Growing Without Schooling 89
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A lot of people wonder how homeschoolers are going to turn out. Gradually, as homeschoolers grow up, we're getting the chance to find out. For this issue of GWS, we interuiewed four homeschoolers who have moved beyond the family home. There are o[ course many more than four homeschoolers at this stage of life, but these four had so much of interest to say that we decided to go for depth rather than breadth. In the interviews. these four homeschoolers - two now in college and two working - explore how their homeschooling affects the way they now view
Jacob Spicer (center) with his mother, sister. and brother. Jacob is amonA those lnterviewed for this issue's Focus on Grown-Up Homeschoolers. -p_.
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Inside this Issue: News & Reports p. 3-5 Access to School Activities in CT, Cooperative Superintendent, Fighting for Rights in Gennany
Homeschooling Another Parent's Child p. 6 Tfhen Child and Parent Don't Get Along p. z-a Challenges & Concerns p. 9- l l Quitting Can Be OK, Handling Criticism, Time lor Oneself, Doubts, More on African-American Homeschoolers
lVatching Children Learn p. r2-t4 Leaming through PIay, Rethinking Cheating, Social 4 Year Old, Running Teen Workshop, More on Video Games
FOCUS: Grown-Up Homeschoolers p. l5-21 Intervlews with four homeschoolers aged 19-22
Additlons to Directory, Resources, Pen-Pals p.2l-23
adulthood, work, friendships, and many other things. They address many of the issues that concern anxious parents who are wondering about their children's future. One of those issues has to do with the question of preparation. Will kids who grow up without school be ready for adult life? For life outslde their parents' homes? For school, if that's what they choose, or for regular work? These four answer yes. In some cases they can see that their homeschooling experiences directly prepared them for what they're doing now. Emily Murphy talks about how her habit of reading and then talking with her family about what she read prepared her for her college's curriculum, which centers on reading and discussion. I-aura Gelner describes how her college's "block system," in which students focus intensely on one area o[ study and then go on to another, suited her perfectly because in homeschooling she spent long periods of time focusing on specific interests. Sometimes their point is simply that homeschooling wasn't a hindrance. Not having a high school diploma didn't keep Jacob Spicer or Vanessa Keith from getting a job, for example. Not having spent a lot o[ time in a classroom didn't make the college students unable to adjust to the classroom later on. These kids are able to fit in when fitting in is important, but what is especially interesting about their discussion of preparation is their commentary on when they don'tfit in, and don't want to. l,aura Gelner says of her first year at college, "l felt like I could do what I wanted and not just follow the crowd. I knew who I was." Vanessa Keith speaks of enjoying work, not seeing it as negative, whereas many people she meets have the opposite attitude. Jacob Spicer says that he isn't afraid to disagree when everyone else is agreeing, and that even in a work setting he doesn't believe unquestioning obedience is essential. In these and other ways, these people are dolng more than just fitting in. They are bringing their unusual perspectives to the situations they find themselves in; they are changing what's expected instead ofjust adapting to existing expectations. To my mind, that's a wonderful wav to have turned out. Susannah Sheffer
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