Growing Without Schooling 70

Growing Without Schooling 79

Childrcn's Llbrarian Adelaide Gardner fieft) works wlth homeschooler Sarah-Kate Glddtngs. Sce our Focus on Chlldren Jointng Adults at Work, pages l9-21 .

Inside This Issue News & Reports p. 2-4 College Welcomes Homeschoolers, Allowed on School Teams, Certilled Doesn't Mean Better Qualified, Support from Federal Gov't, News from Outside U.S.

Changlng Rrbltc Attltudes p.

5

Challenges & Concerns p.6-7 Homeschooling with Toddler, Valuing Mothering, Critical Relative, Illness in Family

Watchlng Chlldren Lcarn p.8-12 Math & History, Newspaper Volunteer, Cartooning, John Holt on Children's Questions, Involving Neighbors, Support vs. Encouragement, Belng "Behind," Ballet School

EnJoytng Mathematlcs p. tz-t+

BookRevlews p. 15-18 FOCUS: Chlldrcn Jolnlng Adults at Work p. l9-21

Intervlew: Glenda Blsser at Work p.22-24 Older Homeschoolers p. 24-25

Llfelong Lâ‚Źarnlng, not Llfelong SchooUng p.26-27

FYom ttme to tlme we hear stories of homeschoolers having a chance to help out at an adult workplace, and we've printed many of these storles over the years. Such an opportunity is often one of the best parts of a child's homeschoollng experlence, and it's easy to see why. Helplng out an adult workplace gives chlldren a chance to be taken serlously by someone outstde thetr own familles, to do real work (often work that colncides wlth their lrterests), to get a better sense of thelr own lncllnaUons and abiliUes' For this lssue of GWS. we've talked with the adults who have made some of these work opportunltles possible for homeschoolers. We wanted to gtve them credlt for havlng dared to try something so experimental, and to flnd out what tre their experience would help other adults feel able to make a child the same offer.

The chtldren ln the storles we focus on here were all under 12 when they helped out at the adult workplace, so their stories are a bit different from the ones about teenagers llnding lnternships (which we also love to printt), most obviously because they are about working once a week, on a fairly experimental basis, rather than full-time. None of the childrenJolned the adult at work as part of an already established ]oung volunteers' program. Each was an tndividual arrangement, set up specillcally to fit the needs of the partlcular adult and child. These arrangements seem to work more successfully than volunteer programs, especially for young children, preclsely because they are flexible and made to fit the tndividuals. All of the adults we talked to made thls point tn one way or another.

It's tmportant to remember that although these ecperiences have been so valuable to the chtldren, the adults didn't agree to the arrangement out of altruism alone. They all point out that the child has gtven them real help - that's what makes them value their young volunteer, although they may also like giving a young person an opportunity, havtng a child around, and so on. And having seen that one young person can be helpful, they will be that much more open, ln the future, to the ldea of taking on another.

One note about strateggr: lt seems that when children are younger than, say, 12 or 13, it works best lf the parent takes the Ilrst step and proposes the ldea of a work arrangement to the adult with whom the child wants to work. It seems that children maklng such lnquiries on their own - unless they are very well known by the adults ln questlon - can make some adults uncomfortable. I gather thts is because people worry about agreeing to something that the child's parents may not approve of - or maybe it's stmply that such an tnquiry coming directly from a child isJust too unusual. On the other hand, IVe heard from teenage homeschoolers that at that age, the reverse becomes true: people seem to expect teenagers to make their own phone calls or write their own letters of lnquiry, and would be skeptical of the lndependence of a teenager who needed his or her parent to do that work. This may seem strange, but I pass tt along as a plece of advlce.

Whether the young people approach the adults themselves or whether thelr parents act as lrntermediartes, it appears that homeschoolers have some advantages: they are more available during traditional adult worliiing hours, and they can present their interest in volunteerlng as part of their'home education program,' which seems to help some adults to better understand what ts being proposed.

Susannah Shelfer

-

News

&

Reports

College YYelcomes Homeschoolers

/ Worldng;wlth baby closc byl

-

Office News & Announcements [SS:l TWo pieces of good nervs from the publishing front IVe slgned a contract wlth Helnemann-Boynton/Cook for a book about the homeschooled writers IVe becn working wtth (and stlll am - new ones are always welcome). The book is tentaflvely scheduled to come out ln the spring

of 1992; I wlll be v/rfUng the flnal third of It durtng the next slx months. My editor, by the way, ls Peter Sflllman, whom we tnterviewed ln GWS #73 and whose book Faniltes Wrfthg we carry in our catalog.

Also due out ln the sprlng of '92 is an Addison-Wesley edltton of Ner;er Ta l-ate.

Slnce we sold the last of our low-cost, homemade edltlons, lots of people have inquired about the book, so we're delighted that tt u/tll be avatlable again, and this ume to a broader audlence.

Homeschoollng and Holt Assocl,ates have had lots of publtctty stnce our last lssue went to pr€ss, Pat Farenga appeared on the ?bday show rtght before Thanksgivtrrg, and Tle NewYorkTtnes then had a front-page story about homeschoollng on Thanksgiving day. We also hearrd about a story on the CBS evening news, and a few other arUcles ln newspa.pers around the

country.

We want to thank our customers for helptng to make thls holtday rush season a good one for John Holt's Book and Muslc Store. Three cheers to our strlpptng stalf, tm, for fllling so many orders so smoothly.

In GWS *78,we lncorrectly prlnted as "Diana Cross" the name of the writer who asked to hear from others who lilce GWS but are not homeechooltng. The wrlter's name ls Donncr Cross. We apologlze for the

mlstake.

T\vo lssues a€lo we asked to hear from people who enJoyed math and were doing lt in unusual ways. What about hlstor5/? Is

anyone doing history by vtstttng hlstorlcal places, talldng to hlstorlans or to older people, readtng prtmary sources? Has anyone gotten teterested ln a parttcular histortcal perlod or event as the r€sult of another tnterest - perhaps ln muslc, or art, or somethlng else?

In our liast lssue we sald that we are c,ollecflng materlal for two posstble booklets: one on klds (under 13) earntng mon€y, and one on the relatlonshlps between homeschoollng slbltngs. We'd sdl like to hear from you about elther or both of these toplcs. See GWS #78 for a fuller descrlptlon ofboth projects.

[SS:l Although we contlnually remtnd older homeschoolers t}rat college ls not thetr only opfion, we're always happy to hear that a homeschooler's admlsslon to college has gone smoothl5r or that a pardcular college ls actively welcomlng to homeschoolers. We want to s€e as nrany optlons avallable to homeschoolers as posslble. Thus, I was pleased and lnterested when a member of the undergraduate

admlssions stalf at Boston Unlversit5r called us to ask howto reach out to homeschoolers and encourage them to apply to BU. George,4. Schlller, Jr., Director of Undergraduate Admisslons, sent us thls letter: To Homeschooled Students:

Boston Unlversi$r welcomes appllcations from homeschooled students. We belierre students educated at home possess

the passion for knowledge, the tndependence, and the self-reliance that enable them to excel in our lntellectually challengtng prograrns of study.

Ttvo homeschooled students curently attend Boston Universit5l. One is a sophomore tn the College of Ltberal Arts, the other a freshman tn the College of Engtneerlng. Both students are dolng very well, Thelr educatlonal and personal transltlons from homeschoollng to the Unlverslty ar€ a proven suc€€ss.

If you are a homeschooled student lnterested ln attendlng college or simply concemed to know more about your optlons in lrtgher education, we rvould be pleased to talk wlth you, To get tn touch with us, please call or write to Kathy Mackln, Assistant Director of Admlsslons (telephone 6 l7-353-48OG). An lnteMew can also be arranged. Our address: Boston University, OIIice of Undergraduate Admlssions, 881 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston MA O2215.

Because Boston Unlverslt5r happens to be so close by, I ofrered to meetwlth members of the admlsslons stalTto help them

understand homeschooling and how appllcations from homeschoolers would dtfier from appllcatlons from students who had attended tradiflonal lrtgh schools.

It ls clear to me, from that meeting, that the BU admlsslons staffls lndeed lnterested ln homeschoolers and understands that homeschooltng does not only mean taldng correspondence courses at home.

The freshman that the Director's letter refers to ls Mike Dodd, who has wrltten to GWS several times and whose mother, Suzy, described his orperience of taking

the Prelimlnary Scholasdc Apdtude Test

tn GWS #71. At that time Suzyurrote, 'I'm not telling ttrts story to brag about Mlke, but rather to let others know that tt's posslble not to play the school game for most of your life and then to Jump ln and play lt successfully, relatively late ln the game, lf that's whatyou decide to do.'We hope Mike will write about hls college

experience, but ln the meantime it seems clear that Suzy's potnt held true for Mike's admisslons prrrcrss as well - homeschoollng tn a very unschool-llke way does not make tt tmpossible to get tnto college later on, lf that's what you want.

Back ire GWS #58 Jane Wilson wrote about meedng with the admlssions stalf of Maryvllle College ln Tennessee, to help them thtnk about considering applications from homeschoolers. Ifothers ofyou have such meetings with olllclals at other colleges, do tell us about them.

Allowed on School Teams in Maine F\om the to fine (nast recentlg tt *78) use print stories abo,ut whetlvr lameschmlers ate allowd. to play on sclwl athletlc teans. The Jdlowtng atfrcle jomtE 12/6/90 Isste o:f the Augusto, Mairre Kennebec Journal girrs Malne's latest neros ln this arecc GWS

Htgh school students who are taught at home can play basketball and other team sports lflocal school boards give their approval. But the ruling by the Maine Secondary School Principals' Association nray mean students in one school can play whlle others cannot, dependtng upon the whtm of the local boards.

'Inequltles wlll occur, rlght next door to each other," sald Stephen Moltozo, dllector for Home School Assoclates of Norl England ln Auburn. 'It's gotng to cause problems."

Moitozo said legtslatton may be needed to provide a uniform pollcy to allow homeschooled children to use publlc school facilittes and pardcipate in school competlUons and events. At lssue, Moitozo satd, ts discrimination a€lainst a group of students whose schools receive halfsubsidy on the students whtle they are schooled at home.

Forbtdding students from partlcipating ln actlvitles would mean school olficlals "are getting half the pay for dotng none of the rporlq' Moitozo sald.

Richard Tller, executlve dlrector of the princtpals' assoclatlon, adrnitted the lmpact of the new ruling could differ from school system to school system.

-There are some @nrmunitles that feel that tf a famtly opts to educate at home, thryVe made a choic.e,'Tller said.

And that choice sometimes means the

chtld ts forbidden from taldng part tn school acttvlUes, he sald.

Tller satd the assoclatlon's declsion matches the state guideltnes for ertracur-

rlcular actlvitles for

homeschooled

youngsters. The state also leaves parucipatlon up to local boards. last sprtng, the prtnctpals' assoclatlon refused to change lts sports elf$bility rules to lnclude homeschooled students.

T\rro weeks ago, alter lntensive lobbylng from the Maine Home School Assoclation and dlscusslons among the associatlon's members, the princtpa.ls changed thea

mlnds.

The declslon was spurred by a case in

Growtng Without Schooltng #79

3 Fort Fatrlleld, where a boy who had been homeschooled returned to hfgh school and was denied the opportunity to play basketball.

So far thts year, the state Department of Educadon has recelved 1,353 home-

school applications, 181 for htgh school students...

Certified Doesn't Mean Better Qualified The issue of teacher certification for homeschoolers never seerrts to go away, wen though only one state (Iowa) current$ requires homeschooling parents to be certilied. There are now three studles that address thls question, and all three show there ls no Justlllcadon for requlring crrtificatlon of homeschooling parents.

The flrst, 'An Analysts of Home Schoolnrg for Elementary School-Age Children ln Alabama" by Dr. J. F. Rakestraw (a doctoral dissertadon done at the University of Alabama in 198fl, notes, 'After comparlng the scores of children whose parents were certlfied to teach to those of children whose parents were not c.ertified to teach, no statistically significant dillerences were found to erlst between the flrst-grade chlldren ln mathematics or between the second-grade children ln listening and mathemadcs.

'Thts flnding suggests that those ctrlldren in Alabama whose parent-teachers are not certified to teach perlorm on standardlzed achievement tests as well as those whose parent-teachers are cerdfied to teach. Therefore, it ls concluded that there is no reladonship between the cerdficatlon status of the parent-teacher and the home-schooled children's performance on standardlzed achlevement tests.'

The second study, "The Relationship of Selected Input Variables to Academic Achievement Among Washington's Homeschoolers' by Jon Wartes (Sept. l99O), is the latest report from the Washlnggon Homeschool Research ProJect, 'a cooperative and volunteer effort on the part of thirteen tndividuals, lncluding homeschmlers and public school educators, to

gather obJectlve informaUon about

Washlngton's homeschoolers and to make

that information available to the public."

Jon Wartes, a homeschmling father, educated hlmself about research methods in order to do this work. He writes ln his introducdon, '...If parent educatlon level, teacher lnvolvement, structure, finances, and other variables are genulnely important to the educational proaess among homeschoolers, then these relatlonships should be measureable. It ts the purpose here to begln thts process ofmeasure-

ment.'

Wartes notes these results regarding 'The reladonship between crntact wtth a c.ertified teacher and homeschooler

outcomes': 'As a group, homeschool children of certilled techers did outscore chlldren of non-teachers but the dlllerence appears to be assoctated wlth a hlgher education level of teacher parents rather than teacher

certillcation. Students who had virtuallv no teacher contact scored, as a group,

around the 65%ile on natlonal norrns. "ln general, thls evldence provides no support to policy declslons that would

Growtng Wthout Schooltng #79

requAe contact with a certilled teacher as a condiuon to homeschool.'

AIso of lnterest: "Thls test data suggests that there ls llttle or no reladonshlp between level ofstructure and academtc outcomes. Poltcy declslons that might lmpose a curriculum for the sake of lts structure andr/or requlre mlntmum hours/ week of schooltng are not supported.'

The study follows homeschooled chlldren over a three-year perlod ( 1987 - 1989) and ls available for $ l5 from Jon Wartes, Washtngton Homeschool Research ProJect, l6lOg NE 169 Pl, WoodtnvllleWA9SOT2.

Third, the Home School l-egal Defense Assocladon (Paeonlan Springs, VA 221291 prtnted Dr. Brlan Ray's 'A Natlonwlde Study of Home Educadon: Family Characteristics, Legal Matters, and Student Achievement' in lts Chlstmas, l99O Horre *h@l hurt Repoft'The target populatlon of the study was all home educatlon farntlies who are members of the HSLDA,' says the study, and one ofthe research quesuons dealt dtrectly wlth 'Achievement by Cerdllcadon Status of Parents.'

From the report: 'This shrdy found that there was no difference in students'total reading, total math, or total language scores based on the teacher certiffcation status of their parents (i.e. neither parent had been certiffed, one had been, or both had been). The findings ofthls study do not support the ldea that parents need to be trained as certified teachers to assure successful academlc achlevement for thelr children.'

If any of you are still stmggling wtth the certilication lssue on a statewide or local level, we encourzrge you to make use of these studies.

Support from the Federal Gov't.

We've seen two indlcatlons of support

for homeschooling from the federal government recently. First, former Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos wrote tn his 1989 report to Presldent Bush dtled "Educating Our Children": "Home schools, permitted in all ltfty states, allow parents the option ofeducating their children at home in accordance with applicable state regulations. The growth of home schools in rec.entyears is an indication on the part of individual parents of their concem about the education of their chlldren. For those parentswho have chosen to teach thelr children at home, the benellts accrue both to the educadonal attainment of thetr ctrlldren and to farntly life. (Flichman and

Richman, 1988)" Dr. Cavazos cites the research of Pennsylvania homeschoolers Howard and Susan Rlchman to bolster hts point. Later ln the report, in the section fltled 'What States and Incal School Districts Can Do" [to encourage educational choice], he writes, 'Examine state regulations to see whether they tmpose unduly restdcdve burdens on parents who choose to teach thetr children at home. Alter those regula$ons when appropriate to facilitate effecflve home schooling."

And from an ardcle lnthe l2/5/9O Washfutgton Fost :'Education Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos yestenday called varlous plans for broader parental choice of schools, including home schooling and

prlvate school vouchers, 'the best way' to reach natlonal educatlon goals. ...The report... entitled Choosfu:g Better Schools,' describes parental cholce as taking eight forms - spectaltzed magnet schools, open enrollment wtthtn a district, open enrollment between dlstrlcts, college courses for hlgh school students, alternative Programs for dropouts, tultlon tax credits, educaflon vouchers and home schooling. When a reporter asked ifthe varlous apporaches have the same educadonal value, Cavazos

replied: 'I'm not saJring one ls better than the other. I know home schooling goes on out there, and ln some places, it probably

works prett5r god,* We don't know yet if the new secretar5r of educatlon, Lamar Alexander, has Cavazos' posldve opinion of homeschooltng. Let us know lf you hear arry lndlcatlons either way,

Baby in the Offrce I*da *hroth (C'I) sent us this story Jrom the Mog 7, 1990 {ssue oJMedtcal Economics ba Richard J. Riful M.D.: How does a caring family doctor respond to the news that a member of his ollice stall is pregnant?

Sharon was the best front-ofllce assistant I'd ever had. I didn't want to lose her. My wife, June, an RN who'd been working with me since our own children were grown, felt the same way. To encourage Sharon's speedy return to work, we told her she could bring the baby along. So, seven years ago, Sharon brougfit a cute Itttle redhead named Bt[y into the offIce, and our farntly practice became a real

family.

We converted a small spare room into a nursery, complete with basstnet and changing table. We made space in the supply closet for boxes of diapers, and in the refrigerator for baby bottles. At least one of us was always available to meet Billy's needs - for food, or a diaper change, orJust for cuddling.

Before we knew tt, he was crawling. We put up gates to ltrnlt the scope of his exploratlons and childproofed the olllce so he couldn't electrocute himself or swallow something lnsalubrlous. He walked before he was ayear old, talked a blue streak at 18

months, and turned olllce routlnes lnto games.

Every mornlng, Billy and June tested the colored ltghts outslde the examlnlng rooms that slgnal 'room empty,' 'patlent walting,'and so on - and he soon learned to name the colors. He demanded and got hts own stethoscope. Occasionally he'd wander lnto a treatment room, and you can imagfne the surprise and amusement of the paUent, expectlng to see a full-size doctor, GROWING WTTTIOUT SCHOOLING #79, Vol.14.

No. l. ISSN #O745-5305. Published bl-monthly

by Holt Assoctates. 2269 Massachusâ‚Źtts Ave, Canbridge MA O2l4O. $25 /yr. Datc of lssue: February I , I 9S I . Sccond-class postage Pald at

Boston. MA. POSTM,{,S'TER: Scnd address changcs to GWS,

2269 Massachusâ‚Źtts Ave, Cambridge MA O2f4O. AITVERTISERS: Dcadlines are the lSth of odd-

numbered months. Contact Pat Farenga for rates.

4 on belng confronted by a 2 year old wlth a

burned out rtght now. After worldng wtth

stethoscopel...

the proposed Act, we\re spent the past two years betng a support egoup only, and have

News from Outside

the

LI.S. Aurtrellt

New homeschool legislation, part of the Educaflon Reform Act 1990, was passed tn NewSouthWales tn May, accorrdtng to the September l99O lssue of Other Wogs, the newsletter of the ALTERNATWE EDUCATION RESOURCE GROUP. Homeschooler Jo-Anne Belme wrltes that'the new legfslatton legltlmates tn law the rtght of home educatlon and sets It up as a vtable alternatlve to govemment and non-government schoollng and furthermore sets up appeal proc.edures for homeschoolers, so although the Mlnlster ls still the ultlmate arrcnue of appeal, dtspute must be referred to a THbunal as well. We do not Gel that the leglsladon ts ldeal, but tt ts far superlor to the 1987 legislatton and tt gtrrcs homeschoolers a good breathing spa.ce to growand meet

poltttcal challenges.'

Cenede: Sandy Paulson of the HOMESCHOOLER.S' ASSOCIATTON OF NORITTIERN ALBERTA (note new address: l@68 - 35Ave, Edmonton, AltaTAJ 2V3) writes: 'In the past our group has been

quite active polidcally as we struggled with the proposed new School Act and lts homeschooling legtslatton and regulaflons. We met wlth the Educatlon Minister and also presented brlefs on varlous aspects of the homeschool lssue. These tncluded "A response Rattonale for Homeschooltttg,' " was very to the llrst draft of the Act (wtrtch negauve), some deinlte suggesuons as to wodtrng and a plea for poslttrrc and supportlve leglslatlon. TWo of our members presented our brlefs to the kgfslatlrrc Commlttee concerned wtth the proposed Act and dealt wtth the quesdons from the Commlttee, We were lnvtted to comment on the second draft later, and two other members attended that meetlng. They did, ln the end, lncorporate some of our suggesdons, but we feel lmprovements c-ould still be made.'

The Act, which has been tn effect slnce January 1989, requlnes homeschoolers to work wlth the board of thetr local dlstrlct.

Sandy contlnues: 'Some school boards and dlstricts are very good to work wlth, providlng a homeschool advlsor and a resource rmm or materlals. Others are very negaUve and wlll only allow homeschoolers to use Alberta Educadon Correspondence Courses. Most people use avartet5r of materlal - thelr own books, texts from a school, a muslc class from the school, local libraries and nature centers, communitSr art classes, etc.

'Some prlnctpals and school board members feel that homeschoolers take up too much of the prlnctpals' tlme (they help organlze a currlculum and assess student achlerrement on a regular basls). We have been tr5dng to explaln that all we feel ts necessary ls to have parents reg;lster thelr lntent to homeschool elther at a local level or at the Departrnent of Educatlon. Ftrts ts what BC requlrres - reglstertng lntent at a local publtc, prlvate, or separate school.)

We don't feel the currlculum should be examtned or achlevement tests rcqulred.

We ll contlnue to lobby for a more relaxed set of reguladons, but we're feellng rather

enJoyed the break from lobbylng.'

Children's Advocate JanHwt

[OR/ sent us tttls oficle bg Mbttrel FQ,anfrthe Julg a, rcgO Parade

nugazlnet Ttre chlldren ln Claus KonoCs hometown had a problem. The authorltles were plannfng to close down a grade school and rnake all the puptls attend a school three miles away. Therewould be no school bus, and the chlldren would have to crf,,ss a maJor trtghway. The ktds and the parents got together and sald, '\ile aren't golr4; to accept this,'" Claus, now 15, remembers.

'We had demonstratlons. We collected stgnatur€s. Then we wrnte to the Barneorn-

budeL'

In Enette

Letuestad's netghborhood,

where they could play games and even go ektlng tn the wtnter. "It was the only place for chlldren around where we live,' says Enette, who also is now 15. Then a developer announced a btg houstng project for the slte the kids would have no place left to play.

"My mother said, Wrtte to the Baneombudet ^ Enette remembers.

Haakon Gruglun was only 4 years old, but he knew what he didn't llke. A new TV show, fllled wlth monsters and dragons, gave hlm nlghtrnares. 'My mom helped me with the numbers of the telephone," Haakon says, 'and I called t}rre Banambudet' If you were a Norweglian, espectally a Norwe$an chtld, you wouldn't need to be

clrlldren had

a rvooded area

told that the Batnrcntbudetls an olllclal of Norway's government who holds a poslilon unlque among natlons of the world.

The word means Advocate for Chtldren. In the nine years slnce lt was created, the olffc-e has lntervened on behalf of thousands of children. The first Barneonbudrt, Meffdd Flekkoy, says that the Job ensures

that'chtldren are seen as people, wlth

thelr own needs and thelr own rtghts rtghts equal, but not tdenttcal, to those of adults."

When theJob was created tn 1981, lt rvas highly controverslal. 'A lot of people were frlghtened, and they had good reason

to be,'Flekkoy told me ln an InteMew ln

Oslo as she prepared to leave the ol[ce after serving two four-year terms (the madmum allowed under Nonrregtan law).

'If people appealed to thls oflIce er/ery tlme there was a problem tn the famtly or every time thcy dfsagreed wlth a soctal servlce agency, lf we became some klnd of Super

Farnily Theraplst or Super Psychologlst to the natlon, lt would be crazy.' But the law that set up the olllce spectltcally ordered theBonsmbudetto stay out of dlsputes wlth famlltes - and MAlfrtd Flekkoy thinks that's exactly as lt should be.

"If there's anything we can do to help parents function better as parents, I want to do lt,' she says. 'Parents need suPport, but I don't want to cut down on thelr

responstblltt5r.'

,,.The Baneontbudettns spoken for chlldren on a wlde vartety of lssues. The olllce worked wtth the energf mlnlstry to move trtgh-tenslon wlres from areas where children play and learn - studles showed

that the electromagneilc radlatlon could tncrease the risk of leukemta. lt won relief for an Oslo grade-school class whose teacher ltked to keep the classroom temperature above 90 degrees. Flekkoy even lobbied parliament for a law that made tt lllegal

for parents to strlke thetr chlldren. 'Ifs not a law that says pa.rents wlll be puntshed for strilitng thelr child,' she says of the btll, wtrlch was passed two years ago.'

It's an attltude-creaffng ptecr of legislation. It says that soclet5r does not aPProve of phystcally puntshtng chlldren.' ...Now that she has left oflIce, Flekkoy acts as a UNICEF consultant ln other countrles and ts worldng for the adoption of The Conventlon on the Rights of the Child, whlch seeks to protect youngsters worldwide fromvlolence, abuse, hunger, and lackofeducatton. I asked whether she thought the ldea of a chlldren's advocate

could be adapted to other countries espectally the Untted States.

-They're already s€ttlng up an ollice ln Costa Rtca,' Flekloy told me. 'But Costa Rlca has 3 mtlllon people, and Norway onlv 4 mlllion. I don't ttdnk the Untted States could do lt on a federal lwel, except as some sort of natlonal coordtnaflng body. But tt certainly ts feasible to have children's advocates on a local level.

'The lmportant thlng is not how the olllce ls organized. The important thing ts the prtnclple: Children are people of equal value - human belngs of equal rtghts, tncludlng the rlght to state thelr own opinlons and vlews on thtngs. The lmportant thtng ts to glve them a channel through whtch they can be heard.'

Young GWS readers: What do You

thtnk of thts? What rvould lt be ltke tf we had chtldren's advocates here? Have you errer been tn a sltuatlon llke the Norwegian ktds, and wtshed you had someone to call?

Calendar

March 4. l99l: Farnily and School Semlnar wtth Raymond and DorothY Moore ln l.oulsvllle, KY, For tnformatlon: Sue Boatman, 502-935-5627 or 5O2-9353257. @bL9: Mtd-Atlanflc Home Educaflon Conference tnTakoma Park, MD' Workshops wtth Nancy Wallacr, Nancy Plent, Theo Giesy, Susannah Shelfer, others. For lnformaUon: ManH Smith, 301-73GOO73.

March I 8-22: Hulbert Outdoor Center program for homeschoolers 9-15 years old fur Fatrlee, Vermont. For lnformatlon: Kim Alger, Hulbert Outdoor Center, RR # I, Box 9 lA, Fatrlee VT, 802-333-9840.

April 13: New Me:dco FamtlY &lucators Hands€n Workshop ln Albuqueryue.

Keynote speakers Davtd and Mtclid Colfax, 15 workshops. For tnformation: Karee Sowands, 5l12 SptnntngWheel, NW Albuquerque NM 87 I 20; 505-899-0652.

Agrll 26.-27:, Wscpnsln Parents Asso-

cladon 8th annual cpnferencc on home educatlon ln Stevens Polnt, For lnforma-

tlon: WPA, PO Box 25O2, MadtsonWI 53701, or call Mellssa Rtce, 7l$3416378' We are happy to prlnt noUces of maJor homeschoollng and related events, but we need plenty of notlce. Deadltne for GWS #80 (events tn May or later) ls March lOth. Deadltne for GWS #81 (events ln July or later) ls May lO.

Growlng Wtthout Schoollng #79

Changing Public Attitudes Herb Hough oJ New York torltes: Fleference ltbmrlans, tn servlng cllents, try to get beyond parttcular ques-

tlons asked, to find out what they really

want. Ltkewtse, the real moflvatlon behlnd the request ln GWS #71 to see more homeschoolers portr:ayed ln flcflon seemed to be

the lmage of homeschooltttg

("t somet}rlng

longago,'before therewere schools') and a desire to see lt change. If so, llcuon ts only one means of effecttng change. What ts really needed ls a whole ongotng PR campaign to change publlc lrnages, expose biases and barrlers on all fronts, letting nothing get by unchallenged (as ln the case of sex stereotSplng, errcn challengfng such things as MENWORKING stgns on trtghways).

School ls often an lncidental aspect of fictlonal storles, and ls taken for granted, whereas an lncldental reference to homeschooling would probably cause a reactlon.

When people are tntroduced to school-age children, how ltkely are they to say, 'Do you go to school?' rather than, 'What grade are you ln?'There are automatic assumpilons and mlndsets that people tend to harrc regardfurg chtldren and school, wtrtch need to be e:rposed.

Take the phrase 'school dropoul' What does lt assume positlonally about school? Do we reGr to panolees as prison dropouts? Self-learntng upurardly moblle students (what do we call them?) do not drop out ofschool - they rlse out They could drop te at times, though, lf school

were s€len as a resource to be used. Askyour

local school olllclals for thelr statlstics on

school drop-tns.'Huh?' Taktng thts a step further, do students drop out ofschool when they graduate? Do teachers drop out of school when they retire? Teachers sulfer burnout. Is this dllferent from dropout? What are the statistlcs on student bumou9 Taktng a cue from Irwls Carroll, we could have slgns erected to tdendff unschool zones, in areas where chlldren are being educated at home, Thls ts a practlcal rrratter - school zones are only a concern when school ls about to start or lets out, whereas ln un-school zones chlldren could be around at any tlme, But beyond thls, there would be an awar€ness created that would go far beyond just those trrvolved ln homeschoollng.

Such slgns would ralse curloslt5r, cause talk, and generate a good deal of publicity.

There ls a turf-battle aspect to all of thls, that needs to be recognlzed (whtch zone slgns are a part o0. Why not claim the real estate that schools don't clalm - like a squatter, or a rebounder spreadlng out under a basket. Ifthey clatm that school ls the base for learning, then clatm all terrltory outside of school. In addiuon to usiixg stgins, thts can be done by makfng greater use ofsuch phrases as non-school educatlon and communlty-based learntng, rather than Just homeschoollng.

The lllp stde of thts ts to apply restrictive termfurologl to school and lts activities. Why use the term'textbook'when 'school book' ts more conllntng, and more

Gros'lng Wthout Schooltng #79

accurate.

In thts regard, lt ls unforhrnate that the term homeschoollng has becorne a predomtnant deslgnatlon. Astde from h""tttg a self-contradtctory rtng to tt, the term has a terrttorlally conflntng connotatlon, that doesnt usually aPPlY. The Ubrary of Congress, fn tts 1988 edltton of L.C. SubJect Headtngs, adopted a new Home Schoollng category (as dtstlnct and separate from the older Domestlc

Educatlon), The scope note descrlblng lt says that Home Schoollng lncludes works on the 'provlslon of compulsory educatlon' tn the home. [Do parents provlde thelr klds wtth well-balanccd meals for neasons of compulsory gro*'th?) The assumpdon here seems to be that educatton ls somethtng that ts provtded (rather than asslsted), and to unwllllng reclplents (betng compulsory). Do homeschoolers accrpt thts as an adequate description of whai they do? Is homeschooling deffned only in relation to what schools do?

When the books TeachYour Ourn by John Holt and Better ltran School by Nancy Wallace came out, they were classiIled under Domesdc Education, but lf they were belng catalogued today they would no doubt go under Home Schooltng. But are they really about an alternatfue form of compulsory educadon, or rather an alternauve to compulsory educatlon altogether - somethlng quite dlllerent ln nature?

These are notJust esoterlc games wlth labels. They alfect how knowledge gets pigeon-holed - the world accnrdlng to the Library of Congress (and a lot of other librartes). The indexing scheme ts pa.rt of the medium. How do you access materlal on the type of free leamlng assoctated with most homeschooltng, if there ls no specllic category for lt? But has anyone taken lssue with this, as part of a PR campalgn?

It ls evtdent that some books have not been easy for the Ltbrary ofCongress to classtfr. In the case of TIE Dag I kanle an Audldact by Kendall Hailey, they have no

'self-taught" or "selflearnlng' category,

and tnstead used the loose catch-all category of 'self-culture' (whaterrer that means). They also classlfled tt under htgh school dropouts, whlch ts hardly accurate (for premature graduadon). But they had no closer way to peg tt, wtth thelr e:dsting subJect headings. ffhe subject headings used for a book are llsted tn the l€ Cataloguing tmprint at the front of the book.)

The book CompeLLW tutbJ: The Culhre o.f Anlrrtcan Sctrooling by Stephen Arons deals at length wtth legal battles lnvolved wlth homeschooltng, but there were no subJect classiflcatlons given to lt that even allude to educadon at home.

Someone dotng a subJect search on home educatlon would mlss thls book completely. The subJect classillcaflons that were asslgned to it seem tangendal, and don't really tdenttS what ls at the heart of the book - the capactty of publtc schoollng tn the U.S. to stifle dlssent and efforts at reform. But agaln they had no way to Peg

(or lack thereo0 on lts ovm' ln 1982 ERIC [Educ. Resourccs Info' Center) created anew

Home Schoollng category, dlstlnct from Domestlc Educatlon, wtth the identlcal scope notes used Later by the Library of Congress.

ERIC, tn each new edttlon of lts Thesaurus ofERIC Descrtptors, adds new descrlptors and deletes olderones, and asks for tnput and suggesflons on thls from users. It seems that they have been getttng one-slded lnput - how many homeschoolers took lssue wlth ERIC for the vray they characterlzed homeschoolfurgf ERIC does notJust do tndedng of

educatlon Journals. They tndtcate that therr are looklnE for alternative vlewpotirtr, and urcl&me dlrect submisslons. total ltstlngs for Home Schooling a1e sfill nreager, lncreasing from four tn 1982 to 27 tn 1988, etght of which were ln oneJournal issue. (By contrast, there were 279 listtngs ln 1988 pertaining to school dropouts.)

Most dtrect submisslons have been PaPers that were presented at educational conferences, wlth vtrtudly none from anyone dtrectly lnvolved wlth homeschooltlg.

And yet, as they say, they welcome alternauve vlewpotnts (thts ls part of the library pmfesslon's code). Guldelines for submittlng material to ERIC can be obtalned from ERIC Processtng and Fleference

Faciltty, Acqulsltions Dept, 2440 Research Blvd Suite 4OO, Rockyllle MD 2O850 3Ol258-5500.

Along wtth etemal vtgtlance, we need to develop automadc blas detectors for anythtngwe come actoss, particularly the

practlce of automatlcally equating school wtth educadon. When something ltke Campbell's Iabels for Education comes along, be alert enough to check tfthey tnclude homeschoollng ln their Program (they do).

A PR campafgn also means keePtng

track of what legislators and other

policymakers say and do, and Jumplng on ihemwhen necessary, such as over the matter of malrfng htgh school attendance a prerequislte for getting a driver's llcense. It

meansbelngaware of howwords are used, of the connotadons and value-bias tn labels used. In schools a current concern is rnainstueaming handicapped students placlng them ln ttre classroom, wtrlch ls termed the least restrlctive envhonment whereas the cliassroom ts probably the most restrlcdve envlronment, and the quesdon should be whether any students should be mainstreamed.

It means applytng labels where none crrrrently sdst, ltke tdenu$rtng pre-set currlcula as such - to counter the unthinklng assumpdon that all currlcula are by natur€ pre-sel ERIC has no descrlptor for thts. It also has no descrlptor for classroom learnlng. How can you compare lt

wlth non-claisroom learnfng

f

nelther

has a descrlptor to deslgnate lt? There are also no labels to deslgnate the currlclrlum

thts.

mlndset or currlcular acdvlfles (as opposed to extr:'a-currlcular or non-currlcular actlvltles). There ls much work that

The Ltbrary of Congress dld not dwelop these categorles and dlstlnctlons

stratghtenlng labels.

needs to be done ln terms of app\rtng and

6

Challenges

&

Concerns

Homeschooling with a Toddler flom Ruth Madlskg [Nr; I have read letters from homeschoolers who have dealt wtth havtng a rambunc-

tlous toddler around, but I don't think anyone has descrlbed tt as betng as dtltcult as I am flndireg ft dght now. Maybe tt's because IVe been chaslng babtes for eleven years nowr but I'm havtng a lot of trouble deallng wtth Mattheds exploraflons of hls world.

There's nothlng vnong wtth Matthew heJust wants to know everything and be ln the center. IfI stt down to read to one ofthe older klds, he's elther clfrnbtng tnto my lap pulling at the book, or singing real loud, or else he's ln the Htchen unloadlng the dishwasher or pulltng a chalr over to the stove.

If I try to take the liiids to the llbrary he's pulling the books olT the shelves or screamlng as I hold hlm while I try to look ln the card catalog. I do nodce thatwhen the older klds are gone he's a lot less rambuncdous but it is the fate of the fourth born not to have Mommy's excluslve attentton. And even so I makdsure to plan playground trlps for trim and outslde acflvides where he can explore to hls heart's content.

But I am only one persron, and even wlth Terry's help, lt ls stlll lmposstble. Terry ts now taklng Matt to work onc.e or hvice a week There Matt cllrnbs the steps for hours and tears the olllce apart. No work gets done, but I get a breather and Matt gets to see somethlng new.

The sense of communlty that we have been nurturlng wlth our food c.o-op crowd ts actually wonderful for the older ktds.

When we have a gatherlng or go to the store to shop, there are any number of adults who are happy to relate to my older ldds.

Ttre thing wlth a baby ts that usually other people are happy to tell me when Matthew ls pulllng a bottle oll the shelf but they don't really want to have to chase him themselves, And so I Bnd that I get to chase the baby and change the poopy diapers while other folks get to do some lnteresting stuffwith my big kids. I was really envious last year when my slster-ln-law took Sara museum-hopptng tn NewYork. I adore my baby, but I Gcl as though I'm mlsslng out

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on my older lidds' ltves sometlmes.

One soludon ls to spend a fortune on

babysltters. At this potrrl tf terry and I go out for a walk or out to dtnner, we learrc Sara ln charge, and lt nrorks out well. But I'm startlng to get a babysttter for Matthew so that I can take Sara, Jake, and l.aura places.

And I do know that time wlll llx thts

one. IJust need to qulet the nagghg worrywart lnslde me that fears that the older kCds a.r,e beingl shortchanged.

Valuing Mothering lc

sleg We sburn

(OIil write s :

In response to the letters from horrrschoolers in two-career famtlles: A part of me resents one of the wrlters' saytng that she works outslde the home because'women need to be taken sedously." As for me, I do notwork outslde the home because women need to be taken seriously. How can socie$r leam to value

the art of mothering lf the mothers are all looldng for something 'tmportant" to do instead?

Ten years ago, tn the communit5r where I lived, women dtd not nurse bables in publtc (if they nursed at all). The acceptable thing was advance preparation.

Ifyou had to take your baby to a public place then you were to express your mllk, put tt tn a bottle, and bottle Ged the baby in publtc. I refused to do this, for a number of re:rsons. Among them: l) It seemed bastcally dtshonest. Why

should I pretend that the milk my baby drank dtdn't come from my breasts?

2) I felt that lt was politically lmportant (although at the time I wouldn't have called it that) for mothers to be seen nursing thelr bables. Soctet5r needed (and stlll needs) to see mothers and babies as a part of life, a part of weryday actlvltles. So I took my nursling to church, stores, librarles, museums - whererrer I went she went, and nursed. And although thts allegedly 'vrasn't done,' I got only posidve cornnents from people I met. I leamed that contrary to all the hush-hush about lt, most people have very posltive Gelings about nurslng, if they only allow themselves to open up to those feelfuegs, and the stg;ht of a nursing mother does open people uP.

3) I felt that nursing ln publlc was lmportant because I belleve tt wtll help to heal our societ5r. In a world where women

are still all too often considered sex obJects, I thlnk it is good for men to see them ln a mone nurturlng llght, as persons who gfve rather than as things to be used. I hasten to add that I was always careful to nurse dlscreetly - keeplng covered, and not trytng to call attentlon to myself. But, face It, babies do sometimes slurp... .

In the last couple of years I've met half a dozen young men ofwhat I see as the new generadon - men who can llterally remember nursing as toddlers. Thelr way of looldng at women (flgurauvely and Itterally) ls qulte different from the atfltudes I recall seelng ln the boys I dated

at their ages. I thtnk they have a more c.omplete plcture of what we're all about. It gfves me hope for the planet.

Now, excuse the dissertaflon on nurclng, butyou see, home educaflon and

motherlng are the same sort of politfcal/ social statement. IfyouVe got enough sense to do lt, then don't hlde what you're doing and don't allow yourself to thlnk you should really be dolng somethlng more chic or more lucratlve or more trendy.

Critical Relative B*a Tlast (CN wdtes: Thts ls a comment about homeschoolfng that I hadn't heard before. My step-

mother, who was a Gacher for twentythreeyears, said about our homeschooling, 'But, slnce you're not tndependently wealthy, what will your children do when you die?" What she meant is that slnce the children haven't been taught, they won't leam anything and won't loeow anything.

Also, slnce they haven't becn forced to be trained, they won't have any way of eaming a ltvlng, nor will they want to.

This was at the end ofa several-hourslong dlscusslon of homeschooltng, and tn spite of her knowtng that our cldldren (3 and 4 L/21know most of their letters and numbers and lots of other stulT. But since thry taught themselves rather than being taught ln a structured fashion, it doesn't cpunt. I have a funny feelfng that perhaps she thlnks lt doesn't count because they chose to do it rather than being forced to, and they enJoyed it.

Coping with Illness

in Family

Matbn Colen oJ Pern-sgluanlo wrttes:.

Thirten years ago my husband was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosls. At the fimewe had two children ages 8 and 4, and we have slnce had two more (currently ages 20 down to 4).

Our lives have been chock full ofJoys and challenges. At the beginning tt w.as merely 'Daddy can't walk long dlstances,' later lt was 'Daddy can't walk,' but now our roudne is very dlfferent from most famllles'. An agency pays for a personal care attendant for slx hours a day - four tn the mornlng, two ln the evenlng. Our lidds have seen Daddy Mted from bed to wheelchair, Aom wheelchalr to stalrgltde, stairgltde to tollet, etc, They have seen him belngdressed, washed, and sometlmes fed.

And durtng the other elghteen hours a day (and nfght), they have helped np do lt.

They have charmed each attendant; Jerome takes Derr (4) to the park, Prlncess arrives an hour early to play the latest vtdeo game with Bret (f l). Both attendants have been supportlve of our homeschooltng and non-weanlng of the 4 (soon to be 5) year old.

The ldds have wltnessed my very vocal anger, my unwtllingness to e:dst only as a caregfver, my u/orry about being, Growing Wthout Schooltng #79

7

or seemlng llke, an'unltberated woman,' my lnslstenc€ on contlnulng as a wrlter, teacher, thrtft-shopper, full-dme mother, etc. They have also seen my husband Jeffs not-so-vocal anger, Lrls broodtngs, his outbursts, his sometimes-dental; the older ones went through stx years of not belng told'what Dad had'because Dad wasn't emotlonally ready for them to know. They have themselves gone through'the ffue stages" agatn and agatn, Each has done and is dolng this ln her or hls own way. Bret takes an actlve lnterest and concern, and lately has erren been dofng nfght-duty with Dad errery other ntght, handing him Jars and turning him when necessar5r, to gfve me a much-needed break. flhey call lt a slumber party, but we sflll pay Bret as an attendant.) Both Bret and JeIf, when they see I'm extra rundown. declde on what else they can do to relleye me. I have wrltten and had published turo books on famllies with chlldren [vtng wtth a disabled parent, and for our homeschooling program (acc,ordtreg to PA Law we have to keep a log of at least some of our homeschoollng acdvides) I have had Bret read, or be read to, from these books.

Arin, hurt and troubled for the last 13 of tds 17 years, wants no part of it, will only help out lf we express\r ask, and we usually don't, We hope therapy, hls friendship with me, his own lnner life, and life

itself will wentually Joggle things into place for him. The oldest, our only living daughter, is now away at college, but she is extremely concemed, helpful, and mature,

and also extremely close wtth me. She often talks to me about how'Daddy's M.S.' has affected her attltude towards ltfe. The four year old ls not too young to brtng Daddy things, turn on the TV for hlm, unspasm hls legs, etc., and he takes pleasure in helping out. He also s,eerns to understand my outpou-rlngs - of anger or despondency patiently stands and waits through them, seems to belteve me when I say, tn the rnidst of it, 'You're OK, Btnlry,' and - when I'm ready, not before - ls ln my arms, someumes nursing.

Reading this over, I hope it doesn't sound too neggtive. The sltuadon t,s grh& but what I mean to convey ls that all the klds have seen the strength, love, and determlnatlon within our family, and although they are probably far tm young to be witnessing the decay of the human body (aren't we all?), they have also witnessed that this is not the end of the world. Dad goes to work, publishes physics papers, and the solar collector he lnvented and patented recently won llrst prize at the Franklin Instltute Invendon Conventlon; he ls now worldng slmultaneously wlth several manufacturers. Dad and I together stlll work on math problems, read over my poetry, house Slerra Club and homeschooling meetlngs, and celebrate our twentyflfth anniversary wfth a bfg party. The lilds have s€en not only that llfe goes on,

but that Me urants to go on.

There's also a lot of laughlng: I mean spectflcally about Dad's M.S. One ntghl as we were all tn the bedroom playtng with the cat, she suddenly got up and walked out of the roorn 'Probably she has to go to the bathroom," sald JeIL Bret answered, 'Oh, she didn't hafta leave. I could haveJust handed her one of Dad's Jars.' There were real belly laughs over that one.

Growtng Wthout Schooltng #79

I-ast year, durtng a conrcrsadon wlth another well-spouse, I excttedly told her that we had recently begun homeschooltng.

Her doubt and cauflon came rtght through the wlres. 'If lt were me, I would worry that the ldds dbeddy have so many dlfierent

classroom.

Wtrllewe apprectatewhat Rtada had to say, we also know that the redtty of what happens to klds who attend school even for

Yes, that thoughthad occurred to me, and had been partly what kept us so long

orlglnal letter.

thngs rn thea lives.'

from homeschooling. But now I can wholeheartedly say, Ilrsl that belng home - or allouedto be home - has made Bret less tense, probab$ becausewhat goes on at home all day ls no longer a scary unknown to hlm. Second, the fact that he's so often avallable to help out ls god for all. Third, h"r.ltrg 'dllferent thtngs' ln one's Me ls more an asset than a liability. Fourth (and matnly), I would hate to tlrtnk that the dtabtlity tn our famlly would cause us to declde not to homeschool, and thereby make our ktds mtss out on erren more. I'm €ver so glad we didn't let tt.

Recovering from School Isn't So Easy In GWS # 7 8 Rtada Ror,h re spondd to a letter ttrr.n Jttn Bergh ail, Judg GanreV hod uritten irr GWS #76 abr;rut their chdren's aSustrnent to tameschoolbq qftcr t'r:virrg spert sewral gears in school.

Now Jbn and. Judg write: Like R:irada, we saw some great improvements in both our sons after ta.klng them out of school. In our original letter to GWS, we dld not want to imply that our children did not improve. Fliather, we were trylng to tell parents that from what we can tell, and from what prelimtnaqr research from other families shows, children who have becn exposed to schools up to a certain point - probably after two or three years of schooling - have lncurred some forms of permanent and lrreversible mental and emodonal harm.

Nelther of our sons was able to improve to the point where they regatned the

natural curiosity, creativity, and lnterest ln Me and ln the world that was clearly evident tn both prior to attending school.

We were also trying to tell pa.rents that, while our boys lmproved, tt took super-human efforts on the part ofboth of us, and our friends, to make those limited lmprovements posstble. Unless parents are wtlling and able to put out a monumental effort on behalf of thelr previouslyschooled children, they may want to consider leaving them ln school. It isn't

that all children ar:en't worth thls elfort, because they are. But some parents are so depleted by what happened to them during their own schooling years, ln addidon to being pressured by the economlc demands of our ttmes, that they may not have such large quantities of personal res€rves to sPare.

Agaln, parents who never send their

children to school tn the llrst place do not face thls dllemma. Ttretr chtldren are stlll whole and lntact, and r€maln capable of giving something back to thelr parents.

Chlldren who have been exposed to curr€nt educatlonal practlc€s, past a certain polnt, don't have anythtng to give. They are all used up because they've been trylng to

surrrive ln the hostile conditlons of the

a fewyears ls very nega.flve, so much so that perhaps we should have been erren

more reallstlc about tlrts condiflon ln our

At the same tlme, we would not change our declslon to take our chlldren out of school, and will be forerrer grateful for the gatns they have made toward their own peace of mlnd.

For more on the toplc of going from school to homeschooling, see GWS #76,

#74.

Group Learns to

Administer Tests Maggt Ellbtt NVV) wdtes: We're in a real dtlemma about the testtng situatlon, because enen thoughwe ttrink the tests f;atl to ellclt what a chlld really knows and are probably classist and racist to boot, our law demands that we administer them every year.

Ena views her upcomlng fir:st test with dread. John slogged through the third grade SAT in two days and looked absolutely glazed by the end. It's a bitter ptll for all of us, but lt must be done. And erren though we tell the kids that the tests don't mean much, we ane all grtrnly aware that they must do well. Any child who falls to score above the 4Oth percentlle for two vears ln a row must be enrolled in school. I iaughed at first when I heard "4oth" because I didn't understand nonning.

Fordeth percentile ts in the heart of 'average," not D or F performance.

Here's how we run testlng around here.

Our state homeschooling organlzadon has teamed up with people who are capable of

betng "blessed'by the testing compa.nles people who have the rtght degrees, alltli-

ations, etc. One of these folks ls a nlce guy named Bill Mullett, who ls a testlngl maven and gutdance cpunselor wlth the Kanawha Coungr publlc schools. He'll travel to wherever a dozen lnterested people can assemble and deltver a four-hour sernlnar on how to admlnlster the tests. Those who take thts semlnar are then ln turn 'blessed'as test proctors (or ls that proctologists?).

I organlzed one of these sesslons for our area. The materlal was lengthy and dry, but the allair was entertalning nonetheless. It had been a long tlme sinc'e I'd seen that much wit, sawy, acerbity, and radlcal attitude together ln one room.

The state orgarrizatlon has "testlng coordlnators' (local homeschoolers wlth advanced degrees ln educatlon) scattered throughout the state. In cooper:adon with ours, we will find a spot, order the tests we want throug;b the state organizatlon, set testing dates, and match up ldds at the same 65ade level. Armed wlth our proctors' certlflcates we wlll go forth and test.

Because the law forbids parents' testtng thelr own klds, we test each others'. We hope the fact that we have a large number of test admtntstrators wtll help us spread the tesflng over more days so each day will be less grueltng.

8

Watching Children Learn Math and History fron Real Life More Jrom Ruth MatllskA

(M:

Our food cr-op ls holding an lndoor craft market next month, and Sara (f f) was asked tf she wanted to sell baked goods. llrts was a rnrvelous opporh,rntty to work on math. She had to buy the tngrcdients and we needed to flgure out how much she was spending on each cake or

batch of cookles. Thls meant knowlng what thtngs cost per ounce, per tablespoon, etc. It was a gmd opporhrnlt5l for me to let go ofarry preconcelved ldeas about the rtght way to do a math problem, and Just have fun ngurlng out the solutlons. A lot of the tlme when there was a computaUon that Sara dtdn't lorow how to do, I would work out the computatlon step by step and she would follow what I was dotng. Then when a sirnilar computatlon came up I would ask her to tqr tt and lf she couldn't do tt I would demonstrate again.

We spent ten weeks camping last summer, We took the Airstream out to Yellowstone where we stayed for serreral weeks. It was an fncredtbly dtlficult trtp wtth such a young chlld (Matthew ls one and a halfl, but lt was a sensatlonal success, One r€sult of the trip has been the lnterests the lidds took back. Our whole farntly has always been funvolved ln outdoor activltles - we forage and eat edible mushrooms, we collect wild plants, etc. But both Jake (8) and Sara came home wlth an lnterest ln hlstory. Jake has wanted to leam all about the Lewls and Clark erpedltton and Sar:a has been readtng about the Amtsh people. We saw rnany Amtsh famlltes tn Ohto and Pennsylvanla and her Halloween coshrme thls year was an Amlsh costume whtch she wanted to have corr€ct to the last detarl. We got a book out of the adult sectlon of the library on Amlsh folks, and I have been reading it to her. I llnd that tt ts stlll very lrnportant for me to read to her, even though she's I l, because some books she plaln can't understand by herself, and some books she'll r€ad too qutckly or gloss over thlngs she doesn't understand. When I read out loud she ls more ltkely to ask quesuons.

I have been getttng slmple btographtes about famous people out of the llbrary, and It's been so lnterestlng to read about the dllferent trtstorlcal events - the Revoluflonary War, Ctvtl War, etc, - from the perspectives of the dlllerent people tnvolved. Dates ane betng memorized wlthout pnessure. TheyJust turn up so often that th.y'r. startlng to strck tn the ktds' mtnds.

The books I get forJake ane ones that Sara can read herself, but she stlll llstens most of the time when I read to trtm and I thfrxk she beneffts from the quesilons that he asks.

Thts part of homeschooltng ts so lnteresting - I love lt. I'm leamtng thtngs I didn't know and I enJoy our conversaflons.

The three of us read about an lnvolved lawsutt cucrmlng Amtsh people and we found ourselves dlscusslng the law, ethlcs, social customs, the separatton ofchurch

and state - ltwas wonderful.

Laura ls 4 1/2 now and she ls really growlng up. She says that shewants to go to school so that she can learn to r€ad qulcker. I thfnk that tf she were m5r llrst chfld I mlgfit harrc trouble wtth thts expressed desbe to go to school, but there ts no questlon tn my mted that Terry and I are the ones who should make thls declslon for her at thls ttrne ln her llfe.

She works for hours maldng letters and copytng words out of books. She really wants to do lt her way - she doesn't want me to set up lessons for her - she has tt all ftgured out how she ts gotng to learn to read. Now I llnd that Jake ls lnterested ln the books I read to Iaura as well as the ones I read to Sara. I reallze that errcn thoug;h a chtld has arrtved at a c€rtaln level of comprehenslon, he or she sflll enJoys the 'baby' stull - that's wher€ havlng a younger slbling makes life so nlce.

Volunteering at Newspaper Mika Pentne oj Wtscons{n wrlles: A friend of ours, who is on my dad's softball team, ls one of the edltors of the Asliland Dailg Press, whlch ls prtnted Ilftecn miles from our house. Early ln the sununer Mom asked trim about me volunteertng there, and he satd he'd be glad to help me.

Flrst he gave me an asslgnment wrlte a revlew of a local hlktng tratl for the paper. After I had done that he asked me to come to the ofllce and he tetroduced me to the stafr ther€. Then he worked wlth me on the ct:mputer and I worked on typlng. I also leamed how to use a 35 mm camera and took some plctures. Then I got to use the darkroom there and develop them - lt was really neat because IVe never done arry-

thing like that before.

For my next asslgnment I wrote a story on apple picldng (first, ofcourse, I had to go ptck some apples). It was pubItshed tn a section on Apple Fest, whlch ls held tre a nearby town ln October.

Wridng articles fior the newspaper wasi

not much dlfferent from wrlflng for

brhd

Ne{gh-

Neurs, the newsletter I publish, because I basicallyJust gave it to them and they prlnted lt with a few minor changes. I dld several drafts before submttUng tt, of cturse, but tt reallywas prett5r easy and

fun.

Alter worlidng wlttr our frlend for a couple of months I was getung bored with It, because every dme I wasn't dokrg somethtng he had me type press releases, whlch I found out was extremely bortng. I had met another reporter, Mary Thompson, who worked at the Dally &ess too, so I dectded to try and work more wtth her. She had suggested to me ear$ on that she would be wllllng to let me go wtth her and do a story, so I called her and we lined up a day. I would go to a Cathollc schml wtth her - she was dolng a story on a teacher there, and I could come along. I really got a taste of whatyou dld on an lntervlew. She sug-

gested I wrlte an ardcle on Penokee Mountaln CooperaUve School, whlch ls the resounce ccnter for homeschoolers that I attend lsee GWS #691, for Nattonal Educatlon Week. I dtd, and tt uras publtshed. Tltls

was my longest ardcle yet and I was really exc'ltedl

I'm sdll worklng wtth Mary and I'll probably be doing more and more stories, whlch ls great. lVorklng at the newspaper has been a really fuUllling experlence and I'm glad I got up the courage to try it.

Learning Cartooning Erlc Keblcer rurote tt Mentor, tie newsbtter oJ tlv HOME EDUCAT'ION L8AGIJE OF PERRTGBURG (OhIo) :

About three or four months ago, I started to wonder how cartoons were made.

I started drawing cartoons the day I got sick wlth the flu, because I had nothlng else to do. I was sadsfled wtth my art but I uranted to know more about how lt is drawn on TV and what that ls called.

The next week, my mom and I went to the library and I saw a book tltled Chrrck Amtrck, Tte I$e oJ An Animotor. At first, I didn't know what an animator was. Then I saw Bugs Bunny's plcture on the book and I knew that was the book I was lnterested inl I checked out the book, took it home and started readtng tt. I found out that anlmatlng was a type of cartoon drawlng for televlslon.

I started to spend a Epeat deal of tirne drawtng cartoon Ilgures. I checked more books out of the ltbrary that taught how to draw dlfferent thlngs. My favortte one was on how to draw cartoon figures.

Then my mom polnted out to me a book tn a catalog specifically about how to draw cartoons and do animatlon. I used some of my mon€y from my paper route and sent away for the book. Now I am one ofthe best cartoonlsts ln the housel

Fear T\rnrs to fnterest Jelf MlIIer wrcte ht the Decentbr I99O tssueo;f'Ihe Learning Edge, the newsbtter oJ tle CLONIARA HOME

BASED EDUCfrNON PRAGRAIVI: I wanted to glveyou a report on my progr€ss ln meteorologt... I was begtnntng meteorologr way back before llrst grade.

Back then I had a fear ofstorms - any storms. After one partlcularly severe thunderstorm, I was afratd of all clouds, erren cumulous (btg, flufV, falr-weather clouds). So my mother sat me down and explarlned to me about the dillerencc between storm clouds and falr-weather clouds. I couldn't erren, at that potnt, look at a photognph of a tomado wlthout becomlng nervousl I became fasclnated. I went to the Iocal lbrary and picked up as rnany elementar1t weatherbooks as posslble. I spent hours readturg about tL Before long, I had an lnteMew wtth a local TV-stadon meteorologlst. He satd I was a \reatherwhlz' for betngJust lO at

Growtng Wtthout Schooling #79

I the tlme. Now I harrc vlslted the Naflonal Weatlrer Servlce hvlce and talked to two meteorolo$sts who were morc than wtlltrg to help me. I get letter after letter

the tlme bcfng, though learntnt tt was nonetheless valuable for dl that. But I heard from uTr slster that sorne tlme afterward he repeated to her the whole

from thern

story.

I now can draw compllcated weather maps, weatherobservaflons, and can now tell what klnd of clouds are what eastly. I can forecast wlth seml-reasonable accur-

i.r."ai-n.i"-o""orttregr.at{uesdoners

acy (I don't have equtpment becaus€ of the prlces; however, I wtsh that I dtdD and have beaten serreral people at predlcdons.

... More recently, I harrc corne to know the 4-year-old son of some trcry dear

wa: A sultcase. What was tn lt? Clothee.

werythlng that I had, or dtd.What

Why dtd I put lt there? Because ln a rnlnute I \rras gotng to take tt tnto the house. What

Taking Children's Questions Seriously pIrc

r Involving Neighbors in

P&Ti;:ffitrH*t:i':ffi:H$, slow votce, he began to ask quesflons about that?

Florn arr urpubltdd Hod. undoted:

and, calllng balls and strlkes as he threw' saw how many strtkes he could throw in thtrty pttches. After each set came ft-. "ry' 'One morel Just one morel' Notlrtng but darkness or dtnner ctuld put an end to lt'

by Jotn

We underestlmate the serlousness

of

children's questlons. lvhy? !Vhy? why? We assurn€ they areJust rnalOng talk - wtrtch they sometlmes arc. We all know what happens when a small chtld stts for a wtrlle ln a roomful of talktng grownups. They must get lnto the act. As my slster and I say, quottng from Death oJ a fulesnun 'Attendon must be paldl' No chtld ltkes to feel as shut out as a long flow of lncompr,ehensible talk makes htm feel. Any grownup czrn experlence for hlmself a simllar sensatlon by spendtng some tlme ln a countr5r where nobody speaks hts language.

It ts chtlltng to the soul, erren for a grownup, and a sensldve ctrlld wants to be remfurded, to be reassured, that he Is after all part of the human farnrly.

Most of the ttme, though, children's quesfions are notJust talk. Grown-ups assume, when a chlld asks a questlon, that he does not really want to know the answer or, tf he does, that he won't understand lt, or, lf he does understand tt, that he uron't remember lt. But we underes0mate a child's deslre to leam, and hls capaclgr to learn and remember. I remember being asked oncc by my 4-year-old nephewwhat made hlm grow. It seemed a blg quesdon. I wasn't sure what he wanted to know, or could understand. He seemed Intent, so I decided to do thebest I could. I began by saylng that lnslde we were full of ltttle tubes and ptpes, and that the heart pumped blood out through those pipes. Confuslon.

Dld he knowwhat hls heartwas? He dtd not. I asked htm toJump up lnto the alr, as hfgh he could, ten flmes. Serlously and ". he did so. 'Now putyour hand on clumstly, your chest, and see what you feel.' He did so, and over hls face there came an expression that I can hardly descrlbe, and will nwer forgel What must it be ltke to dtscover for the first tlme that rlght instde of you there ls somethlng that goes bump, bump, bump, bump? He sald nottrlng, slmply stood wtth hts hand to hls chest, mouth open, eyes growlng wlder and wlder.

That was hls heart, I told htm, and erplatned that lt uras about the slze of a Ilst, and pumped blood as you can squlrt nrater by squeezlng your flst, Ttrls clear, the rest was easy; how the blood ran around the ltttle tubes, how tlny, ttny btts of the fmd we ate got lnto the blood from the lntestlnes, and ran down to add to or bones, muscles, sldn, and there we were, growlng. He went away, clear$ wtth a good deal on hls mlnd. I thought he would probably forget what I had satd, at least for

Growlng Wtthout Schooltng #79

was that? A tennls raclret. What was tt-for?

To play tennls wlth - to htt the ball wtth. was I gotng to stay at thelr house? Yes' Why? To 9ee t{s rnother and father, who nrcre old frlends of mtne. To some thls may seem unbear:rable. But after each answer' there would be a short pa.usc, then, softly, he wo-uld !3y,-'Oh.'I had the feeltng that each btt of tnformatlon was noted down and llled away, as tf tn an IBM machlne. I cpuld harrc answer€d hls queedons all day.

Could anyone who llkes answerlng quesdons, ltkes helping people understand, do otherwlse? Not, I hasten to add, that he was remembertng errerythtng I satd.

The 'whaf questlons were questlons of

fact, of ldendflcadon, but the 'why'

quesfions were somethlng dlfferent, He was less lnterested, I think, ln what the why was, than tn belng sure that there was a why, that what I dtd I dtd for some good reason.

If some mmplatn that no chlld has wer asked them quesdons llke that, I would have to add that thls was an exctpttonally conlldtng and fearless ltttle boy and that, ln general, you must wln a chtld's confidence before he will do much talklng wlthyou. But the curloslt5r ls there. The small chtld wants to know what, and tn the very general sense I have descrtbed, why.

Later, he wants to know how, At 8, 9, or lO, he wants to know how to do ttrtngs, and hls patlence and c.oncentratlon are enorrnous.

I hear a lot about attenfion span from the professional educators and psycholo$sts. I suspect the attendon span ofa chlld depends more than anyttrlng else on hls teacher and what he ts being taught" Thts surnmer my brother-tn-law and I taught hts boys to drtve a tractor. After a few days of driving lt around to get the feel of tt, I s€t up for them a ldnd of slalom course, ln which they had to drlve the tractor between boards lald on the ground wtthout touchlng any of them. Itwas a tough course, and took a lot of c-oncentratlon and coordinatlon. The boys, I I and lO, would get on the

tractor and for ten, Ilfteen, turenty mlnutes would go through thls course, over and over agdn.They dtd not get ttred, or bored, or dtscouraged, even when they fatled twenty tlmes to run over the course correctly. In the lnterest offalrness I had to stop them every so often, to gtve the other a chance.

Otherwlse, I thtnk they could each have stayed on the tractor all mornlng - and I ran the course enoug;h tlmes to know that tt was hard, demandlngwork. If anyone got

ilred, itwas me, l.ater ln the day, I played catch wlth the older of the two boys. He wants to be a pttcher so, klrtng to gtve him an tdea of the control problems a pltcher facres, I put down a target about the slze of home plate

Homeschooring Chede Tla nos wrotc ln tle fucembr I99O tssue o! tte WNI HOME EDLICA-

nON ASS6SIAIION rewsbtten

Each dme that my chlldren start a new Great Braln or stinply 'learntng' prolect, as we call them,-we bralnsto-rm 'people and places that we rntght vtstt, hrt lt a to thit toptc. When we-studted rocks, we vtslted- a rock collector-Jewelry malrer who llrrcs at the end of our itreet, Because we ar€ nelghbors, he spent a lot of flme showlng us ho:w he poltshis the stones, how-he ldenulles-them, how he ptcks a good setflng, where he llnds hts speclmens, etc. We could have gone to a museum and seen many of the same rocks dlsolaved, but we could never have felt the enthuiiasm and heard the personal anecdotes that we heard from our nelghbor. Itwas that personal touch that motlvated my daughter to work at odd Jobs for weeks to earn the money for her own rock hrmbler.

Whenwe studled eggs, wevlslted a nelghbor who ratses banty hens, hoping we rnlght get some smaller-than-usual eggs.

He had a frlend who had a quatl and _

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l0 pheasant farm and made a spectal trtp to see him and gather a collection for us.

Because ure were netghbors and he wanted to be netghborly, he borrowed a swan egg and and ostrlch egg to show us and we took plctures of our chlldren holding them. My gfrls not only had a most unusual collection of eggs and egg tnformation, but they gained a new filend whom they had never met before and who now halls them errery tlme they pass hls house.

Now we are ln the mtdst of a project on blind people. We dtdn't thlnk we knew any b[nd people, so we called the Murray Allen Center for the Bllnd tn Salt [.ake to see about taking a tour. They don't gfve tours, but they tnvlted us to vlslt and ptck up some free pamphlets, Then they recommended a call to a school dlstrlct's vtsually tmpaired speciallst. As I mentioned this lead to a friend who works tn the dtstrict, she gave us the name of a bltnd schoolteacher she knows. I told my girls about tt, and before the words were out of my mouth, I suddenly remembered a bltnd gtrlJust a block south of us whom I had met some flve years ago. A neighbor agatnl Thatwas the best lead of alll We called heryesterday to schedule a ttne to visit her. She knew tmmedtately what might lnterest my four year old (the one who ls doing the proJect). She satd, 'I can teach her some Bratllel And I have a stylus and slate. I'll show her how to wrtte. And I'll tell her how I do my schoolwork, Can you oome on Monda;f Wait, make lt T\resday, because I have karate on Mondays." I'm sure thls will be another cholc.e, personal experlencc that my famlly wtll long remember.

But my polnt, lfyou've been able to see the simtlartty ln these experlences, ls that the best resources are the close ones. Not only for convenlence's sake, but because there ls some de tn betng netghbors that helps people share more openly and glves your friendshlps a longevlty you can't quite get when you vlslt someone an hour's

drlve away.

We've perked up oureyes and ears for more resourlces around us. Aman stopped two weeks ago to ask if we'd seen trls lost puppy and left us his calhng card ln case we see lt. He llves two blocks away and his card says he ls a tarddermlstl You can be surle we llled that card ln our memories and Ille box for a future learnlng proJectl

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Support, Not Encouragement Perng Botker oJ Ottb wrltes: Dan (16), ln a moment of e:casperation, said to me the other day, 'I don't thtnk you and Rtchard encourage my cello work very much anSrmore.'Wowl I felt somehow slapped ln the face and I had to stop for a mlnute and thtnk. I was glad I was under a blue slry, standtng tn four feet

of snow, slnc= I always think more clearly outdoors.

Before I could get my thoughts together, though, Maggie (14, who had heard this remark of Dan's, stopped bywherewewere (wtth twelve sled dog harnasses thrown over her arm) and sald, 'But Dan, you don't need encouraglement wlth your cello, you Just need support.My mind whirled with thoughts. It ts true that our move to the northwoods of

Mtchlgan for half of the year ts malnly ln support of M2gg{e's prtmary tnterest, dog mushing (rldtng on the runners of a dogsled behind a team of three to elghteen Alaskan Huslry sled dogs) and sled dog raclng. Not only had everyone ln the family welcomed this adventure but Richard and I had worked at sâ‚Źeing to it that the other chlldren's lnterests were not negfected. Since Dan's maln lnterest and his gireatest passion is music in general and c.ello playing ln pardcular, we puzzled over his enrichment ln this pa.rticular area even though we know Dan's lnterest is based on love of playtng the lnstrument and not partlcularly on lessons, peers, performances, etc, last year he solved the dtlemma htmself by spendtng all the money he had saved from mal.dng wooden {Igures and pr:zzles on hls foot-powered scroll saw and selltng them. Wtthout a backward $ance Dan, the most sensltlve of my flve children, boarded a plane with hts older slster Britt (21) bound for Costa Fllca, where he studled for a month wtth c.elltst David

Chtckering.

But Dan did not have the plane fare thts year, so Rlchard began drlvtng out of the wllderness area ln which we llve, an hour and a halfaway, across the border into Canada where he dlscovered the Algoma Consewatory of Muslc. There, Dan has the opportunity of maldng ensemble muslc as well as peforming wtth the communtt5r orchestra occaslonally. He also found a talented celllst from Poland wlth whom he studles cello, shares tapes of cello muslc, and plays duets. I feel that once she and Dan get organized they will forge a producdve, growtng, musical reladonshlp.

Because ofthe dlstance and the cost trrvolved Richard will be lending real support in terms of driving and ffnancing.

Durlng the flme that Dan and Richard made this discovery, they also found a reallv flne violin teacher who ls the head of ttie consewatory, Since M'gde and Ben (14) both play vlolln and have room for a lot of growth, Rlchard thought he would make the trlp serve the needs of all three

ktds.

The problem I see now ls that because violin is not Maggle's and Ben's leading lnterest (for M'ggle lt's mushlng: for Ben, boat butlding), Richard and I have 'encouraged' them to play thelr Instruments, to

practice, to Joln tn our famlly muslcmaldng sesslons - tn general we've "made over" their muslc a lot latelv. Dan ls so passionate about hls musli we nerrer feel the need to encourage htm, only to support hlm through logistlcal pardclpadon - and of course we loue the potgnant sound he

evokes from his cello.

In the course of the dlscussion I mentioned, Madde said, 'Sometimes when you encourage me to pl;ay my violin, I feel you are pushing; I prefer to playwhen I tnlttate tt myself. But wlth my sled dogs I feel only your support for whatever IVe chosen to do wtth them each day and I ahvays feel totally good about that.'

Maggte then asked Dan how he saw it and yes, he said, he realized that what he needed was support, not encouragement, because the c.ello ls so much his own personal endeavor. Dan told us further that he sometmes has that feeling of being pushed about which Maggte spoke. He said that in spite of the fact that he adores trekldng in the woods, when I "encourage' him to spend some tlme ln the forest after he has been playtng his cello for hours, "I feel pushed, now that I am 16."

So, lve decided thatwhereas encouragement for Ben and Jonah (12) still means interest on my pa.rt, with Dan and Maggie itJust has a dilferent feel to it. So now I'm lending my support to the older three and trying to remain very sensltlve to the tlme when Ben and Jonah need me to drop my encouragement role.

I could understand even better what Maggie and Dan were salng when I thought about my own experlence wlth running. At one polnt when the lilds were younger (and I was tool), I began gettlng up early each mornlng and runnlng two or three miles before weryone else was up. I enJoyed tt and felt more fit. I would sklp some momings' nrn and that was OK too undl Rlchard began to encourage me to run erren on those days. I found his encouragement like pushtng, I can now see, and lt was a factor in my stopping runnlng altogether. Of c,ourse Richard certainly nerrer meant to be negative by Lrls encouragement but tt happened anyway. In retrospect I can seewhere he could have been more effectlve had he ollered to get the breakfast together so tlrat I dtdn't have to hurry tn from my rrn to do lt - thls would have been support.

Somehow, tn thtnldng all of thls through and talldng with Richarrd and the klds, I reallze how lmportant support ls and how delicate, encâ‚Źuragement.

Doesn't Worry about Being "Behind" Gail Nagasoko wrote bt the Decembr I99O lssue oJ tle Hawalt ^ERIEMS LEIIRNINO AT HOME newsletten ...Once Thumper's frlends went offto school, I dectded not to worry about whether he kept up with hls peers. It's hard to descrlbeJust what lt ls we do - it certalnly is not teachlng at home. I suppose the most accurate thlng I could say ts that we llve together. I get my housework and shopping and errands done and he accompantes me, We read whenwe feel like It - mostly every day - do art, sclence

Growtng Wtthout Schoollng #79

ll experlments, gardentng, htktttg, gotng to the beach, etc. when we want to.

Of course all the other ldds hts age (7 l/2) rcad and are learntng thetr ttmes t.bles. Thls doesn'tbo0rer us because I've made tt clear to htm that I know he could leam these thlngs now, but at the cost of

borlng ddllfng, and that when he's ready and sees a need for lt, he'll have no trouble learntng these, I've also potnted out that it's a rare adult who relles on knowledge of the times tahles to do much math - we all use calculators. Even the schools are beginntng to glve lidds calculators and to concentrate mone on thlnktng sktlls lnstead of on rote memorlzatlon.

It's also been eaql for hlm to accept that he's 'behtnd' ln reading because I've pointed out to hlm that he's learnlng lots of other thtngs. Frlends of hls who are trls age up to lO and older have no ldeawhat the ozone layer ls, much less what lt's for and what destroys tL They don't know their 3Rs of recycling, thcy don't know what a deck ls or where to get optht or what "interest rate" means or how our government gets lts money or what's golng on ln the Middle East. Thumper has been acqulrlng thts knowledge not because I'm teachtng hlm but because I'm interested in these thlngs and vla my acUvldes he's exposd to them and asks questlons about them. Anyone's life will yteld lots of such knowledge, probably on dlfferent but equally relerrani subjects. We don't rush off to do any proJects to'extend hts knowledge" - I Just answer hls questlons or look up the answers lf ifs that lmportant to him. I guess I treat hlm much like I would another adult wtth a question. If the subJect sparks hls lnterest, we pursue it

further.

...1'm not concerned about theyearend reports or tests. I've made lt very clear (19 typed pages worth) ln my llrst grade report that I was not following an academic trall. I gave lthe superlntendentl a few quotes and a long btbliography so he'd know thls wasn't Just some personal experlment. John Holt recommends thls sort ofapproach ln Teach Your Ourl and gives sample letters, though most are for dealing wlth strlcter laws than Hawaii's.

I fully expect my son to have low scores on the thtrd grade test, but according to my understanding of the law, these tests are NOT meant to test hls progress agahst trls peers, but agalnst htmself. Thus he should showprogress from one test to the next commensurate wlth hts abilitv... .

Naturally, I'd rather bypass the teits altogether, but if he has to take them, neither my son nor I expect them to measure anythtng of lmportance and I'm sure that if we must submlt to some sort of follow-up inteMew, the powers that be wlll see that my son ls dolng llne (although my adrenaline wlll flow and doubts will

pushin)....

From Homeschooling to Ballet School Jan Roach (Ont)

Lutl;tr's:

I must wrtte h response to Ltlltan S\r's letters ttx cWS #73 and #78 about her concems and experlenc€ wtth the Naflonal Ballet School ln Toronto. We have flrstGrowlng Wtthout Schooltng #79

hand experlence wlth the school, and homeschoolers are not a norrclt5r there;

durlng the summer that l-illran's son Matthew audtdoned there was a l2-yearold homeschooled gtrl from Toronto audldoning ln addttton to my son, who was not audlttoning but had already made

the transltlon from homeschooler to regularstudenl Nathantel (l l) began trts flrst year of

schooling last year as a Grade 5 student at the National Ballet School. Not only was there no fuss or conccrn about the fact that hls previous educatlonal background was a rather oqganlc t5rpe of unschooltng, but they allowed him to stt ln on a day wtth the prevlous year's Grade 5 class so that he could see for himself what school was like.

Unltke most audldon-lng students, hls concern was about attending academlc classes at the school, not about professional dance training, and the academic prlncipal of the school walr very sensltlve about allowlng him to put those worrles to rest before the summer month-long audltion began. She assured me that he would llt in nicely, as in fact he did that day desplte the class being a grade level above the one he would be entering.

During the summer the Canada Test of Bastc Skills ls given to all the children who are auditioning as they come not Just from across Canada but also from the Unlted States and Europe. These tests are not used to screen students, but simply to help the academic stalT prepare for any special needs, etc. of those chlldren who are chosen by the balledc stalfto attend the school on a full-dme basis. I was concerned that Nathanlel would flnd the process of testing foreign to him, as he had never been tested before {and his recountlng of some of the questions and what he

thought he was supposed to do was actually quite humorous) but his results rangd from two to fouryears above grade level.

The academlc princtpal sort of said, 'I told you so," and seemed to believe that his homeschooling background would be of bene{It to htm in a school where the children often have to work lndepend-

ently.

After Nathaniel was accepted lnto the school I olfered to prepare a summar5r of the ways we had gone about encouraglng his learning and what I felt hts skill levels and lnterests and needs were, as he was the only student who would not be having schml files forwarded. The staff seemed grateful for my elforts but made no demands on me.

Last year Nathaniel was a'supeC (or extra) in two ballets and had a nlce llttle part in a third with the Nadonal Ballet of Canada. I vras told that itwas up to us to dectde whether or not he should attend school durtng the weeks that performances were going on as we muld best determine how tlred he was. In fact, he often chose to go to school. But there were and are thlngs that he doesn't like about school. The boygfrl stuffin particular he had no experience with. The cliques, although prtmarfly conflned to the gfrls, he found offensive, and some of the grls' behavior he found Just stlly. He often feels most comfortable there with children who are older than him. And he does fe€l that he never has enough free tlme. Baslcally, he agrees wtth what Matthew Sly wrote in GWS #78. But

Nathantel dectded that he could accept the ktnd of academlc prog5am ollered at this school, a much mor€ lndlvtdual approach than he would llnd ln other Toronto schools, and he could put up wlth some of

the ldnds of behavlor that homeschoolers have come to associate wtth chtldren ln publtc schools, tf that was what lt took to get the ktnd of world class ballet tralnhg offered.

As a parent, I had concrrns about Nathantel losing hts childhood, lostng his other lnterests, becoming not a 'whole' or well-rounded person. The stalf at the schml suggest that when the chlldren first enter the school, because the llrst year is probationary, they be allowed to keep up some of thelr other activitles. Nathaniel chose to remaln ln competidve ice hockey.

When hls team was ollered the chance to play tn an exhlbitlon game agatnst a Detroit team in the Joe Louis Arena and u,"atch the NHkrs warm up afterqrards, Nathanlel was glven permission to miss school to go wtth hls team. He is sdll playtng hockey thls year but is having to miss games for ballet performances, and it seems that it won't be long before heJust won't be able to keep up that commitment.

But tt ls his cholc.e.

Each year there is much tenslon among all ofthe students in the school as the time approaches ln May when students are advlsed whether they will be reacc€ptd for the following year. When I told Nathaniel that I had been nodlled that the school wanted him to contlnue his training there, he was very pleased and relieved. When I pointed out that he had been chosen by the school but that he still had the opdon to choose whether or not to go to the school (that the cholce was not Just theirs to make - I had been clear when he started there that it wasJust a school, not a prison, and he was free to leave at any tlme), he was utterly shocked to realize that he no longer even thougftt about that.

He liked being remtnded that he had some power over how hls life was llved; I fur furn realized how strong trls commltment to dance was and the rlg;hbress of havlng allowed htm to go hls own way.

To understand our feelings about Nathaniel's attendancr at the school, lt rnight help to know that my background ls ln zoological sclences and my husband is an arborlst. We can barelv even danc.e at weddings. As much a" I tii to give the chlldren a broad exposure to life, I realized when Nathanlel became s€rlous about ballet that I had been assumlng that he would pursue his interests ln science as he grew older, desplte the fact that he had told us shortly before he turned 3 that he wanted to dance and I had registered tdm ln recreadonal ballet classes. But professional tralning ts grueling. There ls pain.

And when a dancer finally enters the workforce full-ttme as a professlonal,

neither the grueling training nor the pa.in go away. Ttre hours are crummy, the pay

lsn't great. What parent would want thelr child to do this? We reallzed that an unschooling parent would. Someone who had falth ln chlldren's abtltty to ffnd thetr own best way through Me. Even lf lt seemed strange to us. If Nathaniel could handle cltmbtng tn through the wlndow of a decreplt '77 Chevy whose doors no longer

funcdoned as the other chlldren werc

t2 ptcked up by parents ln Vohrcs and Peugotg outslde the school wlthout embarrassmenl or wen a sense of how lncongruous we seemed tn that setttng, so much the better. He, at leasl has got hls prlorttles

Enjoying Mathematics

stralght.

Unllke the Slys, we do have the advantage of llvtng ln a suburb ofToronto and of having Nathaniel llve at home whlle he

In GWS *77 we asked to hcar from pcople who cnJoyed math and dtd lt ln waye other than by uslng text-

attends the school, \f,/e are sflll homeschoolng hls two younger slsters, and really mlss hlm as lt seems he ls most$ not here excâ‚Źpt to sleep. Llke Ltl[an Sty, I felt that I could never hanrc let htm go olf to llve ln resldence at the school had we llved elsewhere, but have slnce come to reallze that those parâ‚Źnts who have let thelr chlldren do Just that are lovtng parents also, and perhaps less selffsh than me ln that they have trr.ly gtven thetr chlldren

the responsibiltty and tmst to allow them to determtne thelr ourn futures. I have not yet been so tested. But I have many opportunlfles to speak wtth the varlous stalfat the school and know that they are caring people who are well aware of the hardships involved for the children and who have demonstrated real conc.em for the well-betng of each of them.

The students at the Naflonal Ballet School are not there to please parents or anyone else; any chtld who was not there because ofstrong deterrntnatlon to succeed tn thetr chosen fteld would not last long, My heart went out to those chlldren who could not spend Christmas wlth thelr ourn famtlies because they ltved too far away, but I thtnk there ls not one of them who would have glven up the opportuntty to perform ln the Nutcracker to do so. These are chlldren wtth a self-determlned purpose to thelr lives and tf they are ,rmong the few who wtn the prtvllege of belng chosen to traln at the Nadonal Ballet School, we should not block their way, Just provtde them wtth all of our love and support for they have not chosen an eary path. And should they dlscover at any ttune that lt was not the best cholcr for them, let them know that ts all rtght too.

books and workbooks. Our mellbor hes been full of thcse letters ever slncc - scc GWS *78 for the f,rst set of rG8ponsc8.

Discovered Pattenr

Cerclle Sfrnnrons (TX wrcte In tlv 1989 issue oJ alnal wwsletter

*ptcmbr

she usedtopuillsfu

One day the lrdds and I were foollng around wlth pennles when we shrmbled across the pattern behtnd squaxe numbers.

Because I'm not much of a mathematlclan, it was new to me, too. The eplsode went llke thts. We had four pennies in a square. lCerelle shows a picture of a 2 x 2 square.l To make a blgger square, we needed ffve more pennles [plcture of a 3 x 3 squarel. For the next square, we needed seven more pennies lptcture of a 4 x 4 squarel. At about that potnt, we reallzed that the flrst square number ls l, and the next square number (our origfnal 4) ts 3 more than that. Hmm...

3, and then the next one ls 5 more, and then 7 more... howabout thatl Sure enough, 9 more pennles would glve us the next square number, 25t From there, we could predlct all the rest, We were as pleased with ourselves as we could be, which ts the whole potnt of

ustng manipulaflves. Memorlztng math nrles ls no fun at all, but dlscovertng that there really ls an order amld seelng chaos ts the stulI of enllghtenment.

Building Lego Clock Is GWS Ingatr ltbrary?

Pleas @nslder donatlng a subscript{on, or enrcuragtng

Mofian fuver (IN) wrltes:

tte

Itbrarlon to subscrlbe.

(JII ILI)REN'S

LITERATURE Revieu s of neu hooks and non-h,xrk rnaterials tir prereaJer-. thnrugh YA. Teaching materials alailahle firr sonte titles. SLrhs S20/r'r

(

li,r issues) t,r: CLJ, Dept )vl, 925

Capital ofTexas Hu1, S, =B-220, Austin, TX i8746.

After you printed my letter about Mark s Lrterest tn brtdge (GWS #74) and howwe had started the hunt for a mathemadcal qray to llnd out about probabtlttles, we recefued a very nlc.e letter from a man ln Canada. He fllled us ln on how to Ilgure out the probabtllttes for the hand I had described ln the letter. It was really excltlng to get a letter ln response to my Ietter tn GWS. Mark ts sttll lnterested tn brldge, thougfrwe have not found anyyoung people who are also lnterested ln it. I have a feeltng that most people thlnk brldge ts too hard for chtldren to learn, but I thtnk tt depends on their level of lntercst. In all fairness I must say that we have not searched very hard for other young brldge players, but I am not sure where to begln wtth ttris. He sdll reads the brldge column ln the newspaper regularly and he recelved a book of brtdge problems for Chrtsknas.

He has worked thrcugh chapter one of that so far. I suspect that for norr, he has worked on the probabtllty an$e of brldge hands as much as he wants to and ls

satlsffed at thls polnL Sflll, he knows that these technlques are avallable to htm should hewant to pursue lt further' Hls most recent advenhrres ln math have come wlth the trgo brtcks. He butlt an electrlc clock out of theml I asked blm to explafn to me the process he went through to get thls accompltshed, because I was completely tn the dark about thls proJect undl I saw the completed clock running and merrlly keeplng time. I have no ldea how he happened to think of trldng to bulld a clock, and he doesnt really know elther.

The flrst stage was that he removed the motor fr,om an old tape recorder. He satd that he cltpped the motor to a transformer wtth alltgator cllps. T?rls reduced the voltage from regular household current to about slx volts DC. Thts pa.rtlcular motor was not destgned to run on household current. He tells me that he worlred at flgurtng out the speed of the motor by rlggtng up some gears to reduce the speed by a ratlo that he knew. He attached a kgo brick as a ktnd of arm and counted how many Umes lt went around ln a rnlnute.

Ttren he must have muluplted by the numbers represented by the gear ratlos and came up wlth about 2,88O rwolutlons per mlnute for the tape recorder motor.

Some tlme after this he ordered two packages ofthe Lego gearwheel assortment. There were about twent5r-one gears ln each pa.ckage, and varlous gear rados were represented. He used the belt from the tape recorder to attach the motor to the l,ego pulley and axle. From the motor to the pulleywas approdmately a 4.4 gear rcduciton. After he dtvtded 2,88O by 4.4, he had about 654 rerrolutlons per mbrute which he needed to reduce to one revolutlon for the second hand ofa clock.

Then he asked hts dad for some advlce. Hts dad suggested that he flnd the prlme factors of 654. These tumed out to be 2, 3, and lO9. I asked Mark how he arrived at thls and he sald he dtvtded by 2, then by 3. This left hkn wlth lO9. He worked with thls for a whlle to see if tt was dMslble by anythtng and dectded lt must be prtme. In the l-ego gear wheel assortrnent, there are gears for makinga2:l and 3: I reducHon' There remalned the lO9: I to llgure out. He found that the closest he could come to lO9: I wtth the gears he had was I 12.5: l. He dtd thts by arranglng several gear wheels tn a serles. He used the l. 5: I , 3: l, and two 5: I gears, He later streamltned thls by uslng one 3: I gear lnstead of the 1.5: I and the 2: l. To rcduce the speed for the minute hand, he found the prtme factors of @, whlch are 2, 2, 3, and 5. He used the lego gears wtth those rados. Then to reducc the speed

further for the hour hand, he found

the prtme factors of 12 (2, 2, and 3) and used the gears wtth those ratlos. With the help of hts dad, he flgured out that the clock had

an error ofabout 3. I percent. Thls was because ofhavtng to estlrnate the ocact

speed of the motorand because of notbelng able to reduce the speed by the raflo of

lO9:l exactly.

When hewas descrlbtng the Process to me, Mark several tlmes used the expresslon,

'I played amund wtth the gears,'

Gro\r/tng

Wthout Schoollng #79

l3 whtch remlnded me of some ttrlngs John Holt urrote about. He wrote that chlldren need dme to play wtth equlpment" get farnilfar wtth tt, before they are read5r to butld or do experlments wtth lL Perhaps somethlng ltke thls uras gotng on wlth Mark. It ts hard to quanU.ff thlnldng ttme.

As I talked wfth hfrrt" tt seemed evldent that he had done a lot ofthtnktng about thts before he actua$ began butldteg the clock.

So much of my own rnath tralntng was abstract that I rvas glad to see an actual reason for needlng to know the prtme factors of numbers. After thls proJect, I thrnk Mark wtll have a good understandtng of prtme numbers and thetr posslble uses as vrell as an understandlng of ratlos.

We bought some math workbooks thls

yeaa thtnktng that Mark mtght uant to dtg tnto algebra, He does not seem to ltke dotng workbooks, He worked at them for a whlle, but they gradually began gathertng dust.

When he does somethlng creatlve llke thls clock, I begtn to ask myself, does he really need me to teach lrtm math?

Loving Numbers Wilt Clotke (MA) wdtes: I'm wrlfing ln response to your request to hear from people who enJoy math. Our daughter Chelsea's lnterest ln, and abtllty wlth, numbers has always seemed to be sltghtly ahead ofher progress with other sktlls. At 6 she reads numbers up to lOO. Wtth sin$edlglt numbers she can add, subtract, multtply, and dtvtde qutckly, Lr her head, but she ts only beglnntng to understand whatwe mean by those labels. She has a lialr understandtng of fracflons, espectally quarters and halves. I don't know that her abllitles are at all remarkable exccpt that she has plcked thls up on her own. We harre trted to ansurcr her questlons and have provtded materlals, ltke dot-to-dot puzzles, that she requests. She selzes opportunltles to make calculatlons, such a.s dtvtdtng treats errcnly or dectdlng how marry outflts to take on a trlp. In contrast, although she loves books and knows the sounds ofthe letters. she has no lnterest ln soundlng out words and when we harrc prodded her to do so she reslsts.

Measurlng and esttmatlng dtstances are also great fun for Chelsea. She ls much more [kely to ask for a plece of strlng IIve lnches long than to tndtcate the length wtth her hands. She often mtxes lnches and centlmeters ('four tnches and one centlmeter'), I supposc because so rrnny rulers show both. She has not shown much lnterest tn Culsenalre rods, except as blocks, but she dtd enJoy playtng wtth an abacus at a frend's house recently. Her favorlte 'math toy' has been one of those Itttle plasdc mon€y cllckers for addtng up pennles, dlmes, and dollars, The ktnds of math she ls exposed to are lrcry ordtnary: dtvtdtng reclpes, balanclng checkbooks, and so on. I use a falr amount of artthmetlc tn my buslness so she s€es me uslng a calcul,ator often (I llnd mental arlthmettc tedlous and, erren though I dtdn't grow up wtth them, have embraced calculators wholehearted$. We occastonally try and rnllk the educatlonal opportunlfles of actlvlfles ltke cooktng

Growlng Wtthout Schmllng #79

and butldtng, but urc don't play math games or anythtng llke that, We do 8nd ourselrrcs

talktng her through calculatlone rather than sfmply answerlng the questlon, partly because lt's fun to see what she can do and partly because we tmaglne that lt helps her learn. Mostly she doesn't seem to mfnd this, but I have mlxed feellngs. I rvouldn't ltke to be trcated llke that, but tt

for practrclng mulilpltcatlon and addltton fideal School SuppM and Fractlon Games

(Iaurt).

(4O4

The magaztne Pm:dclng TlanAhts NW lst St, FO Box lOO4, Mower

County, Austln MN 55912) contalns loglc problems, arlthmedc puzzles, muslc problems, pallndromes, and more, and has all levels of dtfilculttes. It ls a gireat ltttle

does se€m that chtldren recogintze learnlng

pertodtcall

baslc sldlls as part of thelr work and don't necessarlbr resent adult help. The hard part ts seetng whether she wants to learn more about numbers orlust wants to know how many forks to get oirt.

I was fortunate enough to mlss learntng algebra ln school, by changlng schools, and had to learn lt later tn order to understand trlgfi school chemtstry. I leamed tt by shrdylng tlre chemlstr5r text and wtth sorne help from the chemtstrSr teacher, and because I had an tmmedtate appltcatlon for tt, I enJoyed dolng so. It

We also make use of the computer. The educattonal games we have for the computer have not been urcll-recctved by the chtldren, but the I I year old and the 7 year old both enJoy LOGO, a computer language that starts out asJust graphtcs but can also be a true computer language. We do

seerned llke ttrls grrat trlck, a wonderful

tool for an$verlng seemtngly lmposstble quesdons. That's what I llke about math what lt can do - but Chelsea mav love numbers Just for themselves.

lVhole Family is Interested

llke Speak'N Math and Computron for playtng: tt ts matnly flashcard work wlth bceps, but those beeps seem to make lt fun.

We don't do 'book math'errery day. In fact weeks go by when we don't stt at a desk to do math (but we do math tn real Me eyery day, ofcourse), buturc go through phases of betng wry lnterested tn a

parflcular subJect, say long dlvlslon or

prime numbers. Then we may make posters (a favorlte acttvtty at our house) and try to lncorporate that subJect lnto more of our other actlvltles. There are wonderful books at the ltbrary on all sorts of math con€:epts. The ones by Anno come to mlnd tmmedtately,

Arn Bhgham oJ New Jerseg wdtes: We are a homeschooltng hmrly who has a very strong lnterest In mathematlcs.

My husband and I met ln graduate school, and we both have PhDs tn math. We are homeschoollng four chlldren, ages 3 to I l.

We belleve ln unschoollng, and do not use a formal currlculum tn any subJect. Of @urse, that means that tn math we don't use textbooks per se. I use them as a reference to see what lncremental steps to take to present a new concept, and occaslonally my eldest wlll slt down and do Just the word problems. But usually the books have pages and pages ofcomputadon, whlch lsJust too bortng to bear. It can take away much oftheJoy ofthe subJect to have to do so much repeUtlve work, when we all know that calculators wtll do lt faster. I must admlt that my chlldren do not know thler'math facts' as well as some school chtldren. but I take solac€ ln the fact that erren the Natlonal Councll of the Teachers of Mathematlcs ranks computadon seventh ln a llst of lmportant math sktlls.

The llrst slx are problem solvlng, esdmatlon, alertness to reasonable answers, appl5rlng mathemaflcs to everyday sltu-

atlons, and communlcadon of mathematlcal tdeas.

Clearly all of these are eastly lncluded at home. We do all the usual hands-on math - countlng the days 'dl btrthdays, uslng mon€y, telltng dme, and cooldng wtth the younger chtldren, balanctng the checkbook wtth my older daughter and havlng her help at booksales and thtngs

Solving Puzzles Barbara Needharn oJ Cal{omla urltes: I am an adultwho enJoys math. I have two slsters who also enJoy lt and three daughters who ln varylng degrees do not llke lt. At present I am not dolng much wlth tt, exc€pt trytng to teach algebra to a nlnth grader. I enJoy worktng the problems tn the text (Saxon Algebra I) more than she does, even though she can do them.

I have worked as an accountlng asslstant and balance our checkbook and do our taxes. But the most enJoyable math I do rtght now ls when Dell Puzzle Magazlnes lssues a new copy of Mathhzzbs

ad. Lqlc

ProWems.

I graduated from college as a math maJor, wlth spectal lnterest ln abstract algebra. Tllre pvzzle aspect of math has always lnterested me more than other

parts - trytng to solve an lntrlcate or

dtlllcult problem. Once ln college we were

Pinewood School Brinos Home Educotion to Yo-u (303) 838-4418

Olivio C,

Lorio

Director

llke that.

A deck ofcards provldes any number of math games, as does a palr of dtce, Our lfbrary has books on math games for

chtldren, most of whlch are lne:rpenslve to make. We also have Culsenalre rods and

Untflx cubes, both of whtch arc fun to play wlth on marry dtlferent levels. T\ryo math games we ltke are Dec-a-ten, a great game

I

l2 Rood D Pine Colorodo 80470 Seruing Home Educolors Since 1981

t4 glven an extra credlt proof to solve. I was the only one who got lt on my own, but I never dld quite get the toptc befng taught tn the class at that dme because that extra credtt problem was occup5rlng my thoughts

so completely.

, An actuaqr olllc.e once

who worked at my father's told me he ltked math onlv tf tt was pracflcal and he could see what lt-was used for. Iwas - and am - the oppostte. I don't really care tf tt ts useful or nol I Just

like thlngs llke number patterns, algCbratc

systems, etc. I enJoy storles of mathemadclans engaged ln'pure' research who on\r later leamed that there uras appllcaflon ln natur€ for what they had learned.

Other thtngs I have enJoyed ustng math for are machlne Lttg,mg. programmtng on a Stnclalr computer and ffgurtng

out Isdtttng patterns.

WlAr I ltke math I don't know. It urasn't anythtng speclal to me ln grade school and I had as hard a ttme wtth

multlpllcaflons tables as anyone - my mother frnally ntade me learn them. In seventh grade I startd to llke lt but can't remember anythtng speclflc that teacher dtd. In htgh school I took all the math offered (no calculus tn htgh school then) and worked all the problems even lf they weren't yet asstggred. The llrst two years of college were not too great, then after a break of five years I got all A s tn math.

Lct me add by way of encouragement that I rvas nerrer that gr€at at ordinary computaflon - addtng, subtr:actlng, mulUplylng, and dtvtdtng (actually, divtdtngwas OKbecause ltwas more of a proc.ess) - undl about ten years ago when I

worked on my mental artthmetlc, and ffve yeanl ago when I took a lO-key calculadon course (self-taught, self-paced). And I am 49 years old,

problem for me, because I long ago (two decades ago) taught myself a sort of mind game to deal wtth my'mathemadcal lnabtltty." It's a stmple matter of selfdeluslon, really. When I'm cookdng, or destgning and drafdng a pattern, or doing needlework or plannlng a trtp wtth roadmap tn hand, or planning an order from the fmd co-op, I slmply pretend to myself that what I'm dotng doesn't 'really" have an5rthlng to do wtth math.

At ffrst $ance you'd thlnk a mother who hates math wouldn't be able to teach tt to her chlldren. Slnce I've been readlng as long as I can remember and love to read and wrlte you'd expect me to ralse lopstded chlldren then, who are readtng ffends and

Maybe She Missed Something Moe

jom

Lesleg Wesfum {Otfl:

T!rytcal of me, I skfpped orrcr pa.ges l922 of GWS #78 - I alurays sktp the parts about math because I hate ntath. Hourerrer. I

Jumped rlght tn to the letter from Marlon Cohen, because tt uas tttled '[ove at Ft st Slght,' and I'm very much tnterested tn

lovel Now, for the flrst ttme ln tlrtrty-four years of lntense math-avoldance, I begln to feel as tf I may have Just posstbly mlssed something. If falllng tn love ts ltke solvlng a potynomlal equatlon, then I can see I need to llnd out what a polynomtal

math-avolders. Yes? Nol Madeline (lO) was readtng qulte well at age 3. She now reads constantly, and says she hates math. Flne. James (9) is Just now begtnnlng to really read, but for a couple ofyears he's been dotng math tn his head as fast as I can, and often faster. I don't mean 2 + 2, elther. As an example, one nlght hls dad and I were sittlng ln bed with a road atlas, planning a trtp to Grandma's house. The ktds were asleep, the house sllent except for the scratch of Mike's pen on the paper. He mumbled, occasionally under hls breath, and flnally concluded, 'Well, Id say about 36O mlles."

I swear not four seconds elapsed before a sleepy voice came wafdng ln from James's slde of the hall, saylng, 'Dad, at @ miles an hour tt'll take six hours, right?"

Untll I met thls son of mtre I nwer realized a person could actually LOVE numbers. Amazlngl

equadon lsl

I thfnk my hatlng math must have started ln schml, where the ffrst thtng I leamed about the subJect was that lt was {or seemed) completely unpredtctable. You never knew ifyour answers were right undl the teacher graded the paper, by whlch time you c.ouldn't recall how you got the answer, Worseyet, sometlmes you'd get the rtght answer but get tt tn the wrong vr'ay, so the answerwould sdll be consldered wrong.

Obviously, as a mor€ or less functionlng adult, wlfe, mother of four homeschooled ktds. I do run tnto numbers rather often tn my daily life. That isn't a

CLoDLc.Ro SChooL Home Based Education Program crealu your own homo school currlculum wllh lhe help of clonlara $choolHome Basecl Erlucalfon Program, lhe well-balarrced home school program offerlng floxible or slandard approach.

"Clonlata sllesses nanipulative Ieatrring tools rnd realillte experiences In pl19e o.f endless wor.lboolery....You creale ygur own ilrdividualijed prugram wilh lhe help of the Clonlara currlculum.The Glonlara slaft ls avallable to answer quesllons over lho Dhone or bv mall. Any concorns famllles have whlch rolalo lo home oduclflng can ba addrass6d.

Clonlara gradualss rocolvo our prlvala 3chool dlploma and full lrans.crlplr. Glonlara gradualss have gone lo collegee ahd unlversltler, to mllltary fefvlco, to the mlnlstry and Inlo lhe work force. clonlara atlends lo all of the admlnlslrallvo dutles assoclalod wlth homo oducatlno wlth and for our en. rolleos. We know lhe rogulatlons In evory slalo and counlry, wg handlo conlacls befi,veon school offlclals and our onrolloo$. That leaver paronls fiea lo allond to lh6lr home oducatlng.

'Mary

Pri<.le's

Bis Bonk of llome

1289 Jewetl Ann Arbor, Mlchlgan 48lO{

l-carninc

(313) 769-{5r5

Pat Montgomery, Ph.D. Dlrector

Growtng Wtthout Schooltng #79

JOHN HOLT'S BOOK AND MUSIC STORE Being Me and Also Us: Lessons from the Peckham Experiment

by Alison Stallibrass #1464 $19.95 + postage Being Me and Also Us is as imporrant a book as any I've read. It is a book about human nature, about the meaning of community, about growth and learning, and especially about health. More concretely, it is about a very special place called the Pionecr Health Centre, which existed in the Peckham district of London during the thirties and forties (John Holt refers to it at length in an appendix to Instead of Education). Of the half a dozen or so books published so far about the Peckham Centre, Alison Stallibrass's is by far the best. It is the most comprehensive account yet written of the Centre and its implications, and it is the most clearly written. One ges the sense thatBeing Me and Also Us was long in the making; Ms. Stallibrass chooses her words carefully and well.

The Peckham Centre was established largely through the efforts of two biologists, G. Scou Williamson and Innes H. Pearse. They were later joined by Lucy H. Crocker, a former biology teacher, for whom the young Alison Stallibrass worked as a student assistant. In this capacity, she was responsible for providing play opportunities for the children at the Centre.

Indeed, her reflections on the Centre take on a very personal tone, and her voice comes through as a quiet authority in a most sincere and refreshing way. She does not fall into the trap of preaching to the reader.

The lessons Ms. Stallibrass gleans from the Peckham Experiment are so important because they are so fundamental.

She states at the outset: What was gained through the experimental Pioneer Health Cenue, better known as the Peckham Experimenl was knowledge of the basic nature and needs of human beings.

The directors of the experiment wanted !o study healthy people, and in order to do that they had to find out how to create circumstances h which people are able !o cultivate physical, mental, and emotional health jn thernsetves fmy emphasisl.

The "circumstances" that were eventually created consisted of a building equipped with various types of sports and recreational facilities (swimming pool, gymnasium, cafeteria, billiards, table tennis, darts, bicycles, roller skates, etc.) as well as lots of "adaptable space" used by the members for their own purposes, to meet their needs as they themselves defined them.

In this space gathered an all-age community of people who lived

within walking distance of the Centre.

The ability of the members to structure their own environment w:rs a key component in the Peckham notion of health. It is also what made the Pioneer Health Centre so different from the health clinics or health clubs we have today. In the view of the Peckham biologists, health is not something one "gets" from

docton or from medical treatment (no more than one "gets" education from teachers or from school attendance). Health in the Peckham sense refers to a mutually beneficial relationship between an organism (or a person) and its environment. The relationship is mutual because a person contributes to, as well as takes from, the environment. Both the person and the environ-

ment are enriched.

Scott Williamson and Innes Pearse became aware of a fact thar, to this day, frequently escapes people; it is that the abeence of disease and disorder is not the sarne as health. The two are utterly different. ... Health cannot be measwed. It is revealed, for example, not so much by the amout of social, physical, or mental activity undertaken as by its quality.

Health, they said, is not a state; it is a process. A person may manifest health at some times and in some situations and not in others, /or health is manifested in a person' s relationship wilh hb social and physical erwirorvncrt [my emphasis], and the nature of this relationship depends partly on the past and present nanre of his environment.

These ideas lie at the heart of the Peckham Experiment and of Alison Stallibrass's book. This mutual synthesis between organism and environment known as health enables the person to be a unique individual but also part of the larger social whole, to be "me" and also "us." Moreover, it seems to me that the Peckham notion of health carries an important message about leaming. A healthy animal is a leaming animal. Leaming,like health, cannot be measured. Learning, too, is a way of relating to one's environment; it means being curious, aware, and open to experience. Likewise, the nature of our stance to the world depends on the nature of the environment. Some environments, as we well know, are noxious to learning just as some environments are noxious to health.

Ms. Stallibrass provides plenty of detailed examples of just what such a healthy relationship s1tail5, in two wonderful chapters called "A Sort of Anarchy" and "The Leaming Activity of the Cenre Children." Readers of Ms. Stallibrass's earlier book,The Self-Respecting Child, will not be surprised to learn that a central feature of health in the Peckham sense involves a large degree of autonomy or freedom of choice. The Cenre's all-age community, where children mingled freely with adults, provided the children with very much from which to choose.

But along with any choice, Ms. Stallibrass points out, comes the responsibility for that choice. The force of authority, of Someone in Charge, eliminates the possibility of choice and thus stultifies the growth of responsibility. Ms. Stallibrass underscores this point in citing the writings of Scott Williamson: Individuals, from infants to old people, resent or fail to show interest in anything initially presented to them through discipline, regulation, or instruction, which is another form of authority. ... Our discoveries - ifthey are discoveries - point w responsibility as the biological characteristic of organism.

.Iohn Holt'r 2269 Massachusetts Ave.

BooL and Murlc 9tore

Authority and responsibility are mutually antipathetic, and, indeed, as they grow s&ong dld adult, they are antagonistic.

In accordance with this view, the children at the Centre were allowed to play in the gym or swim in the pool witlwtl superision - and there werc no serious injuries (save one broken arm).

So the Peckham Centre was much more than a mere athletic facility. It was a community space, a family club, an ex0ension of the home. I should think that homeschooling families will be very interested o learn how the Centre not only provided opportunities that the home cannot provide, but actually served to emich the life of the home itself.

Alison Stallibrass summons a diverse and powerful array of thinkers o aid her analysis of the impact of the Centre on health, growth, socialization, and learning. This depth of scholarship pnts Being Me and Also Us in a different class from all the other Peckham books. This is not to say, however, that Ms. Sallibrass values theory over direct experience. Far from it; she also includes a lengthy section of interviews and personal recollections of former members of the Peckham Centre. One ruly ges a sense of how important and valuable this place, this all-age community, was in the lives of these people, some of whom were children at the time.

The Pioneer Health Cenre closed in 1950 when it ran out of money. It never reached its goal of being totally member supported. In the final chapter of her book, IvIs. Sallibrass considers the prospects for fuhre Peckhamlike endeavors.

Concurring with Innes Pearse, she suspects that "if any of the beneficial effects of the Peckham Centre are to be achieved, it will be necessary to recreate the whole, the complex and comprehensive whole." I, for one, hope that she is wrong, for the prospect of recreating the whole seems far oo daunting. I would be afraid o starl But small can be beautiful, as Juttir Mason has shown in her description of the "indoor parft" she helped create in Toronto (see "An Effective Space" in GWS #68 and'finding the Village in the City" in Mothering magazine, Fall 1990). In addition, Ray Oldenberg's recent book,TIrc Great Good Place @aragon House, 1989), illusfates how other sorts ofplaces such as cafes, bars, barber shops, corner stores, post offices, and so on, provide settings for informal gatherings of people beyond the realms of work and home. We desperately need !o maintain, and even create more of, these sorts of community spaces. So a more distributed approach to the Peckham ideas might be possible. [t is not clear to me, at any rate, why all the good things about the Peckham Cenue necessarily have to be contained in one building. Jutta's work can act as a beacon in this regard, fueled by the many valuable insights brought o light through Alison Sallibrass's enormously important and illuminating work.

-

Aaron Falbel

The Teenage Entrepreneurrs Guide

by Sarah Riehm #1518 $10.95 + postage Starting and running a business, no mattâ&#x201A;Źr how small, takes a lot of planning, time, commitment, and just plain work, but

think anyone could start their own business after reading this book. The author, who was a teenage entrepreneu herself,

I

Cambrldge, MA02l40

places a lot of emphasis on understanding exactly what running a business means before you try it. She makes no bones about how much work it really takes.

The first chapter is an inroduction to enrepreneurship. It gives a basic overview of what it means to be a teeage entrepreneur. It isn't, however, written primarily to get your feet wet.

The author gets right down to business, discussing such things as marketing, problems that come with being an entrepreneur along with possible solutions, how to avoid making the three biggest mistakes that cause business to fail, dealing with

rejections, erc.

Chapter two is about what makes a successful entrepreneur.

The author has drawn up wtut she calls the teenager enEepreneru EQ test (EQ stands for entrepreneurial quotient) to determine whether you have what it takes to be a teenage entreprcneur. I think that even if you don't have those qualities right now, if you have this book as a guide you can become a successful entepreneur. The author lays out a practical step by step plan for staring your business, and discusses each step thoroughly. The first step is my favorite: read this book entirely.

Step two is titled, "Select a business adventure that's right for you," and contains advice to keep in mind while choosing a business, such as selecting a service that's in demand in your community, that you're good at, and that you'll enjoy. Step three is about preparing a plan for your business. Seuing up a work schedule, how to estimate your costs, how to figure out what to charge for your service, and estimating how much business to expect, are among the things discussed in geat detail. The book also includes los of information about registering with the proper govemment agency and setting up a recordkeeping system.

Most of the book is devoted to a discussion of fifty business ventures ranging from painting fences to running a typing service. Along with each job idea the author gives specific information abut what materials and experience are required, what you can expect to earn, and the best marketing methods for that particular service. I found this part of the book so interesting that I read about each of the frfty ventures. This book is so thorough and inspiring that I began giving serious tltought to starting my own business even though I hadn't had any plans to start one before I read ir I think that this quote from the book aptly sums up its value: "Before you decide whether you want to be an entrepreneur, read this book all the way through. By the time you finish, you'll have a complete picture of all the Kim Kopel activities required to be your own boss."

-

The Sign of the Beaver

by Elizabeth George Speare #1514 $3.50 + postage Set in 1769, this book is about a temporarily self-taught boy who lives alone in a cabin in lvlaine tenitory. His father, gone to bring the rest of the family from ldassachusetts, and the boy (Matt, age l3), had built the cabin in the spring. In modern times parents don't just leave their kids to "take care of the claim" for months on end, as in ttris book. But 1769 was far from modem

times.

lvlau thinks almost nonchalantly about his daily duties -

yelling at crows, patching walls, keeping fires burning. Instead

John Holtrr

2269 Massachusetts Ave.

BooL end

he muses about his loneliness. Sometime in the middle of the summer, he climbs a bee ree and ends up going screaming through the woods to the nearest water available, spraining

ankles and otherwise severely hurting himself.

Rescued by an old Indian chief and his grandson ("'We watch,' they said. 'Whiteboy very foolish to climbbee E@.'"), lvlaft then teaches the grandson how to read English, in exchange for saving his life - or tries to teach him. After a very tentative relationship, Asean ends up teaching Matt how o survive in the woods, instead. And we thought lvlatt was smart!

One day they go fishing, and Matt becomes exasperated. do it my way," he said. "I can catch plenty of fish with this, and that's what matters," Aneur sat on the bank and warched. To Man's satisfaction, in no time there was a ntg on the line, a strong one. An impressive looking fish rose to the surface, thrashing fiercely.

Matt gave a jerk, and the line came swinging out of the water so suddenly that he almost lost his footing again. It was

"I'll

furlc

Cambrldge, MA02l4O

Storc

I-earning also about each other's customs and tttoughts by asking questions and warching each other do things, the wo boys demonstrate respectful teaching and cooperative learning. On the same fishing day, lvlau asks: "What did you say to that fish you threw back?" Matt was still curious.

"I say to him not to tell other fish," Attean said seriously.

"Not scare away."

"You actually think a fish could rmderstand?"

Aneur shnrgged. "Fish know many thing."

Though a short book with a simple plot"The Sign of the Beaver is captivating and a gmd book of interest to homeschoolers of all agas. It kind of makes me wish more kids had exciting lives.

I doubt, if there was even a cabin left in the woods somewhere, that my parents would let me live there alone for almost a year. ff they ever actually did, it's nice 0o know I'm a homeschooler and have Anne Brosnan all the time I want to do interesting things.

-

EMPry.

"Fish troke line," Attean observed.... "Make new hook," he suggested. Without even getting to his feet, he reached out and troke a twig off a maple sapling. Out came the crooked knife again. In a few strokes he cut a piece as long as his linle finger, carved a groove around the middle, and whiuled both ends into sharp points.

Attean doesn't want to learn to read, so lttlatt resorts to reading Robinson Crusoe aloud to him. There is a very fiery point when Attean fiercely protests the man Friday's kneeling down to Crusoe after Crusoe saved his life.

"Nda!" he shouted. 'Not so," Man stopped, bewildered.

"Him never do ttrat!

,., Never kneel down to white man!"

"But Crusoe saved his life."

"Not kneel down," Attean replied fiercely. 'Not be slave.

Bener die."

864-3100

& DELIVERY

Wc shtp UPS wheoevcr posstblc.

Wc only shtp vta U.S. Mall to Canada and FO boxcs.

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When we were considertng it for ow catalog, we sert ow rcview copy ofTwelve to three l2-year-old readers, all of wlpm were enthusiastic abut b . The book is about a boy nancd I imny and the nagbal e4eriewes and ircigltts tlat lv lus during his drean adventwes, and rather tlvn try to describe it any further, we are letting tle ktter tlat MilQ Perrine wrote us in suppon of the book serve as its review:

I just finished reading Twelve.If I had my own copy (I'm going to get one) I'd sit down and read it again. I could read it a hundred times and find a colorful insight I missed the ninety-nine other times.

book is full of love, life, happiness - and who doesn't it's not unbelievable - I

"This need a good dose of that these days. But

a

Or clip and mail this form with a check or money order to John Holt's Book and Music Store

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69 Massachusetts Ave.

John Holt'e Book and Muolc Storc

found myself wishing I could - hoping I could - go on tle same kinds of adventures that Jimmy did. And it's not just for kids.

Adults should read it, too. Everyone should. Not because they might want to. Because they need to.

What can I say? This book had a powerful impact on me, I guess. Amazing, fantastic, beautiful. There aren't words in the English language o describe my feelings after reading this book.

That's the only time I put it down - when I finished it. It helped me understand the miracle of life. And that's something people often ake for ganted. This book showed me what the miracle of life is. It made me feel like dancing and singing and laughing and crying and running all at once. It is a book desperately needed by a lot of people. If everyone in the world read this book, maybe there wouldn't be wars.

And all that in seventy-four pages! Simply incredible. I'll see the world in different ways for the rest of my life. This is a very important book with some very important messages. You should definitely carry it!

Crafts Supply Sourcebook

by Margaret Boyd,#1474 $14.95 + postage Catalogs have always had a role to play in our family. We always like to tell the story of how Christian learned to read from catalogs, which is, of course, an oversimplification but is still basically true. When he was ready to read on his own he had a hard time finding anything that captured his imagination, that was interesting enough o offset the hard work needed to puzzle out the words. He found the beginning easy readers were not worth the efforl Ah, but catalogs! He would spend hours poring over the Ganett Wade Catalog (a catalog of tools we had bought frrom John Holt's Bmk and Music Store years before) and dreaming of what he could make with those beautiful saws, hammers, and gouges. Or he would take the Edmund Scientific Catalog up to bed with him, or even the Sears catalog. Here were not pages and pages of daunting text but brief tantalizing paragnphs that told what that fascinating gizmo in the picure did. He would read as much of the description as he could, then fill the catalog with torn pieces of paper th,at marked places where he just couldn't puzzle out a cnrcial word" and wait for a time when an adult was available to help him out.

On the other hand, while Clare (now I l) was not as motivated to read catalogs, they did certainly help to hone her early writing skills. She would pore over books hke Free SttS for Kids, making lists of things that interested her, and then writing stacks of letters requesting catalogs, kits, pamphlets, or just more information.

Now,I'm not saying thatTlrc Crafts Supply Sourcebook will teach anybody to read or write, but it certainly deserves a place on our shelf of most-used caalogs. For anyone who ges a thrill out of making something with his or her hands or has just dreamed of doing so, this book is a treasure rove. It fits ino the category of caalog of catalogs because, while you can't buy dollhouses or model trains or cross-stitch kits directly from it, it lists a wide variety of places from which you can

Cambrldge, I\,IA02l4O

order them.With over 2600 supplier listings there is something here for everyone whether you want to do lace-making or build a log home.

Many of the catalogs are free, some cost two or tlree dollars, and a few are more expensive. Each entry lists the name, address, and phone number of the supplier, the price of the catalog, and a brief list of what it carries as well as other useful information, like whether or not you can pay for your purchase with a credit card.

This book was extremely popular in our family. In fact, it was so popular that it was constantly disappearing from my desk.

Emily (17) was the frst one to take possession of ir She was in the middle of churning out lots of different styles of delicate, dangly earrings for herself and for gifs for friends and relatives, and she was running out of the beads she made them with. When she lmked up beads in this caalog she was overwhelmed - three pages of suppliers who canied beads of all shapes, sizes, colors, materials, and countries of origin. It got her thinking ahut not only new designs for earrings but also reviving some of her old beading projects like macrame necklaces.

Christian (now 14 and reading very well) wandered through the photography and the very large model-making sections, selecting catalogs he might send away for and, as always, absorbing new vocabulary. Now, of course, he could pronounce all the words, but what was 5-segment lvlatrixx Metering or cybernetic fill-flash? He'd file all these words away for later investigations. He still uses catalogs as a source of information about topics he's interested in.

And this sourcebook can sup'ply a geat deal of information.

Margaret Boyd focuses not only on basic materials but on kits as well, and references to how-to books are sprinkled throughout her entries. The whole last section is devoted to resources that include booksellers that specialize in craft books, a variety of publications, and associations crafters can join. This section could be particularly helpful to homeschoolers who have been wanting to make some money from a craft they enjoy.

But ttris book can spark ideas even if you never write away for a single catalog. Clare, in lmking through the book for nothing in particular, happened upon the section, "Costumes Historic and Special Occasion." She had made mundane things like pajamas from patterns and a Halloween costume from no pattern at all, and she is always swathing herself in leftover yardage to become some personage or other, but she had never thought about buying a pattern for, say, a medieval gown and actually making it. She looked at this costume section a long time but before she sent off any requests for catalogs she made a trip oo the library,looked up costumes, and found a book that described in detail how to make them. She chose a Victorian era dress, has enlisted her grandmotler's help, and has begun her

project.

When I fnst read ttris book we were living near Philadelphia, and I looked onThe Crafts Supply Sourcebook as a more convenient way to shop than going to the store, and as a source of information. Now we are living in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where sometimes even basic materials or kits are unavailable, and ttre book has become a lifeline connecting us with sources of materials. It is indeed a very useful book to own.

Madalene Axford Murphy

-

l9

FOCUS: Children Joining Adults We often prlnt storles from chlldren descrlblng the opportunltles they have had to volunteer at an adult workplace. For thls lssue, we declded to talk to the adults who have nade these valuable opportunltles posslble. Where approprlate, we mentlon the lssue ln whlch the chlld orlglnally told us about the work, so that you can read the story fron that perspectlve as well.

At a Nature Center Anw'da Ebrgson-Shflcock (PN fugan unrlang at tle Schugllc{ll Vd)eg Natwe C*rter (now callcd tle *huglcill &rXer

for brlrorunental Mucotbrl uhen sle uas &

and. urote alr:rut tt in her Jlger, "One HomeschrcIe/s Ansurers," rlhich is part oJ our Reprlnt

*t

dtrector oJ

11, We spoke wlth lnwa tle center at tlvt tlne:

Lee LInk,

tula was asststant

at Work

When I was thlnldng about what tt's ltke to have a child volunteer, I was thfnkfng about why adults volunteer, Adults volunteer because they want to help, they have time, and they want to make frlends or get to know people that they might not otherwlse meet. Many adults who volunteer are older people, and somedmes they espectally want to work with kids. I think having a patrtng of a modvated clrtld and an adult volunteer, one who was already there, would work well. So one way that a child might be able to get into a volunteer organizaUon would be to ffnd someone who ts rvorking there already, and see tf that person would be lnterested tn helptng ayoung penon.

Thls ls sort of what happened wlth us. One of ourvolunteers would plck up Amanda and drtve her to the center each week. I thtnk tt was an opportunlty for her to have a relaflonship wlth a girl, because she only had a son, and lt also helped ln logisUcal ways. Amanda's parâ&#x201A;Źnts didn't have to drlve her to the center, and the two of them really became a team. I think that ldnd of teaming can be benefictal notJust to the child, but to the adult, and then to the organization as well. We didn't have to supervise Amanda very much because she was working so closely wtth an adult, so that made lt easier for us tl an lt could have been.

How did. Amard.a and her parents approach tle nature center to ask IJ she could, unrk tlere?

How dld tIle adult porbvr chrcse to do tlwt? Had slle knousn Amanda fuJore?

Amanda's uncle was a board member at the nature center, and he and I had worked together on a project. He told me he had a nlece who wanted to work with us, and then I thlnk Amanda and her father came over and we all talked about it.

As I remember, we thought of it because they ltved near each other. She was a very active volunteer, and we suggested it to her,

It's nbe to hear that gou mode tlut estua elfort to make It Anwnda to get there - gou dldn'tJustbanse i! up to tle Janilg. lqgisttca/d:g easg Jor

How did ft strike Aou attlrst - did 8 gears old. seem outrogeouslg gowrg, or utere gou readg to cottstder twrttg sotaotle

that age rnlwteer?

That liiind of thing is really prett5r easy to do.

We wondered how to fit somethlng like this tr, but I don't remember being completely aghast at the idea. This was partly because her uncle sald she'd be great and that she had some ldeas of what she wanted to do. We dld have to tlrink about how we would supeMse her, because she couldn'twork as tndependentty as other volunteers.

At that ttne gou difur't harc otler goung tnlunteers, righf?

No, we didn't have anybody that young. We'd had Eagte 56on1" comlng out and dolng proJects, and we had one boywho had kind of grown up wtth the nature c.enter and who would work wlth our land manager, feedlng btrds and dotng other outslde proJects. He had started at about 13 or 14. It's pretty easy to irrvolve klds who are lnterested ln volunteerlng, as opposed to kids whose mothers are dropping them olTfor an hour once a week and want us to do somethlng with them.

You sald. that part of tutat telped gou dalde to tg such a goung rnlurtteer usas ler urd.e sagbg slv'd b great at tL Thts makes me thlnk tllrrtldiLs arc realty helpd. by hl:u:tg an adrn cate, sonwne who canthelp tlempersuade otJter odults tolet them try thbtgs.

Yes, I thlnk tf she had Just called us up on the phone, we would have been more susplclous at flrst. I thlnk ldds should probably begtn wtth the people who already know them, because that will be easler. We were also famtliar wtth Amanda because she and her parents had used the nature center.

Some k{ds lunse w'{tten to us about the frustratlon oJ

to get

WW

an h.ltlal chance to ptore themselues, Wtat happens tJ a chdd doesn't know angone at the place le or she wants to untk?

Growtng Wthout Schoollng #79

You nentioned Amanda's wr;le sagtng thnt sle oheaclg had ideas oJ whot sle uanted to do, That must ha.e nude a difference to gou - gou loeu tlnt it wasn'tjust that ler parents tlaught thi-s unuld. fu gdJor ler. lt mnkes ne tltt* Atd ile nvre klcls can

contEg that tfeg lwrse sonethitg to otler tlv organization they want to unrk usLh tle nare likelg tleg are to btterest tle ddults.

Yes, when you're aslilng for somethlng a little unusual and tailor-made, you do have to sell yourself a btt. But that's OK. Volunteer programs for ldds don't always work as well - you're really having to tratn the ktds to be volunteers and you put up with the flact that they're often late or don't show up, But tf a chtld has already decided that she wants to be avolunteer, lt can make a

big difference.

Accordtrtg to Arnanda's parents, one thbtg tt'o;t lelped tn setting up ftis atrangefient uuas their sayng tltat erreryone auld think oJ this as an eryerimenL Theg u.reten't askbtg gou to agree to toke Anundo onJor a year, Yes, ltwas open-ended enough thatwe all had an out iftt didn't work out. We felt free to say, -This lsn't worklng,' even though lt turned out we never had to say that. It rvas helpful to know that we weren't betng treated lke a babysittlng service. One thing that mlght scare people would be thlnldng that the parent rvas Just trylng to llll a three-hour slot for their ctrild.

Amanda was never a burden to the center: lt wasn't like we rvere alurays trJrtng to flnd a Job for her. I think that came from the fact that she had a proJect she was worldng on - an exhlblt - and she was very moUvated about that. She dtdn't mind dofurg the drudgery work elther, and I thtnk that's sometldng that ldds, or anybody volunteerlng, have to understand. Sometlmes you have to do things like sort beads. It helps tf a chtld lets us know that

20 she's wtlllng to do those Jobs, too. Amanda dtdn't mlnd dolng Jobs that adults dtdn't urant to do.

- ppb arc so $rald. these dogs oJ the ctild senan/o, and ttre oonnotat&cns oJ nulctng ,<Ids do t|e dndgerv u;orle, but therc's ottother slde oJ that" Isn't tlerc? Ktds ote qftenwry etc'lted. abut tle ct7ot1re to do rcalunrk, atd.utlildo rdth entlus{asmJobs that adults mlSht rrot b os fll.terested In dobrg. IJ gou don't abuse thoL X reallg drrsn't tvtE to b fudAmonda olso attendd, ttlrrldttgs oJrduntrers, dldrtt sle?

Hout d&dthat unr|r-ouf?

It's tntercstlrg

lobr

thought that I could take Saratr-Kate because she could come at a tlme when there wouldn't be lots of other ctrlldren her age here.

The freedom from a school schedule made lt posslble for us to plan tlmes when she could come ln when there would only be parents and toddlers herc. I talked to our ltbraqr dtrector and she agreed that thts was a speclal clrcumstance, and urc all felt, tncludtng Saratr-Ibte's mother, that thts would be an educatlonal opportuntty for her and somettrtng that utould $ve her elqterlence workhg wtth other people, outslde the home.

Werc gou ade to

tlrhk rlgrlt auatJ

oJ

tlt@s

tlut

sle antW

help you wlth?

Verywell. She would crntrlbute to the meetlngs, and I don't thlnk she was treated any dlfferently from anybody else. That was no problem at all.

Do gou thbr.k tlwt lro,u@ a Vourg cl'dld. tlvre durhg tlose gears Mpedtle qAults to seeklds as capaWepaple?

Well, I know that I uras tmpressed wlth the qualtty of her urork and her thoughdulness, and I'm sure werybody else was too.

The lr,ony was that she y/ould be asststtng on hlkes where the ldds were her age or older. I thfnk that was a good enpertence for her, sectng ktds tn more rrralnstrâ&#x201A;Źam sltuaflons. And to them she was to some extent an oddtty - "What ts she dolng here, when we harrc to be tn school?'

Klds utdte to us tr}orutlrrn tleq haue to orewfine tle negaftn lclds ln general hatn. In a waA, otlg Voutrg Wrson usho

lmqe that

ges brc:o auolunteer In gereral.

slf:.to;tTon

ls ktnd oJ an anbassadorJor ktds

I thfnk they're arnbassadors for what klds can do,

In a Librarry leantdJron Su4 Ddd (n\0 tha;t ier doughtef s Jrled (W, had. ben tle gowtgest voluteer at tle Warch,amMass.) Fte llbraryJor aoluple oJgeors, and.ue spdce We

erch-I<atc Glddbgs

uttth

tle

chlldten's llbrrrtlrrtu Adelalde Gatdner:

How dld furah-Kate ask to

uto* utlth gou?

Her mother had been brtndng her and heryounger slster and brother tnto the llbrary on a regular basts, and after some tlme her mother asked lf I could use Sarah-Ihte as a helper. She was 8 then. Both her grandparents had been llbrartans, and both her parents had worked tn thetr untverslt5l llbrartes, so Saratl-I(ate had heard a lot about what lt uras ltke to be a llbrarlan. At that ttme I had one part-ttme stalf member and two or three adult nolunteers, and I dtdn't want to take on any chtldren durlng alterschool hours, because I knew that tf the place uras full of ldds and they saw one ctrlld helptng, lots of others would want to help, and the trahfng and supervlslon urculd take a lot of flme. But I

Yee. We have a falr number of toys here tlrat the chtldren use, and those alurays need to be put back ln oIder. And there wereJobs llke puttlng rnagazlnes tn order on the dtsplay shelf, and Puttlng ptcture books trx place (our ptcture books go tn btns that are oqganzed alphabedcally), So there were lots oftasks that urcre qulte stmple but had to be done corrcctly. I eventually had her urorktng at the desk, checlidng books ln and out.

How

dd tle adult pabons

resprrd, to drfs?

We have our teen volunteers wear btg buttons ldenilfflng themselves, so Saratr-Kate dtd the same thlng. I thtnk adults were pleased to see her there, and pleased to see how competent she was.

I alvays had to explafn how she could be here at IO:OO on a Thursday mornlng, but people were always lnterested tn that'

I il1b1k pple somedntes hfnk Vr terms oJ ntakbg tlese opportunttlcs avallaWeJor ktds, as sonetldtg thot unrid. b gd.

Jor dlrlm but tt sounds as {sorabKate u:as frulg helpJul to gou, It was an enormous help to have her get to the polnt where she could work at the desk so that I was able to do other thtngs. Ttrts ls a very busy room, and we're very short-stalfed, so we couldn't funcflon wtthout nolunteers.

What

tlvse

dv@ umid.gougfin tochlldrcnwllo u;artto setup

connections u:tth adults outslde the Jantilg?

I have youngsters aslitng all the ttme lf they can volunteer here, and I always want to knowwhy, what lt ls about the ltbrary that tntrtgues them. For a lot of them nowadays lt's the comPuters. Wlth Sarah-Ibte, the fact that her Parents and grandparents had been ltbrarlans helped me belteve ln the strength of her lnterest. It also helps tf a chtld has some farnilfarlty wtth Itbrarles and ls enthustastlc about books, DId

youJtd It satlsfutttg to hrrta agourg persontale an

hterest In your unrk?

I lovewhat I do, and I would love to sâ&#x201A;Źe some of theyoungsters that I deal wlth on a regula.r basls dectde, perhaps because of some of thelr experlences here, that they would ltke to pursue a llbrary

It's eftolttlg umderjtL atd t@ rare, Jor chlldren to fu otottrld odults

wlwbw

whdtttleg do.

I

tlilr/rcAouwene doW norc

thanterchblg Saroh-Kate abut the lthrary; Vou uere also glttbtg lrrlr a posllfin sense oJ wltol odrtlt unrk can b Uke. I certatnly hope she ptcked up some of that whlle she was here. I would ltke to ttrtnk so.

In a Bookstore eeotfreg Llfiurck (PN tttote ln GI{4S *77 abut wlutltrr.,W ol a clildren's bookstore callcd 71e Chlldrcn's floIcwodd. We splee uttth tle ourer oJ tle store, Haruuh *hwattz:

Growtng Wthout Schoollng #79

2l Hout dtd tt cone

abut

tlla;t Geotfreg

bgpn ulrllclw wllh gou?

Dld gou lcrow ltous old Ado.rl usas u:hen you bgan wor*Jtrg

uttth htn?

I worked at another bookstor€, before I opened my own, and customer there. I used to help trlm, and we became frtendly, so when I opened ttrls stor€, trls mother came ln and asked lf I unuld be able to use Geollrey's help. She explatned that he uns betng home-taught and that thls would be part of hts educaUon, and that he nrculd rrcry much ltke to work ln the bookstore because he llkes books and we got along. he was a

Hod gouetserhad. sorleotue tlutgouttg u:ollclng utthgou?

Only my own chlldren, We weren't sure whether tt rpould work, but urc had no Fealion not to gtve tt a try. Thls was a new business, so every blt of help we could getwas valuable. He's only here three hours aweeh so lfs not aa tf I have to spend that much flme supervlslng hfm. I knew that tf he dtdn't end up betng comfortable wtth tt, or rve dldn't, that would be the end of lt.

Geolfrey's mother made that very clear at the beglnntng, that tf tt dtdn't work out we could stop lt. And she contlnues to keep tn touch wtth lt - she asks, 'Is tt goIrrg well? Do you want hlm to do somethturg else?' It also helps ln ttrls case that thls ls a chlldren's bmkstore, so people don't mtnd seelng a child runnlng around.

They can't always llgure out why he lsn't ln school, but he can explafn that, or we can. He doesn't have dtrect contact wlth customers, because loe ar,en't comfortable wtth that. If I'm talldng to a customer I may ask htm, "Did you llke tl-ris book?", but we don't have hlm selltng books.

Is tt

easg

Jor gou to

tht* oJ undc tlwt le can lrllp

wlth?

The day before he comes lr, we usually say, "Now, what can Geollrey do?" There are certaln thtngs that he does on a regular basls now - he fllls ln cards, makes sure that books ln a couple of sections are ln the rlght order - so he has tldngs that he knows are

htsJobs, even whenwe're busy.

I don't thlnk so. He's a maturre, responstble young man, and he speaks respectfully to the ltttle ktds and to the adults as well' I n6fer even thought of lrts age, to tell you the tnrth. It fasclnated me that he nras taught at home by hts parents' IVe talked to hrtm a lot

about what that expertenct ls llke for hlm.

Wrvt do gou tlnll/r makes It easlertor lcids wlo orc crs AourTg as Adan to have oppor1.rrnltles llke unrldng at tJv musetnt?

We'rrc certalnly had chtldren tn herc who were older tlrart Adam who harrcn't urorked out. But lf one ctrtld, ltke Adarn, has a good experlence and works out well, I ttrlnk tt makes people more w|llng to take a chance and offer the eame thtng to another ctrlld.

Adam has crrtatnly helped me to thtnk that other Hds can be capable.

What's your sense oJlow other adults respnd to srrch a

goung whnteef?

The people he helps wtth the blrthday partles speak very htghly of trtm. The parents of the kids on the tours he leads are very recepdve to him.

Imaglne thot atatler adult asl<ed gouustrot sle uortWgain Jrom taklng on a. Vourrg rnluntcer.

Well, theyd galn another helper, Ilrst of all, and one that could relate well to both adults and children. I thtnk you have to reach out to lttds and glve them a hand. I would encoura4;e people to take a chanc"e with ktds - wtth some baslc screenlng, of course' You can always let them go tf tt doesn't work out.

What adulce do gou hannJor chlldrenwla unuldUke to an adult to lct tlem ruplwteer"?

clcirnsblae

What do gou thlr* can ltr;lp k{ds set up these cormectlons

wtth unrlcittg pople?

I can't lmagtne that tt could be done wlthout an adult. I thtnk an adult has to make the tntttal contact. I would never take on a chtld who came up to me and sald, 'I'm belng taught at home and I would ltke to work wlth you.'The adult adds credtbtltty, and I thlnk because lt was Geoffrey's mother who asked us, we felt free to say no. To a lot of people, lt seems very strange to have a ctrild out of school durlng the day, and f the par€nt goes with the child tt helps people to understand that thls ts part of the child's educatlon,

At a Science Museum In Cl4ilS *76, bprth Adatn Flanklbr (FI) ard his nother Karen wrotc aboutAdant's etqoerlenres as aJunlor drcent at the Srluth Floddo, *terte Museum and Hnwtorlwt We spoke JVst wlth EIIie PlsanL the wlut'ter crrgrdlnaton wFo bA us that she hd trot ben a usare oJ Adan{ s age at Jtrst (le uras I I wlen le fug an at the museum) rrrrd tlrot now, tlere lsn't angthtutg thnt tlag dDn't ask Adan to do fuause oJ hts qe. We tlteln spoke wlth Madelebe

*hub,

tlre museum's u:eekend. marutgen

How dld gou bgVr ulolklr1g wlthAd,arn?

He had already been nrcrklng here when I began as a clerk at the front desk, so I was gneener than he was, He knows morc about aquaflc ltfe than I do. He takes tours through the museum and explalns the varlous exhtbtts. If people ask questlons or want a touch-tank demonstraflon - we have aquatlc antmals ln a tank and Adam takes them out and shours them to people - then I send Adam out to do that" He also helps wtth btrthday partles that we do here.

Growlng Wthout Schoollng #79

I thtnk ktds have to be perslstent, Ifthey have a real tnterest, they can show that. Maybe they can become lrrvohred ln other ways llrst - ceme frequently, chat wtth ttre varlous PeoPle at the place where they rvant to work, become known. That could grow furto volunteer work, lf that's the chtld's goal. And there's a difference between respectfi-rlly asldng to rvorh and demandtng.

But even tfyou're asklng to be an exceptlon, you should try. The answer could be no, but lt could also be yes, we'll glveyou a chance' I'm sure parents can encouragle klds who are hesttant along the llnes IVe descrlbed. They could say, 'Why don't you talk to the aquarlum dlrector?' or'Why dont you take a cliass there and get to know the people, and harrc them get to knowyou?'Or maybe there's a speclal errent, and the child could volunteerJust for that and see how thtngs work out.

Interview:

Glenda Bissex at Work

Glena Blsser's book cMnS #T WRI< (#3()8, $Z.eO + pott.l ls about how her ron, startlng! at age 6, became a skllled wrlter by lnventlng hls own spelllngs and correctlng hls own mlstakes. It opposes the conventlonal vlew that everythlng must be taugbt. In hls revlew of the book, John Holt wrote that lt was 'e splendld e-ernple of how a s5rnpathetlc and tnrsttng teacher can be of use to leaner, not by decldl.S what he lg to lcarn but by eneouraglng and hepfng hkn to learn what he ls already busy learnlng." We lntervlewed Glenda Blsser to dlscuss some of the lssues that the book

ralses.

Sugenneh Shcffcr: What made you begin studytng your own chlld?

Glcnde Bl$cr: When I was pregnant I took a child language course. We were looktng at samples of chlldren's speech and conversadons with adults, and I was so lnterested that I couldn't uralt unttl I had a little baby to listen to and record. So I was lnterested ln Paul's language even before hls sentences had words ln them.

Then, errentually, he started wrtflng, and I began savlng the pleces of paper. I became tntrtgued with the messages that he could read but that I couldn't, wlth the ways that hls use of letters evolved, and wtth the klnds of questlons that he was aslilng me about how to represent sounds wlth letters.

SS: Did you have any liitnd of hypothesls, or anythlng tn pardcular that you were trJrtng to understand?

GB: No, I wasJust tnterested ln seetng what was golng on. I had no ldea that thls was golng to be a book. I'mJust one of those people who tends to wrlte thlngs down.

Was there a polnt at whlch you began to see that others mtght be lnterested SSI:

in what you were learning?

G8: That took quite a while. At ffrst I Itgued that others had seen more than I was seefurg and that I was stmply furterested because ituras my own chtld. Then, by a fortunate colncldence, when Paul started wrldng, a former Engltsh teacher of mlne mendoned Charles Read's work on children's lnvented spelltng. That opened up a whole world for me. I began to understand what was going on wlth Paul's wrtttng, and became fasctnated by tt, Read had gfven examples from chlldren ln serreral dlfferent famllles, but there had not at that polnt been any long-term studles ofthe development of spelltng and wridng. I was also a teacher ln a school at that time, worklng wtth Hds who had problems wlth readlng and wrtdng, so I was seetng thtngs both at home and at school.

SIS: Some people have suggested that the sort of long-term studyyou dtd could only be done by a parent obseMng her own chtld. I would think there would be all

sorts of ad',rantages to that situatlon, llke all the things you were able to see lncldentally, Just in the course of living wtth Paul.

GB: Absolutely. That's really how I learned thtngs. When I started to try to be systematlc and like a researeher, lt lnterfered with our personal relationship. But I realized that I didn't need to be so systematic and probing, because there was so much to see, such rich data, ifyou will, that Just occurred in the course of normal livtng ln a llterate environment. I didn't need to stimulate or lnspire that - on the contrary, I was ln a race to get lt down, to turn the tape recorder on in dme. And ofcourse I missed a lot. but as I tell the teacher researchers I'm worlidng wlth now, who are observing in their classrooms, lf lfs knportant stulf it will keep comtng up again and lf you miss lt once, you'll have a chancne to get tt another dme.

SS:

I think

homeschoollng parents

wtll be lnterested to hear how your observatlons sometimes tnterfered wtth your personal relationshlp with Paul, and whatyou did about that, because some parents, to fulllll their legal obligaHons, have to do a certaln amount of observtng and recording of thelr children's leamtng.

GB: The older Paul got the more selfconsclous he was about my taplng or vrridng thlngs down, and he would protest on the spot. I tried to do less of that, but I also think there are ways of deallng with that, wtth lCds, to make lt less of a threatenlng situatlon. I remember when I \rras new in a teacher educadon posltlon and my supeMsor would come lnto the classroom, write somethtng down, and then nalk out. It's an awful feeling when you don't know what ts belng wrttten down or why. When I was observlng ln ltrst grade classrooms, I leamed to share wtth the chlldren what I was wrtdng down, and why, and that seemed to help a lot. They became collaborators ln the proJect, as Paul also did as he grew older. Hewasn't Just a subJect, somebody that I was dtstanced from and maklng all the Judgments about.

flS: Yes, I found that so interesdng ln the book, that he was able to help you, and

that of course he knorr thtngs thatyou couldn't posslbly know.

GB: Exactly. No one outslde a leamer's head ts able to make a complete Judgment about the leanrtng.

SS: IVe found that it's qulte possible for a child to understand what your work ls and to take some lnterest in helplng you understand thetr learntng, and also to be lnterested, themselves, ln reflecttng on what's golng on.

GB: As I uras looldng over serreral years of Paul's wrltten work, he was interested tn looktng lt over wlth me, readtng over what he'd wrltten, and maldng comments about it. He could see hls own learntng - all the thtngs he didn't

knowwhen hewasyounger. He helped me to lnterpret some things that I had mlsinterpreted. I had assumed, for example, that he read aloud trr order to get approval from adults, but he told me that he needed to hear trtmself. In schools ldds are always asked to read aloud so that the teacher can know how well they're dolng, and make correctlons. It's never regarded as an actlvl$r that ctrildren would want to do for themselves.

SIS: It makes you wonder about the research that's done willwut checking with the kids.

GB: It ccrtalnly does. That kind of research assumes that human beings are slmply creatures of behavlors, not creatures ofmeanlngs and lntenflons and all of those thtngs that we know are so funportant to learntng.

SSI:

I'm lnterested tn how you came to

that some thlngs which had looked like nonsensical mlstakes really made sense ln see

the context of what Paul was trying to do, or where he was ln hls understandhg.

GB: .ds I learned to assume that Paul's work was cornlng out of hls systemadc understandlng of how our wrltten language works, that he had his own theories, lt became tnteresflng to me to IInd out what the understandlng was that was behtnd hls dolng somethtng a partlcular way. I

leamed a good deal about how our language

works, because I reallzed that chlldren's earsr are often much sharper than adults' for the sounds oflanguage. Before they become famtliar wtth what our spelling looks like, they hear differences ln pronunclatlon that we don't hear any more, and represent them ln thelr spelllng.

SS: How can a parent respond

helpfully to a mlstake?

GB: Some of lt's rather subtle, and has to do wtth tone of volce and whether the parent's concern ls Just about collecting mlstakes or about understandlng the

Growtng Without Schooltng #79

23 chlld's uray of thfnkfng. Chlldren's learnlng to speak, and the way pa.rents generally handle tlrls, ls so trstrucdve.

Parents know that chlldren make mlstakes when learnlng to speak - they mlspronounce thtngs, they don't understand all the meanlngs of words - and nobody panlcs about ttrls. The general attitude about errors ln early speech ls that thls ls part of the chlld's development.

Often at the beginntng of formal lnstructlon ln wrltten language, that attitude changes. Maybe homeschooling parents are more able to condnue wlth the same atiltude that they had about spoken language, but certalnly ln some classrooms there's a Gar of mtstakes, as though th.y'.. gotng to bec-ome entrenched, or as though the ctrild can't s€e the mlstake.

SS: I think some people, seetng that a child ts not dlsturbed by spelllng uncon-

vendonally, belleve that chtldren don't care about mistakes or aren't lnterested ln leamtng to do thtngs correctly.

GB: My experlenc€, espectally with young children leaming language, is that they very much want to do lt rtght, and that they are aware that thelr wrldng ls not the same as adults'u/rttlng. But there are tlmes when what they really need ls to derrelop a sense of lluency, and to be lntern-rpted with corrections would interfere with their growth at that point. Then there are other tlmes when they are concerned about being correct.

Teachers ln thls c.ountry take an enonnous amount of responstbtlit5r for corr€cting mlstakes. Donald Graves potnted thls out after obseMng schools ln Scotland; apparently thls was less true there. I thtnk it's very lmportant that independent learners be able to identi$ thelr own mlstakes and thlngs that they want to change tn thelr work, rather than behg tralned that this ls the adults'

responsibilit5r.

SS: Dtd you llnd that Paul was able to see hls own mistakes and c,orrect them?

GB: Yes, although not all of them at one tlme. To expect perfectlon from a

ieamer ls unreallstlc,

SS: I thtnk some parents are unsur€ about what to do when they want to

encourage their chtld to use lnvented spelltng, but the chtld keeps seektng the preclse Informatlon, asklng, 'Is this rlght?

How do you spell thts?' Parents ask me thls quite often - ls tt that thetr chtld is too hung up on correctness, or ls the child truly seeklng furformation that tt would be

fooltsh to withhold?

GB: IVe seen chlldren who are very conc€med with betng oorrect, and one could speculate a lot aboutwhere thls comes frorrl but ln general I think lnids do

want lnformaflon, and tt's probably not good to withhold tt fmm them when they want it. If the need to be correct ts inhtbittng the child's work to a great extent, and becomlng the whole focus, then I would thlnk that tt's become not a construcdve part 9f the learnlng. But ktds go thrcugh a lot of dllferent phases, although our schmltng system has trted to smooth all

Crowtng Wtthout Schooling #79

thls out and assume that learning progresses on an even curve, whlch arnyone

who really watches ldds knows doesn't happen. So tt may be that at some flmes klds are mor€ lnslstently tn need of lnformation from adults than at other tlmes.

Unfortunately, so nrany obsenraflons - from what Ptaget saw ktds dotng to the procrss of learntng readtng and wrlttng that I saw - become, tn the hands of

educators, a pr€scrlptlon lnstead ofa description. There's an expectation that all ktds have to march through these steps ln the same way. I thtnk parents who arc teachtng thelr kids at home have a parflcular advantage ln bettxg able to be sensltlve to the indivtdual dlfferences ln thetr ldds.

SS: Sorne children seem to have a

lower tolerance than others for being ln the process oflearnlng thlngs, or for

It's vety lmportant that

lndependent learners be able to ldentlff thelr orrn mlstakes... rsther than belng tralned that thls lg the adult's rcsponslblllty. fmstratlon. For example, one child may burst krto tears when her parents can't read what she's wrltten. while another is dellghted to read lt to them. I thlnk parents some$mes wonder if there's anything they can do about this, or lf lfsJust a tempera-

mental dilference.

GB: It's hard to answer that in the abstract. Probably, lf these are differences among children ln the same family, then It's a temperamental rather than environmental matter, but there are lots of factors lnvolved. There's so much emphasls on success these days that we may have a tendency to try to minlmize frustradon. In watching Paul, I d wltness some pr€tty extreme periods of frustraUon that were part of his worlidng through something. It's nwer pleasant to watch one's child struggling in that way, but it seemed to me that thatwas his struggle, and for me to intervene and make lt easy would be counterproductlve. There's somethlng about owning your own learning that is very important.

SNI:

asldng questlons ls a valued acdvtty, in whlch lndependently searchtng out answers ls valued, and ln whlch lots of reslources are provlded for children to do that - books, other adults, other chlldren.

The world ls full of teachers, and the quesdon ls whether the adult ls monopolizing the teachlng role and thinking that they are the sole channel for lnformadon, orwhether the adult sees the whole envlronment as contalnlng many teachers and ls tr5dng to provtde ac.cess to all of them.

SSI:

GB: One's lmpulse maybe to say somethtng posltlve and reassuring and then to leave lt at that. but I think that is not, ln the end, helpful, for a couple of reasons. Ifyou only say, "Thafs good,'tt sets up aJudgmental frame of referenc.e, and ofcourse the other pole ls, 'That's not good.' I think lt's very helpful to have some specfic responses. If someone says, 'That's good, I really Xked that,'about something I've wrttten, I want to lmoq uuhat did you really llke? What dtd tt make you thtnk of, what do you want to know more about?

Just talking wtth the child about the content of what he's written can be helpful, too. Showing an lnterest in the content can often be the most alllrmtng and encouraglng response, although ofcourse you can't be phony about lt. We wrlte about thlngs because we care about those thtngs, so tf someone responds to what we have sa{d, that makes a dlfference.

SS: Looktng at tt that way, lt's probably easier, then, for parents also to say thlngs llke, "I was confused about this part' or'I would have liked to hear more

about this.'

GB: Yes, I thtnk honest5r plus lidndness ls what's lmportant, and also, of course, there's a limit to how much response anyone can take ln about a pardcular piece of wdtlng. But lf we treat our children as fragtle, as unable to hear

that thlngs were confuslng or whatever may be, then they begin to think of Another part of the c.onversatlon

about the writlng may have to do wtth the

How can

GB: They putyou out of aJob tn the

sense ofa convenJob,

but on the other hand these kids really need resources. They aren't learntng in a vacuum, It's probably easler to

polnt to instruction than to the whole envlronment one has created ln whlch

it

themselves that way.

adults be helpful? Do self-directed learners put adults out ofaJob?

tlonal teaching

What about gvtng helpful

responses to what chlldren write? Certalnly some responses are more helpful than others.

---_

24

Older Homeschoolers: Moving Out into the World

ctrlld's feeltngs about the plecc of work what they enJoyed dolnt, what they found

dlfftcult.

33: What has the response to GIIYS A?WRKbeen wer these years?

GB: I wtsh I had a better ptchrre

of

that. It's sflll tn prlnt, so there ls sflll an lnterest ln tL and I have heald from teachers who have read tt and ltked tt. But I've also heard of a school system where

lnvented spelllng becanr regtmented and systemauzed, as part of the currlculum, and somehow my name got attached to that, whtch dtshrrbed nrc a lot. But I harc talked \rrlth parents who feel that they have been able to see rrror€ about thelr children's leamrng because of readlng lt, and that ldnd of response ls rrcry graflfylng to me.

83: What are you urcrklng on these days?

GB: I'm worhng wlth teachers who are dotng obsernadonal case studles ln thelr own cliassrooms, so I'm learnlng more about researchlng and observlng all the tlme. l'm also dolng sorne of my own obseMng - ttrts ttme, of nature, and I'm ftndtng that thts ts really qulte slmllar to all the obseMng IVe done of chtldren, except that you can't ask a tr€e whaf s gotng on tn tts mtndl I'm dolng some natur€ wrtttng as a result of these observa-

tlons.

i\DF /N

1991!!!

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In GI,[4S *7O, Ihlstlne Brcclc ttcn oJ amonthAlasko, uxote abut log app'erlttushts at on emilc anlnol heed@ crrnpourtd In ?lorda. At tlvt drre kLsdne ard lur nother userc abpltt to nanse to Flodda to unrk at tlv ompund Jull-ttne. We asked l<ttstte hotl,.l It had uorled, ouL and. sle urcte: When I wrote GWS last year I was 14,

and my llfe was really begtnnlng to unfold.

I can hardly bellerrc how much I have leamed since ttren and how my path ts taktng meJust where I planned to go. For as long as I can remember I knew that my ltfe and career would lnvotrre anlmals. I also

I've moved very qutckty from chlldhood to the adult world, and lt's becn

baslcally a smooth transltlon. I wonder why people gay, "Don't grow uP too fagt."

I guess I've gradually looLed for more responslbllltles when I've been rcady for then, and I haven't been prevented fron growlng. explored medicine, psychologl, vtrfdng, and art. Fortunately, my mother was very suppordve and she let me lead the way, qutte ltterally. When I was lO we morrcd to a rural area so I could llrrc on a farm, and I became very lnvolrrcd wtth anfrnals. I found tlrat I most enJoyed communicatlng wtth my antmal companlons, and slncc then tratntng has been my rnaln tnterest.

In 1988 a c-omp:rny that ralses lions and tigers met me and my trtck-tratned horse and olfercd us a home wlth them tn Flortda, So I ran olland Jotned the clrcus, taktng my mother and horse wlth me. Thls last summer I spent flve months on the road, worlctng for the Btg Cat Show. Id had otherJobs before, but thls one was lntense, and tn lt I learned and practlced responslbtltty, Ilnancial management, and taktng care of myself away from my family. I really enJoy traveltng, and a person can learn a lot from the many sltuailons and envlronments encountered. It seems llke adJustlng and maHng changes comes nxtre easlly after you'rrc traveled.

After ttris flrstJob I seemed to have good luck nndfng more Jobs. I met future employers through frtends. I dtdn't espectally look for them, although I was prepared for tntroducdons. I deffne luck as a comblnadon of opportuntty and prcpa.rcdness. I always harrc a resume and portfolto wlth me, and I'm alurays ready to meet new p€ople who are dotng the work I

ThC SPELLING IIEJSLDITET

tr The Affix Corner

Working with Animals

)

want to do.

My nextJob rvas through people who

knew me and satd I was a mature, hardwroktng, ambltlous young person, whlch I have always trted to be. My mother never pushed me, butwlth freedom I seem to be irtven from wtthtn to accompllsh my dreanr, my career. In thls Job I handled camels and Natlvlty anlmals ln the Radto Clty Mustc Hall Chrtstmas Spectacular. It was a very lmpresslve place to work and rcqutred staytng ln New York Ctty for two months, whlch ls truly an enltghtenlng experlence for anyone from a small town. I also lorre performtng. It's rew"ardlng and glves me conlldence. I do feel more conlldent tn myself because I've chosen my dlrectlon and I'm worklng tourard lt ertery

d"y'

At Radlo Ctty I met ayoungwomen who was curator ofa zoo te Malne. She was lmpressed wtth my horse act, and tnvtted me to perform at her zoo. It's a great feeling to be acrepted by adults, taken serlously, and to know they are tmpressed ls even nlcer.

I've moved very qulckly from chtld-

hood to the adultworld, and lt's been

baslcally a smooth transltion. I don't thlnk I've mlssed anythtng, but I wonder why people say, 'Don't grow uP too fast.'l guess IVe gradually looked for more responstbtltdes when I've been ready for therrl and I haven't been prertented from growtng. A large part of betng allourcd to take on mone responstbtllties ln new sltuatlons ls showtng you are capable of

handllng them.

My mother has been concemed at tlmes, but when another change ln my llfe comes along, she gtves me spac.e and support, and even thoughure ltne separately now, I Gel we have an e\ten closer reladonshlp than we would have had tf she had kept me home, held back from the career I uranted to pursue. Phystcally aPart, we are emotlonally closer. I'm happtly worklng at an animal park ln Matne, and she lfircs ln NewJersey. I'm savtng my money to buy a vehicle and equlpment to take my Performing anlmal show on tour lndependently, the sprlng after next. It's a marrrelous challenge and rrcry rewardtng, and I know I'll leam a lot more.

One thtng that has probably rnade tt easler for me to move out lnto the world ls that ln these Jobs wtth animals, you'rc always provtded wtth a place to llve, and people that you stay with. IVe always stayed wtth whaterrer group I was worlidng wtth. tn New York we all stayed at Radto Ctty together, and I ltve ln the downstalrs oflIce at the zoo now. Before gotng to Florida the flrst dme I had spent tlmewtth reliatlves, but I hadn't ltved wtth people I dtdn't know or been away for that long a ttrne. I got to go home every three montrs at flrst, wtrlch made lt easler. I could go home whenerrer I started to get homeslck so my transltlon was actually gradual.

I've alrvays been homeschooled, and I'rrc always really ltked lt. When people say, 'Don't you wlsh you were ln hlgb school?' I say no, It s€erna lllre there ale so many ltttle problems tn htgh school, ard

Growlng Wlthout Schoollng #79

25 you don't have enougfr tlrne to do thlngs you want to do. I'm now taktng a htgh school correspondence course, but lt doesn t take much tlme at all. I'm takfng it matnly to get a dtploma, and also tt's nlce to have read some of the tradidonal thtngs that other people have read so lfanyone wants to talk to you about them, you can talk knowledgeably.

People also ask tf I miss havlng frlends my own age. I have mostly adult frlends, and I feel flne about lt. People always thlnk I'm older than I am. Usually with the grpe of work I do my age lsn't an obstacle - peopleJust want someone who can do the Job well. But I had a wathess Job earller thls year, and that uras the only Job where thcy questloned my age. Sonrc people do uronderhow I can be free to do thls rvork, but after I explatn about homeschoollng they understand.

I'm hoptng to get tnto televlslon wth antmals. At the zoo I'U be gtvlng antrnal demonstratlons, presendng dtfferent kinds of anlmals. I know there's a lot of that on TV, so thafs one posslbtlit5r, and

another ts prepartng tralned animals for movles,

Combining College with lYork Flom Narcy Hert (Nl): Lastyear, when he was 18, Ertc planned to go a nearby technlcal lnsitute.

It would have been an l8-month course at the end of whlch he would have the credentlals to get a very wâ&#x201A;Źll patd Job in the clmputer lleld. He leamed about tt from people at hls computer club. The appeal of It, for htm, was that lt was very speclfic and dtrect. It was concerned only wtth computers, and lt was atmed directly at a Job. It was very hands-on, wtth lots of labs.

He went through the applicatlon prooess to the pofurt ofgetttng approved as a

result of the tntdal lnteMew. Then, unfortunately, the whole plan got deflected when hls father got slck and was unable to work at hts plumbtng buslness. Erlc saw that we were in a dtre sltuatlon, and he really uranted to help out by rvorlidng wtth his father. I thtnk that tf he had reallv wanted to go to the school - tf he had said, 'But what about the technlcal lnstltute, what about my plans for my llfe?' - we would have worked somethlng out, but he

wasn't sa)rtng that.

He worked wlth his father for almost a year, and also slgned up for two crurses at the communlty college, Spanlsh and

computer programmlng, I was surprlsed that he uranted to take Spanlsh, because before that all he had urantea was the technlcal stulf. But he has a friend whose family comes from Colombla" and he uranted to be able to speak wtth them. I think that the Spa.ntsh class started him thtnldng about the thtngs he would miss if he went to the technlcal lnstttute and studied only computers. Any ttme durtng those months that he remarked on somethtng besldes computers that he was lnterested tn, I remtnded hlm that at the techntcal lnstltute there would be no humanltles oourses, and I asked hlm tf he mlnded that. He began to wanrcr, because he saw that he llked these other thlngs we

Growlng Wthout Schooltng #79

were talktng about, llke trlstory, and he was also sa5dng that he'd ltke to leam to wrtte better and might want to take

composltlon.

So thts fall, when we were able to conslder the techntcal lnsdhrte agaln, he sald hewasn't sure he wanted to go after all. Hts father g;ave up the plumblng buslness, and Erlc dectded to work fulltime. The llrstJob he had was drMng for a mnstmcflon oompany. It took trlm a whlle to get tt - he was applylng day and ntght for Jobs, but havlng a hard ttme because hls on$r experlencc has been worldng for hls farntly's buslnesses, and somehow that didn't count wlth prospecflve employers.

The twoJobs he ended up gettlng he got because he walked ln and found the boss and talked to hLtm. The face to fac= lntervlew was what got htm the Job ln each case. After he qult the constructlonJob, he worked for Fladlo Shack because lt was closerto hls real interests, and the good reference from hls llrst Job helped a lot.

Thls semester he has dectded to enroll full-ttme at the communlty college, and work part-tlme. He's loolidng forward to contlnuing Spanish, and he'd like to take other languages as well. He has taken a oourse ln radlo, too, and lt looks to me as though maybe it's going to be communicatlons that he's lnterested ln, rather than Just mmputers.

Hls homeschooling hasn't come up went to register for his llrst course and they asked what htgh school he

backed offenough, and kept qutet enough about thls, now that he's been lndependent for a whlle and doesn't feel that hts tndependence ts threatened, we're back to hash|rrg thfngs over together. We're on more of an equal foottng, and his ooncems are about more adult thtngs.

It seems to me that we're handllng these current lssues the same {rEry we handled everythlng else wtrlle Erlc was groudng up - taldng one step at a tlrne, seelng what's best for us at that tlme. We have overall goals, but we're fledble too.

ISSJ Older Homesclwlers: Whot are your plrans or lops tor Vow lnndbte Jufrue? Hous do youldc fuck on gow la neschmltng? Let us lorrna wlut you're up to, and { ue can lelp you h ang uag.

HowTo

Teach Your Babv To Read'

exc.ept when he

had gone to. He sald, 'l was homeschooled,'.and the woman pantcked because she dldn't know what to write down. Flnally she wrote, 'tutored in New Jersey." To enroll full-tlme he's going to need a dlploma, so we've dectded that rather than take the GED he'll get a diploma from Manfred Smlth's Learnlng Communlt5r tn Maryland.

He's done pretty well at the college.

The llrst semester, ltke any typtcal freshman, he had to get used to getdng the asslgnments done on tlme, and of course he was working fort5r hours a week too, which ls not so typtcal. He enJoyed the Spantsh class because tt tnvolved so much participatlon, but he didn't like the programmlng class as much because ltwas all theory from a book, whlle down the hall there was a room full of comptuers. He sald, 'We should be ln there uslng them, notjust listenlng to a lecture.' But lt's a nice informal campus. The tentatlve plan ls that he'll get the assoclate deg5ree from the communtty college and tn the meantlme look around for where he wants to transfer. By that tlme our sltuation should be more stable.

Because of Mac's tllness, thlngs have dellnttely not gone as we had planned, but it has really been a team elfort, All our years of family unity have pald off, because we are all lnterested ln each other's welfare and willing to make compromlses. It's not as tf we told Ertc he couldn't go to college full-ttme, He was the one who wanted to help out, and e',ren now, when I told htm that we could make tt without his lncome this semester, he satd, 'Are you sure?'

There was a perlod, when Erlc was about 14, when lwas feelingdepressed about not befurg needed, He was very lndependent, but I felt like I wasn't done wlth mothertngyet. But I guess because I

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Lifelong Learning, not Lifelong Schooling Apprenticing to a Piano Techttician JanetBarry oJNeu Hampslire wdtes:

of the bastcs at hand, I sflll have so much to learn, and I still need my teacher to dtrect me, but not tn the totally dependent way of the beghnfng learner. I now feel the

About slx months ago, I began work-

degree, on my own.

suret5r to begin to

lng as an apprenflce to a plano techntctan, ln order to learn the lns and outs of tuning, regulattng, and repatrtng planos. I also began the thlrd year of home educatlng my two ctrlldren, Tanya (8) and Tlmmy (3).

Thus I found myself tn the dual roles of leamerand teacher; mother, gutde, and director, and student.

I do feel that all people, adults and children, are learners. All of us, on a dally basls, take ln lnformadon, evaluate experlences, and seek out speclffc things wtrich we feel we need to know. We read, listen to muslc, talk wlth others, etc. But in taking on my apprenflcrship, I cast myself in the more precise role of a student - a leamer who has contracted to master a specific set of sldlls ln a certain way, and from a certaln person or people.

And so, ln the past slx months, I have often found myself wtth a much clearer empathy for what my daughter faces in her own student actlviiles. I remember the fear and self-consclousness I felt when attending my llrst Plano Technicians Guild meeting - a group of unknown people, all vastly superlor to me ln an area of knowledge very tmportant to me - and I can see the same thing in my daugfrter when she begs me to stay with her durlng her art or horseback rlding lessons. I am attuned to the motlvatlon of a true desir,e to learn and knour, a moti\raUon strong enough for me to overcome my hesltancies, and ltkervlse for Tanya to break out of her fear and stay in the class and enJoy lt, even when I felt it necessary to leave her there alone.

At the beginntng of my apprenffceship, I found that I wanted to be completely directed by my teacher. I wanted to be told exactly what to do, ln c.omplete detatl, wlthout any necesslt5r on my part for any form of declslon-maklng or any prerequisites of lsrowledge other than that supplied by my teacher. Perhaps th,ls seems cowardly, but as a beginning learner tn the fleld, tt was how I felt, and, tn fact, one lncldent in whlch I qras e:gected to know how to do something, but absolutely and embarrassin$y couldn't, generated enough fear to almost make me qutt. Specillc dlrections for asslgned tasks, and the freedom to observe the teacher performing more complex work, were all that I needed and wanted at the tlme.

So I would call that phase one, and now, slx months later, I have nodced that I am enterlng a second, sltght$ dllferent phase of learntng. I have, for the most part, been given what I uranted - careful directlons, appropriate Jobs for my level of sklll, and a good deal offreedom to observe and llsten and learn wlthout havtng any erpectatlons to perform plac.ed on me. Now I feel that I am read5r to take on some tlrtngs myself, to make some declslons for myself, to see aJob that needs dotng and to feel able to do tt, maybe wtth a few questions asked but wtth a falr understandhg

funcdon, ln a srnall

I can ltken thls so well, and ln so many ways, to my chlldren. Spect8cally, I think of Tanya and her cooklng slidlls.

Slnce she was a small chtld, nrc have enJoyed cookfurg together, always (unconsclously) wlth me dtrecilng. I told her how much of thls to measure and what amount of that to pour. Thls arrangement worked fine, untll recently. I found myself surprised and hurt when I would ask her lf she wanted to help me bake and she rvould answer no. Soon, however, she dlscovered a chlldren's cookbook at the ltbrary, took It home, and procreded to accrmplish the somewhat dilficult task of maldng JamIilled baktng powder biscuits. The only direction she wanted from me was the answers to a few quesdons like, 'What does 'cut in the shortenlng mean?'. Her skills

had increased to the point that she wanted to take on a project herself, notyet independently, but certainly less dependently.

I think it must be this way ln so many leaming experiences. The learner knows what she needs to know and how much direction she desires ln order to accomplish her goal. The learner must waver between the fear of failure and possible shame and the urge to master the destred knowledge and find Joy in the ability to use lt. And the teacher must be very sensitive to these variances, ln order to most effectively guide the student toward achievement.

Finding Treasures F\om ant unpubltsled manuscrlpt bg

Jotn Holt

4Adressed, to gourg 197O:

protuWgfiom 7969 or

pple,

One day last wlnter, on the moming I was supposed to goand speakto thestudents on the Santa Cruz campus of the Universlty of California, I discover€d some treasure - a brand new source ofpleasure and Joy. Ttoreau sald that man was richest whose pleasureswere cheapest. He might also have satd that man was rlchest whose list of treasures was longest. The best measure that I knour of the worth of a lpersonl's education ts the leng;th of the list of a

lpersonl's pleasures.

One of the things our elders, par€nts and teachers, ought to be helptng us to do as we grour ls to learn how to look for treasure, and how to tell when we have found lt, Few ofthem do this, Few ofthem have ever thought of educatlon ln this way. We are good at looklng for treasure when we are Itttle and knowlng when we have found tt,

but in school, we get no chanc.e to do this and no enoouragement to do lt, and most of us forget how. But even lf we forget, we can learn agaln, so I am golng to tell the story of this pa.rttcular dlscovery of treasure, hoping that tt may help some of you be better lookers and llnders.

The treasure I found that wlnter morningwas a plece of muslc. It was, ln

fact, Symphonla Serena by Paul Hindemlth. I had heard lt several tlmes before, since I llke much of Hlndemith's music. I had borrowed thls plece from the Boston Public Ltbrary, but tt had never quite grabbed me. I had ltked bits of lt but not really the whole thtng, so each tlme I took it back to the ltbrary thinking that some day I mtght try it agdn, feeltng a little dtsappotnted. So tn the Berkeley Publtc Ltbrary, I thought, 'Well, I haven't heard this for a btt, lefs gflve lt a whtrl again.' I took lt home and put tt on the recnrd payer for the flrst time as soon as I woke up that winter mornlng. I ltstened to tt through my headphones, a good way to listen late at night or early tn the moming, and found to my surprlse that the whole plece delighted me. Thoughts, or rather feeltngs and lmpresslons, kept welltng up lnslde of me, saying, 'Thls is greatl' It nray seem foollsh to talk of discoverlng a plece of music that one has heard many times before, but that is the way I felt 'Why didn't I ever hear thls beficre?' Mostly I Just lave myself over

to feelings of surprlse and delight. When the piecewas ended, I thougfit I would have to buy the record the next time I came across it, which I did. Later that moming I told the students at Santa Crrz about my tr€asure hunt and they seemed pleased and lnterested to hear about it. One ofthem told me afterwards that he had become fed up with heartng speeches and was fully prepared to turn me olTafter the llrst minute or two, but thts way of beginning so surprlsed him that he listened notJust to the story of the treasure hunt, but to everything else I had to say.

Our educafion ought to add enorrnously to the length of the list of our pleasures and to our slidll at addlng new thlngs to the list, but as I said, tt doesn't. Qulte the reverse. Most ofus come out ofour schooltng wlth a considerably shorter list of treasures than we had when we started lt.

Llfe, which seemed to have posslblllties stretching out tn all dlnections, has narrowed down tnto a funnel. Many of you think, and not without r€ason, that the world outslde is so grlm, polntless, stupid, and ugly that the only thing to do ls to get away from tt into a private world of druglnduced thoughts and fantasles. I don't blame you for feeling that there ls nothing much of worth out there in the world, but I surely blame the people who are supposedly educattngyou.

Ofcourse, the schools and the people in them talk a grea.t deal about exPosure.

People are always tytng to JustiS to me their c.ondnual telltng young people what to do by saylng that lf we don't'expose"

them to the rrarlous deltghts and possibilities of the urcrld, they will never know about them. This ls of course rldlculous.

Homer's poenrsr seem to have survlved for 25OO years or so wlthout betng taught ln

school most of that dme. Beethoven and MrozarL are not taught tn school, the way Shakespeare ts, but very many more people listen to them for pleasure than read or see Shakespeare for pleasure. We try to preserve these great works, what many people call the cultural herltage, llke mummles in

Growlng Wthout Schooltng #79

27 a museum. Thls ls not the wav. If these

things have llfe ln them, peolte wU ntra ways to make that ltfe felt. A good case ln point ls the current movle .Fimeo and JulieL Sertous scholars and crlUcs sneer at the amount of the ltnes of the play that have been cut, or say that the young actors who play Romeo and Jultet are too young to g;lve the llnes thetr full meanlng. But young people all over the countr5r are seelng that movie and getttng Shakespeare's message.

Indeed, lt ts pa.rttcularly pertinent and poignant when all over the world the hope and love ofyoung people are so often sacrlflced to theJealousles, greed, and hatred of the old.

And of crurse, the way tn whtch the schools "expose" young people to the treasures of the past practtcally guarantees that theyoungwlll be turned offby them. We use the word 'expose' in the most extraordtnary wtry. If you wanted a young ctrtld to like some Hnd of food that you liked, but that he had never trled, how mlght you expose hJm, tempt hLim? Well, you mtght olfer hlm a little teeny blte, or if you were really smart you might tell him that he couldn't have any at all. What you certainly would not do would be to pile up a huge plateful of the stuff and tell hlm that he had to eat every bite of it and tf he left one blte on his plate, or got sick later and threw it up, then he urasJust going to have to eat another btg plateful of lt the next day until he managed to get a whole one down and keep lt down. This would not be very smart, yet it is what schools do.

Well, back to my own treasure. I happen to love muslc, many kinds, but ln particular classlcal muslc. I dtd not get thts love by betng exposed to music ln school.

The first and for a long tlme the only piece of classlcal or s5rmphonlc music that I liked was Stravinsky's Le Src.re du Printemps ffhe Rtte of Sprlng). I heard thls

tn WaIt Dlsney's Fantastn Hardly any of the rest of the movle made any lmpresslon

on me, least of all Beethoven's Pastoral Symphong, but fragments of Le Sacre rattled around tn my head for years. One day at college, I happened to notlce an album of lt in a friend's room. He had for those tlmes a very good record player. I asked hlm if sometlme when he was out I could play the whole album, I was curious to see if It would get to me as much without all the ptctures. I found that it dtd. As soon as I could, I bought a set for myself. I-ater I bought Stravtnsky's Flrr.bbd and RimslcyKorsakov's *heherdzade. After I got out of the Navy I used to llsten to a Gw classical records when vtstttng my slster. The first classical classlcal piece that I liked was the Beethoven Violln Concerto; the llrst s5rmphony was Beethoven's Se\renth. But wen by the tlme I was thtrty, there were only etght or ten plec€s that I really knew and ltked. It uras not flll after then that I began to listen more often, and my real exploraflon began only after I came to Boston and could borrow records from the Boston Publtc Llbrarv. Then mv treasure hunt began tn earneit Well, eahest ls not perhaps the rtght word; lt was not g;rtm, I did not feel I had to like anythtng, I was slmply br,owslng and e:cplorlng around to

Ilnd out what I dld like.

It ls lmportant to say something here about my attitude toward expert optnion. I was ready to use lt, but I was not gotng to be

Growlng Wthout Schooltng #79

tnttmtdated by lt. If tt ltked a ptece, tt dtd not trcuble me that the experts dtd not. If I did not, it did not trouble me that thcy dfd.

I harrc found by now that expert oplnlon changes qutte rapidly, The experts have thelr own fashlons. They are sheep tn thelr own way. I have leamed to tmst my own ears, and have had the sattsfactlon of more than once seelng the erperts cpme around a fewyears later.

If I liked any one thtng that a composer wrote I trted to hear errcrything else that I could get hold of that he unote. Also, I llstened to works of other people who wrrote durlng the same perlod, orwhose narnes were often coupled wlth tris. Thus, lildng a few pteces by Debussy, I started to invesdgate Ravel, and later other Frenchmen, pardcularly Roussel, who ls not heard as much as he deserves. And I also did a good deal of random explorlng, tr5rlng out somethlngJust to see what would happen.

There seem to be three more or less rough rules or princlples to follow in meetlng new experiences, whether they be llstentng to new plec.es of muslc or readlng new books or looking at new pictures or pieces of sculpture or seeing a dance or play or dolng any of a number of things yourself or meeting new people. The flrst is, try not to deafen yourself with quesdons like, 'Do I like this? Do I understand tt? what does it mean?" One of the very worst thkrgs our schooltng does for us, partlcularly tf tt ts very high-powered schooling, ls to make us feel that the very ffrst thing we have to do when we encounter a new kind ofexperience, work ofart or otherwise, ls to start tallidng about lt, analyzing tt, and maldng aJudgment on it. Thls ls fatal to the experience ltself. You have to stay open to tt, let tt come in and slt in you awhile before you do any of these other thlngs.

A second principle is that you must trust whatever feelings or impressions you get, That ls, lf your lnsides tell you that you Iike a piece of music, lf you llnd yourself thtnldng, 'Boy, that's great,' or moving to

It, or going along wtth it ln your head, accept this message as a true one. If on the other hand the experience does nothing for you, seems to make no contact, doesn't grab you, accept that too. Don't light it or

worry about lt, And the third principle, perhaps the most important of all, ls don't let these flrst impressions or reactions, valid enough though they may be, stand in your mind as permanent. Don't let them shut you off from trying that same experience agaln later. Thus I have many times, and

not Just in the case of the Symphonia Serena, had the experlenc.e of llstening to a piece of muslc several times over a pertod of years without ever lildng lt, and then suddenly hearlng lt Fgain as lf for the flrst time and being delighted by rt. ... There really is a lot oftreasure around. In hls years on the planet man has put together qulte a lot of fasctnattng stuff of many dillerent kinds. Don't let the dreadful way ln which schools treat thls materlal turn you off for good. Don't let your list of pleasures shrtnk down to

almost nothing. Keep explorlng and trytng

thtngs out. Make use of the ergerts, us€ them as guides, but don't let them tell you what to feel or thtnk, or don't feel the least

hesltant or apologedc about saldng you thtnk they're all wet. Trust yourself.

Pen-Pals Chlldron wantlng p.Fpal. should writ€ to hose listed. To be listed, send name, age, address, and 1-3 words on interesB -. Brooke SHEEHY (9) 629 Piper Dr, Madison Wl 5371 'l; drawing, horses, animals.- DOUBLEDAY,260 Brush Valley Rd, Warwid MA 0013511: Niles (4 jers, skating, drawing; Ayla (4) swimming, ponies, coloring -. iihriah CHRI9 TENSEN (6) Rt 2 Box 371, Wasbum Wl 54891; horses, banjo, animals -. Brian FARNEY (1 1) PO Box 382, Phenix VA 23959; baseball cards, stamps, bikes -. BII-IER,607 Cascadilla St, lthaca l,IY 14850: Nat (7) sports, TinTin, cooking; Anna (4) dolls, drawing, dressups -. Dalila DROEGE (14) PO Box 881, Nerv Carlisle lN 46552; art, litsrature, music.- RAST, 1682 Hamilton Ave, San Jose CA 95125: Tamiko Elizabeth (11) art, animals, reading; Jasmine (10) cooking, gardening, crafts; Miles (8) sports, computers, chess -. Mona WEINER (9) 341 E s St, NY NY 10003; soccer, reading, designing

Additions to Directory Here are tl€ additjons and changes to he Directory that have come in since our completg 1991 Directory was published in GWS #78.

Our Directory is not a list ol all subscribers, bul only of thos€ who ask to be listed, so that ohsr GWS readers, or other interested people, may get in touch with hem. lf you would like to be included, please send the entry form or a 3x5 card (one family per card). Please tiake care to includs all he information last name, full address, and so on. Tell us if you would rather have your phone number and town listod instead of your mailing address (we don't have space to lisr boh). lf a Directory listing is followed by a (H), the family is willing to host GWS travelers who make advan@ arrangemenls in writing. lf a name in a GWS story is followed by a sate abbreviation in parentheses, hat person is in the Directory (check here atd in GWS fl78). We are happy to foruard mail to those whose addresses are not in the Directory. lf you want us to foMard the letter without reading it, mark the outside ol t1e envelope wih writer's name/description and the issue number. lf you want us to read he letter and then fonrard it, please endos€ anoth€r stamped enr/elop€.

When you send us an addre$ drange for a subscription, pleas€ remind us it you are in he Directory, so we can drange it her€, tm.

Please r€member that we can\ control how the Directory is used; if you receive unwanted mail as a result of being listed, just toss it out.

AK Valerie ATKINSON (Ashleigh/86) 4313 Vanoe Dr #307, Anchorage 99509 (change)

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AZ Ste\€ & Jackie JOFINSON 84) 3323lit N 224 Av, Wnmann 85361

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[obyl78, Levi/

CA, NORTH (zlpc 94000 & up) Erin COOiTBS-F RlEDltilAN & Craig FRIEDNIIAN (Annie/8g) A276 Samson Way, San Jose 95124 -. Donna & Tom CBOSS (JoannazS, Grsgory/87) 258 Pamela Dr #53, i/buntain 94040 -. Charles & Susan KIRKMAN (Ran4iv72, Vishnuf/4, Rajani/81, Radhiki/82, Kala/84, Shuggie/87) 306 S 18th St, San Jose 95i tG -. Julie & Larry KROGER (Travis/8i!, irarta Ros€/87) 555 John Muir Dr #615, San Francisco 9a132 -. Linda i,lAHER (Danielle/79, CaleU83, Sarah/86, Hannah/8g) 3761 Roeding Rd, Ceres 95307 -. Daw & Kim RYAN qst (lvfelissa/8t1, DylaryST) 707-822-1 Ug (Arcaa; & Susan TANIGUCHI (Sally/83) 9391 Flodn Rd, Sacramento 95829 Karen TURNER (Rammana6, Drisantg) PO Box 622, Redway 95560 {H)

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CA, SOUTH (dpc ro 94000) Darnell & D€borah BURTLEY (Cleo/8o, Ywtte/8s, Omar/84, Heather/86, lsaad8g, Baby/g1) 13O9 La Mancha Way,

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Ontario 91764 -. Chadie MILES Richard PRYSTOWSKY (Samara/84, Cobby/88) 731 Mt Whimey Circle, Corona 91719 -. Paula & Jeff REMIiIEL (f€ni€/82, Chrbtopher8T, Saramarialg0) 4872Foryd Greens Pl, San Diego 92117 CO Mikelyn & Greg WARD (Megann8, Kerry/ 80, Nialt/82) 13400 Bd 32, Planeville 80651 (H) Kurt & Tighe YOVANOFF (Brennaf/9, lihddy/81) NORTHERN CO HOME SCHOOL ASSOC.,1633 Skyline Dr, Fort Collins 80526

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CT Yitrdrak E Tzipka COWEN (Pnina/84, Yehuda/86, Eli/88, Lipa/go) 1406 Troutbrmk Dr, W Hartbrd 06.|17 (H)

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FL Karen & Ralph BOVE (Christopher/81, Benjamin/87) 2tl3 Plumosa Rd, DeBary 32713 lrartha & Lany SHEA (El€anor/88, Ruth/8g) 10i137 Vanderbilt Dr, Naples 3:]963 (H)

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GA Bob & Chris BISHOP (Cuni€r/g, Befiany/81 ) 4439 Lake Forest Dr, Oakwood 30566

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lL Jeff & &ne FLEMING (Justin?S, Jason/ 80) 6 Lardl Dr, Olney 62450 lEhak & Girit SHEPEZLING (Avi/84, Ahazom/86, Shlomo/88) 730 Essington Ln, Buffalo Grow 60089 (H)

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([rarkn8, David/81) lN -Tom & lvlarian BEVER 7869 N 1m0 East, Wilkinson 46186 (H) -. Heather & Bill YOUNG (Stuar/88) RR 1 Box 77, Bowling Green

Box 7, Jamestown 650a5 (H) -. Ellie & Scon PEARLSTONE (Eva/88, Noah€O) 601 Wickford Way,

87, Sayer/go) RD 1 Box 37, kasburg 05845 (H)

iihndlester dt021

VA Russ & Mary Jane STONEKING (Kesy81) PO Box 322, Lacay Spring 228i]3

f,T

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David

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e Bofi BROWN (,brcmyng,

Eleanor/8o, Esher/84, Emily/88) PO Box 1841, Kalispell 59903 (H) -. Bryan Elaine GREEN (Andrew/78, DanieU8o, Suarv82, Katherine/86) 224 N Riding Rd, Kalispell 59901

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lA DavkJ & Teny OWEN (MichelbnS, Vanossatg, Jonett€t/8l, Amand€/86) 730 W 1 1fr

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St,

Watorloo 50702

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KS Elaine Mik€ WILLIAMSON (Katis/81, Betony/83, Willow86, Jonathan & Pippin/8g) Rl 1 Box 130, Lyons 67594 (H)

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KY Leslie McCOLGIN & George KENNEDY (Candra/84, Calen/87) RR 1 Box 167, Cunningham

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Elizabeh GRAVALOS & Arthur HABVEY (Emilyt6, -lvlarS0) Canton (H) -. Barbara & Bick PROSE (Sophia/88) 14 Gage St *4, Bridgron 02009 (H)

tD Jane & Christopher SHIPLEY (Rosalind/ 78, Petor/8l , Trsvor/8s) 117 E 25th St, Baltimore 21218 (H'

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llA

Annie & Paul BONAPARTE-KROGH (Nlary/83, Kaliel&s, Phoebe€0) Grenough Hill, Deerfield 01342 -. Susan & Gene BURKART (David/ 85, DanieyS6) 6 Hemlock Terr, Waltham 02154 (H) -.

Betsy GOLDBERG & Allan BRISON (Rebecca/88, Diana€0) 617-56&0912 (Brookline) (H) -. Cyndi a Len JARVI (Jonaharv84, Jake/88) 25i Boutelle St,

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Fitchburg 0142O

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Kaqa & Roy SZAMFINSKI (Hans/84, larv 86, Lie3€/89) 505 fubumee, Jonesvills 49250 (H)

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Dave & Boft KROLAK (Brian/8.t, Johrv 85) 817 28th St NW, Rochost€r 55901 (H)

tS Adrienne & Scon QUIGLEY (Jonahorv 84, Eric/86, LogadSS) RR 1 Box 115, Coffeeville 38922 (H)

Wl Pcler & Sarah GILBERT (Emily/8s) 1908 N Clark St, Apploton 5491 1 (H) -. Geotf & Almutt KOBY (Sarah/84, P€ter/88) 401 D Eagle Heights, lvladison 53705 -. Alison & David tuhKEE (Christophert78, GeorginalS2) 5745 Bittersweet Pl, irtadison 53705 (H)

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NH

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Badara & Stephon DAVIS (Claytor/84,

Elizal89) PO Box 95 Cold Pond Rd, Aflorth (Xl601 (H) -. Mileva & Eugene LOO (David/8l , llima/84, Meiling/86, Christophor/8g) 13 Hunter Dr, Bow fi1304 -. Ann BINGMM & Joe TANZINI (Laura/79, Clomeniqu€/82, Sylvia/8s, ChatlietST) 49 lvlaida Terr, Red Bank O77O1 -. Russ & Suzanne RAPPEL (Chelsea/8s, Caidin/88, Olivia/90) ,t Ridtter Rd, JadGon 08527 NY Su & Rose BERNSTEIN (Soad88, LaShanna & Ashloy/go) 62 East St, Binghamon 13904 -. Sue & Tom CARBONE (Tyle/84, Chelsea/ 88) 8it N Airmont Rd, Sutlorn 10901 (H) -. Joan HARBISS & Jim MURPHY (Kevin/84, Sarah/86, Molly/ 90) 1€0 Ridge Rd, Horseheads 14845 o. Chris & Gina KROL (Emily/88) 2604 Robins St, Endwell 13760 -. Mark & Gail LEE (Jenny/8s, Susannah/ 87, Caherin€/8g) 4 Winston Dr, Rhinebeck 12572 (Hl Connie NE RN ES (Emilyt7g, David/8l, StephorvST) 360 Turin St, Rome -. Barbara & David GMNT (Amara/8s, Dana Rose/8g) 816 Grindstatf Rd, Bumsville 28714 (change) (H)

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John & Diane BENGSON (Shaurv83, JoeU88) a386 Knob Hill Dr, Bellbrook a$05 (H) Paul & Maureen KUEBLER (Michaeu8s, ElizabefvST) 14il Comell Ave, Elyria 44035 -. Michael & Lesley WESTRUM (Madeline/80, James/8l, Rebekah/83, Rachol/8s) Rt 4 Box 482A, Portsmouth 45862

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OR Kim & Kont CUMBO (Jaredl74, Brenderv 82, Sionna/84, Dylan/89) 11055 SE Madison Dr, Portland 97216 (H) -. Tom HINKLE e Sue SCOTT (J€sset7s, Lul<eng, Jilf81, Anna/86) 1980 N 5h St, springlield 97477 -. chrisry INGRAHAM & Parviz IiIOGHADDAS (CarlirVSS) 9216 N Leonard St, Portland 97203 -. Pani E Patrid( WINTERS (Garretv 87) 729 Gales Crk Rd, Forest Grow 97116

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PA Christina & Joe BARRY (Kate/8s, MichaeUST) 105 lvhrie Dr, Pinsburgh 15237.- Jon & lrary CORRADO (Carolyn/8s) 3i]25 Arlington St, Reading 19605 -. Doug & Trisha CROCKETT (PauU 8il, Peter/8s, Rob€cca/88, Baby/go) 507 N Chester Rd, Swarhmore 19O81 Randy & Kathy HOLLEGER (iJhry/8s, Dianne/87, Pauugo) 3106 s'rcds Rd, Nonistoun 19403 (H) -. Joseph & Helen OMLOR (J.R.ng) 177 Dours Hill Rd, Holtwood 17532 -- John & Laura PON-O (Fabrizid8l, Angplo/83, Flavia/8s) PO Box 300, Edinboro 16412 -.lt/hrk & Josen€ WARFEL (Jacobt78, Laura/8il) RD I Box 395, Henryville 18332

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TN David & Connie ALLlSOl,l (PatricU87, David/88, GwyndolyrvSg) 1 516 Birchwood Cir, Franklin 37064

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TX-

lvlargaret & Charles BLOUNT

(Auonn2,

Kahrynn4, StepheM/6) Rt I Box 212-R, Dale 78616

-. Danny & Brenda HARDESW (Doug/85) 7805 Ray & Vickie HUCKABAY Doncaster, Austin 78745 (C€arv7g, Heath/&4) 5307 Sweotwind, Spring 77373 (H) David SCHWENDNER & Brook MNDAL (Alev 86) 510 Park Blvd, Austin 78751 (H)

James & Myrna CLIFFORD (Amberr/4, Au$iMz) Rt 1 8ox 87, Knob l,loster 653i!6 (H) Michael & Susan CLONTS (Bridgsv88, Staphani€/8g) 103 E Vine, Sullivan 63O80 -. Joel & Karen HERMAN (Peri/8s, Dylanl9o) 634 W Logan, liloberty 65270 (H) -. Nancy KIEVIT (Iansy/81, Hilary/83, For€sv88) Rr 1

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(H)

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[raggi ELLIOTT & Wlson BASLER WV (Johr|/8l, Ena/84) 106C Indian Mills Rd, Indian Mills 24949 (H)

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4203s (H)

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NE Mary & Sam WELSCH (Daniol/82, Ember/85, Poter/go) Rt 2 Box 25A, Hartington 68739

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478ri!3

WA -. Keith & Barbara HARRIS (Abbyr79, RacheuS:t) 32623 108th Pl SE, Auburn 98002

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VT

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Jan€ DWINELL & Sky YABDLEY (Dana/

Ganada BC Catherine LEBREDT & Mike WOODS (ApriUSil) Box 48t1, Tofino VoR 2z:0 -. Gtant & Carole TI{ACKER (Reb€ccaz4, Tylefi7) 4642 lkmin St, Bumaby Vu 1X9 (H) -. Lee WEHRWEIN & John GILBERT (Saeward/81, Sasdra/83, Obarv86, Thea/ 89) C-6 RR #3 Dowr Place, Ganges VOS 1E0 (H)

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NS Midrael & Bemadene MARTIN (Gilliarv 84, Alexander/87, Annie Ros€/89) RR 1 Tatamagouche, BOK 1V0 (H)

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ONT Barbara GAUTHIER (Br€ttr/l, Simon/ 79, Lewis/8l) BF.x627, Van Kleek Hill, KoB 1R0 Jan & Len ROACH (Nahanielng, Bronwen/82,

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Kendra/8s) 75 SruartAv, Wllowdale MzN 182 Liz & Pioter GROENVELD (Lizzyl 87) Raadhuislaan 31, 2131 BG Hoofddorp, ThO N.therlend. (H) -. Clare & Michel I/ANGION (lrrhthieu/86, Geofftey/87, Clohilde/8g) Allee de la Itiatre,0l 480 Villeneuve, France (H) -. Roger & llarie MANKTELOW (lratlhefl8o, Ruari/&l, NiallET) 29 Moneywick Rd, Randalstourn, Co. Antrim, N. lr.lend BT41 3HW(H) -.THE NEWZEATAND HONE SCHOOLING ASSOC, PO Box 77, Waimauku 1455 Neu Zraland -. James PETRAIT, St. Joseph High School, Plot 3, Rt 2, Frederiksted, St. Croix, Vlrgin lslandr 00840 -. Peter & Jill WHITijORE fi(Tornr/s, Benm, Annal8rq 3 Thompson Rd, Panmure, Auckland 6, l{ew Zealand (H)

Other Locatlons

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Complete Lists of Resources Once a ygar we print our complete lists of helpful teachers, lawyers, pofessors, psychologists, scfiool districts, and resource people. As wih our Directory of Families, we print additions and changes to these lists lhroughout lh€ year, so pl€ase @ntnue to send th€m in. lf you?e sending us a cfiange of address for a subscription, please let us know if you're on one of theso lisls so that we can change it here, too. We're always inl€r€st9d to know wheher poople appreciate having ttris information available, so do let us know whetrer th€se lisls are being used.

Certified Teachers Here is our complete list of cortifi€d toadlers willing to help homeschoolers:

AZ - Kahleen KNEZ, Western Nav4o Resenration, PO Box 889, Tuba City 86045; Special Ed CA, Sourh @lpr to I'10o0) - Tutu ANETERSON, 6949 Fisk Av, San Diego 92122;6i945s1086 Lynne BEHEIM, 3128 Jam€s St, San Diego 92106 Karen BISHOP, N County Pl,2204El Camino Beal, Suits 312, Oceanside 92054 -. John BOSTON, PO

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8ox 92, Escondido92025t 61$7491522

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Rufl

Growtng Wlthout Schoollng #79

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29 BOTHNE, 17355 lblody Ln, Los Gstos 95030; 40& -. Kathleen BOYD, 1031 5 lhrcus Av, Tu.iunga 91(X2; elem & cfrild dewl -. Michelle BUSH, 2374 Stony l€ Rd, Tujunga 91 042; 81 8-353-0342 -.

Karen CANTO, 231! N l,lay Av, Monovia 91016; 81& 359-1669 -. lhrybeh CRAG, 160341 Ambsr Valley Dr, Whinier 90609i 21$94$/1131 -. l/lonica CROCKETT, 40417 Cheshhe Dr, Cypress 90630; 714670-7225 -. Sandy DOERFEL, PO Box 271331 , Escondido 92027 -. Judy DUBY, 33181 Paseo Irilolinos, San Juan Capisrano 92675; 714-661-1049 -. Herb HAMMER, PO Box 45s18, Los Angeles 90045;213-281-6025 -..[m SKEIE, 14816 Daphne Av, Gardena 90249i 213-524-9n7 CA, North (Zlpo 9ao0o & Upl - lh/garet ARlGHl, 6015 Mauritania Av, Oakland 94605;41$ 653-5098 -. Teni CHRISTL, 144 lt olitas Rd, Danville 94526; K-7 & Spec Ed -. l'larilyn DoVORE, 1919 B St, lvlarysville 95901 -. Sharon GREENE, PO Box 52, Carbna 95528 -. Roy SHIMP, 216,4 E Bellevu€ Rd, lrlerced 95340 (Secondary) -. Cheryl STEVENS, 2486 Pebble Beach Loop, Lafayene 94549 (K-12, special ed) -. Scon YOUl.lG, Charlone's Web, 1207-F Bridgeryay, Sausalito CA 94965; 415-532-2244 G! - Kara BERTHOLF,3780 CR 129, Flesperus CO 81326 -. Sandra GUENTHER. 2923 Sunset Dr, Gold€n 80401 -. Jaelee JONES,3 Stonomoor Dr, Pueblo 81005;30i1-551-3510; LD -. Ken LEBENSOLD, 7575 Sunkist Dr, Oakland gl005; a1$63c 0473 -. Grace LLEWELLYN, 184 E 26 St, Eugene OR 97405 (cert in CO) -. Mikelyn WARD, 13400 Rd 32, Planevill€ 80651; 785{378; K-'12, reading CT - Geoffrey SMITH,365 Bellevue Rd, New Haven 0651 1 ; 203-787-5659: Eng, mafi , 7-1 2, admin FL - Chadon€ THIEN, 122O1 Old Kings Rd, Jacksonville 32219; 904-76&0472 -. Rooer TRUNK, Rt I Box 110, Satsuma 32189;904-6,494479 ]L - Bonnie VERHULST, #8 Charleston Estates, Springfield 62707; K-8 lN - Rebecca BICKELL. PROSPERTIY SPRINGS SCHooL, Rt 1 Bor 221, Andsrson 46012; Spec Ed & Deaf Ed -. Linda OWENS, 7262 Lakesid€ Dr, lndianapolis 46278; K-8 lA - Richard & Sharon CARGIN, 25 6fr Av NE,

353€620

LeMars 51031 llE - Barry KAHN,35 Coll€g€ St, Pordand M103:N7-797-8866 -. Kahi KEARNEY, Box 69, Nelv Sharon 0a955; ME & VT K-l2 -. LouAnna PERKfNS, Rt t Box 22-C, Penobscot U476i2s74268609 (K-8) MD - Frances I{OYER,4017 William Ln, Bowie

2o715

tA - Adele GARLICK, 96 Cmlidge Cir, Northboo 01532 -. John JUDGE, A.l.D., 112 Mt Hope Sl, Lowell 01891 .- Dr. Denise KUHN, EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL SERVICES,235 Woodland Rd, Milton 02186; 3:l&073O -. Thomas l;lAHER, 30 Park St, Waksftdd 01880: 617-24$7534 -. Faith Jones OZAN, 7 Lincoln St, Nflburyport 01950 -. [turio PAGNOtll, 76 Emsley Ter, Methuen 01844 -. Wendy SPMTTLER,460 S. Main St, Andover 01810 -.

Linda G. VlElRA, 545 Hammond St, Chsstnut Hill 02167 -. Linda ZUERN, Box 61 9, 5 Depot Rd, Calaumet MA 02534 - Mike BENNETT, 105 3rd St, Ontonogan 4995$1300 -. Fran BURKE, R1 Box 254 County Lins Rd, Thompsonvillo 49683,61&2694282; olem & special ed K-t21 -.6"ro' CLAUSS, 5268 19 Mile Rd, Banyton 49035; K-8 -. Kahy DONAHUE, Box 286 Boundary Rd Rt *1, Houghton 49&11 ; 906-€2-tr193 K-l2 .- Rita EBELING, 861 E Birchre€, Claymont DE 197C)i] (cortified in Ml) Sharon JORDAN, Rt 3 Box 86, Bear Lake 49614; 616€895920; K-6 -. Ray KRUMM, HCO 1 Box 131, Pelkie 49958 .- Bonnie MIESEL, 11 1 1 Cricklewood SW, Wyoming 49509 Dinah MORRISON, 572 Military, Banle Creek 49015; 616-963-282: 7-12 -. Muriel PALKO,321 N Wlliam, Ludington 49€1; K-l2 -. Janet ROELLE, 9300 Waruick Meadows. Grand Blanc 484i19: K-8 - Joanno BOUROUIN, HC 2 Box 3780, Ely

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Growlng Wthout Schoollng #79

55731 55105

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Linda WINSOR, 1927 James Ave, St. Paul

tO - Karen FOSSE, Stat Rt Box 82, Washburn 6E772 HT - Bonnie BILLEB. Rt 1 Box 169, Ronan 59864 NE -TaTaSENNETT,1941 L St, Lincoln 58510 (matr|) NV - Pat & Jane BRUNKER, Flome Scfimling Consullants, Las Vegas; phone 878€670 t{H - Sally EMBER, 284 Water St, Keeno 03431 NJ - David JUSTICE,600 Westfield Rd, iioorestown 08057 (1{J & PA; special ed) -. Gwin HUTCHINS,9a E Spring St, Sbmorville 08875 Sandy IIADK|FF, MINOTOLA ACnVnY CTR,207 Coari Av, Minobla 08341 ; 60S697-'1643; K-l 2 Eng Nt - Kara BERTHOI-F, 3780 CR 129, flesperus CO 81326 (cortifi€d in CO E NM) NY - Lyman BARRY, 9297 Shaw Rd, Nunda Diane CHOOAN, 14517: 71$468-265O; science RD 1 Box 452, Rom€ 13440 -. Cheryl COOIIEY,22 Foxcroft Rd, Albertson 1'15O7 (NY, NJ, [fA) Lucretia GABRIEL, 12 Fairway Ct, Albany 12208; science -. Joyce HOUCK, RR 1 Box 148A, Brant Lake 12815; 51&494.-n72i elem. .- Kat|i Keamey, 1605 Whinier Hall, 123o Amsterdam Ave, New York 1o027 -. Martin MILLER, Aikens Rd, RD 1 , Watkins Glen 14891 ; math, sci, accounting -. Vicky QUINTANA, 336 E 90h St apt. 1A, New York 10128 Marian RONALDS, LEARNING CTR BOOKSTORE, 207 S Main St, Canandaigua 14424t71a.

394-8798 Naralie TATZ, 3320 Bainbridge Av, Bronx NY 1U67i212-654-7918 (elem) OH - Paul HILSTON,3420 Williams Ct, Avon Elizabeth LOWER,5022 44O11i7-12 science Wabash Dr, Fairfi eld 450 1 4 ; 51 3-863-2891 (illontessori) -. Robert E. i/OSON, 2'18 Mulberry, Granville 808:K-12.- Candace MILLER,439 S Cole St, Lima 45805; K-8 OR - Marilyn LOWE, 1295 Marshall Dr SE, Salem 97302; 503-362-1203 (Spanish K-1 2, English 7-121 -. Mary IIAYFIELD , 24874 W Brush Creek Rd, Sweet Home OR 97386; il3-$7-2474; $t2 -. ilolly iTORELAND, Mustard Soed Educational Servioes, lda 5705 SE Woodward, Portland 97206 REMBELINSKY, 1 70s 1 th Ave f5, Forest Grove lvhrcia SPANI, ALOI'IA KIDS 971 16; $s357-7130

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ACADEMY. 4640 SW'l 82, Aloha 97007; 50&6424094: K-8 PA - Debby BELL, 116 N Lincoln St, Palmyra tleborah DOERFEL, 1360 Arline, 17078; language Relyn 19001 -. Kathy HOLLEGEB,31OG Swede Rd, Nonistorvn 19401 -. KANE, 167 Maple St, GordonRick vill6 17529 (English 7-12, Reading K-12) 11",6t KEPHART, 1 High St, lvlalvern 19355 (elem; O'DONNELL, 625 W North St, Carlisle 17013 (music K-12) Beth STONE,988 Siddonsburg Rd, Lewisb€rry 17339 TX - Linda JONES, 3301 Hemlock, Temple 76504; elem W. MATIhA ANDERSEN, RR 1 BOX 614, Kathi KEARNEY, 49 Gamag€ Huntington 05462 Av, Auburn ME (X210; ME & W K-12 VA- Scott CHRISTIAN, Rt 5 Box 358, lvfardnsville 24112i70g-692-gze0 .- lt ary FBEED, 1825 W Graca St, Richmond VAZ322o (ilontessori) WA - FAMILY ACADEMY (teachers all over WA state), 14629 20th SW, Seanle 98166; 26-246-9227 -. Karen FOGLE, 14241 NE Wdnvl Du ll#243, Debby HALPERIN,4536 48ttr Woodinville 98072 Av NE, Seatde 98105 -. Julie & David Loyd, Wddron 98297; (Julie: elem, Spanish, mah; David: elem, high Denis sdrool, English, Spanish, Social Srudies) WICHAR, Cascade Jr High Scftool, 13900 NE 18th St, Susie Vancourier 98684-7N;2 -ffi52 WINTERSIECK, PO Box 1547, Vashon lsland 98070 Wl - Cheryl & Brucs BISHOP, 51l|8 Bluff Ct, Sturg€on Bay 5a235; elem..- Donna lliAHR,561 N lilain St, Oregon 53575; Soc St K-12 -. Alison [/bKEE,5745 Binerswoet Pl, lvladison 5:1705; elem,

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vis. impair CANADA . LeSIiE AYRE-JASCHKE, 1 O4O9-1OI St, Peaco River AB T8S 1K7 -. Herb JOI',IES, RR 1, Gananoque, orrt K7G 2V3 EUiEWHERE - James A. PETRAIT, St Joseph High Schml, Plot 3, Rl 2, Frederiksted, St. Croix, Virgin lslands 00840

Helpful Law5rers CT - Frank Codrran. 5'l Elm St, PO Box 1898, New Haven 06508-1 898: 203€6$7380 DC - Nancy LeSourd & George Grange ll, 1 925 K St NW, Suite 3OO, Washington 2000G1115; 20286.2-20,@ Hl - Tom DiGrazia,

Dcrazia Law Otlics, 41$A Uluniu St, Kailua 96734 lD - Lyle Eliasen, 202 ldaho St, American Falls 8321 1: 208-22S5138 lN - John Pti@,317442-48O7 lA - Craig Hastings,315 6th St, Ames 50010; 51*2,32-2501 KS - Austin Kent Vincent, I 108 Bank lV Towers, Topeka 68603: 913-23*4122 KY - Theodore H Amshotf Jr, 1012 S 4lh Av, Louisville a0203; 502-582-3500 tlD - Ray Fidler,805 Tred Avon Rd, Baltimore 21212 -. Paul Kimb€rger, 3905 B€xley Pl, Marlw Hghts 20745; 301-899-6S]3 -. Dale R. R€id,7091 Brangles Rd, Marriottsville 2 1 1 04; 301 -549 1 322 lfA - Eugene Bu.kui,67 lroody St, Walham 02154; 617-89S53{17 -. Susan Ostberg, The Common, Bor246, Haffard 01451;617-456-3688 John Sandelli, 1 1 2 Sladen St, Dracut 01826i 617 -957' 5528 - Norm Pery, 8976 US 31 -33, PO Box 241 , Benien Spgs 49103; 616{71-2848 llO - Robert Baker, orr th€ Square, Sarcoie 6,4862i 417-948-3321 -. Amold T Phillips, 1221 Locust St, St Louis 631 03; 31 4-231 -4901 NY - Dustin Ordway, 110 Terace Pl, Brmkleyn 11218:718-972-9121 -. David Pullen, 48 W Main St, Fillmore 14735; 716-fi7-2229 -. Seth Rockmuller, RD'1 Box 172E, EastChatham 12060;51&.992-4277 OH - David A. Haffey,3836 Dayton-Xenia Rd, Beavercreek 45432 -. James Peters, 107 W Court St,

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4378i

61 4- 472-

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PA - Thomas E lrlartin, 201 S Brcad St, PO Box 392, Kennsn Sq 19348;215-4t14-0285 -'lvhrk Semisch, 56 Warden Rd, Doylesbwn 18901 Tt{ - Philip Carden,607 N 14h St, Nashville 372OGi

61*U6.O416

TX - Tom Brandon, 7601 )hvier Dr, PO Box 3i11142, Ft Worh 7613i1 Wl - Jad Umpleby, N 88 W 16848 Main St, lvfenomonee Falls 53O51 ; 41 4-251 -9440 WY - Gerald irason, PO Box 785, Pinedale 8841i307-367-2134 -. William H. Twicfiell, PO 8ox

9. Pinedale 82941 ; 3o7 -367 -241 4 Canada - Lloyd Greenspoon, RR #1, Gore Bay Ontario PoP 1H0 1

21

Professors and Other

Allies

The following people are willing to helP home scfrooling families in developing curriolum, evaluating progressr or in othor ways: Lafry Arnoldsen, Box 10 lt cKay Bldg, Btigham Young U, Povo UT 84602 Graham Ashworfi,423 Fox Chapel Rd, Pittsburgh PA 15238;412-963-8800 Dr. Stephen Convin, The Secret Garden, P.O. Box 1731s,Tucson 4285731 Gay Easman, 2122 Kendall Av #2, ltrladison Wl 53705: 608-231 -1 875 Steven Hall, M.D., Strong Family Practice, PO Box 189, Strong lrE 0498i, (physician)

Joe Jernberg-Briggs, Phone 21 e'2f,2-4070, Wooster OH; scfrool psychologist, reading specialist Hal Jindridr, Psychologist, 555 W. Middlefield, #S301 , i/buntain View CA 940€; a1$9699981 Prof. Richard King, Ed. Dept., Univ of Victoria, Box 1700, Victoria BC,VAW 2Y2 J. Gary Knowles, Program in Educational Studies, Schml of Ed, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor Ml 481091259 Midrael Masny, 4il Bumcoat St, Leicester IvlA 01524; 617-892-801 2; certified school psychologist & social workor.

Dr. Nadine li,lcHugh, Educational Fellowship of Christian schools, ora.l Rob€rB U., 777 S Lewis, Tulsa OK 74171 Michael J. Murphy, Assoc. Pof., U. of Saskatdrewan, College of Education, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada S7N 0W0 Dr. Donald Musin, Dominion Sdrool of Education, PO Box 6321, Lakeland FL 33803; 813-747-1476 Dr. Paul Nash, Schml of Ed, Boston Univ, Boston

know that there are other districts enjoying gmd relatioships wih heir homeschmling families. Also, families who are willing b move to es€pe a difficult situation wifr sdrool oflicials would hay€ al least some ideas about where to go.

We will only list h€se school disricls under he following conditions: (1) The family has b b€ not just satisfied but daasodwith fie cooperation the sctpols aro giving to th€ir home schooling efforts. (2) The sclrools hemselvBs harre b bo happy about boing induded in he list. lt hey are uneasy about it, or t€ar hat it may get hom in rouble wih someone, we'd rather not subiect them to hat risk.

So - if your district is coop€rating wih your homescfrooling, and you would likettom to b€ on his list, ask them, and let us know if they say to go ahead.

By the way, we would also like to list school districF ftat would like to help homesctnoling families. but have not been able to do so becausg no families have yet ask€d them.

;1t4022j5

CA - Anderson Valley Sdrool District, Anderson Valley Way, Boonville CA 95415. Phillip Thomas, Elementary Principal.

Butte County Offics of Education, 2120 B Robinson, Oroville CA 95965, Jamos H Scott, Principal, Home Sdrool Program Lodi Unified School District,835 W Lockford St, Lodi 95240; 2()9369741 l; Ron Alsop, Assl. Supt. of Elem. Ed. Loma Prieta School District, 23800 Summit Rd, Los Gatos 95O30:40&353-2389: Dr. Kenneth Simpkins, Superintendent; Dr. Ruth Bothne, Independent Home Study Program Dir€ctor lvhnterey County Otfice of Education, 901 Blanco Circle, PO Box 80851, Salinas 9t1912; Bill LaPlante, Director ol Altemative Programs San Juan Ridge Union School District, Oak Tree School, 18847 OakTree Rd, NevadaCity 95959, Donna Soldano. Administrator. }|A - Barnsnble Schools, PO Box 955, Hyannis, 02601; Contact Dr. Angela Castoria.

Cambridge Public Sdrools, 159 Thorndike St, Cambridge 021 41 i 617 -498-9233. Contact Mary Lou McGrath.

Lowell School District, 89 Appleton, Lowell 01852;454-54i11. James McMahon, Asst. Supt. for Curriculum Develooment.

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

Scituate Sdrool District,606 Cushing l-lwy, Sciluale 02066: 508-545-5369: Vida Gavin, Dir. of Soecial Services.

Southern Berkshire Regional School District, Sheffield 01257; Director of Guidance, Paul Shafiroff.

PA - Southwest Butl€r County School District, RD 1, Harmony 16037; Ron Snyder, Supt.

Dr. Robert Newman, Assoc Prof Emeritus, Teacher Education, Syraarse U, 137 Hughes Pl, Syracuse NY 13210 Joseph Pappalardo, Ed.D., Westfield State College, Westfield MA 01086: 413-56&Sil11 Sam B. Peavey, Ed.D.,2307 Tyler Ln, Louisville KY

20205: 502-4592058 Edrvard Pino, 189 Antelop€ Tr, Parker CO 80134 Bruce Quanington, Dept of Psychology, York U, 4700 K€€le St, Downsview Ontario irej 1P3 Brian D. Ray, 25 W Cremona, Seattle WA 98119 Nancy Reckinger, 908 Ridgecrest Cir, Anaheim Hills

c492807 Jad( Robertson, Prof. Em€ritus, New York Univ, PO Box 55, Greig NY 13345 Prof. Albert Schatr,6097 Sherman St, Philadelphia PA 19119 Paul Daniel Shea, M.A., Ed.D., 145O Beacon St., Suite 8O1 , Brookline ilrA 021 46; 617-277-421 4 Dr. Peter Stiller, 48 Einstein Dr, Princeton t{J 085404952 Chester S. Williams, Assoc. Prof"/Secondary & Higher Ed., ETSU, Box 5518, Texarkana TX 75501; 21 4-838-5458

Helpful Psychologists CA - Michelle Bush, 2374 Stonyvals Rd, Tujunga 91O42;818-35&0342 === Hal Jindicfi, 555 W Middlefield, 5-301 , Mtn View 94043: 4199699981 llA - Michael Masny,4{l Burncoat St, Leicester 01524; 617-892-801 2 (cerdfied scfiool psychologist and social worker) === Dr. Susan Ott, HC 8l, Box 104, Petersham 01366 llO - Michael and Jayne Stake, 901 Dielman, Olivetti 63132 NC - Linda Brannon Shamblin & William Shamblin,219 Wldllower Rd, Asheville 288(N Oll - Ridrard George, 1201 30h St NW, Canton 44709 Joe Jernberg-Briggs, 216-262-4070, Wooster (school psychologist, reading specialist) OR - Jan Hunt and Nancy Conachy, Box 9i106, Bend OR 9208; 503-382-1547 (prenatal and family counseling) PA - Dr. Bob Conoy, RD 5 Box 286, Smoky

=:

Corners, Williamsport 17/01 TX - Steven Gursrein, PhD, 4550 Posr Oak Pl, Suite #342, Houston 7:7027t 7 1*621 -745ft

Friendly School Districts The following is a list of scfrool disrricls that are willingly and happily cooporating with homeschmlers, and who are willing to b€ listed in GWS as doing so.

One reason for such a list: we want to enoourage and reassure school otficials who may be h€sitant about approving home schooling and let hem

Roslyn PA 19q)1; teacher -. Linda Mcconnell, RD 1 Box 178, Karns City PA 16041; 412-445-7614 llolly iloreland,5705 SE Woodward, Portland OR 97206 -. Alison Parra, Zacateros 77-5, San Miguel de Allende, GTO, ltibxico 32700

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Down Syndrcmr: Elaine Bechtold, 10827 Rosedale Av N, Rt 1 Bor 233, Lorstto MN 55357; 61 2498-7553 Rosemary Firstenberg, 13(X5 27h Av NE, Seatde WA 98125 -. Gary & Diann Foster, 1167 Lone Vaf fey Rd, Campbollsville KY 42718 -. Glenn & lvlarsha Salisbury, 7923-126th St E, Puyallup WA 98i171; 20$841-8589

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Hom.Comput rr: Doug Calsbeek, Box 185, Orange City lA 51041 -. Ted A lvlarha Laux, 1853 East Shore Dr, lfiaca NY 14850.- James O. lvlayor, M7226824 Howard Chapel Dr, Damascus 1247;301-253-ffi7 or g!7-2303; 2zl00b &lVl-. lvlario Pagnoni, 76 Emsley Ten, lvbhuen l/lA 01844 -. Sheryl Schuff, 8156 Lieber Rd, Indianapolis lN

]fi

462N;317-259-4778 lmmunlzetlonr - Maggie Meyer, .|1054 CR 54, Findlay OH 45840; 419859-2302 (whmping cough)

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Learning Dlsablllllcs: Kathy Donahue, Box 286 Boundary Rd Rt #1, Houghton Ml 49931; 906482€3SEl Rosemary Firstenberg, 13rJ45 27tt Av Sharon Graham,22500 NE, Seartle WA 98125 Rifle Range Rd, Covelo CA 95428; 707-983€513 Kris Hallberg, 644 Comstock Av, Elmhurst lL 60126 B€verly Sue Himel, PSC 4349, APO NY NY 09123 & Peter Libaire, 1829 San Ramone Av, Berkeley CA 94707i 415-524-1139 -. Leslie McColgin, RR 1 Box 1t16, Cunningham KY 42035 (speech & language pathologist) -. Cheryl E Gary Stevens, 2486 Pebble Beadr Loop, Latayette CA 94549 (Special Ed.)

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tontessod Homc Educallon: Gloria Harrison.

Box R, APO New York 09678 Physlcal Handlcapr: Janna Books, Box 3098, Kathy Donahue, Box Route 2, Santa F€ NM 87505 286 Boundary Rd Rt #1 , Houghton Ml 49931; 906482639it Karen Franklin,3Sl9 Winfield Rd, Boynton 8ch FL 33436 (Jessica/80 C.P.1 -.5"unnt S'con, 1 901 Barker St, Lawrenco KS 66044

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Single Parents: -. Kim Delauter, 15O N. Avery, Pontiac Ml 48054 -. Wendy Flanders, PO Box 783t, Reading PA 19603 -. Janet Hotfman, 44 Bailey Ave, Patdrogue NY 11772 HOME EDUCATORS SINGLE PARENT NETWORK. PO Box 58746.

Seanls, WA 98138-1746; 509486-1351 -. Jane Mara, 1657 Wilson St, Eugene OR 9742 -. Diane lvfcNeil,3131 Cty EE, Baileys Harbor Wl 9a2O2-.

Deborah Phillips, Cathy Payne,401-48&2834, Rl 400 Raymondale Dr, S. Pasadena CA 91030 -. Laura Pritchard, PO Box 58002, Seatde WA 9813&1002 Carol Ann Stod(ton,23)7 N 63rd St, Soanle WA 98103 Lisa Spector, 121-9 Pefty St, Unionville CT 06085 -. Karen Turner, PO Box 942, Gualala CA 95445 -. Amy Vanorio, 2108 Kemper Ln, Cincinnati OH 45206 Paula Walker, Rt 2 Box 38, lvlontgomery Creek CA 96065 -. Christine Wllard. 14854 Sutton Dr, San Jose CA 951 24

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Resource People

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The people listed belor have experience witr he following subjecrc, and who are willing to correspond with olfrers who are interested.

Adoption: Kathy Donahue, Box 286 Boundary Rd Rt #1, Houghton Ml a9931; 906-482-6391 Lury lgnizio, 19504 Hiawatha Rd, Odessa FL 33556 Walter & Mary Marschner, 109 Alleman Dr, Lafayette LA 70506 -. Suzanne Mortensen, Box272, Skidmore TX 78389 (intenacial).- Jsnny Wright, Quaker City, H.C.6O, Box 5(), Charlesbwn NH 03603 603-543-

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0s10 Blindneee: Donald & Kathy Klemp (sont7s) Rt W 53036 -. Ruth lt/htilsky, 5 Briarwood Dr, Somers€t tLj 08873 -. Alison lvlcKoe, 5745 Bin€rsweet Pl, Madison Wl 53705 -. Naomi Rice, 3205 NE 64th. Pordand OR 97213: g3-287-1828 1, lxonia

Dcafnecs: Deborah Doerfel, 136o Arline,

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Tnvel: HOMESCHOOLERS TRAVEL DIRECTORY, NHA, PO Box 58746, Seatde, WA 981 38-1 746: 50+48e1351 -. EDUCATION OTHERWISE Visit Exchango, Helen Holland, Inholms Farm, Plumpton Green, Sussex BN7 3DE, England Travellng Famllles: Lois & Jim Blumenhd, PO

Summerland Ksy FL 33042 .- Louis & Jennifer Gordon (Kati€/8l, Patty/84) 520 Gregory, Wilmene lL 60091 -. Adene Haight (B€cky/68, Mat/ 73) 41 50 So US #1 , RD 2, Pdm Bay FL 32905 -.

Karen Holguin, PO Box 2010, Spatks NV 894i]1

bx725,

Growlng

Mthout Schoollng

#7 9

3l Twlnr: Gloria Hanison, Box R, APO

Nerv York

09678

Subscriptions Subscrlpilons start wlth thc nc)d l$sue publtshcd. Our currertt ratcs are 925 for 6 lssues, $45 for 12 lssucs. $60 for l8 trssucs. cWS ls published cvcry other month. A slngle isaue casts $4.50.

Group Subrcrlptlonr: We olfer group subscrlpUons, in whtch sevcral coples of each lssue are rnalled to one address. The price ls $18 per person, and groups of 5 or morne recelve the leader's subscrlpflon frcc (ln other words, a group of 5 pays 4 x $18 and rccclvcs 5 copies of each lssue). Please pa,y for group subscrtpdons with oac chccl. Pleasc scnd in the rrannes and addresscs ofmembers ofour group sub. so that wc can keep lre touch wtth thcm.

Forcl4n D.yEGDtr must bc clther money orders tn US funds or checks drawn on US banks.

Wc can't afford to accept petsonal checks on Canadlan accounts, everr lf thcy havc'US funds' \f,ritten on thcm. Wc suglFst that foretgn subscribcrs use Masterrard orVlsa lf possible.

Outslde of North Arnerlca. add $ I 5 pcr year for airmail (otherudsc, allow 2-3 months for surface mail). A.sk us about alr mall rates for group subs.

Addrcr. Chrngcrs lf yoir'rc moving, let us Lnowyour new address as soon as possible.

Please enclose a recent labcl (or copy ofone). lssues mlss€d because ofa change tn address (that we weren t notlfied about) may be replaced for $2 each. The post offfce destroys your misscd lssues and chargcs us a noflffcatlon fce. so we can't allord to replac.c thcrn wtthout charge.

Renewals At the bottom of the next psge ls a form you can use to renew your subscrtptlon. Please help us by rerrervtng early.

How can you tcll when your suhscription exolres? Ilok at thls smnle label: 123456

l 8() SMrollll

JIM AND MARY

16MAINST PI.AINVILLE

STVIITH

NY

OI I I

I

The number that ls underlined ln the example tclls the numb€r of the ffnal lssue for the subscrlpdon. The Smlths' sub cxpires with tssue #€iO, the next lgsue. But lfwe were to receive thelr renewal before we sent our flnal account changes to the mailireg house (March 3l), they would quali$ for thc frce bonus bsuc,

When You lVrite Us Please - (l) Rrt separate lterns ofbusiness on s€parate sheets of papcr.

(2| Prrt your name and address at the top of each letter, (3) Ifyou ask questlorrs, enclose a selfaddressed stampcd envclope.

(4) Tell us lf ifs OK to publish your lctter. and whcther to urrc your namc with the story. We cdlt lettcrs for space and clarlty.

Catalog Information Our fall catalogwas malled when cWS #77 was malled (mld-Octobed. Extra copies arr availablc on request. Let us knop lfyou carr dlstributc scvcral copies (at confercnces, ln local librarics or storcs).

On request, wc wtll photocopy and mail thc GWS rcvlerr of any ltcm tn our catalqg. Send 5O cents phrs a SASE for onc; add 25 cents for each additional.

Growtng Without Schooling #79

Declassified Ads

420.3573.

Ratcs: 7otlword, $l/word boldhcc. Pleasc tell thcse folks you saw thc ad ln GWS.

Chlldrca cen leera phno et homc without

HEAR,ILEAF: HOITEUADP UUSIC, ANT, & UO'YEUENT... b€causc home ls whcre the art ls.

Frec catalog ofbooks, tapes, and music. Hcartleaf, Box zt0-A. Slocan Park. BC CANADA VOG 2EO.

prtvatc lessons. kmMuslc Systern of Muslc Instmcdon, Box 1834, Carmlchacl, CA 956@.

SAVE $$$$ ONMORTENSPNMATH. BEST PRICES TOLL FREE CALL. VISA/MC. FREE

ctfnAlrc

CALL l-800-338-9939.

EDUCATIONAL SOFIWARE dcsigncd to tcach and hold Orc student lnterest. Covcrs most subjccts taug[t from Pr,eschool through HUh School, For a 2OO pagc catalog that contaftts ovcr 7O0 educaflonal progftrms scnd $2 to DAVMAR, 17939 Chatsrporth #418F. GH CA 91344.

INCREASE CHILDRENS CREATTTITY. Ncw HowTo Book: CREATM PIAYAREi{S. Hundredseas5r, affordablc products. Scnd SASE detalls or $f1.95 ppd, Sadsfacflon Guaranteed, INNOVATION STATION Box 62O-G, LaVerldn, Utah

FREE Sclcnce Uegrrlnc loaded wlth srpertments: TOPS lde"s. lO97O SMultno Rd. Canby

APPLA

oR97013.

HOME EDUCATION MAGAZNE - offering a common scnsc approach to homcschooling sincc l98ll. Current issuc $4.5O. Frec catalog. Box lO8!1. Tonasket. WA 98855.

UNION ACREA IilTEItTTIOtrAL COUHUIYITY - Beautifirl mountaln homesltes for sale

near Smo\r Mountain Na6onal Park. Rt 6lJ. Whittier, NC 2a7a9. 7O4-497-49M.

I

Box

HOUESCHOOLING TARU COUUUNITY NORIIITRN CALIFORNIA. Thrce families with young children seek other families with lnterest or skills tn part time organic market gardening on 1OO acres ofbeautiful land east ofthe coastal town of Mendocino. We have establtshed a nrral communlty wtth lndividual. rnember built homes. a variety ofhomc based professlonal businesscs and shared facihfies. Waldorf/Oak Meadow parcntrng and a vicw ofland stewardship guides our overall vlsion. lnfo. wlth photos avail. Jane or Ruse 7O7-937-23f5. CCF, Box 167. Comptche,

44745.

tr USER,S: UOIIIITOR YOI,R CHILDREN'S UATII PR(XIREAA. One 5 l/4" dlsk contalns randomly gencratcd pracuce problcms and tests on all mlddle school topics exccpt geometry, word problems. Results of tests stored on disk for parcnt monttortng. Excellent for sldll dwelopmcnt, malntenancc, rclnforcc-

ment. CornpreheDslvc prcparation for secondary math. Teacher created, classroom reffned. Disk, documentation, $65. Mike Colltns, 17623 County Rd 9. Avon, MN 56310. 612-A45-2907.

Stay home, make money, Over 2OO companies necd homcworkers tmmedlately' Complete recorded information. 818-957-8243 cxt. 3.

FORSALE: 75 acre organic farmlSanDiego count5r, California. Housc. barn, outbuildings, wells, Ideal for group. 6l$766-4174.

Homeschool ballet clascs taught by homesdrool Mom reglstered wlth Royal Acaderny of Dancirg rn Spring, Texas. 7 13-298-4042.

cA95427.

New Southeast Ohlo communlty, near unlversity,

Homesteads, commons, cooperatlve opportunltles, participatory democrary, childhood and adult educaUon ernphasls, Paideia, Box 122-H, Athens. OH 45701.

Aduertise u;tth usl Deadltes are the 15th oJ odd-numbqed montfs (Marcfu Mag, JuIg, September, Nouember).

ALGEBNA FOR 3RD GRADERS & UPI 4x+2=2x+lO is nour chlld's play wlth this patentcd, visual/klnesthcHc systcm. Used in more than I,OOO homes natlornvlde. HAIID$ ON E$UATIONS ls avallable for $34.95 plus $4.5O S&H frorn Borenson and Associates, FO Box 3328, Dept. GWS, Allentown, PA 18106. 215-

.

ENTRY FORM I.OR DIRECTORY Use this form to send us a new entry or a substantial address change to be run in the next available issue of GWS.

Adults (first and last names): Organization (only if address is same as firmily):

Children (names/birthyears):

Full address (Street, City, State, Zip):

Are you willing to host traveling GWS readers who make advance arrangements in wriUng? Yes _ No _

NoAre you in thc 199 I Directory (CWS #78)? Yes If this is an address change, what was previous -state?

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32

If you've read tfie lntervlcws, you'll want to read the books.

If you've reed tJre books, you'll want to read the lntervlews.

In GWS, we have lntervlewed some of educatlon's mott lnterestlng and lmportant wrlters, and we cerqf thclr books ln our John Eolt's BooL and Muslc Store catalog. Flnd out what they have to say:

G!$3 var foundcd ln

by John Holt.

Edttor - Susannah Sheffer Publisher - Patrtck Farenga Contrtbuttng Edttor - Donna Rlchoux Edttortal Asslstant - Mary Maher Edttortd Consultant - Nancy Wallace

GItrS #79: Intervlew wtth Glenda Bissex, author of Grqs atWrk (#3O8,$7.95) GItrS #77: Intervlew wtth Herbert Kohl, author of College (# I 5 10, $ I 7.95)

frw Questtbn

1977

Offlce & Subscrlptlon Manager - DaY

Farenga Book Shtppers/Recelvers

-

Katherlne

Dooltttle, Kathy Munro, Janls Van Heukelom Offlcc Asststants - knard Dlggrns, Mandy Maher, Mary Maher, Phoebe Wells Shlpping A$lstant - Glnger F'ltzslmmons

i:s

GWS #76: Intervtew wtth Gareth Matthews, author of Phllasll.ptry and tteYoung CtilM (#548, $6.95) and Dtalques utth CttMren (#242,fir4.5O)

Ann Barr, Patrtck Farenga (Corporate

GIFS #73: Intervtew with Peter Sttllman, author of Fbmilies Wrffrng

SusaffEh Sheller

Holt Assoclates Board of Dinectors: Prestdent), Tom Maher, Donna Rlchoux,

Advtsors to the Board: Mary Maher, Steve Rupprecht, Mary Van Doren, Nancy Wallace

(#L244,$r5.95) GWS #72: Intervtew wtth Altson Stallibrass, author of Tfu SelfRe spectttg ChIId (# I 286, $ 10. 95) and Being Me ard. Abo Us (#1464,$19.95)

Copyrtght @1991 Holt Associates, Inc.

All rlghts

reserved.

GWS #7O: Intervlew with Jean Lledloff, author of TFa Contatuum Corcept(#226, $8.95) GItrS #66: Intervtew wfth Seymour Papert, author of Mfrdstorms (#482,$9.95)

Mg

stt4rc

t-

with Gerald Coles, author of Ttte Leamlng

GWS #63: Intervlew

3

NIO i; i9lr

{# L r52, $ I O. 95)

6li q3rlt 5_

-l^

9

G\trS #61: Intervtew with Marie Wlnn, author of Tte Plug-tn Drug

Uili P*AS irt Fr-E

w6u,$7.es)

-i-=w * g n+ .r-,-*

For shtpplng chaqges on books onlg, see chart on page 17 of thts lssue.

Back lssues of GWS are avatlable to subscrlbers for $2 each plus $2 per order.

A complete set costs $130.

#

u, -4r-

Usc thts form to bcgln or rencw a subocripdon to Growtrg Wtthout Schooltng. For rcncwals. placr thc labcl fiom a rcccnt lssue bclow, tf posstble. lf not, prtnt the lnfo. Clip this form and scnd lt wtth your chcck or money order ln US funds. or call 617-864-3lO0 to subscrlbe or renew by Mastercard or Vtsa. Thanks very much. (For rnore detqrls about subscrlpflorrs and rcncwals, sce tnsidc - page 31.)

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o

6!n ur* IH 0'1" (^, cf

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-

Copy AII numbcrs on top llnc oflabel (for rencwals):

=:la al+ ro *l:

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?18

ol= irr cra

F 'Yl

Ir)

Glft subscrlpdon to bc sent to name shoiln

Renewal

.-;lli{l-

sE

SUBSCRIPTION AND RENEWAL FORM

Subscrtpdon

<ll+ ,=li

Tt mo :tr

_l

Nerv

tJ'

:. <E 3. c,l 7o

l:l

hJ

Namc:

Addrcss (change? Ycs/No)

xA#

Ctty, Statc, Zlp or Postal Codc:

2?g 7*a 3-c! >zb

If change of addrcss, what was old ztp code?

_

6 tssucs.

Group Sub:

$25

$45

18 lssucs, $60 12 lssues, (notc: groups of 5 or more rcccivc leadet's sub frcc) c.opics O $18 cach, for a total of

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-

$-

Pleasc scrrd us the names and addrcsses of othcr group mernbers.

It ls OK to rent my r:ame and address to othcr orgarrlzatiorrs: Yes

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No-

EaV

cw9 Groqrlng

Wthout Schoollng #79