RAY MOORE OFFERS CURRICULUM

Dr. Raymond Moore, author of BETTER LATE THAN EARLY, SCHOOL CAN WAIT, HOME-SPUN SCHOOLS, and HOME-GROWN KIDS, is now offering a correspondence course for grades 1-8 through the HEWITT-MOORE CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER. According to the brochure, the intention is “to provide a program that (1) contains carefully selected Christ-centered materials from a variety of publishing houses; (2) is not too structured; (3) avoids myths and nonsense stories; (4) plans for no formal schooling before about 8 or 10; (5) lists costs clearly and specifies what services are offered (personal counsel, tests, legal advice, etc.). . .” Cost is $250 tuition plus $100-$200 in books. Address for more information: PO Box 9, Washougal WA  98671. - DR

TEEN WORKS AT SCIENCE MUSEUM

From New England:

. . . I was interested in what the mother of teenagers (”Asks About Teens,” GWS #33) had to say and ask. We have been having a similar situation with our “all but” 13-year-old daughter -a restlessness, a desire to have a friend her age. We, also, don,t get together with other homeschoolers (there are none that we know of in this area) and we just don,t know any families whom we see regularly with kids around that age. I know these things would help. We live in the country, fairly isolated and simply. . .

So far we have found one thing that has helped. Since spring, our daughter has been volunteering at a science museum two days a week. To say that she loves it is an understatement! She,s been doing a great deal of work in the museum,s “mount room,” cataloging their collections and learning names (in scientific as well as laymen,s terms) of many birds and mammals in the process. (She quizzes us on the scientific names and we have great times trying to guess what animal it is!) She,s become quite the birder. Occasionally she gets to go on a field trip with the museum,s naturalist. And we all got to go (at special staff rates) on a whale watch sponsored by the museum. (For anyone who hasn,t done that, please do, if at all possible -definitely an experience of a lifetime! Hopefully we can repeat it again and again. . .)

The naturalist, by the way, has been very impressed by both of our children,s obvious love of and knowledge of nature. He said that he,d be more than happy to take them out into the field any time. All the museum staff thinks that it,s wonderful that our daughter has the chance to be doing this and have been very supportive, giving her a range of things to do to broaden her experiences there. Occasionally she will take over for the receptionist, and the accountant wants to teach her some of that. She can use the cash register and she helps get out mailings at times. Everyone has found what a good worker she is and the demand has become high! Her major focus is and will be, at her request, the natural history work.

None of this has meant much interaction with people her age, though there was a teen-age girl there over the summer which was nice for both of them. This particular girl goes to school but has had a hard time making friends there because she is considered “different.” She plays the cello, for one thing, and was so glad to find another kid who thought that was great! She and our daughter went camping and hiking together and had a great summer. It,s been hard for them to get together since school started as they live far from each other.

High school is becoming the issue -to go or not to go next year. We have found a very small alternative high school within reach (though not an easy reach) which we are looking into. School isn,t wanted, but a chance to meet some kids is. Our daughter wants somewhere to go sometimes where there are kids but does not want to give up the museum. This alternative school will take kids part-time, offers internships, independent study, all sorts of things. They work around the student instead of the other way around and think that homeschooling is great. . . May be just the thing. . .

Our 9-year-old son seems to have no complaints and spends his time reading or playing with and observing nature. He says that he,s going to be a scholar, builder of ships -both the water and space type -a homesteader, and a naturalist. Sounds like a busy and interesting life ahead!

John, I wanted to comment on “Spaceship School,” GWS #34. You could have been writing about my niece. . . She will not do anything unless there is a chance of seeing or meeting “cute boys.” Hardly anything is done for itself -what can be enjoyed by simply doing it or what can be learned from it. How sad. When our daughter told her about the museum work, her question was, “Are there any cute boys?” Since the only males at the museum are men rather than boys, her response was, “Oh, I wouldn,t like it then.” I realize that it,s a natural time to begin taking an interest in the opposite sex, but it is not unnatural to have other interests also!

. . .I, too, would like to see more about teens in GWS. . . We know of only one other home-schooling family with a teenager and they live in a different part of the state. . .

HOW SHE MET DATES

Joyce Kinmont wrote in the October Tender Tutor:

. . . Andrea, our social butterfly, has thoroughly enjoyed her three hours a day at the high school, but I hope there will be a better place for the rest of my children to go. The question, of course, is: Can a girl have a social life without going to the high school? And what that really means is: How will she meet any boys?

When Andrea turned 17 this summer we made a list of all the boys she had gone out with in the year she had been dating. There were eleven. Six of them were already out of school. Of those six, two were in our church ward, two she met in plays they were in at the community theater, one she met at a clogging class, and one has been a good friend since she was twelve. Another boy was from a different high school, and she met him at the theater. She did meet four of the eleven boys at the high school, but she also met these same boys at church dances.

So, if she had never attended the high school, her dating life would have been basically the same!. . .

J.P. AND CALVERT

From Kathy Mingl (IL):

. . . J.P. has started 1st grade (Calvert). . . I didn,t send for the course just because it was “time for him to start school,” as nearly everyone said -though I didn,t argue. I asked him if he wanted me to get it for him, and he said he did. This boy has plans, you see -he intends to build helicopters and walkie-talkies from kits, design robots and spaceships, and find out where to prospect for gold, etc., etc. . . He has come to his own decision that he wants to learn how to read and solve number problems (actually, he does know the mechanics of reading, he just has gaps in his theory, and lacks zip). He,s willing to accept schoolwork as a help in practicing his skills, but only in the areas where he needs it -if the games and puzzles are too easy, he loses interest (he says, “The tricky ones are neater”).

For $225, Calvert sent him two boxes of books, instructions, and supplies
-paper, crayons, pencils, etc. J.P. freaked out over the riches -all his! He made me drag the desk we,d saved for him out of the garage and put it in his room right away, and he was stashing all his stuff in it even before he let me finish screwing the legs and handles on -he just climbed over me.

I was a bit intimidated by it all, myself, so at first I tried doing it “by the book,” until I could figure out what the heck I was doing. Well, that didn,t work -for some reason, I felt like a teacher. J.P. got antsy, and I got irritable. Doing a little bit of each subject just long enough for the kid to get interested, and then switching to something else, makes him feel like the whole business is your idea, not his. Asking “know-it-all” questions all the time gets sadly in the way of scientific rapport.

Most of all, I can,t imagine what kind of kid this course is addressed to. It,s true that they tell you to “accept the child as he is,” and modify the program “in the light of his interests and abilities.” The directions say to find out what areas the child has trouble with and make up more lessons for him to practice -but what they do not tell you is what to do with their dratted program when the kid swallows their little morsel of learning whole, not to mention the spoon and half your arm, and then brightly looks up for more. . . It seems to me that anyone who had reached the ripe old age of 5 1/2 would be beyond the speed of this first-grade stuff, and yet, I have it on the authority of J.P.,s godmother, an elementary schoolteacher, that these are the standard texts the public schools use, and the workbooks are much more colorful and interesting -she got quite excited about them, as a matter of fact. J.P. does need work in the areas they cover, not so much for information as to clarify what he knows in his own head, but he has a naturally wide range of interests, and a good ability to duplicate what he sees and hears, so he “curriculum” has to be considerably padded out.

For instance, the other day we were supposed to “review the sound for the letter b” by means of my printing the words bed and bat on a sheet of paper, telling the “pupil” what the words are, and asking him if they begin with the same letter, and also the same sound! Well, what we did do was skip that part entirely. I think I,m going to have J.P. just do the test pages until we get to something with a little meat on it. We zipped through the workbook exercise; I was supposed to tell him what the pictures were, and ask him if they started with the same sound as “bug,” but really, it,s not safe to insult J.P.,s intelligence like that -I told him what they wanted and let him figure it out for himself. Then we hit the next lesson, comparing rhyming words, but instead of the incredibly tedious process the directions called for, we made up stories, with J.P. writing down all the words he could think of that ended with the same sound, and both of us trying to fill in the action: “Dad was sad when his boy was bad. Mom was mad and said You cad! Is this a new fad?, So she spanked her lad with a paper pad, and when she stopped, he said, Gad, am I glad!,” Pat and his adventure with the ubiquitous rat was another classic.

The next day, J.P. did several lessons in his arithmetic workbook, which involved learning to draw the numbers 0-9. Of course, he knows those already, but he had never considered them in the light of legibility, which is rather a different problem from merely recognizing them. He was quite interested, but he naturally objected a bit to doing it exactly the way the book said to. I didn,t insist, but I told him just to try it the way they suggested and see what worked best, because the main thing was to be able to tell what they were supposed to be, and beyond that, you can get as fancy as you want. (I had showed him my ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHOTOTYPE STYLES which has 5,000 letter and number designs.) He wrote 0-9 all the way through several times, galloped on through 19, noticed that 10 + 10 = 20, and then got all excited about a dot-to-dot puzzle in his workbook. He dragged all his dot-to-dot coloring books out and did puzzles for the rest of the day, some of them with numbers up to 60! (I think those are very good, by the way, especially the ones that include letter-dot puzzles as well, because he practices things like “What comes after K?”, not just saying all of them straight through, like the alphabet song. I get mixed up on those, too.)

With science, J.P. is so busy with his own lines of investigation that he goes for long stretches without any interest in the book. Then one day he did five plant experiments (sprouting seeds in dark and light, rooting cuttings, collecting different kinds of seeds, etc.) in one morning. Letting him figure the pictures out for himself and staying out of it as much as possible seems to work best. The next lesson mentioned “reptiles” on the first page, and we never got beyond that -we looked the word up in the dictionary, went through his REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS book, looked up where boa constrictors come from on the globe, got off into geography, magnetic poles, geo- vs. helio-centrism, Galileo, official persecution, and the theory of continental drift.

. . .By the way, another area where J.P. and Calvert part company is this “correct study posture” business. When J.P. works, he stands, kneels, or sprawls. When he is especially happy about what he,s doing, he bounces, hops, dances, or “flies” (flings himself at things). When he,s tired of doing something, he falls down in a heap. When he,s excited (because they thought they could fool him, but they sure couldn,t! He,s too smart for them!), he spins like a whirlwind. He does sit sometimes, but it,s mostly in my lap, and if he,s still, it,s because he,s parked somewhere, like on the floor when I,m trying to make supper. J.P. can,t be creative without getting his whole body into it -there,s so much energy it just has to spill over. (”Dear, dear -hyperactive,” right?)

All of this may sound like tepid approval of Calvert, but really, they have a very nice, consumer-oriented product. The fact that they,ve been in business for over 75 years lends a certain comforting respectability to the situation -something to fall back on when you have to defend yourself from people who can,t see the real issues. Of course, their “Advisory Teaching Service” is another $130, and they don,t give you any certificates or other impressive pieces of paper to flash at relatives or officials without that. I can,t imagine J.P. and any “advisory teacher” seeing eye-to-eye, any more than he and a public school teacher would, so we dispensed with that. . .

I know this is old stuff to you, but it,s become very real to Tony and me right now that slowing J.P. down into a narrow, public-school kindergarten pattern would be about as useful to him as chopping a baby bird,s wings off in order to teach him to walk. J.P. is still very little -his attention is flighty, and his self-discipline almost non-existent. His social development is healthy, but rudimentary; his grasp of ethical principles is remarkable, but elusive in application. If he does go to school eventually, I want him to have all those things down first, including being able to hold his own when he knows he,s right, even in a difference of opinion with an adult. . .

LIFE AT HOME

From Virginia Schewe (IL):

. . . Our home school (Hookdale Christian Academy, Inc.) is sailing along with ever-increasing success. After the initial rebellion against anything that even remotely resembled public school structure, the youngsters have made and settled nicely into their own tailor-made schedules. . .

Since we are a farm family, quite a number of our science projects are closely tied to agriculture. The latest project is a fish farm -complete with 10-gallon aquarium for the showy stuff and a five-gallon nursery tank. . . The long winter days don,t look so long any more with the fish to care for. . .

Both boys did a man,s work in the fields this past farming season, and they feel good about themselves! We put them on the payroll and they did a swell job. . .  Mark (14) learned how to operate the combine and he also drilled (planted) over 100 acres of wheat this fall. Bill (13) did most of the disking and field cultivating just ahead of the planter, plus hauling the harvested grain. Marsha (9) was the radio dispatcher -we use two-way radios to keep track of everyone, since most of us are strung out over a 5-mile-long area during farming season. She has “patch-through” mastered. And all this in addition to the regular reading, writing, and rithmetic.

Quite by accident this summer, I opened the doors to genealogy and suddenly history became very interesting to the youngsters. After we discovered that a great-grandpa had been in the Army during the Civil War, did a little research in the service records, traced his path, and read about the battles he had taken part in, the Civil War wasn,t just some old dumb scrap any more. . .

__________

From Robyn Midouhas (NJ):

. . .We are keeping our 6-year-old son Stephen home this year. Last year he attended a private Christian school which we felt was too structured. We are using an informal curriculum (Dr. Raymond Moore,s) with him and he is spending time in my husband,s architectural office each week.

. . . Our public school system has been very supportive -not that they totally agree, but they will leave it up to us. We didn,t even have to show a curriculum!

. . . Since we,ve started home schooling, we look at everything in life as a learning experience. . . We bought a set of World Book encyclopedias and are constantly using them as a reference. . .

__________

Billie Jean Bryant (GA) wrote:

. . .Channel 11 in Atlanta is doing a 30-minute feature on home schooling. We are to be filmed and I plan to have the children simply doing what they usually do: some studying and reading; constructing sound equipment; doing needlework; playing guitar and flute; cooking; caring for goats, snakes, and dogs; studying birds; assisting the handicapped to ride horses; learning gardening from neighbors; canning; dancing; skating; fishing. . . Do you think they,ll get it all in? But somehow we,ll try to give an overall picture. . .

MORE ON SAXOPHONE LESSONS

Pat Farenga,s continued adventures with the sax (GWS #34):

The store was neatly arrayed with displays of various musical instruments. . . Noticing the 8 x 10 glossy photos of famous contemporary horn players that hung below the shiny new saxophones, I felt a bit intimidated. They were all inscribed to this effect, “To Emilio, Thanks for your help. Best, Sonny Rollins.”

What am I doing here? I thought. . .

“Can I help you?” asked the man with curly white hair who stood behind the counter.

“John Payne sent me here. He told me to ask for Emilio.”

“I,m Emilio. What can I do for you?”

“I just had my first sax lesson yesterday and I,d like to rent a tenor sax.”

“I don,t think we have any in stock. Let me check.” Emilio returned empty-handed. “I don,t have any used tenors. I can let you have an alto; it,s cheaper.”

“I just started and I really want to play tenor.”

“Are you a full-time student in town?”

“No. I work as a dorm director at the Boston Conservatory.”

Emilio was very unimpressed. I quickly added, “And I work part-time at Holt Associates. It,s a small company on Boylston Street.”

Emilio looked at me cannily, then he said, “I trust you. I,ll tell you what. I have a new Yamaha tenor I can rent you.”

“That,s great! Just show me how to take care of it.”

“I,ll show you everything you need to get started,” Emilio said as he left me. The sax he gave me was still wrapped in its original packing. Emilio told me how to assemble and maintain it, then turned the sax over to my charge.

Later that day I went back to my dormitory and unpacked the sax. I examined it closely, trying to see how its labyrinth of holes, connections, and levers work. I then strapped the sax around my neck and prepared to hit one of the three notes I learned the day before. It was astounding! I spent at least ten minutes blowing into the thing and all I got out of it was a blue face. I removed the mouthpiece from the sax and tried to make some of the obnoxious sounds we made during yesterday,s lesson. After some experimenting with different mouth positions I finally found the one that produced the proper noise. Then I tried to make the noise again. I was walking around my room, carefully squeaking and squawking when I heard a loud knock on my door, followed by a dorm resident,s concerned and baffled voice, “Are you all right, Pat?” I knew then it was going to be a weird experience learning something new.

One thing neither John Payne nor anyone else ever warned me about the saxophone is that it numbs your mouth into granite. When a player,s “chops” were described as good or bad, I thought they referred to their improvisational originality, not to their facial muscles. As I rubbed my numb jowls and massaged the back of my jaw bone below the ear, I realized what “chops” are: the limits of one,s blowing abilities.

I worked on the first four lessons in my Tune-A-Day book, and by the next week,s lesson I was able to play “The Little A and B March,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” and other timeless favorites of the sax repertoire.

My second lesson included information about slurring and tonguing notes, both aspects of playing that I,m still working on. John told me to read and do the material but to go on before mastering it. “Don,t get hung up on this stuff. If it doesn,t come, skip it for now. The important thing is to keep you getting a consistent sound from the instrument.” During that lesson John showed me how all the notes I learned in the previous lessons could be put together to form the scale of D major. “Once you learn a few more scales we,ll have you improvising, and even in the choir,” John would tell me. John always reminds me where my practice and lessons will lead me and what I can do with the knowledge I,m picking up every week. Everything -improvising, playing in the Choir, playing in a small ensemble, learning my favorite songs off records -all of these are made to be within my reach. That,s something that gets neglected a lot when you,re learning something new; seeing how you can benefit from it in the long run.

It is especially nice knowing that no one but me decides how fast I will be traveling towards these goals. If I stop for a breather while I do something else, my lessons slow down accordingly; if I whiz through my assignments, John will load me up with more than enough to keep me busy. My proficiency on the sax is still in the very green beginner,s stage, but that,s not important to me now. Now that I,ve started and gotten sounds out of it, I feel ready to dig in for the long haul. I haven,t any desire to become a card-carrying musician, but I do want to be able to get together with a group of like-minded folks and play “Satin Doll” with some skill and creativity.

. . . What was very helpful in getting me to enjoy practicing was learning a Blues Scale in my second lesson. John Payne told me to just “mess around with it” at the same time I was doing Lessons 4-10 in the Tune-A-Day book. The Blues scale sounds so good on the sax; and since the blues is the basis of Jazz and Rock and Roll, you realize you can do exciting things with this readily identifiable sound.

(To be continued.)

A SINGLE PARENT,S YEAR

From Lynne Norris (IN):

Jan. 11: This is a very hard letter to write. I feel very much a failure.

The reason being that I,ve had to put my son, Daniel, into school. It is every bit as awful as we expected. But finally life on working welfare in New York City became absolutely untenable. I moved back to my old home town in Indiana in hopes that financially things would improve. They haven,t. Being a single parent, the financial burden falls on me. I have very little earning power as it is, and none of my cottage industry skills can support us any more. I have no one who can watch Daniel while I work, he is too small to leave alone eight hours a day, and I cannot afford to pay anyone to look in on him. We live in a fairly isolated area. When I say he would be alone if left as a latchkey child, he would really be alone. The only babysitter I can afford is the school system. We feel awful. Especially since the first words out of the new principal,s mouth were that children who misbehaved would be paddled.

I wasn,t “done in” by the school system. I was done in by Reaganomics. I can,t even renew my subscription. I don,t have as much money off of welfare as I did when I was on. . . Out here I couldn,t even look for work with a small child in tow. I guess my advice to other single parents is to stay in the largest metropolitan area. Situations can be much more flexible that way. . .
__________

John wrote back:

. . . 1) Cheer up! The game isn,t over yet.
2) You,re not a failure.
3) We,ll keep sending you GWS, at least for this year. Maybe you can get us some other subscriptions, or perhaps an ad for the magazine.
4) Don,t worry quite so much about the school. The school game is not hard to play, once you know it,s a game. It,s a dumb, boring, stupid, often cruel place, and it,s a shame children should have to waste so much time there, but any smart kid, and I,m sure your Daniel is smart, can figure out how to do most of the things s/he has to do, and how to stay out of such kinds of trouble as s/he could get into. Think of school as a game which you and he have to play together for awhile, perhaps no more than a year or two. Perhaps much less.
5) I don,t know whether Daniel is too young to be a latchkey kid. Why not let him be the judge of that? Say to him, “Here are the choices: play the school game, or be at home alone during the school day. Which do you want to try?”
6) I looked on the map, and see you,re not far from Louisville, where we have some homeschoolers. I know some of them, and they are very nice folks. . . Why not make contact with them? It would probably encourage you to meet some of them and go to some of their meetings, etc. Get them to put you on whatever mailing list they have. If for any reason life at school gets very bad, you might be able to send Daniel to spend a few days, or a week, or more if you both like, as a kind of vacation from school. Someone over there might be able to find you a job, or help you find one, or take care of Daniel during the day, or whatever.

Don,t despair! There,s lots of time left to run, and plenty of friends out there, and some of them not too far away. Write again soon, tell us how things are going. Good luck to you both. . .

[Lynne wrote in May:] . . . I was able to locate only one family in Louisville. We did get together one evening socially, but the mother is somewhat ambiguous about what she wants for her son. Also her children are younger than Daniel. . . They are, however, knowledgeable and friendly people. . .

After I put my son into school in January, I met with the new Superintendent of the New Albany-Floyd County Schools, Dr. Tracy Dust. He willingly spent two hours with me, discussing my past experience in teaching, gifted education advocacy, curriculum ideas, homeschooling, and what mutual exchanges we might have. Dr. Dust said that if I decide to homeschool again that he would like to work with me rather than against me. He is familiar with the concept and practice of homeschooling from other school districts he has served. . .

Daniel has found that school is as boring as we thought it would be. . . I must admit there was some curiosity on both our parts as to whether he could “make it,” when many had accused us of living in a fantasy world. Daniel adapted to school within two weeks. The kids like him, despite his inability to understand the hostility between boys and girls. I have explained this to him, but he still doesn,t like it. Though his first reading test came out a year below grade level, I did not pay much attention to it. . . He had never had a standardized test before. The general attitude was “We told you so.” After two weeks the teacher was kvelling over how well he could read, how well-behaved, how intelligent, etc., Daniel was. . . He finished the year in the top quarter of the class. We refused to get caught up in the notion of rushing to beat schedules, feeling guilty or “bad” for talking in the lunchroom (they are not allowed to talk at lunch time), or just plain bad scholarship that came out of the school in the form of textbooks, announcements, and misinformation. . .

The children who attend the school are, for the most part, what might be termed “culturally disadvantaged.” . . . These children,s lives revolve around their family, the shopping mall, and television. . .

Since Daniel had to do 14 book reports in the half year, as opposed to the other children having all year to do the 14, he quit reading for recreation. He finished the reports about four weeks ago. Last night he picked up his first book for fun. He did win a two-county writing contest. He won for a prose piece on the baby bird we raised last summer. The piece was written in December, before he went to school. . .

We have been continuing an art class held at a local art supply store. The teacher is one the school system laid off. She is quite good and Daniel loves going. He also takes dancing lessons and is an excellent swimmer. This summer we will also do an art project and a natural history project for the county,s Mini-4H exhibit. Again, this is stuff the school does not do. . .

What this school experiment has demonstrated is that we were right, Daniel and I. We also learned that sometimes we have to compromise and adjust, but that we can survive once we know the game, as John said. . .

As to this fall, it seems unlikely that Daniel will go to school. I have been very lucky in picking up a class to teach at the local university in Freshmen Composition. . . Daniel can wait in the student lounge while I teach. . . Also, I may do some teaching for another university. . . If I have just two classes to teach we,ll do OK. . .

Nov. 11 . . . My negotiations with Dr. Dust continued throughout the summer. I brought him my homeschooling records, stressed my growing knowledge of community resources, and my interest in current trends regarding all types of schooling. I introduced him to Daniel. . . Though Dr. Dust and I have points of philosophical disagreement, he has been very generous with his time, and we have developed a mutual respect for one another,s position.

. . . The upshot is that we have permission to homeschool. I do send in informal end-of-month reports, though these are not requested. I want to demonstrate my cooperation so if anything unpleasant should occur, my cooperation, good planning, and record-keeping would be evident. . .

Daniel and I spent the summer gardening; working on the 4-H exhibits; visiting museums, an industrial site and a health care facility; attending on-going programs at the public library; and digging one day at an archeological site.

. . . I,ve had a little better luck at job hunting. . . The state vocational college hired me to teach English and a third college asked me to direct a play for them in the spring. In each instance Daniel can go with me, sit in the student study area, and do his work. Anybody who has tried “adjuncting” knows how little it pays. Teaching, preparation and grading time brings the wage to $4 an hour without any benefits. But it does allow us to homeschool, and that,s something no other jobs around here could do.

This fall Daniel is still taking art class, but has traded dancing for a children,s bowling league. He has fallen in love with anything that flies, prompting unsupervised building of plane models, massive library research (he found out who the Wright brothers were a week before I was going to have him look them up), and the keeping of a journal which includes names of planes, names of models he wants, sketches and ideas for things that fly. There is a lot of hot-air ballooning around here, so we try to see that as much as we can. Neither a school nor I could have gotten Daniel to do as much writing and record-keeping as his own interest in flying has done. (Incidentally, we have found that any kind of oil or acrylic paints do fine on plastic models, thereby saving buying expensive model paint.)

I have done two impromptu lectures on homeschooling in my classes, since my day students noticed that I had a 9-year-old in tow. Only a few thought it odd, but I suspect that is because what the locals call a “laid-back attitude” is actually mental inertia. . . About half had not been inside a public library for years, so I took them on a field trip. None knew how to use the card catalog. . . They had no idea that the library contained technical books, best-sellers, records, pictures, or children,s books (some are parents). Theses students must have a high school diploma or a G.E.D. to enroll in the school. This is beyond sad. This is tragic.
So, though our finances remain at rock bottom and we have huge waves of homesickness for New York City, the home of our hearts, we are able to get on with the important work at hand: learning, living, and caring in the way that is best for us. . . As soon as my November checks are in I will pay for this year,s renewal to GWS and I graciously thank you for the past year,s freebie. . .

RESPONSES TO “ON GUILT”

From Susan Jaffer (PA):

. . . I,d like to comment on John,s response to the mother who felt guilty (GWS #33); it was excellent. La Leche League receives many letters on the subject of guilt, and their replies usually center around the statement that they present ideals. I always suspected that many of the mothers weren,t guilty at all, but resentful. They were uncomfortable with the idea of natural childbirth, they didn,t bond with their newborns, and they didn,t want to breastfeed - at least not the League way. So there was LLL telling the world about all these things that are best for babies, and that naturally generates a lot of hostility and defensive behavior in those mothers who aren,t giving their babies the “best.”

. . . This is not to say I,ve always been the perfect breastfeeder or unschooler; in fact, I managed to totally foul up my first nursing experience. Sure, LLL,s newsletter occasionally reminds me of those mistakes, but that doesn,t dilute the fact that it helped me enormously when I successfully nursed my second and third babies.

As for GWS, some of its ideas have been entirely new to me; some I don,t even agree with (yet?). But many of these ideas have inspired me to make some changes. I have to confess that for years I inadvertently discouraged my children from exploring new areas of capability because of my aversion to mess-making (I have a terrible time with my own messes and can never keep up with them) and lack of patience. GWS is teaching (did I say “teaching”?) me to change my ways. I,ve also learned that while being a good talker has certain advantages, it is also a good idea to refrain from reacting verbally to one,s children once in awhile. (A nice way of saying I,m learning to keep my mouth shut.) And on the positive side, GWS has enabled me to see that in many ways I have provided a wonderful home school for my kids. We are all ravenous readers, enthusiastic artists, and ever-curious explorers of nature.

One of the things I like best about your newsletter is that it reflects your open attitude. That is, you share letters from people who are doing home schooling in a multitude of ways - or not doing it at all. All of their opinions count, they are all treated with respect - and no one is ever made to feel guilty. . .

_______

Toots Weier (WI) wrote:

. . . The article John wrote (”On Guilt,” GWS #33) about his friend criticizing GWS for writing so much about “Superkids” was very interesting. I had wondered myself why so much was written about the above-average home-schooled children, those who are not only very intelligent but also have a great variety of interests. I found John,s reply to be very important.

Forest (8) has never had a vast assortment of interests. Before he could read, he drew picture after picture, every day. I marveled at them all, each one unique and so very special. I believed he had a genuine talent in art, but knew of nobody who could encourage him to pursue it in a way that he would benefit and expand his talent.

Now that he can read, he reads a great part of the day away. It,s been months since he,s drawn a picture. I believe that through his reading he will also be exploring and may find new interests through that.

For a short while he was very interested in violin. I had taken him to a Suzuki class so that we could sit and watch. He thought it looked like fun, and was sure he wanted to start lessons. Well, as it was, we couldn,t start right then, and now that we can, he,s lost interest. I was really looking forward to hearing music in our home. . . I,m thinking that possibly sitting in on a class again will spark his interest.

I don,t think the lack of interest in our children points to them as being lazy or careless. It,s more a matter of what they are exposed to and what,s available. In town, 20 miles from here, the children,s theater was holding auditions for a Christmas play. I asked Forest if he was interested in trying out and he said NO. It would have meant a lot of chasing around, but I was willing to do it if he had been interested.

I did check out 4-H while they had a booth set up at the county fair. Since then I got a call from a very friendly woman who gave me all the information on 4-H. I passed it on to Forest and he is rather excited, especially since they encourage the participation of parents. The only drawback is that 8 years is the youngest age that can join which leaves Horizon Blue (5) out. He is very disappointed, but that will be a very special time for either Steve or myself to have with him while Forest is at the meeting with one of us. . .

DISAPPROVING RELATIVES

[DR:] A number of recent letters have mentioned the same issue. Some excerpts:

. . . Our only problem now is the fact that my folks are adamantly against this decision. My father was a school superintendent. . .

__________
. . . My husband,s mother is opposed to home-schooling. She doesn,t feel that an “untrained” person knows enough. But she taught all her five children music and most of them can play beautifully. . .

__________

. . . The most difficult thing is when people you love openly disapprove of what you,re doing. My parents were visiting for two weeks this summer and were constantly on my case about sending my son to school. They truly love him and are worried about him and no amount of talking convinces them that this is best for him. They are sure he,ll grow up to be a social misfit. The fact that he reads and writes far beyond his years is actually a point against him. “He,ll be too smart to have any friends.” I can,t win!
He does have lots of friends of all ages but they really believe he needs to be with a group of 30 kids his own age! When I recount some of the cruel treatment he suffered in school, they say he has to learn to “take it” or he won,t survive in the outside world.
. . . Nothing I say helps. They think this is just another of my rebellious streaks. . . I,d be interested to hear how other homeschoolers cope with beloved grandparents who greatly oppose homeschooling. . .

__________

. . . Most of our relatives will be totally against this (as if it is any of their business), as they are about our lifestyle and macrobiotic vegetarian diet. They,re already asking if our son can count numbers, blah, blah, blah.
When we make our decision about how we plan to handle the letter to the superintendent, I would like to give a copy to those asking. I would like to tell them not to discuss this subject in front of our children, as I don,t want them being hassled, like “Don,t you want to go to school?” and “You,ll have to learn to eat other foods,” etc. . .

__________

. . . A recent visit from my parents included a rather unsatisfactory discussion on homeschooling. They have been silently disapproving since I first hinted at the possibility we might keep our children home, about three years ago. We had all conveniently avoided any further discussion on the subject until their last visit. I was very patient, but became inwardly very frustrated with them. I tried giving them factual information, stating the legality of homeschooling in this state, why we wanted to, etc. My parents are difficult to begin with, but the whole conversation left me feeling like I,d wasted my breath. I offered them the opportunity to read material I have, and gave them two of John,s reprints. They think it is illegal, we,ll wind up in court, they could never have taught me, and what,s wrong with sending your child on the school bus with his lunch pail and having him come home again with all his papers to show you?

I finally decided they are defensive because they consider my doing things differently as an accusation that what they did with me was wrong. I guess they are that insecure about having raised four kids that they can,t look beyond that to see that they raised four very good human beings who are all doing well. I,ve made special attempts to praise them as parents and grandparents. . .

J.P. MEETS HOMESCHOOLERS

More from Kathy Mingl (IL):

. . . About the same time that J.P.,s schoolwork came, Tony turned the wood-working business over to me and took a job as an electronics employment counselor. . . J.P. is naturally saddened that his daddy has to be away from us all day, but in a way, his schoolwork helps with that, because now he has something just as important and impressive to do during the day that he can surprise Tony with when he gets home. (and of course, J.P. is entirely in favor of making money.)

Still, it,s a loss, and he feels a bit isolated with his friends off at school, so we called up a homeschooler in Arlington Heights, and got in touch with the HOUSE group in that area. We went to one of their open-house meetings at Susan Oldberg,s house in Northbrook, so that J.P. could see other kids who go to school at home. Boy, did he see other kids! They had a guy who,d raised a wolf give a talk and show movies, and the place was swarming. J.P. was a bit overwhelmed at first, and spent a lot of time in my lap, but then he found a cat, a friend, and a geodesic jungle-gym sort of thing, and when it was time to go home, I thought I was going to have to lasso him. They go on field trips, too - J.P. would like that, I,m sure.

I was feeling a bit flattened at the time, myself, because now that J.P. is actually “school-age,” some of the people who were supportive of our ideas are deserting the ranks. One of our favorite relatives has become unexpectedly critical of us (though she couldn,t come out in the open and tell us), and I was inclined to feel rather puzzled and hurt. I talked to some of the homeschoolers at that open-house about it, though, and one of them, Kathy Catino, who gave J.P. and me a ride there, nailed it down pretty good, I thought. She said that people who know they should be doing something like homeschooling but are terrified of going against the norm feel threatened when they hear about it, and that makes you almost an enemy. It,s not that they don,t agree with you, it,s that they do, and it scares them to death. Tony and I were very struck by the logic of that, and it made us feel a little better.

As it turns out, I,ve talked to this relative since, and though I can,t say the situation is resolved, she did tell me that her youngest boy had begged her to let him stay home from school this year, and she had refused because she didn,t feel she could handle it. So there you are.

. . . Just started reading GWS #35. . . I would like to comment on Sue of Seattle,s “Thoughts After Six Years”: obviously she and her family don,t like things like keeping journals and going on “field trips,” but speaking in mild defense of such things, if you enjoy something, it isn,t “fakey.” As she says, it,s thinking up activities you don,t care about, for someone else,s approval or admiration, that,s fake. . .

WHY DID THEY STOP?

We need to hear, and are very eager to hear, from families whose children were for a while homeschooled but have for one reason or another now gone back to school. Some of the things we would like to know are:

1) Was it mostly the children or the parents who made this decision about going back to school?
2) If it was the children, was it mostly because they were tired of homeschooling and just wanted a change; or because there was some particular study or sport or activity that they wanted to do at school; or because they mostly wanted to check out the social scene and meet a larger number of other children; or if something else, what?
3) If it was mostly the parents, decision, what were their reasons? Lack of time, pressure of other commitments, resistance from the children, or what?
4) Did the children go back to school with the understanding that if they didn,t want to stay, they did not have to, and could always go back to homeschooling? Or did they go with the understanding that, like most children, they were going to have to stay in school whether they liked it or not? Or was there perhaps an understanding that they would have to stay, like it or not, through some definite time period, after which the question of going or not going could be opened again?
5) What have been some of the experiences and reactions of the children going back to school? If they had gone to school before they homeschooled, do they like school more, or less, this second time than they did the first time? Do they like being at school more, or less, than they expected to? If there are some good things about the experience and some bad, what are some of these? Do they feel they are treated in any special way, perhaps unkindly, perhaps kindly, by the school because of their previous homeschooling; in other words, is the school punishing them for having been homeschoolers, or does it seem to be going out of its way a little to make them feel at home and welcome, or are they just treated pretty much like the other kids?
6) Do they have any trouble with the schoolwork, and if so, with what aspects of it?

We tend to feel here that a family which has been teaching its children at home does not stop being a homeschooling family just because the children want to try school for awhile, as long as the parents continue to offer the children the choice of homeschooling if they want it. Only if that choice is withdrawn and the children are told that they have to go to school whether they like it or not, would we feel that the family had given up homeschooling. If some of you have truly given up homeschooling, we would like to know some of the reasons why, if you care to tell us. We will not (or will do our best not to) try to argue you out of your decision, but if we can learn something about why homeschooling did not seem to work for you, we may be able to solve some of these problems for families that are still doing it. For anything you may be able to tell us, we will be very grateful. - JH

FAN MAIL

. . .We enjoy your newsletter immensely. I always get two copies, make notations of interest in one and send to family and friends I know are skeptical or interested in homeschooling. On the other I make notations of legal matters or points of interest that I feel may help us if we ever need to go to court or to aid in enacting legislation for homeschoolers. This goes into my education file along with clippings of articles which support our feelings of what,s happening in the schools today (low literacy, violence, etc.) - BARBARA HUSSEY (HI)

. . . You know, many times I,ve felt like writing “letters to the editor” in newspapers or magazines, but I never went through with it. I suppose one reason was laziness. Another, fear of sounding uneducated and illogical. But most of all I didn,t believe it would accomplish anything. Since my ideas usually differ from society,s norms anyway I felt I would probably do my cause more harm than good (home-birth, homeschooling, nutrition, and an Edgar Cayce view of life and death) by appearing overly emotional on the issue with few facts, said in an incorrect letter form with possible grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. With GWS, on the other hand, I feel the majority of readers are more accepting and willing to see beyond incorrect structure to hear my ideas, to listen to the “me” hiding behind the words. I,m willing to give part of myself to what feels like a supportive family.

. . . I had written a short letter when I subscribed to GWS, describing the basics of our unschooling situation. A couple of months ago, I received a postcard from Donna asking how things were going for our son. She made me feel that someone out there really does care. Also I was so grateful that she had carefully worded it, so if our postal clerk read it she wouldn,t know what Donna was really referring to! - MAGGIE MEYER, Ohio

. . . I love it when GWS gets here. First I have a quick look for letters from friends or peole I know through my work with Nurturing magazine, then I try to read it. That,s the hard part - I,ll be halfway down a letter and a title will catch my eye, so I start on another, then back to the first. I think I should take up speed reading, I cannot get enough in my head at once. I have to explore its every page, find the words that express exactly what I feel, suffer with the families who are having a hard time, be happy for those who have won the battle and can now teach and learn fully with nothing hanging over them. Like a lover returning after time apart, I must search each part to see that there are no changes, make sure the feelings come through the same, find out that we are still going along the same path. There comes a time, after I have checked each page, read parts of letters, seen who is new in the directory, that I do settle down to read. . .

When a friend wanted to borrow my back issues I was most reluctant to lend them even though I know she will treat them as I do. It was just the thought of them not being here in case I needed to turn to one of them. - KAREN DIXON (Ontario)

FAMILY IN THE COUNTRY

From Karen Schadel (NY):

Aug. 16: . . . We recently moved to a small (16 beautiful acres) home in the country. . . Our elevation is over 1400 feet so we have the valley and countryside just before our eyes. . . We hope to build a small addition this fall which will enable the children to observe, participate, and learn from the experience. . . We heat solely with wood. . . my kids have always loved to participate in stacking, storing, and bringing it in. . .

We have periodically suffered from either a water shortage or a total water loss. . . However, we,re learning so much about water - supply, purity, maintenance, conservation, pressure, flow rate, plumbing, and much more - all with the children silently watching what is taking place and later discussing it with us with wonderful comprehension.

. . . When we discovered there were bats on our property, probably residing in our barn or an old tree stump, I was a bit taken aback. We rushed to the library and scrounged for books and information on bats. . . My honest intention was to learn how to rid ourselves of them. How could I possibly live with bats??!! My 7-year-old was enthralled and retained nearly every bit of material we pored through, and my 5-year-old was equally enticed by them. Only Mom couldn,t handle the thought of a bat in my hair (a hard myth to shake) or a rabid bat who might bite an unsuspecting child (actually, not a likely event, I later learned). The more we read, the more we all (especially me) learned about bats. With the arrival of the black flies which were followed by a horde of mosquitoes, I came to welcome and truly appreciate the role of the little brown bats who were living with us and eating all those bugs. . . Now we will often, one or all of us, go to the window or venture outdoors to watch the bat,s appear as nightfall arrives. . .

Oct. 17: . . . Things are hectic now. The excavation is done for the addition and we watched the masons erect the foundation today. The children are observing so much and will start more active participation with the carpentry work, as their father will be involved with this, and all the finishing work, which will take us years to complete. But it gives us something to look forward to, to plan for and to work together on as family projects. Meaningful work, as John says, is really the best teacher, and helps to build a good self-image and feeling of worth. The children are at their best when doing adult jobs or projects that have a significance - I rarely see the same look on their faces when they are playing with toys or just spending idle time.

For example, recently we began digging potatoes from our garden - the same ones the children carefully helped us plant in the spring. They spent a lot of time digging each hole and marveling over the number of potatoes in each hill and the size of each potato. We carried them down from our garden located well behind the house. . . What they did was very important to them and they did a very good job. And the best part was when we cooked and ate their potatoes - did they ever taste good! . . .

The boys now have two miniature lops (rabbits) that were purchased for them by a friend. . . We visited two rabbitries in our area before they could decide. The first farm had 450 rabbits and they didn,t like any of them! So on to the next farm, where they bought an aguti doe and a broken (spotted) buck. We did the necessary reading to educate ourselves in the basic needs and care of rabbits before our trip to the rabbit farms, so we were prepared to purchase them and eager to have these pets: the children,s first responsibility to an animal totally dependent on them for its existence.

While at the second rabbit farm (something I recorded in my journal as a field trip), we were given a grand tour by the owner. She questioned why my oldest wasn,t in school. I felt the situation a safe one in which to say he was being taught at home. For some reason this had a very positive effect on her (she was the mother of five, her youngest just beginning kindergarten) and she proceeded to share an incredible amount of knowledge with us - especially Joshua. She directed much of what she said or showed to him and used his name when talking with him. She demonstrated how to hold a rabbit properly to prevent being clawed. She explained how to clip their nails if necessary. She showed us the way their teeth should be lined up, what a malocclusion was, and how to determine if a rabbit was ill by feeling its nose and observing its dietary intake and elimination patterns. . .

She explained how to prepare a nesting box and when to place the expectant mother in it. We were allowed to see and touch kits (baby rabbits) that were only one day old. She told us that a rabbit kindles (gives birth) in about 30 days following conception and that the newborn kits are hairless, blind, and deaf. We observed the tiny kits all pink and new as they jumped about in the nesting box, looking very much like popcorn in a kettle as they searched for their mother to nurse. We were told how important it is to wash your hands after handling the rabbits to decrease the possibility of spreading disease. She demonstrated how a wire cage is torched with a propane flame in order to sanitize it before allowing a new rabbit to reside there, and also to remove molting rabbit fur that adheres to the wire. . .

We left the rabbit farm with our two miniature lops in the back of the car and much new knowledge, facts, and information stored away in our heads. Joshua retained every bit of what he saw and was told that day. . . This was the best start they could have had. . .

Oct. 26: . . . Since we moved to the country, we can no longer enjoy the convenience of setting our garbage at the curb and watching it be hauled away to who-knows-where. Instead we must make weekly trips to our local dump about four miles away - but we enjoy these trips more than I ever imagined. The boys began going with their father and I quickly saw that they were hauling home nearly as much as they were hauling away.

. . . Seth (5) spotted a fishing pole exactly sized for him and after we brought it home, untangled the line, and purchased a hook and sinker, it was in perfect working condition. Joshua (7) discovered an old discarded record player way beyond repair, but still of interest to him, so it was also brought home along with a chair with only three legs. He has explored, dissected, and investigated the insides of the record player and further disassembled the chair. What he,s learned, I,m not sure, but he has occupied himself and enjoyed the time spent with his “treasures.”. . . Among my husband,s finds have been a wooden-style toilet tank with brass fixtures, a dresser (incredibly warped but still sporting some very nice antique hardware), screening, metal, wood scraps, and sheetrock.

Since I didn,t want to miss out on all the fun, I hopped into the truck one Saturday morning with the whole crew, which by this time included 2-year-old Sadrah, and ventured to the dump to see what treasures I would uncover. I was astonished to find a large wooden bowl (with a small crack), an orange straw hat (perfect for dress-up), two small metal enamel bowls, a paper party tablecloth (unopened), and a full-sized wool blanket (beige-and-lavender-striped with a few burdocks stuck to it). All of these items were clean and in good-to-excellent condition. . .

A big discussion followed involving waste, recycling, donations, charity, value, and more. Granted, we didn,t really need any of what we found, but we,re making use of almost all of it. The dresser was returned to the dump less its hardware and I expect the record player will find its way back sometime when Joshua has finished with it. But the blanket is on Seth,s bed, the hat is in the toy basket, the wooden bowl has become a decorative addition by our front steps next to my plants, the metal bowls were temporarily used as food dishes for our rabbits and are now part of our sandbox equipment, and so on. The dump is not a very lovely spot to visit, but I didn,t see any rats, either. . . We anticipate each trip in wonderment of what new treasures we,ll uncover. . .

THE CHANGING WORLD ECONOMY

The Boston Globe of 9/26/83 published a story about industrial workers around the world that, though few paid it much attention, seemed to me as important as any news story I have seen in years. They showed a table of “Total hourly compensation for production workers in manufacturing. These figures include fringe benefits, bonuses, medical coverage and employer social welfare contributions.”
The figures:

United States - $11.79
Canada - $10.77
Sweden - $10.33
France - $8.15
Italy - $7.39
United Kingdom - $6.67
Japan - $5.82
Israel - $4.67
Venezuela - $3.98
Brazil - $2.43
Mexico - $1.97
Singapore - $1.77
Taiwan - $1.57
Hong Kong - $1.55
South Korea $1.22
India (1979 - $ .37
Sri Lanka (1981) - $ .21

We can easily see why Atari recently moved most of its production facilities from California to Hong Kong, and why a factory worker in Hong Kong was quoted in this same Globe story as saying that she knew it was only a matter of time before her job disappeared into Sri Lanka.

One of the countries missing from these tables is the most significant of all - China. I would guess that China,s average hourly industrial wage was somewhat above India,s 37 cents, but probably well below South Korea,s $1.22 and probably well below $1.00. With India,s more than 600 million people and China,s more than a billion, there is in the world a virtually inexhaustible supply of industrial workers ready to work for less than, probably must less than $1 per hour.

The economic future of the rich industrial nations of the West, and probably even of Japan itself (which has already lost most of its ship-building industry to South Korea), is written in these figures. For about two decades these nations were able to employ, at high wages, just about everyone who wanted to do industrial work. For the first time in history, factory workers could think of owning cars, a home, sending children to college, joining the true middle class. That day is gone, probably forever. The industrial, money economies of these nations have already dropped out many of their workers, and in the next decade or two are sure to drop out a great many more.
“High tech” will not save us. Atari, like many companies, as we know, is already doing its manufacturing in Hong Kong. Anything a company can train a $10-an-hour worker to do today, it can train a $1-an-hour worker to do tomorrow - and will. Homesteader,s News, Mother Earth News, and others tell us about people who have chosen to learn how to live outside the money economy. Millions of others won,t get the choice; they are going to have to learn the same thing, whether they like it or not.

Those with a taste for irony may perhaps enjoy the thought that what a century or so of Socialism and Communism have not been able to do - reduce the gap between the poor and the rich peoples of the world - may be done in a decade or two, is in fact being done right now, by profit-seeking multinational corporations.

What is the point of all of this for homeschoolers? Just this, that this country as a whole is going to have to begin to give some serious thought to some things that already interest many homeschoolers but have so far not been of the slightest interest to schools - economy, efficiency, thrift. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.” “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Things like that. No child can be said to go into the world and the future even moderately prepared who has not learned, perhaps among many other things, how to live healthily, productively, and happily on very little money, how to do for herself or himself a great many things that most of us now only think of paying others to do. (Incidentally, there was a plumbing disaster in my apartment not long ago, and out of necessity - to keep my apartment from being flooded out - I played some part in helping to get it fixed.) - JH

CHILDREN IN THE WORKPLACE

From Marta Clark in Kentucky:

. . . You asked about unschooling and working parents. Since Joy Thomas and I started a business two months ago, I can tell you how we have worked things out. I have two children (4 and 1) and she has two (4 and 2). Rather than split them up among the various preschools and daycare centers, we hired one babysitter to watch all of them in her home. The important features of this arrangement were (1) the brothers and sisters and friends were all kept together instead of being split up by age; (2) we could work with the babysitter about food (no sweets), TV watching, and discipline; (3) the care was consistent instead of being given by whoever was working that day; (4) the woman became emotionally involved with the children and they with her, which is impossible in the usual daycare school with its changing students and teachers.

The only drawback to this wonderful setup - it is too expensive to continue because our new business needs the money we have been paying the sitter. But, since things have settled down so that we both don,t need to work all the time, we are going to take turns working at the business (an exercise studio/health club) and being at our homes with all four children. We are also fixing up the office at work for the children so they can be with us there for a couple of hours every day. Our husbands will also be seeing more of their children than they were before we started the business!

The two four-year-olds love the exercise studio - they think it,s lots of fun to work out, meet new people, and go out to eat. The two-year-old is also fairly well-behaved there. The one-year-old prevents me from getting anything done at work so I have stopped trying - I get too frustrated and angry with him. The problems with keeping the children at work are that they quarrel with each other enough to distract us and our customers, and they can,t last the hours that we work - late lunch, etc. so the combination of paying a babysitter, their fathers keeping them at home, one of us taking all the children, and bringing them one at a time to work is working very well for us. . .

TREE PLANTER UPDATE

In “Tree Planters,” way back in GWS #7, we told about a 15-year-old in Los Angeles who started planting trees in Southern California and organized others to do so. The “Tree People” are going stronger than ever, and we think GWS families in the L.A. area might want to work with them. According to their newsletter, the Seedling News (12601 Mulholland Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210; 213-769-2663), the organization set a goal of planting 1,000,000 trees before the 1984 Olympics. They have gotten support from the government, nurseries, celebrities, and thousands of volunteer tree-planters. Sounds like a good way for young people, especially, to do some work they can see is worth doing. - DR

SUCCESS STORIES

Elaine Gale (MA) wrote:

. . . Two weeks ago I went before a public session of a school board meeting to request homeschooling for my daughter, Leah. I was not able to appear before this time because the superintendent checked my curriculum with the department heads, met with me twice, and tested my daughter with the Detroit Learning Abilities Test, the Spache Reading Test, and a math test devised and administered by a local principal. The superintendent made a recommendation for us to the school board. He said that my curriculum (WEIMAR COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, Box A, Weimar CA 95736) was better than the public school except our math book only went up to the 6,s in multiplication (I also got Elmer Brooks, MATH-IT KIT from Weimar - excellent!). He told them that Leah was tested and scored several grade levels above hers (3rd).

I had given her the Iowa Basic Skills Test before I received her materials from Weimar. She scored well above average in everything but spelling. You see, Leah turned 8 October 82 but I did not start any formal schooling until six months ago. . .

Oh, I also gave a hand-out to all the members of the school board with information about “socialization,” peer pressure, etc., and the concept of waiting until age 8-10 to start formal schooling. I answered several questions from the school committee, received a compliment, and got unanimous approval! . . .

__________

From Nan and David Erbaugh (OH):

. . . We have two sons, Zachary (6) and Noah (1 1/2). We held Zachary out of kindergarten last year with no hassles - our school system even recommends delaying the start of children with summer birthdays, especially boys. This summer we spoke to the superintendent about approving us for home-schooling. We pointed out that we knew we didn,t have to do anything to get approval until Zachary turned 7. He was quite nice and said he wanted us to do what was most comfortable for us. All he needed was a letter from us stating our objections to public schools, why we felt qualified to teach, and what our plan of education would be. He approved our plans within a week.

The reason we did all of this now is that we knew he was amenable to home-schooling, and our school district has a history of not keeping superintendents for more than 2 or 3 years. This superintendent is now in his third year.

A side note - the fact that I was a French and English teacher in junior high and high school and my husband has a psychology degree seemed to make the superintendent feel good about our teaching. . .

[DR: See also “Notifying Superintendent Early,” GWS #34.]

__________

From another Ohio parent:

. . . We were turned in to the school - we hadn,t registered our son at all. . . We were therefore forced to visit the superintendent sooner than we had planned on (in fact I was considering not going at all, hoping we were invisible to the so-called authorities, while my husband felt it would be better to go before they found out about us.)

We typed up a 4-page single-spaced paper on our views with an emphasis on the religious side. We have many other reasons, including almost all the ones mentioned in TEACH YOUR OWN. . . I basically wrote the paper myself with my husband adding cohesion, editing out irrelevant or possibly misleading sections, and putting it all together. . .

When we walked into the superintendent,s office we were pleasantly greeted by his secretary. Maybe it was our imagination, but it seemed to us like every office worker, the janitor, and even the principal popped out all over to get a look at us. The superintendent himself was polite yet distant. We handed him our paper and asked him to read it right then and there so he,d know how we felt. He was hesitant. . . Finally he read it and we watched him raise his eyebrows here and there.

. . . He told us he had never heard that he had this legal power to allow home-schooling and he,d have his lawyer check into it. He told us he,d get back with us soon and let us know what he intends to do. That was back in October 82 and still no word from him. Our lawyer said to leave well enough alone and not to call to ask what he intends to do. So we are assuming that the superintendent is letting us keep our son home. . .
_________
From Katharine Houk (NY):

July 20: I am enclosing a copy of the letter my husband and I sent to the superintendent and school board members of our local school. It has been almost a month since it was sent and we have heard nothing. My husband is an attorney at the N.Y. State Education Department and he thinks that to stress cooperation with the school district is vitally important - which is why our letter does so.

Tahra (13) is tremendously excited about learning at home (is this the “honeymoon period” I,ve heard tell of?) and she has already plunged into reading and writing projects on her own this summer. I am nagged by the feeling that we are waiting for something because we haven,t yet heard from the school.

Our letter is not revolutionary in any sense and borrows from other GWS letters. . .

Sept. 30  . . . Shortly after I wrote you, we heard from the superintendent. He called my husband at work (at the State Ed. Dept.) and we set up a time to meet with him and the high school principal. They gave us the enclosed information sheet (#1). My husband said, “If we,re going to do all this then we might as well send Tahra to school.” We talked for a couple of hours with them; it was a friendly meeting. They commended us for what we wanted to attempt and recognized our sincerity. By the end of the meeting they had relaxed on all the requirements but the monthly reports and the attendance record.

Tahra is very happy at home and I love having her around. Our work pace is leisurely. I worried about the monthly report, though. Then two days ago I got a call from the high school principal. He said he wanted to meet to tell us what the school district expects for the monthly reports.

I went into his office this morning fearing the worst - testing, timesheets, multi-page reports, etc. Instead he handed us Sheet #2 [DR: a yes/no checklist as to whether objectives are being met and records are being kept] and said that is all we have to submit each month!

We still can,t believe how easy they are making it for us. . . We are first in our district to home-school at the high school level. . . The local newspaper has already called me for an interview on home-schooling; I told them to call back at the end of the year when I,ve had more experience (and the relationship with the school has stabilized). . .

__________

[DR:] A number of readers have told us of sending a letter to their superintendent and waiting in uneasy suspense for weeks, months, or occasionally even years for an answer. It is a good idea to put at the end of such a letter (and in fact, any official business-type letter) a short statement of exactly what action you would like the other party to take, and by what date you expect it. Precisely what this will be will depend on the laws in your state, the circumstances in your district, etc. For example, it might be sending written approval, phoning to schedule a meeting, or arranging for you to appear before the school board.

Or, you can use the good “negative” option mentioned in the early issues of GWS: “If we do not hear from you by — we will assume we have your full approval.” In either case, you are spurring the official to make some sort of decision instead of allowing your letter to become buried in an in-basket.

RESEARCH ON LATE STARTERS

From Raymond and Dorothy Moore,s (WA) newsletter Family Report:

. . . In the August 30 issue of USA Today was a bit of interesting news citing a seven-year study of 70 children in Cincinnati showing that 81% of boys who waited a year to start school had above-average grades compared to only 47% of those who started early. 100% of the girls who waited had above-average grades while only 60% of the younger girls did. . .

CALIF. RULING: SCHOOL NEGLIGENCE

In a long and very thoroughly researched legal brief prepared by Nick Davenny of Kalamazoo, Mich. for the defense of his own home schooling program [GWS#30], I found something I have been wanting to find for some time - the citations (legal references) for a quotation from a very important California ruling that I described in GWS #1. In this case a San Francisco family, whose son (though never designated as needing any special help and in any event never having received any) was graduated from high school with no better than fifth grade reading skills, sued the schools for negligence. They charged the schools had failed to take the necessary steps to insure that the boy received an adequate education. The San Francisco Unified School District, in defending themselves, offered a very interesting argument. They said, in effect, that they could not be declared negligent for having failed to do the right thing by this child, because no one knew what the right thing was. The Superior Court dismissed the parents, suit and the Appeals Court upheld the dismissal, saying:

. . .Unlike the activity of the highway or the marketplace, classroom methodology affords no readily acceptable standards or care, or cause, or injury. The science of pedagogy itself is fraught with different and conflicting theories of how or what a child should be taught, and any layman might - and commonly does - have his own emphatic views on the subject. . .

Peter W. v. San Francisco Unified School District, 60 Cal. App. 3d 826, 131 Cal. Rptr. 854, at 860-861 (1976).

In two or three similar cases in other parts of the country, the courts have in like manner refused to award damages against the schools, almost certainly for these two practical policy reasons: first, if the schools have to pay damages for every child they fail to educate, they will soon be broke, and secondly, because if the courts awarded such damages to one family their courtrooms would soon be full of hundreds of other families seeking similar damages. But even though, for reasons of public policy, the courts have denied these families the redress to which justice surely entitled them, they have in doing so given home schoolers the legal argument quoted above, which we may in many cases be able to put to very good use. For it should be obvious to all but the most hopelessly biased judges that the schools cannot defend themselves against charges of negligence by saying that no one really knows how children should be educated, and then in the next breath turn around and say that they are the only people who know and that everyone must do it exactly their way.

I think it might be very useful for some of our California friends with a taste for legal research to look into this case further, and find out if possible in greater detail what the schools said in their own defense and what the courts said in supporting them. For any more such information, we will be very grateful. - JH

HER FIRST SCHOOL

By Annie Horrocks in Home Centered Learning, 8/83 (34 Katrina Ln, San Anselmo CA  94960; $5/yr):

. . . A long time ago - 20 years, in fact - our oldest daughter in first grade mentioned that she hadn,t learned anything before she started school. I asked her where she,d learned to dress and feed herself. Where did she learn her numbers, colors, and letters? Who had read many books to her before she began school about insects, weather, animals, families and more? Where had she come to know about our God and His works? How was it that she knew that baby people and baby animals must be treated gently and with love?

A startled look came across our child,s face and she realized that her first school had been home. Being a home schooler is not new, it,s just that some of us are choosing to carry it beyond society,s norm of 5 to 6 years. In all truth, we are home schoolers all our lives. . .

BOY WITH RINGS

One Sunday morning a month or two ago, as I was walking up Boylston Street to the office, a little boy gave me still another glimpse of the workings of the mind of a very young child. He was out with his mother who told me that he was about fourteen months old. He was walking around the metal tables and chairs of the outdoor section of a restaurant, which for him were something like a maze. Every now and then he would try to climb one of the chairs. His nice mother kept close enough to be able to ward off danger, but far enough away so that he felt, not watched or hovered over, but free to roam and explore.

As I watched him with pleasure, I noted that he carried, usually in his left hand, a couple of brightly colored plastic rings, big enough for  him to use as bracelets. Every so often he would stick his right hand through the rings, so that for a while he was wearing both of them on his right arm. So he continued to explore and I to watch. Then I began to see a curious thing. Now and then it would happen that the two rings were lying, loose and separate, on the ground or on a chair. The little boy would pick up one of them, stick his right arm through it, and push it up his arm about to the elbow. Then he would spy the other ring, and the thought would clearly come into his mind that he wanted it on his arm beside the one already there. But at this point, to my great astonishment, he showed that he could not remember how that ring on his arm had got there, for instead of putting his right hand through the second ring, he would instead put the second ring right beside the one he already had on his arm, and pat it, as if to make it stick and stay there, and he was always surprised and mildly vexed that it would not stick, but kept falling off.

After trying a few times he would give up, and continue walking around, between, and under the chairs and tables. Then the rings would again summon his attention. If he happened to have them both in his left hand, he could get them both on his right arm, as before. But if he had only one ring in his left hand and the other somewhere else, he would go through that same procedure, first putting one ring on his right arm, then finding the second ring and trying to stick it on next to the first.

During the twenty minutes or so I watched him, he tried to solve that problem three or four times, without success. I am sure that sometime during the next few months he did solve the problem, and wish I could have been around to see him do it. As it was, it was fascinating to watch this tiny baffled scientist at work on the problem, and useful to be reminded what an enormous number of similar problems (which to us have long since ceased to look like problems) little children have to grapple with, puzzle over, and finally solve. - JH

TESTING YOUNG CHILDREN

From Nancy Dumke (CO):

. . . You might find this interesting. Claire was exposed to her first formal testing situation at the tender age of 3! It happened at her medical check-up and it,s apparently routine for doctors to administer this developmental test. . . The doctor,s questions and Claire,s responses instantly reinforced all my objections to schools and tests. For example: Dr. Ned (whom she knows and likes and feels fairly comfortable with) handed Claire a bottle with a raisin inside and said, “Can you take this raisin out of the bottle?” “Yes,” said Claire, and she proceeded to stick her finger through the narrow opening to take the raisin out. It was extremely frustrating. “She,s so literal,” I said to the doctor. Well, she finally got the raisin out, and ate it, but she hadn,t done it the correct way, so Dr. Ned tried again. “This time,” he said, “can you take the raisin out without using your finger?” Well, of course she tried using her thumb! “Can you take the raisin out without using your finger or your thumb?” he asked. “Sure,” said Claire, and turned the bottle upside down, dropped the raisin into her other hand, and popped it into her mouth.

Then came question and answer time. “What do you do when you,re cold, Claire?” asked Dr. Ned. I could just feel her mind racing from situation to situation, trying to fit the question into some frame of reference. She said nothing. He repeated the question, but she just looked at him, so he went on to the next. “What do you do when you,re tired?” “I go to sleep.” “What do you do when you,re hungry?” “I eat some food.” “What do you do when you,re cold?” This time, she was ready: “If I,m at the pool,” she said, “I wrap up in a towel.” (Later at home she kept answering the question: “If I,m cold in bed, I pull up the covers.” “If I,m cold in winter, I put on my ski jacket.”)

I can remember so clearly taking tests in school and wracking my brain trying to decide which of several possible answers was the “right” one. Or thinking that the answer was so obvious and easy that it couldn,t be right, it must be a trick question. Later, Claire and I talked about what a hard time the doctor had asking the question. . . I wanted to be sure she understood that the problem was his, not hers. Claire thought the whole thing was very interesting and fun, but it,s easy to see how a child with less self-confidence could be upset by such a test. . .

From Lynne Thunderstorm (BC):

. . . When I read Ann Miles, letter in GWS #34 concerning the “Which does not belong?” game she played with her 4-year-old, we decided to try it with 3 1/2-year-old Raven. The results we got were hilarious and only confirmed my belief that looking for “correct” answers is completely irrelevant!

“Which does not belong: a guitar, a horse, a harmonica, an autoharp?”

“The guitar.”

“Oh, but that,s something to make music with and a horse isn,t.”

“No, silly, I like horses.” So, she eliminated the one she didn,t like.

“Which does not belong: onions, apples, rocking chairs, garlic?”

She laughed. “Onions and garlic do NOT!”

Certainly, when I named the categories, she answered “correctly.” But when I merely listed items, she easily made choices that were right for her, and was able to tell us why she eliminated the thing. . .

IN THE MAIL

. . . Thanks for “Liking School Is Not Enough” and “Spaceship School,” GWS #34. Those articles, and our growing convictions, helped us to decide we would NOT put Maia in kindergarten next year even though she wants to go. Since we,ve made that decision and let her know firmly that we are a “home-schooling family,” she seems to have accepted it. We,ll see how it goes when her friends leave for kindergarten next year, though. - DENISE HODGES (WI).

. . . In response to “Blaming The Unconventional,” GWS #33: Yes, homeschooling can be blamed for everything, but we must be careful not to present the opinion that home-schooling is the answer to everything. I had a friend who didn,t want to share her problem concerning her daughter because she thought I would think that she wouldn,t have that problem if she would just home-school! - TERRI WALKER (MN).

. . . I first found that my desire to teach could not be satisfied in traditional schools. My experience in public schools was a nightmare, even though I was considered a “good” teacher by students and professionals. . . My second grand realization was that my desire to teach was no more than a desire to have children. I have never felt the need to work outside the home, to teach or to work with kids (my previous goals) since the day Becca was born. . . Believe me, as the daughter of a very feminist liberal-thinking mother, it was quite a shock to realize that I don,t have to “work” to be a worthwhile contributing member of society. - PATTI PITCHER (MI).

. . . There are five families in the area with a total of 10 children who are home-schooling. This winter we were able to obtain the old armory gymnasium every Monday afternoon free of charge. The kids would roller skate, play basketball, volleyball, badminton, kickball, etc. Even the pre-schoolers were included. - Gary & Diann Foster (KY)

. . . We always seem to have a yard full of kids. I suppose they feel free to come around. We have teenagers to toddlers open the gate and join the activity or create their own. Perhaps they are intrigued by the noise, laughter, and fun. I,ve no argument for who comes in, and have never had to ask anyone to leave, even though there are arguments and occasional fights. What can you expect when there are two or twenty kids together? - AN IOWA READER

. . . I have a day care business at home, and recently put an ad in the paper, to be different, which started out, “Home-schooling family will care for your baby/child. . .” I,d never seen one like it, and I got a very nice 8-year-old boy who,s never been to public schools. Both his parents are now working days and needed care where they hadn,t before. They are still teaching him and he plays here with my 5-year-old girl, Forest, and reads to her. - LINDA RIEKEN (AZ)

YOUNG WRITERS STILL NEEDED

Pat Stone of Mother Earth News tells us that he needs more articles by young people for the “Mother,s Children” feature. He writes:

. . . It,s incorrect to say I,m running out of material. . . but I do occasionally go through too-lean times. That,s not good, cause I,d like to keep this feature alive. There,s not that many paying markets I know about for young writers.

The basic purpose of “Mother,s Children” is to share how-to projects initiated and carried out by younger children and teenagers. The author should be both the person who did the project and the one who writes the article. I,m open to a wide range of possibilities. . . We,ve run everything from “How I Changed the New York State Income Tax Laws for Minors” to “How to Make Food Jewelry Out of Bread Dough”. . . from “I Ran our Farm,s Giant Combine Just like the Men Do” to “Make a Ball out of a Pig Bladder”. . . and including more ordinary topics like making herb vinegars or beef jerky. I also like to see money-making ideas: it,s nice when we can give other young people ways for earning their own money.

I respond to all queries and do everything I can to help the author work the article up (including sending a page of writing guidelines).

Our payment for the column runs from $100 to $200 (that includes paying for photos), which is the same we would pay an adult writer for the same work. The better the writing and pictures - a frequent problem is bad pix - and the more exciting the topic, the higher the payment.

Home schoolers tend to be a pretty self-directed group, so I,ve gotten a lot of good articles from your readers. Hope to get more!. . .

[DR: Pat recommends that all young authors send in a query - that is, a letter telling about the story they,d like to do - before writing a full article. Address, 105 Stoney Mountain Rd, Hendersonville NC  28791.]

ON READING

Joyce Kinmont (UT) wrote in the Tender Tutor:

. . . I made a little book for Becky (3) that she dearly loves. I went through some old pictures, then bought a little photo album to put them in. Under each picture I wrote a short sentence. The first page has the title, “When Becky Was a Baby.” The pages are:

Picture of Becky at the stove - “Becky liked to cook.”
Picture of her in a wig - “Becky had too much hair.”
Holding stuffed animals - “Becky had three dogs.”
With a ski cap pulled down over her face - “Where did Becky go?”
And so on. We are now taking pictures of Milli to make her a book. . . Since she is older there will be more writing with
them. . .

__________

From Lyn Cargill in Australia:

. . . Skye (2 1/2) is learning to read. I tried the Glenn Doman approach when she was about 20 months but although she loved the cards, she preferred to “write” on them and cut them up. I wasn,t keen enough to bother teaching her, so I let her destroy them all. Recently I made some new cards (names of friends) and put them aside, ready for when she showed an interest. She,s been asking what words say and demanding to know the exact name of everything.

While looking for something, she found the cards and asked me to read them. She loves them and asks me to read them several times a day. Sometimes she reads them correctly, sometimes she makes mistakes which I ignore - but she makes me find the card and tells me what it really is. Her favorite game is for Mum to look perplexed and say, “Um, um, um” and she then “helps” me.

As long as she,s interested I,ll make her cards. Then we,ll move on to home-made books. She already has a few. I always take heaps of photos on holidays or special occasions and make a book out of them. It helps her remember the occasion.

[A later note:] After a month or so break, Skye found her cards again. Remembered them all. Still prefers people,s names to anything else. .

SCIENCE WITH J.P.

From Kathy Mingl (IL):

. . .We,ve been launching butterflies from our bedroom window this summer - we,ve always let the milkweed plants grow for the monarchs, and raised the caterpillars in wide-mouth gallon jars, on top of the refrigerator. As they turned to chrysalises (lovely things - they look like gold and jade ornaments), we transferred them to a bouquet of sticks in a glass vase above the radio, where we can watch them ripen. As soon as they begin to get dark and the wing-patterns show through, we put them in the bedroom window to “hatch.”

We missed the first one - I woke up to find a note from my dad: “Pupa monarched - rescued him from the cat and released outside - healthy little tyke.” The next three that were ready, Tony, J.P. and I stayed up all night to watch, and though J.P. only managed to keep himself awake until 1:00, he held the first one to emerge (a female) on his finger while she dried her wings, and fed her sugar-water from a toothpick. When we let them go the next morning, the two males were just anxious to take off, but J.P.,s little female seemed to remember him and stayed behind, tasting his finger with her tongue when he took her up on it. He fed her again, and then held her out the window until she finally decided to leave. It,s quite a feeling to see them go sailing off over the house - you almost feel as if you had something to do with it. Something awfully allegorical there, don,t you think?

We had another blessed event right on the kitchen table, while J.P. was eating lunch. This time the whole family got to watch - my mother was home, so we ran to get her as soon as J.P. yelled that things were happening. J.P. explained the entire process to her, and showed her how to tell that this one was a boy butterfly. Do you know she,s never seen a butterfly hatch before?. . . My father maintained that his butterfly (the one he,d rescued and taken outside), had been the biggest.

Altogether, I think we,ve raised 20 monarchs, and though one time we had five fluttering on the screen at the same time, for the most part the hatchings have been staggered enough that we weren,t overwhelmed. I think it was a good number, because the little things have a sly genius for waiting till your back is turned before they do something interesting (we still don,t know where the “zipper” is!).

. . . Some of the interests J.P. has been pursuing on his own lately are experiments with fire and chemistry, under my supervision (I tell him to say he,s lighting candles, not lighting matches - gives a much less alarming picture), soldering, electronics and computers with Tony, geology (he,s fascinated by volcanoes, and has started a rock collection; his eternal passion is prospecting for gold all over the back yard), and cooking. He,s been learning to tell time and spell his name and address, and he has a long-standing interest in the working of bodies, and in hand-taming wild birds. J.P. is a very busy boy.

. . . Something really fascinating has come up with J.P.,s fire experiments lately. He,s been going through boxes of kitchen matches, mostly just lighting them and blowing them out, and using up all the candles in the house, but he,s begun to venture into new scientific territory. I restrict his investigations to the kitchen table, with an adult in the vicinity, but other than that, I don,t bother him too much. When he first wanted to try it, he was a little scared, so I showed him all the ways I could think of to put fires out - water, baking soda, pot-lids, fire extinguishers, etc. - and I even showed him how to call the fire department. Little by little he started trying different things on his own, and his interest led us down some remarkable byways of discussion - chemistry, history, mythology, fire-fighting and prevention, survival skills, and Murphy,s Law (it,s easy to start a fire when you don,t need one). The other day, J.P. showed me something I didn,t know - you can ignite a match by holding it above a flame, without even touching it. Really, if you,re willing to learn yourself, raising a child can be a fascinating scientific exchange. . .

LEARNING RUSSIAN AT HOME

Barb Tetzlaff (IA) wrote in the O!KIDS! newsletter #2:

. . . Our 8-year-old recently demonstrated an interest in learning the Russian language. He is very concerned with the Russian threat, nuclear freeze, etc. He decided that if he could find out how the Russians speak, live, and think he might better understand the dilemma.

We were happy that he was showing an interest in any language at school, he vehemently protested being force-fed Spanish (and consequently retained nothing!). We were not totally optimistic, however, thinking about how difficult (and potentially disappointing) it might prove to be for Josh. I had only a high school Spanish background and my husband had studied Latin in ninth grade. But we have always believed that when an interest is indicated it should be nurtured.

We checked out a Russian language record from the library and forged ahead. Repeating phrases from the book that went along with the record turned out to be rather dull. So I decided to try and make picture cards so that Josh could associate what he was saying with a picture. I plunged through stacks of old magazines searching for pictures that were interesting or humorous. Josh was curious as I worked along but he did not want to help create the cards (which I think would have been the ideal way to go about it).

When I,d finished, I had 38 colorful pictures glued to sturdy paper (8 1/2 x 11). I went through the cards with Josh using the pronunciations we had learned from our record. Josh was even able to guess at the meanings by using the pictures. He then went over to his father and excitedly showed him the cards. He said he would now teach his father the phrases and sentences, and proceeded to do so while using my EXACT inflections, mannerisms, jokes, etc.!

It has been months since we began and we still can remember almost all of the 38 phrases. All we need to do to jog our memory is to bring the picture to mind and the phrase comes forth as well. . .

[Barb later wrote us:] . . . One hot Saturday in July. . . I casually mentioned that I felt I needed to sit down and rest. . . Jason replied in Russian, “Ya hachi s,iest” (I want to sit down). We had not even looked at our Russian language picture cards for several months and yet he knew just which phrase would be appropriate. . . He remembers almost all of the phrases because it was his interest we nurtured. We didn,t have to push and prod. We had fun learning together. . .

IN DEFENSE OF T.V.

Wendy Wartes (WA) wrote to John:

. . . In the past there has been mention by readers, as well as yourself, of the lack of merit in television viewing. I would like to describe my use of TV and why I disagree.

First of all, my husband and I control the use of TV, not the children. Though my children are still young, I don,t anticipate a problem later as this has been firmly established. The TV is only turned on for a specific program and is turned off immediately afterwards.

We rarely watch any commercial TV. Occasionally a special or a movie such as “Stanley and Livingston” or “Tom Sawyer” is seen by the whole family. I speak out critically of commercials, asking the children what it is the ads want us to do or buy. I have had my five-year-old try to sell me make-believe products and pointed out how he used nice words to make it sell. He has been told that advertisers are people who write words for actors to speak to do the same thing. He can readily see that the product would not sell if they said it tasted terrible or cost too much.

On Sunday, I sit down with my TV schedule and the monthly public TV magazine Dial (I subscribe to this) and mark those programs of merit. Then we don,t turn TV on except for those shows. Last month we watched public TV shows on Arctic wolves and Australian animals. How else could we have seen the actual birth of an embryonic kangaroo and its journey up the mother,s stomach and final attachment to a nipple in her pouch to continue development?

Because I know what topics are coming up, through the Dial magazine, I check out books on the same topic at the library. Then if an interest is sparked, we don,t have to wait to learn more. Just as a field trip can lead to other topics, so can TV if used wisely. . . Many quality programs such as National Geographic and Nova are repeated once during the day and twice during the evening. Thus, we have the chance for reviewing it if our reading fanned an interest, with several days in between.

. . . I,ve never been fortunate enough to travel and though I hope my children will have the first-hand opportunity to view other countries, I truly feel TV can fill a gap. In many cases the photographer can take the viewer to places no tourist can go. The show “Four Castles” is a good case in point. On a real trip to Wales, few of us would ever view these castles in such detail. . . Coming soon is a 3-part series on the geology of the American West, a special on trains, a National Geographic update on Hillary and Everest, Tanzanian wildlife, and the whooping crane.

. . . I liken TV to a guest in my house. If I had company and the person spoke vulgarities, threw garbage around, and undermined my children,s morals, I certainly would never invite them back. If, though, the company showed us spectacular photos of a recent trip and then helped explain the history of that country, they,d be invited back many times. . .
COMPUTER NEWS

In GWS #35 I wrote about Coleco,s coming small computer, the “Adam.” It was first announced for summer, then promised for October, then for Christmas. As of Nov. 15, it is still not in the local stores, though very much in the ads. Dealers, afraid of losing their Christmas business, are saying that Adam will appear any day, that supplies will be limited at first, and that sales will be made on a first-come first-served basis. In other words, if you hope to give someone an Adam for Christmas you must pay for it now; if it doesn,t arrive in time for Christmas that is your tough luck and (your money now safely in the store,s bank) you,ll just have to wait patiently until it does.

By now IBM has shown its small computer, called “PCjr” (Personal Computer junior). About it Peter Mitchell, electronics engineer and chief computer expert of the Boston Phoenix, writes:

. . . Now that it has been unveiled, the machine itself comes as an anticlimax. If it were not graced by those three magic initials (IBM), its prospects for success would be rather dim. Objectively, it is an overpriced, disappointing assemblage of rather ordinary hardware. . .

In both word processing and video games, the two most popular uses for home computers, the IBM is notably weak. . . The $760 that buys only the IBM keyboard would get you a complete Atari Writer system or the entire Coleco Adam system. . .

E.F. Schumacher, author of SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL (see our list) would get some ironic amusement from this. Only a company as big as IBM would dare offer a product this bad, and with every reason to believe that it will be a commercial success.

The Phoenix also predicts that in 1984 we will see a number of truly portable computers, that is, capable of battery operation and weighing ten pounds or less (as opposed to the 25-lb. “transportables”), with a full Liquid Crystal Display screen, substantial memory, word processing capability, etc. If the price is low enough, such a machine might be useful to us in this office.

Meanwhile the Osborne Corporation, who made the first of the transportable computers, and in spite of having last year over $100 million in sales, has just gone bankrupt. Accountants who had been called in to review the company,s books gave Adam Osborne, the founder and president, the unwelcome news that during a time when he had thought the company was earning money it had in fact lost $8 million, and barring a miracle would soon have to close.

This confirms vividly what I said in an earlier GWS about information not being a substitute for intelligence and judgment. Certainly, if access to computer experts and computer information could save a business, it should have saved this one. But information based on mistaken views of reality is worse than none, and as Osborne found out, the more of it you have, the worse off you are.

The press accounts of the end of this company said that when Osborne first learned of his unexpected losses and hence the imminent probable failure of his company, before he told anyone else this news, he sold $1.5 million of his personal stock to another one of the company,s directors. Later, when the company decided to close, it told a large number of its employees that it was sending them on indefinite furlough (since if it fired them outright it would have to give them the severance pay to which they were entitled) and gave them two hours to clear their things out of the office. I wondered, “Why two hours? What was the big rush?” These two reports may throw some useful light on the notion that the people who make computers are primarily moved by some deep concern for the well-being of the human race.

Texas Instruments, one of the giants of the field, has decided after huge losses to drop out of the home computer market altogether. Apple,s profits were down 78% from the previous year, and it may soon be in worse trouble. It made a huge engineering and capital investment in a fairly expensive home computer called the Lisa, in which you give the machine instructions by using a little table-top gadget called a “mouse” to move a cursor on the screen, thus making it unnecessary to memorize or carry out complicated instructions. An ingenious idea, which Apple hoped would keep them at the head of the pack for some time. But it has already been technologically outdated by a new machine from Hewlett-Packard in which you give the machine the same kind of instructions just by touching the screen with your finger. What this will do to the huge sales Apple anticipated for Lisa remains to be seen.

So the dance goes on. The Phoenix reports that for a given capability, the price of a new computer is halved every two years. Also, second-hand machines generally sell for about half their original price. The Commodore VIC can now be had, new, for $50, and a second-hand VIC is considered to be without commercial value; if you have one and don,t want it, give it away, it,s not worth the trouble it would take you to sell it. As always, the moral is, unless you have a real business need for a computer, don,t be in a hurry to buy, and if you buy, buy cheap. - JH

COMPUTERS: FOR. . .

From Mario Pagnoni (MA):

. . . A year ago we decided to test the home-schooling waters. Here in Massachusetts the legal waterway had already been bridged and my 13 years of teaching also worked in our favor. We expected, and got, no trouble from school authorities.

. . . We were fascinated by the potential of the home computer and intrigued with the prospects of utilizing it as an educational tool. And for me, home-schooling was an opportunity to combine three loves: my children, education, and writing (I,d attempt a book on home education - possibly with a slant toward computers).

At the outset we knew nothing about computers. And personally, I am a basket case around machines. I can,t even figure out how to run the digital watch my kids gave me last Father,s Day. Our 10-year-old son James is the only one who can program it. When I try to set it, the bloody thing ends up playing Yankee Doodle during meetings. “I, ah, don,t know how to work it,” I try to explain. “You see my, ah, son. . .”

Nevertheless, we researched personal computers as best we could and finally opted for Apple. There was more software for the Apple than any other computer. We found programs for word-processing, data-base management, and an incredible array of games and educational packages. Most importantly, there were two Apple users, clubs within a 30-minute drive of our home. While support is sometimes rare from computer dealers, it is readily available at a friendly users, club. Before I knew it I was not only a club member, but co-editor of its newsletter, and author of a regular column called “Computers for Absolute Beginners.” The column was my way of insuring that there would be at least one piece in the publication that I could understand.

But was all this computer stuff the antithesis of home schooling? Were we to turn our children over to the computer? I mean, home schooling is people-oriented. It can be tremendously rewarding and bring a family closer together. Everything we heard about computers indicated that they would come between people. But the more we worked with the machine the more we realized that it neither brought us together nor tore us apart. It was just a tool - a powerful tool. It was part of our educational program, but it could never be the educational program. . .

Our biggest computer problem was software. There was so much available and so little that was good. By sharing ideas at the computer club we learned how to sift through the trash and select worthwhile programs. Much of the available software only provides drill and practice. At first I thought, “Who needs a $2000 micro computer to teach multiplication tables - flash cards do the job nicely for 79 cents.” But drill is only one use for a micro. And that mechanized drill instructor frees teacher time for more creative endeavors. All those years of teaching made me progressive enough to know that drill is not the ultimate in education. But, on the other hand, I,m still conservative enough to know that there,s a place for it. The better drill programs feature sound effects and graphics and can be entertaining enough to take the drudgery out of practice. Kids also appreciate the fact that feedback is immediate - no need to wait for teacher to correct and return papers. Being non-judgmental is another plus for the micro - you can,t disappoint the computer.

One evening a friend of mine interrupted his son who was pounding feverishly at the computer keyboard. The youngster was working late into the night on an entertaining program called “Musical Math Teacher.” Drilling the user on basic math facts, the program rewards correct answers with a brief musical interlude, and keeps a running percentage score. “What are you doing working so late?” asked the parent. “Well, I got one problem wrong earlier,” answered the fifth-grader, “and since then I,ve worked my score up to 99% correct and I,m not going to bed until I get all the way back to 100%.”

We favor programs that have an editor mode. They,re the kind that allow you to enter your own data into the program. One such program, a vocabulary builder called “Word Attack,” let us enter our own word lists into its video game mode. With nifty sound effects and graphics (two sure hits with kids), our boys enjoyed learning their lessons. Still, I can,t help but remember that computer instructor who warned that, “Learning is best done not at a video game pace.”

We find simulation-type programs like “Lemonade Stand” and “The Oregon Trail” particularly valuable. They simulate real-life situations. “The Oregon Trail,” a pioneer adventure, requires that you manage your food, avoid hostile Indians and natural disasters, and make it across country. “Lemonade Stand” challenges your business skills. You check the daily weather report, input the number of advertising signs you,ll purchase, and indicate how much lemonade you,ll produce and its price per glass. I,ve given up playing this one with my kids. Have you any idea how embarrassing it is to file bankruptcy for a lemonade stand?

Another favorite program called “Snooper Troops” transforms students into detectives. Their case is a mystery that requires map-making and note-taking to unravel. Our boys work together on the program, sometimes brain-storming clues, sometimes arguing over which suspect to interrogate next. There,s always lots of interaction going on - between the boys, and between the boys and the machine. It,s a far cry from people,s image of isolated, sullen children silently droning away at the keyboard.

Perhaps the most valuable educational use for a microcomputer is word processing. . . When children become familiar with “electronic cut and paste” (moving passages around the body of their text) they begin to analyze the very fabric of writing. They marvel at the effects of rearranging the words in a sentence. Moreover, they become acutely aware of the logical progression of thoughts expressed in writing. Their writing gradually becomes clear and uncluttered.

Computerists are often surprised to hear that our children work with the “Apple Writer II” (a sophisticated word processing package). They expect that they would utilize a simpler WP program  like “Bank Street Writer” [GWS #35], designed to be simple enough for children. After several brief sessions of watching me “manipulate text” with Apple Writer, they had it mastered. Of course, it took me six weeks to figure out the manual, but that,s another story.

One of the most rewarding activities for our children has been pen pal letters. [DR: See James Pagnoni,s letter in GWS #33]. . . Right in the middle of his love affair with the WP, I was surprised to find James handwriting a letter. “Why aren,t you using the computer?” I asked. “Oh, no special reason,” he fibbed. “James,” I persisted, “you,ve used word processing for all your writing the last few weeks - you even tried to stuff your Jedi Fan Club membership card into the printer.”

“Well. . . you know my new friend - the one who,s kind of poor? Well. . . I just figured that he might feel bad. I mean, seeing that computer printout might remind him. . . of all the stuff other people have that he doesn,t.”
. . . Our home school has been a tremendous success. We are convinced that no school in the country, public or private, could have done for us what we did for ourselves this past year. . . And all of this from people who a year ago didn,t know software from Tupperware. . .

. . . AND AGAINST

Lynne Thunderstorm (BC) wrote:

. . . We live in an isolated valley with wild mountains on all sides. We live with a sense of the seasons and the earth in all that we do, and try to let this awareness grow in our children. We don,t keep up with all the latest happenings, so that when we went out last winter to visit our family in New York State, we were surprised by the computer phenomenon. It seemed that everybody had or was saving up for computers, everybody was buying the latest games, and everyone knew how to play.

Since then, the so-called need for computer literacy has been jumping out at me from everything I read, from MS. to GWS - or so I thought. Thank goodness John wrote what he did in GWS #33. I think we need something large scale, though, more along the lines of Jerry Mander,s ARGUMENTS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF TELEVISION.

The whole thing seems spooky to me, and I was only exposed to computer buffs
for five weeks. I saw my father and his friends sitting in front of a noisy box for hours and hours each day. In fact, from the time he came home from work until bedtime, his sounds of frustration or success could be heard mingled with the bashes and buzzes of the machine. He wanted to share his new interest with me - for hours and hours. I couldn,t even pretend enthusiasm after the first hilarious encounter with Pac Man, but these games were enough to hold him enthralled for hours every day, for months on end. The image of my dad, whom I will not be able to visit very many times, sitting alone in the family room playing his games, saddens me.

A cousin I hadn,t seen for 15 years visited while I was there. He and his daughters, on vacation from school (he “teaches”), didn,t feel like taking a walk, talking, bike riding, doing yoga with me, or anything. It was either lie in front of the TV, or sit in front of the screen with levers in their hands. Or, lie on the couch with stereo earphones on. Just like my father.

Younger kids had pocket games that went everywhere with them. People praised the new inventions for increasing eye-hand coordination, as if ancient basket weavers hadn,t done that. They called it creative, marvelous, entertaining.

All I saw was how the latest toy or learning device, call it what you will, tended to remove people one step more from their connection with each other and with the earth. People spoke of developing a relationship with their machines, of spending time with their computers to get to know them better. That sounds scary. It is one more step away from developing relationships with living, breathing organisms. And when you think that the content of many of these manufactured games - all that I saw - was shooting, bopping, killing, and that the dialogue was often, “There, I got you, you little —–,” or “Oh, no, I,m gonna crash,” the absurdity of talking about relating looms larger.

Vicarious living. I understand that computers are useful. Like their technological counterparts, snowmobiles and penicillin, they have a place in the world, and certainly in the economy. But when masses of people fall for the latest gadgets and clothing styles, there is always a trade-off, and someone always gets rich.

I picture some little child sitting in a soundproof booth punching buttons all alone, maybe with earphones, and the child is “learning” something. Something that maybe other children used to learn with someone,s knee pressed against hers, and a warm human voice exchanging information. Blip blip blip.

Nava had an uneasy feeling when he read the National Geographic article on computers. He told me that it seemed as if people felt the computer were going to solve a lot of problems in the world, to make the world a better place to live in, to help kids learn more, give people more jobs, on and on. That,s a lot of faith to have in something, and that something seems to take the control of people,s lives one step farther away from them.

Nava tried to write what made him uneasy. “Having repaired and worked with heavy machinery in factories and mills, having developed a homestead, built a few houses, learned to grow nearly all our own food, I can see that the computer is one more step removed from basic production, from the human interrelating and work that makes the world go around. The computer is a manipulating tool, useful, but not the thing that makes the food or the goods we need. It can juggle information, but it can,t replace real human skills, real work of people making things happen. What,s scary is when people think it can.”
Such a hard one to talk about! The nightmarish image of a man alone in a room with a machine for company, when the rest of the family, the far distant family, would have loved his company; or two kids hunched over a machine, madly pushing buttons, like their lives depended on it - these are the things I think of when I think of computers. My mother writes that the computer is revolutionizing her office, scaring her, increasing her workload, and my cousins write that computers are teaching them better than teachers can.

You are right to ask what we will have gained in twenty years. . .

COMPUTER VANDALISM - 2

In GWS #35, I quoted from articles in Time and Newsweek on “computer vandalism,” the invasion and sometimes destruction of computer data banks simply for the sake of excitement, and I began to discuss the implications of this. Here is more from the Newsweek story:

. . . the [”414 Gang” in Milwaukee] stumbled across an electronic bulletin board in New York called OSUNY. The board was a treasure trove: messages posted by other users gave codes and phone numbers to get free access to MCI and Sprint long-distance telephone services, ways to escape having unauthorized phone calls traced [emphasis added] and a panoply of network telephone numbers and directions for accessing major computer systems around the country.

. . . Hackers like the 414s were essentially exploiting weaknesses in systems that were designed to be easy to use and relatively open. . .Telenet, Tymnet and other networks are designed so that thousands of legitimate users can gain access to the computers quickly. . .

. . . Only half of the states now have laws against computer crime, and legal experts argue that cases like the Milwaukee 414s break-ins are going to have to be covered by new legislation. “We can,t have horse-and-buggy laws in a Buck Rogers era,” said Arthur R. Miller, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. . . Moreover, there is no federal law specifically prohibiting unauthorized access to computers.

. . . The vast majority [emphasis added] of white-collar crime cases in one way or another involve computers. . .

The Computer Security Act of 1983. . . would mandate a fine of up to $50,000 or a five-year jail sentence for robbing or abusing federal or private computers used in interstate commerce. . .

From a front page story in the Sept. 5, 1983 New York Times, we get this additional information:

. . . The number of young people roaming without authorization through some of the nation,s most sophisticated computer systems runs into the hundreds and possibly thousands, according to computer crime experts. Further, they say, the number is growing hand-in-hand with the boom in personal computers. . .

Many computer enthusiasts scoff at the Milwaukee group. “They are the least of what,s going on in this world,” said a 19-year-old university student in Chicago who calls himself Mr. Xerox. “They are the ones who get caught, which means they really don,t know what they,re doing.”.

Those who are most knowledgeable in the computer world say the preponderance of unauthorized penetrations into commercial, academic, and government computers are never discovered. “Most computers don,t have the mechanisms in place to know that they,ve had an intruder,” said Robert P. Campbell, president of Advance Information Management Inc. in Woodbridge, Va., “and most don,t have the ability to go back and reconstruct what happened.”. . .

The manipulation of telephone systems to communicate endlessly over long-distance lines for free is fairly common, the crime experts say. . . The “pirates” regularly use long-distance lines for transmitting stolen computer programs to electronic acquaintances across the country, and such a transmission often takes more than half an hour. They either bypass telephone billing mechanisms or use a code that results in the bill,s being sent to a subscriber to one of the long-distance telephone systems. There is a bimonthly newsletter published in New York that contains detailed information on how to break into computers and manipulate telephones. . .

Once again, what does this have to do with all of us who only want to own computers for innocent reasons, like playing games, or doing some word processing, or reading a few books from a distant library? It may have a great deal to do with us, and with such foundations of our legal system as the assumption of innocence and the burden of proof. Consider: suppose the government accuses us of having, say, robbed a bank. We could of course defend ourselves against the charge by proving that we were somewhere else. But we do not have to do even that much. The burden of proof is not on us to show that we were not at the bank, but on the government to show beyond reasonable doubt that we were, and this means among other requirements that it must produce witnesses who will swear they saw us there. Now suppose instead that some years in the future the government accuses us of having tampered with someone,s computer. What must it show, in order to convict us? What can it show, what is there for it to show, other than that certain illegal calls were traced to our telephone number? How could we possibly defend ourselves against such a charge? Suppose some malicious hackers had figured out what it will probably be very easy for them to figure out, as indeed they may well have already - a way to make a call from one number while making it look as if it came from another? How then could we show our innocence? “But Your Honor, it,s all a mistake!”

History has shown very plainly that when the government, and other holders of wealth and power, feel themselves in danger, they will take steps to reduce this danger, and if these happen to do away with certain constitutional rights of citizens, so much the worse for them. We may be absolutely certain that Congress and the Legislatures, and above all the present Supreme Court, will give the government whatever legislations and powers it thinks it may need to prosecute computer vandals, and before we jump up and down and sing happy songs about the wonderful computer revolution, we might think a little about what some of these laws and these powers might turn out to be. - JH

SUPERLEARNING

I,d like to ask if any of our readers have had any first-hand experience with an instructional method called SUPERLEARNING (450 7th Av. Suite 500, New York NY 10123), which involves the use of tapes, and if so, what their experience has been. Some of what I have read about the results of the method sounds promising; on the other hand, there is a high-pressure quality to their catalog that I don,t much like. But there might be a valuable resource for home-schoolers there, and if so, I,d like to take advantage of it. - JH

EDUCATION “STORES”

. . . I recently visited SENTINEL TEACHER SUPPLY and found it to be a home-schoolers, paradise! Games, stickers, workbooks, etc. Also a Christian Education room. The salespeople were welcoming. . . Great source of materials! Catalog available: 2200 W. Alameda Av, Denver CO 80223. - JANIS MARTINEZ, Colorado Home Schooling Network Newsletter.

. . . The TENNESSEE BOOK COMPANY, 410 Harding Industrial Drive, PO Box 110110, Nashville TN 37211, sells textbooks to the schools. Prices are wholesale whether you buy one or 100. There,s a reading room where you can compare the books of 65 different publishers. Fill out your order, call yourself a school, pay, and you have your books, no questions asked. Prices are cheaper than buying direct from the publisher, and no shipping charge. - A TENNESSEE READER

[DR:] If you would like to find such a place in your area where you can examine textbooks and other educational materials first-hand, check the Yellow Pages under “School Supplies” and “Book Dealers.”

STENCILS FROM X-RAYS

From Leslie Westrum (IN):

. . . If anyone is interested in stenciling, I,ve found a financial shortcut. Cardboard stencils don,t hold up well, and the mylar store-bought kind cost a fortune. But you can make your own designs with an exacto knife or razor blade and old X-rays. Just go to your local hospital and ask for used X-rays - they usually just throw them away. This plastic is sturdier than the commercial stencil stuff. I used it to stencil hearts on my kitchen wall and it worked great!. . . The standard size is 10″ x 12″ - a good size to work with. It cuts easily if your blade is sharp. Aside from stenciling - the X-rays themselves are great for teaching your kids about anatomy. . . You sure can,t beat the price!. . .

PIANO AND RECORDER

Susan Richman (PA) wrote:

. . . Little Molly (3 months old) has been a real spur to Jesse,s piano playing - she calms down almost instantly when he plays for her, a wonderfully appreciative audience! He plays on and off throughout the day now. He discovered on his own that he could use all his fingers, not just his index finger, and even both hands - he said that doing Chisanbop gave him the idea! He really notices how his little songs sound smoother when he uses all fingers. He,s still enjoying experiments with chords. He once corrected me when I was telling a friend about how he was LEARNING to play piano. “I,m not LEARNING to play the piano, I,m PLAYING the piano,” he said adamantly. He loves playing his little repertoire of memorized songs to anyone who will listen.

Jacob also takes his time at the piano, pretending to play Jesse,s songs from MRS. STEWART, often turning to the proper page and singing the numbers or words.

. . . Glad to see you,re offering the Aulos recorder now (GWS #33). I,ve found that as a mother with young ones, the recorder can,t be beat - can,t be broken by two-year-olds, either. I usually try to bring mine along on hikes in the woods. I find I,m much more patient in letting Jesse and Jacob play as long as they like, building “rock islands” in our creek or digging in sand, if I have my recorder with me so I can be playing, too. Easy to carry with a baby - I don,t know too many mothers who could easily manage, say, a cello and a babe on hip. We all had a wonderful walk out in the woods the other day - boys playing in the stream, Molly looking up at the waving-to-her tree branches, kicking and smiling, and me having a long time for recorder playing. Very nice to be able to take a musical instrument outside. I always feel in tune with all the shepherds of the world!

I have discovered a nice recorder book, THE RECORDER GUIDE by Johanna Klubach and Arthur Nikta. It,s a teaching guide, and mostly is full of very simple but delightful duets from the folk heritage of the world. Easy sight-reading, and the book is also full of charming old etchings and drawings of people playing recorder. . .

A MYSTERIOUS GIFT

One of our readers, learning that I had taken up the violin, called me one day from New Jersey to say that she had an old violin in the house that she wanted to give me. (Down, boy! This is not a Strad-in-the-attic story.) I suggested that she try to sell it, but she said she would rather have me have it. I said that was very nice of her, and we arranged to meet when I was in N.J. giving a lecture. Came the evening, and just as I was about to begin, a lady came in with a violin, thrust it into my hands and walked right out again. I had expected and hoped to have time to thank her, and learn a bit about the instrument and its history in her family, but there was no time. I don,t even know her name.

Later, in my motel, I opened the case and looked at, and tried, the violin. It looked very nice, with a beautifully grained back and sides (ribs), and though the strings were old and the bow poor, it made a mellow sound. It is at my friend Horst Kloss,s shop right now, getting the back glued up, a new bridge cut, new strings put in, and so on. I am eager to start playing it. Meanwhile, it is important that my unknown benefactor get in touch with me, so that I can tell her something about the instrument. - JH

NEW TAPE AVAILABLE HERE

WALLACE FAMILY CONCERT #2 (1983) ($8 for 90 min. cassette). Our first Wallace Family Concert tape was made in June 1982, when Vita was just 7 and Ishmael not quite 11. They planned and gave the concert mostly in order to make a recording to send to relatives and friends, and I added it to our list so that others could hear a family learning and making classical music together. Also, I thought there would probably be more concerts and recordings in the future, and that some might later find it interesting to have a record of where, musically speaking, the family had come from.

There have been other concerts since. In one, in November 1982, I was a guest artist; in one part of the concert, Ishmael and I played a sonata for cello and piano. At that concert we had a very small audience - one other home schooling family. This year the Wallaces decided to put on a somewhat larger and more formal concert, with invitations (prepared by Vita) sent out to a number of guests, and program notes for all the music, written by Ishmael. On the big day - I had just driven up after some lectures in the Philadelphia area - every chair in the house was pressed into service for the 20 or so adults and children who arrived. This is a tape of the entire occasion, complete with applause and shouts of “Encore!” If you listen to this tape over headphones, which I like to do when listening alone, you will feel you are there.

The first music you will hear is the first movement of a piano quartet which Ishmael has written for the family. (By now he has mostly completed the other movements, but only the first movement had been rehearsed for this concert.) In this we hear the first recorded appearance on cello of Bob Wallace, who has been playing for only about a year and a half. In following selections we hear Vita on the piano, then Ishmael on the piano playing the Children,s Suite by Debussy, and also two fascinating compositions of his own, then Vita on violin accompanied by Ishmael, then Ishmael on piano again. As in a professional concert, the performers do not announce their pieces, so we will provide a copy of the program, along with the program notes.

This is for me not only a souvenir in sound of a very happy gathering of family and friends of all ages, but also a record of the continuing musical growth of this music-loving family. If you already know their earlier tape, you will find it very hard to believe how much both the children have improved. Ishmael no longer sounds like a “child” pianist, but like a mature artist that I would be glad to hear on any occasion, and Vita in her turn has progressed amazingly on both piano and violin.

All in all, a wonderful proof, in music, that it is not true that children will never do anything difficult or worthwhile unless they are made to. For this is music played only for love. - JH

NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE

BLACK FOREMOTHERS, by Dorothy Sterling ($6.25 + post). This is the story of a too-little known part of our history, the lives of three black women who were among the pioneers in the long and hard effort, not ended yet, to free black people, first from slavery, then from legal and political discrimination. It is hard to believe, and indeed many young people may still not know, that more than eighty years after our country was founded, not only was it legal in many parts of the country to own slaves, but in all parts of the country it was a crime to help slaves escape from slavery.

All of these stories remind us what long, hard, patient, often discouraging effort it takes to do away with long-established customs and wrongs. The most exciting of these stories is the first, the life of Ellen Craft. Born in 1826, she was the only one of these women to grow up a slave. When she was 22, she and her new husband, William, afraid they might be separated from each other, or from their children if they should have any, decided to try to escape to the North and freedom. Their plan was a daring one. Since she was light-skinned, she planned to disguise herself as an invalid Southern gentleman, and her husband as her servant.

. . . Most of the details that made her disguise plausible were devised by Ellen. Realizing with a sudden pang that she would be asked to sign hotel registers, she made up a bandage and sling for her right arm to explain her inability to write. A poultice - a bulky, wet bandage, tied from chin to head, toothache-style, would conceal her beardlessness. Then, looking in a mirror, she saw that her eyes might register fear, anger, dismay, and she sent William downtown for a final purchase - a pair of green spectacles. . .

The story of their escape is almost unbearably exciting - it might someday make a wonderful film, though it may be some time before such a film is made.

If the other two women in this book did not face quite the same degree of danger as Ellen Craft, they still had to overcome every kind of difficulty. Ida Wells at age 16 lost both parents to yellow fever, and had to come home to take care of five young children. To keep the family from being broken up, she went to work as a schoolteacher so that she could support them. Later she became the first black woman journalist, and for most of her life remained one of the most tireless, eloquent, and effective speakers against racial injustice.

This book is a useful supplement and corrective to the very incomplete American history that has always been and is now taught in our schools, even the “best” schools. It is also an exciting and well told story, from which, in these difficult times, we may all gain much needed strength and courage.

MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH, by Robert O,Brien ($1.75 + post). This is one of my very favorite animal adventure stories. Mrs. Frisby is a widowed field mouse, facing a terrible dilemma. Spring is coming, and she and her children must move from their winter home in the field of a farmer, whose spring plowing will destroy their dwelling, to their summer home in nearby woods. But her youngest child is very ill, and to make such a long journey this early in the year will certainly kill him. She seeks advice and help, and is told to try to make contact with some mysterious rats in her neighborhood. These, we learn, are the rats of NIMH. What does NIMH stand for? National Institute of Mental Health. What did that have to do with these rats? The scientists of NIMH did an experiment on the rats to see if they could increase their intelligence. Did they succeed? They did, beyond their wildest dreams. And from this beginning follows this exciting story.

Once begun, it is very hard to put down. It is a wonderful bedtime read-aloud story, since the author, like all great story tellers, ends almost every chapter with a new piece of important information, a new danger, or a new way of overcoming danger, so that readers can hardly wait to see what happens next. Also, the book raises a question for its child-philosopher readers, that has always been and is now a matter of passionate concern to many adults: What is intelligence? How can we recognize it, or test it, or measure it? How would really intelligent creatures, under the control of more powerful creatures, behave? (This story, like any schoolroom, provides one good answer - they would conceal most of their intelligence.) What would truly intelligent creatures have as their aim in life? To this question the book gives a very good and I think true answer - for these super-intelligent rats do indeed have an ambition, a goal, for which they are ready to risk their lives. What it is, I will let readers find out.

I have read that a full-length film, an animated cartoon, was made from this book, and that it is one of the best of such films ever made. If it turns up near you, it might be worth seeing - and if you see it, please give us a report. Meanwhile, don,t miss this wonderful book.

THE CHINESE WORD FOR HORSE, AND OTHER STORIES, by John Lewis & Peter Rigby ($5.35 + post). This unique, surprising, and beautiful book is both about the three stories it tells and about the Chinese written language it uses to tell them. The illustrations which help tell the stories are themselves made up of Chinese written characters (each of which stands for a whole word), or slightly modified versions of these. Thus the true Chinese word for horse, with only a few changes, becomes an easily recognized but still very Chinese-looking picture of a horse; the Chinese word for tree, in the same way, becomes a very beautiful picture of a forest. The true Chinese characters are always painted with a brush in a very vivid Chinese red; all the other illustrations, also painted with a brush, are in black. The boldness of these shapes and colors make this a strikingly beautiful book. Some children may be inspired by it to want to make Chinese or pseudo-Chinese characters of their own.

One of the fascinating and beautiful things we learn from this book is the way Chinese combines words for things to make words for other things, or even abstract ideas. Thus the Chinese word for “shed” is the word for “cart” with a little roof drawn over it. To the word for “tree” Chinese adds three shapes representing the open mouths of birds, to get the word for “birdsong.” The Chinese word for “thrift” is a picture of a storehouse, with two sheaves of grain hanging under the roof. And the Chinese word for “thief” is the picture for “man,” with a sheaf of grain on each side, as if under each arm. This is a very powerful reminder that a thief not only steals another,s work but his food, in short, that he does him a serious injury.

It may well be true that the Chinese are constantly reminded by their written language what it is they are really talking about; the shapes of the symbols remind them of the realness of the thing. To be sure, such pictographic languages have serious disadvantages. It takes a very long time for the Chinese to learn enough symbols to use their written language well - time that a simpler system (which the Chinese are right now trying to develop) might have freed to use in other ways. But the concrete nature of this written language may to some extent protect them from the over-abstraction of thought which is one of the great curses and dangers of our Western life.

In any case, this is a fascinating book to look at and read, as well as an interesting glimpse into a very different way of thinking and writing.

A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA, by Richard Hughes ($2.25 + post). This book, set in the 19th century, about a group of children who, while on their way to England from their island home in the Caribbean, are captured by pirates, is not only an exciting adventure story but also one of the first, and one of the greatest, fictional psychological portraits of children, above all of its ten-year-old heroine Emily. Few books I have read have captured or intuited so vividly and convincingly what it might feel like to be a child, above all in these special circumstances. Hughes, understanding of children seems to me amazingly accurate, with perhaps one exception, the question of their ability to become attached to people, places, things - he says they don,t, I say they often do.

The book, like another favorite of mine, JEREMY, which I will add to our list if it ever comes back into print, was not written for children but for adults - it is an adult novel, about children. But the story is so exciting, the children so real, and the descriptions of life in the tropics and at sea so lifelike, that I think any children of ten or over, and perhaps even some younger, would love the book, which I myself have read many times, always with the greatest pleasure. - JH

RUBBER STAMP KIT AVAILABLE HERE

STA-TITE PRINTING KIT ($11, no extra postage charge). What we have here is in effect the world,s smallest and least expensive printing press. It was designed to be used, not by children, but by adults in offices. But I think it may be something that many children will much enjoy using, and that may make easier and more exciting their first exploration of the world of reading and writing.

As Glenda Bissex, in her wonderful book GNYS AT WRK (GWS #24, 25) has pointed out (along with many others), many and perhaps even most children, if they had a chance, would rather approach the world of reading through the world of writing rather than the other way round. What makes this very natural approach hard and unpleasant for most children is the sheer physical difficulty of making letters at all, let alone letters they would feel proud to look at and to show others.

I have felt for some time that if children had an easy way to make letters, they might, like Paul Bissex, be much more interested in writing as a way of expressing their thoughts. Hence my long-standing interest in typewriters for children - I still feel strongly that anyone who can afford the needed $100 or so would be very wise to buy some kind of electric typewriter for their children. (Manual typewriters are too hard for small fingers.) And I also agree strongly with what Seymour Papert said in MINDSTORMS (GWS #24) and Mario Pagnoni has said in a more recent letter to us, that many or most children would find word processors a great incentive to writing.

At the same time I have been looking for something much cheaper and simpler, a set of letter stamps that even young children could use. Until recently, those I had seen seemed much too expensive for most parents, on the order of $1 per letter. Then one day, looking through one of the many office supply catalogs that come in our mail, I saw an ad for these rubber stamps, which looked as though they might be just what we were looking for.

This is a kit, designed to enable offices to make their own custom designed rubber stamps. In the kit are a number of rubber letters and numerals, plus the basic stamp into which you can insert whatever letters and numbers you need to make your own personal message. This particular set has four or five each of the letters, both capitals (about 1/4″ high) and lower case, and two or three of each of the numerals, which should be enough to write most of the messages that could fit on the stamp - 4-5 lines of print with about 20 characters per line. I should think children might have quite a bit of fun with this. I can imagine using the stamp to send some short message to a child, who would then use it to send a message in return. Or children might use it to send the same message or letter to a number of people - perhaps a Christmas card or other greeting. Readers will no doubt invent their own ways of using these pads - please let us know what you and your children do with them.

A word of advice and one of caution. The kit supplies tweezers for inserting and removing letters, but I find them a little awkward to use and think most children would find them impossible. Fingers can do the job better. As for caution, the stamp pad provided is a regular office stamp pad using non-washable ink, so take needed precautions. I have not yet found a stamp pad with washable ink; if you know of any, please let us know. We tried using water colors with one of these, but the letters were much too faint to be interesting. Perhaps washable colors for felt-tipped pens would work better. So far we have not had time to try such an experiment. If any of you try it, or find some other good colors to use in un-inked pads, please let us know. For the time being, I would probably not trust a two-year-old with these pads, but think that four-year-olds could be trusted to use them properly - on paper only. With these minimal controls, I think many of you and your children may find this a very interesting helpful tool. - JH

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING  -  #7

Many things have happened since you received GWS#6.  Two unschooling families have won important rulings from state courts — more on this later.  Time magazine, after talking at length with a number of unschooling families, ran a fine story about this in their Dec. 4, 78 issue.  Soon after, I was invited to appear, with Linda and Bob Sessions and their children, on the Phil Donahue show in Chicago.  In the four weeks since the first airing of the show (it goes out in different cities on different days), we received 2700 letters!  Some of these sound only curious, but at least half sound really interested in our work.  Needless to say, for the two of us to read and answer that much mail has been quite a task.  And we expect another 1000 or so before we’re through.  If most of those who sound interested decide to subscribe, it should be a great boost to us.

The group subscription record has moved West again, this time to Lincoln, Neb., where readers have taken out a 22X subscription — and for 18 issues!

At the same time, the publishers of my newest book (NEVER TOO LATE - Delacorte) said that they were very interested in a possible book about unschooling.  Much of the material for this would come from GWS, but I have already written 10-15,000 words of new material and have more still to write.  All this action has delayed this issue of GWS.  But barring other avalanches of mail, we should have #8 out fairly soon.

GOOD NEWS

Since we wrote the story “Help Wanted” in this issue, a Massachusetts Superior Court has handed down a ruling favorable to the Perchemlides family.  It did not (as I did not think it would) say point blank to the School District, “Approve this family’s program.”  What it said was, in effect, “Take another look at this program, and this time, be reasonable.”  The family will probably have to (and will be wise to) make a few small concessions to the schools, probably in the area of curriculum, though I have strongly urged that they not yield an inch in the crucial matter of testing and evaluation.  But the effect of the ruling will almost certainly be that they will be able to teach their children at home.

The Judge’s decision is long and intricate, and a very good lesson in how judges think.  Since we are so late with this issue, I won’t try to quote it or discuss it much here.  (For $2, we will send you a copy of the complete ruling.)  But he made one novel and (to us) extremely important and useful point, that the Constitution guarantees to citizens many implied rights, rights which it does not specifically name, and that the right of parents to control the education of their children is one such implied right.  He did not put this right under the First Amendment, but under the Ninth, saying that the right to educate one’s children can be seen as a logical part of a general right to privacy, the right to control one’s private affairs.

But he also said that the right of the states to oversee the education of the young was itself a constitutionally protected right, falling under the general heading of police powers.  From this it follows that in this matter of education the rights of parents and the rights of states are competing rights, which must be balanced against each other.  The schools, therefore, may not arbitrarily reject, as they did in this case, a proposed home teaching plan, without giving any reasons.  They must give reasons, which must be compelling, and may not include such trivia as “the children will miss the social life,” or “it will set a bad precedent.”

This is the narrow line that we must try to (and I think can) persuade the courts to walk.  Yes, the States may oversee the education of the young, and Yes, to that end they may establish schools and even make them compulsory, but at the same time, No, they may not establish a monopoly of schools or even of methods of schooling (this is the meaning of Pierce and other cases), and No, they may not say that for people to educate their own children is in and of itself a crime, or arbitrarily and without due process deny them the right to do so.

HELP NEEDED

Mr. and Mrs. Perchemlides (GWS#4), when they told the local school board that they wanted to take their child out of school, were told by them to submit a home teaching program.  They did — twenty pages long, detailed and thorough.  The school board (as often happens) called it “inadequate,” without giving any reasons, or saying how they would have to change it to make it adequate.

In some states where the law makes home instruction a legal alternative, such action by school boards can, I believe, be attacked in court on two grounds: 1) It denies due process 2) It sets aside the stated will of the legislature.  As I have said, I do not think we should try to get courts to rule that compulsory schooling, or things done in and by schools, are un-Constitutional.  All such arguments lead to the Supreme Court, which if they hear such cases at all are for some time to come likely to rule against us.

Beyond that, I think we would be unwise to make it part of our legal strategy to ask local or state courts to overrule school boards by specifically approving home teaching programs which the boards have turned down.  In the first place, the legislatures have specifically given that task to the school boards.  In the second place, the courts may very well say that they are not competent to make such decisions.  In the third place, they may fear (with good reason) that if in a few cases they do rule in favor of parents and against the local school board, they will soon be swamped with such cases.  Finally, there is no reason to expect that in matters of education most judges will be any more tolerant or enlightened than most school boards.

But I do think we may be able to get many courts to say that if state law makes home instruction a legal option (and gives school boards the right to approve or disapprove such programs), these boards are legally obliged 1) to make public some explicit and reasonable standards which such programs must meet in order to be approved 2) to approve all programs which meet such standards, and 3) where they claim that a given program does not meet them, to state explicitly in what respects it does not and how it would have to be changed in order to do so.

This, legally, is where the Perchemlides family is at the moment.  They are trying to convince the court that, in disapproving their program of home instruction, the local school board acted arbitrarily and unreasonably.  To do that, they must persuade the court, not necessarily to overrule the school board by approving their program, but only to say that the program has enough intrinsic merit so that the board could not turn it down out of hand, without reasons.  To help them, I have asked some Professors of Education I know to look at their program, and if they think it is good, or at least equivalent to what is done in most schools, to say so in writing.  So far, four have agreed to do so, and I believe others will join them.

Which brings me at last to the point of this particular article.  It would be very helpful if we had, from all parts of the country, a list of Professors of Education, and also, school administrators — Superintendents, Curriculum Supervisors, School Board Presidents or other officers and members — who would be willing from time to time to look over proposed home instruction programs of unschoolers, and if they think they are adequate and/or equivalent to what local schools provide, to put this in writing.  Will you, readers of GWS, please help us make such a list, either by asking any Professors of Education, etc. you know if they would agree to be on such a list, or, if you are a Professor of Education, etc., by giving us your name.  We would not publish these names in GWS (unless some people asked to have their names published).  But we would send the list to unschoolers who asked for it, and they could get in touch with such Professors, etc. directly.

A REMINDER

The label or address on your GWS (or envelope) will have on it a symbol like 1 07, 2 08, 3 12, etc.  The first of these two numerals tells us how many copies of each issue to send you.  The second numeral tells us, and you, the last issue of your present subscription.

If your subscription ends with this issue of GWS, and if you wish to continue to subscribe (we hope you do), please renew your subscription right away.  Otherwise we will have to send you a renewal notice, which will take time and money we would much rather use to make a better magazine, help unschoolers, and find new readers.  If for any reason you have decided that you do not wish to receive GWS any more, it will be a great help to us if you will drop us a card telling us that.  Thanks very much.

RULING FROM IOWA

In the case of The State of Iowa, plaintiff, vs. Robert Sessions and Linda Sessions, defendants, the following excerpts from the recent ruling of the District Court of Iowa in and for Winneshiek County may be of great interest to many GWS readers:

“The above cases, involving the filing of criminal charges and convictions thereon against Robert Sessions and Linda Sessions in Magistrate Court, now come before the Court upon appeals to District Court.  The matters as criminal matters, as contemplated by statute, were heard de novo by the Court on appeal.  . . . The Court, after reviewing the file, considering the evidence, statements of counsel, and the brief and arguments submitted, now enters the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1.  Robert Sessions and Linda Sessions were each charged under Section 299.1 in that each did unlawfully fail to have his or her 7-year-old son, Erik Sessions, attend a public school and/or obtain equivalent instruction elsewhere.

2.  They were tried under that charge in Magistrate’s Court.  They were each found guilty and were each sentenced to pay a fine of $50 and costs were assessed against them. . . . Appeal was thereafter filed.

6.  The defendants requested the board of directors of the Decorah Community School District to approve their home teaching program.  The board refused, and the matter was appealed to the State Department of Public Instruction, and a decision was rendered by the board . . . sustaining the position of the Decorah board and stating in substance (a) that the Sessions met the first test, that is, of an equivalent instruction program . . . (b) The Sessions did not meet the second test, that is, the requirement of  ,providing instruction by a certified teacher.’ . . .

7.  Thereafter, the Sessions filed a petition for declaratory ruling with the state board in which clarification and guidance or interpretation was asked in the following form: ,Precisely what must we do to comply with the “instruction by a certified teacher” clause of 299.1 of the 1977 Code of Iowa?

On May 10, 1978, the board answered the query in letter form [stating in substance] . . .  (c) , . . . the appropriate standard to be used to determine the amount of instruction required by a certified teacher is that portion of a normal day during which instruction occurs in the public school district of residence. . . . strongly imply the necessity of teacher presence or close proximity throughout the instructional process.’ . . . This letter and information reached the defendants some time after their conviction.

8.  Defendants assert the unconstitutionality of the charge in that: (a) the law is vague on standards of public instruction. (b) It violates the 1st and 14th Amendments. (c) Denial of due process by the action of the Decorah Community School District Board. . . .

The Court enters the following:

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

3.  Defendants further assert unconstitutionality by virtue of alleged violations of the 1st and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution.  Defendants in effect assert that their right to freedom of religion has been denied by denying the defendants their right to educate their child as they desire.  The defendants cite the compelling case of State of Wisconsin vs. Yoder, 406 US 205, 32 Lawyers Ed. 2d 15, 92 Supreme Court 1526, and other citations in substantiation of their position. . . . The Court feels that under the very concept of the Wisconsin vs. Yoder case cited by the defendants, that adequate showing has not been made to put the defendants’ opposition on a religious plane.  In the cited case the Court said in substance: , . . . a way of life, however virtuous and admirable, may not be interposed as a barrier to reasonable state regulation of education if it is based on purely secular considerations; to have the protection of the religious clauses of the 1st Amendment, the claims must be rooted in religious belief. . . . , (Ed. italics) . . .

This is not to say an individual or individuals must be a part of an organized religion to come under the concept of the cited case.  But rather under the record in this case the defendants have not presented to the Court sufficient evidence to sustain their argument under the 1st Amendment. . . .

6.  Defendants urge the position that truancy violation, being a criminal charge, that the burden is on the plaintiff [sic] to prove all the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.  This proposition is surely an accurate statement of the law.  Applying this to the case before the Court, the burden would be on the State to show each of the following elements: (1) That the defendants failed to have their child attend school in a public school district; and (2) Failing to have the child attend public school, they did not cause said child to attend upon equivalent instruction by a certified teacher elsewhere.

The first element was proved.  As to the second element, the State held that the parents did procure a program indicating an equivalent education.  The query remaining then: Was the equivalent instruction provided by a certified teacher elsewhere?

. . . The Court’s ruling in this case is not to be construed as the Court’s passing upon the quality of education in the Decorah school system. . . . The Court’s function is essentially to determine whether or not the defendants have committed the crime alleged and are guilty thereof.

7.  Finally the Court legally concludes that the burden is above set forth under the second element, failing to have child attend public school, did they cause said child to attend upon equivalent instruction by a certified teacher elsewhere?’  In this connection the Court must conclude that based upon the entire record, the State has failed to prove the alternate or second element, that is, that the schooling for Erik is not the equivalent by a certified teacher elsewhere [sic].  The Court concludes that there is a reasonable doubt as to the question of the certified teacher, and that as a consequence the defendants should be acquitted of the criminal charge.

In so ruling the Court has considered of great significance the element of equivalency (Ed. italics), the sincere effort on the part of the defendants to comply, the difficulties and long delay in their getting a response to their query on a certified teacher (in fact no response was received until after their conviction), the inherent nature of the statutes contemplating a private tutorial situation as an alternate [sic] to public school attendance (Ed. italics), but if the statute is to have a viable Constitutional aspect of validity, it must be a determinable, workable statute with the opportunity for a legitimate exception.

The Court can understand the concern over the propriety of ,opening the door’ for many attempted exceptions (Ed. note - the State made much of this point in all its dealings with the Sessions).  However, the Court feels that this is not a real threat under the statute and reasonably within the spirit of the statute.  Exception as contemplated by the statute adds strength, not weakness, to the law.

8.  Finally the Court merely concludes that the second and alternate element of the crime has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS THE JUDGMENT AND DECREE OF THE COURT:

1.  The judgment and sentence of the Magistrate is reversed.
2.  The defendants are hereby acquitted of the charges filed against them.
3.  Costs are assessed to the plaintiff.

Frank D. Elwood, Judge
First Judicial District, Iowa

A LANDMARK CASE

This seems to me an extremely important decision, in some ways the most important decision on compulsory schooling that has yet appeared.  To be sure, the court made its ruling on very narrow grounds.  But that is why the ruling is so important.  There is very little in it that most judges, whatever might be their views on compulsory schooling, would be likely to disagree with.  It is, in short, a decision which we can expect many courts, at least in states where the law provides specifically for alternatives to schooling, to accept as a reasonable precedent.

What it boils down to is this.  In all such cases 1) the burden of proof is on the schools 2) to show beyond reasonable doubt 3) that what the parents propose to do at home will be worse than what the schools are actually doing (not just talking about doing).  There are very few school systems which will in fact be able to show this, either to a judge or a jury.

This gives us very good reason to believe that in most jurisdictions, in states whose laws provide for an alternative to schooling (unlike, say NH, which does not), any parents who prepare and present their case thoroughly and wisely can probably win a favorable ruling from a court.

It is worth noting, too, that Judge Elwood in Iowa held it very much against the State (i.e. the schools) that they did not cooperate with the Sessions in their efforts to find out precisely what the schools would accept as “equivalent.”  This means that when we ask schools what we must do to make our program equivalent, they have to answer.  If we then do what they tell us we have to do, they are not likely to be able to show beyond a reasonable doubt  that our program is not equivalent.

Not only will these arguments probably seem weighty to other courts, or juries, but they may well convince a good many school boards and their attorneys that bringing unschoolers to court will be far more trouble than it is worth.  As a general rule, lawyers do not advise their clients to go to court unless they think they have an excellent chance to win.

Bob Sessions, writing about the decision in the North Country Anvil (a good publication, $7.50 for 6 issues, Box 37, Millville, MN 55957), says, “Judge Elwood . . . ruled in our favor on two counts: 1) he does not think the state proved our guilt beyond a reasonable doubt because they offered no good arguments that ,certified instruction’ requires the identical number of hours of contact found in local schools, and 2) he believes that our providing an equivalent education to that to be got in schools satisfies the intent of Iowa law (Ed. italics).  His decision does not specify how much certified instruction is adequate (Ed. note - thank goodness that question is left open) nor does he say that anyone with a program like ours should be exempted (Ed. note - but thanks to his ruling, most will be).  The Iowa Department of Public Instruction still has review power regarding the adequacy of anyone’s program, and all such programs must have ,significant’ involvement of a certified instructor.”

Later he says, “The county attorney has filed a motion for a re-hearing with the district judge, and he has said publicly that he is strongly predisposed to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.  We have good reason to believe his motion for a re-hearing will be rejected, and we’re also convinced that he will appeal.

To date we have spent about $3,000 on this case, $700 of which came in the form of mostly small donations from people like yourselves.  Our reserves have been exhausted, and although working through the Supreme Court takes much time (a year to a year and a half), consequently allowing us to again save some money, it is also much more costly. . . . the only way we will be able to continue is through support from you.”

I hope any GWS readers in a position to do so will give some of this support

LEGAL STRATEGIES

A few general observations.  Judges, in making their rulings, take into account a number of things - legal principle, legal precedent, the will of the legislature, and the possible or probable social effect of their ruling.  Thus, parents who have sued the schools for damages because their children did not learn anything there have so far been turned down by the courts, on the grounds that this would lead to a rash of lawsuits that would bankrupt the schools.  We may take it as certain that the courts will not in any foreseeable future make rulings which they think may lead to the speedy destruction of the public schools or the overturn of compulsory schooling.  If we ask for such broad rulings, we will be turned down.  But beyond that, either in asking for narrow rulings, or speaking of any we may be able to win, we must be careful not to make large public boasts and outcries to the effect that “this means the end of compulsory schooling.”  Judge Elwood’s ruling may or may not be upheld by the Iowa Supreme Court.  Almost certainly, it would not be if it had said that anyone with a program like the Sessions should be exempted from compulsory schooling, or that the Iowa Department of Public Instruction should not have the power to review such programs.  The fact that the Sessions are willing to go to such trouble and expense to teach their children at home will be seen by the courts as part of the proof they must have that the Sessions will be serious and conscientious teachers.  The courts may be ready to give the same permission to any others who can show that they too are willing to go to this amount of trouble.  But they are probably not yet ready to give blanket permission to anyone just because they can put the right words down on a piece of paper.

In GWS #6, in a short piece entitled “Equivalent,” we told about an injured boy, unable to go to school, to whom the schools sent a tutor - for an hour and a half a week!  This was all he needed to keep up with his studies.

We didn’t print that just to make one more joke against the schools.  The Iowa case shows that this matter of equivalency is crucial.  Any parents who are considering a court battle against the schools need to find out exactly what the schools are doing, including what they are doing about sick and/or injured children.  How much home instruction by a certified instructor do the schools themselves provide?  Are all tutors used by the schools in fact certified?  Ask the schools, and the State Department of Public Instruction.  But also, check up on their answers.  People who work in large organizations may not know what is actually going on, and even when they do, may not always tell the truth about it.

In GWS #4, in the article “Testing the Schools,” we suggested a number of questions that parents might ask schools.  (We will add more questions soon.)  We don’t suggest these questions as a kind of school-baiting.   They are serious, and have to do with the matter of equivalency.

Furthermore, when you ask these questions, or any others you may think of, put them in writing.  Send copies to all members of the school board, to the school’s attorneys, to all top administrators, curriculum planners, etc.  If the school board has recently won, or is facing, a close election, send copies of these questions to their opponents.

The idea is not to spring these questions on the schools in the midst of a court battle.  Ask the questions well in advance, and to as many people as possible.  Give them plenty of time to answer.  For they have no answers!  In almost all schools, good or bad, the children who are behind grade level, in reading, math, or whatever, never catch up, but fall further behind.  And the number of those who have fallen behind rises every year.  At the high-powered boarding school I went to, C students did not become B and A students; they became D students.  It’s the same story everywhere.

FRACTIONS

Theo Giesy tells us a nice story:

“When Danile was 6 or 7, she was lying in my bed thinking about money and wondered how $1 would divide among 3 children.  She thought about it awhile and said, ,You could break it into dimes and give each one 3, that leaves 1 dime, you break that into pennies and give each one 3, and I get the extra penny.’  That was all her own, I made no comments or suggestions.”

————–

When I first taught fifth grade, before I had “taught” the children anything about fractions, or even mentioned the word, I used to ask them questions like this:  “If you had three candy bars, and wanted to divide them evenly among five people, how would you do it?”  Most of them could think of one or more ways to do this.  But after they had “had” fractions, and had learned to think of this as a problem that you had to use fractions to solve, most of them couldn’t do it.  Instead of reality, and their own common sense and ingenuity, they now had “rules,” which they could never keep straight or remember how to apply.

THE SOCIAL LIFE

Many people write that they would like to take their children out of school, but worry that this may hurt their social life, or social development.  About this, a reader writes:

” . . . My mother tells me that after the first day in kindergarten I told her that I didn’t need to go to school any more because I knew everything already.  Great arrogance?  Not really.  I knew how to be quiet, how to listen to children’s stories, and how to sing.  I wanted to learn about the adult world but was restricted to a world which adults believe children wanted.  My great pre-school enthusiasm died an early death.  . . .
Shame was one of the first lessons that I learned.  In the first grade I was told to color a picture of a mother and daughter working in a kitchen.  It struck me that if I were to color the entire picture yellow, then it would be different from all the other pictures.  When I handed it to the teacher I expected her to be pleased, if not genuinely excited.  She, instead, glared at me for what seemed to be a long time and caused me to feel the deepest shame and self-contempt. . . . I was six years old.

Since spontaneity was dangerous - it conflicted with the teacher’s view of how children should act - lying was a valuable survival technique . . . In first grade, the class was sent to the kindergarten room to do some work without supervision.  I used this opportunity to take a plastic doll and stick the head into a plastic toilet in one of the furnished doll houses in the room.  No one was sure who did it, but everyone thought it was amusing - except the teacher.  She was red with anger (she was a nun, and working class Catholic schools in the early 1960’s were not the most humane institutions) and I feared a severe beating.  Suspicion was eventually focused on me and I lied with complete success, at least for me; another boy was blamed for the incident.  I wish that I had said, ,Yes, I did it, so what.’  But I was afraid . . .

Other incidents occurred to other people and were much more serious.  I saw a boy of thirteen, seventh grade, try to explain why he did not have an assignment.  His crime was that he spoke with indignation.  Before he said three words the teacher stopped him and with a who-the-hell-do-you-think-you-are tone of voice called him to the desk and slapped him across the face with a rubber strap which was about 6 to 8 inches long and 1/4 inch thick.  He cried; they always did when it was in the face.  He never did get the chance the explain why he did not have the assignment.  I’m not so sure that he didn’t have it.  It may have been that he could not find it quickly enough.
. . . This teacher, the principal, was a textbook authoritarian.  Every violation of her largely unwritten rules would lead her to deliver the same angry statement: ,Don’t challenge me.’  She saw challenges in virtually everything even though we would never have challenged her.  I’ll just give you two of her biggest challenges.

Challenge number one involved misbehavior which the teacher present did not see, but the principal looking into the room did.  The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades (it was a small school) were in this room to practice singing.  She was furious, talked about challenges, and scolded the student vehemently.  Then she proceeded to slap him halfway across the room.  She gave him about eight or ten real haymaker slaps.  I was standing only a few feet away at the time. . . . One fact about this event showed how much in awe of authority we were: the victim of this violence did not raise his hands to protect his face.  When it was over, all I could hear was the boy crying and my own heart beating.

Challenge number two involved the same boy.  This time he urinated, or defecated, or both, in his pants.  Perhaps he was ill or maybe he had a mental problem (Ed. note - Or perhaps he had merely been denied permission to go to the bathroom, which happens quite often in school).  He didn’t do this regularly.  He was about twelve years old.  Naturally, this called for punishment.  He was forced to stand in front of each class in school while the teacher explained to the class his crime.  When he came to our classroom the principal named him the school’s stinker and told us why.  But what I remember most clearly is the pained smile (Ed. italics - this is scary) on his face.

There were many incidents of fear and humiliation.  Even though there were not many savage beatings, the point is that we lived in an environment where this could happen anytime.  And we knew that.  I had no clear idea that there was anything wrong with the school; I only had a vague feeling that things didn’t have to be the way they were.  I wasn’t a noble child resisting tyrannical teachers.  No, I loved the game of fear and humiliation and played like the masters.

‘We can hardly wait to make someone pay for our humiliation, yield to us as we were once made to yield.’  (FREEDOM AND BEYOND, p. 114)

I’m not sure when it started, but in the eighth grade a number of us would terrorize some of the timid boys in the school.  We would push the victim around, ridicule him, pull his shirt out, spin him around, dust the chalk erasers on his clothes, mess up his hair, and chase him on the playground.  It was easy to be friends with these boys when I was alone with them.  But when there was a group of us the teasing would begin.  Since we were always in groups (Ed. italics), the teasing of these boys, two in particular, was nearly unending.  On the playground they had to avoid being seen.  One of the boys would go home for lunch and not return until the last minute of recess.  We did it without thought and it seemed to be only boyish pranks.  It was sadism and I found it to be almost irresistible.

We then started to turn on the group members and practice our arts on the selected victim.  I remember coming home with sore sides from laughing so hard at another’s humiliation, but I felt empty and actually unhappy.  The next day I would do it again.  This only stopped when I became the victim.  It was pure hell.  Everyone you knew devoted all his time to your being humiliated.  Any one act was insignificant; slapping an unaware student in the back of the head was popular.  But it happened all day long in a multitude of ways.  Christmas vacation came and one of my prime torturers transferred to another school.  Things cooled off for me, but not for the timid boys or the younger children in the school.  We almost had serious violence with the male students several years younger than us.

I don’t remember the beginning or the end of this sadistic behavior.  I know that I didn’t act this way before my last two years in grade school or since then.

I believe that I was lucky in not turning out to be an ignorant brutal person who delights in being such a person.  My last two years in grade school show that I could have been.  Fortunately, I had asthma and was able to stay home a great deal.  While at home I would spend all day reading an encyclopedia for children.  This gave me a love of learning which I never would have acquired at school.  In my last two years in grade school I missed about sixty days of school, thirty each year.  This allowed me to preserve what little sanity I had.  In high school I started to read Erich Fromm, and in my second year I read SUMMERHILL.  By then it was clear to me what had been the source of my suffering.  And my cruelty.

When I was at home and not in school because of illness (often I wasn’t really sick), I was able to explore the world through reading.  This could be done solely out of personal interest and at my desired pace.  What a wonderful feeling to have an interest which one can freely nurture.  To act out of personal conviction was a  feeling totally different from my feelings in school.  (Ed. italics) . . .”

—————

Thanks for a most moving letter, and confession.  It reminds me of a part of my own schooling.  At one point I was in a public elementary school, in a class in which almost all the boys were bigger and older than I was; most of them from working class Italian or Polish families.  One by one, the toughest ones first, then the others, more or less in order of toughness, they beat me up at recess.  Which is to say, they punched me until they knocked me down and/or made me cry.  Once a given boy had beaten me up, he didn’t bother to do it again.  There didn’t seem to me to be much malice in it; it was as if this had to be done in order to find my proper place in the class.  Finally everyone had beat me except a boy named Henry.  One day the bigger boys hemmed us in and announced that Henry and I had to have a fight to find who was the biggest sissy in the sixth grade.  Henry and I didn’t want to fight, but they told us that if we didn’t they would beat up on both of us.  So for a while Henry and I circled around, swinging  wildly at each other, the bigger boys laughing and urging us on.  Nothing happened for some time, until one of my wild swings hit Henry’s nose.  It began to bleed, Henry began to cry, and so did I.  But the bigger boys were satisfied; they declared that Henry was now the official biggest sissy in the class, and on the whole, they didn’t pick on me much any more if they could find Henry.  How he survived all this, I don’t know.

I am also reminded of something a good deal more sinister, that I read in the program notes of the recording of Benjamin Britten’s opera BILLY BUDD.  At the time in which the opera is set, large ships used to go to sea with a number of cabin boys, perhaps twelve, thirteen years old.  Now and then the crew - all this with the approval of the ship’s officers - would use the cabin boys for some free entertainment.  They would tie the left hands of each of the cabin boys to a mast, so that they were arranged round the mast like the spokes of a wheel.  In the right hand of each cabin boy they would put a marlinspike.  In effect a short wooden club.  Then they would explain the rules of the “game.”   For every blow that a cabin boy was struck from behind, he could strike one blow - only one - at the boy ahead of him.  If he was not struck, he could not strike.  Then, to start things going, a crew member would strike one of the cabin boys.  He would in turn strike the boy ahead of him, who would strike the boy ahead of him, and so on, blow after blow, round and round the mast, until they all, or all but one, lay senseless on the deck.  The joy of the game, for the crew, lay not just in the sadism of it, but even more in knowing that any boy could stop the circle of blows, end the game, and save himself and his companions, just by refusing to do what was done to him.  But apparently, this never happened, and the experienced and hardened older members of the crew knew that it was not going to happen.

The writer of the letter says, “to act out of personal conviction was a feeling totally different from my feelings in school.”  It is a very important part of the real and serious purposes of school to kill that feeling.  The vast majority of the general public, and of the parents and teachers of most children in schools, feels that to act out of personal conviction is a luxury and an indulgence that they, and most other people, cannot afford.  As one of the New York hardhats who violently assaulted a peaceful and legal anti-war demonstration later said to an interviewer, “I’ve got plenty of things I’d like to protest about, but I keep my mouth shut.”  And I have long since lost track of the number of schoolteachers and/or administrators who, defending coercion in schools, have said to me, “If I wasn’t made to do things, I wouldn’t do anything.”

NO COMMENT

The Boston Globe of Sept. 1, 78 carried an AP story, saying in part:

BACK-TO-SCHOOL BOOSTS RETAILERS

NEW YORK - Many of the nation’s leading retail chains reported record sales in August yesterday, sales they said were sparked by end-of-summer and back-to-school promotions.

GOOD NEWS FROM MO.

Albert Hobart writes:

“For the past four years we have been teaching our nine year old son at home rather than sending him to school.  It’s been a pleasant and memorable experience for all of us.  Our son is learning quickly and easily, and he seems to be a happy, good-natured, well-adjusted boy.  The only thing we regret is that we haven’t had more contact with other families whose children are learning at home.

Thus recently we decided to see what we could do to bring together a group of parents who are committed to helping their children learn without schooling.  As we picture it, several ,unschooling’ families would live in the same vicinity and get together from time to time for mutual support, good times, and the sharing of ideas.  One of our most important goals would be to insure that our children have an ongoing opportunity to play and grow together and develop lasting friendships.

We’ve been interested in this idea for several years, but our home near Boston, Mass. never seemed like the appropriate setting.  Our suburban neighbors were usually too involved with the school way of raising their children to even consider the kind of informal learning arrangement we had in mind.  We soon discovered, moreover, that many parents who were teaching their own children shared our desire to live in a more rural environment where they could garden, raise farm animals, and, in general, live a more self-sufficient life.

As a result we decided to move to the Missouri Ozarks.  I grew up in St. Louis, so I was already familiar with the area, but the main reason we chose to settle in the Show Me State was that it’s legal in Missouri to teach your own children.  We’ve met a number of families in this vicinity whose children are learning at home, and none of them have had any problems with the school authorities.

We particularly like the Ozarks because the people who live here have an admiration for self-reliance and a distrust of government interference in their private lives.  Thus they seem more sympathetic towards home education than people we’ve met elsewhere.

(As a word of warning, however, I think I should repeat an excellent point made in GWS #2; regardless of what the law says, school authorities anywhere can make trouble for you if they want to.  We think there are ways to avoid this difficulty, and we hope we’ve found an area where this sort of problem is least likely to occur.  But should worse come to worst, we are prepared to work together with other parents to organize some kind of minimal private school.  My wife is a certified teacher, and I’ve had some teaching experience.)

Another reason we like the Ozarks is that the cost of land is relatively low compared to other regions.  Prices range from $300 to $400 an acre for a 40 acre plot, although the cost goes up for smaller parcels, high quality farmland, or places with creeks or springs.  There’s plenty of land available, so it should be easy for families to buy property within driving distance of each other.
The opportunities for employment in the Ozarks are probably similar to what they would be in most rural areas.  There are certainly jobs available, but at comparatively lower salaries.  On the other hand, it doesn’t cost much to live here either.  For instance, the property taxes on a 40 acre farm are usually less than $100 a year and sometimes less than $50.

If the ideas I’ve described sound appealing to you and you think your family might enjoy living in the Ozarks, please write.  We’d be happy to give you more information.”

(From a later letter)  “Last week we held a pot-luck picnic at the campground where we’ve been staying.  We think it was quite a success.  47 people attended, 21 adults and 26 children . . . many more than we expected.  The parents discussed their various experiences and exchanged information, and everybody seemed to have a good time, especially the children.  We’re going to meet again in a few weeks, and we plan to invite more people.  We don’t know if it will turn into a regular get-together or not.  We hope so.  But we’re certain that the parents who came feel more positive about what they’re doing, and that some who were uncertain about home education are now committed to the idea.
Our son Robert continues to thrive.  He met boys from three ‘unschooling’ families who live nearby.  He really enjoys playing with these new friends, especially because he has so much in common with them.  In fact, our son seems to enjoy everything about his life here in the Ozarks.  He’s so happy, so full of life and curiosity, that it’s always a joy for us to be with him.”

SCHOOL STORY

A recent UPI release from Providence, RI, says, in part:

“A 14-year-old boy who skipped high school and has been pulling straight A’s at Rhode Island Junior College Thursday was allowed to stay in school while authorities test him to see if he is smart enough for college.  (Ed. note - this is how the story is worded; I assume they mean that the decision to allow him to stay was made on Thursday.)

Jonathan Dellinger graduated from Cranston (RI) Junior High in June.  The state said an education law prohibits the boy from leaving high school until he is 16.

But the boy enrolled in the college’s continuing education program this fall and was getting A’s in Spanish, introductory Chemistry, algebra, and fundamentals of writing when the college forced him to withdraw Oct. 8.

Jonathan and his mother sued the college, contending his constitutional rights were violated when he was expelled because of his age.

Under the agreement announced in Superior Court Thursday by the State Education Department and the boy’s lawyer, Jonathan will be allowed to take courses at the college for one semester.

In the meantime, he will undergo tests at the University of Rhode Island and lawyers for both sides will file written arguments within two weeks on whether the case (Ed. note - I assume this means his mother’s suit) should be dismissed.

,I can’t wait to get back to classes,’ the youth said after the court settlement.  ,All my friends are there.  It’s the first school I’ve gone to where I felt I really belonged.’

Jonathan’s mother, Barbara McKinney, said the boy has an IQ of 155, 15 points above the theoretical ,genius’ margin of 140.

Mrs. McKinney said the Cranston public school system ,virtually ignored my son’s intelligence.  He was always bored with his age group.’  But she says she’s ,content for the time being’ with the state college. . . .

Jonathan said he plans to apply to Brown University next year.
After the agreement was reached, the boy’s lawyer, Stephen J. Fortuato, Jr. moved to dismiss the case.

‘We got what we wanted,’ he said.  ,Jonathan goes back to RIJC tomorrow and he’ll be tested to see if he belongs in high school or college.’

But J. Peter Dougherty, a state lawyer representing the college, asked the court to continue hearing the case.

‘The president of the college is getting calls from parents all over Rhode Island who say they have gifted high-school age children,’ he said.

—————

School people are unbelievable.  They have some test which they say is a “good predictor of college success.”  That means, most of the people who have scored well on the test have later on got good grades in college, which suggests that any other kid who scores well on it will also get good grades in college.  So now, with perfectly straight faces, they are going to give this test to this boy who is already getting straight A’s in college, to find out whether he is smart enough to go to college!

It’s like something out of ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

What is that junior college president so afraid of?  Suppose there are many other young people in Rhode Island like Jonathan, perfectly capable of doing outstanding college work though only of high school age.  Wouldn’t that be a good thing?  One would suppose that a sensible man, a man really interested in learning, would be delighted, would say, “By all means send them here, no use having them waste their time in high school.”

Unless, of course, the real purpose of high school is to waste their time, and to have them get used to having their time wasted.  Unless, in short, the purpose of school is not to speed them into useful life in adult society, but to hold them out of it.

The story suggests another way in which children who are good at school (know how to play the school game) might get out of one or more years of high school.  Indeed, one reader of GWS has told me that during her high school years she was able to get out of going to high school by taking extension courses at the state university.  It seems to me very likely that most courts would agree that a child who was taking college courses and getting good marks was getting an education “equivalent” to that provided by the local high school, and therefore need not attend that high school.

On the whole, I don’t think it would be wise to make a constitutional issue out of this.  Nothing in the U.S. Constitution says that people may not have various rights and privileges withheld because of age.  Many such laws exist in every state - laws about drinking, driving, voting, etc..  Not for a very long time to come are the Federal Courts going to overturn all such laws by declaring all age discrimination unconstitutional.  But most state courts, as I said before, can probably be persuaded to rule, on one ground or another, that a child forbidden by the schools to do work that he has proved himself capable of doing is being denied some kind of educational opportunity guaranteed him by the laws of the state.

SENSIBLE PHONICS

Elsewhere in GWS I have said (and will probably say many times again) that most children, if there was interesting stuff around to read, would figure out for themselves how to read it even if we did not “teach” them anything, and only told them what words said if and when they asked us.  To those who may disagree with this, and insist that some teaching is necessary or at least helpful, I would say that if we are going to try to “teach” children something about reading, we ought at least (unlike almost all schools and teachers) to do it in ways that will make their learning easier and not harder.  That is, we should try to avoid telling them things that are inconsistent, self-contradictory, or just plain false.

Two small examples.  In many first, second, etc. grade classrooms I used to see signs on the walls - and people tell me they are still up there - saying, “When two vowels go out walking, the first one does the talking.”  (Typical of the cutesy-wootsy way in which schools talk to young children)  What this means, of course, is that there are many vowel pairs - bAIt, bEAt, bOAt, etc. - in which the first of the two vowels makes the sound.  OK to point that out to children, though the best way to do this would simply be to give examples.  But the trouble with the cute little sentence that the schools have cooked up to tell children this is that it contains two vowel pairs, both of which violate this rule.  This might not bother some children, either because they already understand what the rule is telling them or (more likely) because they don’t think about anything they hear in school.  But some children do think about what they see and hear, and it is just such thoughtful and intelligent children who might very well be thrown for a loop by this dumb sentence on the wall.

Other example.  Among the sounds which vowels make is one which is the same as the name of the vowel, as in bAke, bEEt, rOse, etc.  The schools have traditionally called these sounds the “long” vowel sounds.  By contrast, they give the name “short” to the vowel sounds in “bAck, bEt, bIt, etc.  Now the fact is that there is nothing longer about the sound of A in bAke than its sound in bAck.  We can say either word quickly or slowly, make either vowel sound as long or short as we wish.  Again, calling one of these vowel sounds “long” and the other one “short,” though it makes no sense - one might as well call one blue and the other green - might not bother the kind of children who (as I was) are ready to parrot back to the teacher whatever they hear, never mind what it means or whether it means anything.  But it might be extremely confusing and even frightening to other kinds of children, including many of the most truly intelligent.

It might not even do any harm to call the sounds of bAck, bIt, pOt, etc. “short” vowels, as long as we made it clear that there was nothing really any shorter about those sounds, and that we just used this word because we had to use some word, and people had been using this one for quite a while, so we decided we’d stick to it.  After all,  that’s why we call dogs “dogs”; there is no particular sense to it, it’s just that we’ve been doing it that way for a long time.  But to say to children things which make no sense, as if they did make sense, is stupid, and will surely cause some of them great and needless confusion.

I have to insist that these two small and perhaps not very damaging pieces of nonsense, and other and much larger and more damaging ones I will talk about in a second, were not invented and never would have been invented by parents teaching their own children.  They were invented by people trying to turn a casual, natural, everyday act into a “science” and a mystery.

Let’s now take a broader look at the teaching of reading, more specifically, what most people call “phonics.”

In “Reading, Chicago Style” (GWS #2), I pointed out that, according to a newspaper report, a Board of Education “reading expert” had made a list of 500 reading skills (later cut to 273, to be “taught” in grades 1 through 8) that children needed to learn in elementary school.  What those lists could be made up of I cannot imagine and do not want to know.  In a word, they are nonsense.

The fact is that there are only two general ideas that one needs to grasp in order to be able to read a phonic language like English (or French, German, Italian, etc. - as opposed to, say, Chinese).  1) Written letters stand for spoken sounds.  2) The order of the letters on the page, from our left to our right, corresponds to the order in time of the spoken sounds.

It is not necessary for children to be able to say these rules in order to understand and be able to use them.  Nor is it a good idea to try to teach them these rules by saying and then explaining them.  The way to teach them - that is, if you insist on teaching them - is to demonstrate it through very simple and clear examples.

Aside from that, what children have to learn are, the connections between the 45 or so sounds that make up spoken English and the 380 or so letters or combinations of letters that represent these sounds in written English.  This is not a large or hard task.  But, as in everything else, the schools do a great deal to make it larger and harder.

The first mistake they make is to teach or try to teach the children the sounds of each individual letter.  In the case of consonants, this amounts to telling the children what is not true.  Of the consonants, there are only six or seven which can be said all by themselves - S (or the C in niCe), Z (or the S in riSe), M, N, V, F, J (or the G in George) - plus the pair SH.  There are the borderline cases of L, R, W, and Y, but it seems wiser to let children meet these sounds in syllables and words.  As for the rest, we cannot say the sounds that B, or D, or K, or P, or T, etc. make all by themselves.  B does not say “buh,” nor D “duh,” etc.  BIG does not say “buh-ig,” nor RUB “ruh-buh.”  These letters don’t make any sounds, except perhaps the faintest puff of air, except when they are combined with a vowel in a word or syllable.  Therefore, it is misleading and absurd, as well as false, to try to teach them in isolation.

It is equally foolish and mistaken to try to teach the vowel sounds in isolation, in this case because each vowel makes a number of different sounds, depending on what consonants it is combined with.  Since we can’t tell what the letter A says except as we see it joined with consonants, then it makes sense to introduce the sounds of A (or any other vowel) only in the context of words or syllables.

All we have to do then is to expose children to the two basic ideas of phonics, that written letters stand for and “make” spoken sounds, and that the order of the written letters matches the order of the spoken sounds.  The first we can do very easily by any kind of reading aloud, whether of words in books, or signs, or whatever.  The second we can do by writing down, and saying as we write them, words which use the six or seven consonants that we can sound alone, and so can stretch out in time.  Thus we could write SAM, saying the S as we write the S, the A as we write it, the M as we write it.  Same with MAN, FAN, VAN, or MIS, or US, or IF.  It is neither necessary nor a good idea to be too thorough about this.  It is not a lesson to be completely learned and digested the first or second time.  That is not how children learn things.  They have to live with an idea or insight for a while, turn it around in some part of their minds, before they can, in a very real sense, discover it, say, “I see,” take possession of the idea, make it their own - and unless they do this, the idea will never be more than surface, parrot learning, they will never really be able to make use of it.

Then, as children slowly take possession of these ideas about reading, we can introduce them to more words, and so more sounds, and the connections between the words and the sounds.  In GWS #3 I mentioned a book LET’S READ, which lists all the one-syllable words that can be made from different combinations of consonants and vowels.  But it wouldn’t take parents very long to make such lists for themselves - BAT, FAT, CAT, RAT, BIN, DIN, FIN, GIN, TIN, etc.  There is no need for such lists to be complete, just long enough to expose the child to the idea that words that look mostly alike will probably sound mostly alike.

In any case, hardly any children will want to spend much time with what are so obviously teaching materials.  They will want to get busy reading (and writing) real words, words in a context of life and meaning.  No need to talk here about ways to do that - any people who read this are sure to have many ideas of their own.  If we read and write, the children will want to; if we don’t, they won’t.

Let me say once again that I don’t think even the very limited amount of teaching I have described here is really necessary or in most cases even helpful.  All I say is, if you feel you must do some teaching, or if your child somehow expects and demands this of you (most won’t), then try to avoid, in ways I have suggested here, the crippling mistakes of the schools.

A P.S. to the above.  Another very common school mistake is to ask children to learn and memorize which letters are vowels and which are consonants.  Schools usually do this by trying to teach the children some definition of “vowel” and “consonant.”  These definitions are almost always inconsistent and self-contradictory, such as “A vowel is a sound that you can say all by itself.”  As I have said, this is equally true of some of the consonants.  I have thought about this from time to time, and have never been able to think of a definition of vowels and consonants which was clear, distinct, and allowed no exceptions.

In any case, this is a bad way to teach children anything.  They think best (as I suspect we all do) when they can move from the particular to the general.  Beyond that, there is no good reason why children learning to read should learn the words “vowel” and “consonant.”  Knowing or not knowing those words has nothing whatever to do with reading.

I have written elsewhere about playing a game with children in which they ask me to write a word, and I write it.  Next time I do this, I may use one color pen to write consonants, and another to write vowels.  Though I can imagine that some children, suspecting that I was trying to sneak in some teaching, might tell me not to do even that.  If anyone tries this out, please let me know what happens.

A better variation of that game might go like this.  We could write each letter on a separate card or piece of paper, vowels in one color, consonants in another.  Then we could say to the child, “Put together any two, or three, or four (or more) of these cards, and I will tell you what they say.”  If a child gave us BSRX, we would do our best to make those sounds.  The child would begin to notice after a while that the only combination of letters that make sounds that sounded like the words he heard around him were the ones that had both colors in them, and that these were very often in the form of consonant-color + vowel-color + consonant-color.  If he ever asked, “What do you call this kind of letter, and what do you call this kind?”  (I can’t guess whether a child would be likely to do this), I would say, “We call these kinds of letters ,vowels’ and these ,consonants.’”  (If he asked why, I would tell him I didn’t know.)

Mind you, I am not saying that any of these tricks or games are necessary, or even that they will help a child learn to read faster or better.  But for people who for whatever reasons feel they want to do something, I suggest these as things that it might be fun (for both adult and child) to do, and as long as they are fun, possibly useful, and probably not harmful.