kayb85

My mom was cleaning out her attic today and found some issues of
Child Life magazine from the 1940's. In it was an advertisement for
Calvert curriculum, and it said something like, "You can teach your
child at home by yourself without any training". It also claimed
that thousands were already doing it.

She asked me if I knew anything about homeschooling in the 40s, and I
said that I really didn't but I am very curious. I know John holt
was 60s/70s. I'm wondering if there was an already existing
homeschooling or even unschooling movement before John Holt?

I figured someone on this list might know.

Sheila

Fetteroll

on 4/1/03 3:36 AM, kayb85 at sheran@... wrote:

> In it was an advertisement for
> Calvert curriculum, and it said something like, "You can teach your
> child at home by yourself without any training". It also claimed
> that thousands were already doing it.

John Holt came to the conclusion that schools couldn't be fixed and that
homeschooling was better. So who were the homeschoolers he was using as a
reference and where did they get their ideas from?

As I understand it Calvert was originally for missionaries and anyone else
who couldn't go to school. It's school in a box with *everything* (pencils,
paper, erasers, a programmed book of what to say to the child) someone who
has no access to stores would need to do the program.

Back before public school -- for the privileged who had choices -- there
were a variety of choices: private school, tutors, apprentiships. People
were mostly limited by their station in life so if they did have choices,
parents based their choice on it's ability to get their child into the
position the parent chose for the child.

In modern times, there have always been people who would choose school but
couldn't. And there have always been people who disdained learning so school
had no meaning for them. And there have been pockets and closed societies of
people who didn't want society's influence on their children and wanted to
control their children's learning themselves (Amish, utopian societies and
so forth).

Here's some articles that Ann Zeise has collected: History of Homeschooling
http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/weblinks/historyHS.htm The article
by Cheryl Seelhoff looks like a pretty good beginning.

Joyce

zenmomma *

>>I'm wondering if there was an already existing homeschooling or even
>>unschooling movement before John Holt?>>

I read some of Raymond and Dorothy Moore's books. I'm pretty sure they began
homeschooling earlier than John Holt. But they didn't use Calvert. They
promote delayed academics and a relaxed approach.

Life is good.
~Mary

"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green
earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh



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In a message dated 4/1/03 2:04:57 AM, sheran@... writes:

<< I'm wondering if there was an already existing

homeschooling or even unschooling movement before John Holt? >>

It wasn't a movement to encourage people to do it, but Calvert always
advertised in the back of National Geographic when I was a kid. I'd always
look at the ad and imagine who might be homescooled. My whole list was this:
missionaries' kids
delicate Victorian shut-ins like the girl in the movie version of Heidi (so I
had a visual)
hideously deformed elephant-man children

I couldn't imagine others. And the ads never made any suggestions. They
were plain little heraldic looking things without any "buy! BUY!" copy.

Then there was someone, Winifred someone (maybe someone here will know) who
was an eccentric genius who was homeschooled so that got some publicity
(1930's?) but not the best kind. And it was more along the lines, I think,
of parents who press an early reader to go to college at the age of eight or
ten (which still occasionally happens).

What is really certain is that the Christian homeschoolers' version of the
history of homeschooling is of a kind of history with their reconstructed
American history, their villification of all native Americans, and [live with
it, don't go crazy] creationist science. All of them are designed to further
their political agenda and to promote their own type of beliefs in other ways.

Sandra

[email protected]

In a message dated 4/1/2003 11:00:14 AM Eastern Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:


>
> Then there was someone, Winifred someone (maybe someone here will know) who
>
> was an eccentric genius who was homeschooled so that got some publicity
> (1930's?) but not the best kind. And it was more along the lines, I think,
>
> of parents who press an early reader to go to college at the age of eight
> or
> ten (which still occasionally happens).
>


Amy writes:
Found this review about a book the mother wrote.

Also, this link is an article about Winifred, though it doesn't mention that
she was homeschooled. <A HREF="http://members.evansville.net/user/boneyard/mccutch41.htm">The Amazing Little Winifred - Kenneth P McCutchan-
John Baburnich Boneyard Evan</A>


Stoner, W. S. (1914). Natural Education. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill.

Stoner's early book describes in minute detail the homeschooling program of
her daughter, Winifred, from babyhood through middle childhood. Stoner's book
features the "progressive thinking" of the day, including chapters on
discipline, eugenics, world peace, and Esperanto. Stoner's philosophy was
very different from Berle's, though their books appeared the same year.

Amy Kagey
E-mail me for a list of used
homeschooling books for sale!













[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 4/1/03 11:28:01 AM, amycats2@... writes:

<< Also, this link is an article about Winifred, though it doesn't mention
that
she was homeschooled. >>

"Tutored" is what they used to call it.

I think there were English families who hired tutors instead of sending their
kids to schools even maybe early 20th century. So they were "schooled" and
they were home, but it wasn't parental doing.

But I think Winifred was tutored by her mother. (Maybe not.)

Again we're back to the idea of teaching vs. learning, and the beliefs of the
parent.

Sandra

kayb85

> What is really certain is that the Christian homeschoolers' version
of the
> history of homeschooling is of a kind of history with their
reconstructed
> American history, their villification of all native Americans, and
[live with
> it, don't go crazy] creationist science. All of them are designed
to further
> their political agenda and to promote their own type of beliefs in
other ways.
>
> Sandra

Who me, go crazy because you mention creation science in a negative
way? <grin>

Sheila

kayb85

In one of the articles Joyce posted (Thanks Joyce!) it said the
Moores started homeschooling in 1944. Theirs was the first
homeschooling book I ever read, back when my first child was 2 years
old.

You're right, they did push delayed academics and a relaxed
approach. Not unschooling, but a lot closer to it (academically)
than Calvert.

I bet the total radical unschoolers back then were REALLY cool
people, because they didn't have anyone else to rely on, any books to
read. It would have had to have been their own "original" idea to do
such a thing and they were willing to buck the law to do it.

Sheila

> I read some of Raymond and Dorothy Moore's books. I'm pretty sure
they began
> homeschooling earlier than John Holt. But they didn't use Calvert.
They
> promote delayed academics and a relaxed approach.
>
> Life is good.
> ~Mary
>
> "The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
green
> earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
alive."
>
> ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*
> http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

Tia Leschke

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
saftety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin
leschke@...

> I bet the total radical unschoolers back then were REALLY cool
> people, because they didn't have anyone else to rely on, any books to
> read. It would have had to have been their own "original" idea to do
> such a thing and they were willing to buck the law to do it.

There's a family like that in our town. All three of their kids are grown
now and doing very well. When the mother was at university, she decided to
get a teaching certificate *in case* she had kids and *in case* it might be
illegal to homeschool them with a certificate. Most of the time she was
unschooling, the law here was vague, not illegal but not specifically legal.
Tia