solve, especially if it was a joint project.

Cryptograms [sentences in letter­ substitution code) also teach things about spelling, like how many differ­ ent two-letter words there are begin­ ning with a or i, and the reasonable­ ness of guessing what word would fit and make sense when you know some of the letters ... and looking for cer­ tain spelling patterns, repeated let­ ters, like "little" or "people." It's like what they put into school work­ books, except that Dell puzzle maga­ zines are legitimate adult things, not lessons, therefore might seem more attractive to kids. It's some­ thing grown-ups do for fun, not be­ cause it's teaching them-5omething (though it is) - and the satisfaction comes in getting it all right, or in beating the editoria~ score.

I remember that you used to help

ERR PIER)REFINES R R H H E

A S A E PER A H R S PER ATE When a GWS reader said in a let­ ter that her son likes puzzles, I did write to her about. the Dell maga­ zines. She wrote back: ... 1 do hope you will write about the Dell puzzle magazines in your newsletter. We thoroughly, enjoy

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18

all of their sections and have found them to be a great educational tool~ I feel puzzles and games are particu­ larly good for those parents who wish their children to l~arn to reason logically and think critically. The crossword puzzles are great vocabu­ lary builders; the logic problems and cryptograms certainly promote logical analysis; and best of all - they are fun' The day my son began doing Word Arithmetic I knew he understood the logic as well as the mechanics of long division ...

COOPERATIVE GAMES

Several readers have recommended Animal Town Game Co. for co-operative ooard games. In one, "Dam Builders," players r e present beavers banding together to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from flooding their valley. Other titles are "Back to the Farm," "Save the Whales," "Peter Prin­ ciple," and "Madison Avenue." Prices range from $13 to $19. For catalog, write PO Box 2002, Santa Barbara CA 93120.

GOOD PAINTING MATERIALS

Tom Wesley (Soames Bar, CA 95568), the father who told'us in GWS #9 about the stunning artwork his daughter had been doing since she was a baby, writes: ... When I first wrote GWS I was too insecure to use my name. Now I feel safe enough after four years of tolerant, helpful teachers and school board members to come out of the un­ schooling closet. I've enclosed a couple of photos of Mariko's work ...

[Ed - they are still very beautiful.)

Mariko goes to school when she feels like it, about once a week. I don't see ho~ she could have the ener­ gy to paint if she were to come home from school, as you say, all droopy every day. She paints in the morning.

Sometimes she whispers to me when she gets up that she's had a dream. She's going to do a painting today. We also have time to play piano duets and she can curl up with a book for as long as she l i k es . She reads faster than I do.

In GWS #16 you mention art mater­ ials. I'm a real crank about worth­ less children's art supplies, the way children's art is-exhibited, and all the other adult assumptions and myths about children's art ...

We have always bought the best art supplies for Mariko despite my subsistence income. The results into her ninth year have constantly amazed us. Her use of materials went approx­ imately fr om crayons and felt pens at 6 months of age to easel and tempera at one year, to acrylic& at 2. Acryl­ ics have since been her favorite medium.

We never nagged her about making a mess or wasting paint. That would ruin the playfyl mood. Her "pitty paints" were so important to, her that she was careful not to waste them. I quote Mariko on why she prefers acryl­ ics: "They go on better and when you put them on thick they're shiny. Tem­ Jera paintings get dull and powdery. fhey won't last. There are lots more ~ice acrylic colors." But in all the Dooks on children's art I have read in Japan and , the US, and in all the shows of children's art in Tokyo and the Bay Area, I have never seen an acrylic painting by a child.

My reward for buying her an ex­

pensive camel hair brush is to see the sensual pleasure she gets from the delicate feel of a new brush and to see the interesting way a new ' brush influences her painting. For some time she has been painting on masonite boards or other hardboard. I buy big sheets at a builder's supply, cut them into 2' x 4' or other sizes, lightly sand them, and prime them with good latex paint.

Speculations about the interplay of light, the· reflection and absorp­ tion of colors are endless. You might be familiar with some of the theories of the impressionists .. Every artist has his/her own philosophy. Since be­ fore she was one year old, Mariko has been getting excited about colors and their relationship.

This has to do with priming the boards, because base paint is not just ~reparation of' the painting sur­ face. The base controls the color. It is what gives color by reflecting light back through the color. When light goes through the colors, it is absorbed or reflected back. Of course, gloss reflects, flat absorbs.

Gesso is white and flat.

You can prepare hardboard (mason­ ite, bakelite, etc) for acrylic paint with gesso or white latex interior house paint. Usually it should be flat. The problem is that there are many inferior house paints that will yellow or crack with age. You have to decide on gesso or"house paint by con­ sidering how much you want to spend or how important you 'fee'l your work is. Cesso by the gallon is about twice as much but probably worth that much more ... Use at least 2 coats of paint thinned with water. Let them dry well in between.

We usually buy Liquitex acrylic paint for Mariko only because we know some professionals who use it, and because it doesn't smell when it's mixed with other Liquitex colors.

Different brands mixed together smell sometimes ...

If you use acrylics thin like water colors you have the problem you mention in GWS #16 with water colors when the rinse water is muddy. My wife Miyoko or I act as the assistant­ in-audience when Mariko paints. It's our job to get fresh water, etc. But if you use acrylics thick in the way oils are used, the muddy rinse water doesn't change the paint color. With white or other light colors, it might be necessary to squeeze out the excess rinse water from the brush with a cloth . . .. Herbert Read wrote in "Learn­ ing Through Ar.t" (about 1936) that painting is the ideal mode for child­ ren to express themselves. This has been especially true since art was set free by modern artists and the invention of non-toxic acrylics. But painting done by children doesn't seem to have evolved much. In art history there have been no child prod­ igies to correspond with the great young musicians throughout musical history. Perhaps adult assumptions about children's potential and child­ ren's derivative assumptions about . what they can do with paint haven't caught up with our times. We can fin­ ally imagine that Mozart's sister might have been Mozart had she not been treated like a girl but we have not yet come to understand that the same kind of attitudes prevent all children from realizing their full potential.

I have encountered many examples of the kind of adult att~tudes I am talking about. The comment of a parti­ cularly arrogant curator when she saw

Mariko's paintings was, "As if we didn't have enough trouble with our modern artists being called childish, without having a real child's art to content with." In another case, a friend of mine in San Francisco entered a painting by his da~ghter in the annual' San Francisco Open Show without stating her age (about 10) since there was no place on the form to do so. When the newspapers learned her age, the judges withdrew her painting and to~d her fat~ - to enter her in the children's show Incident­ ally, her paintings were n. c for sale and neither are Mariko's . They are her treasures to be put away and occasionally to enjoy. ... If children have not been given good art materials and helped to acquire the techniques so that they can use them bravely while they are young, possibly before they are four but even better earlier, their original imagination is probably lost forever. It will be obscured by the socializing process ...

YOUNG AUTHOR

An AP story, 10/4/80: JUIZ DE FLORA, BRAZIL - Luciano Fleury Da Cruz has become a celebrity in Brazil by writing a book about ban­ dits who try to take over a city by polluting its water supply with a pipe-corroding chemical, and then kid­ nap all the plumbers to prevent repairs.

Luciano is b years old.

"He's been writing stories since he was 4," says his mother. "This was his first book, and on a lark we sub­ mitted it to a publisher. Somehow the newspapers found out and since then everything's been just crazy."

Reporters line up for inter­ views. Television .shows scramble to invite the boy to appear . Strangers knock on the door and ask for copies of , his 60-page book. The book, a children's story, is called AfEPi- , demia Hidraulica, Portuguese or "The Plumb~ng Ep~dem~c."

In it Luciano wr'ttes: "Castor was sleeping when th~ tap began to drip heavily and he woke up and went to fix it. But it kept dripping and he kept getting angrier .... Luckily his friend Mosca, the detective, man­ aged to plug the leaking hole, but they needed a plumber. They went to the workshop of Metalico, Mosca's plumber. But when they got there it was closed. Castor's house remained flooded, and so did all the other houses " in the city because all the plumbers had disappeared . " "I don't know where Luciano gets the ideas for his stories," his mother says. "He won't accept sugges­ tions from us, and if we try to help , he throws a tantrum and runs into his room. II Luciano insists his stories are original, but admits to being influ­ enced by Walt Disney and Brazil's best-selling author, Jorge Amado.

"One reporter didn't believe Luciano wrote the book by himself," his father said. "So Luciano took the man's pen, sat down in fron~ of him and wrote a chapter."

Luciano says it takes him be­ tween two and four months to finish a book, writing when and where inspir­ ation strikes. He wrote the last chap­ ter of his book in his pediatrician's waiting room. Illustrations are drawn by a cousin, s,upervised by the author. ... "The Plumbing Epidemic" had a first printing of just 100 copies.

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING '19

19

"We had intended to distribute them only among family and friends," Luci­ ano's father explains. "We didn't want to make it seem we were exploit­ ing the boy."

The boy sees it differently. "My father wouldn't let me sell it," he says. "That sure was dumb."

His father is now negotiating a second printing, of 200 copies with a small local publishing house. These also will be distributed free, he said. "Luciano will turn professional only with his second book."

The second book - and the third - are already written. Luciano's fath­ er is typing the manuscripts from the author's handwritten notebooks. "The Treasure of Comba-Tomba" and "The End of the Hunt" should be published in January with printings of at least 2,000 copies each. All profits will go to Luciano, his father said . .. . Luciano seems less than thrilled with the literary life. He enjoyed the publicity for a while, but "giving so many interviews is tir­ ing." Anyway, when he grows up he plans to be "a scientist, an inventor and a chemist," and will write only in his spare time ...

EXPLORNG MUSIC

From Nancy Wallace (NH): . . . 1 r~ally enjoyed Dean Schnei­ der's "Advlce on Reading" [GWS #15J ... As I mentioned earlier, Ishmael and I are both learning how to read (and play) mus ic. . . . I have been do­ ing a lot of thinking about how you do teach someone to read music, and oasically, all you would have to do is follow Dean Schneider's steps.

First, play kids a lot of music.

Then, Suzuki style, let them play themselves, until they want to read music. Then, I'd just give kids the notes to the pieces they already know and let them get to work themselves (with whatever help they want). When they are relaxed around sheet music, I would begin to do some work (like' the work with phonetics) on inter­ vals, timing, etc. But I wouldn't rush it.

Ishmael and Vita learned how to read by reading REAL books, and like­ wise, I'd only give the kids REAL music to read. Bach wrote volumes of pieces for his children, and so did Schumann and many others. Mozart and Beethoven wrote some pretty easy stuff when they were children and so on. The musical literature is immense. Ishmael likes to play folk songs, especially when the words are written down so the rest of us can sing along and I'd count folk songs as musical literature as well.

Ishmael has been doing a whole lot of music reading on his own, from my Suzuki books, where he has heard the pieces many a time, and also from Bob's recorder books, because he knows that if he learns something then he can play it with Bob. He has also been improvising like crazy. He takes a melody, unconsciously, from one of our advanced Suzuki records, plays it with his right hand and then he works out h i s own left hand accom­ paniment. In a few days he has embel­ lished the right hand and comes out with a totally new piece. He never sits down to improvise, but he plays the piano all the time in snatches and he barelY pays attention to what he's doing. It's marvelous to see what emerges .. .

[From a later letter:J ... For

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #19

the past week or so, Vita has been busily writing music - , tuneful music at that. The amazing thing, to us and to her teacher, Bob Fraley, is that she suppo~edly doesn't know how to read·music yet, and yet she can write it and play what she's written. I thi~Ishmael showed her where middle C is on musLc paper and she wrote the rest by interval.

Ishmael writes music too, in fact he was Vita's inspiration, and recently he's been writing little operettas - the latest one is called "Boston Charley," and Vita has to do a lot of singing.

Vita just came running up - she just discovered that a cube has six sides' P.S. At night Vita and Ishmael have been dancing to Beethoven's 3rd and 5th symphonies ...

MY FIRST TUNE

As it happens, over the holi­ days, for the first time in my life, I wrote down a tune - a melody to go with Will iam Blake's poem "The Divine Image," which we printed in GWS #12.

What's more, except for the first line, I wrote it all on a bus, going up to Maine to see some friends ove r Christmas.

I'~e had tunes going round and round in my head for years, but this is the first time I've ever tried to write one out. I had read the poem to an old friend a few· days before, and had wished I could write a melody to go with it. But to write any music that I would like as much as the poem itself seemed impossible. However, the night before I went to Maine, while I was improvising on the cello, I worked out quite a nice tune for t ,he first line. Next day, on the bus, I was reading some books (fo r our list), but the tune I had written kept going round and round in my mind, saying, "Write some more' Write some more'" Finally I gave in, put the book away, got out a steno 'pad, and using my own chromatic notation, began to work on the tune. The man next to me must have thought I was crazy, humming little bits of tune and then writing mysteriou~ dots (they didn't look like music) on the paper. By the time I finished my jour­ ney, the tune was finished. I liked ic very much, and still do - I think it goes quite well with the poem.

Now I want to write tunes for some ot her poems, among them Robert Frost's "Fire And Ice." I plan to try to work from the beginning with stan­ dard musical notation. I suspect that with practice I will find it easier to get the tunes from my mind to the paper. Of course, with a piano or other keyboard instrument it is much simpler - you can tell by looking what the notes are, while if you are composing out of your head you have to figure out all the intervals.

Severa l readers, notably Ann Kauble ("Writing First," GWS #12), have told us about their children iearning to write before they learned to read. For some,-rnrs-is more nat­ ural. I have long wanted to be able to look at written notes and sing them, but not having even enough time for the cello, I didn't want to spend time on this kind of sight-reading.

More than once I thought that perhaps writing music, which I also wanted to do, might for me be the best way to learn to sight-read it, and it looks as if this will be the way I will go.

At any rate, I feel strongly that children ( or adults) learning

mus ic, should be encouraged from the start to spend some of their time making up tunes and writing them down. If some of you adult beginners or your children write some tunes, send them along. Plenty of magazines publish children's poems; maybe GWS will be the first to publish their music.

MORE ON TAPE RECORDERS

Hard as it may be to believe, some things actually do get cheaper.

The price of , really good quality stereo cassette recorders, which at first cost several hundred dollars, has been dropping, to the pOint where you can get one for not much over $100, sometimes even less. With a pair of stereo headphones (good ones often available for less than $50), this is the least expensive way I know to get high quality reproduction of recorded music.

A disadvantage of cassette recorders is that many more resord­ ings are available on records than on cassette tape s - the selection on records is much greater. But one advantage of cassette recorders is that, with efficient headphones, you can play back the music directl without having to have an ampli ier.

A further advantage, especially in families with young children, is that cassettes are much less likely to be damaged in playing and handling. I think it might be hard to teach child­ ren much younger than six (?) to ha~dle records carefully enough to keep from damaging them, but children of three or younger can and do play cassette recorders without hurting them or the tapes.

A still further advantage is that with a recorder and a microphone (quite good ones are available for less than $50, and Radio Shack has advertised a stereo mike for that price), you can make recordings your­ self, of you and/or your children talking, or singing, or playing music­ al instruments.

I have found it very helpful, in my own work with the cello, to make from time to time a recording of myself playing. When I am playing, I think so hard about how I want the music to sound that I tend to hear it sounding that way. If I actually make a recording, and later play it back, I get the unvarnished truth. I usual­ ly hear that when playing lega~l I do not join notes nearly as smoot y as I think I do. I may also hear that on some notes my intonation ( pitch) is not quite right. I often learn a lot by recording myself playing just a simple scale. But now and then I am pleasantly surprised to find myself getting a much better sound from my cello than I had thought. Sometimes it even sounds almost like a "real" cellist playing.

Whether it tells you your play­ ing or singing is better or worse than you thought, a tape recorder gives you the kind of feedback that otherwise you might only be able to get from a teacher or expert player.

You can also record and note your own or your children's progress over time.

It could also be useful in study­ ing foreign languages - you can com­ pare your own pronunciation of words with that of native speakers. Of course, you don't need an expensive recorder to record voices; the cheap­ est portgble will work well enough.

It is fun, too, to make record­ ings of your children talking when they are little. You may think at the

t

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20

time that you will remember forever what they sound like - but you won't.

Years later, the sound of their voices may r emind you even more strongly than photographs what they were like when they were little. Per­ haps even a tear or two will fall.

One company from whom I have bought equipment, with good results, is STEREO DISCOUNTERS, 6730 Santa Barbara Court, Baltimore MD 21277.

Their prices on the brands they sell are usually much less than you would pay in a store, and many times during a year they will have special sales in which their prices are even lower.

As I write they have on sale (until Feb. 28, 1981), one very good cass­ ette deck for $136 and another for' $148, plus turntables and receivers at very low prices. Their catalog is well worth sending for.

the old song, "Do, do, do what you alogue for the state, which lists the done, done, done ,before." Later I daily program schedule, a description learned that school cursive, first of each program, and the title and called Palmer handwriting, had begun price of the teacher's guide for each as an elaborate decorative script program. I ordered - the guides I want­ invented for engraving in copper, a ed and received them four days later. very slow and painstaking form of I wonder if each state has an lTV writing that had nothing to do with Resource Catalog that can be ordered speed. Someone, somewhere, decided from the state educational TV station that it would be nice if children free of charge? The teacher's guides learned to write like copperplate could be used by a child independent­ engraving, and the rest, as they say, ly. Two programs we especially like is history. are FINDING OUR WAY (map r~ading The trouble is, of course, that skills) and THINKABOUT (pr )01em solv­ a great many children never do learn ing methods) ... to write quickly, easily, beautiful­ [Ed. note - we found out from ly, or even legibly, and the higher the local public TV station that in their social status. the worse they Massachusetts, the guides are availa­ write. I saw an amusing demonstration ble from Mass. Educational Televis­ of this once. A friend and I were col­ ion, 54 Rindge Av. Ext., Cambridge lecting signatures for a political 02140.1 candidate. We had been assigned a street in Cambridge, which begins in a very rich neighborhood and slowly ... One of the greatest benefits works its way north lnto one of the of home schooling has been something ON HANDWRITING poorer neighborhoods in the city.

I'm hesitant to discuss. The purists When I was little I was taught Most of the first signatures on our may be aghast, but there is now time cursive handwriting, found it easy petition sheets, collected in the to take advantage of good television. and pleasant to do, and soon devel­ rich neighborhood, were barely legi­ Daytime programming on PBS (Public oped a small and fairly neat handwrit­ ble scrawls, no two of them alike.

Broadcasting Service) is nearly all ing that, at least when I am being Then, as the neighborhoods got slowly educational. After the initial glut, careful, has not changed much to this less rich and the houses smaller, the the children have settled into only day. signatures began to be more legible. watching favorite programs: MATH PAT­ Teaching fifth grade, and seeing The last thirty or so signatures pn ROL, ELECTRIC COMPANY, 3-2-1 CONTACT, 'the sheet, all collected in a low­ many students with slow, tortured, COVER TO COVER, LET'S DRAW. scrawly, irregular :'cursive" writing, income working -class neighborhood, When they went to school, they I began to wonder why the schools were all perfect and identical exam­ felt compelled to watch TV every insisted on teaching cursive. Still ples of the model handwriting you see night from 8 to 9 pm just because ~ believing then that schools had good over school blackboards. They were so was the required bedtime. Now we reasons for everything they did, I alike that I thought the Board of share many good adult programs since decided it must be because cursive Elections would think we had forged they can sleep later (or at least as was so much faster than manuscript them all ourselves. long the youngest's noise will per­ printing. Since my own handwriting, Later on, thinking about this, I mit'). Our seven year old has learned who the Nazis were and what inhuman­ particularly when I was using it a decided that these working class peo­ lot, was very sma ll and quick, I ple had almost certainly all gone to ity can exist - we watched PLAYING could easily believe this. Secretly I parochial schools, where the teachers ­ FOR TIME and THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. thought that probably very few people had said, perhaps silently, perhaps Her sister knows who Disraeli was be­ could write as fast as I could. out loud, "We're going to teach you cause of MASTERPIECE THEATRE. We have One day in fifth grade I told my good handwriting if we don't teach been freed from the consumption of students about "The quick brown fox garbage because now we can say, "No, you anything else." There is a kind jumps ove r the lazy dog," the famous of social realism at work here. Those thank you, I'll wait an hour for the typing sentence (one of many, I later teachers were fairly sure that none banquet to begin." ... learned) that contai ns all the let­ of their working class students would ters of the alp habet. I asked them to one day be dictating letters to secre­ ... I've noticed that there is a see how many times they co uld write taries, or writing out prescriptions, it in a half-minute, which I timed or preparing legal briefs, or design­ large difference between kids who with a stopwatch. After each trial, ing machines or buildings. No, what watch TV and those who don't. We've they would be doing would be filling narrowed it down to really good they counted up the number of words nature films on PBS and some regular they had written, to see how much out sales slips and laundry receipts, they improved with practice. We did a and if people couldn't read their network stuff. My kids forget how to amuse themselves when they watch a number of things like this in the writing, they were going to lose class, in which students competed not their jobs. The moral seems to be lot because they are so used to being against others but agains t them­ that if you work hard enough at pre­ spoon-fed entertainment on the tube. selves, trying to break their own paring children to fill out laundry They seem more people-centered and creative in their relationships after records. The children enjoyed these receipt s , you will probably be able contests, in which, since everybody not watching for a while. But then, to teach quite a few of them to do improved, everybody won . They fell to it does have its inspiring moment s . this. Unfortunately, that is about work with a will on The Quick Brown My eldest boy (6) just watched the al l they are going to be able to do.

Meanwhile, at the "good" schools "Albatross," essentially a flying Fox - as did I, sitting at my desk, racing along with my tiny handwriting. where the children of affluent people bicycle, fly across the English Chan­ When I began walking around the nel, and he was really thrilled ... went to get ready.to become doctors, room looking at the papers which the lawyers, professors, etc. the bad children eagerly stuck in my face to handwriting grew to be s uch a problem show their improvement, I received a that some of the sc hools decided they POSSBLE EXCHANGE shock. Three of them could apparently had to try to do something about it. write faster than I co uld, even What they tried to do, and what they An Alaskan reader writes: though they used manuscript printing, learned about handwriting in the one sloppily but two quite neatly. I process, I w.ill write more about in ... 1 worked at an adult vocation­ thought, "This can 't be right, there the next issue. al school for a time and discovered' must be a mistake somewhere, I mus t how easy it was to get enough basic have counted wlong, these ten-year­ skills into a person so he/she could olds can't possibly write fat ma nu­ take and pass the GED test for a high USEFUL TV script letters faster than my itty­ school diploma. In some cases their bitty super-speedy cursive ." I pro­ Letters from several readers: skills had been completely lacking posed we write some more quick brown (theY , co uld not read or write at foxes. They gladly agreed. Back at my all). Anyway, my staff and I got ... 1 have just discovered that those people nearly 500 GED diplomas. desk, I made my pen fly. This time we Instructional Television can be valu­ ... 1 have decided to get out of would see' Alas, the results were the able, and I cannot recall any mention established education and do some­ same - I was still the fourth fastest of it in GWS. I learned that the thing different. One thing I will do writer in the class. (Did I confess?

Teacher's Guides are available for a is to take my children out of the sys, I don't remember.) ~mall fee to anyone who wishes to So why do we teach and demand tem and educate them myself, probably order them from the educational TV cursive in schools? I have no idea. using Calvert materials for their station. First, I ordered the 1980 Pure habit, I guess. In the words of Instructional Television Resource Cat­ basic skills.

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 819

21

I have also considered taking on some children in need of a home and education. Another possibility would be to team up with other people to exchange services aimed at tfie educa­ tion of our young. Our oldest boy (12) has already toured Hawaii and California, and spent the 5th grade in Fresno, Cal., with the family of a business man. (Also has his own stock market account.) If these experiences were shared by a group of people, it could possibly turn out a good educa­ tion and for a reasonable cost. But these exchanges would have to be handled carefully ...

MUSEUM VOLUNTEER

A couple of years ago, a high school student in New York City wrote: ... 1 worked as a volunteer at the Museum of Natural History this past summer. Were you ever there?

It's a great place. I loved working there for all the reasons you write about - we were given real, useful things to do . I always thought of it as a fun thing to do during ~ sum­ mer, but I soon realized that we were reall1 helpful to them. so, I made friends with many adults, on my own, not through my parents. I recently went back to visit a friend that I made, a 60-year­ old guard. He is very different from people that my parents know (those are either in the political or theat­ rical world - that is quite varied in itself, I know ). He does tell me that "these are the best years of your life"; he is cynical and thinks I have stars in my eyes. Perhaps I do, but I know what to do about that ­ you and Paul Goodman (GROWING UP ABSURD) have told me.

But all the same he treats me like an equal, and it is -an honest, equal friendship, really all that is needed for any good one ...

FORWARDING MAL

the stories are well-translated and fun to read; and, as in our Andersen collection (GWS #17), there are love­ ly illustrations in color and black­ and-white by the prince of fairy tale illustrators, Arthur Rackham. Don't see how it could be better.

In the introduction to a differ­ ent edition of Grimm's tales, pub­ lished by Pantheon, the Irish writer Padriac Column says some very inter­ esting and lovely things about the old tales: ... In the place where the story­ teller was, the coming of night was marked as it was not in towns or in modern houses. It was so marked that it created in the mind a dif­ ferent rhythm. There had been a rhythm of the day and now there was a rhythm of the night. A rhythm that was compulsive, fitted to daily tasks, waned, and a rhythm that was acquie?cent, fitted to wishes, took its place ...

The prolongation of light meant the cessation of traditional stor­ ies in European cottages. And when the cottages took in American kero­ sene or paraffin there was prolonga­ tion. Then came lamps with full and steady light, lamps that gave real illumination. Told under this illu­ mination the traditional stories ceased to be appropriate because the rhythm that gave them meaning was weakened.

Other things happened to put traditional stories out of date.

Young people went to schools and learned to read ... The newspaper reader took the place of the tradi­ tional storyteller, the man of memories.

A real culture, as we know, is all of a piece and all its parts fit together. Household stories imply work done in a household and work done in a household implies household stories. In western Ire­ land today a loom or a spinning wheel is a sign that one can find a traditional storyteller in the cottage or in the neighborhood ...

A reader wr'ites, "On page 12 of GWS #12 there is a letter, 'Tenn.

Report,' from a teacher, but no name or address. It was a while ago, I realize, but is that person available to write to? Can you put me in touch with them somehow?"

Yes, we are happy to forward mail to ~ of the people whose name was not puolished with their letter in GWS. Just mark clearly on the envelope the article and issue - in this case, something like FORWARD TO THE ·AUTHOR OF "TENN. REPORT," GWS 12 - and then put our name and address at GWS. We'll readdress it and send it on. If you would like an answer, be sure your own name and address are inside the letter.

When we mention someone whose address is in the Directory, we usual­ ly put the abbreviation of their state in parentheses. So (MD) means Maryland, not "Doctor Medicine"!

THE CHILDREN OF GREEN KNOWE, by L. M. Boston ($1.75 + post). This book is about a small English boy, his mother dead and his father far away in Burma, who goes to live with his great-grandmother in a big coun­ try house that their family has lived in for hundreds of years. There he meets the ghosts or spirits of three children who 1 i ved - and d'ied, al L together, of the plague - in the house, three hundred years before. In time these child-ghosts, who have lovingly haunted the house since their death, and played with many later generations of children who lived there, reveal themselves to the new little boy, play with him, and in the end save his life from another, evil, and very different kind of ghost. The story is told very simply and believably, and we soon envy this little boy's sense of being part of a very long tradition, of being in many ways connected to the past.

NEW BOOKS AVALABLE HERE

BY THE SHORES OF SILVER LAKE, by Laura Ingalls Wi1der · ($2.65 + post).

In this fifth book in the much loved Little House series, the Ingalls fami­ ly move from Minnesota to a homestead in what will become the town of De Smet in the great plains of the Dako­ tas. As the story begins, the family has all had scarlet fever, and Mary has gone blind- from it. But she keeps up her courage, and Laura leans to "see out loud" for her, telling her

0;

GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES ($5.35 + post). I've been looking for a good collection of these tales, and this is by far the best I have seen - 20 of t .h em, very nicely printed, and told in the straightforward and unaffected way in which the original storytellers must have told them. The book is light in weight so a child would feel comfortable holding it;

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

about everything she sees. After much hard work and many adventures, the family is finally settled on their homestead, where Ma and Mary hope they will settle down for good, though the adventurous Laura, truly her father's daughter, would rather always be moving into someplace wild and new.

THE PHOENIX AND THE CARPET and THE STORY OF THE AMULET, by E. Nesbit ($1.75 each + post). The four child­ ren (and occasionally their baby brother) from FIVE CHILDREN AND IT have further adventures with magical creatures and objects, in which they learn again that magical powers can often get them into difficult situa­ tions. In THE PHOENIX AND THE CARPET, they find a magiC carpet that will take them anywhere, but it often takes the incredibly vain but kindly phoenix to get them out of their scrapes. In THE STORY OF THE AMULET, a magiC charm enables them to travel into the past (and the future as well), where they meet Julius Caesar and other interesting and sometimes sinister people. In all of these stor­ ies E. Nesbit keeps her sure touch about how children see and respond to the adult world, and conveys very well the children's unsentimental, sometimes exasperated, but always strong affection for each other.

Nesbit was what we would now call an ecologist, and dreamed of a world in which people would be much kinder to each other, and above all to children. At one pOint in THE STORY OF THE AMULET, the children visit the future, · and there meet a nice lady whom they invite to look at their world. The lady agrees, but after looking only a few minutes at Victorian London and the wretched faces of the poor people there, she begs to be allowed to go home. So the children push the lady into her own time and place, where London is clean and beautiful, and the Thames runs clear and bright, and no one is afraid, or anxious, or in a hurry.

THE TOMBS OF ATUAN, by Ursula Le Guin ($2.00 + post). This is the second book in the Earthsea trilogy (see GWS #18 for a review of THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA.) It begins with the story of a girl who when only five is taken from her home to be pre­ pared and trained to serve as the high priestess of a very old religion of darkness and death. She grows up in a tiny desert settlement surround~ ing the Great Tombs which are tne seat of this religion. At the age of fifteen she completes her training and takes command of the labyrinth of underground caves and tunnels, dozens of miles of them, that is her world and which only she is allowed to enter. She believes in the nameless powers which she serves, and is con­ tent and indeed proud to serve .them.

Into this holy and forbidden place suddenly comes the magician Ged, now a mature man in his thir­ ties, hoping to find and take away an ancient ring which will bring p'eace to his world. The young priestess, outraged at this invasion and desecra­ tion, resolves to kill him. But, furi­ ous as she is, she can't help admir­ ing his courage, and even more, can't help wondering why and how he cam.e .

That is all I will say about the plot of this strange and compelling story which, every time I read it, sticks in my mind long afterward.

MATHEMATICIAN'S DELIGHT, by W. W. Sawyer ($3.15 + post). This

22 book, by a British mathematics profes­ sor, is not a textbook, though it hhs a lot of textbook type material ­ examples, exercises, etc. As the author says in his first sentence, "The main object of this book is to dispel the fear of mathematics." I don't know any other book aimed at the same audience - adults, and child­ ren over 12 (maybe younger) - that does this as well. ' Some more quotes from this

friendly and sensible book:

Mathematical thinking is a tool.

There is no point in acquiring it unless you mean to use it. , Why should such fear of mathemat­ ics be felt? .. Quite certainly the cause does not lie in the nature of the subject-rtself. The most con­ vincing proof of this is the fact that people in their everyday occu­ pations - when they are making some­ thing - do, as a matter of fact, reason along lines which are essen­ tially the same as those used in mathematics ...

To master anything - from foot­ ball to relativity - requires effort. But it does not require unpleasant effort, drudger Mathematics is like a c est of tools: before studying the tools in detail, a good worker should know the object of each, when it is used, how it is used, what it is used for.

What is true of philosophy is equally true of mathematics: its roots lie in the common experiences of daily life.

Reason is in fact neither more nor less than an ex~eriment carried out in the imag1nat10n ... It is by no means necessary that reasoning should proceed by clearly stated steps.

The two main conditions for suc­ cess in any sort of work are inter­ est and confidence.

. h

This last quote is from Chapter 4 of the book, "The Strategy and Tac­ tics of Study." This chapter alone is well worth the price of the book. It is so solidly packed with good advice that it would be tempting to quote it all. The giat of it is this: If you can find out what your difficulty ,is, you are half-way to overcoming it. lEd. - I would say nine-tenths of the way.] People often go about with a fog of small difficulties in their heads: they are not quite sure what the words mean, they are not quite sure what has gone before, they are not qUite sure what is the object of the work. All these difficulties can be· dealt w~th easily, if they are taken one at a time.

This interesting ' and pleas~nt book will be very helpful to any peo­ ple who had trouble with math, or who are working with children who have trouble with it. But it is not for them only - anyone can, and most will, enjoy it. Feel free to browse and skip around in it. Leave alone any parts that make you feel anxious.

Come back to them later - or don't, whichever you want. Sawyer means what he says; it is more important that you should like the mathematics you know than that you should know a great deal. If you like what you know, you can easily learn ~ore.

AHA' INSIGHT, by Martin Gardner ($6.75 + post). This book, for adults or older children (10+? - maybe even

younger if they love puzzles) is a collection of riddles, puzzles, and brain teasers, with very good discuss­ ions of the ways we use our minds when we solve riddles and puzzles.

Martin Gardner doesn't jU9t tell you the answers; he goes through the steps a person would use in trying to solve the problems. So it is a book about thinking, above all the kinds of thinking that we use in doing math­ ematics.

As any will know who read his monthly "Mathematical Recreations" in Scientific American, Gardner is a very lively, clear, and interesting writer. Along with his text are many amusing illustrations.

I should add that for some of the riddles, at least, I thought up solutions that were not the same as Gardner's, but that seem to me just as good. So don't assume ~hat the answers he gives are , always the only answers.

THE BOOK OF SMALL, by Emily Carr ($3.60 + post). Emily Carr was one of Canada's greatest painters, and the first to use the forests and the totems of ~he Indians of the west coast as materials for her painting.

When she was in her seventies, her health failing, she began to write about her life. This charm Lng collec­ tion of essays is about her growinJ up as a little girl in Victoria, British Columbia, in the late 1800's.

She, the "Small" of this book, was the youngest in a large family. It is astonishing how vividly Emily Carr remembered these scenes of her early childhood, and even more, what it felt like to be little. A quote or two may give some of the special flavor of these memoirs: ... [Saturday night] the clothes­ horse came galloping into the kitch­ en and straddled around the stove inviting our clean clothes to mount and be aired ... Dede got the brown Windsor soap, heated the towels, and put on a thick white apron with a bib. Mother unbuttoned us and by that time the' pots and kettles were steaming. Dede scrubbed hard. If you wriggled, the flat of the long­ handled dipper came down spankety on your skin. ... Alice was two years older than I. She stopped brushing her long red hair, jumped into bed, leaned over the chair that the can­ dle sat on. Pouf' .. 'Out went Sunday and the candle. ... The Cow stood meek and still.

Small climbed to the top rail of the fence, and jumped on the broad expanse of red back; far too wide for her shprt legs to grip. For one still moment, while the slow mind of the Cow surmounted her astonish­ ment, Small sat in the wide valley between horns and hip-bones. Then it seemed as though the Cow fell apart, and as if every part of her shot in a different direct.ion.

Small hurled through space ' and bumped hard.

A perceptive and delightful look at the world of little children, and also, of little towns just getting started.

OUR TOWN, by Thornton Wilder ($1.75 + post). This play, when it first appeared, was remarkable in many ways: it used no scenery, and almost no props; it had no plot or dramatic incidents to speak of; it

was a play about the everyday life of ordinary people in a not-very-inter­ esting small American town. Seeing it for the first time, many people must have asked themselves, at the end of the second act, "Isn't anything going to ha en in this play?" Yet the over­ all e ect of the play was ~o power­ ful and moving that it was one of the great successes of the American thea­ ter; opening on Broadway in 1938, it ran continuously for many years. It is as up-to~date and as mv.ing now as it was then - a wonderful 1lay to read aloud, or just to read. And in its quiet, understated way, it says something about life that can't be said too often, and maybe especially to , the young.

11

THE IDES OF MARCH, by Thornton Wilder ($2.45 + post). This book, which the author describes as "a fantasia on certain events a.nd per­ sons of the last days of the Roman republic," is perhaps my favori te of all historical novels. It is written entirely in the form of letters, from one to another of a small group of people prominent in Rome, including Caesar, Cleopatra, Cicero, the poet Catullus, his mistress Clodia, and a few others. These letters are all imaginary, but it is hard to read even a few pages of the book without thinking of them as real, and indeed wishing they were. For the book is a portrai t of. ,Caesar , perhaps as Wilder t,hought him to ~, more likely ,as Wilder wished him to be, and the man he portrays is so intelligent, imagin­ ativ~, wise, and interesting, and ~o human in his weaknesses, that ~e are eager to believe that such a man real­ ly existed.

Like Mary Renault in THE KING MUST DIE (GWS #16), Wilder is writing about leadership. But while Theseus in THE KING MUST DIE was primarily a warrior captain, gathering together partly by guile but most+y by force a group of tribes into what would be the Athenian city-state, Caesar is the rule of a powerful and mature state, for many years a democratical­ ly governed republic, but about to become a permanent monarchy and dicta­ torship. In writing about Caesar, Wilder is writing about the science and art of government, and the mean­ ing of politlcal freedom.

All of this may sound dry, but the book is the furthest thing in the world from dry. The Rome of which Wilder writes is a small town grown large, but ' full of the gossip and ' intrigue of a smallVtown, where every­ one kn.ows or passionately wants to know what everyone else is doing. We feel very strongly the excitement and anxiety of a community which knows it has come to the end of one way of life but does not know what may be coming next, which feels itself on the brink of great events and great changes. Not very much happens until Caesar's murder, which ends the book, but the story is none the less exci­ tingfor all that.

Two things I want to quote. To an old friend who , was captured and hideously disfigured in one of Cae­ sar's campaigns, and who has since lived alone, Caesar writes: ... First when my daughter died, next. when you were wounded, I knew that I was mortal; and now I regard those years as wasted, as unproduc­ tive, in which I was not aware that my death was certain, nay, momently possible. I can now appraise at a glance those who have not yet fore­ seen their death. I know them for

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 119

23 the children they are. They think that by evad i ng its contemplation they are enhancing the savor of life. The reverse is true; only those who have grasped their non­ being are capable of praising the sunlight. I will have no part in the doctrine of the stoics that the contemplation of death teaches us the vanity of human endeavor and the insubstantiality of life's joys. Each year I say farewell to the spring wi th a more intense passion .•.

Thus, "to pic'k some examples that will be familiar to readers who know Illich's work, the activity of inquir­ ing inta the world around you and learning how to do more things in .it has become the commodity "education"; the activity of building or repairing or changing your own dwelling has become the commodity "housing"; the discipline of living in as moderate, sensible, and healthy way as possi­ ble, has become the commodity "medi­ cal care." Of this last, Illich writes:

Caesar wr i tes to Cleopatra about the actress Cytheria:

... Today, few people eschew doctors' orders for any length of time ... Just twenty years ago, it was a sign of normal health - which was assumed to be good - to get along without a doctor. The same status of non-patient is now indica­ tive of poverty or disssidence.

... Ten years ago a few moments of sober conversation exhausted [Marc Antony) and he would be fret­ ting to balance three tables on his chin ... He had no malice, but he had no judgement. All this Cytheria has remade; she has taken nothing away, but has rearranged the ele­ ments in a d i fferent order. I am surrounded by and hate those reform­ ers who can only establish an order by laws which repress the subject and drain him of his ' joy and aggression. Cato and Hrutus envision a state of industrious mice ... Happy would I be if it could be said of me that like Cyth­ eria I could train the unbroken horse without robbing him of the fire in his eye and the delight in his speed ...

How beautifully this says what we keep trying to say in GWS about the ways in which wise and loving adults can and do civilize children.

These quotes a re only a tiny few of the treasures i n this book.

TOWARD A HISTORY OF NEEDS, by Ivan Ill~ch <$2.65 + post). This very compact, interesting, and important book is a summing-up of Illich's work during the 70's. In that decade he, and a number of other people who worked with him (including myself), came to understand that the modern institutionalized, industrial world we live in is 'a world in which almost all people have become convinced, not only that they are not competent to meet many of their most important needs, but that they are not even com­ petent to decide what these needs are. Experts and specialists tell us what they think we need, and how and at what price they are going to meet those needs for us - more and more, if they can only lobby through the right laws, whether we want them to or not.

----"In short, the modern institution­ alized world is more and more a world of compulsory expert help. Years ago, worrying about a possible future tyranny, I wrote, "It's not the guys in the shiny black boots who worry me, but the guys in the long white coats." The danger seems greater now than it did then.

Another way of looking at this is to say that modern society has turned some very important verbs into nouns. It has taken an increasing number of fundamental human activi­ ties, things that for a long-rrme-peo­ pIehave done to meet certain obvious needs in their daily lives, and turned these activities into commodi­ ties, manufactured products, things' tnat people cannot do but can only get. People must buY-these commodi­ tIes in the market place if they have money, or beg people or governments to buy for them if they don't have money.

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING *19

The second section of the book, "Outwitting The Developed Nations," is the text of a speech that Illich gave in Canada in 1968, saying what has become common k~owledge now but that then seemed so radical as to be ludicrous - that the effect of for­ eign aid (Point Four, etc.) on poor countries was going to be to make most people in them poorer than ever.

One reason, among many others, why this book is worth reading and owning is that in its final chapter, "Energy and Equity," it contains all that is now in print of Illich's extremely important book of the same name. In it he says, among other astonishing things: The model American male spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering his resources for it. [He) puts in 1600 hours to get 7500 miles : less than five miles per hour.

By now, people work a substan­ tial part of every day to earn the money without which they could not even get to work. The time a soci­ ety spends on transportation grows in proportion to the speed of its fastest public conveyance.

A very important book for all who want to know, culturally speak­ ing, where we are, how we got here, where we are going, and where we might choose to go instead.

BOOK ORDER INFO

Postage charge: for 1 or 2 books, 60¢; for 3 or more books, 25¢ per book (75¢ for 3 books, $1 for 4, etc.)

Make check (US bank) or money order for book orders payable to HOLT ASSOCIATES, INC. (Payment for subscriptions or back issues of GWS should be made out separately to GROWING ~ITHOUT SCHOOLING.) Address: 308 Boylston St, Boston MA 02116.

We have had to raise the price on the following book: HELEN KELLER, $1.10.

New additions to our booklist: THE YEARLING, Rawlings, $4.50; THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY, Burnford, $1.75; VERY FAR FROM ANY­ WHERE ELSE, Le Guin, $1.60; CAPTAINS COURA­ GEOUS, Kipling, $1.10. HOW TO TAKE THE S.A.T, $5.60. WALK WHEN THE MOON IS FULL, $3.60.

LEARNING EXCHANGES

Jennifer Cameron (309 N Seventh St, Ann Arbor MI . 48103) tells us that she is interes­ ted in starting up a learning exchange (see GWS #16, 17.) By the way, we have heard that the big Learning Exchange in Evanston, Illi­ nois (PO Box 920,.zip 60204) will help people set up similar exchanges in their community.

A couple of the people who offered to

start GWS learning eXChange's have told us they're off to a slow start. They especially need.people to list skills they'd be willing to share) Exchanges like these won't work unless many people write in, and we urge all GWS readers to do so. The addresses, again, are: Nancy Plent, 2 Smith St, Farmingdale NJ 07727; Homesteaders' Exchange, RO 2 Box 151, Addison NY 14801; The Knowledge Bank, PO Box 1568, Boone NC 28607; Cathy Earle, 1602 Naco Place, Hacienda Hts CA 91745. Te ll these people what you know about and what you are interested in.

FRIENDLY LAWYERS

The following lawyers have told us

recently that they're willing to help home

schoolers :

Theodore H. Amshoff , Jr., Amshoff & Amshoff, 3142 1st National Tower , Louisville KY 40202 Helen Baker, 2555 Kemper Rd, #406, Shaker Hts OH 44120 (legal advice only ­ cannot take private cases) Robert Baker, On the Square, Sarcoxie MO 64862 Tom Digrazia, Bates Law Office, 2400 E Morgan Av, Evansville IN 47711 John Eidsmoe, 110 N', Mill St, Fergus Falls MN 56537; 218-736-5493 David Mandel, 1350 6th Av. , New York NY 10019 Phil Studenberg, 234 E Wauna, Klamath Falls OR 92601 Shelly Waxman, 30 WWashington St, Ste. 1115, Chicago IL 60602

FRIENDLY SCHOOL DISTRICTS

We are printing a list of school dis­ tricts that are willingly and happily cooper­ ating with home schoo1ers, and who are will­ ing to be listed in GWS as'doing so . We will run this list in each issue. . One reason for such ali st : I want to encourage and reassure school officials who may be hesitant about approving home school­ ing, and let them know that there are other districts enjoying good relationships with their home schooling families. Also, families who are willing to move to escape a difficult situation with school officials would have at least some ideas about where to go .

We will only list these school dis­ tricts under the following condition s: 1) The family has t o be not just satis­ fied but pleased with the cooperation the schools are-gTVTng to their home scho oling efforts. 2) The scho ols th emselves have to be pleased with the relationship with th.e fam­ ily. 3) The family has to be happy wi th the idea of asking the schools whether they want to be included in this list. If they feel that listing the schools; or ask ing the schools if they want to be listed, may en­ danger their good present relationsh i p, then they shouldn't ask. 4) The schoo ls themselves have to be happy about being inc luded in the list. If they are u'neasy about it, or fear that it may get them in trouble with someone, we'd rather not subject them to that risk.

(Many cooperating school districts we know of prefer not to be listed.)

So - if your district is cooperating with your home schooling, and you would like them to be on this list, ask them, and let us know if they say to go ahead.

By the way, we would also like to hear from schools that would like to help home schooliD9 families, but have not been able to do so because no families have yet asked them.

CA - San Juan Ridge Union School Dis­ trict,-r8847 Tyler Foote Rd, Nevada City 95959; Marilyn DeVore, Administrator .

MA - Barnstable Public Schools, 230 South!f, Hyannis MA 02601; Jane Shecke11s, Curriculum Director.

24

Rockland Public Schools, Rockland 02370; Supt. John W. Rogers.

Southern Berkshire Regional School Dis­

trict, Sheffield 01257; Director of Guidance,

Paul Shafiroff.

VT - Woodbury School, Woodbury; Marilyn Hill, Principal.

DIRECTORY

Here are the additions and changes that have come in since our last complete Directory in #18.

Our Directory is not a list of all sub­ scribers, but only of those who have asked to be listed, so that other GWS readers, or other interested people, may get in touch with them.

If you would like to b.e included, please send us the information.

Note that we are listing names and/or ages of children in many families. Let us know if you want us to add yours to the list.

AZ - Mike & Marti MIKL (Darris 11) 1483 Black canyon Stage, Phoenix B5029 AR - Christine CALES, Rt 1 Box 101, West Fork 7~74 --- Doug & Jeanne McDOUGALL (Plum Blossom 3) Star Rt, Kingston 72742 South CA (Zips to 94000) - Judy CALOSSO (Richard 14, Michael 13) 234 Virginia #3, El Segundo 90245 --- Richard ROTH, 8607 Mission Blvd, Riverside 92509 - -- Stephanie & Dennis SCHECK (Diana 9, Stephen 7) 3123 Chateau Way, Lemon Grove 92045 --- Susan A. 'STRICKER, PO Box 9902, Mdl" ina Del Rey 90291 --- Charles & Eva WEBB, PO Box 542, Ojai 93023 North CA (Zips 94000 & up) - Diane KILLOU (13,6) 520 Alvarado Av #204, Davis 95616 --- Jack & Paula KING (Lindy 1) PO Box 334, La Honda 94020 --- Jonathan KRAMER, 2382 S Fitch Mtn Rd, Healdsburg 95448 --- Merry­ Lynn MARLBRDUGH (son Zay 6) 5121 Tehama Av, Richmond 94804 --- Dona TEMPLEMAN & Jeremy PILKINGTON (Thane 5, Cori n 1) PO Box 102, Twain 95984 CO - Carol & Jim LOATS (Jeffrey 5) 98 Rd 4115, tranby 80446 CT - David, Gisela & Gabriel LICHTGARN, 48 Valley View Dr, Farmington 06032 --- Jean­ ine LUPINEK, 479 Cherry Hill Rd , Middlefield 06455 FL - Carey & Melody COOPER (Aaron 8 mol 4511 Wliazzo St, Tampa 33614 --- Antoine & Lury IGNIZIO (Graham 8 mol 8314 Drycreek Dr, Tampa 33615 -- - Jan MINER-CHURCH, Rt 1 Box 474, Westville 32464 --- Patricia Ann MORDES (Daniel 8, Gabriel 3) Rt 3 Box 215, Marianna 32446 (new add) HI - Sasha KARIEL (Asa 3) 145 Poloke PI, Honolulu 96822 --- Beverly MILLER (Deirdre 5) 2612 Kapiolani Blvd #2, Honolulu 96826 -- ­ Susan Bird SINGH, 3577 Pinao St #13, Honolulu 96822 10 - John & Debbie JONES (Cori 9, Naomi 8, Jodr-6) Rt 4 Box 327, Rigby 83442 IA - Jeff & Phyl l is WEIH (Nathan 1 mol RR 1, TOledo 52342 KS - Jerry & Marcia SCHOOL EY (Shawn 6, Chatel-Z) RR 5, Clay Center 67432 --- The WALKERS (Steven 29, Mary 27 , Chiel 2) Rt 2, Formo so 66942 KY - Ruth McCUTCHEN (0 11, R 9, A 7) 928 Ellison-Av, Louisville 40204 LA - Ralph & June SANDERS (Mark 16, Michelle 14, Donna 10) . 1348 Sherwood Forest Blvd, Baton Rouge 70815 (new add) MD - James & Theresa MAYOR (Jennifer 2) 26824 HOward Chapel Dr, Damascus 20750 MA - Wanda REZAC (Ronald 6, Jean 4, Catherine TT 379 Concord Rd, Mar l boro 01752 (new add) --- Valerie VAUGHAN, 72 Triangle St, Amherst 01002 (new add) MI - Thomas & Judit h CLARK (Kelly 12, Jennifer 10, Stacy 8) PO Box 974, Fowlerville 48836 --- Jeff & Jan CL EMENS (Shayne 6, Justin 3, Lacy 2 mol 520 E Roosevelt, Bitely 49309 --- Tom & Gretchen SPICER (Jacob 9, Seth 7, Jessica 6, Isaac 2) 643 Madison Av SE, Grand Rapids 49503 (new add) MN - Sandra ERICKSON, 680 Woodlawn Av, St Pau~55116 --- Jackie JOHNSON (Lara 7, Carl 2) Star Rt Box 220A, Finland 55603 --- MIDWEST LIBERTARIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, 373 Universi­

ty Av, St Paul 55103 MO - Tim &Mary CUNNINGHAM (sons 5,5) Head Lane, Hannibal 63401.--- Janey & Terry SMITH (Seth 11, Lindsey 9, Sarah 4) 6 Center Rd, Kirksville 63501 NH - Chris & Elaine RAPP (Keith 6, Brian 4, Erica ' l) 9 Mizoras Dr, Nashua 03062 . NJ - Cheryl EVERHARD (Kathryn 7) 255 Park A~ Old Bridge 08857 NM - Amy BUNTING (Sarah 11) #2 Frasco Rd, El-Uorado, Santa Fe 87501 NY - David BAKER, 15 Broadway, -Renssel­ aer 121{4 (new add) --- HQH£STEADERS NEWS, RD 2 Box 151, Addison NY 14801 (new add) --- Bob &Pat KLING (Curt 15, Kevin 13) RD 4 Washout Rd, Scotia 12302 OH - Dr Stephen J CORWIN, 1179 Weybridge Rd, Columbus 43220 (new add) OK - Stacy & Cheryl RICHARDSON (Jeff 5, Briana-Z) 1376 N' 76th E Av, Tuls~ 74115 OR - Don & An BRYANT (Rebecca 10, James 9) 223~Radcliffe, Klamath Falls 97601 --­ Angela & Rick COHEN (Aaron 13, Tanya 11, Thorr 9,. Raven 5, Mose 2) 950 Garfield, Coos Bay 97420 --- Ken & Lezlie LONG (Robert 3, Rebecca I!, Richard 2 mol PO Box 38, N Powder 97867 --- Linda NITKDWSKI (Camise 4) 31272 Gowdy­ ville Rd, Cottage Grove 97424 --- Pat & Sue WELCH, CHRISTIAN HOME EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, 8731 NE Everett St, Portland 97220 PA - Larry &Cindi COCCIO (Melanie 2) 224 W~h Av, Conshohocken 19428 --- Dean SCHNEIDER, 3918 Lincoln Pkwy, Allentown 18104 (new add) --- Janet SHOEMAKER, Arbutus Woods, RD 10 Box 451, York 17404 TN - Nancy COOMES, 1114 N Tenn. Blvd, Murfreesboro 37130 --- Jim & Barb JOYNER (Cosette 7) Rt 1 Dry Creek Rd, Dowellton 37059 TX - David & Patricia Fair MOUTON (Shaun 2) 920~ Grove St, Tyler 75701 UT - FAMILY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, 575 S 5th West, Brigham City 84302 VA - Ed & Linda WILHELM (Bob 6, David 3, Mark 1~061 Autumn Wood Lane, Roanoke 24019 WA - Gisela BECKER (13,11,8) Gen Del, 01ympia-98501 (new add) WI - Tom & Ruth VOIGHT (Amanda 2) RR2 Box 20~ Rio 53960

other .anth. A single issue costs $2.50.

For all subs or orders of GWS (not books), please send check or money oraers in US funds payable to GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING. Canadian and other foreign payments must be either money orders or checks drawn on US banks . We can't afford to accept personal checks on Canadian accounts, even if they have "US funds" written on them.

We strongly urge you to get the back issues of GWS, especially if you plan ~ake your children out of sChoo'l. M~ny of the arti­ cles are as useful and importafl ' as when they were printed, and we do not pl ' to repeat the information in them. Any combination of bac~ issues, mailed at one time to one address, cost 50t per issue, plus $4.00 . For example, GWS #1-18 would cost S13 (18 x 50t is $9. $9 + $4 is $13.) These rates are for subscribers ~; non-subscribers pay $2 . 50 per lssue.

The last two digits on the line below your name on the computer label tell the number of your final issue of GWS. If you renew before we send the last issue of your sub to the mailing house {for '20, about mid­ April), we will extend your sub for one free bonus issue. Renewal rates are the same as for new subscriptions.

Group subscriptions: all copies are mailed to one address . Rates can be figured from the following table. IX means you get one copy of each issue, 2X means you get 2 copies of each issue, 3X means 3 copies, etc.

IX 2X 3X etc

6 issues S15 $18 S21 add $3 per person

12 issues S24 $30 $36 add S6 per person

18 issues $30 $39 S48 add $9 per person

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING 308 Boylston Street Boston MA 02116

CANADA -------NB - Laurence MARIE & Ian CURRY (Nathalie 11~00nagh 6, Siobhan 1) 909 Cleveland Av, Moncton , E1B lY9 (new add) ONT - Rolf & Wendy PRIESNITZ, PO Box 640, Jarvis NOA lJO (new add)

Editor - John Holt Managing Editor - Peg Durkee Associate Editor - Donna Richoux Editorial Assistant - Jane O'Brien

OTHER LOCATIONS - Thomas & Beth BOOTH (Cheryl 7) Johannlterstr. 22, 5100 Aachen, West Germany SUBSCRIPTIONS

Our current policy starts all subcrip­ tions with the latest issue. Rates are : $15 for 6 lssues, $24 for 12 lssues, $30 for 18 issues. GWS is published approximately every

Copyright <C) 1977 Holt Associates, Inc.