28 Winter 1999 $4.95 SPECIAL DOUBLE ISSUE The Education Revolution With special CHANGING SCHOOLS section The Magazine of the Alternative Education Resource Organization (Formerly AERO-gramme)
Contents: The IDEC at Summerhill Commentary on the Summerhill Situation , by Gus Dudgeon The Story of a Democratic School in Guatemala Anheleisha's Story About the Six FlagsAdventure Feedback from Gatto Show on WBAI AERO Advisory Board Meetings The Tree Mail and Communications Home Education News Homeschool Resource Center Consultations Jailing of Karen Maple Public Alternatives International News And Communications What is IDEC, by David Gribble News from Australia, Brazil, England Germany, Hungary, Japan, Israel, Palistine West Bank, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Ukraine Alternative Education Alumni News by Michelle Senzon Alumni Stories, Summerhill, by Hugh Harris, Gus Dudgeon Horses Arses and Rockets, by Malc Dow Goddard College by Mary Schroeder-Blumke Teachers, Jobs, and Internships Conferences Special Section:CHANGING SCHOOLS The 29th Annual International Alternative Education Conference The 30th Annual International Alternative Education Conference Alternative Education Internships, by Melanie Whitham Democratic Schools, edited by Michael w. Apple and James A. Beane, A book review by Derry Hannam School Security Raises Concerns Schools Begin 'Student Profiling' Parents irate over search of students, By Mary Hurley A Community Life-Long Learning System, By Bill Ellis What Does Rap Music Have to do With All of This? Breaking Ground, by David Orr Alternative Education and the Future, by Jerry Mintz Creating Future Learning Systems, by Don Glines News About New "Standards" A Reservation Success Story Separation of Lights and State New Charter School Accreditation Organization Kite With a Broken String AERO Books, Videos, Subscription, Ordering Information
The Education Revolution The Magazine of the Alternative Education Resource Organization (Formerly AERO-gramme) 417 Roslyn Rd., Roslyn Heights, NY 11577 ISSN # 10679219 phone: 516-621-2195 or 800-769-4171 fax: 516-625-3257 e-mail: jerryaero@aol.com Web site: http://www.edrev.org
Editor: Jerry Mintz Main and Communications Editor: Carol Morley Director of Information and Communications: steve Rosenthal Printer Joel Hymowitz, Sir Speedy Printing Public Relations Director: Antonia Martinez Webmaster: Robin Martin
ADVISORY BOARD Alexander Adamsky, Mary Addams, Chris Balch, Fred Bay, Patrice Creve, Anne Evans, Patrick Farenga, Phil Gang, John Gatto, Herb Goldstein, Dan Greenberg, Josh Hornick, Jeffrey Kane, Albert Lamb, Dave Lehman, Mary Leue, Ron Miller, Pat Montgomery, Ann Peery, John Potter, Mary Anne Raywid, John Scott, Tim Seldin, Elina Sheppel, Andy Smallman, Sidney Solomon, Nick Stanton, Corinne Steele, Tom Williams
The IDEC at Summerhill The 7th Annual International Democratic Education Conference was held at Summerhill School in Leiston, England from July 23-26.
We arrived a week early, before the term was over, so we could visit the school while the students were still there. On the last leg of the journey Mrs. Gull, the taxi driver, drove us from the Saxmundham train station to the school. She said that she and her husband would be glad to testify any time about the wonderful changes they had seen in the students as they drove them periodically to the train and airport. She was quite aware that the school was under attack by the education authorities.
Alex Morganov came with us to the IDEC this year. He is a student who missed last year's conference because the Immigration and Naturalization Service sent his papers too late for him to go to the IDEC in Ukraine. He was born in Russia and is not yet an American citizen.
I was greeted by several of the students I had met on previous visits. I had taught many of them how to play table tennis. Oli, whom I had met when he first came three years ago was now ready to leave the school and go on to college. Jonas, from Germany, whom I had met when he first came and spoke little English, was now quite fluent and very self-assured. Meng-An, from Taiwan, had become the best table tennis player in the school, and was planning to go to the United States to live with relatives and continue his education. We had some nice matches while I was there.
Uri is now a student at Summerhill, but I had met him previously at several IDEC conferences when he was a student at the Democratic School of Hadera, in Israel. His parents have moved to England. He was very involved in the upkeep of the computer room. Chris and Natasha are children of current staff members Ian and Lenka. She is a Summerhill Alumna herself. They had just come from the United States when I last visited, but are all quite central to the school by now.
Many of the students and staff had just participated in a march on 10 Downing Street to protest the treatment of the school by OFSTED, the office of inspection. Among other things, the school had been told that its non-compulsory lessons conflicted with the imposition of the national curriculum. A pile of letters was given to Prime Minister Tony Blair's office. The Summerhillians were accompanied by many supporters, including English homeschoolers who realized that if Summerhill were discredited that they would be next.
At the end of each of the three yearly terms, Summerhill has a big End of Term Party. It goes on through the night with popular dancing, country dancing, and snacks, as students leave for a one-month break. At this party the highlight was rapping in French, German and Japanese, with Henry and William, grandchildren of A.S Neill, now staff members, doing the record-scratching. Actually, I missed most of this because I was doing a radio show on the Talk America Network from the school office. I interviewed Carmen and Nathan, 14 year old Summerhill students who had participated in the march on 10 Downing Street, as well as a demonstration of the Summerhill meeting which took place at the House of Commons! I also interviewed Susan, Nathan's mother, and a strong supporter.
At midnight there was a gathering of all Summerhillians in a big circle, with those who were leaving in an inner circle as all sang Auld Lang Syne, followed by a lot of hugs and tears.
I met several Summerhill Alumni at the EOT. One of them was a soft-spoken Japanese boy who helped us repaint the lines on the tennis court. His name is Yoshiki, and he told me he has just been accepted into the Royal Scottish Academy of Music. At my request he then played a very difficult and beautiful selection from Ravel on the piano. He said he learned music at Summerhill, which arranged private lessons for him. I met another former student who is now running his own photographic studio in Amsterdam, and a third, an American, who has a Japanese restaurant called Saga in a very fancy part of London. At his invitation we ate there on the last day and it was great.
William Smith, an American film maker, was at Summerhill making a documentary about the school. We helped him find funding to continue his project and release a film giving an accurate picture of Summerhill to help counteract the slanderous accusations made by OFSTED.
After the End of Term party he brought us to the train and we traveled to Albert and Popsy Lamb's house in the Cotswolds near Stroud, one of my favorite places in the world. Albert edited the new Summerhill book, a more recent editing of Neill's writing, and both he and Popsy were students in the school. While we were there we went to a new site of one of those mysterious crop circles, afterward visiting Avebury, a standing stone circle similar to Stonehenge and also thousands of years old. We also visited Bath and the Roman ruins. While there, we met two people who were aware of the Summerhill situation and very supportive of the school. One was from a comprehensive school and had students doing street theater. She said Summerhill was her ideal, but she couldn't go that far in her school. The other was a former teacher in a Quaker school, now running a health-food restaurant.
I was originally going to give a talk at Flexi-college in the north of England, but that was canceled when the college faced a sudden financial crisis and was threatened with closure. Nevertheless, Mary Ann Rose, a homeschooler who lived near Stroud, decided to track me down at Albert's house and came over with her oldest son to interview me. She has created a program and publications to help beginning home educators. She works with a support group of 60 families.
Returning to Summerhill for the IDEC on the evening of the 22nd, I met some of the first attendees. Many of them were AERO-related, and some were surprises. One of those was David French, who had first e-mailed AERO from Poland and wants to start a democratic school there. Another was Christos Voulis, who originally contacted us from Greece and wants to start a school there. He expressed his great thanks for the support we had given him and even showed us an AERO article which had been translated into Greek and put into his journal. Also, Helen Hughes an AERO member from Windsor House School, a public alternative in Vancouver, Canada, joined us
Tokyo Shure arrived from Japan with a group of 15, including 12 students. Jim Connor arrived. He is a board member of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools and is teaching this year at Upattinas School in PA. He had just been bicycle-riding in Spain. And had visited a school there, Los Muchachos, which takes students, some of whom are orphans, and trains them to be circus performers. He said they have new branches in South America.
The next day the conference opened, and was to be governed in the style of the Summerhill democratic meeting, with a Summerhill student chairing. We talked about how decisions were going to be made during the conference. Decisions were made about quiet times, smoking, etc.
At one point, a special meeting was called because some people had been kept awake by noise the night before-some Summerhill students and attendees had broken the quite hour rule that had been previously made. After long discussion, it was decided to appoint "beddies officers," and two volunteered and were approved. But some were impatient with the meeting process and wanted to "get on with the conference." A proposal was made to end the meeting before the powers of the beddies officers were defined, and it passed, a decision which had at least one unfortunate result, which I'll speak about later.
There were a total of 167 people at the conference, made up as follows: 123 delegates, 19 Summerhill students, 16 other students/children and 9 Summerhill staff. They came from 19 different countries. (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, England, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Palestine, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, United States, Wales)
I took the participants through a networking exercise at the start of the conference. We made a big circle and brought various categories into the center and asked a few of each to explain their connection and background in a few seconds. The categories included those from out of the country, from democratic schools, from state schools, writers, administrators, students, etc. It was a quick way for people to get to know each other.
Beyond Tokyo Shure and Summerhill there were not many students from democratic schools at the conference. About fifteen Summerhill students participated in the conference and their involvement was strong. We hope some of them will come to next year's IDEC. One student came representing Sands School, and one student came from Hadera School in Israel. One great workshop involving students was led by David Gribble. Democratic education was discussed from the student point of view, with many questions for the students coming from the audience.
There were several workshops specific to the crisis which Summerhill is facing. One was about how alternative schools should be inspected and involved discussion of creating standards which would make sense to democratic schools. For example, one standard could require that a large majority of the students should vote that they like going to their school. Another could require empowerment of students.
Derry Hannam was one of two school inspectors to attend the conference. He gave a very well documented talk about why schools that empower students and are learner-centered are more effective.
For my radio show that week I interviewed Derry. I also interviewed Helen Hughes from Windsor House School in Vancouver. We did the show from the office. Uri had worked very hard the evening before to download Realaudio player so people would be able to hear the radio show live from the Internet and had finally succeeded. After the show I went over to the computer room to see what the reaction had been. I discovered, to my surprise, that they had been listening to the first 15 minutes of the show, which started at 11 PM, when the beddies officer came in and ordered them to shut it off! Despite protests, Uri complied with the order, although it seemed that the sound was disturbing no one, and people later said that the officer was out of line. Thus, incomplete democratic process interfered with at least 10 people's desire to hear the radio show!
One of the first keynote speakers was Gerison Lansdown who presented the case for children's rights and discussed her work with the United Nations. Also, Roland Meighan from Education Now talked about "the Next Learning System." He called it an extension of the learner-centered approach-an approach we all pioneered starting in the 60's that recognizes individual learning styles-but that the best way to present it is as the system of the future. Among other things, he showed us a cartoon of a line of animals including a monkey, squirrel, elephant, and fish, with the following instruction: To be fair, each of you must pass the same test-climb the tree!
I did a workshop, introducing participants to IDEC and showing the video from last year's IDEC at the Stork School in Ukraine. Later in the conference we had a meeting over lunch of IDEC people to discuss where the conference might be next year. To our surprise, there were several strong bids to host the conference from Tokyo Shure in Japan and the Hope Flower School in Bethlehem, along with an offer last year from Alexander Tubelsky of the School of Self-Determination in Moscow, which I reminded the group about.
After the first meeting we seemed hopelessly deadlocked. The Hope Flower School and Hadera agreed they might be able to co-host. Tokyo Shure with their large representation had clearly been working hard on their bid, and even passed out to the group a flyer they had prepared featuring a proposed budget, funding sources, and accommodations.
As we went into a second meeting during supper, I think we all assumed that we wouldn't be able to make a decision about the site, and the question might drag on through the year. But unexpectedly, Hussein Issa said, "As much as we need the conference at our school next year, I think that Tokyo Shure deserves to have it there, as they have clearly done more work on preparation. I suggest we have it in Japan next year, and that Hadera and Hope Flower co-host the next year." We had complete consensus on the suggestion, and a lot of energy behind it. We felt that this would give us a good lead time to get support for the conference in Tokyo, and even more time to get support for the Hadera/Hope Flower conference. We even suggested that funds should be found to bring Hope Flower students to the Japan conference to better prepare them for the next year.
Lost in the shuffle was last year's offer by Tubelsky, but since we had no confirmation of the offer from last year, the case was moot. We did have communication from Oleg Belin of Stork, wishing us well, regretting that they couldn't come to Summerhill, and describing their first steps toward becoming a regional center for democratic education.
The group also recommended that we create a more formal organization and decision-making process during this year. Everybody left with good feelings and surprise that we had come to consensus.
That evening there was a band providing music and calling for country dancing. Meanwhile I prepared to lead a benefit auction that took place after the dance. People bid on donated home visits, a week as a student at Summerhill, a rare, original Neill book, "That Dreadful School," Japanese origami, kiwi soap and other items from New Zealand, a Summerhill T shirt, etc. The auction raised almost 300 pounds.
Throughout the weekend people swam in the Summerhill swimming pool, played table tennis, and I even got some tennis in. The weather was great.
Michael Newman, the Summerhill staff member who helped coordinate and moderate the conference, somehow managed to always keep his good sense of humor throughout. He and other Summerhill students and staff members worked hard through the whole conference to make it a great success. The students were an important presence.
On the last day each school represented at the conference made a presentation. There was also a discussion about the need for an international organization. Jesse Mumm and Jim Connor of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools said they wanted to set up an organization designed specifically to rescue schools which were under attack in some way. In the discussion we talked about how AERO had been able to find financial help and other support for schools which had been in crisis, including Hadera School, Hope Flowers School, Rogers Person Centered School in Budapest, The school of Self Determination, The Moscow International Film School, and The Eureka Free University in Russia, the Free School in Albany, New York, and the Stork Family School in Ukraine.
Of course, we have left out many details, since I could not attend all workshops. After a final meeting, various groups began to leave after a very productive conference. We will stay in touch through the IDEC listserve.
COMMENTARY ON SUMMERHILL SITUATION BY A SUMMERHILL GRADUATE By Gus Dudgeon (Summerhill "57) What most people haven't grasped about the current Summerhill situation is that the reason for the problems with the Blair government has nothing to do with a general waning of interest in freedom in education. On the contrary, freedom in education is gaining ground daily, inexorably. Education is moving out of government's hands as inevitably as salt did in some dim forgotten past. The real crux of the matter is that A S Neill's true heyday has not arrived yet, but it is coming as surely as day follows night.
Neill was wise enough not to put a premium on common sense, because as soon as you do that, people who don't possess it focus on the premium rather than the sense -- at which point it ceases to be common sense. It becomes "premium sense," which our world tries to run on and does so very badly: everyone's belief system (which they put a premium on) vying with everyone else's. Meanwhile, good old unsung common sense is what is actually keeping the world going round. Neill knew this and had the honesty not to add trappings to his work. We have become so accustomed to force-fed knowledge over so many centuries, that we can't help laying at least a ghost of the same trip on others; but Neill refused to surrender to the temptation.
When you can't think for yourself, you need people to tell you how much weight to give to [others] pronouncements. But to pander to this need is to perpetuate the problem. Knowing this, the last thing Neill wanted to be was an "authority," and he took pains to avoid being cast in that role. Thus, not being an authority, not looking like authorities look like, how can we expect the bureaucratic mind to take him seriously?
Win or lose in enforcing the provisions of their Notice of Complaint, the Blair government has already failed in achieving their purpose of uniformity of education, because it's too late. Diversity of education is already upon us, and it is a tide that will drown all such reactionary thinking in due course. I would not be at all surprised if in thirty years time more schoolchildren had heard of A S Neill than Sigmund Freud. I will certainly be doing all I can to bring that reality about -- and there are many more like me. So take heart, people. Neill's day is virtually upon us. All we have to do is practice a little kindness toward the British authorities by preventing them from making asses of themselves in the meantime. Of course, that would be no mean feat in itself.
Summerhill Study of Graduates A new subscriber to The Education Revolution told me that he had done an extensive study on Summerhill graduates and had publish two articles about it in 1968. His name is Dr. Emmanual Bernstein, and he has sent me copies of the articles which appeared in the Fall 1968 issue of Humanistic Psychology and the October 1968 issue of Psychology Today. The articles tell of his summer of visiting fifty Summerhill graduates and families in the London area. He gives some statistical results and some impressions, and a lot of anecdotal stories. It is fascinating, but too much to summarize. The people he visited were universally wonderful to him, and most really loved Summerhill. AERO can make photocopies for $10, including postage.
The Story of a Democratic School in Guatemala A year ago Margaret Allen of Miami e mailed me about alternative schools she knew of in Guatemala. She also mentioned us to her friends Rita and Roberto Vizcaino (ritanaleb@hotmail.com)who subsequently sent us the following information about their school in Guatemala. They had wanted to attend the IDEC at Summerhill but were not able to get funding in time. They hope to go to next year's IDEC. --JM We are coming out of over 35 years of war against ourselves and the processes of dialog, democracy, and participation still have to be developed so that all of the groups that make up our multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual Guatemala have a true and conscious grasp of them. In spite of it all we would like to share our experience so that it can reach other educators and so, allow us to indirectly participate in the IDEC and find a place among those with a history of Education for Democracy.
The school started functioning in 1978, in a small rented house with the characteristic of every room being surrounded by a garden. This cultivated our first 13 students, who for a period of one year experimented an ideal relationship among themselves and with the faculty.
The next year we grew unexpectedly and this brought the classic problems of people interacting within a group. There was a struggle for power among the faculty, the students, and even the parents of the students. By the end of the second year we found new facilities which we were able to lease at a very low price. These new facilities consisted of an old abandoned house built in the middle an acre of land. It had a pool that had until then been converted into a warehouse and the garden had been used as a dumping site for broken bottles from a brewery.
This house had enough room for us to operate for a few years, but then the growth of the school forced us to build new classrooms; these were made out of plywood. These classrooms functioned for about 5 years, time at which they had to be replaced. The new classrooms were then built with bamboo with cloth for wallpaper; they turned out to be beautiful, spacious, well vented, and with great illumination. All this went along perfectly with the spring time weather of our country. We spent several very pleasant and original years in these classrooms. They were not modified until two or three years before our eviction, time at which they were replaced by prefab classrooms still surrounded by gardens. After calling this place home for 18 years the land was sold to a developing company that decided to build a huge apartment complex in it. After being evicted we were lucky enough to find a new place to lease almost immediately. This new place was in the outskirts of the city and very close to where now we are building our own installations.
Our initial purpose when the school was created, was to concentrate on highly intelligent children. The marketing of such concept proved to be unexpectedly difficult in our country, so during the first years the school had very few students and they didn't fit the original profile but were a typical sample of school-age children. Suddenly, after three years of functioning with under 50 students we grew to 175 children and the problems common to large groups started. Instead of handling them in a traditional manner, we opted for the development of some alternative model. Under advice from a psychiatrist, we went for the Anglo-Saxon justice system. Each child in a conflict could choose an attorney among the students, who in light of their natural tendency to be fair, had been chosen for such positions. The other party could choose a DA. It did not take long before we achieved "success," and two weeks later no one wanted to be in class.
The students wanted to be taking part in the "trials" and discussing their own problems. Parents started to worry by what seemed a waste of time and an abandonment of traditional education. The situation reached conflict when a group of students from 8th grade (14-15 year olds) wanted to try a teacher for making a six-hour long test, and not being present while it was being administered; they had none to answer their questions about the test. The demand was presented in a legal paper. The teacher overreacted to it and presented herself with her lawyer, threatening to sue for the "lack of respect towards authority of the students".
Lawyer and teacher could not restrain the enthusiasm we all felt. It was not perfect, but it was a fair way to solve interpersonal problems. We clearly let everyone know the rules of the game: that she had agreed when we talked about the "trials," and that we were committed to the experience, everyone, from principals and teachers to students. This teacher had the option of attending the trial or resigning. Faced with this situation, the lawyer calmed his client and told the children that they could not try anyone, much less call him/her delinquent if there was not a previously established law. The teacher then went to trial with the privilege of it being behind closed doors. From that day forward, the students stayed after classes, working in a new constitution. The process of citizenship was then based and strengthened in the students, teachers, and parent's conscience. It is now called Naleb' City.
We have undergone fascinating experiences as well as deep apathetic times. We have in fact observed the creation and growth of a nation within a nation. The school community has reflected most of the events affecting our country by reproducing them in a smaller scale. We have had coups d'etat, the Naleb' Constitution has been annulled three times; we've had sieges to the school's snack shop, strikes, groups of guerrilla students, etc. Overall the children have acted like in their real world, with all the national problems of the past years being played by them in the much more controlled environment of the school. Our students have learned to solve problems inherent to large groups of persons through dialogue, and compromise. We have evidence of this as some of them have successfully employed the techniques learned in school to solve problems at the companies were they work. We must remark that due to totalitarianism military governments of the past, we were, at times, afraid to carry on with our labor, but fortune was on our side in this respect and we never suffered for it.
In 1998, the OAS Pro-Peace Commission heard about our experience and the General Coordinator sent a group to observe the school for four months. The outcome was a note indicating that "they were greatly impressed when they measured the real impact of the methodology developed by Colegio Naleb' throughout these past 18 years".
Four months later we received a commendation from the Ministry of Education in Guatemala, and in it the importance of disclosing our program to other educational institutions was acknowledged. We were prompted to aid in the process of bringing our methodology to others.
We must mention that we function under full recognition by the government since we fulfill every academic requirement. Also, according to letters received from the admissions office of several universities in the country, our high school graduates perform consistently well in the admission examinations. Although in other countries, there are schools that have also implemented the idea of a student government, we feel that the process of dialogue through which we promote moral values and the importance of the common wealth, while strengthening the individual makes us unique.
We are currently in the process of building our own installations and for this we have mortgaged all we own. Still we are US $650,000 short to create a Regional Center for the Education for Dialogue (CRED for its initials in Spanish) and the establishment of a pilot program which would last for a year and involve ten schools and ten companies. We feel that we have a commitment to our country, Guatemala, to spread the fruit of our experience, elementary in its conception, evident in those countries where democracy has deep roots, but still needed in most of Latin American countries where for years a culture of silence has been a mean of survival. We are convinced that education is the only way to teach democracy to large groups of people that have so far lived in segregation and oppression.
Once again, thank you for inviting us to your IDEC. We deeply regret not being able to attend, but we hope that in the future we'll have another chance to do it. Meanwhile we can only ask you to get in contact with us and help us to tell our story to the attendants to the IDEC. All comments and criticisms are more than welcome, and we would greatly appreciate if you could help us contact institutions and individuals that could aid us in reaching our goals. As we thank you again, we wish your IDEC to be a huge success.
Seminar at the Whitney Museum by Steve Rosenthal Today's museums are a good example of what education may look like in the future. They offer a veritable smorgasbord of tours, discussions, projects and apprenticeships from which the learners can choose according to his/her needs and desires. There are already some museum-based schools.
On October 5th Jerry Mintz (Executive Director), Steve Rosenthal (Director of Information and Research) and Antonia Martinez (Public Relations and Program Director) from AERO attended a seminar at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The seminar was sponsored by the Creative Coalition, whose basic purpose is to get the arts back in public schools. At the seminar they met Billy Baldwin of the Creative Coalition. They also got a chance to talk with Melissa Phillips (Helena Rubenstein Chair of Education) and found that the Whitney has a large menu of events and activities of interest to homeschoolers and alternative schools.
Every Saturday at 1 PM families are invited to a guided tour that is free with museum admission. On December 11th from 9 to 11 AM the museum will offer "Mixing Media," a workshop that features special gallery tours and hands-on activities for children 5-10 years old. To pre-register for the workshop and more information call (212) 570-7710
For older kids get the "Pre- and Post- Visit Materials for Junior High School Students" study guide with projects like "Making Your Own 'Self-Portrait' Timeline" and "Analyze an Ad." Also for teenagers there is "Artists and Youth: A Dialogue" that enables high school students to meet exhibiting artists and "Youth Insights" that trains high school youth to give public tours of current exhibitions. For more information on these programs call (212) 570-7710. If you're feeling left out because you don't live in the New York Metropolitan area the Whitney has, of course, a website; www.whitney.org.
Anheleisha's Story About the Six Flags Adventure My name is Anhelaisha. I am ten. I live in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Two days ago we went to Six Flags Great Adventures Amusement Park in New Jersey.
I went with my friend Jerry and we also took Alex and Dima who live in Brooklyn.
We went by car. On the way we stopped to eat in the middle of the highway, well I don't mean the highway where the cars go. Then we'd get run over. I meant like there are these restaurants next to the highway for people to stop at. We ate there at a salad bar.
We got to Six Flags around 1:30. We went to the parking lot to the administration building because Jerry was going do his radio show from Six Flags because it was homeschool day. We waited in the waiting room for about 20 minutes. Walter, who was in charge of publicity and electricity, helped us look for a place to hook up our cables for the radio stuff. We found an outside place near the roller coaster. He was also in charge of the phones, and helped us find people there to go on the show who would talk about Six Flags.
After we got that set up, we put everything back in the van and we went on some rides. He let us go in free because we would be helping them get money by giving them publicity.
I went with Alex and Dima who went on the Batman and Robin roller coaster. I didn't go. It was too scary and fast. They were like laughing when they got off and they said it was great.
Then we all went on the bumper car ride. It was really fun, except it was so short. I only got bumped twice and I bumped five or six people.
Then we all went over to the runaway train. I said to Jerry, "Are you sure you want to go on this?" And he said, "No, it doesn't look too rough." But I thought it was higher and faster than he thought, and it was.
I wasn't afraid to go, but Jerry said he sometimes has a problem with his back. It went all the way up and it zoomed down in circles. Then it went up again and down really fast again. It was fun. It was the first time I went on one that was that fast.
Then we went to do the radio show. We set up the station. Then Jerry got on the air. First Jerry talked to Crystal who was calling from Six Flags and she talked about Six Flags and homeschooling. I was able to listen to the show by listening to a small speaker that was connected to the radio stuff. Jerry interviewed a guy from Connecticut. I heard other people call in from different parts of the country.
After the show we split up and went on more rides. First I played game where you squirt water to make it go in the middle of a circle. I didn't win. Some of the games I liked, but some of the games I didn't like because they cheated.
Then we went on the sky ride. We went over the whole amusement park. We saw some go carts and the free fall ride and rock island and the sunset and the moon. That was just part of nature.
Then we met Alex and Dima. They were late because of lines. Then we drove home. We went to Brooklyn to drop off Dima and Alex. They gave me two books. His father me a book on woodworking. Dima gave me a joke book called Garfield's Insults, Put-downs and Slams.
The whole trip was fun. My favorite thing was the bumper cars. I'd like to go back to Six Flags again.
Feedback from Gatto Show on WBAI Note: This August Jerry Mintz interviewed John Taylor Gatto on WBAI, the Pacifica Radio station in New York City. We hope this will be a prototype for similar shows.
BabsC45@aol.com: As a teacher whose been in the system for the last 20+ years, I've amassed a lot of very strong feelings about what is wrong with our educational system, and have felt quite helpless to contribute in a meaningful way, which I would really like to do. I am a violin teacher in a small, upper middle class Westchester suburb. I love my job, but always feel that there's something more that I should be doing for society, through my job. In addition, not many of my colleagues speak my language, the language of a passionate educator, who loves to teach, and longs for a more creative, unusual, stimulating and courageous teaching environment. I look to recreate my wonderful high school experience, and long to give back to the community in a meaningful way. I don't know if you can direct or advise me. Perhaps you know of a community of educators who feel as I do. The charter schools interest me, and you talked about that today. If you have any response at all, please let me know. Thanks for a great show today. Barbara.
I just finished listening to your show. Great job! You have a gentle manner and a way of keeping the show focused on the issue. I will call in to let WBAI know how much I enjoyed it. I hope it becomes a regular show. You and Gatto speak of the necessity of choice, organic and interest-driven education, etc. Further, Gatto went on to mention some practices he maintained as a public school teacher: sending kids out of the building, providing a menu of options, negotiating learning goals. In addition, I use most of my knowledge as a teacher in power to creatively work the system to the benefit of the students - i.e., getting them credit for nontraditional experiences that are not based on course work. I believe all these things are necessary. But my experience has been disappointing. I feel stuck sometimes as a public school teacher. We are happily homeschooling our own children, but I strive to create a better alternative within public schooling. How can a traditional public NYC school with some progressive leanings move towards a vision of education as organic, interest-led and humane? Who are the people working on this issue? What are concrete actions that have been taken to forward this action? Michael.
wkazir@epix.net: Dear Mr. Mintz, I can't begin to tell you how excited I was hearing your program on the Utrice Leid show yesterday! My wife and I are home schooling our three children and are always looking for resources to help us in improving their experience. Listening to the discussion with Dr. Gatto, I couldn't help but be amazed. My wife handles the chief responsibilities of our children's education and I can't wait to fill her in. Please keep up the work of informing parents and others about the choices available to enable us to truly help our children the best we can so that they can help themselves now and into the future. Sincerely, Wazir.
I heard the discussion on WBAI with Utrice, Jerry and John G. It was invigorating. I have 3 kids. My 12 year old son is in the public school system. I don't look forward to another year of mediocrity. I will visit the school more and raise hell if that's what it takes. Thanks for the resource (Almanac). I will order it and share it with other families. Thanks. Camille.
I sent the info to school board members I argue with. A radio show and a big personality like John Taylor Gatto might intrigue people who usually don't understand why we need to transform education! Yay, Jerry!!! Kimberly.
Best of luck to you. People even in populated areas need your show & Magazine, and many more like them. The alternative education community has been slowly (VERY) letting outsiders hear their stories. I believe the fear was (is) that individual schools would become too large. We are now at a point where if we continue there will be so many options that possibly even public schools will be of a less overwhelming size. Best wishes. Susan. Contact AERO for tape of the show.
Feedback from Education Revolution Radio Show on Talk America Network I heard you on KTSA this morning. My grandson, age 7, is attending the summer program at the Circle school in S.A. I do not see how he will be able to attend year around due to the cost. This saddens me. Here in Texas , they voted down the school voucher program....of course. He was in Montessori when he was 4 years old for a while, and his mother went to Montessori when she was 4,5, and 6. It made such a difference.
My grandson was forced to attend public school for the first grade last year and I saw a lot of changes in him that were not positive. I hate it. One day he came home and started crying as soon as he got off the bus. He told his mother, he had an earache all day long, but had to wait all day long to cry, until he was out of school. I know they didn't tell him this, it is just the "attitude" in public schools demanding you to perform according to their expectations. Your feelings do not matter. He was only six years old, and a wonderful student....they adore him. He KNOWS what they expect of him, and he can't be himself until he gets home.
It makes me sick. Thanks for your comments and this site. I am sending it on to everyone I know with children....especially in my family. Jahad2, herwig2000@webtv.net
AERO Advisory Board Meetings During the past year members of the AERO Advisory board have met a half dozen times to discuss how AERO can become more sustainable and effective in its mission. Jeff Grossberg did several consultations with us. Board member Elina Sheppel ran one session, and Matthew Cross of the Leadership Alliance led our last two sessions, the latter hosted by Pathfinder Learning Center in Amherst, MA. At the most recent session, the Advisory Board created the following mission statement:
"Building the critical mass for the Education Revolution,by providing resources which support self-determination in learning, and the natural genius in everyone."
Let us know if you are interested in joining the AERO Advisory Board. Current members are listed at the bottom of page 2.
The Tree (From Burl Waits e mail group)
Peter Senge took two years to discover that the best way to describe learning was to utilize the tree:
"About halfway through my 40 year study of human learning systems I spent a year with a book called TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION-Published in 1963-One quote at page 91 explains what is happening in education reform."
"If a petal of a flower starts to wither, a skilled Gardner does not water the pedal, he waters the roots"
And many of us have heard the old native American saying:
"No tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves"
Mail and Communications
THE LANGBERG FOUNDATION IS A SMALL FAMILY FOUNDATION WHOSE PURPOSES ARE:
To encourage and support the development of innovative educational programs and schools; To encourage and support the professional development of teachers and principals for these schools; To provide financial support for students who might not otherwise be able to participate in such programs and schools; To help build connections between such schools and more conventional educational institutions. PLEASE SUBMIT REQUESTS TO: THE LANGBERG FOUNDATION, 5376 SOUTH HIGH ROAD, EVERGREEN, CO 80439. Arnie_langberg@ceo.cudenver.edu
"When private schools accept significant levels of public funding, they usually must comply with a rather high degree of government regulation. Countries that heavily subsidize private schools also regulate and inspect them in areas that many American private schools might find objectionable, such as course content, testing policies, student admissions, tuition levels, teacher hiring and salaries, and composition of governing boards." This is the finding of the Center on Education Policy after reviewing information from research studies and government documents about private school funding and regulation in 22 countries. The results are available in a booklet called Lessons from Other Countries about Private School Aid from CEP at 1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 619, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-822-8065. Fax: 202-822-6008. Web: www.ctredpol.org.
The Journal of Family Life; Empowering Young People is considering changing its name and would appreciate suggestions from readers. The Journal is the quarterly publication of the Albany's Free School in New York. The latest issue features interviews with Grace Llewellyn and Joseph Chilton Pearce; an article by Linda Coco and Ralph Nader called "Corporate America's Exploitation of Our Children"; one about "Democracy in the Night Schools of Rajastan" by Mary John; and much more. Their address is 22 Elm St., Albany, NY 12202. Web: http://www.empireone.net/~freeschool.
Paths of Learning: Options for Families and Communities, a new journal on alternative education, is seeking essays, poetry, and other writing from young persons ranging in age from those who are quite young to those who are in college. The writing submitted need not be on education and learning per se, though such pieces are especially welcome. Young writers wishing to submit work for us to consider should send their pieces to Samara Miles, the journal's Associate Editor in charge of young persons' submissions, at moonsong @ix.netcom.com. Word files attached to e-mail messages are particularly welcome. If, instead, the writer wants to send a hard copy of her or his work, (s)he should mail it to the journal's editor, Richard J. Prystowsky, School of Humanities and Languages, Irvine Valley College, 5500 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, CA 92620.
From Education Now, Summer 1999: "Current research on the brain shows that early neuron synapse connections are established at a phenomenal rate during the first three years or so. They begin to tail off by about age ten." The article entitled "After Five, Your Brain is Cooked" continues: We can actually see (via PET/CAT scans) how stress affects a young child's brain; we can monitor the changes that occur in serotonin levels. We can note that early, frequent and intense stress in childhood tunes the brain to set stress regulation mechanisms at a high level. This can sometimes result in a child learning and operating in a state of persistent fear; and this eventually seems to cause changes to the overall structure of the brain which are most irremediable." While children are naturally and very rapidly learning in the very early years, the best approach to children under five is not formal curriculum or early reading programs, it is "social interaction, laughter, and play." 113 Arundel Drive, Bramcote Hills, Nottingham NG9 3FQ.
I am teaching a photo & journal writing class to underprivileged 4th & 5th graders in Delray Beach Florida and am wondering if there is someone teaching a similar class that would like to be pen & photo pals. Class's goals are for students to "learn to be comfortable in expressing their feelings and cope with their realities" PLUS HAVE FUN! Our program is underwritten by a grant and supported by Palm Beach Photographic Center. If interested please have your class write to us at Denise Felice/ Attn: Confidential, Palm Beach Photographic Centre, 55 NE 2nd Avenue, Delray Beach, FL33444.
From: Christina Hall (christinahall@crosswinds.net) I was very glad to see the focus on Columbine closer to the actual source of the problem. It gets ridiculous watching blame being pointed at gun owners, Hollywood, TV and everything else under the sun. I really admire Jerry Mintz and all he has done. As a parent I feel a lot safer with him doing the work he is doing, that is a very big deal.
A small group of parents in Ukiah are planning to start a democratic school/learning center in the next year. We're strongly influenced by the writings of Ron Miller and the holistic education concepts and therefore are seeking to design a Holistic/ Sudbury model. The Mariposa Institute has been formed to promote alternative education in our area of Northern CA. The Institute will be developing a web site for the (now closed) Mariposa School archives (www.pacific.net/~mariposa). I think it's important to find ways to build alliances with other alternative/ holistic/ progressive (etc.) schools and organizations, and the NCACS just might be one way to do this (along with AERO, etc.). Mariposa School was a member of NCACS, but we weren't very active in promoting the idea. I've been impressed by their more recent revitalization efforts. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this. Thanks very much. Larry Sheehy. Email: mariposa@pacific.net.
From Syd Fredrickson, M.Ed., Seattle, WA: I'm already getting the Education Revolution. And so glad that I am. I'll be visiting two democratic schools in Virginia, seeing Gesundheit's land, where (because of my responding to Patch Adams' ad in your magazine) I will have a first chance to get familiar with the area/talk to them about my ideas for starting a community school there; AND, attend the Twin Oaks Women's Gathering--where I used to live--seeing lots of friends there at the end of next month. I would feel so stranded and out of the loop if not for the networking made possible by the Almanac of School Choices, Education Revolution Magazine, and these electronic links. Jerry, again, Thanks!
I just put up a website called: www.youthpower.net and an organization called Power to the Youth. It is an attempt to involve and empower youth in taking charge of their own education, both in and out of "the system." A fledgling, two-week old organization that it is, I am asking for help of all types and would be most grateful for any effort you could make in sending us your suggestions; spreading the word to others who might be able to help, especially young people; advising me of any cheap advertising opportunities in any journals, magazines that you know of; and, if you feel so obliged, becoming a member or making a much-needed contribution. I'm 19 and my bank account is a whopping 32.50. The money goes directly to funding the site, and most of all creating publications and pamphlets to give to young people across the country. So with that, I thank you and hope to hear from you soon! Bill W.
Alan Benard, a director with the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools would like to invite you to explore their new Web site, http://ncacs.org. "The site includes an online brochure which explains who we are and what we do, as well as news from our member schools and programs. Visitors to the site from outside the US are especially alerted to our International Outreach page. Thanks to Jerry Mintz, and AERO for the opportunity to spread the news." NCACS, 1266 Rosewood Unit 1, Ann Arbor MI 48184 USA, ncacs1@earthlink.net
Arnold Greenberg writes: Liberty School, a democratic learning community in Bluehill, Maine had its second graduation recently; ten students graduated and received beautiful handmade diplomas written and artfully drawn by younger students. Liberty is an independent school that receives tuition from the various towns in Maine, so 95% of students come free. To graduate, students petition the graduation committee and document that they have met the minimum requirements of the state, but more important, they propose a Graduation Project around an essential question which they work on and then present to the school community. This "rite of passage" project has great meaning for both the students and the school because the students feel a sense of accomplishment, that they have studied or worked on something in depth and they have been recognized, celebrated and honored. Our hope is that younger students begin thinking about their Graduation Project and begin building their curriculum and activities around it. That's happening. When young people feel respected, and equally important, trusted, they feel allowed to be themselves and it is wonderful to see the real person emerge and gain a sense of his or her own power. It's been an exciting year!
Mother and daughter team, Jennifer and Tammy Day, have developed a company called Children Believe, which is also the name of a booklet they have produced. Together, they have gathered and developed practical fun tools to support and empower children, their parents and families. The booklet explains what "children believe" and why, describes creative visualization, family tools and games, what grown-ups believe, and many helpful resources. Jennifer Day says, "As children grow and become independent individuals, it is natural that they question adults. Their belief is not always literal, nor are adults necessarily believed by the children as we intend to be! But, bless their little hearts, believe us they do! That is one of the most important pieces of information I ever received about parenting!" Artist Tammy Day did the delightful illustrations. Children Believe, PO Box 253, Kilauea, HI 97654.
"There is more to video games than meets the eye -- at least the eye of a disapproving adult. If you've ever sat down and tried to play one, you'll know they are not simple games. They require agility, sophisticated and fast-moving strategy, concentration and unbelievable persistence," states Romey Pittman in The Fairhaven School News. Fairhaven, as part of their commitment to encouraging students to take responsibility for their own education, has video games in the computer room, and it is always a busy place. Indeed, he says, "It is by far the most intense locus of human interaction in the building, facilitating the learning of many a life lesson." Romey cites Dr. David Deutsch, a British physicist, Dr. Margaret Shotton, and a recent Washington Post article, all strongly in favor of video games. 17900 Queen Anne Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774. Web: www.fairhavenschool.com.
A new book has been published challenging the two dominant forces shaping education in America today: the "back to basics" approach that looks at children as passive receptacles into which facts and skills are poured; and the test-driven "raising standards" version of school reform currently in vogue. The book, The Schools Our Children Deserve by Alfie Kohn, demonstrates how both these methods reflect a fundamental lack of understanding about how and why children learn, and describes how the best teachers help students become critical, creative thinkers who are enthusiastic about learning. Teachers, parents and others interested in education will find this book informative. Houghton Mifflin, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116-3794.
A variety of schools that allow all students to participate in decision-making are described in a document called Students Decide. The four models each operate in distinctly different ways, but each empower students to take charge of their education. The pamphlet is available from Parliamentary Education Office online http://www.peo.gov.au.
Home Education News HOMESCHOOL RESOURCE CENTER CONSULTATION FEEDBACK
Readers may recall that AERO did a consultation for a group of people in upstate New York in a town called Horseheads. They had been running a diagnostic and tutorial program there for twenty years called the Achievement Center. They have developed wonderful and innovative techniques for students with various learning disabilities, and with others who simply want to excel academically. The parents of some of the students began to ask, almost demand, that the Center become full-time.
That's when the owner/director, Laura Satterly-Austin, called upon AERO. We did two consultations with them, the second with a group of parents and potential students. It seemed to us that establishing a homeschool resource center in conjunction with the tutorial programs would be the best way to go. They greeted these concepts with great enthusiasm. One parent said, "Originally I was thinking of this just for my child with learning problems. But I don't want my other children to miss out on it!"
As a result, the homeschool resource center opened this year in September. They helped the parents write their Individual Home Instruction Program forms to their local school districts, to become homeschoolers. Using the same teachers they have been using in tutorial work, they established groups in mixed grade levels. They take at least one field trip a month. "Students brainstormed and came up with our center rules and consequences. We voted on them and posted them."
The feedback has been very positive, Austin says. "They say they never want to go back to regular school. Reports from the parents are extremely favorable. We hear such comments as 'The other night we caught them reading,' 'They are so relaxed and happy now, our whole family life in the evening has changed for the better!' "
The potential for this particular approach is quite amazing when you consider the thousands of tutorial centers in practically every community which exist throughout the country. For the most part they are not being used during the school day.
It is my feeling that the idea of the homeschool resource center is going to grow as the population of homeschoolers grows. Since it is now at such a beginning point, it is important to encourage these developing centers to incorporate into their approach the philosophies that are so successful on an individual family basis, and among some alternative schools.
(Ed note: AERO did a consultation to encourage North Star's development): Kara WillowBrook writes: I have been a homeschooling mom of three kids for 13 years. In September another homeschooling mom and I opened a democratically run homeschool resource center, North Star. We currently have 18 children, K-6, enrolled. Kids attend anywhere from 1 to 5 days a week. North Star Center is part of a growing movement designed to provide a more holistic, child centered alternative to traditional education. Our hands-on, multi-sensory approach is geared to meet the needs of many learning styles. Our philosophy is that children are natural learners and do best in a non-coercive atmosphere that actively supports their own curiosity and interests. In North Star's less structured environment children are free to move and talk at will pursuing their own unique interests and developing their own unique talents. Children are given the experience of thinking and discovering for themselves, rather than always being told what to think and do. This maintains their natural love of learning as well as promoting the important life skills of perseverance, self-motivation, and initiative. It's really been an adventure! We have been amazed (and thrilled) by how quickly the kids have caught on to this system, and how completely they have claimed ownership of their school. We've had some ups and downs in our first month, but this is definitely one thing that just shines. I don't know if our center would be up and running this year if it weren't for the help and ideas and inspiration that I've gotten from everyone. Thanks for considering us and helping us launch! Kara and Shari. North Star School & Homeschool Resource Center is located in Port Orchard,WA.Email: WillowWake@integrityol.com or shari-weber@usa.net. Web: www.northstar.homepage.com, 360-876-7706. 1880 Lawrence St., Port Orchard, WA 98366.
Linda Dobson's new book, Homeschooling: The Early Years, is a guide for parents on homeschooling children from the ages of 3 to 8, the ages most critical in preparing for a lifetime of learning. Parents will discover how to tailor homeschooling to fit their family's unique needs, give children unlimited learning on a limited budget, receive advice from other homeschooling parents, make an adventure a lesson, and more. The book is available in paperback from Prima Communications, 3875 Atherton Road, Rocklin, CA 95765.
South Street Centre was founded in 1987 to provide a form of education which recognizes all stages of children's growth, while honoring and supporting homeschooling parents in their roles as caregivers and teachers. This year's programs include Playtime for Families with children 18 months to 4 years, Young Homeschoolers for families with kids 4 to 6, Collaborations, designed for children 7 to 10, and Thursday Program, for high school aged kids. Each of these programs provides opportunities for students to interact with others and produce collaborative projects. PO Box 227, Boulder Creek, CA 95006. Tel: 831-338-2540.
Teri Brown, a Christian unschooler, tells us how she resolves the conflict of original sin vs. freedom and kids being natural learners: "People take original sin as being born "bad". I think that is not wholly true. Where I do believe that people are born into sin, I believe that means that we as humans can never reach a state of perfection, as we will always make mistakes and therefore hurt other people. But I feel that people who focus on original sin miss the statement in the bible that God created us in his own image. Therefore, it is the conclusion of this admittedly puny brain that we as humans are capable of great, beautiful and wonderful things, as well as the horrific atrocities caused by sin. I believe that history will bear that out. I believe that because God created us with wonderfully curious minds that we will gravitate towards learning. I hope that answers your question. If we can help Christian unschooling moms feel less isolated, or help one mom who feels burned out from "school at home" we will have done what we felt called to do." 1175 S.W 116th, Tigard, OR 97223
Re: Jailing of Karen Maple: (Compilation from Several Sources) In Vermont, a school will carry a student on their rolls even though that same student is not in attendance, for whatever reason, of that school. After as many as 6 months, the school will contact the state to inform them a child was not in attendance and then reimburse the state the funds which they provided for that student. But, what if a student has been carried on the school roll for 3 years and has not been in attendance all that time due to his mother's decision to homeschool him? Once it is found out that a school has done so, that would be quite a 'chunk of change' that school must reimburse the state. It is easy to see why any school would want to prevent a student from leaving their domain, especially a special education student who is bringing in thousands of extra dollars.
The story begins so typically. Seventh-grader Trevor Maple was bored at school, displayed a short attention span, and read at a second grade level. Academic problems escalated into social problems. He even went to live with his grandparents to give another school system a try, but to no avail. his school's vice-principal advised Trevor's mom that homeschooling could be a perfect alternative. His mother, Karen Maple, then made the choice to homeschool her son after years of intolerable treatment of her son by that elementary school and the school's repeated failure to teach him anything. Trevor's scores improved markedly, as did his self-confidence when he was in a learning environment that didn't call him "learning disabled." However, school officials deemed the test results suspect. Then, eighteen months after homeschooling began, the school called to ask if Trevor was absent because of illness. Karen thought this strange, but was assured it was a clerical mistake. This was before the school sent a letter to the state's attorney claiming that Trevor was a child in need of supervision.
Enter several court appearances over two years, always with a public defender, always denied the ability to submit SAT scores into evidence. To date, Karen has had three public defenders, as has Trevor. Karen was arrested, found in contempt of court for failure to bring Trevor to a juvenile court hearing on August 13. Diane Wheeler, Franklin County deputy state's attorney acting as prosecutor, states, "Essentially, Ms. Maple holds the key to the cell door," meaning they don't intend to release her until she offers up custody of Trevor as her bail. If Karen fails in her plight, we all fail. (Update: She has been released but is being fined $100 a day until she produces her son for the court) Call 802-933-4514 for information on how to help. CM
HomeSource offers classes to homeschooling families. The program is available to students, K-12. They offer computer technology--have 20 computers on site, 'Hands on Math Manipulatives' classes, etc. They have a 1 teacher/5 students ratio in their classes and contract with off-campus resources for other activities, such as tennis lessons, swimming, horseback riding, going to the symphony, etc. They expect to serve 600-700 students next year, their third year of operation. They have an excellent relationship with their district and its superintendent, have had no complaints from the Teachers' Association. The law the center operates under does not require certificated teachers. HomeSource, P.O. Box 40884, Eugene, OR 97404. Tel: 541-689-9959. Fax: 541- 689-1051. Web: www. betheltech.com. Email: paulaw@betheltech.com.
The Home Educators' Seaside Festival (now in its third year) is, outside of the USA, the world's largest gathering of home educating families. HES FES 2000 is taking place in Dorset, from May 14 to 21, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, a few minutes walk from a medieval village, near to many local attractions and places of interest. There will be lots of free workshops including: art, fossil hunting, astronomy, circus skills, music, dancing, various crafts, lighting, water divining and woodcrafts. There will also be talks and discussions with Roland Meighan, Chris Shute, Alan Thomas and others, as well as self-help legal workshops, networking and empowering resources. Books and resources will be offered for sale. It will take place on a 30-acre camping site; tents, camper vans, and caravans are all welcome. As an alternative, cheap caravans and cottages will be available for rent. For more information email Andy Blewett at: hesfes@ choice ineducation.co.uk. Website: www.choiceineducation.co.uk/events.html
Homeschoolers and their supporters should be wary of the recent study released by the Home School Legal Defense Association, according to an article by Larry and Susan Kaserman, "HSLDA Study: Embarrassing and Dangerous" (Home Education Magazine, Summer, 1999). The reasons stated are that the study draws conclusions about homeschoolers based on an unrepresentative sample; ie, only homeschoolers "who took Iowa tests through Bob Jones University Testing service, whose parents completed the questionnaire, and whose questionnaires were not eliminated because of administrative problems." The sample homeschoolers included in the study were further limited in several other ways. In addition, the authors assert, the study fails to meet criteria of social scientists in four key ways: coverage error, sampling error, measurement error, and non-response error. HEM, PO Box 1083, Tonasket, WA 98855. Tel: 509-486-1351. Web: http://www.home-ed-magazine.com.
Since Six Flags Great Adventure first created Home School Day, other businesses in New Jersey have followed suit. The Camden Aquarium now has six home school days planned for the next year. The Philadelphia Zoo holds Zooschool for elementary homeschoolers every week during the school year. Liberty Science Center also has a Home School Day each year. Nancy Plant explains in "New Jersey: A School Without Walls??" that much more is happening in Jew Jersey for homeschoolers as more and more organizations reach out to this growing population. "These organizations provide, among other things, the 'Socialization' everybody (except us) worries about so much." Unschoolers Network, Two Smith Street, Farmingdale, NJ 07727.
A revised second edition of The Homeschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith has recently been released. This book covers all the basics of what parents need to know before deciding to homeschool and answers questions that arise along the way. Practical advice is given on topics such as how homeschooling works, research on its effectiveness, costs involved, and how and where to find materials and resources. It is available from Prima Publishing, 3875 Atherton Rd., Rocklin, CA 95765.
This note is to announce that I have finally finished a long overdue updating of my Homeschool Resource Guide, formerly posted on Prodigy. It is now on @Home at http://members.home.net/ct-homeschool/guide.htm. The Guide has grown to over 400 entries, 320+ of which have web links built into the listing. I have also added short linked pages providing a brief history of the Guide and describing some tips for navigating it. Check it out if you can or at least save a bookmark for future reference. I plan to restructure the Guide next month to speed up access and usefulness of the contents. After all the work I have done on this, I'd like to be sure people see it. And there is no advertising to wade through, just pure content. Enjoy. Richard Shalvoy. Email: ct-homeschool@home.com.
From Leslie Moyer, moyerles@wiltel.net: "misc.education.home-school.misc/ is a great, extensive compilation of many different homeschool resources--I highly recommend it. For those that have previously linked to Richard Shalvoy's Prodigy page, this is the head's up to change the link."
New Programs for Homeschooled Kids, by Katherine Long, Editor, Times Guide to Schools The number of Washington students who are schooled at home has soared in recent years, and a key factor in the movement's growth is the public-school establishment's acceptance of homeschooling as an alternative to the classroom. In 1985, the state's most powerful education lobbies fought legislation legalizing homeschooling; today, even the influential Washington State School Directors Association offers seminars to educators on how to build cooperative partnerships with homeschoolers. The result: a new breed of student, the hybrid homeschooler. Districts across the state are creating homeschool resource centers and alternative, or "independent study," programs. Supported by tax dollars, these programs offer classes to homeschoolers or allow them to consult with teachers, then do the lion's share of their schooling at home. The reasons for teaching at home run the gamut. One thing unites them all: Homeschoolers share a belief that school is not the best place for all children to learn.
Although they consider themselves homeschoolers, Cyberschool students are officially enrolled in the Edmonds School District, and the district receives state funds to operate the program. Classes are small and cater to a range of ages. The Cyberschool gives enrollees a budget of $400 yearly to spend on textbooks and classes. Parents use the money to buy books and pay for gymnastics or ice-skating lessons for physical education. The Cyberschool offers classes that parents can't teach at home -- German, Latin and Japanese, math puzzles and games, science, drama and music. There are two labs of multimedia computers with high-speed Internet access and a library of CD-ROMs. Web: http://texis.seattletimes.com/schoolguide/
The National Home Education Network is a community of peers working together to create a national organization that recognizes and respects the enormous diversity in the homeschool movement. NHEN strives to foster an understanding of homeschooling at the national level as well as to facilitate networking among grassroots organizations. Currently we are building a "media kit" for those outside the homeschool community. If you have information that you think might be helpful in this area, please contact Linda at ldobson@ aldus.northnet.org. The NHEN website http://nhen.org is now being built. If you have web expertise and would like to help develop the NHEN website, contact Helen at HEM-Editor@home-ed-magazine.com. If homeschooling politics is your interest, contact Sheila at hsmick@aol.com. The Support Group Committee is busy compiling a comprehensive list of active support groups nationwide. Contact Leslie at moyerles@ wiltel.net. To find out more about how you can participate in this exciting new organization, you may subscribe to the general NHEN email list at http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/NHEN. Box 244, 22 Westerville Square, Westerville, OH 43081.
When I tried to find out who was on our school attendance review board, I was told that it wasn't public information. I began to hear stories from people who had gone before this board who had many stories of being harassed and degraded. The real problem here is that they are targeting children with health problems. The parents are having trouble getting the child's work from the schools, and then being penalized for keeping their sick children home. This review board has told people that they are lucky their children have turned out as well as they have, with parents like them. One woman, whose son had a twisted bowel from birth, was told that she had never done anything for her son in the entire 16 years of his life. They have told parents that if they tried to home school their children, they would be put in jail, and their children taken away. This past school year we had a change in California, in the way the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) money is allocated. There is no longer an excused absence; if the child is not at school, the school doesn't get the ADA money. So now the schools want the kids there, sick or not. It is obviously all about the money. It has caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people. I got involved because I felt that they were not running the review board with the right intentions. The goal of this board is supposed to be to help keep your child in school, by doing anything necessary to make it easier for that child to be there. So, if you have heard of anything like this happening in other places, or have any ideas, I would appreciate the info. Holly
Public Alternatives From Anne Evans: 37 years ago a small group of parents founded a parent-run cooperative preschool in Santa Rosa. Now this same group of parents have grandchildren who have entered the same preschool, but this time the parents were not satisfied to let the public school system swallow up their children -- so together with the grandparent group, they applied for a charter for a parent controlled cooperative charter school. The school is now k - 6 (shortly to become k - 8 if the membership so decides) and it is democratic in that all stake holders have a vote. Children have been responsible for their part in the school day, making boundary rules and conduct rules, etc. The school has grown into a cooperative of three schools under one blanket: preschool, children's center (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and charter school. Our web page is under construction at http://www. ~srec.sonic.net . Please visit us! Anne
Rhonda Goebel; (rrands@chicago.avenew.com) writes: I have found that the school establishment does an effective job at reproducing itself by disallowing virtually any movement, however slight, away from their established norm, sometimes to the point of self-contradiction or hypocrisy. For example, we had a staff discussion on how to implement concepts from a book on brain-based research. I pointed out that according to one of the research items listed in the book people naturally begin to read anywhere between the ages of 4-10, and asked how we can include this vital piece of info in our school. The principal immediately stepped in to say that because of outside pressures, we could not adapt that info to our school. So we continue to have pull-out reading services for kids as young as 6, spending thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars on forcing young people to read before they are ready. These kids are shamed, many plagued long term with feelings of inadequacy. Wildly enough, it seems all the staff agreed with the principal. Another example: We will be 'trained' in how to facilitate inquiry into subjects, following the lead of the children's interest. Yet all the packaged curriculum will not only remain and be expected to be followed (tenured teachers have actually lost their jobs for not following the script), but will be added to. Millions of taxpayer dollars are spent on the purchase and update of packaged curriculum, just in our district alone. And then the taxpayers get to also pay for our futile training so we can perceive and label ourselves as a 'progressive' school system. All at the expense of children's natural growth. Teaching in the establishment has been the most illogical reality I've ever experienced.
Lisa Brick (unity@gti.net) tells us that "the second year at Unity School is starting much smoother than the first. There is some built-in, ongoing support this year and all indications look positive. A second application for a Unity charter school was submitted to the New Jersey DOE for next September! The learning en |