Amy Silver - Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School

Guerrilla Learning

How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School

GRACE LLEWELLYN

AMY SILVER

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

New York Chichester Weinheim Brisbane Singapore Toronto

Copyright 2001 by Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4744. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, (212) 850-6011, fax (212) 850-6008, e-mail: PERMREQ@WILEY.COM.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Llewellyn, Grace.

Guerrilla learning: how to give your kids a real education with or without school/Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-471-34960-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. EducationParent participationUnited States. 2. Alternative educationUnited States. 3. Home schoolingUnited States. I. Silver, Amy. II. Title.

LB1048.5 .L54 2001

371.04dc21 2001017917

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Just before Guerrilla Learning went to press, we were dismayed to learn that John Taylor Gatto was writing a book with a very similar title. We borrowed the guerrilla metaphor from Mr. Gatto in the first place, and the last thing we want to do is take credit for his ideas or his language. On the contrary, we admire his work; we urge anyone who is interested in the ideas expressed in this book to seek out and read Mr. Gattos books as well. Further details are available at www.johntaylorgatto.com.

I thank my parents, Leslie Silverman and Gloria Asher, who raised me in a home filled with books, music, conversation, and scientific gadgets. My former husband, Brad Blanton, showed me how to give children true freedom and unconditional love. I am very grateful to Beth and Ray Kljajic, my sister and brother-in-law, for their generous support while Grace and I wrote this book.

My coauthor, Grace Llewellyn, profoundly influenced my views on education when I stumbled across her books in the early 1990s. I thank her also for agreeing to write with me and for bringing the possibility of a life of joy and freedom to so many teenagers (including my daughter, Carsie). My friend Hugo Elfinstone helped me to find a truer writing voice. Susan Gushue read a draft of the manuscript and blessed me with her feedback and insight; it was during our conversations over the last fifteen years that many of the ideas presented here were refined. I am grateful to her family and the other families who allowed us to share their stories. I also thank my dad, Leslie Silverman, for his careful reading of the manuscript and his thoughtful feedback.

I appreciate the members of the Alternative Education Resource Organization and Richard Prystowsky of Paths of Learning magazine, who provided us with much direct and indirect assistance both in helping us locate families to interview and in teaching us about alternative education generally.

My friends Grace Tiffany, Michele Sterline, Maryann Altman, Chris Eichmann, Tina Oehser, Bart Parrott, Sandy Wood, Shari Rowles, and Marjie Gibson helped me keep my sanity, my health, and my car pool together during the writing. My deepest appreciation goes to Jane Mullen and the staff and families of Hearthstone School in Sperryville, Virginia, for living their dream of education with a heart. I thank my children and stepkidsShanti, Amos, Carsie, and Elijahfor educating me daily about the beauty of the human spirit.

Finally, I thank our agents, Jane Dystel and Charles Myer, for their support and guidance, and the estimable Elizabeth Zack at Wiley, who had reminded me what a true editor is.

Not yet a mother myself, I couldnt have written about parenting on my own. Yet collaboration scares me. Im neurotically independent. So I feel tremendously fortunate that Amy invited me to work with her. When she phoned me, wed never met, though we had corresponded. Something about the way she spoke that dayher openness, her wit, and her obvious wisdominspired me to say yes to her proposal within a matter of hours. And Ive never regretted that yes. Amys enthusiasm and initiative; her accepting and vulnerable way of befriending me; her many great ideas and insights; her skills as a writer; and the inspiring job she does of being the quintessential Guerrilla Learning momall these made the whole project a pleasure, although it came during a somewhat traumatic, transitional period in my personal life. She deserves much more credit for this book than I do. Thats not self-deprecation, just fact. She did more work and kept us on track, though her life, too, was in great upheaval while we wrote.

I am unspeakably grateful to Taber Shadburne, my closest friend and my mentor. He always dropped whatever he was doing and said yes when I asked him to listen to a draft; his background as a psychotherapist and his deeply empathetic way of relating to children heavily influenced this book.

While writing, I thought with much gratitude of my own parents, David and Gai Llewellyn. When I was a child, they abundantly and generously honored what Amy and I came to identify as the Five Keys of Guerrilla Learning: opportunity, timing, freedom, interest, and support.

Its a pleasure to thank our insightful editor, Elizabeth Zack, for her careful reading and her astute suggestions.

I appreciate the many families and teenagers who sent personal stories that illustrated our points. Although in the end we werent able to use all of this material (partly because we shifted directions several times midcourse), each of these people increased my understanding of Guerrilla Learning and so helped shape this book.

Finally, sincere thanks to two geniuses for their dedicated, skillful help with my other projects while I was busy with this one: Skip Bergin and Lesly Cormier.

It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.