Growing Without Schooling 44

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING

had a very nice response. A number of readers have written very understand­ ing, supportive, and encouraging let­ ters, for which I am very grateful .

I should perhaps make clear that almost all the lectures now cn my schedule are ones I agreed to do before I made my decision to get out of the lecture business. Let me say once again that that decision is very firm, and one I am not likely to change in any foreseeable future.

--- John Holt

44

JOHN HOLT' S COMING SC HEDUL E

The March 25, 1985 issue of News­ week carried a one-column story about nomeschooling. It was generally accu­ rate and favorable, and correctly gave the impression that the movement is growing in size and legitimacy. My one objection to the story is that they call me "the Guru" of the home­ schooling movement. This is in some important ways mistaken and mislead­ ing. I won't pretend that I have not been an important voice in the home­ schooling movement, but the movement is by no means made up of Holt­ followers; many homsechoolers do not think of me as a good guy, and many have never heard of me at all. This is all to the good. The whole strength of the movement and the rea­ son why it has been such a remarkably effective instrument for social change is that it does not have a cen­ tralized leadership, and having none, is able to generate so much and so effective local leadership, people who learn not from some "guru" but from their own experience, and having learned, inform and support each other.

Our January Open House was the largest we had ever 'had, and our March Open House was even larger. The office, which I sometimes feel has a little more space than we need, was absolutely bursting with children of all sizes, and their parents. A won­ derful occasion. Join us if you can .

As you have probably noticed, after the title of each book or other item in our Book and Music list, there is a number which tells in which issue of GWS the item was de­ scribed and reviewed. This is fine for people who have (and ca'n lay hands on) all the back issues of GWS. But it occurred to us recently that many people who do not have all the back issues might like to read what we had to say about some book, etc. on our list, but did not want to spend the $2.50 for a single back issue in order to find out.

So we have decided to institute a Book Review Reprint service. If you would like a copy of a review of some­ thing in our list, please send us: (1) the name of the book or item (2) 50¢ for the first review and 25~ for each additional review (3) a self-addressed stamped envelope . We hope this may better acquaint you with some of the books that were reviewed in GWS before you began sub­ scribing .

In GWS #43 I said that I had decided that in the future I was go­ ing to do much less traveling and lec­ turing, either to homeschoolers or to other groups and organizations, feeling that I could most effectively work from Boston and through the medi­ um of GWS, and ceyond that needing more time for my private life and for music. From this announcement I have

~12, 1985: Ho lt Assoc. Open House-12nOlThurs . each mo., 6-8 PM).

April 15 : Smithsonian American History Museum, Washingt o n D.C. 3 PM. Open to public. Contact Joan Liversage at Smithsonian. ~26-27: National Coalition of Alternatrve-Gommunity Schools con ­ ference, Clonlara School, Ann Arbor MI . Contact Kathy Sutherland, 313­ 769-4515 . ~7-10: Sun Valley Music Camp, Sun VaITey 10. Contact James Salisbury, PO Box 2261. Twin Falls ID 83303; 208-734-6746. ~17-lR: Homesch oo l ers Jam­ boree, Lansing MI. Contact Carolyn Cordell, 2310 Bernard, Lansing ~I 48910 .

NOTES FROM DONNA Sad t o say, two farewells this month. First to leave was Ross Camp­ bell, who came to Bost on last year as volunteer and stayed as paid staff.

We will miss his cheerful good hum or, his quick t yp ing (he easily mastered the word processor we use), and his music. Ross has gone back to Califor­ nia to live with friends and to help his father build an earth-sheltered home.

In a few weeks, Kit Finn will be moving to Williamsburg, and I miss her help already. Kit, as a volun­ teer, had been coordinating our larg e mailings, doing all the many steps from making a schedule to delivering sacks to the post office . Her three daughters, Danette (6), Bridget (5), and Corie (3), livened up many a day in the office.

Our pool of helper s seems to be dwindling, so let me put in a plea now for more volunteers . We ne ed peo­ ple both living close to the office and also far away (especially good typists who can get work back to us quickly) .

Here's a result of many hours of volunteer work by Madalene Murphy (CT) - an index to GWS #3 1-40' It's very well done, and we have copies available for $l. (The index to #1-30 is also available for $2.50.) Mada­ lene doubts she can do the next index - who would like to take this on?

The first person to offer to run the GWS TRAVEL DIRECTORY was Leigh Taylor, PO Box 3, Bergland MI 49910.

If you would like other GWS families to come visit you, or would like a copy of the Cirec tory so you can visit others, send a SASE to Leigh.

In GWS #37, we mentioned an arti­ cle called "Stress Effects on I .Q."

by Bernard Brown and Lillian Rosen­ baum, available through the George­ town Medical Center. A reader says that they no longer send out the arti­ cle and it is important that she get a copy . Did someone send off for it?

(We didn't . ) If so, can you send us the original or a good copy, so we can make further. copies?

I should clarify something I worded a bit loosely in the last GWS. The article by Nancy Wallace in Moth­ ering was about a stillbirth and-aIso twins who died within a day of being born. Ishmael and Vita a re well and happy! Sorry for any confusion.

Kathleen Reilly in Connecticut wants readers t o know that ADAM compu­ ters arc expected to go on sale this spring for about $250. "We love our Adam and would recommend it very high­ ly as an excellent word processor for child r en or adults, " she says, "as well as a computer with many oth er uses as well. " Coleco , the manufactur­ er is discontinuing production; Honey­ well will service the machines .

Two readers have asked us how they can get good, educational video cassette recordings. We have no idea.

Are there any good sou r ces that loan, rent, or sell cheaply such tapes, especially to people who live far from cities? --- Donna Richoux WHAT A FRIE NDLY PROF SEES When Larry Arnoldsen of Brigham Young lJniversity sent his listing (or our "Speakers Bureau," he also wrote:

... I was asked a few years ago

by John Holt if I would help parents 1n their ef(orts to be effective home educators. I answered in the a ffi rma­ tive and have since then been co~act­ ed by hundreds of such parents . I have also been invited to a number of their conferences .

The first thing that has really been quite startling is the interest in "educational theory" displayed by these people. I have been working with "professional" educators for 20 years and am used to a general and widespread resistance to educational theory ... Participation by profession­ als in " professional development" has tyricall y been fo r one or more of the fo lowing reasons: (1) They have been required t o by their employer . (2) It will put them in a higher salary bracket. (3) They need something "quick and dirty" t o successfully con­ trol difficult students .

I repeat, I ha ve never seen among professionals such interest either individually or collectively in fundamental questio n s as I have seen by parents. At a state confer­ ence on Home Schools attended by over 600 persons, I made such an observa­ tion which immediately brought the following re spo nse from the state Vice-president, "But don't you see, we lov e our children?" . .. This explan­ ation has seemed the only appropriate one .

In reference to this deeper interest in educational theory dis­ played by homeschoolers there is also WHAT'S INSIDE - New WY Law: 2 --- Autism: 2 -- Court:-Z---- Pending legislation: 3 --­ Other local news: 4 --- Famous unschoolers: 4 --- Norway: 5 --- JH/Misquotes: 5 --- Compul­ sory school age: 5 --- Tax cartoon: 5 --- Part­ time school: 6 --- Fingerprint/CA: 7 --- AK research: 7 --- Allergies: 8 --- Skeptical father: 9 --- Deaf: 9 --- Success: 9 --- Mari­ posa CA: 9 --- "L.D.": 10 --- Private school: 11 --- Bodine /D ipping into school: 11 --- Life at home: 11 --- JH/"Gocks" : 12 --- British study, school/home: 13 --- Young children: 14 --- JH/Gifted: 15 --- Hospital: 15-16 --Tests: 16-17 --- Chica go schools: 17 --- Teach­ er Certificates: 18 --- JH/Late readers: 18 --- JH/Writing: 19 --- Math: 19-20 --- JH/ Bank: 20 --- Memory: 20 --- Violin: 20 --Art: 20 --- Speakers: 21 --- Quadro construc­ tion kit: 22 --- Map puzzles: 23 --- Tapes: 23

2

another startling phenomenon occur­ ing. It is the following: 1 . The focusing on the learner and his/her needs and interest as has been advocated by the great education­ al theorists for centuries .

2 . Individualized learning. This naturally follows from No . l.

3 . Focusing on processes rather

than products, i . e . helping children

become self-learners or self­

teachers; learning how to learn.

4. Focusing on more active learn­ ing experiences rather than passive, i.e. painting. writing rather than

studying painting or writing .

5. Focusing on a more wholistic understanding of the development of people, i.e . sound development ought to occur simultaneously in the intel­ lectual, cultural, social and spiritu­ al (creative) dimensions . In sound education these dimensions cannot be compartmentalized and separately cul­ tivated as is attempted in public or private schools, generally speaking .

An additional complication in formal schooling is the misleading compart­ mentalization of the academic sub­ jects as well into absolutely dis­ tinct areas, such as history, math, science, etc. The result being that students rarely see the relationships and interconnections between these a rea s .

The phenomena out liMed in No . ' s 1-5 above are typically gradually arrived at by homeschooling parents .

Initially they tend to imitate the public or formal schools when estab­ lishing their home school ... With time and experience it becomes modi­ fied in the directions described ...

NEW HOMESCHOOL LAW IN WYOMING From the Colorado Homeschooling Network Newsletter, 3/85: ... The WYOM1NG HOME EDUCATORS' NETWORK newsletter reports that Gover­ nor Ed Herschler signed HB 177 (HEA 94) giving Wyoming home schoolers the statutory recognition they had been seeking. There was broad support for the bill throughout the legislature as Wyoming provided no statutory exemption (or home education whatso­ ever. The bill was also suppo rt ed by the Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction.

There was, however, debate about the specific provisions of the bill allowing homeschooling and the bill was amended four times to require man­ datory achievement testing. Howev e r, the fourth time the amendment called for mandatory testing of all school age children in the state-wfiich even­ tually caused the joint Senate/House conference committee to decide against any language regarding manda­ tory or voluntary testing.

Under the new statute home schools are defined as single-family schools taught by parents or parent­ appointed tutors. Home schools quali­ fy as private schools if they offer a basic academic educational program which is defined as a sequentially progressive program of basic instruc­ tion in reading, writing, math, sci­ ence, history, civics, and litera­ ture . Home schools must be "in ses­ sion" the entire time the public schools in the district are in ses­ sion. The term "in session" is not defined. Parents operating home schools are required to submit annual­ ly to their local school board a cur­ riculum showing that they are teach­ ing a basic academic educational pro­ gram. Failure to submit the curricu­

lum is prima facie evidence that the home school doesn't satisfy the re­ quirements of the compulsory atten­ dance statute .. .

AUTISM VICTORY IN MASS. From the Cape Cod Standard

Times, 2/13/85:

. .. After a three-year struggle, an Orleans woman has gained the right to educate her 8-year-old, special­ needs son at home, and thus may have made education history in Massachu­ setts .

Jacqueline Fickett, a single par­ ent who temporarily lost ph ysical cus­ tody of her son, David, to the state Department of Social Services in 1983, will retain complete custody o( the child, according to a decision rendered last week by Orleans Dis­ trict Court Judge Richard P . Kelleher. ... Since David was of school age, Ms. Fickett has kept him at h ome, except (or six weeks in 1983 when the state placed ~im in a resi­ dential program at the May institute for Autistic Children in Chatham and for several months afterward when he attended day classes at the Institute.

Robert A. Rotti, director or special needs for the Nauset Region­ al School System, said the school plans no further action in the case.

"We felt we moved in the direction we sincerely and firmly felt was in the best interests of the child," he said. "For the child's sake, we hope we were wrong and that things will work out for him."

David's curre nt educational pro­ gram includes a five-subject curricu­ lum that was prepared by Susan Ott of Watertown, a special-needs special­ ist, Ms. Fickett said. The special program includes academics, language, recreation, self-he lp and exercises designed to help improve hi s atten­ tion span ...

Besides wo rking with her son about 20 hours a week in the program, Ms. Fickett said she and David go bowling, walking , and take field trips as weather permits. She said David enjoys using a typewriter and a small glockenspiel.

"It' s a relief," Ms. Fickett said of the judge's decision . "I know the comparative conditions between the May Institute and what I am doing at home, and I genuinely feel he is better off with me." . .. Ms . Ott, as expert witness, gave "the only testimony that was first hand knowledge " of the inter­ action of the mother and child in the home-education program, said Eugene Burkart of Waltham, a court-appointed lawyer who represented Ms. Fickett . . .

[DR: J Jacqui Fickett tells us, "Since we began the program present­ ed to the court by Dr . Ott, David has begun expressing himself in full sen­ tences, has demonstrated a comprehen­ sion of number values, and is display­ ing a more normal social behavior."

This was only a couple of weeks after the case was dismissed!

I am very pleased that three con­ nections made through GWS helped Jacqueline Fickett in her struggle: Eugene Burkart, on our "Friendly Law­ yers" list; Susan Ott, in the Direc­ tory, who is a clinical psychologist and homeschooling parent; and Lisa Boken, director of ABBINGTON ACADEMY in Or l eans (GWS #43). Abbington Aca­ demy offered to provide David with " socialization " opportunities (with

normal children, as opposed to what tneJMay Institute could provide) as part of hi s educa tional program.

Lisa Boken wrote us: . .. Jacqui 's victory is truly an amazing feat when you consider her situation : no husband, an autistic child, no car . . . She had had to deal wit h court-appointed lawyers who had no true interest in the case .

The sad part is that 25 years ago a woman like Jacqui who wanted to keep her child at home instead of put­ ting him in an institution would be the community heroine. Today she is looked at by most as strange, suspi­ cious, and denying the best for her child ... Many "liberal " special care people I know on the Cape felt she was a fanatic and that she should place her son in the May Institute.

People who make such statements usual­ ly don't know Jacqui very well nor do they know David, but most of all they don't even know WHAT she does do wit h him. Susan Ott was the only person who came to Jacqui's home to see her in action with David. ... Susan gave the most superb testimony ... The opposing lawyer tried to get her to say that David would be much better off with a teach­ er who was trained in the fieid as opposed to his mother who has no training of any sort in teaching .

Susan said that she didn't feel that education or training were necessari­ ly what made a good teacher. She is in charge of training the new teach­ ers at the school she teaches at . . .

Many people who come to her with ex­ tensive training in the field of edu­ cation are not good teachers and . she has seen quite a few people over the years who have had no formal training who are excellent teachers.

She gave the example of an LPN who works in her school and said that the woman was born with the ability to work with children and that almost eve ry staff member including herself looked to this woman as a model.

She went on to say that she thought that Jacqui possessed excel­ lent qualities as a teacher and went on to list some of the things she had seen in Jacqui while observing her work with David . The opposing lawyer tried to push the issue by as king Susan if all her own " education " was for naught. She chuckled (the judge did too) and said that yes, her educa­ tion had benefited her but that she didn't feel it was necessary to be a good teacher . .. . A hospice program has been set up in the community with people volunteering to help both physically and educationally under Jacqui's and Susan's direction ...

[DR: See GWS #21 for another story on an autistic child at home. J

COURT NEWS We've learned of a whole slew of recent court cases in Texas. The appeal of Richard and Kay Wells of El Paso was argued before a state appeals court on Jan. 18; lawyers on both sides said it was the first time that a challenge to the state's com­ pulsory school attendance law ever reached an appeals court in Texas.

However, rather than risk losing on a technicality, the Wells withdrew their appeal before a decision was reached . This means they are liable for about $500 in fines and fees, a nd vulnerable to fur t her prosecu t ion.

The appeals court is still expe c t ed to hear the cases of the King family

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

3 of Amarillo and the Hu d son s of Hous ­ ton; no dates for the argu ments have been set.

Four homeschooling families i n Katy (near Houston) received jury trials during February; a l l we r e con­ victed and fined various amoun t s. Dor­ othy Clayton, who is a former teach­ er, and Jack Clayton, who has taught as a substitute, were only fined the minimum of $5 each.

Kathleen Furnace of THE METER SCHOOLS reports that as a resu l t of these court cases, school districts are asking the Texas Education Agency for instructions, and they are being told to consider a private school to be one in which two or more children from two or more families meet togeth­ er in a place other than a primary dwelling.

The Texas Home Educators Newslet­ ter reports on a number of ot h er cases that can be summarized as: Facing prosecution: the Patter­ sons of Austin; the Youngs of Travis (Waco area); the Montagues of Borger.

Charges dropped: the Ch ans and Dysons of Duncanville.

Found innocent or case dis ­ missed: the Neals of Fort Worth; the Tuttles and Higgins of Houston.

Appealing to County Court: the Morelands of LaPorte .

Still more Texa& news . Newiweek of 3/25/85 reports that charges against Elizabeth and Robert C. Brown of Premont were dismissed on a techni­ cality, and also that Ft. Worth attor­ ney Shelby Sharpe filed a class­ action lawsuit on behalf of home­ schoolers aimed at clarifying the state law. It is intended to force the court to rule on the question as to whether homes can be private schools. Sharpe said his lawsuit may be tied up in the courts for years, but in the meantime he hopes to win an injunction barring school dis­ tricts from bringing charges against homeschooling parents.

In November, three related fami­ lies of New Plymouth, Idaho were given six-month jail terms for not sending their children to school . Sam and Marquita Shippy, Floyd and Roxy Shippy, and Robert and Cecilia Sh ippy spent three weeks in jail when their sentences were suspended . Th e court ordered their 16 school-age children placed with relatives who agreed to send the children to school until June.

Decisions are still being await­ ed in the cases of four homeschooling families in North Dakota who went to trial in January: the Larsens and Patzers of Jamestown, and the Lunds and Reimches of Bottineau . The NORTH DAKOTA HOME SCHOOL ASSOCIATION arranged for the Rutherford Institute to provide lawyers, and for Dr. Ray­ mond Moore, Dr. Rousas Rus h doony, and Dr. Donald Erickson of UCLA to testi­ fy as expert witnesses .

Stephanie Bridinger of Tiffin, Ohio sent an article from a local paper. The Bridingers had enrol l ed in the HOME BASED EDUCATION PROGRAM of Clonlara School in Ann Arbor, MI , but were denied approval by the school superintendent . So the Bridingers took the matter to juvenile court, acting as their own lawyers. Judge Gerald Meyer ruled i n favor of t h e parents, saying, " The app l ica t ion of the compulsory sc h ool a t te nd ance l aw would infringe on the pa r e n ts ' con sti-

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOL ING 144

tutional rights to free exe r cise of religion . " From the Milwaukee Journal , 1/31/85: "Complai nt s fro m neigh bors prompted Waukesha School District administrators to investigate Mark and Janice Vreeland ' s education pro­ gram. The couple teach two of their seven children at home . .. There was talk of taking legal action against the Vreelands to force them to enro l l their children in school . However, school officials backed down after the state Department of Public In­ struction told the district it had no responsibility in the matter .. . " Other court news in brief: Lost in Circuit Court in March: The Pange1inans, Decatur AL (GWS #38) Being taken to court: Joann Westfahl, Wichita KS. Hearing on A~ril 18: George & Sandra Laiuste, 2 081 DeWolfe Rd, Newhall CA 91321 .

Case dismissed because family moved to another district: Karen & Michael Busch, formerly Walworth NY.

HOMESCHOOL LEG ISLATION PENDING As we go to press, we know of 14 states with legislation pending . By GWS #45 we hope to tell you about the outcome of these bills. Meanwhile, you could get current info from state and local groups (see GWS #42 or our "Homeschooling Resource List," $1.)

ARKANSAS: The ARKANSAS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION is supporting House Bill 102 which would define " private school" as one whose curriculum, teachers, attendance requirements, and hours of operation were "substan­ tially equal" to those of the public schools. The bill would not permit homeschooling. The CHRISTIAN HOME EDU­ CATION ASSOCIATION is supporting another bill that would allow home­ schooling under a choice of arrange­ ments (using correspondence course, one parent with college degree, scor­ ing above the 40th percentile on a standardized test, obtaining a profes­ sional assessment of adequate pro­ gress, etc.)

CONNECTICUT: The legislature is planning to set up a committee to revise the homeschooling statute . The committee would have recommendations in Dec. '85 for a bill in '86 . The CONNECTICUT HOMESCHOOLERS ASSOCIATION is trying to get homeschoolers on the committee .

FLORIDA: Ann Mordes writes, " On Jan . 25, Karen Jackson of Tallahassee graciously hosted a cover~d dish luncheon at her home to bring home­ schoolers in the area and Dr . Patter­ son Lamb (head of non-public schools) together to discuss the impending leg­ islation. Dr . Lamb told us that the legislators were being 'bombarded' with letters asking them to kill House Bill #50, which requires test­ ing by a licensed psychologist ... She told us the D. O.E . did not care what type of legislation was passed allow­ ing home education, just so some was.

Lamb stated that she was 'tired of go­ ing to court with her little rule book, just to read the private sc h ool law. ' "We parents asked just what type of legislation she and the D. O. E would like ... She said that we should have some sort of evaluation. I remem­ bered reading in GWS about a por t ­ folio method. She really liked th e idea and now this has been wri tt en

i n to ou r bi ll . .. " This bill, backed by t he FLORIDA PARENT EDUCATOR ASSOCI­ ATION, is H.B . 326 and was introduced

by Re p. Daniel Webster in March.

Meanwhile, H. B. #50 was amended, removi n g testing by a licensed psycho­ logist and ins t ead requiring an "annu­ al educational evaluation," exact nature to be described later by the State Board of Education . Ann says, "I must tell you all how the represen­ tatives said that they had never had so much interest about any single sub­ ject as this . . . " IDAHO: As a result of heavy pub­ licity over the Shippy case (see "Court News,") the House of Represen­ tatives quickly passed a bill that would end t h e requirement that home instruction be comparable to public education, and require parents only to make a good faith effort to in­ struct their children in "the basic skills of reading, writing, mathema­ tics, and the knowledge of history and civics." However, opposition grew and the Senate decided to set up a special committee to study the matter over the next year.

KANSAS: Of the three homeschool­ ing brrrs-Tntroduced this session, H. B. 2178 is the one supported by most homeschoolers since it calls for standardized testing instead of mini­ mum-competency testing, and it also leaves alone the question of accredi­ ted vs . unaccredited private schools.

The official position of the State Board of Education is that homeschool­ ing should be allowed, although they do not support anyone bill.

Betty Jones wrote in the newslet­ ter of the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PARENT EDUCATORS - KANSAS CHAPTER, "We have written weekly communiques to the edu­ cation committee members and will con­ tinue to do so . It was obvious from the discussion of the committee that they are being read .. . Caution: One legislator complained that letters from homeschoolers contained grammati­ cal errors. Have someone check your letters with you, or make phone calls ... " However, all bills were tabled in February until a question of tax exempt status could be resolved. It seems that sixty years ago, Kansas Wesleyan University won a court case regarding a building that it claimed was primarily for educational purpos­ es although it also happened to be the residence of the university presi­ dent. Hence someone raised the possi­ bility that homeschoolers might use the same argument to declare their property tax-exempt.

MISSOURI: Of the four homeschool­ ing bi ll s under consideration by the legislature, FAMILIES FOR HOME EDUCA­ TION decided to back the one authored

by Sheila Lumpe ( number not given).

Others are H. B. 214, H. B. 441, and a bill by William Whitehall; all of the bills would permit homeschooling, under various conditions.

NEBRASKA: Legislative Bill 495 would change the tenor of last year's private school bill from "Schools which elect not to meet the usual requirements shall do the following," to, "Schools that request exemption

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44, Vol. 8 No.2.

ISSN #0745-5305. Pub l ished bi-monthly by Holt

Assoc i ates, 729 Boyl ston St. Boston MA 02116.

S15 /yr. Dat e of Issue, Apr. 1. 1985. Second­

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to GWS, 729

Boylst on St, Boston MA 02116.

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numbered month s. Discou nt for ads in 3 consecu­

tiv e iss ues. Contact Patrick Farenga for rates.

4 from the usual requirements shall do which would require home educators to that some were under the impression tfi"efollowing." It would give the register and for the children to that it would. It will be much less . state the power to deny or revoke an ... The board is being cooperative and score in the 50th percentile or bet­ exemption if it determines that the ter on an annua l test . After home­ trying to ease the strain on home­ school does not offer an adequate pro­ schoolers objected, the representa­ schoolers as well as the schools ... " gram. tive filed a substitute version which MAINE: GUARDIANS OF EDUCATION IN NEVADA: Homeschoolers are draw­ would also give the option of enroll­ MAINE~68 Box 127, Cushing) is con­ ing up-a-orll that would modify last ing in a homeschooling program under cerned about a child protective ser­ year's law. Miriam Mangione of Las the supervision of a private or paro­ vices bill, L. D. 207, concerning Vegas says, "Mainly we want to drop ch ia l school . Homeschool leaders sug­ "Deprivation of an appropriate educa­ the requirement for a credentialed gested t hat a bill be introduced tion." teacher [ to work with the family] and wh ich would either add homeschooling MARYLAND: The MARYLAND HOME EDU­ the exemption renewal approved only to t he list of exemptions to school CATION ASSOCIATION reports that Janet on the basis of the SAT or CAT, and at t endance, or, alternatively, to Knight of Howard County, whose local instead be able to submit samples of include home schools within the term school board has denied her home­ the child's work, or a log, or tran­ "pr iva t e schools ." H. B. 29 has been schooling request, will be the first scripts, or a test . . . [ As i t is now] aba n doned . Meanwhile, another repre­ to appeal to the State Board under each individual is left trying to sentative in t roduced H.B . 431 which the current guidelines. The State figure out what this county wants and provides for exemption based on a sin­ Board has postponed the proposed how it wants it written. Parents are bylaw on re-defining a school (GWS cerely held religious belief or con­ typing up 25 pages of curriculum for viction . #43) . MHEA will be sponsoring a "Mid­ each child (one parent has 9 child­ WASHINGTON: Homeschoolers put Atlantic Homeschooling Conference" on ren!) only to have to redo them. And toget her a bi ll which has passed the June 29 in Columbia; for info call we can't find teachers for everyone . " Senate in March and which Jon Wartes Manfred Smith, 301-730-0073.

NORTH DAKOTA: A homeschooling is 98% sure will pass the House . It MASSACHUSETTS: A proposal to bill, S . B. 2263, was defeated in Janu­ pr ovides two option s for home based amend the state Constitution to al l ow ary; we don ' t know any further de­ e duca t ion : (a) working unde r the pub l ic aid to private schools has tails. However, Senator John Olson s upervision of a certifica t ed teach­ cleared the first r ound of legisla­ submitted a study resolution on home­ er , wit h a minimum of one contact tive committee approval. If given sim­ schooling, to prepare the legislature hour per week, or (b) the parent may ilar approval again this year, it work independently provided s/he has to d eal with the issue again in the would appear on the 1986 state ballot. next session . a high school diploma or GED, and pro­ NEW HAMPSHIRE : The NEW HAMPSHIRE OREGON: The PARENTS EDUCATION vided the child's educational pro­ HOME EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION has pre­ ASSOCIATION is supporting House Bill gress is adequately evaluated. All pared an "Information Packet II " 2475 which would delete the existing home schooled children would either be which could be useful to those in oth­ requirements that homeschoolers get given an annual standardized test or er states as well . In particular, it written permission from the local be annually assessed by a certified gives a summary of recent homeschool­ school district, and that home­ teacher . - DR ing laws (Louisiana, Montana, Ari­ schooled children be tested . zona, Georgia, etc.) Send $2 to Elaine Rapp, 9 Mizoras Dr, Nashua NH On the other hand, Candace Syman-Degler tells us that the Oregon ·03062 .

OTHER LOCAL NEWS VIRGINIA: Theo Giesy sent us a Educational Coordinating Commission I LLINOIS: Mary Friedl writes, copy of a letter she wrote to the held hearings around the state and "H.O.U . S.E. had t he most wonderful state Superintendent of Public concluded that the state should be "informed of the existence, nature, expo at t he Museum of Science and Instruction, in which she said that and enrollment of all schools," and Industry on March 2 . I don't know how at least two division superintendents (Virginia Beach and Norfolk) were that there should be "uniform testing ma ny people there were but 1,000 or requirements" for all school stu­ more would not surprise me. It was a insisting on standardized tests for evaluation even though nothing in the dents. For their report, "Charting two-day event with 4 workshops going law or the state's Memo 105 requires the Course," write 225 Winter St NE, at a time, a new set every hour ... I Salem OR 97310 . them to do so. She wrote, "Those of hope H. O. U. S . E. is able to put on us who worked so long and hard to get PENNSYLVANIA: Because school such a get together in the future the home schooling law wanted to superintendents are varying so much again because of the incredible feel­ assure that there would be a real in their treatment of homeschoolers, ing of unity it fostered' Susan and Howard Richman, Peter Berg­ " The Illinois State Board of Edu­ alternative to standardized testing . son, and Tom and Madalene Murphy have ... The legislature considered the cation seems to have finally acknow­ drafted possible homeschool legisla­ ledged that they do not have the stat­ hypothetical case of the child who tion, based on John Holt ' s model (GWS might never have tested above the uto r y authority to regulate home­ 35th percentile in school, and then, #30) and recently-passed laws in oth­ schoo l ing . One of their staff has taught at home, tested at the 39th er states. They are asking homesc hool­ said t hat that is what they must fix . percentile. They could see that it ers across the state for feedback. It We wi ll have to keep an eye on what would not be reasonable to require is likely that either Rep . Friend of happens. A homeschooling group in that child to return to public school Peoria, APACHE, had Jim Redfield of Delaware County or Rep . Livengood of because he could not show a score Armstrong Co. will soon introduce a Wisconsin speak last weekend about above the 40th percentile ... " influencing legislation . . . I think we revised version of this draft in the WASHINGTON: In April, the stu­ have a good chance to cause any legis­ House of Representatives . dents participating in the "pilot" lation that appears to change in our TENNESSEE: The Senate failed by state homeschooling project (enrolled one vote to pass S . B. 178, which favor, or to disappear. . . " in Debra Stewart's FAMILY CENTERED IOWA: Barb Tetzlaff, who is dis­ would have required homeschooling par­ continuing the O'KIDS newsletter, cau­ LEARNING ALTERNATIVES or Richard ents to have a high school diploma or Wheeler's CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOOL tions homeschoolers to study the pro­ GED to teach grades K-6 and a college SERVICES) will be given a standard­ posed amendments to the Iowa educa­ degree for grades 7-12 . The vote was ized test, and the results will be 16-11 in favor, but 17 votes were tional laws .

LOUISIANA: CITIZENS FOR HOME EDU­ compared to their scores a year ago needed . The matter had not yet been and the scores of 100 public and pri­ CATION, Northwest La . Chapter, acted upon by the House . vate school students. Barbara Because two county courts have repor t s t hat a meeting was held with Mertens, director of the state's the s t ate board of education, home­ ru l ed that the compulsory attendance Office of Private Education, is over­ law is unconstitutionally vague (GWS sc hoole r s, and Representative Woody seeing the testing. - DR #42), the state is trying to get some Jenkins ' office, to work out some sort of new law passed, but the gover­ problems with the latest home study nor threatened to veto S.B . 178 if law . " Under the first option that the college degree requirement were listed things that you could send to FAMOUS UNSCHOOLERS removed . Another bill up for consider­ BESE to prove you were offering a sus­ Deirdre Cox (IL) saw an article tained curriculum, they have changed ation, S . B. 633 & H.B . 215, would in which Gloria Steinem, the editor to read, 'Materials such as .. . ' The simply say a private school can not of Ms . Magazine, stated, "I know my way i t was first written indicated mean "any program of instructioncon ­ mother must have had a teaching certi­ that you had to send all those ducted or primarily controlled by a ficate, because she used it to ward thi n gs . In regard to testing cptions, parent or guardian of any participa­ off the truant officers . " Deirdre th ey wi ll allow the parents to test ting child. " (So even the director of wrote to inquire about this, and th eir own c h i l dren . Previously, it a posh school could no t send h is/ her Gloria Steinem's assistant rep l ied, had bee n sta t ed t hat only a certified child t here?) " Gloria was ' at home' until age 12 ­ t eac he r coul d. If you wish t o have TEXAS: Accordi ng t o the Texas in t hat the family travelled . She th e sc hoo l s t es t you r chil d re n . . . it Home EOUCators Newsle tt er , in Nov . would attend sc hool a few months a wi ll no t cos t an ywhere near th e $35 ' 84 , House BLI I 29 was Lnt roduced

GROWING WI THOUT SCHOOL ING #44

year . At age 12, she started to attend school regularly."

From an article in Horn Book Magazine (1/85) about Patricia Wright­ son, whose book A LITTLE FEAR won the 1984 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction: · .. Patricia Wrightson, for me Australia's foremost contemporary wri­ ter for young people, has never cre­ ated a book that is not exciting in its freshness and originality. Per­ haps one of the reasons is the fact that she grew up in a remote area and received part of her education through the state correspondence school - but only part of it . For she says she was also educated by he r father in "literature, philosophy, and wonder" - quite a legacy for a future novelist, and especially a children's novelist ...

A FAMILY IN NORWAY

From Sue Read (Norway): · . . We have three daughters Alyson (15), Andrea and Tessa (tw ins of 13 ) . They had been in Norwegian schools un til the summer of '83, when we decided not to send them back . ..

Since then we have taught them at home. The first year we had no rigid plan, but emphasized extensive read­ ing. The second year we started cor­ respondence courses - INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE's 7th grade for the twins and English WOLSEY HALL courses for A1yson in preparation for possible 0 level exams.

In September we received word fr om the School Administration that what we were doing was illegal . . . We are permanent residents and are sub­ ject to the same laws as Norwegian citizens . The law says that "Children shall go to elementary school (nine years) .u....~~not ~equhvalent instruction in another ~ . .. ana-­ "The school 'EiOard will supervise obli­ gatory education for those who do not go to the community school and shall, if there is justification for it, ca1r-them in for special t~ · .. Your office gave me the address of Mosse Jorgenson [ teacher and writer on alternative educationJ who was very sympathetic and anxious to help . She knew of only two cases in Norway in which parents had attemp­ ted to keep their children out of school. One was a Lapp family in which the father wanted his son educa­ ted in the Lapp language instead of the required Norwegian, and resorted to the only possible means to escape such schooling - he literally kept him hidden in the mountains and plains. The other family had two young daughters. They had received permission to teach them at home, but that permission was revoked two or three years later because the family, it was said, lacked the neces sary equipment. The family then emigrated to Holland where it would be easier to teach them at home.

Mosse feels that the School Administra tion is very narrow-minded and tyrannical and she welcomes any little chink in the fortress, I think . She took me to a good lawyer, who thought that we should not have any trouble because I am an experi­ enced certified teacher, and because the girls are planning to go to high­ er schools in America or England. He suggested that if we did have trouble they would never force the girls to

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

go to No r wegian schools because t hey are relatively near the school leav­ ing age (16) .

We submitted a lengthy report ( 23 pages) telling what we had done and planned to do, with documents to certify my experience and qualifica­ tions. We included a very long list of English books and supp l ies that we had obtained . I felt optimistic about their decision because I didn't see how they could refuse. They did agree to let us continue, but only if we agreed to the following: 1) We take over all responsibili­ ty for the girls' education .

2) We follow correspondence courses .

3) We allow them to inspect us as much as once a month .

4) We agree to having the girls tested twice yearly in all the re­ quired subjects for children of their age. The testing is to be done in a school, preferably Norwegian, but if we insist they would agree to the English or American schools here .

This last point is ridiculous, because as we have said all along, the girls are academically behind their English peers, and if they are tested in Norwegian after two years of English instruction they will obvi­ ously not do as well as their Nor­ wegian peers. We finally agreed to the testing if the tests were based on the correspondence courses they were taking, and if they did not serve as intimidating interruptions that would impede their progress. We have had no reply to this last state­ ment of ours which was sent two months ago ...

no cases more than five, and that th e schools themselves have found that--­ this is enough to keep students up with their classes . I pers onall y don't think that ~ hours of formal instruction is necessary, since I believe, and have said countless times, that unless it has been asked for, all such instruction impedes and prevents rather than helps learning.

I repeat, it is the schools them­ selves who believe, and prove-Dy rnerr-actions. that for students get­ ting one-on-one instruction, 3-5 hours a week is en?u~h .

--­ -----now-someone Wit legal training could make such a hash of my plain words is a mystery to me . In this case, I hope I may be able to get that misquote corrected during the Prentices' appeal. In any case, above all in Ontario, we must try not to let it spread further. - JH COMPULSORY SCHOOL AGE NEWS

A number of items concerning attempts to lower the compulsory school age or making all-day kinder­ garten mandatory . First, f rom Mary Friedl (IL) : .. . An Illinois committee of state representatives and senators has dropped their idea to lower the compulsory attendance age from 7 to [GWS #4lJ for now . We homeschoolers were not the only ones to protest.

The committee also suggested that l6-18 year olds be allowed to take the GED exa~s to get their high school diploma . Now the y must be 18 and their high school class must have graduated ...

SERIOUS MISQUOTES

Early this yea r the national daily USA Today interviewed me for a story on-Komeschooling. One thing they asked was h ow many homeschoolers are doing it for primarily religious reasons. I said, first of all, that I did not know, and did not think that anyone knew. I then said that though it has been publicly claimed that 85-90% of homeschoolers are doing it for religious reasons, I doubted very much that for the country as a whole the figure was much over 50%. What they printed in the story was that I had claimed that the correct figure­ was 85-90% . Since I did not hear about their mistake until some weeks after the story appeared, when a GWS reader sent it t o me, there seemed no way to correct th e mistake - at least until they interview me again, if they do.

An even more serious misquote was made during the trial of an Ontario homeschooling family named Prentice, who lost in court but are planning to appeal . Some representa­ tive of the government claimed that I had written that 3-5 hours of instruc­ tion were sufficient, the implication being that I meant that 3-5 hours of instruction ~~ were necessaEY ' From this they-Grew the conclusion that since the Prentices did not give their children that much formal instruction, their plan could not be approved.

This misquote is an incredibly garbled version of something I have said often. Let me now say it again.

When children who ordinarily go to school are for reasons of illness or injury unable to go, the schools ordi­ narily send to these "home-bound" pupils visiting instructors who teach the home-bound students on the aver­ age about three hours ~week, and in

Miriam Mangione (NV) told us about Assembly Bill 133 that would have lowered the compulsory school age from 7 t o 6, and later wrote: ... The good news is that all of the bill that wou ld have lowered the age was killed. On Feb . 26 there was an Education Commi ttee hearing on the bill. About 50 people came in who opposed the bill, not t o mention all the rest of us phoning, writing let­ ters to our assemblymen up north, etc . In a conversation wi th the chair­ man of the Education Committee before the hearing, he said th at th e bill would probably not pass since they had been receiving many calls oppos­ ing the bill and no one called in fav or of it . ..

Betty Jones wrote in the news­ letter of the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PAR-

Soon after the latest talk about stream­ lining income taxes began, this appeared on our wall:

Sim p Hned

®

'1l i,ll!fY UlW~\w

Fe der.l lncome Ta x Form . ",JR ... . ...... s.n.I(;,

o.o.~1 of .... "" ..

1 How much money did you make I.. t year '?

Sleol

2 Send it In .

)J.O~([Jl

6 ENT EDUCATORS - KANSAS CHAPTER: . . . With 270 phone calls last April we were able to thwart the attempt to lower the compulsory school age attendance in Kansas. Your input is vital! ...

Jim Shaw ( OH ) sent this follow­

up to our story in GWS #43, a clip­

ping from the Dayton Daily News,

2/22/85:

STR ONG OPPOSITION SURFACES TO ALL-DAY KIND[RGARTEN IDEA ... Strong resistance to the two-month-old plan is coming from educators, school administrators, parents, teachers, and legislators. The officials haven't even been able to find a legislative sponsor to introduce the plan as a bill.

"The reaction to it has been far greater than expected," said G. Robert Bowers, state assistant super­ intendent. "I haven't found a kinder­ garten teacher who is in favor of it . " "It will not go anywhere this session," State Rep. Robert Hickey, D- Day ton, predicted .

Critics' complaints about the plan, which would start whenever legislators de c ide, are many. The pro­ posed 5-hour day is too long, and could force too much of an academic burden on children who are not physi­ ologically ready, they claim . Or it could be little more than a babysit­ ting service for the benefit of work­ ing mothers. And they say the esti­ mated $330 million cost for extra teachers and materials is too high .

Currently, Ohio law requires school districts to offer kindergar­ ten, but children are not required to attend. Most programs are 2~ hours long, but some districts, such as Northmont public schools in Montgom­ ery County, have extended day pro­ grams of four or more hours. .. . Already, "we've pushed the curriculum down. What was mostly first grade work is now what is ex­ pected in kindergarten," said Dr. James Uphoff, Wright State UniverSity education professor. Yet, many 5­ year-olds are not physically ready to write letters and numbers or perform certain skills, Uphoff said. That could lead to frustration that could become "a lifelong learning problem . " . . .

Jim also sent an editorial from the Dayton Journal Herald that said, "New York City nasadopted all-day kindergarten, and five states recent­ ly have made [kindergarten] atten­ dance mandatory . " What are these five states? Could one of them be yours?

We would like GWS readers all across the country to check into the situa­ tion and let us know of any recent changes .

The January GEORGIANS FOR FREE­ DOM IN EDUCATION newsletter says that one of the many provisions in a big education reform hill (H.B. 225 & S.B . 82) would ma k e full-day kinder ­ garten mandatory.

On the other hand, the Michiga n Superintendent of Public Instruction, Phillip Runkel, wrote to a homeschoo l ­ er who was concerned about the state's proposals to provide pre­ sc h ool education: . .. Please be assured that I

agree with your basic philosophy.

Early childhood education should be a time of grace, of wonder, joy, and natural growth; growth that can best be enhanced by the natural inquisi­ tiveness of little children . The Mich­ igan Department of Education will do everything possible to see that the time of natural growth and wonder will not be taken from our young children and has no intention of atte~~toJmaKe t h is a mandatory program .. .

Unfortunately, sometimes the

same battles have to be fought over

and over . Connecticut homeschoolers

tell us that an attempt to lower the

compulsory school Age was made agaA~

this year, even though last year t e

idea had been dropped after a flood

of protests. Kathy Reilly tells us

that this part of the 1985 legisla­

tion has been dropped again, but will

probably be tried again next year.

In GWS #36 we quoted a bit of research that should help anyone in this fight - a study cited in USA Thd 8/30/83, showing that more c i ren who waited a year to start school had above-average grades than those who did not wait. And of course, the British study done by Dr. Barbara Tizard and Martin Hughes that we quote in this issue has much useful ammunition . - DR

1a ,

NEWS ON PART-TIME SCHOOLING The Detroit Free Press : "SHARED TiME" WINS IN STATE'S HICHEST COURT - Michigan public schools must open their elective and supplemental classes to private school students who get their basic education elsewhere, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

"Public schools are open to all residents of the school district ...

This statutory right to public educa­ tion is not conditioned upon full­ time attendance," the high court said in a 4-3 decision .

The decision in favor of " shared time " came in a suit filed in 1981 by the parents of a private school stu­ dent who was barred from joining a band class at Charlotte Junior High School. The Charlotte School District made its decision under a policy against part-time students . The dis­ trict was upheld in both Eaton County Circuit Court and the state Court of Appeals .

Reversing the lower courts, the Supreme Court majority noted that "shared time" has been allowed in Michigan public schools for 60 years and "is consistent with the state's policy of providing and fostering edu­ cation and the right of all school­ age children to public education."

More than 40 of Michigan's 528 public school districts have some ver­ sion of "shared time" with local stu­ dents who learn their core subjects in private schools, according to the state Department of Education. .. . In its decision, the state Supreme Court said public schools do not have to open their basic classes to non - public students, because the state requires private schools to offer a basic curriculum . But public schools that offer their students " non-essential, elective courses .. . must also offer t h em to resident non-public school students," the court said .

"Some relationship between church and state is inevitable," the court said. "The state must accommo­ date, not merely tolerate, all reli­ gions."

The purpose of "shared time," the court said, is secular - "to pro­ vide educational opportunities at pub­ lic schools for all resident, school­ age children whether they attend pub­ lic or religious or secular non­ public schools ."

Attorney General Frank Kelley, who defended "shared time" before the high court, said the decision set "a reasonable tone" that is "fair and equitable for students, school dis­ tricts and taxpayers alike . " "It only seems reasonable," Kelley said, "that if parents pay taxes and the student can work his or her schedule out, and taking a public school course will not create a bur­ den on either the student or the dis­ trict, then the student should be able to take the class . " Joining the Charlotte School Dis­ trict in fighting "shared time " were the Michigan Association of School Boards and the state ' s two major teachers unions, the Michigan Educa­ tion Association, and Michigan Federa­ tion of Teachers. ... Charlotte schools Superinten­ dent Elwood Larsen said: "In recent years, the state has been hard­ pressed to financially support public education. Once you start serving the private schools, you're compounding the problem." ...

From an article by Sandy Madkiff (NJ) in School Watch News, reprinted in the New Jersey Unschoolers Network: . . . The Administrative Code, NJAC 6:27-1.4(a)1:(4)(B), which is known as Plan B for high school graduation, allows local boards of education to give credit for curricular activities other than the regu l ar school pro­ gram. The code also specifically allows a local board to grant up to three diploma credits for private music lessons.

A 1977 survey commissioned by the Committee on High School Gradua­ tion Requirements indicated that at least fifty New Jersey high schools were using Plan B at that time ... A few years ago, a student was excused from physical education because she was practicing several hours a day for the OlympiC ice-skating team . The decision to excuse her from physical education was made as a result of a court ruling.

A State Department official I spoke with verified that Plan B is still in effect, and explained that it is designed for independent study.

He said that a student needs program objectives and a cooperating teacher and the program is usually approved.

He said also that there are no guide­ lines for the program ... It took several phone calls for me to find someone in the State Department who was familiar with the plan ...

From the Shawano, Wisc . Evening Leader, 1/11/85, reprinted in the HOMESCHOOLERS OF WISCONSIN newsletter: ... A program to allow parents to provide alternative education pro­ grams to individual classes was approved by the Bonduel School Board Wednesday.

The unanimous approval for the policy came after lengthy discussion of a specific elementary school

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

situation.

The parents of an elementary

school student pulled their child out of a language arts class last week because of a conflict between the stu­ dent and teacher.

The child is now involved in a tutored language arts program in place of the formal class ...

District Administrator Lyman Franzwa ... said he had no fears that approval of the policy for the family in question would set a precedent for other families to pull students out of classes.

But the mother of the student said she hoped it would set a prece­ dent and that other parents should have the same right for the sake of their children. However, she doubted many other parents would follow .

Elementary School Principal John Reinke spoke against the policy, say­ ing it could set a precedent for stu ­ dents to pick and choose which class ­ es they wanted to attend ... Reinke also said ... that lots of students have problems with lots of teachers.

He said part of the education was learning to get along in such situa­ t ions ...

FINGERPRINT LAW-CALIF. Pamela Pacula (CA) informed us of a new state law that is making some homeschoolers uneasy. Signed by the governor on Sept. 12, it reads:

SECTION 1 . Section 33191 is add­ ed to the Education Code, to read : 33191 (a) Commencing October 1, 1985, the affidavit or statement filed with the Superintendent of Pub­ lic Instruction pursuant to Section 33190 shall, under penalty of per­ jury, include a provision that the private school requires each new em­ ployee having contact with minor pupils and not possessing a valid state teaching credentia l, to obtain a criminal record summary from the Department of Justice pursuant to the requirements of Section 44237 as a condition of employment. (b) In the case of any private school where the instructor also serves as the administrator of the school, the affidavit or statement shall be made available to the par­ ents or guardians of all pupils cur­ rently enrolled in the school and to any parent or guardian considering whether to enroll his or her child in the school.

S£C. 2. Section 44273 is added to the Education Code, to read: 44237. (a) Pursuant to the re­ quirements of Section 33191, the De­ partment of Justice shall issue a criminal record summary for each new employee having contact with minor pupils in any private school required to file an affidavit or statement with the Superintendent of Public Instruction under Section 33190 and which is not exew.pt from the require­ ments of Section 33191.

The criminal record summary shall be issued by the department sub­ sequent to receiving fingerprints and a request from each new employee and exawining criminal records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investiga­ tion and the Department of Justice.

The criminal record summary shall only contain convictions invol­ ving any sex crimes, drug crimes, or crimes of violence for new employees having contact with minor pupils. The department shall furnish the informa­ tion to the employer designated by the requesting employee.

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLI NG #44

(b1 Each new employee shall for ­ ward his or her fingerprints and the request for the criminal record sum­ mary to the Department of Justice on or before the first day of his or her employment . (c) As used in this section, the following terms shall hav e the follow­ ing definitions: (1) "N ew employee" means any per­ son hired to work in a private school on or after July 1, 1985, on a regu­ lar, paid full-time or regular, paid part-time basis who will have contact with minor pupils . ... (4)(f) The Department of Jus­ tice may charge each applicant for a criminal record summary a reasonable fee to cover costs associated with the processing of the criminal record summary . In no event shall the fee exceed the actual costs incurred by the department.

[DR : 1 I don't see any explana­ tion of what is to be done with the fingerprints, and if I lived in Cali ­ fornia 1 would certainly want to know. Are they used simply to obtain the criminal record summary and then discarded? Or are they kept on file, and if so, for what purpose? To be used for investigating any "s ex crimes, drug crimes, or crimes of vio­ lence" that may occur in the communi­ ty? Or could the government later be tempted to use them for something else?

In John's opinion, homeschoolers do not fit the above definition of " New employee" as they are not hired or paid. They would not even have-to draw attention to themselves by claim­ ing that they are exerrpt from this law. What does the law require them to do? To sign an affidavit which says they will require new (paid) employees to get a criminal record summary. Fine, homeschoolers can sign that since they won't have any paid employees . Second, to make available copies of the affidavi t (not the crim­ inal records) to any-other-parents of children in the school . Well, that's easy, particularly since there probab­ ly won't be any other parents .

Taking the experience of Wiscon­ sin homeschoolers as a lesson, home­ schoolers in California should make sure that the revised affidavit real­ ly does comply with this new law and does not exceed its authority or con­ fuse matters further.

This incident shows how easily and quickly states can pass new laws that on the surface may have nothing to do with homeschooling yet could still make it more difficult . Accord­ ing to Parade magazine of 3/17/85, parents-Concerned about crimes that victimize children lobbied the state capitol en masse last fall and got such legislation introduced and passed. Homeschoolers in other states should be alert for similar crusades.

RESEARCH ON ALASKA HOMESCHOOLERS Sue Greene of Anchorage writes :

... During the spring of 1984 I undertook a research project ... the purpose of which was to describe the current school-age home study stu­ dents and families in Alaska. Among the items for description were the reasons for selecting correspondence study, backgrounds of parents or oth ­ er adult home teachers, general atti­ tudes of the parents and students toward the home schooling experience, and approaches taken by the home

teachers in teaching by correspon­ dence study . .. I am providing a copy of the report on that study and a sum­ mary article which might be appropri­ ate for use in GWS. I appreciate keep­ ing informed through the newsletters and hope that this information might be helpful to others .. .

[JH: 1 Well, it surely will be.

Along with the study of homeschoolers in Washington State (available here, $7), this is one of the most exten­ sive studies of homeschoolers that I know of, and its conclusions, very favorable to homeschooling, should be of great interest not just to home­ schoolers but also to legislators, school boards, and the general public .

We hope to be able to add this report to our catalog. Meanwhile, here are some signficant excerpts: ... Centralized Correspondence Study (CC/S) is the state funded ~ro­ gram of elementary and secondary cor­ respondence instruction offered to Alaska students who have no school in the vicinity of their residence; who are traveling ~ith their families; who are working, institutionalized or homebound; or who seek an alternative to the regular public school. In addi­ tion, the program is available to adults who have not completed school and wish to prepare for the General Education Development test. The home study program has been available in Alaska since 1939 and is currently offered free of tuition to all stu­ dents accepted for enrollment. ~ntil 1976 only rural and traveling stu­ dents were eligible for admission to the program. No~ CC/S is available even to those with access to bus and school . According to Department of Ed­ ucation information, correspondence study options are presently offered by thirty-one Alaska school dis­ tricts. Enrollment in the K-12 CC/S program for Fiscal Yeer '83 stood at 1,154 and the other districts' enroll­ ments added another 553. . . . Students are from both the rural, isolated regions and the lar­ ger, more urban areas of Alaska ...

They enrolled both out of necessity and as a voluntary option. Most stu­ dents are taught by the mother, who customarily manages the experience with a flexible schedule but somewhat traditional methods of reciting and questioning . ..

In 1981-82 the Alaska Department of Education initiated a study to assess the effectiveness of the CC/S program. A sample of 193 CC/S enroll ­ ees in grades 1 through 8 was cho-

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sen, of which 37 declined to take part in the study . .. The California Achievement Test was used for math and reading . . . the Alaska Statewide Assessment Tests were administered to all fourth and eighth grade students in the spring of 1981 .. . All tests were administered to CC/S students by the home teachers following the in­ structions of the publishers ... The results demonstrated that correspon­ dence students' erformances were ver­ a

raders scored at least one t lr 0 a stan ar eVlation a ove the national average. On the Alaska Statewide Assessment Tests, the eCIS fourth and fifth raders consistentl ourperIorme t eir A as a c assroom counterparts on all subtests. of additional interest is a com­ parison done between ec/s students who had been in the program less than two years and those who had ceen in the program two years or more. There the long-term students' performances were superior to the short-term ec/s students ...

Whereas the average expenditures per pupil in cities and boroughs in Alaska is $4277 and in Rural Educa­ tion Attendance Areas is $9261, the Centralized Correspondence Study program . . . spends $2487 per student .. .

Only 33% of the sample said they are not located near a school and are not served by bui. Another 4~ indica­ ted that while they are provided cus service, the ride for their students is too long for them to choose school attendance . Students may enroll in CC/S because they will be traveling all or part of a school year, and 22 % of the responses indicated that was at least one of the reasons for their present enrollment . .. The response "\,e believe home study allows the appropriate teaching of religious/ spiritual and moral values along with the academic subjects and basic skills" ... was marked by 58% of the participants, closely followed by 52% indicating a belief that home study allows the "appropriate integration of daily practical life skills along with the academic content . " . ..

Parents were asked how long they planned to keep their students on cor­ respondence study, and their answers varied according to the student.

Among the responses 31% stated they were uncertain, and many expressed a "wait and see" attitude. However, it

was noteworthy that the answers showed that for 69~ of the total stu­ dents from the sample families, the pl an is to have t hem remain in CC/S t hrough twelfth grade . . .

Education background responses regarding the home teac hers are represented in Table 10 . .. The most frequent reply said that the home t eacher had some college education (38%). 25% have completed at least a four-year degree program. 9% have fin ­ ished some postgraduate work, and 4% have an M.A . degree .

[JH: What is significant and striking about these figures is that the 25% percent of homeschool teach­ ers who had four years of college or more is much less than the 36% who had no college at all, and that the number that do not hold a bachelor's degree is almost three times the num­ ber of those that do . So much for the idea that one must have a teacher's cer t ificate or a college degree in o r der to do a good job of teaching

one's own chi ld r en . 1 Teaching experience in public schools was a part of the occupation­ al background of 18% of the home teachers, and one mentioned having taught in a Christian private school ...

47% of the home teachers have other participants in the learning program occasionally ... 25~ indicated that the teachers use other resources in their communities .. . and 18% said they also use local school district facilities and/or materials in con­ junction with the home study program .

27"' of the adults include "prayer, meditation and/or sacred readings as part of the teacher-student activi ty."

Students were asked whether they participate in "community activities such as clubs, sports or church groups with others in [their) age group," and 51 af, responded that they did. Of the 41 who reported that they did not, the question was asked: " ... de vou have friends r.earr v with whom you spend time?" ... 6' " of those who did not have community activities replied that they did have nearby friends with whom they associated ...

ANOTHER ILLNESS CLEARS UP Yolanda Breidenbaugh (l'T) wrote: ... About three years ago, there was an article in the Ogden Standard Examiner about Richard and Joyce---­ Kinmont (UT) and their home school, the AMERICAN HOME ACADEMY. Because of that article I procured a copy of their book ... I was VERY impressed with the whole idea of homeschooling and wanted 2t that time to give it a try. However, my husband was not par­ ticularly sold on the idea. He Eug­ gested that I see what I could do with the preschoolers we had at the time. Not really having caught the spirit of the concept, I went about setting up a "school"

in an extra

basement room, wherein I tried to "teach" my 5- and 3-year-old child­ ren . After the second day I was stricken with a case of mastitis that lasted for three weeks, and somewhat relieved, gave up the idea . However, I always remained convinced that hom~­ schoolers had something that I wanted very much for our children. I just thought I couldn't handle it.

The next scene in the story begins this past fall . .. The first week of school Adam (12) became ill with what was diagnosed as a sinus infection . After a few days of anti­ biotic treatment, he made a dramatic recovery . Much to our dismay, a few days after the medicine was gone, the former symptoms returned, intensi­ fied, a n d were h ere to s t ay for t h e next 3~ months . He had chronic head­ aches, low grade fever, indigestion, and ex t reme s h or tness of breath . He was treated twice again with antibio­ tics, had head X- rays , blood and urine tests, a CT scan, and numerous physical examina t ions . We ~ere refe r red to an allergist . The aller­ gist de t ermined that Adam is allergic to dogs and feathers, so we gave away my cockatiel, took our dog to the farm buildings, had the carpets and upholstery cleaned, washed drapes, etc . , all to no avail .

During this time the school dis­ trict sent a home teacher for two or three hours per week. During one of his brief sojourns back into the school, Adam got the second highest grade on a test that was given, which really made us wonder what they are doing up there at the school, tha t in

two or three hours PER WEEK he could keep up so well .

When I took Adam back to the allergist and told him he was not improving, he took him to an examin­ ing room and checked him over only to find that he was perfectly healthy.

So he left the boy in the examining room and came back to talk to me . He said, "I wonder if you might think Adam's problem might be stress rela­ ted, caused cy tension." I replied, "I certainly do" '" As it turned out, Adam's problems were caused by the social climate at school. He is the type that holds all his hurts inside.

He ~ill not defend himself, doesn't know how. He is a very bright kid, wears glasses, has a pronounced over­ bite, is quiet and bookish - in other words, verv different from the "norm." Over Christmas break, he improved so dramatically, it became obvious to my husband and me that to send him back on January 2nd would be foolish, so ~e sent a note to the principal the next day inlorming him that we had decided to teach Adam at home. He called the next day and very graCiously offered the loan of school materials (we declined ) .

We verv yuickly realized that we couldn't do justice to Adam if we were still engaged in the rat race imposed by the public school sched­ ule, so we decided to unschool the whole family. I contacted Joyce Kin­ mont about how ~e should proceed from a legal standpoint. She said to send a letter to the superintendent of schools stating our intentions, which we did. The principal sent home a form for us to sign, and return, and the next week they all stayed home.

We haven't heard another word ...

Instrumental in our making this decision was a letter we received from some friends who home school in Texas. They were aware of the prob­ lems Adam was having, and strongly encouraged us to pull him cut of school. I remember when I got the let­ ter and became aware of its contents, I didn't even want to read it. But an idea whose time has come has a way of forcing itself into your mind . ..

Jim and I still [eel that we are floundering around, but the kids are fine, so much more content, busy, and HEALTHIER. I am the one who worries. r have gotten all the back copies of GWS and enjoy the reading so much. It is like Sitting down ~ith a loving, wise friend . It is so nice to read about many of the things that I have been thinking about seemingly alone, fo r a long time.

So many days it seems like we don't do much of anything, but on one of the worst of these, I took a moment to really look at what the kids were doing . All at the same time, mind you, April (10) and Autumn (6) were doing fold paintings (they had seen the technique on television the night before), Adam was spinning wool on a drop spindle, and Jason (8) was teaching himself to use the sew­ ing machine. That made me feel pretty good.

More about the spinning. At first Adam was making some fat, ugly yarn, and was getting discouraged, so I got out another spindle and showed him for a few ~oments how I do it . A few minutes later he called my atten­ tion to what he was doing, and 10 and behold, he was making the yarn every bit as good as mine. I have been spinning for 7 years.

They are all learning a lot about cooking, cleaning, and even gro­ cery shopping . I turn them loose in pairs in the store with a list, and I

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

9

very seldom have to exchange anything they have chosen ... We have budding plans for opening a small vegetable stand for the children to run this summer, and also are considering rais­ ing fishing worms. They are all exci­ ted about these projects ...

SKEPTICAL FATHER

A mother told us she had been homeschooling her kids last year, but in the fall her husband insisted that she put the kids back in school be­ cause he didn't think that what they were doing (no formal lessons) was valid. The children struggled along for a few months but by the February holidays, the mother couldn't take it any more . She told her husband that she was not going to make the kids go to school - if he wanted them to go, he was going to have to be responsi­ ore, getting them up and out in the mornings, and listening to their com­ plaints afterwards. The father was out of work so he was home most of the time.

After only three days of this new system, he was willing to keep the children out of school. - DR DEAF CHILDREN AT HOME From Nancy Kirkland (see "Resour­ ces - Deafness"):

· .. We are home schooling our deaf daughter ... Sherrie (7) has been pro­ foundly deaf since birth ... We real­ ized this when she was 4 months old ... At age 9 months she got her first hearing aid. Sherrie entered a special day program in a school near us for the deaf and hearing impaired when she was 3 years old . She was also hyperactive, and though I grieved her absence, in a way it was a relief to have each whole day to myself to recuperate' (And, inciden­ tally, that is the same way the teach­ ers felt about sending her home in the afternoon') But in spite of her energetic personality, she charms the socks off everyone who has worked with her. · .. Sherrie was doing excellent work in school up to the time we took her out. Only her behavior was still a problem to some extent. I thought I might have some problems in this area, but to my surprise, the oppo­ site has turned out to be true. At home we have always controlled her behavior - there were just things she would get away with at school that she'd never even try with us - then we'd have to try to get her back in line again after school was out' Now the rules are alfiats the same and she's really muc ess wild than before . · .. Sherrie has always been in a Total Communication program - so that's what we are doing . I teach her Signed Exact English to facilitate her learning and use of the English language for reading, etc ., but we learn the American Sign Language (ASL) signs on each word where there is a difference, also, because deaf people use this form mainly when con­ versing. We are still deciding on an appropriate speech program because I want to do that myself at home. This requires a little education on my part which I am reading up on present­ ly.

Both of our girls are enrolled in an independent study program through a private Christian school nearby. They are completely flexible

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

on what we want to use for curricu­ lum, and on l y require that we write monthly goals for each subject and the books we will be using, and a once a year test .

Sherrie is in a regular 2nd grade math book and this year, every­ thing else I did with her was based on various miscellaneous resources and books we had, plus 3x5 word cards we made and lessons we wrote ... We have been working from fabulous vocab­ ulary flashcards from Modern Signs Press. In Kit A, there is a picture on one Side, sign on the other - per­ fect for young children. Then Kit B is exactly the same words, with the word and sign. Kit C, more wor d s from rne-Dolch basic Sight-word vocabulary list for elementary schools . These cards have been wonderful' Sherrie loves working with them. To her it's play' In addition to this, our entire family spends two evenings a week working on sign language to develop fluency.

We go to as many places a nd do as rr-any "real life" things as possi­ ble with the kids. We have a local group of homeschoolers who take field trips, etc., together ... [ DR : J Kim Schive (MA) told us that her article (GWS #41) about home­ schooling her deaf son Earl was final­ ly published in the newsletter of the AMERICAN SOCIETY fOR DEAF CHILDRE N (formerly called the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF THE DEAF).

Within a week she received eight let­ ters from parents interested in home­ schooling .

Earl (10 ) was eager to tell us that he had won the regional competi­ tion of the NATIONAL CREATIVE ARTS CONTEST FOR THE DEAF, for a story he wrote about the Revolutionary War. This is particularly interesting be­ cause Earl did not do ~ writing (except for copying some words) until he was homeschooled, less than a year ago . The Schives are waiting for the announcement of the national winner.

SUCCESS STORIES Eileen Snider (CA) writes : ... 1 filed as a private school with no problem ... At first, Dov (8) felt I should amuse him all day . This was solved by going o n a " schedule " (this was alsQ· to make rr-y husband feel better) . I think of it as time that Dov knows I am available to him, and keep it flexible . He enjoys doing workbooks and other "school" things, which keeps my family off our backs .

He does woodworking ~ith his father and likes to cook, both of which involve lots of math . People find this very hard to accept; if he ' s not sitting in a classroom, how can he possibly be learning fractions?

My mother worries that if I'm not making him read out loud every day (which he loathes), how can I be sure he has good comprehension ? He can follow a recipe and turn out a decent loaf of pumpkin bread; he can read an offer on the back of a cereal QOx, follow directions, and send away for this and that. This isn ' t compre­ hension?

My mom also worries about his vocabulary and spelling skills. You learn vocabulary by reading, and spelling (and punctuation, too) by writing, NEITHER of whi ch were being done in school.

Dov took the CTBS at schoo l last

June (end of 1st grade) and his over­ all grade placement was 2.9 . In Decem­ ber I gave him the next level of the CTRS (mostly to protect us if th e school district should come calling, but also because it ' s an academic skill he cou ld need) and his overall score was 3 .9 . ..

And from Linda Flood ( OH ) : ... Bethany, our 7-year-old, is enrolled in our local school but com­ pletely taught at home! We followed all John Holt's advice and sugges­ tions found in GWS. We have received very helpfu l and supportive treatment from the school district . We arc their first homeschoolers so both they and we are feeling our way .. . We have comp l e te use of school facili­ ties, a liaison person assigned and a teacher willing to give help should we desire it ... One of the reasons we received such ~ h ole-hearted accep­ tance was the "thoroughness of o ur preparation" (quote from the Director of Pupil Services). That was due to GWS #38 in which an official from Pa. listed areas to cover in the approach to school authorities. Very helpful ...

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN MARIPOSA

From Pam Gingold ( CA ) : .. . We were told that we absolute­ ly could never register our home as a private school or do independent study in this community ... We had just moved here and gotten "turned in " by a neighbor who just could not seem to tolerate our children's free­ dom ... Although I did not believe that there was nothing we could do, [ did believe that a terrible problem existed that we would have to fight ...

At first I told the prinCipal and the truant officer who came t o see us that I would need time to decide whether to send cur children to the one private school they have here (tne-born-again variety) or to the public school . They gave me a week to make my decision, after which time I did not call them back. How­ ever, after a month passed during which time I waited too anxiously, I did call, and explained in detail wh y 1 did not want to send my kids to either school, but would agree to d o independent study, or register my home as a private school . I explain e d that Jeremiah had attended a privat e school in L.A . (actually just a home­ schooling group with an affidavit ) and was continuing his studies through correspondence with his teach­ er there. I said I would be glad to take the case to court if I had t o , because I could only refuse to try t o fit my children into their school situation . Jeremiah reads about 4 or 5 grade levels above his own, but could not function in a busy-work wri­ ting classroom because he hates to write' He really would be more trou­ ble than anything . And t pointed Gut that if they allowed him to do inde-

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10

pendent study, they'd get their mo ney just the same. He told me that they didn't care about money ( an obvious falsehood in this poor community), on l y that children spend their time in school . He wouldn ' t even deba t e that our children would get a better education at home' . . . 1 agonized over it every day, waiting for something to happen. I did write letters t o everyone r knew, out l ining our problem and asking for suggestions . What I mainly wanted to know was : if they had a provision for Independent Study in their policy ­ didn't they have to consider letting us do it? Wasn ' t it our right as tax­ payers? The truant officer told us that we could fill out a form, but that the Superintendent wouldn't even consider it - it was only for c hild ­ r en with compelling needs, and then only for grades 7-12' No one was encouraging - if the school district does not wish t o allow you to form a private school or do independent study, you seem to have no rights at all ' For some reason this man intimi­ dated me so much that I didn't even want to approach the Superintendent of Schools . I thought he'd be much worse than the truant officer ...

I did get a call the last day of school in June (this had all sta rt ed i n February) to find out if t he kid s would be attending school in Sep t em­ ber. I gave some noncommital answer and th at was that, but I was already planning to worry for the next three months .

A few weeks later I received a letter from the State Department of Education . It turned out to be a very nice letter from Lynn Hartzler inform­ ing ~e that there was a very fine Independent Study Program operating in ou r county (Mariposa)' We were in shock; after all we had been informed that their ISP was practically non­ existant, and certainly never used for enrichment, onl y as Run is hm e nt.

Nancy Reckinger, whom I a d met throug h your " Professors Willing t o He lp Homeschoolers" list when I was back in L. A. , had sent my letter t o her on to Lynn Hartzler, who was a friend of hers. How ~onderful it was' Lynn Hartzler also sent a copy of his l ette r t o the Mariposa School Dis­ tri c t, so th ey knew we were now informed ... I called the Spring Hill Alternative School [the contact Lynn Hartzler recommended ] and talked to Kathy Hill, wh o turned out to be very suppo rti ve of homeschooling.

We filled out an ISP form . . . I thought it would be a good idea to visit the superin t e nd ent before the school board vote, so the whole fami­ ly went to town to pay him a visit.

It was funny - he was such a quiet, unassuming person that we had to urge him to ask us questions' I' m not sure no w he coula-determine anything about us (probabl y he just didn't really care) but I suppose we impressed him that we we re serious in our desire t o teach our own children, because he did urge th e school board in our favor. . .. Within days not onl y we re our children allowed to homeschool, but the school board voted to a ll ow a ll s tudents from K-12 the op ti on' . . . It all happened ,so fas t th a t we we ren't sure what we had done.

Through the ye ars I thought I had learned to deal with businesses such as the phone company and PG&E by goi ng straight to the supervisors and not getting upset by what the clerks may feel the y have to tell me about "the rules ." But I thought the sc hool

system was above a ll th at' (I know ­ where have I been?) I'd like to have other GWS readers reminded not to believe everything the sc hool "author­ ities" might tell you' And part of the reason I wanted

to do ISP is because I resent having

to be "scared" of the school system .

I want to be respected by them as a

teacher, not snea k ing around getting

away with something ...

Kathy Hill, our ISP teacher, is a real l y fine person and ~e a ll enjoy visiting wit h her each week. I was impressed with her from the start, when she gave each child a very mini­ mal entrance-level test. She was so relaxed about t h e whole thing that the kids didn ' t even know they were being tested. When Je r emiah (8) got tired of taking the spelli n g test, she told him " Never mind, you can fin­ ish it next week ...... When we left she said, "You're doing so well with your children that I'm not sure I'll be able to help you at all, but at least it ' s legal." . .. 1 gave Kathy a copy of GWS #42 in which an Independent Study Pro­ gram was discussed [ Tuolumne County ] , and suddenly she got many ideas on what we can do: use supplies, films, projectors, globes, and library books from the district office, attend teacher's confere nces if t hey ever have a n y .. . Jeremiah can join school band, and Kathy can make copies of the Home School newsletter he puts out fo r all his GWS pen pals .

We have not had to make ~ con­ cessions in regard to curricuTUm ­ all they care about is that the child­ ren are involved in four hours daily of " learning activities ." They don't even stipulate that those hours should include one hour of math, or English, etc . ' All I have to do each day is fill out a form saying they did four hours of work. Everything they do is to be considered school­ work: discussions, educationa l TV, penpal l etters, building with Legos, e t c . What we get down on paper we bring in, so Kathy has a file with some of their work ... Sometimes, like most homesc hoolers, we go for weeks doing virtually nothing . Bu t, also like most homeschoolers, we usually come out ahead' . ..

NOT " L.D." OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL Sue Himel (NO) wrote: 5/84: ... Bryan (8) has been de­ scribea-oy the sc hoo l system as hav­ ing an attentional deficit disorder wi~h h yperactivity, a nd as being a behavior problem who can't get along in a group of any size . They want him medicated. We have refused to do so since th e r e is nothing ~rong with his a tt ention span or physical activity level outside of school . The psycholo­ gist that we hir ed to eva lua te Bryan a nd ac t as a consul tant to the school says that he is not hyperactive and clear l y doesn't need medication. . . . When th e school ' s p r ograms and recommendations for Bryan reached the point of being ridi culo us, we stoppe d sending him to school . Within four da ys we found ou t th at the super­ intendent was ready t o notify the sta te's a tt o rn ey that we were in vio­ l atio n of the state's compulsory attendance laws . I immediately took Bryan to my sister's h ome i n New Orleans. There he remains out of school and is successfully avoiding the system since it is so l arge .

He ' ll come home again in a few weeks when the school term is over her e ...

2/85: ... Bryan returned to u s in No r th-oaKota in late May. Over the summer we worked with our attorney to deve l op a strategy to get the school system to provide Bryan wit h a home tutor or to supervise my tutoring of him. A licensed therapist, who had seen Bryan periodically over the last 2~ years, made the recommendation t hat he stay at home and take a brea k from the h ighly stressful classroom environment. Her recommendation was not accepted because s he was not an M. D ...

We did not send Bryan to school in September. We received a few let­ ters from the Assistant Superinten­ dent for Elementary Education about Bryan ' s truancy. He sent a sc hool socia l worker out to t he house on ce to ask ~here Bryan was. That was pure harassment since he knew exactly where Bryan was. In one meeting with the Assistant Superintendent and our attorney, it was suggested that I apply for a certificate and try to get approved as a private school . I was puzzled since I knew they were aware that I was only eligible for a secondary certificate in mathematics .

I immediate l y applied for the certifi­ cate ...

We had been dealing with the city school system. The County Super­ intendent was very helpful and quick­ ly gave me approval . She is not in favor of homeschooling, but she be­ lieved that our son was a special case and that we had cone everything we could to secure an appropriate pub­ lic education for Bryan . ..

About Bryan's so-called learning disability - we see no evidence of a learning problem. He learns quickly and easily . He does have difficulty concentrating if his environment is noisy and his interest in the materi­ al is low. The educational expe r ts called this an Attentional Deficit Disorder . I call it normal. He also acts in a manne r which could be cal l ed hyperactive in very stressf ul situations . The school ' s staff said that the answer to this problem was drugs . I told them that it made more sense to remove th e source of the stress . I'm afraid if the experts eva l uated my behavior they would find that I also have an Attentional Defi­ cit Disorder. Bryan may we ll be " school disabled, " but I don't ce­ lieve that has anything to do with his ability to learn .

In the six IDonths that Bryan has been homeschooled, he progressed from being barely able to read a seco nd grade textbook to being able to read just about anything. I know very lit­ tle about teaching reading. I simply read to Bryan, had him read to me, and made sure that books he wou ld enjoy were available to him . He taught himself to read because he wa nt ed to know what was in the books ...

Since he's be e n at home he ha s had more time to pursue his i nterest in drawing. One day he discovered how to draw in perspective and spent the next two days wa lk ing around the house draWing va ri ous pieces of furni ­ ture from different points of view .

He would never ha ve made that discov­ ery in school. Hi s father and I we r e very excited since h e is on l y 8 .

Bryan wasn 't sure what the fuss was all about because it seemed so natur­ al t o him to draw objec ts as they appear t o th e eye. . .. When Bryan was firs t diag­ nosed as L.D . I began reading books and articles on the subject . There doesn't seem to be one widely accept­ ed definition of a l ea rning disabili-

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

11 ty. Instead, I found list after list of symptoms and indicators ... Bryan can be pretty stubborn at times and refuses to do repetitious drill. His handwriting is sloppy and right now he is not the least bit interested in improving it . He does not like to write things down because his mind works so much faster than his fingers can move his pencil. But, why can't medical and educational professionals see through those things ? I'm begin­ ning to wonder if classifying a child as L.D. is the school's way of absol­ ving itself from blame when a child doesn't learn, by trying to place the deficiency within the child . .. I'd really like to hear from other home­ schoolers who have so-called learning disabled children about their home learning expe riences with their children .. .

Our case has a happy ending. I'm afraid that is not so for ot her home­ schooling families in North Dakota.

Several families have been prosecuted here, but I have not yet heard of any decisions ...

in a private school - we fill their needs, they fill ours. We have had a small course in boatbuilding with the kids actually working on a 36-foot sailboat, seeing lumber planed £nd counting th e rings in a tree to see how many years of growth go into one boat. We have had offers from r eti red journalists, carpenters, cabinet builders, signpainters, basket­ weavers, potters, librarians. Two day­ care centers offered to allow the children to work there one morning ~ week. One of the centers has several hearing-impaired children and the kids are learning hands-on sign lang­ uage. One herb shop and a health food store offered to allow the children to work there also, to see the appli­ cation of academics. We call this, for the benefit of the public school authorities, Reality Centered Learn­ ing . We give everything we do with the kids a buzzword like that ...

There are many things available to a non-profit private school . For example , we can visit for free any non-profit museum in Massachusetts .. .

ANOTHER L.D. LETIER

DIPPING INTO THE SCHOOLS

From Kri s Ha 11 berg (see "Resour­ ces - Learning Disabilities"):

Longtime GWS contributor Ann Bodine writes from her new home in California:

... My son is bright, yet he is what the sc hools call L . D.. . Hi s hand­ writing is illegible even to him. He spells poorly, and often leaves whole words out of sentences . ... Let me tell you about an experience we had in r egular school last year. The L.D. tutor, his teach­ er, the principal, and my husband and I met regarding D's progress. We decided to try using the typewriter, because apparently it does help with people similarly plagued. In a matter of a month the tutor expected ~erfect typing and perfect assignments. I questioned her (and later told the principal) about the timing, a nd was told, in effect, D does not really try, and because of our interference he never would. D hates the typewri­ ter now {but at age 6 typed everyone of his vocabulary words which took over three hours) ...

For a while I blamed myself and D for yet another failure. Reading back issues of GWS, I realized why the idea was almost surely doomed to fail - like most school plans, it was done to the child, he had no part whatever in the planning . To D it was just another way he was different, and school does not like "different" kids ....

SCHOOL LEARNS FROM COMMUNITY In GWS #43, Lisa Boken (MA) described how several homeschooling families banded together to form an approved private school. Later, she wrote: ... One of the benefits we found in establishing and enrolling in Abbington Academy is a sad but true commentary on the fact that many peo­ ple are more willing to give their time to an established school (or at least an organized group of families) than to a parent with a child . We put up posters around the communities explaining the basic nature of the school and we asked for volunteers to teach anything that they might be familiar with, and we gave a list of the things the students expressed an interest in learning about. People seem to like to be a part of teaching

GRO WING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

. .. Jonathan and Karina started school for the first time in Septem­ ber in the 5th and 4th grades. They attended an alternative school rather far from h ome (which forced them to get up at 5:45 AM and to spend too long on the school bus and too long away from home) until Thanksgiving ...

We see ourselves as dipping into the schools from time to time to take advantage of anything they might have to offer, and then stepping aside for a time whenever the negative out­ weighs the positive. The kids did gel some good things out of their Sept.­ Thanksgiving schooling, but when it became a drag we just relaxed back into homes choo 1 ing. Jon thought he might like to homeschool until next September, but I urged him to try the neighborhood school because 1 had l ea rned that one 5th grade teacher is a wonderfully warm and creative being. When I visited her class I found it to be true, and ~onathan is very happy with the few days he has spent there .

Karina visited the same school for a few days when she came out of the alternative school. She had ro choice of teacher since 2 of the 3 4th grades were full. The teacher she would have had gave daily timed math tests . After a few days Karina h ad almost developed a full-blown case of math anxiety - and yet she does well at math' She was missing 16 out of 20 on the tests just because "Hurry up, you only have 7 minutes left" was making her nervous. (S he had gotten all A's and B's in math at the alter­ native school . .. ) . Anyway, she ' s happy as a clam at home now, but we all hope that next year she can go to 5th grade with the teacher Jon has . ..

When my oldest was ready to start kindergarten, I visited th e school the spring before and decided there was no way he was going to set foot in that class. 1 realized there might be good teachers in the 1st o r later grades but never even went to visit them because 1 thought, "What good will it do if there's a good 1st grade teacher, if the 2nd grade teach­ er is not good? If I start him ~ith a good teacher one year he might just have to come ou t later and that would

be harmful." I no longer understand why 1 thought that would be harmful As long as the child is there by choice and free to leave without any accusations or emotional turmOil, then I think sma ll doses of school can be helpful . ..

One thing that's important to me is that Jon has only about half an hour homework several times a week, and it's fun homework. Last night his homework was to draw a fish and label its innards. He then spent over an hour framing his drawing and covering it with plastic wrap , but that was (or his own p l easure. One of the ot h­ er 5th grade teachers gives 3 hours of homework per night...

------­ ------Last summer I called the public school administrative offices and spoke to an administrator (not a secretary). I asked if it wOUTd be possible for my children to attend school part time. She told me abso­ lutely not, under no circumstances .. .

Yet when J went in to the neighbor­ hood publiC school and spoke quite openly to the kind and helpful assis­ tant principal, and told her about Jon's tackground and abilities, one of her first questions was whether Jon would like to attend only part of the day' She said she would be glad to allow that or almost anything else that was in his interests . ..

LIFE AT HOME Ginger Beckstead (TX) wrote: ... Each time I complained to Kim, mv husband, that the kids should be doing ~ore than they got in school , he would say that it was my responsibil ity to see that they did it. I found myself trying to work all the thing~ I felt were important ( music , chores, Spanish, sports, read­ ing. solitarv time, (amily time, etc . ) arnund school . It was impossi­ ble. ~ow ~ith homeschooling we have the time to do all those things.

Both Kim and I speak Spanish because we lived in Colombia till Jason was 6 . Jason spoke and read Spanish. Soon after beginning school here he refused to answer me when I spoke Spanish to him . He had gotten the idea that it was dumb to speak Spanish - an embarrassment . Schools have somehow given the idea that to speak one language, English, is smart­ er than to speak two languages, if one is Span i sh. Now ~'e s pend a short while each day speaking Spanish or reading stor i es in Spanish . The child­ ren are beginning to speak some and understand everything .

I require each child to write one page in their journal each day.

They can copy from a book, write a whole ~age of one letter or anything else, just so it is filled . Johanna (6) has shown such an evolution . She asked how to write "I love Mom. I love Dad," and filled at least 100 pages with that - plus pictures and random letters. Then she started making words that I couldn 't read cut she read them to me. Slowly 1 am able to pick out words . Chris (8) writes very eaSi ly, not stopping to deliber­ ate, and uses vocabulary that would impress a schoo ltea cher - but that I never saw in the children's writing in school . I think he feels free to Foreign Language Tapes, Books, Records Send SASE to Foreign Languages Through Song and Story PO. Box 293. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho B3B14 (20BI667·6215

12

experiment with words, and so far, he uses them correctly . Amy (LO) has written a short novel in her journal.

She keeps two, one for stories and another under lock and key. Jason (12) is beginni ng to use more descrip­ tion and express his feelings as he writes about his experiences . I now write each day, too. What a wonderfuL record it will make for my children and their children to read someday, so they won't feeL alone in their struggles and so we wilL feel a closer bond.

The older children and 1 pick a book or subject to study together. We read and research the subject as ques­ tions arise. For example, we read JULIE AND THE WOLVES, which got uS interested in wolf communication, cold weather survival, Alaska, Eski­ mos, caribou, balance of life, etc .

We read a lot until we tired of it.

Now each time we see something new about any of these subjects, we are eager to find out and tell each other . When we heard about the drown­ ing of hundreds of caribou because of mismanagement of a dam, we felt a per­ sonal loss. [ expected more of an adjustment period after starting homeschool but we haven't had any. The kids are happy and play together much better t ha n be fore ...

People come up to me and ask if

I am "holding up" under all this

stress . I wish they could understand

that I am happier than I have ever

been ...

From Teresa Tittley (Que . ): ... 1 was worried about moving back into a big City like Montreal (and we live right in the City, too) because I prefer living more in the country. But it has been very educa­ tional for Nathan (9) and Naomi (7).

They can walk to the grocery store, drug store, post office, etc . It's nice not having to use our car. We walk everywhere, or take the Metro (subway) or bus. The children go to the corner grocery for me all the time. They take a list, select the items, and handle the money. When they get home they enter the amount spent into the family budget book.

They go there so often that the gro­ cers know them by name and are really pleased to see them come into the store . The store is operated by a fam­ ily from Greece, and they often give the children treats from Greece . My husband's mom was in the store recent­ ly and mentioned to the owners that Nathan and Naomi did not go to school . They were astounded. They told her they thought the kids were so smart and so polite ...

1 am very involved in handi­ crafts - I quilt, sew, applique, and do counted cross stitch . Whenever I am busy at one of these activities, Nathan and Naomi always beg me to let them do it, too. 1 had compromised by letting them work on a latch hook kit, not because they particularly wanted to, but because I thought it was easy, while counted cross stitch, which involves following a graph, and counting the stitches on the fabric, is "hard." Anyway, 1 suddenly one day realized that my real reason for not letting them do it was my own lazi­ ness. I didn ' t want the hassle of cut­ ting the fabric, making a pattern, choosing what color thread, etc.

Well, I needn't have worried. They had in their own minds exactly what they wanted. Nathan got a piece of graph paper and proceeded to explain,

in detail, what he wanted on his sampler, what colors he planned to use, and everything. It on~y took r'e about 15 minutes to set him up. He went to work enthusiastically, even threading his own needle, and one day later, he'd made a really beautiful sampler with the entire alphabet, his initials, flowers, two crosses, and more. Not only that, but the work was very professionaL - neat, even stitch­ es; no adult could ' ve done a better job ' We took it to an art store and had it framed . Naomi and Nathan then proceeded to cross stitch little tree ornaments for gifts, and Naomi has designed a sampler to begin working on. ... That experience encouraged me to loosen up even more. I always had encouraged them to do things in the kitchen, but now T don't hover over them every minute. Just this week they woke cp with a powerful appetite for pancakes. 1 said, "Fine, but you'll have to make them yourselves, I don't have the time this morning. " All I did was set up the recipe book, and get down the mixing bowl and measuring cups which were too high for their reach. They followed the recipe and cooked them on the elec­ tric griddle, and they were delicious (I found the time to sit down and eat some I) ••• A Letter from Missouri: . .. 1 have changed our homeschool­ ing format quite a bit since reading your publication. I really had a flash of insight when I read about the woman who felt lethargic when parts of her day were structured for her and she would sit around waiting for the next planned activity. I thought Anisa (5) wasn ' t very crea­ tive or self-motivated sometimes, because after we had finished a class­ time together she would sit around and watch TV or color in a coloring book. But reading that article made me realize that much of my own in­ activi t y occurs on days filled with outside obligations and appointments.

When I am between them, I can 't seem to move from my chair or begin any­ thing. Now I feel that Anisa was re­ acting in much the same way. . . . Now over breakfast, we decide what things we need to do and want to do and what places of interest are located near or on the way to our necessary errands, and we make sure we allow time for relaxing, for being able to change pLans and make use of unexpected opportunities, for unseen problems and setbacks. I am a very organized person and did well in the traditional school system, so this new way of planning the day is still a little hard for me to adjust to, but we are giving ourselves time and not making any judgements. ... Anisa had seemed very inter­ ested in reading and had been able, wit h very little help, to read a whole cook by herself before we began a systematic, intensive phonics pro­ gram. While we used that format, she ceased trying to read on her own and only read the words we used in class and only during the class ... Well, 1 decided that trying something differ­ ent for a while wouldn't hurt ... We stopped the phonics lessons and began to just read together whenever and wherever we wanted to. We read et rest times or bed times, we take a couple of books along to the park to relax with after hard playing. Today Anisa read an ABC poem book to me while I washed and dried my hair. She

is beginning to realize that the whole world is a learning place and that she can try anything, anywhere . ... 1 also wanted to suggest that, if children want to correspond with one another, they might use cassette tapes . It is often much easi­ er to talk than to put something into writing, and hearing a voice conveys more of the personality of the speak­ er ... Most people have tape players now as they are so reasonably priced and tapes are, too ... .. . Anisa and I are constantly at the library or taking classes in things we want to know about. I love the local YWCA, where classes and mem­ berships are very inexpensive and the courses are relatively short and [un.

My annual membership is $10 and my daughter's is $1 ' And the average eight week course costs about $12- 15.

You can pursue a new interest for that small expenditure and not be upset i [ you don't do well or feel guilty if you want to quit. We also have inexpensive park classes ...

Anisa had been taking ballet and tap, but upon discussing what she liked best, she said the acrobatics part of the class' ... So she has quit dancing classes - although she still does some of the steps at home [or fun ­ and is embarking on a gymnastics Course ...

HELEN 'S "GOCKS" Helen Van Doren (17 mos.) is racing, bursting into the world of spoken language . Every day, Mary tells me, she comes up with new words. Mary is trying to keep some kind of written record of these as they arrive. but it's hard to keep up, they come so fast .

Some of these words puzzle us, and the one that perhaps puzzles us the most is "gocks," which right now is Helen's word for socks . The reason it is puzzling is that Helen has never had any trouble making the sound 0 f S. Indeed, "S-s-s" was one of her first "words"; it was her way of telling Mary that she wanted to nurse . Since then I have heard her use the same sound to mean other things. So why, when she wants to talk about socks, should she begin with the sound of G, a sound which, by the way, she has not used ~ery much in other contexts? And I might add that in terms of how the sound is made in the mouth, it is about as far from the sound of S as one can get, the S at the end of the tongue and in the front of the mouth, the G back in the throat. Puzz ling, and all the more so since s he says things like "shoes," and clearly knows what we mean when we say "socks."

Like Bridget Finn saying "Him did it" (GWS #38), Helen is clearly not imitating anyone when she says "gocks." She has a reason for saying it. It is part of some baby theory she has about how language works. The odds are that we will never know, and that Helen will soon forget, what the reason and the theory were. Now and then I think that perhaps Helen feels that the sound of S has all the mean­ ings it can hold, that she can't use the S for the beginning of the word "socks" because it already stands for too many other things. But that's just a wild guess.

Maybe Helen just likes the word "g ocks." (It is quite ~) One of Helen's word inventions that I very much like is one I have never heard from any other little children, including her older sister

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOL[NG #44

13 Anna . It is the command , "Do it'" Sh e will say it if there is something s h e wants you to do, but also if there is somethi ng s h e wants you t o stop doing (meaning" I ' ll do it") . Depend ing on the circumstances, it can also mean " Open it," " Close it," "Put it togeth­ e r," o r "F ix it."

Another word Helen has recently l ea rned is "h ood, " meaning the hood of a parka. In this e nd-o f-win t er weather, s h e won't let me go out­ doors, won ' t even let me go out of the office, if I am wea ring a parka, unless I put the hood up . If s h e sees me with the hood down, she says, "Hood' Hood' Hood' " unt il I put it up.

One of these days Helen will stop saying " gocks." We "i ll try to notice when s h e does it , but we are n ot likely to know any more about why she stops saying "g ocks " than we do abou t wh y s h e started . For the learn­ ing of c h ildren ca nnot be predicted, planned, or programmed. The more we try to control children ' s learning, the more we slow it down; if we per­ sist long enough, we may stop it altogether. - JH

BRITISH STUDY: SCHOOL & HOME The newsletter of the British h omeschooli n g group EDUCATION OT HER­ WISE described a recent study showi ng that "home - even a wor kin g class home - is a far richer source of i ntell ec tual growth than a nur sery class ." The Boston Public Library had on microfilm the two ar t icles E . O. had quoted, one from the London Times of 9/14/84 and the other, the T imes Educational Supplement of 9/3/ ~ Both are very exciting reading. The researchers, Dr. Barbara Tizard and Martin Hughes, used tiny r adio micro­ phones to record and analyze inter­ actions between 4-year-old children and their mothers and teachers, and put their findings i nt o a book, YOUNG' CHILDREN LEARNING, whic h we h ope to be ab l e to sell here. Meanwhile, here is a good deal of the T.E.S. article, which is taken from the-DOOk: ... Our study of 30 four-year-old girls at home and at sc h ool raises some fundamental questions about how young children think and learn, and the role which adults ca n play in helping them. These questions a r e im port a nt for any consi der~ti o n of the kind of care and education that sho uld be provided outside the h ome .

They are also relevant to the ques­ tion of what kind of parent educa­ tion, if any, we should provide.

It was clear from our observa­ tions that the home provides a very powerful. lea rning environme nt. In­ deed, its potentialities for learning must be considerably more extensive than we were able to show, because we did not by any means wi tne ss al l the chi ldr en's important ex peri ences.

Nevertheless, even from the lim­ ited sample of their lives that we observed, it was clear that they were learning a great deal a t h ome .

We found that this le arning cov­ e r ed a very wide range of topics, but was especia ll y con cerne d with the social world. Play, games , stories and even formal "lessons" provided e ducati o n al contexts, in the course of which a good deal of gener a l know­ l edge as well as early lit eracy and numeracy skills, were transmitted.

But th e most freque nt learning con­ text was that of everyd ay living. Si m­ ply by being around their mothers, talking, a rguing and e ndle ssly ask ing que stio n s, th e c hildren were being

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

provided with large amounts of infor­ mation relevant to growing up in our c ulture.

An extensive r a ng e of activities take place wit hin , or from the base of, th e home .. . Pa r en t and child s hare a common li fe , stretching back into th e past, a nd forward into the futu r e . This vast b ody of s har ed experience h elps the mother to under­ s ta n d what h er c h ild is saying, o r intending to say, a nd the c hild to make sense of her present expe ri e n ces by r elating them to past expe rien ces , as wel l as to her existing framework of knowledge.

A third ~ignificant aspect of the home environment is th e small num­ ber of children wh o h ave to share the adult's time and attention ...

Home l earning is often embedded in contexts of great meaning to the chi ld. Making a shopping li st , h elp­ ing wit h the baby, writi ng to Granny, deciding how many cakes are ne e d ed for tea, playing card games, a r e activities that, because of their interest to the c hild, make it easy for her to learn . This principle is wel l understood in primary education, but it is much easier to put int o effect in the home than in the school .

The close, and often intense, relationship between mot h e r and child may at times hinder lear ning - we saw h ow stories and games were ofte n in t erfered with by the child's demands. It does, however, keep the chi ld near her mother a nd i n conse­ quence able to l ea rn from h e r, and it allows the child to express her ques­ tions, puzzles and anxiet i es freely. . .. The worki n g-c l ass mothers we studied were just as concerned to teach their children as the middle­ class ones . There was, however, some evidence of a difference in values, attitudes and educational priorities in homes of different social class .

The working-class mothers seemed to place l ess stress o n introducing their daughters to a wider range of genera l knowledge, information and vocabulary, encouraging them to be exp li cit, a n d answering th eir ques­ tions. On the other hand, some placed more stress on helping their daugh­ ters to acquire domestic and mother­ ing skills and an understanding of the role of money and work in th e fam­ ily's activities . They tended to favo r more " traditional " app r oaches to teaching l iteracy and nymeracy .

Although they spe nd just as long as the middle-class mothers playing wi th their children , the wo rking- class mothers were less likely to use play as a vehic l e fo r educatio n.

These differences seemed t o us to amount to a difference in lan guage style and educational a ppr oach , r ath­ er than to a "l anguage deficit" in working-class homes . Al l the basic language usages were observed in all the homes; the social c las s diff er­ ence was in the freque n cy of th e usages.

Our a n alysis of the conversa­ tions at home led cs to an e nhan ced res pe ct for th e i nt el l ec tual activi­ ties of four-year-olds . Childr en are by no means passive absorbe r s . On th e cont r ary , their ow n intellectual efforts are an essentia l part of th e learning process. Even with the most attentive mothers this process was not always easy . In all the h omes many questions we nt unanswered, much left implicit, misunderstandings were often undetected by the mothers, fu ll explanations were rarely given, and ma ny ex plan ation s were definitely mis ­ l ea ding . Armed wi th o nly their curios­ ity, l ogic and pers is tence, the child­

ren tackled the task of making sense of a world they imperfectly under­ stood . .. . Ou r s tudy suggests that the kind of dialogue that seems to help the child is not that currently fav­ ored by many teachers in which the adult poses a series of questions . It is rather one in which the adult lis­ tens to the child's questions and com­ ments, helps to clarify her ideas, and feeds h er the information she asks for.

The nursery school as a learning environment is very different from that of the home . In the first place, the nursery staff hav e to socialize children into the world of school .

The child has to learn a new code of behavior, she must also learn to fol­ low the school routine. Further, she must learn how to make herself under­ stood to strangers, and how to under­ stand the intentions and communica­ tion requirements of the school staff .

However, the most striking dif­ ference between home and nursery school is the way in which the schoo l focuses on play . The children learn social skills through pla y ing with each other . By experimenting ~ith sand, wate r , bricks, paints, and so on, they acquire an understanding of the physical world which many regard as the necessary precursor of mathema­ tical and ~cientific knowledge . For anyone holding a Piagetian model of l earning , this environment is ideal .

The inevitable disadvantage, how­ eve r , of providing an environment entirely geared to play is that the possibility of children Learning by watching and taking part in the adult world is thereby excluded . The staff ' s role becomes one of watching over and talking to the children, rather than the~selves engaging in adult activities, which might serve as interesting and challenging ffiodels to the children.

At the same time, the other prominent theme in present nursery training, the importance of fostering language by questioning children, means that staff-child interaction tends to be dominated by this aim .

The dialogue that ensues is very dif­ ferent from conversation at home, and often seems educationally ineffec­ tive . This is because the children frequently fail to answer, or become confused by the staff's questioning, and fail to contribute to the conver­ sation themselves. The puzzling mind of the four-year-old has no outlets in a setting where the child ' s basic role is to answer and not ask ques­ tions . [ DR: The Times printed this exam-

Home School Manual

THE

By TedWade and s i x others

.. • . a very useful book for pare nts who a r e considering teaching th e ir children at home. " United Press Internationa l . " .• . the best and most c omplete m a nual w e have found on home schooling." - Th e Teaching Home. " Home school parents who order thi s book will not be disappointe d. " Th e CLASS RLVIl:W. Christian Uberty Academy.

A rew o r th e 22 c h apters: Parents and ed uc ation . Keeping peace wHh school authorities. Helping children lea rn . Teac h ­ ing several children . [arl y education . Tedching reading.

Teaching m a th , Social devel op m ent.

Also, six ap pendix section s including lists of o rganiza­ tio ns. p ubli sh ers and laws . Index. .l I B pages . hardcover, 1964 . Available through many ho m e sc h oo l supp liers or b y sending $14.50 plus $1 .50 Ship p i n g (an d tax in California) to:

GAZELLE PUBLICATIONS 5580 Stanley Dr.. Auburn. CA 95603

14

ple from the study: ] June brings a piece of paper to her teacher.

June: Can you cut that in half, cut in half.

Teacher: What would you like me to do it with?

June : Scissors.

Teacher: With the scissors?

Well, you go and get them, will you.

(June does and the teacher cuts the paper) Teacher: How many have you got now ? ( No reply ) How many have you got now' ( Silence . ) How many pieces of paper have you got' June: Two .

Teacher: Two. What have I done if I cut it down the middle?

June: Two pieces.

Teacher: I've cut it in . . . ? (No reply ) What have I done? (No reply. ) Do you know? (June shakes her head, then eventually repeats:) June : In the middle .

Teacher: 1 've cut it in the mid­ dle. I've cut it in half' So ~e got there-rn-the end . The only problem was that June had al­ ready asked the teacher to cut the paper in half, and knew perfectly ,,,ell what the word meant. ' 0 wonder she failed to answer the stream of questions. Tizard comments: "Manyedu­ cational advisers would congratulate June's teacher on noticing the educa­ tional potential of this situation."

But the style o[ questioning the teacher has been taught to use leaves June losing confidence and coubting the small knowledge she does have. [ Resuming the Educational SuPTle­ ment article by Tizard and Hughes : ~urther, because staff-child con­ versation focuses on play, it tends to be concerned with the "here and now" to a greater extent than conver­ sations at home. This situation is somewhat paradoxical, since one func­ tion of schooling is to extend the child's intellectual horizons . It was, however, the mother who linked the child's present to her past and future, and to the world beyond her own Experiences . Because the staff know little of the child's life out­ side school, they cannot integrate her experiences in the way that is possible for a parent.

There are other constraints on school staff which make it difficult for them to be as educationally effec­ tive as parents. The relatively large numbers of children in relation to the number of adults reduces the opportunities for one-to-one discus­ sion . The low-key emotional relation­ ship between staff and children redu­ ces the likelihood of the children seeking out the staff, and of the staff having a personal educational concern for them.

Since our study took place in nursery schools and classes we are not in a position to compa r e them with playgroups. However, it is clear that playgroups share a number of the characteristics of nursery schools that we have described .

Our analysis of the educational role of the nursery school admittedly runs counter to widespread current beliefs. Many politicians and profes­ sionals believe that nursery school stimulates intellectual growth and language development, and gives soci­ a l ly disadvantaged children a head start in school.

There is very lit t le Br itish research evidence to subs t antiate th ese claims . Certai nl y th is study s u ggests t h at childre n' s i n tellectual a n d l anguage needs are mu c h more li k e­ ly t o be satisfied at h ome th a n at

school . . .

The working class girls in our study were particularly affected by the nursery school setting. In their relations with the nursery staff they tended to be much more subdued, pas­ sive and dependent than at home. The staff responded to this perceived im­ maturity of the working-class child­ ren by pitching their talk to them at a lower level . Far from compensating for any inadequacies of their homes, the staff were in fact lowering their expectations and standards . . .

Our study suggests that judge­ ments on children's language abili­ ties should be very tentative until a context is found where they talk free­ ly and spontaneously. We suspect that the same caution should be exercised when pronouncing on other aspects of children's behavior, such as ~heir play. ... We found that most of the intellectually challenging conversa­ tions at home took place at times of relative leisure for both mother and child, usually during a tete-a-tete meal, or when the mother was drinking coffee, or during a one-to-one story session. They rarely happened while the child was busy with an activity.

Nursery schools and playgroups, how­ ever, tend to be very activity­ oriented, with the staff uneasy if they are not moving from one child to another, seeing that the children are busily occupied. On the rare occa­ sions when we observed long conversa­ tions at school, the staff were usual­ ly anchored in one spot for a long time, mending or making apparatus, while a child stood by, chatting to them . .. . [The ] tendency to underesti­ mate children's abilities and inter­ ests .. . is fostered ty the belief that working-class children do noth­ ing at home except watch TV. In fact, our transcripts show that young child­ ren's interests extend to any aspect of life that impinges on them - the neighbors, money, electric lights, the structure and arrangement of hous­ es, parents' work, God, the death of pets, doctors. If school staff are to stimulate and pursue these interests, they must revise their ideas of what children can understand, and feed them with a great deal more general knowledge. ... During the past ten years there has been a growth of home-visit­ ing schemes. Most involve encouraging parents to play with their children, and emphasize the role of parents as educators, although some lay more stress on befriending and supporting the mothers .

There is no doubt that many moth­ ers appreciate this interest and sup­ port . What concerns us, however, is the assumption that professionals know how parents should interact with, and educate, their children .

This is also the assumption underly­ ing mos t parent education courses, which can be found attached to schools , prenatal and child health clinics. In fact, the knowledge basis for parent education is very slight.

There is no real evidence that parents need to interact with child­ ren in any particular way; often the advice offered seems to be based on ideas about what a "good" middle­ class parent does . Even more worrying is advice which seems intended to make p ar ents be h ave more like teach­ ers, fo r example, by suggesting that t h ey as k t h eir children " open-ended" a n d " s ti mulating" questions, and teac h them color, size and s h ape.

Our s t udy suggests that the ex­

change of views and questions, equal­ ly balanced between adult and child, that makes up conversation at home is better attuned to young children's needs than the question-and-answer technique of school . It also suggests that no particular home context or activity is especially "educational."

It is the concern of the parent for the child to understand, and the child's own curiosity and persis­ tence, which promotes learning. Even such unpromising contexts as parent­ child disputes may be at least as con­ ducive to learning as play. And while it is obviously useful for children to learn color and shape names, focus­ ing on this task may lead to a neglect and underestimation of their deeper and more complex interests.

We found no reason to believe that parents should be encouraged to play with their children if they don't want to. Other forms of inter­ action, especially leisurely conversa­ tion, may well be more intellectually stimulating. Nor is there any good educational reason why parents should provide children with sand and water play, bricks and so on - although the children may well derive great plea­ sure from these activities. The mathe­ matical and scientific conc e pts which these materials are intended to help develop can be acquired from play with the ordinary materials of the home - food, bath water, cardboard box e s, and so on.

However, parents themselves may well want information and help of var­ ious kinds in educating their child.

Sharing experiences with other par­ ents is a valuable form of support and learning, often not available to isolated families. Some parents want well-informed advice about toys and books, others want to know ~hen and how best to teach reading and wri­ ting. Almost all parents respond with interest when someone knowledgeable shows an individual concern for their child and points out to them aspects of her development which they had been unaware of. We can therefore see a useful role for parents groups, and for advice and information centers which respond to these needs, but none for attempts by professionals to alter the way in which parents carry out their educational role.

Indeed, in our opinion, it is time to shift the emphasis away [rom what parents should learn from profes­ sionals, and towards what profession­ als can learn from studying parents and children at home ...

ON YOUNG CHILDREN From Beverly Larsen in Tulsa (see the GWS Supplement, YOUNG CHILD­ REN: NATURAL LEARNERS): .. . At the child care center where I work ... I do a lot of active listening. The 3- and 4-year olds especially need to talk ... It saddens me that children are told repeatedly to be quiet and listen - why can't this frequently be reversed? They are discouraged from talking with their peers, which I feel falsely educates them into anti-social behavior and causes fear and resentment toward teachers . ..

I have worked at this center since November '83 and never since the start have I gone along with the usual reading procedure. The children are asked (told) to sit on the carpet in quiet and orderly rows and listen while the teacher sits on a chair i n front of them, reading a book aloud .

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

15

Children who become bored and fidget or try to talk ~ith a peer are pun­ ished by having to sit at a table by themselves. They are told they are not being good, and sometimes they are humiliated cy being taken to the babies' room and placed in a crib.

My reading technique is to take a large stack of books to a table, spread them out, and let the kids go for it . One 4-year-old who was at the discipline table, uninterested in the teacher's read-aloud book, "read" about fifteen picture books, on a day when I was substituting in there and just happened to place fifteen books on the table beside him.

The 2-year-olds are delighted over this "reading" time and often ask for books which 1 spread out on the tables for them. Sometimes one 2-year-old wi Ll "read" a book to another . The laughter, pointing to illustrations, and their comments are reward to my eyes and ears. Reading is such an enjoyable time for them.

Jack (Big Jack), so husky for his age, looks like a farmer's son .. . He always, without fail, asks for the book about trucks and tractors. He obviously has seen tractors and trucks at work somewhere and derives much enjoyment reading about them. . . . Just a little courtesy goes a long way ... When my new co-worker had [one child] lay his cars down on the table at diapering time, he was kick­ ing and hollering as she carried him to the crib. When she commented en how resistant he was, 1 told her how I let the children keep in their hands what they were doing as they are taken to the diapering crib. She took him back to get his cars to take with him and he calmed right down . . . ... Whenever Becky (6) and I play the violin, Jessie (3) has to play too. She rosins her bow and gets in the proper position and saws away [or about a minute. Then she carefully loosens the bow and Gusts off the vio­ lin and that's it. She has the little violin that Becky started with. SUSAN BOBOWSKl (NY).

something that, being unusual, must be watched. Each coo and whimper gets a reaction - My God, I hope it won ' t cry; why doesn ' t its mom be more firm; I hope it doesn't come this way; babies never liked me; etc.

I remember feeling the impact of this as a kid . I just felt like a per­ son . I kept expecting people to react to what I was doing. But they didn ' t.

Instead, they reacted to the fact that I was ali ttle girl . ..

in, more answers to questions, more

Susan Richman wrote in Western PA Homeschoolers:

time to be alone and daydream.

... This fall we've lucked into a whole cache of old school books . .. A retired teacher friend of mine was cleaning out her basement and deci­ ded, not without sadness, that her old teaching rraterials, books, idea files, and magazines just had to go . . .

Now, for Molly, our wonderful one-year-old, these new books all over the house have been another fas­ cinating delight. Her favorites? DICK AND JANE . Literally' We bave copies of the original Dick and Jane pre­ primers I was given as a six-year­ old. You may remember the first story? "Look. Look. Oh, look . Look, look, look," accompanied cy a picture of Dick fall ing in a basket of Leaves . [ still hRve strong memories of being infuriated by this "tale" as a first grader, telling my mother after school, anger spilling out of me, that anyone couLd read that, what I wanted was to Learn to RE~But for Molly at 14~ months, the books are just right, full of babies, big brothers, puppies and kittens, and kind Mommies and Daddies who hold the baby up in their arms . Mavbe the basal reader committees were just wrong in their age-level designa­ tions . . . Anyway, Jesse reads these books to Molly now while I'm busy patching plaster or scraping cld wall­ paper, and Molly carts them about with her everywhere, passionately chanting, "Baby, BABY''' .. .

PARENT VS. " MEDI-CRATS" from Karen franklin, whose let­ ters appeared in GWS #18 and 23, and who is listed under "Resources" at the end cf this issue:

ALL CHILDREN ARE GIFTED

Julie Loyd (CA) wrote: ... Charlie, age 1, and I went to the conference on "Sanctuary [or Cen­ tral Americans" in Tucson last week .

We stopped often - the desert is a good place for both babies and adults to play . The conference was held in an auditorium and was two days of speeches . We ended up sitting with the refugees because of the cultural difference between the way U.S. peo­ ple treat babies and Central Amer­ icans do . Throughout the conference, Charlie never stopped his gymnastics on the pews (or under), or manhand­ ling his toys, or nursing violently .

He was an annoying disturbance to sev­ eral people on the American side except me, and except people who ignored him completely. When we ~oved to the Latino side, the tension lift­ ed at once. Everyone admired Charlie, then went back to paying attention to the speaker unless Charlie actively and obviously wanted to check them out. Then he always had a willing lap and something to do .

I guess part of the difference is that the Salvadorans and Guatemal­ ans see babies every day, while most of us can go months without seeing anyone under 6. When we see a baby it is something to anal~ze - is it spoiled? How come it s not in the day­ care room? Do I want one too? - and

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

[JH:] Sawyer's advice is indeed good, the very best, but I'm not sure he altogether understands why. The reason is that all children, except pOSSibly the most grossly deformed, and even some of them, are gifted .

The reason that some children keep more than others the great gifts they were all born with is that they get more of the attention and exposure that he talks about in his article ­ more banks to go into and cash checks

The June 1984 issue of the magazine Psychology Today, mostly devoted to a discussion of "gift­ ed" children, contained this very good advice from Robert N. Sawyer, director of the Duke Wniversity Talent Identification Program. His' article said, in part: .. . The single most important piece of advice I have for parents of gifted children ~lies to all ~­ ents. Let your cnTId guide you. Pay attention to any special interests and needs and provide an atmosphere in which unpressured exploration can take place. Your child may lead you to dinosaurs, the Urdu language, the Great Books or the engine of the fami­ ly car. In the early years, specific subject and level of mastery are not important ...

You can also broaden your child's interests by exposing him or her to a wide variety of experiences .

You might begin to explore your com­ munity by talking about what is going on around you as you take your small children on errands in your town . ..

Gifted children often look at things differently from the average child. Many like to spend time alone or just "daydreaming . " Unless your child is unhappy, try not to worry too much about the ways in which she or he is different . . .

... Jessica is 4, has cerebral palsy, and is doing quite well . .. 1 could write a book or two about deal­ ing with the various "experts" "ho have evaluated ~essi. When she was two, "THEY" informed t.:s that, in addi­ tion to her various physical prob­ lems, her ability was in the "low nor­ mal range." THEY also saw rr,e as an overprotective mother who refused to accept the reality of my child's limi­ tations . (You're damn right I refused to accept it - what about self­ fulfilling prophesies?) Anyhow, the current evaluation states that she is a very bright little girl who is verbally at least two years ahead of norm . Jessica's only problems are physical - she can't walk. .. . Christopher, who is now almost 2, had a stroke, in his sleep, the day after his first birthday. It left him paralyzed on his left side from head to toe. fortunately, after a week in Children's Hospital, he began to regain some movement (not because the hospital did anything; they were still in the process of determining exactly what had hap­ pened). The recommendation of the doc­ tors was to admit Chris to a rehab facility for 6-8 weeks so they could do daily therapy with him . 1 ex­ plained that I could neither leave a l-year-old alone in a hospital, nor leave my other children at home while I stayed with Chris; that in any case, I know quite a lot about physi­ cal therapy because of Jessica; and that with the advice of a therapist I "IBS capable of carrying out a program at home.

So, for several months I was physical therapist for Chris and Jessi. Chris is now just fine. All movement has completely returned and he is your basic active, inquisitive 2-year-old. He was a little late in beginning to talk - a fact that wor­ ried me some since the other kids talked so early - but now he is well on his way. This morning's example at breakfast, "Don't wike eggs, mama.

Throw way'" Actually, an interesting fact to note is that Christopher's entire being seemed to go on "hold" while he regained his mobility - from

16 the day of his accident until he was 18 months old and fully recovered, he gained no weight, height, cut no teeth, no new words, nothing. About the time everything physically came together, he gained 8 pounds, 1", 7 teeth, and an entire vocabulary and a great deal of 2-year-old assertive­ ness (No' Mine! I do it) . . .. When we First decided to come to Boston for a couple of years, one of our reasons was all the education­ al, cultural, and historical activi­ ties Boston has to offer. We saw it as a mecca for homeschoolers (also as one of the best places in the country for our various medical problems).

The reality of it is that it just hasn't worked out as we'd hoped. Bos­ ton is quite handicapped accessible ­ once you get there - but we have a lot of trouble getting into the city.

Ooviously driving and parking is impossible, and it's very difficult to get an easily worn out toddler, a 40 lb . , nonwalking 5-year-old and a stroller or wheelchair on a bus . The subway is easier - if I don ' t have to change trains - but of course then there are steps to overcome to get to street level ... We are so exhausted by the time we get where we ' re going that we can't enjoy it, so, we do most of our outings on weekends ...

TALKING TO HOSPITAL STAFF Karen Franklin sent us several newsletters of CHILDREN IN HOSPITALS (31 Wilshire Park, Needham MA 02192; 617-482-2915), an organization that she had found very helpful. We quote here from an article called "When Be­ ing Challenged, Know Your Role as a Parent," by Margaret King Saphier; the group offers reprints of the entire article for $1 . 25. The similar­ ity between dealing with the medical profession and the educational pro­ fession has been pointed out several times in GWS, and we think this good advice could strengthen readers in their dealings with both: ... When talking with doctors, nurses, or any hospital staff person, the most important thing you can do is establish your CREDIBILITY as a parent, not only to the medical staff with whom you will be working but to YOURSELF. If the nurses tell you to go home, they can take over now, you need to be confident about what you have to offer to your child that no one else can. Often with good inten­ tions, doctors and nurses will assure parents they are no longer needed for a variety of reasons. Here are a few of the medical staff's reasons and the rebuttal to each reason.

1. You're tired, you need rest.

Yes, I am tired (or this may not be true), but going home to rest is not the best solution . It would be better for me and my child if I rest near him. Could you get me a cot or c hai r?

2. This is your first child, and ~haven't learned to let go of her.

3. This is ~our roungest chiro-­ and you're afrai to ~~t_&Q' My child is in a-parnIul and strange situation . She needs me for reassurance and support. This is not a question of "spoiling" my child.

4. I (the doctor or nurse) can

~£...~.i££.

I, as a parent, have ~ job to do - caring for my child ana meeting her emotional needs. Between my expert caretaking and your medical expertise and care, she will be in

excellent hands.

5. Your anxiety will ~in­

crease ~child ' s own anxiety .

It is only normar-to f eel a cer­ tain level of anxiety at a time of crisis like this. I'm sure that if showed no concern or anxiety while my child was sick, she would probably feel that I did not care or love her.

6 . If ~stay during this fain­ ful roc~re, ~child will b ame ~ or it .

-rr-r-don ' t stay, she will feel that I have abandoned her at a time when she needs me for support. I can help allay her fears and be a source of comfort to her.

7. You will faint, and I cannot take care of ~and ~c h TIa:-­ please get me a can sit down next to my child. If I don ' t look directly at the procedure, I won't get squeamish . The important thing is for me to be where my child can see me, or at least hear me and know I am with her . You know, many peop l e who cannot stand the sight of their own blood, rise to the occasion when their children need them. I can be strong for my child .

8. This is a sterile procedure,

cnarr-so-r

~~may no~present .

--prease get me a sterile gown. I can scrub just as well as you (doc­ tors and nurses) . BeSides, my child already has more immunities against anything I may be carrying because she lives with us. On the other hand, she has few immunities to protect her against a n yt h ing the medical staff may be carrying . I do not have flu or other active illness .

9. Your ~is so ~she won't know-tne--dTIrerenc~OU-are gone.

That is absolutely not true!

More and more research is showing that babies recognize and respond to their parents at a very early age.

(You can refer the staff to the works of John Bowlby, and Kennell and Klaus . ) .. .

E.T.S. SAYS TESTS OBSOLETE The Christian Science Monitor of 3/4/85 carried a story that may have very important and helpful consequen­ ces for homesc h oolers, if we make the proper use of it . The gist of the story is that the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the by now enormous company that designs and publishes a large part of the multiple-choice tests so widely used in this country, is beginning to design a completely different kind of test which will use computers to give much more informa­ tion, both to students and teachers, than can be obtained from today's tests .

In reading what follows ' we should keep in mind that these tests will almost certainly be much more expensive than the ones used now, and that ETS, already a huge company, naturally hopes to make even more money from the design and sale of these tests.

The story says in part: ... Fill-in-the-blank exams are symptomatic of an American fixation.

If it can be taught, it can be test­ ed, or so conventional wisdom dic­ tates . In the not too distant future, however, students a n d teac h ers can expect tests that differ strikingly from the multiple-choice, machine­ sco r able a n swer s h eets .. . a " go l den age " in which examinations will be tailored to the individual, taken by appointment whenever a computer is

accessible, and then instantly scored and reported .

"What lies ahead," said ETS president Gregory R. Anrig . .. "is a new generation of assessment instr u ­ ments, as well as new methods for mak­ ing them readily available to individ­ uals and institutions . " ...

"You ' ll now be able to get feed­ back - both on the screen and in printout form - for the student and for the ·teacher .. . The cumulative effect will be truly diagnostic. " As a result, the student will no longer get just a test score that tells " here ' s what the situation is," as Anrig puts it . He ~ill also get advice - " here's what you can do about it" - to improve learning . " That's terribly exciting," he says. " What this does is to bring testing and instruction together, and one begins to inform the other." .. .

Expected by the turn of the cen­ tury (or before today's second gra­ ders leave school) are computer­ scorable tests that will allow for free responses rather than multiple­ choice answers . These will rely on computer " simulations of human thought processes, rather than just recall and recognition on multiple­ choice questions, " Anrig says . . .

"I don ' t think the tests should determine the curriculum .. . By and large tests should grow out of the curr i culum. That is, the decisions ought to be made locally, and then that should begin to be reflected over time with the kinds of tests that are designed . " ...

"When I ask rryself, who were the great teachers that 1 had in my life, they weren ' t great because of how they did on a test. They were great because they were human, caring peo­ ple, sensitive, dedicated, persever­ ing. When I did poorly, they kept on saying, 'You can do better.' Those qualities can ' t be measured by any test," he says ...

[JH : 1 What Anrig is saying here can be summed up in a few words . The kinds of tests we have are not much good. They tell us very little about what the student knows, and they don't tell us anything at all about what we should do about it. The kind of tests we need, and hope to have in our schools by the year 2000, are the kind of tests that will do exactly what almost a l l homeschooling farents are-Qoing ri9 h t now. Tests tal ored to the in d ivldua~Tests growing out of what the students are actually learning. Tests that enable students to express all they know . Tests that will give the teacher useful feed­ back . In short, exactly the kind of information that homeschooling par­ ents get from their children every day . So why, we may well ask legisla­ tors, school boards, and courts, should parents, who are doing right now what ETS's tests of the future hope to do, be compelled to judge their children and be judged them­ selves by the kind of tests that the chief testing organization in the country now says are obsolete?

A word of caution. Let's not fool ourselves that this means that Mr. Anrig is a friend cf homeschool­ ers and can be counted on for aid and support. Far from it . He knows very well that it is the schools, not par­ ents, who will be buying the billions of dollars worth of tests he hopes to be selling in t he future, a n d he's not going to alienate his best custom­ ers. He is first, foremost, and always a school man. But what he h as

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

17

said here and can be expected to go on saying as he tries to whip up demand for his future products, may prove very helpful to homeschoolers wise enough to make good use of it .

A BAFFLING TEST Mary Maher (MAl showed us this section of a standardized reading test her homeschooled daughter Mandy had to take at the end of 2nd grade, ~nd it is so outrageously bad we just had to share it with you: Draw a circ le around the word that ends with the same

sou n d~

as the name of the picture.

P.~

thillg

think

2.

3.

4.

~

"

"name" of this picture is not lI£ire­

cracker" but " bang . " On come other test ( "What is this a picture of?" I, a child who said "Bang' " woul d very likely be marked wrong and called "im­ mature. "

# 5 is the only one where a rea­ sonably smart child would have a fair chance of guessing ~hat was wanted, and still the answer is not obvious to an adult.

It might be helpful to show this fragment of a test to legislators and/or school districts, saying, " If my child is going to have to take tests, I want a chance to check them over first to make sure they are not as badly designed and stupid as this one . " - OR & JH CHI CAGO STILL HAVIN G TR O UBLE

sink

~.

j® J'

ham

ren will not have seen a picture of a lung, and even if they had, would not recognize this crude drawing. #4 is still more confusing. It is supposed to look like a lighted firecracker, but you don't see that kind of open flame at the end of a lighted fuse. In any case, what you are supposed to think of for the

The fronc page of the Chica&£ Tribune of 2/7/85 carried a story about dropouts in the Chicago schools, saying in part : r!l.!!&

Grin

link

Fran

Gang

pi!'.!<.

. . . Almost haJf of the students who entered the Chicago public high schools as freshmen in 1980 dropped out before graduating . . . Only 15 of 100 freshmen who entered school in 1980 were reading on grade level as seniors and graduated, according to the report, "The Bottom Line : Chica­ go's Failing Schools and Ho w to Save

ping

Them."

We urge you actually to try the above questions before reading any further. Only that way can you experi­ ence the bafflement that children tak­ ing this test must feel.

The other sections of this test had straightforward ~uestions like "We ate our IT,eal on paper (plans /plates/smacks)" or " very nice people (They'd/She'd/They're)." so it seems clear that the test-makers were not deliberately trying to make the picture section an intellectual chal­ lenge; rather, the section was poorly thought out and sloppily illustrated .

The test, by the way, is called "One to Grow On," Level 6, by Ginn and Co. What is so wrong about this test, which must be typical of many, is that it does not test what it is trying to test. It wants to test children's ability to connect certain letters and sounds, but is actually testing their ability to recognize the pictures and guess what names the schools want to give them . This is not easy .

Thus, we could tell that picture P was of a ring, but children who had no t seen a ring of this type, and even some who had, might not recog­ nize the picture .

Most second-grade children, loo k ­ ing at pic t ure #1, would think of "tiger," or "lion," or "cat . " Many

would not even know the word " fang, " and of those that did, few would guess that this was the intended name of the picture.

Picture #2 is even worse; very few childre n would know what a mink looked like, and this is a bad pic­ ture of one; it looks more like some kind of dinosaur.

Same for picture #3; most child-

GRO WING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

Nedrly a third of the graduates were reading at an eighth-grade level or below, despite a Board of Educa­ tion policy started in 1979 that was supposed to do away with "social pro­ motion" and make advancement through the grades depend cn academic perfor­ mance. Two-thirds were reading below grade level. ..

The study used Chicago school board statistics obtained ~nder the Freedom of Information Act for drop­ outs and reading test scores . ..

School board rrember Raul Villa­ lobos said he did not doubt that the 45 % dropout rate reported by Cesigns for Change was more accurate than the 36 % rate announced recently by the school board .. .

Among the reforms Designs for Change suggests are dropping the con­ troversial Chicago Mastery Learning Reading Program, in which students are taught to read through individual small skills [see "Reading, Chicago Style," GWS #2) . . . " . .. 1 am sensitive to the criti­ cisms that we are so fragmenting read­ ing that children are not deve l oping a desire to read," [ Supt . ) Byrd said .

"If what we are doing is stifling cre­ qtivity, it must change . " . .. The study . . . found that at least 56% of the 1980 freshmen of [the predominantly black and Hi spanic neighborhood high schools) did not graduate, and only about a fifth of those who were given diplomas were reading at grade level or above.

Almost half of these graduates were said to read at least four years be­ low grade level . . .

The study, one of the most criti­ cal assessments of the Chicago public schools in years, comes at the start of a year in which the Illinois Gener­ al Assembly is s~hedu l ed to address

the issue of educational reform . . .

[JH : ) About all this, we might remind legislators first of all that this report appears about twelve years after the schools supposedly went " Back To Basics. " As many readers will know, but some legislators may not, "grade lev­ el," for any grade, does not repre­ sent any sensible person ' s idea of the level at which students should be reading, but only the level at which the median American student in that grade is reading . Of the 50% of stu­ dents in any grade who are reading at "grade level" or better, probably only a small percentage are reading as well as most homeschooling parents want and expect their children to read, or as most homeschooled child­ ren in fact do read. The standards of homeschoolers are higher, not lower, than those of the schools.

The fact that this study ob­ tained its statistics through the Freedom of Information Act implies that the school system would not have given up those figures had they not been legally compelled to .

The fact that the official drop­ out figures were far too low reminds me, first, of something Jim Herndon told me last fall . He has been teach­ ing in the San Francisco schools for twenty-five and more years now, and in recent years, as the head of one of the locals of the American Federa­ tion of Teachers, has learned even more about what really goes on . He said that in most of the schools in the system the teachers and adminis­ trators consider it a good day if half of the students who are supposed eo-be in the schools are actually there . It is ""hen the figure gets down to about 30% that everyone starts to worry .

The Boston schools have for years been announcing daily atten­ dance rates of about 70%. But a few years ago a young man who had been substitute teaching allover the city wrote an article saying that it was normal for him to come to a class and find that only a quarter or so of the students on his class list were actu­ ally there . The fact is, in Chicago or any other large city, compulsory school attendance is a mvth.

It is significant and potential­ ly very helpful to us that the new Superintendent of the Chicago schools is concerned that the fragmenting of reading may prevent children from developing a desire to read. We should point out to the legislature that this is precisely what most home­ schoolers have most objected to about school reading programs for years, and why they fear and resist being forced into them .

Homeschoolers everywhere, above all in Illinois, must be careful about how they ffiake use of this report . It would be easy to turn it into some kind of blanket condemna­ tion of all schools. But this would probably alienate not on l y many Ch i ca­ go legislators but also many suburban and downstate legislators who feel that their own local schools are doing a good job . We ~ould do bet t er to say that we are certainly not offering homeschooling as an immedi ­ ate solution to any of the problems School Books, Christian Oriented, K·12

" ALPHA OMEOA CURRICULUM"

Buy 1 or all 5 subjects . No anrollment.

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of the Chicago public schools, and indeed don't feel we have any solu­ tion t o them. All we say is that the state, with so huge an unsolved prob­ lem on its hands, would be wise as well as just to be open-minded, flexi­ ble, and generous in dealing with peo­ p l e who have shown that they do have very good solutions to the very dif­ ferent problems of teaching at home.

In short, we're not trying t o tell you that you have to do it our way, so please don't tell us that we have to do it your way.

CERTIFICATES & PRESTIGIOUS SCHOOLS

Albert Hobart (MO) wrote: ... In GWS #30 and #40 you men­ tioned that many prestigious private schools hire teachers who are not cer­ tified. That was certainly true at the school I attended, St . Louis Country Day. The headmaster hired five or six new teachers every year, but I can't recall any who came fresh out of college with degrees in educa­ tion or with teaching certificates.

Instead, new teachers were chosen on the basis of their expertise in a par­ ticular field: art, Spanish, math, etc. Some of the older faculty mem­ bers who had taught for a time in pub­ lic schools were certified, of course, but they were hired not because they had certificates, but because they had proven themselves to be particularly good teachers.

For what it's worth I might men­ tion that recently St. Louis Country Day alumni held a banquet to honor three former classmates who are now serving in the U.S. Senate: John Dan­ forth and Thomas Eagleton of Mis­ souri, and Pete Wilson of California.

Obviously a lack of certified teach­ ers didn't det er these men from achieving the kind of success most legislators would admire.

My mother for many years taught at Mary Institute, which many people consider the most prestigious girls' school in the St. Louis area. She was originally hired as a kindergarten assistant, but she soon became the head of the school's primary depart­ ment with a staff of 6 to 8 teachers working under her direction. Not only did my mother lack a tea c hing certifi­ cate, she didn't even have a college degree. She began night school soon after she was hired, however, and approximately 12 years later she graduated.

I might add that most of the people she hired to work with her in the primary department were not certi­ fied either . In fact, many of them were Mary Institute graduates who worked first as counselors at the school's summer camp, which my mother also headed ...

STARTING TO READ AT 12

Two home schooled children whom I hav e known for many years have just started to read within the last year.

Both are twelve years old . Their experience should have much to say to homeschooling parents who are worried about late starting readers.

How are the children doing? Just fine. In the less than a year that they have been reading, both have made rapid progress. Their parents ha ve not given them reading tests and do not plan to, but from what I know of their reading I would say that one is reading at least as well as most third graders and the other a year or

two beyond that . Not long ago one of them wrote me a very interesting and amusing let t er which would hav e done c redit to most ten-year-olds. I have no doubt at all that within two years and perhaps much less the y will be reading as well as or better than most in-school children of their age, and s inc e they began reading because they wanted to and when they were ready, they will enjoy it much more.

One thing that may surprise some people a little is that both are girls. Both hav e brothers and sis­ ters, some of whom are excellent read­ ers and students . This, by the way, is very common - in the many years I have known children I have almost never met or heard of a slow or late reader who did not have at least one brother or sister, younge r or older, who read very well . More about this later.

Both girls, for all the years I have known them, have been energetic, active, affectionate, curious, happy children . Nobody knowing them would hav e suspected that they were non­ readers, and indeed it was on l y after I had known them for quite a number of years that I began to re alize this myself . They were not in any way frightened, shy, or withdrawn, but were very much at ease in many social situa tions and when in the company of people mostly older than themselves .

As far as I can tell, none of the parents of these girls ever wor­ ried about their not reading, except, of course, for worrying a little about what the schoo ls might do if they knew . What their private thoughts may have been, I do not know, but thes e families are very good friends of mine, and I think it likely that if they had been con­ cerned, they would have said some­ thing to me about it . (We get many such letters and phone calls.) If they had, I would hav e said to them what I say to all people with such concerns , which is, do not worry, the cha nces of your child growing up illiterate are about the same as the chances of her or him turning into a crocodile. But as far as I know, they never worried at all. In thi s they showed great courage, good sense, and faith in their children, and we s hould all do our best to follow their example .

What did these parents "do " about their chi l dren ' s non-reading?

Not hing. That is to say, they treat ed the girls just like th eir other child­ ren - welcomed them into th eir adult lives, shared their interests and con­ cer ns with them, and did all they could to e ncourage and support th e many interests of the girls them­ selves.

What would have happened if these children had been compelled to go to school? We can answer that ques­ tion with great certainty. They would have been called Learning Disabled, and like almost all children who have this label stuck on them, would have been put into special classes, would have been cruelly teased by most of the "normal" children, and would have lost most or all of their energy, con­ fidence, and pleasure in life. In a word, most of their intel l igence and character would have been destroyed .

And, like virtually all children called Learning Disabled, they would in fact never have learned to read, and, l ike a number of adults I have known, would have gone through life trying to hide this, and when th ey could not, explaining (despite their " official " alibi, often with a blush of shame) that they were "d yslexic."

Why did the girls wait so long before starting? I don't know. I'm not sure they know, though if they do, I nope someday they'll tell me.

My guess is that they may have been intimidated by the example of the early and skilled readers in their family . Children like to compete, but only when they have a chance of doing well; when they see they are hopeless­ ly outclassed, they stop. A slow­ running child playing tag may tak e a few steps after a much faster child, but when she sees that she has no chance of catching her will soon look for an easier target, since to keep running after someone you have no chance of catching is not only sham­ ing but silly . Children are realists; in a ra ce in which they have no chance of winning o r even doing well, they will soon drop out .

My picture is of someone who starts in a big race, sees all the others pull far ahead, and after a while simply stops running and sits down by the side of the road, saying to himself, "1'11 just wait here until all the others are so far out of sight that there is no longer any question of running against them, and then I'll start runnlng again, just for my own rleasure."

Let me hasten to add here that if these two late-reading children did feel or fear that they we re run­ ning in a hopeless race, it was not because of anything that their fami­ lies did; it just looked that way to them. And children are in any case very likely to follow this tactic in fields that have nothing to do with reading; if an older child is very good at painting or singing or dan­ cing or music, the younger is very likely to think, "OK, that's her turf," and take up something eTSe. The example of a skilled older broth­ er or sister can sometimes inspire, but it can just as easily intimidate .

I tell this story mostly to en­ courage the parents of late-starting readers . If some of these parents are under pressure from their schools to have their children tested or, worse, put into some special class, they may in some cases find it helpful to show this story, and other late-reading stories from GWS, to their school officials . But we can't expect that such stories will persuade more than a tiny handful of schools, like the Friskole in Denmark, Summerhill in England, and one or two I have known in this country, to make it their ~ not to try to pressure child­ ren into reading but to let them read if, when, and as much as they want .

The number of these late-reading stor­ ies is bound to be very small, so smal l that it may take generations of home schooling to gather a nything very convincing in the way of statistics .

It is only among homeschoolers that we can expect chi ld ren to be allowed to wait to start reading until they feel like it, and even among home­ schoolers there may not be many who would let their children delay read­ ing until the age of twelve without feeling they had to do something about it. In any case, these two children, plus one boy I knew when I was visiting the school in Denmark, are the only children I know of who, in a totall y unpressured reading en­ vironment, did not start until they were twelve. No, come to think of it, I remember that Neill said that in the long histor y of Summerhill only one child left the school not knowing how to read, a boy who became a tool and die maker, work which requires great skill and pays very well .

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

19

One other question, which some readers may have in their minds. Do think that there is something that the parents of these twelve-year-old beginning readers might have done to get them to start earlier? My answer is No - and I think they would have been wrong to try. Anything they did along those lines could only have undermined the children's sense that their parents trusted them, and so undermined their confidence in them­ selves, and so done harm rather than good. In any case, all such questions miss the whole point of this story ­ if children who start reading ~hen they feel like it soon read just as well as or better than most people, what difference does it make when they start? ~f you have, now or in the future, children who start reading later than most, tell us about them ­ and don't worry . - JH UNDERSTANDING WHEN HE NEEDS TO

From Theo Giesy (VA): ... A friend's son has always apparently had difficulty reading and following directions. But at Christ­ mas time he had no problem at all reading all the directions on an order form to order Ninja stickers .

He brought her the form completely filled out correctly and the correct amount of cash so that all she needed to do was write a check to enclose .

Shortly after that a robot which he had gotten for Christmas ceased to work. He called the number provided and was told to return it for a new one. He did not feel that that was very helpful, went off with the instruction book, and returned a couple of hours later saying that it was working, the programming had just been messed up. She was very pleased to see that when it mattered to him, he had no trouble at all following directions ...

WRITTEN WORDS AS MESSAGES

Kit Finn told me not long ago that her youngest child, Corie (full name Socorro), who is about three and a half, has begun to be interested in the letters that she sees on signs .

Like most children, she is above all interested in the letters that spell her name, which, again like most children, she tends to think of as her letters. The C, S, and 0 are especially important . When she comes home from a trip with her family in the car, she often gets very excited when she sees the road signs CAM­ BRIDGE-SGMERVILLE. Seeing her l e tt ers at the beginning of those signs, she thinks that they are telling her that she is getting close to their home in Somerville . When she sees her letter S at the beginning of a STOP sign, she thinks that it is telling her, Socorro, to be careful and not run out in the street where she might be hit by a car.

Of course, she is exactly right.

The CAMBRIDGE-SOMERVILLE sign was put up to tell her that she was getting close to home, and which way to go in order to get there. The fact th a t it was put up to send that message not just to her but to everyone who lives in or wants to go to Cambridge or Somerville is of no importance. What is important is that that road sign, and the STOP sign, and most signs, are not just words, but messa~es.

Someone put them up so that t ey

GROWI NG WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

could tell her something, something they thought was important, something they thought or hoped she might find important.

Children like Corie, who under­ stand that written words are messages sent by people, are eager to lea r n to read, and learn easily, because they want to find out what those people are saying . Children who think that written words are just a collection o[ shapes that happen to stand for sounds, in other words, who think that C stands not for Corie tut for "cuh," are very likely to have trou­ ble learning to read, and even if they do learn, don't rruch want to do it, because they see no point in it.

What sensible person wants to spend time just turning ~ritten letters into word-sounds?

Kit later told me that Corie has learned the first letters of the names of the other people in the fami­ ly - D for Dannette, B for Bridget, K [or Kit, M for Mike . At the moment, she thinks that any words that begin with those letters say those names.

Thus the othe r night when she asked her father Mike to write his name and instead o[ writing Mike he wrote Daddy, she indignantly told him that that said Dannette .

One day not long ago ~hen she was in the office she came to me and asked rre to write, first, her f ull name, then the names of her sisters, and fi na 11 y my na me . I did so , pr i n t­ ing in big letters, saying the names slowly as I wrote . She watched intent­ ly as I did this . When 1 finished she looked at the sheet for a few seconds, then ran off about some oth­ er business . After she had gone home I found the piece of paper . Earlier in my life this would probably have disappointed me; [ might have hoped that she would take this precious (I had written on it) piece of paper home and "study" it . Now I know better .

Corie ' s older sister Bridget, who has just turned five, has begun writing "l etters" to her mother . She draws a picture in the middle of a page, then writes a bunch of individu­ al letters in the space around the picture, then goes to her mothe r and "reads" it to her.

Just a few days ago 1 got a let­ ter from a nine-year-old friend of mine who has been writing to me, and to many other people, since she was five. At first her spelling was, by school standards, terrible. Like Paul Bissex in Glenda Bissex's ~onderful book GNYS AT WRK (GWS #24 , 25), she used her own invented spelli ngs.

Since these, like all children 's invented spellings , were in fact phonic, I could always make out her words, but these rarely looked like standard spelling . In addition, she frequently reversed letters . One look at that writing wo~ld have made any Learning Disability "expert" throw up his hands in horror, or on second thought more likely joy - work here to keep an expert busy for yea rs. But like Paul Biss ex, this child contin­ ued to write because she had messages she wanted to send, and her family, like Glenda Bissex, was wise and trusting ~nough to leave her spelling alone . Now she spells very wel l; in her latest letter, which is a good deal longer and more interes t ing than most nine- year-o lds would be likely to write, there is only one mis take, and th at in a word she has probably not seen very often.

Even h omesc h oo l ers, though in this respect they are far bette r than most schools, st i ll do far too much

chec king and correcting of children .

We'll hav e more fun, waste less time, and get better results, if we can l ear n to trust our children, a nd to give them time to find their way. - JH LETTERS ON MATH From Luz Vare (CT) :

. . . We made up a game that Cassidy (5) asks to play once in a while . I made a board:

and slips of paper with numbers 0-9 on them . (When we first started play­ ing, we didn 't use the zero . ) We tak e turns drawing numbers from a hat and putting them on the spaces, starting in the ones space . Then we read them .

Cassidy caught on pretty quickly the trick of reading these big numbers and finds it very exciting. Sometimes we make in a compe tit ion - who gets the bigger number . ... 1 just read in the Winter '85 issue of Mothering the idea of play­ ing Scrabb l e as a cooperative game ­ eve r ybody ' s tiles are visible so we can help each other and add up a fami­ ly score, instead of competing .. .

A letter from New York: . .. 1 want to confirm some thin g that you wrote in one of your books that children can teach themselves things if they are really inte r ested .

I s hal l use myself as an example.

I have always been interested in science and math ... I'm no genius, you understand, bu t at the ages of 4, 5, and 6 1 was doing some pretty remarkable things. When I was 4 I could defeat any adult at Dominoes and the card game Concentration. I had also taught myself how to add and sub tr act, using the new math method (befo re it was used nationally); i . e . , if I had to add 19+27, I would add 1 to the 19 and 3 to the 27 and then subtract 4 from the sum of 20+30 . I would do all this mentally, at the age of 5 and 6' Even stranger, my mother would tak e me to the super­ mar ket (I could not have been more than 6 at the time) where the clerks

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20 would playa game with me. As they punched down the prices, I would add up these large figures in my head, and always give them the correct answer' One day my mother (who was never any good at math) asked me how I did it, so I sat down with her and patiently taught her to subtract men­ tally . Ever since then 1 went slowly downhill ...

MATH TEACHERS ADVOCATE CALCULATORS An AP article reprinted in the

HOMESCHOOLERS OF WISCONSIN news­

letter, 3/85:

MATH TEACHERS ADVOCATE USE OF CALCULATORS BY SCHOOL KIDS - A nation­ al organization of math teachers says schools should routinely make calcula­ tors available to kindergarten and grade school children, including dur­ ing tests.

The NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS says that elementary schools should rethink the tradition­ al focus on developing children's skills in working with fractions, decimals and percentages .

"Since computers and calculators can perform such operations more quickly and accurately .. . the tradi­ tional goals of elementary school mathematics must be re-examined, " the council said in a policy paper. ... The students must know enough basic facts to be able to do arith­ metic and estimation in their heads, but they should not spend a large amount of class time learning algo­ rithms for multiple-digit calcula­ tions, the report said .

In grades 5-8, the math curricu­ lum " should emphasize the development of ' number sense' - the intuitive feeling for the relative sizes of num­ bers that is essential in skillfull estimation, approximation, mental arithmetic and the interpretation of results for reasonableness. " In high school, the courses for college-bound students "should no longer be governed solely by prepara­ tion for calculus." It said statis­ tics and other math courses may be the most important for many students.

Copies of the report, "The Impact of Computing Technology on School Mathematics," are available by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS, 1906 Associa­ tion Dr, Reston VA 22091 . ..

ON " EDUCATIONAL" TOYS From Marilyn Hall (OR): ... We have poker chips and check­ ers and Mr. Rainbow's colored count­ ers which we put on a checkerboard in patterns or (not the counters) stack up in patterned piles. Grouping seems to be a prelude to formal set theory, distributive laws in addition and mul­ tiplication - obviously with a 4­ year-old I am not even talking about any of this, but we are playing with the counters and piling them up in different kinds of piles. Supplies are so cheap - if anyone finds out they're "educational" the price will go up and they'll be in a kit with a lot of hooey about how to stimulate your child into quadratic equations before his/her baby teeth vacate . But until then we're having fun .

I have begun to despise child­ ren's toys, and most particularly the expensive educational toys. We have paper, pens, glue, scissors, stamp

pads, a variety of stamping things including cu t-up erasers, a type­ writer, loose change, poker chips, and o ther small things for playing "Dump" with (you know, fill up a bowl or container and dump it; repeat 50,000 times while laughing hyster­ ically). The only tOtS they play with are Du-plos and litt e cars with people.

I am going to make a small vague puppet theater - 3-way folding screen - and begin a dress-up box with capes and odd hats, shoes, etc.

All the other toys fill up shelves and make me angry . I'd throw them all out, but Michael says h e wants them and I feel I can respect his ownership (I certainly have a lot of clutter I seldom use) .. .

or complete a pattern from memory as well as he can, and I'm supposed to be an artist). Apparently, people have been telling him to "remember" all along, but no one ever thought t o explain what that entailed . It cer­ t ai nl y wasn't that he couldn't remem­ ber what he saw, but be1ng tested on it stopped him cold ...

J.P. is doing very well with his athletic r eading program - running around the house between efforts lGWS #43] . Not only has he now read an entire book all the way through with­ out a single "jiggle break," but he's also learning how to control his stuff, put away one project before starting another, and keep his room neat. I couldn't tell you just how those things fit together, but it has something to do with his attention ...

AT A BANK MACHINE The other day I saw a perfect example of giving children access to the adult world . I we nt into my l ocal automatic bank to get some cash.

Standing in fro nt of one of the screens was a young mother with her little daughter - almost three, as I found out - in her arms . The mother was both making a deposit a~d getting out some cash. This involved pushing many buttons, and each time the moth­ er showed the little girl which but­ ton to push, said its name or number if it had one, and let her push it .

This was exciting for the little one to do and for me to watch .

What did this child make of all these buttons, flashing screens, buzz­ ers, opening doors, pieces of paper comi ng out of s lots in the wall? I have no idea. Probably not much more than that Mama's world is an exciting place full of fascinating and mysteri­ ous things - which is a great deal.

So, if there are buttons to push which your child can push, show her and let her push mem. Next time Anna Van Doren is in the office I will have to try to remember to take her on a bank expedition . I suspect that she, unlike the little one I saw, will have many questions to ask about those buttons, some of which I may not be able to answer . Don't know why I didn't think of doing this before.

- JH

J .P. & MEMORY From Kathy Mingl (IL): . .. An interesting thing came up about that test J.P. (6) took (GWS 42] . There was quite a l ot made of his supposed lack of "visual memory," ~hich puzzled me because I haven't seen it - he beats me at rrConcentra­ tion" every time . I asked him about it, and we tried a game he likes, "Jack Horner's Pie," where you place several objects on a plate, have the player wh ose turn it is look at them, close his eyes while you remove one object, and then have him look again and tell you what's missing . The results were strangely variable ­ obvious ly there was something o ut , but it wasn't that h e couldn't do it.

I questioned him closely while he tried it again, and when I asked him if he was making a "picture" of what he saw and then "keeping" it and com­ paring the new arrangement to that, his face lit up and he had it, boy . I have no idea wh at he thought he was doing before, but he is now murderous­ !.y good at "Jack Horner's Pie, " and any and all of those other games they recommended to "train" him in that area. (Honest - I can't copy a design

LEARNING VIOLIN AT 42 Robert McGuigan of Montague, MA wrote to John:

... 1 am one of the many (I am sure) people who were inspired by your book NEVER TOO LATE to take up an instrument in middle age. In my case, perhaps, retake would be more correct, since I had played the vio­ lin from age 9 through age 13 and then gave it up totally until this year when I began again at age 42.

After six months there are a few aspects of technique that 1 have n ot yet recovered, though I am also doing some things that I never did before .

I can confirm one of the observations (was it by Starker?) in your book . I am very much aware of playing the vio­ lin as a problem-solving activity now and I know that as a pre-teen I never thought about what I was doing. If my teacher didn't tell me how to do some­ thing I never figured it out for my­ self . Now all my teacher does is sug­ gest music of an appropriate level of challenge to develop my abilities and strengthen my weaknesses. I also find practicing to be very enjoyable where­ as before it was always drudgery. . .. 1 am developing a serious interest in the viola . I think once 1 reach a certain point in my develop­ ment as a violinist I will want to take up the viola ...

(JH: Not only is the viola a lovely instrument, but violists are everywhere scarce and in great demand for chamber groups, orchestras , etc . ]

FINDING ART ON THE STREET Nancy Wallace (NY) wrote: ... Recently, Vita has been cut­ ting out elaborate designs in paper and backing them with colored cello­ phane to make stained glass windows.

Sometimes s he reads about interesting projects in books and sometimes not, but whatever she makes always comes as an amazing surprise . She'll just be so quiet in our school room and then suddenly she will come out beam­ ing ...

Last year, feeling guilty about our "neglect" of her artistic inclina­ tions, we asked our friend C. to give her weekly art lessons. Vita loved them, partly because she loves C. and partly because C. is also a compul­ sive maker of things, too, and so she had a lot of good ideas ... The prob­ lem, though, which was actually some­ thing we were slow to see, was that Vita stopped making things on her own. Once a week she'd make something terrific, but that was it. When we

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

21

stopped the lessons, Vita slowly went back to making her stream of sur­ prises in the school room, and (OK, admit it), I went back to feeling a bil guilty for neglecting her.

ANYWAY, vesterdav, as we were coming back from our walk, we dis­ covered a chalk dra~ing of a woman's face, obviously done by a kid, on the street ... Vita loved it, but I didn't think any more about it until the next day when she told me that she was going up to look at the picture again. I heard her go, come back, rustle around. and leave again, and about 15 minutes later when I went out to look for her, [ saw her way out there ~ith her dra~ing board, intently studVing the picture. She came back in a rather sour mood com­ plaining that she couldn't get the hair right. and ~hen 1 looked, I found that sure enough, she had drawn a perfect likeness of the face except 'or the hair, which [ helped her fix. [hen she was delighted. and she went back to copy d few last details.

Watching Vita standing over the chalk face on the street, sketching, I thought of art students copying the old masters in the l.ouvre or ~herever, and I just couldn't get enough of her, copying her own master­ work in the street. Kids are so neat, the way they find what they need when thev need it. Not that I feel no guilt now - but a little less so . ..

SPEAKERS BUREAU-2

Here are more responses to our request to form a "Speakers Bureau."

If you would like to speak to groups about homeschooling and related issues, send uS your name, address, phone, a brief self-description, and any other important information (dis­ tance you're willing to travel, fixed fee if any, special programs).

LARRY M. ARNOLDSE~ Box 10, Mck. Bldg., Brigham Young U., Provo UT 84602. Phone 225-5886 home, 378-4862 office.

Assistant Professor, Secondary Education & Foundations of Education.

Ten children. Homeschooler/ unschooler.

Professional educator, 23 years: elementary, jr. high, high school, jr. college, university. 3 years Ed Specialist to 18 public school dis­ tricts in eastern Idaho. 50+ publica­ tions including Today's Catholic Teacher and The International Journal of Readin 3 years member of State Advlsoryouncil on Alternative Ed. Travel distance: anywhere.

Program: "Children' 5 Interests: The Most Promising and Powerful Source of Curriculum."

e.

JOHN A. BOSTON 9942 Canyon Country Ln, Escon­ dido CA 92026; 619-749-1522 .

Homeschooling or unschooling for five years. Teenage son.

Educational adminstrator of the SCHOOL OF HOME LEARNING, which be­ lieves in invited teaching at home and in the community - enrolling 40 children in 22 families.

California teaching credentials, Masters in Education.

Board member, National Council of Alternative Community Schools.

Will travel anywhere but must be paid for in advance. Costs must be covered. Must have one month advance scheduling.

DR. DAVID N. CAMPBELL 16101 Chastaln Rd, Odessa-Tampa

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

FL 33556; 813-920-4253.

Director, CAMPBELL ACADEMY FOR THE GIFTED, 1981-present.

My work with homeschoolers has included testifying in court cases, developing curriculum, and helping with accreditation procedures.

Other experience: Teaching at high school & college, 1959-1981 .

Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Educa­ tion. Radio & TV appearances on vari­ ous educational subjects. Consulting work (program development & review) for 18 private schools . Have given numerous workshops & lectures.

I would travel anywhere, but would require travel expenses plus a $ 50 fee.

year or so after I've had a lot more experience and the home school situa­ tion is more defined, I will consider charging a fee . . .

PO Box 2182. Westminster CA 92684; 714-963-8904 . ... We presently have our own speaker bureau available to cover a wide range of topics, including legal matters, curriculum assistance, physi­ cal fitness, reading, working with teenagers, beginning homeschooling, and more. Our speakers will generally travel short distances although some are willing to go further than oth­ ers. Generallv, we ask that speakers be reimbursed for expenses (gas, park­ ing, etc.) and it is up to the group if they wish to offer them anything more than that. We also know of a num­ ber of professional speakers that re­ quest fees for their programs .. .

KENNETH & LA~RIE HUFFMAt\ 160 S 600 E #300, Salt Lake City I'T 84102; 801-521-4177.

Co-founders of the UTAH HOME EDU­ CATIOt\ ASSOCTATIO~ . Home educators since 1981 (three children).

Ken has been an employee of Mountain Bell for almost 15 years.

Laurie loves being at home with the children after being a professional genealogist/historian, and is a pub­ lished poet and lyricist. . .. We believe that each familv is capable of becoming a productive and self-sustaining home school with­ out the help of experts (including ourselves), set curriculum programs. tax credits. or anv other scheme . ..

We bel ieve thot home school organiza­ tions should remain autonomous ...

We usuallv teach as a team but do specialize in subject matter. Ken: How to organize a state organization; How to develop and maintain a working relationship ~ith public school offi­ cials; the father's responsibility in home education. Laurie: Assisting teenagers in the adjustment to home school; building the mother's self­ esteem; home simplification as a fami­ ly project.

Fees: Travel and lodging costs.

Beceuse of Ken's work we would need 30 to 60 days advance notice .

THE() GIESY

JOYCE

Av, t\orfolk \A 23508; 804-625-7558 .

1 would be glad to be part of the "Speakers Bureau." I really enjoy speaking to groups about home school­ fng .. . I have had experience lobbying for homeschooling legislation. I have spoken to univerSity classes around here about both the legal side and the reasons for homeschooling ... I've been on several talk shows.

We have been homeschooling since 1976 . .. My daughters Susie and Anita could often go along and contribute the homeschooled student's point of

2770 S 1000 W, Perry L'T 84302.

Author of AMERICAN HOME ACADEMY and editor of The Tender Tutor news­ letter. ... We have been homeschooling for 10 years now. Our oldest daughter is at BY~-Hawaii on a full tuition scholarship. Our oldest son is in con­ current enrollment at our local col­ lege. So I guess we've been somewhat successful. We have eight children and have probably dealt with most of the problems any home schooler would encounter .

I would go most anywhere so long as my expenses were covered. I would want to bring a couple of children . ..

CHRISTIAN HOME

ED~CATORS

OF CA LI FORN I A

ASSOCIATION

---~Colonial

view .

Topics: Homeschooling young children Homeschooling teens Working with late readers College - Or Not Legislation and lobbying Homeschooling without a formal curriculum Working ~ith school people . .. There is not a set distance would be willing to travel . .. I would be glad to speak to homeschooling groups for travel expenses and a place to stay. I think I would want more to talk to professional groups .. .

SHARON HILLESTAD 9669 E 123rd, Hastings MN 55033; 437-3049. ... Please include me in the Speakers Bureau. I already am doing a lot of that kind of thing . I get to use my 6 years of Toastmaster experi­ ence.

About me: ex-public school teach­ er . Home teacher for six years (three children) . Editor of Minnesota Home School Network newsletter. Tutor for adults in reading and spelling . .. I am an expert in "study technology" as developed by L . Ron Hubbard, and I am becoming a phonics expert, thanks to Reading Reform Foundation. ... 1 have to limit myself to a 50-mile radius and I appreciate gas money. No other charge yet. But I'm getting good at this and in another

KI~~O~T

ALISON MCKEE 3001 W Beltline Hwy #8, Madison WI 53713; 608-273-2307.

I am a parent of two children (born 1978 and 1982) . Our children have never been in school. I taught for 8 years in the public school as a special education teacher. During that time I was an itinerant teacher and served 13 school districts and dozens of schools within those dis-

Ability

Developme11t

through the use of

Records, Cassettes, Books, Music, Accessories, and the Suzuki method.

Standard student repertoire on records and cassettes '-800-221-9254 (614) 594-3547 Write for free catalog.

in Ohio

Athens . Ohio 45701·42(JO U.S.A.

22 tricts. I am willing to talk about all aspects of homeschooling although I don't fee l capable about speaking to th e issue of religious reasons for homeschooling. My main interest in homeschooling is as an alternetive to traditional forms of education .. .

DR. RAYMOND MOORE PO Box 9 , Washougal WA 98671­ 0009; 206-835-8708 .

Author of HOME GROWN KIDS, HOME SPUN SCHOOLS, BETTER LATE THAN EARLY, SCHOOL CAN WAIT, HOME STYLE TEACHING. Director of HEWITT RESEARCH FOUNDATION. Publis her of The Parent Educator and Family Repor-t -.-------MAIRE MULLARNEY The Mill House, Whitechurch Rd, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, Ireland.

Author of ANYTHING SC HOOL CAN DO, YOU CAN DO BETTER. ... The last ma r velous GWS said something about volunteers for speak­ ing engagements ... I do a lot of that sort of th ing her e . I find myself in the extraordinary position of being able to fly over to th e US either for nothing or for about 25 pounds. I plan to go for a coup l e of days t o visit some very amiable cousins they are going to accomodate my nutrition-student son, and find him a hospital job during the summer .

I just might have a certain rari­ ty value on your lecture circuit ­ looking back on eleven children ...

Just one or two talks might enable me to see a bit more of your coun try than I would otherwise , and meet some nice de-schoo l e r s ...

ED NAGEL PO Box 2823, Santa Fe NM 87501; 505-471-6928 .

Principal, Santa Fe Communi t y School. Coordinator, NATIONAL ASSOCIA­ TION FOR THE LEGAL SUPPORT OF ALTERNA­ TIVE SCHOOLS. Editor and publisher of NALSAS newsletter. Published book: CHEEZ' UNCLE SAM. Addressed numerous groups; many published articles.

Married; 4 children .

Possible topics: es tablishing schoo~ter natlv es to public school attendance , homeschooling pro­ grams, legal cases, legislation in the area of education, among others.

Willing to travel to any l oca ­ tion . Fees: Workshop/Speaker Fee, $300/day for th e first day; $150 for each day (or part of a day) there­ after. Travel expenses t o and from Santa Fe: this would include round­ trip airfare and 20¢/ mile t o and from airports, plus parking fees for per­ sonal vehicle . Meals, per day: $20.

Room: $30 .

ROBERT E. NEWMAN 137 Hughes Pl, Syracuse NY 13210; 315-479-6897 .

Associate Professor Emeritus, Teacher Education, Syracuse U. I'd like to conduct workshops for people interested in home school­ ing and for homeschoolers, on the big questions and the little questions around nurturing children so that they will learn to read and write naturall The formal workshop part would ta e a morning or an afternoon or a long evening (a bout 2-3 hours).

Then I'd like to follow this up with a chance to stay with the families who are serious about what they have heard and want to discuss their own situations. I might, for example, go to a place and spend a week there, beginning with a works hop and contin­ uing on for five or six days. I ' d s t ay with three or four families, each for one or two nights . I did

. k

this on my tr ip t h r ough the Northwest this fall and it worked so well. I had a chance to make the basic ele­ ments and sequence of learning to read and write releva n t to t he fami­ lies concerned.

I see myself not charging any honorarium for this but I'd need to be reimbursed for my expenses and travel. My expenses would include $5 per day to have someone take care of my dog unless I brought her along . . . . 1 don't think I'd enjoy, par­ ticularly, speaking to groups where there are people listening who are hostile or who need to be "won over ."

I could, and probably would do a good job, but these days I'm using the c riterion of my own enjoyment as my guide. In the long run I ' ll be the most help to others, too, I think , because what I'll be doing, I'll be doing wi th my heart .. .

PAMELA PACULA c/o ROME CENTERED LEARNING, PO Box 2025, San Anselmo CA 94960; 415 - 459-0952 .

I began an organization called HOME CENTERED LEARNING three years ago to establish a network of Califor­ nia homeschoolers through a regularl y published newsletter. I have helped organize and have spoken at home school meetings and seminars, as well as on radio and te l evision in an effort t o help the home school move­ ment gain wider acceptance . Travel expenses and/or fee, if any, is neg o ­ tiabl e .

we have is the largest available - it has 133 pieces . It also comes in 74 and 110 piece sets . It is made up of different lengths of strong plastic pipes (polypropylene) and a large var ­ iety of corner pieces, plus square panels that can be inserted into the finished models as walls, floors, slides, seats, e t c . The finished models wi ll support up to 220 lbs ., so it is even fun for adults to play on . The set comes with a large in­ struction book containing detailed, but easy t o follow, instructions for building all kinds of s tructu res ­ house s, slides, parallel bars, tun­ nels, shelving units, tables and chairs, beds , and all kinds of climb­ ing st ructures a nd frames.

Right now we have a 5~ foot slide right in the middle of our play­ room with a climbing frame on three sides of it. By r emoving the panels from the slide, the kids immedia tel y have a slanted ladder to climb on.

And by putting the panels around the climbing frame, th ey have a cozy enclosed play space.

HOWARD AND SUSAN RICHMAN RD 2, Kittanning PA 16201; 412-783-6512.

Howard: Reading Specialist, home­ schoorrng-parent; doing research on how children are learning t o read at home, both ear ly and late. Fee ­ travel expenses + $25 .

Susan: Certified teacher, editor of WeStern PA Homeschoolers, La Lec he League leader, h omesc hoo 11ng parent .

Ca n speak generally about: Homeschool­ ing, How Children Learn at Home, Encouraging Writing at Home, Mathemat­ ics at Hom e , Integrated Learning at Home. Fee: travel expenses + $25.

DR . JAMES SALISBURY PO Box 2261, Twin Falls ID 83303; 208-734-6746.

President, IDAHO FAMILY EDUCA­ TION ASSOCIATION . Founded successful JOHN HOLT LEARNING CENTER, a n alterna­ tive school for gift e d and talented s tudents, and an extremely flexible, accelerated home study high school course. Professional musician .

Licensed Family Counselor . Free-lance writer. Primitive Survival instructor (lea rning to survive in the wilder­ ness with just a knife and a blank­ et) . Father of three small children .

Lecture topics include "The Fami­ ly Home School," "Are Schools Good Places for All Kids?" " Suzuki Piano Pedagogy " and related workshops, "How Children Learn/How Children Fail" (a pplying the philosophy of John Holt ), "No-Nonsense Childrearing Prin­ ciples " (based on the soundest availa­ ble educational psychology, scrip­ ture, etc . ) . . . and other related topics.

Can travel. Fee negotiable .

CONSTRUCTION KIT AVAILABLE HERE

From Sharon Boyd ( IL): . . . We have t he neatest t h ing at our house . It is called a QUADRO and is a giant con struction kit. The set

My c hildr en use the Quad ro con­ stantly when it is up, incorporating it int o their play in hundreds of ways. Even if they are just passing through the room, they always seem to go over or under th e Quadro rather than just around it. We usually leave it set up for about a week, then take it apart for a few days to enjoy the floor space, then set it up again as an entirely new creation.

Brandy and a friend created their own 6-foot robots earlier this week that could sit on our furniture.

At 6, she is able to construct her

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

23

own creations ... I find constructing something and working alo ng side the kids is good therapy for me - quite relaxing. Aurora (3) is able to help by handing us pieces, inserting the fasteners, and putting in panels . ... Our house is small without much running space, so the Quadro pro­ vides a kind of physical activity for my children that they would not other­ wise be getting in the wi nter .. . We kept it in the garage during the sum­ mer and built lots of things in the back yard . It will not rust or splint­ er if left outside like a metal or wood swing set or climbing frame . A cover can also be purchased, if desired . . . The basic sets can be ex­ panded with wheels to make mobil toys, or with a drive system for mak­ ing things like windmills, or with extra panels. ... The constructing itself is a great learning experience and self­ confidence building - and excellent for pulling the family together for a fun activity (even teenagers love it) ... Obviously, I can't say enough about this "to y ." I consider this one of our best investments . . .

[J H: J Sharon suggested that Holt Associates carry the ~uadro kits in our catalog, and we have decided to do so. We learned that we could sell the kits for substantially less than other mail-order catalogues while still making a profit.

So, we offer these choices : Starter Kit, 74 pieces, $127.

Junior Kit, 110 pcs., $179.

Universal kit, 133 pcs., $239.

Wheel kit (1 pair), $59 .

All these prices include shipping via UPS . We can also of fer extra panels, the cover, drive system, and other accessories; prices furnished on request .

Back in the late 60s, when Holt Associates first s tarted, I had work­ ing with me for a while a couple of young Englishmen, former schoolteach­ ers. What they did was build struc­ tures, rather like Quadro structures only larger and more permanent (since they were made of lumber, plywood, etc . ) Some of these were built for larg e spaces, like a forme r supermar­ ket converted into a day center. Oth­ ers were built and put together in very small spaces . From these we learned this surprising lesson, that if you have a small space for child­ ren, and you put somet hin~ into that space, to divide and shape rr-Tarchi­ tects would say "articulate it"), you have more useful space than before, and your crowded room becomes less crowded.

I am sure this will prove to be true of structures made with the Quadro, which for this reason may prove to be most useful to families living in crowded quarters. People who might think, "I'd like to have that Quadro, but I don't have room," might find instead that having it gave them more room.

To any-oI you wanting further information, we wil l be happy to send QUADRO's color brochure and a list of parts contained in each kit (send business-sized SASE).

MAP PUZZLES AVAILABLE HERE

GEOGRAPHIC JIGSAW PUZZLES. Uni­ ted States, 51 pieces, $27. Canada, 14 pieces, $15. North America, 13 pc., $14. South America, 13 pc., $14.

Europe, 27 pc . , $18. Africa, 36 pc., $19. Asia, 24 pc., $16. Set of 5 con-

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

tinents, $73 . The World, 14 pieces, $14 . All puzzles are 9xl2" except the U.S . ,,,hich is 14x19". Please add postage to all prices.

These puzzles are very interest­ ing to most children, and a very good way to learn the shapes and relative positions of the various continents, countries, provinces, and states that make up the world map. When I was staying with the Van Doren's last fall, Anna, then a little under 3~, spent a lot of time playing with and putting together their puzzle of the United States, and I was amazed how many states she knew by shape and size, and where they fit into the map . More recently Mary told me that when he was a boy, Mark Van Doren, alone among his schoolmates, knew the shapes and locations of all the states, just from having played with such puzzles at home.

Adults themselves will find they have plenty to learn from them . Donna just spent some time putting together the Africa puzzle, and found to her surprise that some countries weren 't where she had thought they were, and that about the location of many other countries she hadn't the faintest idea. Same is true of me.

The puzzles are beautifully made and a pleasure to work with, much more satisfying to the fingers than the usual jigsaw puzzle cut out of cardboard . These arc cut out of the highest quality half-inch plywood, and smell as nice as they feel . The maps themselves are high quality political maps, with a great deal of detail (ci ties, rivers, etc . ), and the cuts between the pieces are very accurately made with a very fine saw, so that when the puzzle is all togeth­ er you can't even see the cuts . Some of the pieces, the smaller countries of Europe or Africa, o r the smalle r states of the ~ . S., are quite small, so that when little children are play­ ing with them an adult or older child might have to pay attention to make Sure that some pieces did not get lost. I suspect that many people from 3 years of age all the way up to 80 or 90 will find these puzzles instruc­ tive and fascinating. - JH NEW TAPES AVAILABLE HERE

JOHN HOLT 1983 RADIO INTERVIEW (60 min. cassette - $6 + post). This tape, in very good quality sound , is of one of the best radio interviews I can ever remember giving. The inter­ viewer was intelligent, friendly, and quite well informed about my work, so that she asked quite good questions; [ felt very comfortable and at home in the studio; and I was able to give fairly quickly, without much search­ ing for wo rds, the answers that I wanted to give . Listening to the tape, I hear very few things that I would now want to say differently .

The interview cove red much ground, inc luding such topics as : how did I come to my ideas about children and learning; why was the free school movement not more successful; what should be in the school curriculum; isn't there an essential "body of knowledge " ; what did 1 think about the Back to Basics movement; how do children actually best learn things; how are most homeschooling parents actually teaching their own children; may not the homeschooling movement be depriving schools of "good parents"; what about socialization; how can and do schools cooperate with homeschool­ ers; can the educational system as a whole be seriously changed; and so on.

If people would like to hear, in my own voice, a good summation of my thinking about education, schools, and Children, this tape is a co nveni­ ent way to do it . A number of home­ schoolers may (rom time to time find it reassuring and encouraging to listen to. And it might not be a bad way for homeschoolers to introduce the idea to a small group of friends.

ROSS CAMPBELL PLAYS SWEDISH FOLK VIOLIN (60 min . cassette, S6 + post).

One of the things 'Ne quickly discov­ ered about our new friend and col­ league Ross when he came from the West Coast last summer to work with uS in our office is that he was a very fine violinist. While here in Boston he plaved with a number of dif­ ferent folk dance groups, mostly Scot­ tish. Many of you will remember the piece he wrote for GWS #42 about one of these groups . But the branch of folk violin that interests him most is Swedish music . which is very beau­ tiful, and very different from the country fiddle playing that most of us know. When he left us to return to California, he gave us this fascina­ ting and lovely tape of himself play­ ing a number of Swedish folk violin songs .

Thanks to some ingenious tricks with mikes and tape recorders, all the songs you will hear on the first side of this tape are duets, with Ross himself playing both parts. In one song Ross plays violin and accom­ panies himself on guitar . On the oth­ er side of the tape he plays only solos rather than duets .

The music itself is fascinating, more somber or mournful in feeling than most of our fiddle music, and full of unexpected turns of melody and rhythm. Skillful players, especi­ ally of folk music, may want to try to play and learn some of these tunes, and most lovers of violin music, country or otherwise, will enjoy hearing them.

A footnote. Ross spent a year living in Sweden, and studying its folk music. He hopes in the next year or so to get a scholarship from the Swedish government to go tack [or fur ­ ther intensive study. As it happens, he lived in the same town as and very close to the house of the famous Swe­ dish painter Carl Larson, whose paint­ ings of his family life have so de­ lighted ~any people . One thing he learned was that in the part of the country where the fulk violin tradi­ tion is strongest, every little vil­ lage would have its own fiddlers and makers of songs, so that most of the tunes Ross plays on this t ape, in­ stead of having a title like the song titles we know (Turkey In The Straw, etc . ), are simply named after the vil­ lage in which they were first composed . - JH NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE

HENRY BEAR'S PARK, by David McPhail ($2.50 + post). Here is anoth­ er funny, wry, and altogether charm­ ing story for young children, by the author of THE TRAIN and THE BEAR'S TOOTHACHE (see our catalog). Henry's father buys a little park in the lit­ tle town where they live, and leaves OU R TOWN, EXP L OR ERS, MOUNTAINEER ING

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24 it to young Henry to take care of while he goes off on a trip (in a balloon). For a while he does not return, and Henry worries; then, in a very surprising way, he does return, and all ends well. It is the kind of story that many little children never tire of hearing read aloud to them .

The illustrations, in black and white (pen and ink?) are beautiful, intricate, done with enormous care and skill. Children will see them as full of friendly, fuzzy animals whom they would be glad to get a chance to hug. Adults will see that, too McPhail has the wonderful gift of be­ ing able to put peace and happiness in a picture, and all of us will wish that Henry's park ~as somewhere near us, so that we might spend peaceful and happy times in it. But those who look closely, as we should, will see even more. McPhail uses tiny cross­ hatched lines with enormous skill and care to give the effect of many grada­ tions of light and shade, or of the textures of cloth, brick, stone, trees, leaves. We can almost feel the textures and see the colors. And as in all his books, his pictures are full of affectionate and ironic detail; it's worth looking at them carefully, to make sure you haven't missed anything.

A little visit to Henry's park now and then will bring happiness to both the children and you . A lovely book. - JH THE BORROWERS AVENGED, by Mary Norton ($5.95 + post). Of all the series of books on our list, there are none that I love more than the ones about the Borrowers . The idea itself, o f a race of tiny little peo­ ple who live in the cracks and cran­ nies of houses and keep alive by sal­ vaging or "borrowing" the small objects of human beings, is a charm­ ing one. Having conceived of it, Mary Norton developed it in many ingenious but essentially truthful ways. That is, she stuck strictly to the rules she had set for herself - her Borrow­ ers always acted like tiny humans, not tiny superhumans.

Since the last book in the ser­ ies, THE BORROWERS ALOFT, was written in 1961, I had assumed that the ser­ ies had corne to and end, and was de­ lighted to read a year or two ago that she had written a sequel. It proves to be every bit as good as the ones before. In some ways it is per­ haps the most exciting of all. The man who in THE BORROWERS ALOFT had been pursuing the Clock family, so that he could make money by exhibit­ ing them to the public, is after them again, and this time more determined and ruthl e ss than ever. The decay of this man's character under the pres­ sure of greed is perhaps the most frightening part of the whole series.

How the tiny Clock family, with luck and friends, both Borrower and human, outwit and escape him makes a very exciting story.

One very nice touch. The Clock family finds its way to a new house, which has a telephone, a new inven­ tion at the time when these stories are supposed to have taken place.

Pod, the father, does not know what it is for, but he has shrewdly ob­ served that whenever it rings, any human beings who may be in the house will drop whatever they are doing and run to it. So it becomes for the Clock family a kind of warning sys­ tem, to tell them whether there are any human beings in the house.

The pen-and-ink drawings, by the same people who illustrated the earli­

er books, catch perfectly the feeling of what it would be like to be only a few inches high in a human scale world. - JH REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS: A Golden Nature Guide by Herbert Zim ~ + post). My husband, Frankl in Ross, says this colorful little book was probably more responsible than anything else for his career of col­ lecting, studying, and cataloguing reptiles 2nd amphibians . He got the book when he was a young boy in New Jersey, and it adequately dealt with everything he was able to find there.

Frank says the book was one of the first to have pictures, text, and range maps all on the same Rage. Also unlike most field gu~des, t e ~llus­ trations show the animal against a natural background, which both makes for a more attractive picture, and also provides much valuable informa­ tion about the way the animal be­ haves, what it likes to eat, where it lives, and so on. If you knew every­ thing in this book, you would know an awful lot - and yet the text is sim­ ple and unintimidating . The book cov­ ers all of North America, and in­ cludes advice on the best way to catch and care for the animals.

Many kids are fascinated by dinosaurs and dragons. Aren't liz­ ards, snakes, crocodiles, and their cousins as close as you can corne to seeing these ancient or mythical beasts in the flesh? In miniature, thank goodness. We bet a lot of our readers will enjoy learning from this book. - DR LOS CUATRO CANTANTES DE GUADALA­ JARA ($1. 75 + post!. "The Four Sing­ ers Of Guadalajara," the third in our series of famous children's stories told in Spanish by Helen Hutchinson and amusingly illustrated by Ed Nof­ ziger. (See GWS #35 and #37 for re­ views of LOS TRES OJOS and CAPERUCITA ROJA.) Some of you may know this de­ lightful tale by its original title, "The Five Bremen Musicians," but it works just as well as a story set in Mexico. As with the others in this series, the story is told entirely in Spanish, but the pictures make it so clear what is going on, and there is so much repetition of key words, that children will be able to figure out what most of the words mean; for any they can't figure out, there is a Spanish-English vocabulary in the front of the book . - JH OXFORD PICTURE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN ENGLISH, English7Ja~anese Edition by E. c. Parnwell ($ .95 + post). This is another of the OXFORD PICTURE DICTIONARIES (we already carry the monolingual English and the English/Spanish editions) which are not like ordinary dictionaries at all. On each page are scenes from everyday life or groups of related objects, and at the bottom are lists of words that are keyed to the draw­ ings by numbers. This edition uses the same pictures as the other books, labeled in both English and Japanese .

There's no explanation of how to pro­ nounce the Japanese characters, but they are very pretty, and it's fun and interesting to figure out what some of the symbols mean. Of course, a beginning reader of English could ignore the Japanese entirely and use the book as a great way of puzzling out our own written system.

ManY-Of you may not know, as I did not until very recently, that mod­ ern written Japanese is in fact made up of two very different systems. The

largest part, the one we think of when we think of Japanese writing, is non-phonetic and is made up of char­ acters which were taken many years ago from written Chinese, with which written Japanese still has much in common. The other part is phonetic, and is made up of a collection of much simpler shapes which, like the letters in the European alphabets we know, stand for sounds. This phonetic part of the language was only invent­ ed recently, I believe since the end of World War II. If you browse through the book, just for pleasure, as I have done, you may find it interesting that many Japanese words are a mixture of picto­ graphic and phonetic symbols, and you may wonder, as I do, why this should be so. We would not be surprised to find that things which have only been invented in the post-war years should be written in phonetic characters, but it is not always as simple as that. And is there some official Jap­ anese body that decides, as new ideas and names for things corne into the language, how they shall be written?

Another thing you will find with surprise and pleasure as you browse through the book is how astonishingly quickly your eye will begin to recog­ nize that this tiny and very complica­ ted character here is the same as that one over there, or that this sym­ bol is just the same as that one except for some tiny detail. In doing this you will be recapturing to some extent the exciting experience of lit­ tle children, Japanese, American, or whatever, as they discover, or slowly become aware of, the regularities of letter shapes . I also wonder, do the Japanese have to deal with the addi­ tional complexity of letter styles, something like our many different type faces? Or is there basically only one correct way to draw Japanese pictographs? And what about Japanese with bad handwriting? Or are there no such people?

In short, this book is an easy and pleasant way to take a peek into the mental life of a culture very dif­ ferent from ours, about which we would do well to know much more than we do. - JH MR. HALLEY'S COMET by the edi­ tors of Sky & Telescore ($2 + post) .

I met one of the staf of Sky & Tele­ shoPB magazine which is publ~shed in t e oston area, and when he learned what we do here, he said they had just put together a booklet for young people on Halley's cornet that we might be interested in. Sure enough, when John saw a copy, he said it was "everything a pamphlet should be" ­ attractive, readable, packed with pictures, charts, and maps. Halley's cornet, which will be visible in late 1985 and early 1986, is already becom­ ing a "media event," and this 32-page booklet really does tell you every­ thing you need to know about it ­ what it will look like, what it's made of, exactly how and when to see it, how to pronounce it (rhymes with "valley"). The book cautions you not to expect too much - the cornet won't be terribly bright or dramatiC, and people in cities won't be able to see it at all . Nevertheless, you can bet that people will be talking about it, and school science teachers will do lessons on it, so homeschoolers would do well to get the facts straight from this very reliable and easy-to­ understand source . - DR ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA by Harold Jacobs ($17.95 + post). Jacobs is the

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

25

author of MATHEMATICS: A HUMAN ENDEA­ VOR, about which I wrote in GWS #7, and again in #31 , when we added it to our catalog: .. . [This] is about the best book on mathematics, for beginners, that I have ever seen . What Jacobs tries to do, and does very well, is give the beginner, or even the math­ hater, an idea of what mathematical thinking is about, why human beings have found it interesting, and how (to some extent) it has grown over the centuries . ..

This newer book, much more than the earlier one, is strictly a text­ book, written mostly for people study­ ing algebra in school. But it has many of the qualities of thought, writing, and design that made the oth­ er book so interesting and reader­ friendly. As before, most chapters begin with a very funny cartoon on a mathematical theme. Jacobs knows that a student who has just finished laugh­ ing at a cartoon is better able to meet and think about new material than someone who approaches it in fear and dread. More importantly, Jacobs writ es well, his explanations are clear, and his illustrations are to the point . The book itself is beau­ tifully laid out and printed, with enough white space on the pages to keep the reader from feeling over­ whelmed.

What is most outstanding about the book, though, is the way Jacobs introduces the basic ideas of alge­ bra, which cause so many students to feel such confusion, bafflement, and fear . My guess (since I had no great trouble with algebra myself) is that there may be two reasons for this.

One is that students who have spent years learning that letters and num­ bers stand for very different things, letters for sounds and numbers for quantities, now find them suddenly mixed together and standing for the same kind of thing . The other is that students read and hear so much talk about things called "unknowns," a word full of connotations of mystery, danger, and terror.

Jacobs avoids this terror by beginning his book with a trick, fami­ liar to many children, and one that I and my friends used to play on each other when we were little (see "Boot­ leg Math," GWS #16). Some readers may never have encounte red this trick .

They will soon see that it is a very good one, and will wonder how it could possibly work. In the next chap­ ter Jacobs shows them how it works.

This turns out to be not at all hard to see, even for people who have always felt themselves blocked by math . But by the time they see how the trick works, they will have have grasped the most fundamental and dif­ ficult ideas of algebra, not just that letters may stand for numbers but that we can think about and work with those letters without necessari­ ly knowing exactly what numbers they stand for . Once people have grasped those ideas, the rest is not only relatively easy, but for many people very interesting .

The study of elementary algebra invo l ves many other re l ated ideas, which can be presented to students in many different orders and ways. By keeping his chapters short, with one new idea per chapter, Jacobs has made his book one that readers can browse throug h , looking for things that in t erest them, entering into the sub­ jec t at many different places, instead of feeling they must plow

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

grimly along in a straight line, " understanding" everything perfectly before they can look at anything new.

In every chapter there are many examp le s and exercises. They are there only to help readers get a bet­ ter grasp of the ideas in the chap­ ter. When calculation is called for, Jacobs urges using a calculator. The answers to all these problems are in the back of the book. Try not to feel that they are a sort of teacher's secret, or that looking at them is a kind of cheating ; they are there not to judge you but to help you. If look­ ing at them even before you do a prob­ lem makes you feel better, go ahead and look.

Used in this way and in this spirit, this book should be very interesting and helpful to readers of many ages. There is no reason at all to deny children access to it and its ideas until they have "finished" the school arithmetic curriculum. Expe ri­ ence has shown that children even as young as six can understand the basic ideas of algebra, and that this under­ standing will often help them see the operations of arithmetic as much more meaningful. - JH I'M NOBODY, WHO ARE YOU?, by Emily Dickinson, i llu strated by Rex Schneider ( $9.95 + post). This is a co llecti on of Emily Dickinson's poems, chosen for young people, though Emily herself probably had no such audience in mind - she wrote her poems mostly for herself, feeling that no one else was or was likely to be interested in them. In his very nice introduction, Richard Sewall writes: ... When she was still a girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen, she began to write poems . Nobody in her fami­ ly encouraged her ... She's famous now, but it was hard then. Grown women were only supposed to keep hous e and do the cooking, like Emily ' s mother. Still, as Emily grew older, she found herself wri­ ting more and more. It meant every­ thing to her. At one time she was writing almost a poem a day. She sent a few to some literary men, but no one was interested enough to get them published . So she put them in her bureau drawer and decided not to bother anybody else about them . .. It wasn't until 1955, almost seventy years after her death, that all of her poems were finally published .. .

I don't know why I haven't made more of an effort to find and read more of her poems, since the few I have read, in this or that anthology, I have always loved. Like Robert Frost, she used few words and short, and made them say a great deal. But her poems are more private, less assertive than Frost's. We can imag­ ine him reading his poems from a lec­ ture platform, and indeed I once heard him do so, and to good effect.

With Emily Dickinson, it's more a mat­ ter of her drawing us aside and whis­ pering the poem in our ear.

Every page of this book is a beautiful 8xlO" draWing in full color (the poems are printed right in the pictures). The illustrations, done as nearly as I can tell in pastel and perhaps colored pencil, are perfect for the poems, catching the same gen­ tle, modest quality and the same rich­ ness of metaphor - a mountain as an old man, a storm as ghosts and mon­ sters, a sunset as a procession of little yellow boys and girls climbing

a purple stile. A lovely collection, which will spur me on to read more of Dickinson's poetry. - JH CITIES AND THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, by Jane Jacobs ($4.95 + post). This very lively, interesting, and informative book, which we re­ viewed at length in GWS #42, and which will tell you a lot more about how economics reall y works than most economists know, is now available in paperback. Don't miss it.

Very recently, news has come from China that indicates that exact­ ly the kind of local, import­ replacing development that Jane Jacobs is talking about has been tak­ ing place on a wide scale there. This is good news not only for the Chinese, but perhaps for all of us.

If the present rapid growth of the Chinese economy goes on for long, it will put great pressure on the new Russian leaders to make their own economy, and therefore to some extent their whole society, less rigid, which could have many helpful conse­ quences, including improving the chances for peace . - JH FOUR SEASON GARDENING ( Homestead­ ers News #45), edited by Sherrie and Norm Lee ($2 + post) . This is the shortest, Simplest, most thoroughly practical, and all round best book or manual about intensive (double-dug, raised bed) gardening that I have seen . Let me say first of all that the title means exactly what it says.

Page 14 lists tweat y vegetables that the Lees harveste on Jan . 1, 1985.

On the front page of the gardening insert Norm Lee writes: "All the sea­ sons are gardening seasons. Forget about saving for a $3000 greenhouse .

You don't need a root cellar. Let go of the myth that gardens grow only in warm seasons . You can pick some two dozen crops fresh from your back gar­ den in January. That's in the north­ ern states, U. S . A." The manual is divided into four sections: Spring Garden, Summer Gar­ den, Fall Garden, Winter Garden . Each lists and describes the plants to be planted, with recommended varieties.

Other short chapters discuss control­ ling bugs without poisons; mulch; mak­ ing compost; why raised beds work bet­ ter; how to make raised beds; how to insulate them for winter.

Some points to emphasize. Norm recommends using a backhoe to do the first digging for your raised beds.

After that, all the tools you will need are rake, four-tined fork, shov­ el, and trowel. Forget the tools you supposedly need to "cultivate" the soil . If you start with rich, well­ composted soil, and keep your feet off it, it won't need cultivating, but will remain ready for seeds and seed lings all the time.

Climate. The Lees live in the Finger Lakes district of New York Sta te (USDA Agricultural Zone #5), with about 190 frost-free days per year. Winter temperatures go down to -20 deg. F. Not many people live in colde r climates than this; those that do will have to make some adjustments in the planting schedules suggested by the Lees .

Once the quality of the soil is established, the garden needs very little of either work or water. The yea r-round average for the Lees of time spent in the garden is 22 min . ~er day. And Norm writes : "Our gar­ ens hav e flourished during seven­ week droughts with NO watering, while nearby ones burned brown."

The development of these enor­

26 mously productive methods of garden­ ing seems to me far more revolution­ ary than anything done or likely to be done by computers. GWS has been and will continue to be interested in these matters, for many reasons.

(1) Raising some or all of one's food is a way of unhooking oneself from the giant, destructive, and unreli­ able industrial/institutional econ­ omy. (2) The food is much better. (3) It brings children and adults closer to some of the most fundamental reali­ ties of life. (4) I t can give the children a way to join adults in some real, often interesting, and obvious­ ly useful work. (5) I t is a way in which non-specialist adults and child­ ren can do real science. (6) It takes some of the pressure off our industri­ al farms and their rapidly depleting soils, and reduces our dependence on food imports from other countries," above all poor countries.

The following quotes, from an article on food in a recent New York­ ~, tell their own story: · .. By the end of this century, perhaps as much as half of the human race will be removed from dir­ ect access to the simplest types of self-sufficient food systems. · .. In Calcutta ... four out of five people eat less than 900 calor­ ies' worth of food a day; the mini­ mum adequate intake for an adult male at rest, let alone an active one, is 2100. · .. Perhaps 40 million human be­ ings die every year from lack of a proper diet ... More human beings are consistently hungry and malnour­ ished than ever before and the num­ ber is growing all the time. The World Bank thinks that the number has reached one billion ... The F.A.O. puts the figure at between 400 and 500 million ...

For all these reasons it is clear that any people, adults or children, who learn something about how to raise more food from smaller amounts of land, capital, energy, and water, are learning something that will not only be valuable to them­ selves but to their community, their country, and the world. This little book of the Lees will help many peo­ ple take a big step in that direction.

A bonus: FOUR SEASON GARDENING is published as part of a regular issue of Homesteader's News, so you will also frnd letters, book reviews, directions from home schooler Susan Richman on how to make a simple baby sling, an interview with Helen Near­ ing, "Alternative Yellow Pages" for seeds and gardening supplies, and more. - JH WHOLE FOODS FOR THE WHOLE FAMI­ LY, ed. by Roberta Bishop Johnson TllO.95 + post). This is my all-time favorite cookbook. It is a collection of 900 recipes selected from 7000 which were collected from La Leche League members from allover the world (mostly US & Canada). It's a cookbook for anyone interested in whole foods cooking - beginners and experienced cooks. Most of the reci­ pes are simple and time-saving ­ exactly what many families need. I've been cooking whole foods for about seven years now and have always tried to be imaginative and use a lot of variety. This book has expanded my imagination even further.

There are no junk foods or high­ ly processed items in these recipes, not much salt or sweeteners - and alternatives are listed. Protein and

calorie counts are given for each recipe. There are more than 60 vege~ tarian main dishes listed in the index, and options and variations are listed for a great many of the recipes.

Another feature that makes this cookbook so useful for us is the large number of recipes and varia­ tions for people with food allergies.

Some people might wonder if La Leche families have a lot more problems with food allergies than other people do. I think it's simply that people like La Leche a"nd homeschooling fami­ lies are closer to each other and are therefore more aware of things like allergies.

The book is divided into chap­ ters on Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Breads, Dinners, Desserts, Baby's First Foods, Planning Ahead, and Mak­ ing Your Own. This last includes instructions for making yogurt, but­ ter, sausage, peanut butter, fruit leather, granola, seasoning mixtures, sprouts, natural Easter egg dyes, and beef jerky, and also has sections on using beans, whole grains and protein complements.

Other nice features: it's very well indexed; it has a spiral binding - when you open it, it bta~s open; and it has a Kids' Cook 00 section.

The Kids' Cookbook section is especially well thought out. It's easy to find, as the pages are in the middle of the book and are a differ­ ent color. In the beginning is a list of very sensible hints and safety tips. Then there are two pages of pic­ tures of all the different kinds of equipment used. For each recipe there are two lists of "What You Will Need," one for equipment and one for ingredients. Next to that is a list of questions under the heading, "Can You ... " This is great. In a very non-patronizing way, the cook is told what s/he'll have to be able to do.

And there's a wide range of diffi­ culty in the recipes, from frozen bananas to pumpkin bread. Two of ~ favorites in this section are a fruit salad and graham crackers (surprising­ ly easy to make). Some of the recipes are specifically labeled as being suitable for pre-schoolers (or pre­ school-aged people).

In the preface, the editor states, "The purpose of this cookbook is to allow you to feed your family well, planning your preparation and cooking time around the needs of your family." And that's exactly what it allows us to do. Though also I often just read it for pleasure. - MVD

back issues of GWS should be made out separate­ ly to GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING. For a copy of our latest catalog, send us a self-addressed stamped envelope.

We will pay $2 in credit for used copies (in good condition) of James Herndon's THE WAY IT SPOZED TO BE and John Holt's WHAT DO I DO MONDAY? On request, we will photocopy and mail the GWS review of any item in our catalog.

Send 50¢ plus a S.A.S.E. for one; add 25¢ for each additional.

ADDITIONS TO RESOURCES

Teachers willing to help homeschoolers: Jaelee Jones, 3 Stonemoor Dr, Pueblo CD 81005; 303-561-3510; L.D. --- Karla Pumphrey, 3401 Morris Av, Pueblo CO 81008; 303-545-7285; K-8 --- Ray Krumm, Star Rt Box 134, Pelkie MI 49958 --- Karen Fosse, Star Rt Box 82, Wash­ burn MO 65772 --- Martha Andersen, RR 1 Box 614, Huntington VT 05462 Psychologist willing to help homeschool­

ers: Mlchael Masny, 273 Lovel 1St, Worcester

Hi'l01602

These people have experience in the fol­ lowing areas & are willing to correspond with others: Deafness: Nancy Kirkland (Sherrie 7) 22631 WWaterwheel Cir, Saugus CA 91350 Learnini Disabilities: Kris Hallberg, 644 Comstock v, Elmhurst IL 60126 --- Sue Himel (Bryan/76) 1723 Willow Dr, Grand Forks NO 58201 Physical handica~s: Karen Franklin, 26 Noyes St, Needham MA 0 192 (Jessica/80 C.P.) WANT ADS

Rates for ads: $5 per line (up to 47 spaces).

Please tell these folks you saw the ad in GWS. FOR.LANG.TAPES THE LEARNABLES - Span. Ger. Fr. Eng. & Russian taught by audlo-picture system.

From GWS .31 "... promotes the fastest learn­ ing •.. most enjoyable." Also excel. Eng. read­ ing prog available. From International Linguis­ tics, 401 W89th St, Kansas City MO 64114 Are your children learning to THINK? Give them games and activities that challenge! THINKING IS FUN! 1920 Winterberry, Fort Collins CO 80526 HOME SCHOOLING from Prof. Baer School. Flexi­ bility, low cost. Send S.A.S.E. 245 Gruene Rd., New Braunfels, Tx. 78130. (512) 629-3372.

FROG MOUNTAIN SOFTWARE offers the most creative software to GWS readers at substantial dis­ counts from normal retail prices - all major programs available. This issue we recommend 3 imaginative home school-tested programs, all with excellent graphics, that expand with your children: DELTA DRAWING (age 4-adult) & ROCKY'S BOOTS (age 7-adult) for IBM, APPLE & others: retail $50 GWS readers $40 & READER RABBIT (age WHEN YOU WRITE US 5-7) IBM, APPLE: retail $40 GWS $32. Write for Please - (1) Put separate items of busi­ our other recommendations for non-violent qual­ ness on separate sheets of paper. (2) Put your ity software for all ages or for specific pro­ name and address at the top of each letter. gram you wish. Send check for retail price minus 20% + $1.50 for shipping to FROG MOUN­ (3) If you ask questions, enclose a self­ addressed stamped envelope. (4) Tell us if TAIN SOFTWARE, 1442A Walnut St '227, Berkeley it's OK to publish your letter, and whether to CA 94709 use your name with the story.

OZARKS: Several 10 & 5 acre parcels for sale by owners.Lovely forests. As members of ecological 960acre non-profit Greenwood Forest Assoc.

ORDER INFORMATION buyers also own 565 acres including streams, in Postage charge: 1,2, or 3 items except common with 43 other parcel owners. Terms records: $1.20. 4 or more, 40¢ per item. available. Contact Gail Rowley, Star Rt, Box 70-0, Mountain View MO 65548.

Postage for records: $1 for 1, add 50¢ for each additio~ Overseas surface mail: 1, 2, or 3 items, SEWING PATTERNS DESIGNED FOR THE BREASTFEEDING MOTHER. SEND SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE $1.20; 4 or more, 50¢ per ltem.

Mass. residents, add 5% sales tax.

TO COLTEN CREATIONS, 10247-0 CARRETA DRIVE, Make check (US bank) or money order for SANTEE, CA 92071 FOR BROCHURE. books, index, reprints, records, tapes, instru­ ments, and art materials payable to HOLT ASSO­ MICHAEL OLAF - THE MONTESSORI SHOP Book - toy ­ CIATES, INC. Payment for subscriptions, ads, tool source for parents, schools &homeschool­ T-shirts, the YOUNG CHILDREN supplement, and ers. For our "suggested age guide"/catalog send GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING '44

27 $1 to: 4284 Gilbert Street, Oakland CA 94611

an abbreviation in parentheses, that person is Thora 3) 211 Annie, Coeur d'Alene 83814 in the Directory (check here, in H43, and in (change) --- Cherie WRIGHT, IDAHO FAMILY EDUCA­ Curriculum guides K-6 $5 each. Helps you know TION ASSOCIATION, Rt 1, Eden 83325 H42). We are happy to forward mail to those what concepts to teach or if your child is a­ whose addresses are not in the Directory (mark IL - Jerry & Margaret PARTLOW (Jeff 10, head/behind public school.Many resource ideas. the outside of the envelope with name/descrip­ Mark 8~Matt 6, Jonathan 3) 1924 S Holmes Av, S.Ashcroft 13 Gloucester Ct, Mt.Holly, NJ 08060 tion~, and page number ) .

Spri ngfield 62704 (change) When you send an address change for a IN - Mark & Gretchen BLACKWELL (Cait1in / TEACHING GUIDES - Outlines of grade level ex­ subscription, please remind us if you are in 77, Emmy / 81, Hannah / 83) 821 E 11th, Blooming­ pectati ons, written in natural 1anguage from the Directory, so we can change it here, too. ton 47401 (change) --- MIDNORTH INDIANA HOME­ which you can create lessons $7. CURRICULUM SCHOOL ERS, 926 N 19th St, Lafayette 47904 GUIDES - Outlines of objectives to present to AZ - Michael & Peggy AHERN, 4437 N 47th KS - Betty JONES, KANSAS CHAPTER/NAT'L schools $3. Specify: Math or Lang . Arts; grade PI, Phoenix 85018 (change) --- Bernie & Mary COUNClr-OF PARENT EDUCATORS, PO Box 3366, Shaw­ level 1,2,3,4,5,6; Teaching or Curriculum TUCKER (Tamara 12, Cheyenne 4, Wi11ow / 84) c/ o nee Mission 66217 --- KANSANS FOR ALTERNATIVE Guide. Add $1.50 shipping & handling. LEARNING 5735 N 61 Dr, Glendale 8530 1 (change) EDUCATION, 19985 Renner Rd, Spring Hill 66083 AT HOME, 80x 270-G, Honaunau, HI 96726.

AR - Bruce & Susan HOLLISTER (Hudson 3, KY - David & Marta CLARK (Elena / 79, Bene­ Hadyn TT 1605 Washington Av, Conway 72032 dict/87T Rt 1 Box 174, Murray 42071 --- Elaine THE WORKSTEADER NEWS When homeschooling re­ CA, South (Zips to 94000) - Ross DIGGES & Terry ELLIOTT (Nathan / 81) Rt 11 Box qUlres homeworklng, WN can help . The nat'l CAMPBELL &Marlanne AALL (Aragorn / 83) PO Box 164, Elizabethtown 42701 (change) --- Susan & newsletter for home-based workers. Job list­ 108, Friant 93626 --- Roger & June DOMINGO, Doug HOLMES, 9007 Trentham Ln, Louisville ings, bus. ops, tax tips, legislative updates, SPREE DECOR SCHOOLS, PO Box 1709, Ramona 92065 40222 (change) --- Kevin & Patti VAN BUSKIRK exposes, wholesale info, how-to, more. Sample (change) --- Steve & Marsha GIBSON (Che 14 , (Luke/79, Hannah / 82, Caleb / 85) Rt 3 Box 335, $1 postage and handling to 2396 Coolidge Way, Trina 13, Miriam 4) 226 Hillview Dr, Goleta Mt Vernon 40456 (change) Rancho Cordova, CA 95670 93117 --- Leslie & Hank HEINTZBERGER (Amber 9, LA - Nancy & Richard VOLLETTE (Lauren Land 7) PO Box 1307, Carmel Valley 93924 --­ 10, MarTsha 6, Jenna 4) 115 Herndon St, Shreve­ Fred & Kathie JOBLIN (Teddy / 82) 11 Academy Rd, port 71104 (change) ME - Andrea & Rob KELLY-ROSENBERG (Noah / Palos Verdes 90274 --- Jill LITTLEWOOD & J. PEN PALS WANTED 79, Laura / 82) 1859 Congress, Portland 04102 KAHN (Laura) 4600 Russell Av, Los Angeles Children Who Want Pen Pals should send MD - Barbara & Richard KLEIN (Alison, 90027 --- Julie LOYD (Charlie 1) 6300 Stephens us name, age, address, and 1-3 words on inter­ Ranch, La Verne 91750 --- Dwight & Theresa Ca1eb)-r10 Shiley St, Annapolis 21401 --- Judy ests - MICHEL, 611 Roberts, Washington MO NEEDELS (Thea 3) 2563 Elden Av HC, Costa Mesa & Alan ROBERSON (Emi1y / 82) 985 Nottingham Rd , 63090: Patrick (6) science, space, drawing; 92627 --- Eileen & Bob SNIDER (Dov 8 , Steph­ Elkton 21921 Mandy (8) books, computers, sketching --- Sam­ anie 5, Casey 2) 1671 Richert, Clovis 93612 MA - Linda & Art FASCIANI (Sean / 79, Eric antha BULLOCK (14) PO Box 92, Inglewood, Tara­ CA, North (Zips 94000 & up) - Debbie & / 83) IlMeadow Rd, Townsend 01469 --- Joy PEAR­ SON, 40 Fox St H3, Dorchester 02122 --- Rob naki New Zealand; fashion design, dancing --­ Terry BYRD (Megan / 77, Cait lin / 80) 5380 Hessel HALLBERG, 644 Comstock Av, Elmhurst IL 60126: PIERSON, 29 Matherly Rd, Brighton 02135 --­ Av, Sebastopol 95472 --- Carolyn LUCKIE (Lisa David (11) science, McGurk, Legos; Karin (7) Valerie VAUGHN (Gabe 7) Star Rt 1 Box 194, Ash­ 9, Merrow 5) c/ o Laurie Baine, 855C Sharmon Cabbage Patch, art --- HANSEN, 12003 Washing­ field 01330 (change) Palms, Campbell 95008 --- Jayanthi MALLEY, MI - Patricia KRAMER & Ron ZANG (Ahja / ton Plz, Omaha NE 68137: Josh (8) mysteries, MAGIC MEADOW SCHOOL, PO Box 29, N San Juan Adam / 82) 7727 Sharon Hollow Rd, Manchester 80, racquetball, stickers; Kiley (6) gymnastics, 95960 --- Wendy MARTYNA & Bill LELAND (Bryn 5, 48158 --- Lee & Anndy WHIPPLE (Mo / 77, Robin / mysteries, stickers --- Ame FLOURNOY (13) 4030 Miles 2) 50 Rustic Ln, Santa Cruz 95060 Las Casitas HA, El Paso TX 79936; animals, Marshall SERWITZ, SERWITZ ACADEMY, 3373 Middle­ 79) 403 Lawton, Mason 48854 MN - John & Michelle ICE (Jennifer 13, drawing, piano --- Francis PAKENHAM (8) South field Rd, Palo Alto 94306 Head Rd, Helensville RD 1, New Zealand; crick­ CO - H.O.M.E., PO Box 543, Denver 80236 Alethea-l1, Joey 7, Erin 5, Sunshine 3) 15500 et, fishing, bikes --~ Sadie WALTERS (6) PO 182 Av, Elk River 55330 --- Boo-& Jae1ee JONES (Boo/78, Jaeme/80) 3 Box 56, Douglas City CA 96024; penpals, dolls, Stonemoor Dr, Pueblo 81005 --- Bill & Connie MS - Larry ESTEP (Timothy 16, Kellie 15, birds --- Jennifer SEELBACH (5) 1265 Dilling­ KREIDER (Me1inda / 76, Nathan / 79, Laura / 82) Rt 1 Steven-r3, Amy 12, David 7) RR 2 Bo x 121-B, ham Rd, Barnardsville NC 28709; dancing, sing­ Box 209, Fowler 81039 --- Paul & Karla PUM­ Mendenhall 39114 --- Philip & Kim McLEMORE, ing, cooking --- Lane SIMS (11) Rt 2 Box 346, 206 Orville Wright, Biloxi 39531 (change) PHREY (Clinton & Kristin / 79) 3401 Morris Av, Knightstown IN 46148; team-roping, cows, hor­ MO - Joseph CIANO (Michae1 / 72, Chri s­ Pueblo 81008 --- Tighe & Kurt YOVANOFF (Brenna tiaan~) Rt 5 Box 120, Ava 65608 --- Karen & ses --- MARTIN, Box 1026, Montague PEl Canada 5, Madalyn 3) 602 N California Av, Loveland Taylor FOSSE, Star Rt Box 82, Washburn 65772 COA lRO: Seamus (9) biking, reading, woodwork­ 80537 ing; Sage (6) music, dolls, art; Micah (4) --- David & Candy KEMPF (Justin 6, Lindsay 3) CT - HOME EDUCATION LEAGUE OF PARENTS 1002 Laurel Dr, Jefferson City 65101 --- Jim & Legos, art, games --- Tish STEELE (16) add­ (HELP)~PO Box 203, Abington 06230 (change) ress, see MARTIN; music, writing, sports --­ --- Nancy WILLIAMS, CONNECTICUT HOMESCHOOLERS Mary SHEPARDSON (Debbie 12, Timmy 9) 12169 Fox Pt, Maryland Hts 63043 --- Jim & Marsha WILSON Bridger BOHANNON (5) Box 2, Shoshone CA 92384; ASSOCIATION, Box 464, Chester 06412 swimming, acrobatics, motorcycles --- READ, (Christopher 7, Corey 4) 402 Meier Dr, Jeffer­ FL - William & Gail JORGENSEN (Brent 4, son City 65101 Granfossbakken 10, 1324 Lysaker Norway: Alyson Lance TT 2805 S 27th St, Ft Pierce 33482 NE - Emilia & Dave CLEMENTS, NEBRASKA /69 music, books, animals; Tessa77TlnOrses, GA - Wade & Deena JOHNSTON (Clarissa / 76, animals, books; Andrea/71 horses, animals, pen­ Jay/83r-Rt 1 Box 556, Cataula 31804 HOME SrHOOLERS NETWORK (Samantha 11, Edward pals --- BREIDENBAUGH, 4150 N 3500 W, Ogden UT HI - Kent & Penney STRYK ER (Brad 3, Meg­ 10, Rebecca 8) 8010 Lil li bridge St, Lincoln 84404: Adam (12) transformers, painting, war; 68506 --- Linda STROH, LINCOLN AREA HOMESCHOOL­ an 2) 47-745 Akakoa PI, Kaneohe 96744 April (10) stickers, cats, reading; Jason (8) 10 - Jeff & Barbara KEELER, EAGLE'S STAR ERS, 1821 Oakdale, Lincoln 68506 math, transformers, woodcarving --- HARRISON, NV - NEVADA HOME SCHOOLERS, PO Box 1230, FOUNDATTON (Jaso n/ 76, Jeffrey / 78, Ky1e/ 81) W CarsonlLity 89702 --- NEVADA HOME SCHOOLS, 80x 53, NAVSTA, FPO NY 09540: Elizabeth (10) 2225 Hwy 53, Post Falls 83854 (change) --­ ballet, stickers, Scouts; Antonia (7) stick­ INC, PO Box 2132 3, Reno 895 15 David & Barbara STOUTNER (Soren 6, Cam ille 5, ers, reading, nature --- SHRADER, 13-A N Reu­ ben Rd, Glendale OR 97442: Krista (14) horses, sports, reading; Kory (11) baseball, football, track; Scott (9) robots, Legos, contraptions : RENEWALS --- Krishna DRURY (13) 3819 Juniper PI, Colum­ bia MO 65201-3866; horses, reading, exploring I On the reverse side of this page is a form you can us e t o rene w --- Joanna CHRISTIE (6) Partridge Cottage, your subscription. Please help us by renewing earl y .

Dereham Rd, Colkirk, Fakenham, Norfolk ~­ How can you tell when your subscription expires ? Look a t this land; swimming, camping, dancing --- DRINNON, sample label: gox-238 , Mohawk TN 37810: De De (3) horses, coloring, hiking; Rainbow Mountain (boy 4) books, karate, ball 12345 JIM & MARY JONES 27 01 45 ADDITIONS TO DIRECTORY 16 MAIN ST Here are the additions and changes to PLAINVILLE NY 01111 our Directory that have come in since the last issue. The last complete Directory was in H42.

Our Directory is not a list of all sub­ scribers, but only of those who ask to be list­ I The number that is underlined in the sample tells the number of ed, so that other GWS readers, or other lnter­ the final issue for the subscription. The Jones' sub expires with Issue ested people, may get in touch with them. If #45, the next issue. But if we were to receive their renewal before we you would like to be included, please send us sent our final account changes to the mailing house ( early June ) , they the information. would qualify for the free bonus issue.

Please tell us if you would rather have Renewal rates are the same as for new subscriptions: $15 for 6 your phone number and town listed instead of a issues, $27 for 12 issues, $36 for 18 issues. If that number in the third line of your label is 44, 45, 46, etc, please renew ~ - rates mailing address.

If a name in a GWS story is followed by will never get any cheaper.

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44

28 NH - David & Rosemary ARMI NGTON, Box 190, Kearsarge 03847 (ch ange ) --- NEW HAMP­ SHIRE HOME EDUCATORS ASSOCI AT ION , 9 Mi zor as Dr, Nashua 03062 --- Den nis & Barbar a PARSHLEY (Sean 11, Jason 10, Nath an 8) RFD 7 Box 16A , Gi l ford 03246 (cha nge ) NJ - Malcolm & Sandi DOUGLAS (Vanessa 5, Brandon-3, Corey 2) 71 We l l ingt on Rd, E Brun s­ wick 088 16 NY - Cindy & Jim BARN ETT (Mat th ew/7 9, Beth / 8~ Joe1 / 84) 213 Melbo urne Av, Syracuse 13224 --- HIGH MEADOW SCHOOL, 60 Gateh ouse Rd, New Paltz 12561 --- Ken & Phyllis MONSEY (Ke n­ ny 10, Bobby 6, Peggy 3) 87-13 96th St , Wood­ haven 11421 --- Phil & Kat hy NEET Z (Joshua 6, Caleb 4, Naomi /85) 87-13 96th St, Woodhaven 11 421 (change) --- Kath leen & Joh n SMEE (Ryan/ 81) PO Box 52, New Woodstock 13122 (change) --- Linda TAGLIAFERRO & Frederic THORNER (Eric /8 1) Phone 718-423-0928, Do uglaston --- Rick STEINBERG, 310 Baynes St , Buffa l o 142 13 NC - NORTH CAROLINA HOME EDUCATORS, PO Box 5 1 ~, Emerywood Sta, Hi gh Pt 27262- 9998 (change) OH - Larry & Patty ARNOLD (Heather/80, GabrieTTe /82) 38000 Shaker Bl vd, Chagri n Fall s 44022 --- Ed & Joyce CONWAY (Bill 14, Way ne 13, Michael 3) 8310 C10veridge, Chagri n Fa ll s 4402 2 --- Irwin & Mary GEMLICH (Ann Marie 5) 10036 Ravenna Rd, Twinsburg 44087 --- George & Diane HORRIGAN (Adam 4, Seth 2) 8731 Camel ot Dr, Chesterland 44026 --- Jack & Ly n KISTL ER (Scot t 5, Kari 3) 13881 James Dr, Novelty 44072 --- Susan & Mickey RICE (Janet / 76, Mindy / 80, Steven /83) 16261 Soltis Rd, Garret t svi ll e 44231 OR - Ralph KRUMDI ECK & Ly nn COATES (Chad /69, Emi1y / 77, A1ice /82) 1440 Lincol n, Eugen e 97401 --- De nnis TUURI, PARENTS EDUCAT ION ASSOCIATION, PO Box 1482, Beaverton 97075 PA - Jeff & Harriett DILLER (Adam/80) 448 E ~and Av, Tower City 17980 -- - Joset t e & Mark WARFEL (Jacob 6) RD 1 Box 395, Henrys­ ville 18332 " (change) .

SO - SOUTH DAKOTA HOME SCHOOL ASSOCIATION, n 2 Box 45, Garretson 57030 TN - Kathy McALPINE (Nathanie 1/ 78) 2220 Ashwooo-Av, Nashville 372 12 TX - Kim &Ginger BECKSTEAD (Jason / 72, Tal itha!74 , Christopher / 76, Johanna/ 78, Tati­ ana / 83) 6306 Spindrift, San Antonio 78239 (change) --- Brian & Me l i nda CRAIG (Jason/8 1, A11ison / 83) Rt 1 Box 705, Henderso n 75652 -9722 --- Diana & Joseph LEHR (Pat rick 5, Nic hol as 3) EL PASO HOME SCHOOLERS ASSOCI ATION, 10097 Quebec St, E1 Paso 79924 - - - Alicia LOWN (Joseph 8) PO Box 888, San Angelo 76902 -- TEXAS ASSOCIATION FOR HOME EDUCATION, PO Box 835105, Richardson 70583 --- Pet er &Arle ne WANNEMACHER (Lyana / 81, Arie1 / 84) Rt 19 Box 3510, Conroe 77303 UT - JOHN HOLT LEARNING CENTER, PO Box 520794:-Sa1t Lake City 84 152 (change) VT - LEARNING AT HOME : VT, RD 1 Box 303, WatervTT1e 05492 --- Laura & Fred SNYDER (P hi1-

lip 10) 71 Alpine Haven, Montgomery Ctr 05471 VA - Carolyn & Donald MALIN (Julia 8, Levi 6:-Joseph/ 84) 2505 E Main St, Box A, Wytheville 24382 (change) --- Barbara & Howard ROBINSON (Alan 6) Rt 1 Box 230-A, Floyd 24091 WA - Glen & Lorena ELLENBERGER (Lisa/ 70, Sunshine/ 73) Rt 1 Box 264, #10, Cashmere 98815 (change) --- Karl & Ellen THOMPSON (Samuel 5) 4295 Deming Rd, Everson 98247 --- Dusty & Les­ lie WILLIAMS (Jesse 5, Rachel 1) 1889 H St Rd, Bl ai ne 98230 WI - Dan & Riley HOWARD (Trevor / 76, Tris­ t an/ 80:-Noah /81, Brandon/ 83) 312 E Wabash Av , Wau kes)la 53186 WY - Susan SWAN (Fraser 5, Erin 3) 1392 Twentymi1e Creek Rd , Lost Springs 82224 (c hange)

the articles are as useful and important as when they were printed, and we do not plan to repeat the information in them . ·Our rates for back issues : any combina­ tion of back issues, mailed at one time to one address , cost 75¢ per issue, plus $2. For exam­ ple, GWS #1-43 would cost $34.25. (43 x 75¢ is $32.25. $32.25 + $2 = $34.25.) These rates are for subscribers only; non-subscribers pay $2.50 per lssue.

The index to GWS #1-30 costs $2.50 ; to ' 31 -40, $1 (these prices include postage ) . " Address chanaes : If you're moving , let us know your new a dress as soon as possible .

Please enclose a recent label (or copy of one) . Issues missed because of a change in address may be replaced for $2 each.

Group subscriptions : all cop i es are CANADA mailed to one address. Here are the cur rent ---ALTA - Carol & Garry KEHLER (Amika 8, group rates (lX means you get one copy of each Galen ~eenie 1) 1005 Varley Dr NW, Calgary issue, 2X means you get 2 copi es of each T3B 2V5 --- Gay MENTES, ALBERTA HOME SCHOOLING i ssue, 3X means 3 copies, etc.) : INFO SE~VICE, 16 Fonda Close SE, Calgary T2A 2 yrs.

1 year 3 yrs.

6G3 (change ) 6 iss.

12 iss.

18 iss.

BC - Jan & Marcu s HUNT (Jason 4) 606 $15 $27 $36 Mary S~ Vi ctoria V9A 6Y9 -- - Beth &Art SHAW 1X (Robyn 13, Amy 9, Emi ly 8, Mary 6, Eva ) Gen 2X $20 $34 $45 Del , Seche1t VON 3AO (change) $45 $25 $67 . 50 NB - Lesley BARTON & Burt COHEN (Amy/82, 3X Mic ah/Sl ) c/o Mor r ill , RR 1, St Louis de Kent 4X $60 $30 $90 EOA 2Z0 $37.50 ONT - Barbar a GAUTHIER (Brett 9, Simon 5X $75 $11 2. 50 6, Lew;S-4) Vank1eek Hill KOB 1RO (change) - -­ 6X $45 $135 $90 Deborah & Norman GOLLEDGE (Jamie / 83) Box 178, Br acebr idge POB 1CO --- ONTARIO HOME SCHOOLERS 7X, 8X , etc: $7.50 per person pe r year .

ASSOCIATION , Box 60 York-Toronto 1833, 260 Please send in the names and addresses Adelaide St E, Toronto M5A 1NO of members of your group sub, so that we can keep in touch with them. Thanks .

OTHER LOCATIONS - ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION RESOORCE GROOP, 24 Wakefield St, Hawthorn 3122 Editors - John Holt &-Donna Richou x Australia (change ) - -- Geoffrey &Theresa Managing Editor - Patrick Farenga NOBLE (Sam / 73 , For rest / 77, Eden /80) Box 213 , Subscriptions & Books - Steve Rupprecht Soufri er e, St Luci a, We st Indies Sandy Kendall Office Assistant - Mary Van Doren SUBSCRIPTIONS

Co ri ht Holt Associates , Inc.

Our curr ent poli cy starts al l subscri p­ ti ons with the next is sue published. Rates are : $1 5 for 6 is sues, $27 fo r 12 issues, $36 for 18 is sues. GWS is published every other month. A single issue cost s $2.50 .

For all subs or orders of GWS (not books ), please send check or money oroers pay­ able to GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING. F o re6~n payment s must be either money order s ln funds or checks drawn on US banks. We can't afford to accept personal check s on Canadian accounts, even if they have "US fund s" written on them. Outside of North Ameri ca, add $10 per year for ai rmail (other­ wi se, allow 2-3 months for surface mail ) .

Back i ssues : We strongly urge you to get t he back lssues of GWS, especially i f you plan to take your child r en out of school. Many of

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RENEWAL FORM Use this form to renew or extend yo ur subscri pti on to GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING. Place the label from a recent issue below, if possible . If not , print the info. Thanks.

Account Number:

Name:

Expirati on code :

Address (Change? Yes / No) :

City, State, Zip:

YES, PLEASE EXTEND MY SUBSCR IPTIO N FOR: 6 issues, $15 Group sub:

copies of

12 issue s , $27

18 issues , $36

issues, $_ _ (see ch art )

(Clip and send with your check or mo ney or der i n U.S . funds to: GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING, 729 Boylston Street , Boston MA 02116 .)

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING #44