The Seamstress

Middle Munchkin sews. She's very good at it. Some days it spooks me, how good she is, because she reminds me sooooo much of my mother (the grandmother that she never knew). My mom was an incredible seamstress. She made a lot of my clothes when I was a kid. Most of them, in fact, until I was probably 7 or so. She made ALL of my dressy clothes, including prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and eventually my wedding dress.

Technically, I learned to sew as a kid. Mom sent me to a neighbor to take lessons one year because she was not happy with the progress I was making under her tutelage. My memory of sewing lessons is that the woman had a machine you ran with your knee rather than a foot pedal. It kept sticking and the machine would take off crazily stitching across my fabric. I think the neighbor thought I was a reckless seamstress. She didn't seem to believe me that the knee-thing was sticking. I think, perhaps, she thought I was trying to get out of sewing lessons.

Middle Munchkin started sewing in 4-H, and for the first three or four years she worked with a woman here in town who is incredibly generous with her resources and time. She sewed at home, as well, and when my dad caught on to her interest he bought her a very nice sewing machine at an auction. I remember the first thing she made at home without her sewing mentor because I mustered all the patience I have in the world and I sat with her and helped her read the pattern.

Reading patterns can be hard. They aren't always well written and often skip steps. I'm pretty sure they are written, more often than not, by non-native English speakers... or maybe even translated by computer programs without any human editing.

Good instructions or not, sewing has always made me tense. I find it stressful. Even helping... just in the form of reading the pattern... made me occasionally want to bang my head against the table, but I managed to get through it (and really, I was just reading... she was doing all of the really nerve-wracking stuff). Middle Munchkin just kept sewing... and kept sewing... and I was so relieved when she no longer needed my help reading patterns.

She eventually started creating patterns of her own.

At 16, my daughter is an amazing, accomplished seamstress. I'm pretty sure her skill is equal to my mother's, and I have no way to explain it except that she is given the gift of being allowed to embrace her flow.

Flow is something I've learned a lot about as an adult (as a writer, and in many of the day-to-day activities that fill my time). I spent several years of my adult life, in fact, reclaiming the ability to simply slip into this state of being, most often of creating something, any time that I am so moved. I don't find flow in sewing, but my daughter does. When she is involved in a project, she sometimes spends most of the hours of the day working on it. There have been weeks where very little else was accomplished.

This week, I watched my daughter take her scissors to someone's wedding dress! The very thought absolutely tied me up in knots inside, but Miss Middle Munchkin was calm, cool, and confident. It was a "simple" adjustment (she assures me), turning a zippered back to a corset back. She worked quickly, and the result was beautiful.

I think one reason this sticks with me is that my mom, who was the most talented seamstress I knew before my daughter, was always nervous about taking on important occasion projects, like wedding dresses. In fact, she mostly refused, except when it came to her daughters and, eventually, daughters-in-law. Too much pressure, she once told me. What if she messed something up?

Sewing is something Middle Munchkin has always had the power to chose or leave behind. She chooses how much, how involved, how many drafts she is going to create before tackling the final project. She's had the benefit of a mentor whom she will occasionally still go to if she has a question, but she is just as likely to Google for help these days, or simply keep reworking a piece until she gets exactly what she wants from it.

I think about Mom often when I watch my daughter sew, and I imagine how much fun she would have had coming up with projects to work on with this grandchild. It feels to me like something they share, even though they never knew each other.

Now Blogging at Home / School / Life

Be sure to check out Home / School / Life Magazine where I am now a member of the blog team. I look forward to posting monthly notes there about life with teen/young adult unschoolers.

I still plan to write here, as well. More frequently, perhaps?

A Prideful Confession

Munchkin #1 is trying out college. She is half way through week two and it still feels a little strange. Strange to me, as Mom, anyway. We made it through 18 years without any type of formal schooling and now she's jumped in with both feet. She's got a daily schedule with someone else making recomendations for how she fills her time for several hours each day. I wasn't sure she was going to tolerate the lack of freedom for the first few days, but she seems determined to give it at least a semester's try.

I have to admit that I've encountered a few moments of anxiety, but mostly I've struggled with what probably amounts to excessive pride. I have resisted the desire to say, "pblttttt... I told you so," to those who may have suggested a time or two that I couldn't possibly know that she was learning what she was supposed to know because, you know, I didn't have tests and worksheets and drills to back it up. I've also resisted (well, I guess up until this moment) the urge to yell, "In your face!" regarding the ACT benchmark test scores recently reported for our state. And yes, I'm ashamed for counting and keeping track at all.

I don't know that she's going to have an altogether easy time with school, but I know she will do fine if she decides college is where she wants to be. And if/then, she'll be fine with whatever else she decides, as well. I honestly can't imagine what that might be, at the moment, but I do trust she will fill me in as the time is right. In the meantime, I find myself missing her at odd moments, and being filled with a kind of overwhelming giddiness when it is almost time for her to be home again. I am trying to resist the urge to beg for all the details of her day.

There's something very satisfying about seeing her take these steps, however, and I know that we have turned a parent/child corner. There's no going back. She's a young woman. She's full of confidence. She's trying things out. She makes my heart swell with pride.

Then again, I guess that's nothing new.

4-H Year Ending

4-H has been a big part of our lives, especially since we moved to our current location in Kansas. I was a 4-H member as a kid, as were my parents and my husband's parents. We don't have livestock, or even a house in the country anymore, but I have found 4-H a good way to connect with our new community and help us to put down roots where we started out as drifters.

Munckkin #1, Evie, is finishing her last year of 4-H this year. I keep waiting for my sentimental gene to kick in, but mostly I'm feeling like time is passing as it should. I keep going back to the words of our midwife so many years ago. She told me not to spend time worrying about parenting a teenager when I was only the mother of a newborn. When she gets there, my midwife said, you'll know what to do. It was wise advise, and I think of it now. No need to waste time worrying about being the parent of an adult child. As we get there, I'll somehow figure out what to do. Or not, as I've learned along the way. Not knowing is okay, too. A lot of parenting is just hanging in there and listening and staying in tune and being prepared to be there when needed... stand back as much as possible...

I've talked with several parents of younger 4-H members this year and I've found myself offering encouraging words.

• Don't let your young kids take on more than you are willing to help them with. When I was full-time momming it and the kids were little, we had a lot more time for working on projects together as a family activity. If you don't have that kind of time, don't enroll in several projects. Just start with ones that you will enjoy exploring together and consider ones where there is strong leadership in place on a club or county level.
• Don't let yourself get in the position of resenting what you/they have commited to. If it ends up being too much, back off. There is nothing more miserable than witnessing parents and children who are fed up and so angry with each other by the time the fair rolls around that they are no longer civil to each other.
• It's okay to walk them through the process of completing record books and filling out award forms. Each year, they will require less and less input from you. And one day, like me, you'll find yourself watching from the sidelines as your teenagers handle all the business of fair time on their own.
• If you find yourself with a teenager, who is capable but not taking the initiative, you need to step back and ask yourself who the 4-H projects are for. Let them choose. Let them say no to things that do not inspire them. Let them go in their own direction.

Some scenes from the fair:

Middle Munchkin made both of these outfits and Munchkin #1 agreed to be a model to help her out at the public fashion revue. They had a good time showing. It was fun to watch them together.

Munchkin Boy placed 2nd in archery this year, and Middle Munchkin was top shooter in air pistol and .22 pistol.

Munchkin Boy talks with the judge here about his cinnamon rolls. We don't really care what ribbon they get. He makes awesome cinnamon rolls and we enjoy when it is not fair time because we can gobble them up warm straight from the oven.

A collection of Munchkin #1's fiber things. She knitted a sweater this year (Weasley style!) and a phone case. The octopus toy is her crochet project. Both of my girls enjoy fiber arts. I've decided it is a genetic thing that must have skipped a generation. I don't sew or do anything with yarn and needles, but my mother was very talented. She passed away when Munchkin #1 was only 1, but I often feel her presence when the girls are in the midst of fiber projects and sewing. I know she would be tickled to see all the fun things they create.

In a World of Many Right Answers

I've rarely been quick with an answer. I'm the person who more usually decides on a comeback far too many minutes late for it to be appropriately served, and I am still dwelling on a comment/insult/unexpected question hours later, determined to come up with an answer, even though it no longer matters, so that I'll be better prepared next time.

When my son was little, he was once quizzed by a new-to-our-family physician.

"What color are my pants?" the doctor asked.

Kaman stood for a minute, looking thoughtfully at the man's knee.

"They're black," the doctor answered for him, apparently deciding my son wasn't up to that particular age-appropriate task.

"Actually," Kaman said, "They are blackish with gray and a little stripey white bit in them.."

The doctor actually bent over, examining his pants a little closer, eventually determining that my son was corrrect.

At this same exam, the doctor asked Kaman what color an apple was. Kaman immediately answered that apples were green.

"Red," the doctor corrected.

"Unless you live in our house," I said, "where Granny Smith is the prefered apple."

"Ah," the doctor said. He didn't seem at all convinced. Perhaps, he thought, I was failing my child by not providing the "normal" color of apple for eating.

Sometimes I want to blame this idea that there is "one right answer" on public schooling, but I don't think that's entirely fair. I am a product of public school myself, you see, and I feel as if I've spent most of my life insisting that there were many answers, many ways to do things.

It might be more accurate to say that many people simply glance at the surface of things and make their assumptions quickly. Then there are those who are hard wired to exam issues more closely, to note the bits of stripey white hidden among the grey. I think there are merits to both ways of seeing things.

In fact, I sometimes envy the person who is able to so confidently declare that the pants are black and that apples are red. I can usually see it many ways. And I'm not saying I'm wishy-washey. I prefer to say that the pants are striped, but I can also see the reason behind calling them black and calling them grey.

Sometimes people can't seem to understand why my children have not gone to school, and I can often see the reason behind their arguments. But what I can also see is the many ways those very same arguments support the decision I made not to send my children to public school. When the kids were older, I began to say that I opted to keep them out of public school and at some point, they decided themselves to continue not going. That made answering the question easier for me, but confused the people I was having the conversation with even more.

I don't despise teachers, or even schools for that matter. To the contrary, there are several teachers among the people I most admire in this world. I simply don't send my kids to school to interact with them. They'll find other ways, other places, and those people will be as much a part of my children's worlds as any other individual might be.

Post People Recovery Period

I think it is safe to say that we are a family of introverts, though we enjoy the occasional stretch of time being out-and-about-with-people persons. The last several weeks have been full of go-go-go and we have been playing host. Two weeks ago we had a 4-H member from Michigan visiting. As part of the exchange trip, Middle Munchkin spent the week playing tourist in her own back yard and I spent several days as parent chaparone.

On the day our guest from Michigan left, the cousins arrived. We had two extra boys in the house for nearly a full week. Less tourist activity, more just doing things... skating, board games, card games, painting, baking, swimming... The boys left on Saturday. I pretty much haven't seen much of the members of my family in 24 hours.

"Did one of the kids just walk through the kitchen?" hubby asks.

"I think so," I reply. "But I couldn't tell you which one."

We've retreated to our repsective caves for some restorative mind time.



A sampling of stuff to do in Kansas:

Explore the Flint Hills.

Tour the Capitol in Topeka.

Visit astronauts in Hutchinson.

Mine for Salt, Hutchinson.

Eat an enormous pretzel at a KC Royals game.

Hang out with flying monkeys at the historic Emporia Granada Theater.

For the Love of Books: Our Time Reading Together

The kids and I just started a Bill Bryson book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life. I've been a fan of Bill Bryson for many years now, ever since discovering his book, A Really Short History of Nearly Everything, which was a really long book tape I picked up at the Topeka Public Library many years ago. The kids were still pretty little and we were doing a lot of driving back and forth to playdates then, so I listened to the stories in the car and I found them good background listening while we worked on art projects and physical tasks around the house, like cleaning. Evie, my oldest, says she remembers bits and pieces from the book. I started reading At Home on my own, but quickly decided it was a book we'd have fun reading together, so I suggested it, and after a couple of trial chapters, Evie and Kaman were all in. (We will have to catch Maddie up as she was away at camp when we got started.)

There was a time when I worried that once the kids started reading on their own, they wouldn't need me to read books to them anymore. And they don't need me, anymore, but that hasn't slowed us down any. It's only been six years since I had a need-to-read-to kid in the house, and I can hardly remember what that was like anymore. Though I don't spend as much of my time reading aloud as I once did, the reading we do now is more challenging and every bit as enjoyable, as far as I'm concerned. I am happy that the kids seem to continue to look forward to our books together as much as they seem to enjoy reading on their own.

When the kids were little, I would sometimes read until my voice grew hoarse. Evie would bring me book after book, and on our visits to the library she started making me read a page or two from the books on the shelves before she would agree to check them out. She learned quickly that beautiful pictures didn't necessarily equate to a good story. Evie had very little tolerance, in fact, for easy readers. She wanted depth and conflict and never seemed to tire of the words.

I remember one day sitting in the recliner with a sleeping baby Kaman on my lap. I was re-reading The Mists of Avalon, one of my all-time favorite books. Evie climbed up beside me and asked me to read so that she could hear the words. I thought for a minute that I should probably put my book away and let her select one of her own story books for us to read, but then I reconsidered. I began reading outloud and she was hooked. She didn't sit through the whole book, of course, but it was then that I decided our reading selections should be based on good story rather than tailored for age.

Everything from Pippi Longstocking to Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! became fair game. We have started books and put them away because they didn't hold our interest. We read a few books on a whim that turned out to be so fascinating they opened up whole new topics we'd never before thought to explore. I've read and enjoyed books with the kids that I was unsucessful at reading on my own at earlier times of my life. When Evie became a reader, she and I took turns reading aloud. Maddie joined us within a couple of years, and finally Kaman, whose skill for reading aloud now includes reading in different accents.

Over the years, the kids and I have enjoyed membership in different book clubs, both together and individually, but I think the book club of four that I have with my children is my all-time favorite, and it is certainly the longest running that I have ever been involved with.

The Unschool Grad

We went back and forth on the subject of hosting an event for Evie... we were getting so many invitations to high school graduations, and we finally decided we wanted to do something special to mark the occassion, as well. She's 18 now. Technically, an adult. She's got her voter registration card. And she's all enrolled for college, which is a whole new kind of adventure. It will be her first experience (aside from a class she took this past spring) in a traditional school setting.

Thus was created the Simmons Family Unschool Ziggurat's Class of 2014. We called it a celebration of Evie and we had a wonderful time. I'm not always keen on crowds, but I think everyone should make an opportunity or two in a lifetime to gather the important people in your life in one place. The whole event just filled me up with love and happiness. I think the rest of the family felt the same.

Here is what I said to welcome those who came:

Welcome everyone to the first, and possibly only, celebration of the Simmons Family Unschool Ziggurat. I say only because, as we are all well aware by now, our three children are very different people and I suspect that Maddie and Kaman, at the very least, will come up with their own name for their own unique experience when the time comes.

Eighteen years ago our midwife shared words with us that began the unfolding of an amazing journey. Children, she said, from that first wobbly raise of the head when they are babies, are striving for independence. Our job as parents is to allow it. It seemed as good a philosophy to follow as any. Allow. Support. Explore with. Delight in. Honor. And respect this individual who so quickly became a central part of our lives. 

Evie became our very first test subject in the job of parenting, and all of you became partners with our family on this journey. You each helped to open our world to new and different experiences. You shared your wisdom. You shared your resources. You joined us on long travels across the country. You joined us on short trips down the road for work, for play, for exploring, or just for walking and talking. You shared your backyards and your houses for play dates and parties. You read books with us. You worked with us. You learned with us. You loved with us and experienced loss with us. 

We are so glad to have you here today to celebrate with us.

We invited all the kids to come forward and stand with Evie as we presented her with our own brand of diploma. Several of them were not actually kids anymore, but we wanted all of those she has grown up with to be a part of the ceremony. She was surrounded by cousins and friends. 

Middle Munchkin (Maddie) and I had a great time desiging the certificate. It was wordy as heck, but I think I managed to say everything we wanted to say. 

From Evie's "Certificate of Confidence":

that her Pursuits, Passions and Choices will continue to take her upon her chosen road, or perhaps just to places worthy of Exploration, Inspiration, and Just Plain Fun, even if just for the moment, as she sees fit and worthy.

... and we had cake!

Because Not Blogging About It Haunts Me So...

My last attempt at updating this blog was almost a year ago. I've been thinking a lot lately about unschooling. Perhaps because kiddo #1 is now 18 and it feels like a milestone of sorts that we've made it this far without sending a kid to school. We had a celebration in June that I will write about soon.

I write, mostly because I remember the time I spent, when my children were much younger, hungry to read about what others who called themselves unschoolers were doing. Perhaps my window for followers is long past, but feeding my own satisfaction of documenting day-to-day doings is worthy enough.

The kids and I have recently shifted our schedule so that we spend the early morning hours at home together. We've been making our way to the office each day at about 10:30 where we typically work on individual projects and focuses.

Kaman shares a room with the cat and the copy machine. If I'm being honest, he spends much of his day on the computer, and I am probably entirely incapable, at this point, of describing exactly what he is into as it is all well beyond me and over my head. He would tell you he enjoys geopolitical history. His grasp of European geography is amazing. I would say that much of this has been sparked by games such as Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV. He plays these games (and others) and then he searches places and events online and reads and reads and reads. His following of current world events has helped me make connections through history better than I probably ever have in my life. It's helpful, of course, that these topics also are of interest to my husband, but I've seen Rand scrambling more than once to "catch up" with a topic they've been discussing.

Kaman has been learning computer programming -- he has a mentor he meets with once a week (or did until this month -- they will take a break for the summer/4-H fair prep time, and likely start again in the fall). He has dabbled at making videos about his computer gaming and he's written a few game reviews. He keeps a Tumblr account that I try to follow in order to maintain some inkling of what is going on in his brain. He's been reading voraciously of late. Re-reading series that he loves and picking up new ones. I'll have to ask him for a list. I know the discussion is a lot about mythology and critiquing the job the movies have done with various books, but I honestly couldn't tell you the names of the books he's been reading lately.

Kaman and I had the rare morning home alone together today. We reviewed some math stuff. He spends quite a bit of time on Khan Academy and I was being the nosey mom, wondering where it had led him. We updated his 4-H records and I helped him make a list of projects he is committing to taking to the fair. Then we played a Wii game that he bought me for Christmas. Kaman played big time Santa this year and saved his money to buy a new system, as well as a game for each member of the family. My game was called Rayman Legends. My interpretation of the game is that it was perhaps designed with young players in mind. Multiples can play at one time, and there is a character named Murphy where you can use the touch screen rather than a joystick controller... a hand player unit? Anyway, it allows me to play along with Kaman without getting too frustrated by my lack of skill. In fact, I think I've become quite good at it. We've played together several times since Christmas and today I actually finished a section of the game myself.

Middle kid, Maddie, is at camp this week. She left, very excited on Monday, as this is her first year attending as a camp counselor.

The eldest kiddo had a babysitting job today. She took the car and left the house before I did.

This evening we had a mowing party. Got most of the yard done.

I feel a bit like our German Shepherd dog. I keep looking around, wondering where I've misplaced the third kid.

Parental Fail

I invited friends to visit today. We were all going to the pool. Four kids plus my three. What a day we were going to have. Problem was, the pool was closed for a swim meet. BUMMER!

I don't think any of the kids were as disappointed as I was. They emptied the tank in the back yard and filled it up with clean, cool water. They played tag (even at 15, 16, and 17 they are playing tag!) They ate cookies and popcorn and played cards. I think they also played some basketball. I don't know all the details, as we moms went to the local antique mall and then for a smoothie at the coffee shop.

It wasn't a swim day, but it was a good day.

Glimpses of a Moment in Time

Whole family is in the kitchen/dining room. This so rarely happens these days (except when we are actually eating). Usually someone is gone from the house... hiding out in a bedroom... just elsewhere.

Evie is pulling monster cookies out of the oven. I am finishing the last spoonful of cookie dough that she has allowed. (She cut me off. "That's your last spoonful, Mom.")

Maddie is talking to herself in Chinese. "I'm cracking myself up," she laughs when I ask, "What?"

Kaman is playing a computer game beside me at the kitchen table.

Hubby is throwing in a load of laundry, feeding the dogs, wiping the counter by the sink... He has just rearranged the market tomatoes into neat little rows.

When you worry about the amount of time they spend playing video games...

My son, age 12, was headed up the stairs this evening to bed. Suddenly he stopped and turned around. This is what he told me:

I was playing Portal 2 and I thought, I would really like to know the real world equivalent of all the science stuff they were doing. First I thought I would go on one of the YouTube channels I watch and ask them to do a video on the science of Portal 2. Then I thought, why don't I look it up and make that video myself. 

Of my three kids, my son's interests are the farthest from my own. I don't always understand what it is he is talking about and I'm not always 100% on board with the way he fills his days. After all these years, I am still amazed sometimes by how hard I have to work at "seeing" what the kids are doing.

It is unfortunate the number of times I have found myself thinking things like, "But he really is just spending hours and hours playing video games." I have to remind myself that I spend hours and hours doing my thing, as well. Sometimes I make myself take notes just to prove myself wrong. Today, for instance,

• He got up early (5AM!) and took a two mile walk with us at the track.
• He and his dad came up with a business idea to allow people to virtually travel the world.
• He counted the money and sorted all the paperwork for last Saturday's farmers market.
• He practiced Italian.
• He shared a TED video with me that he found entertaining. 
• He helped the girls clean at the office (watered plants, washed windows, vacuumed)
• He helped me take the recyclables in.
• He spent time reading from at least 3 different books that I saw. Two were fiction and one was a non-fiction book about being an entreprenuer.)
• He folded laundry.
• He read the newspaper (at least the comics).

10 Movie Ratings

1. Yes Man - good, not enough dare devil actions
2. Serenity - too emotional, not enough funny comments
3. Tin Man - good display of story, not enough back story
4. Ice Age 1 - terrific with undetailed action wounds
5. Ice Age 2 - nice mix of emotional setting
6. Ice Age 3 - good imaginative use of story line
7. Wimbledon - a classic hero movie
8. Shrek 1 - funny, exciting use of animated character
9. Shrek 2 - fine display of magical possibility
10. Shrek 3 - repeated far-fetched story line

How many times has this site seen a face lift?

Not that we expect anyone is still paying attention, but once upon a time this was home (one of, anyway) to Kansas Area Homeschool Network. I started KAHN a number of years ago to help link unschoolers and homeschoolers of less traditional paths across the state of Kansas. It was an effort at creating a community of support and I think it succeeded. At the very least, I know many more families today that homeschool in a wide variety of ways. We have made friends (or at least acquaintances) in Wichita, Kansas City, Dodge City, and of course Lawrence (LAHN) and Topeka (TAHN), where KAHN grew its roots.

Anyway, the kids and I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog together, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to put this one to good use since perhaps a few people still have it bookmarked and there is still some good stuff here for those who want to take the time to browse the archives.

I honestly don't know what is to become of it, but here we are... embarking on yet another adventure together.

44 Presidents

Thanks, Rebecca, for the link.

L.E.A.R.N.

Word is that Kansas City area homeschool support group L.E.A.R.N. is active again and they are planning an UnProm.

Visit their website for more information.

L.E.A.R.N. Mission Statement

L.E.A.R.N. is an organization formed to provide secular support for homeschooling families.

L.E.A.R.N. supports families with a wide variety of ideologies regarding education, parenting, culture, and religion.


Membership in L.E.A.R.N. indicates a respect for other individuals, regardless of age.


Membership in L.E.A.R.N. indicates a willingness to be respectful of other member's beliefs or lifestyles that may not reflect your own.

World eBook Fair

Access to eBooks online... until August 4, you can download free eBooks from the World eBook Fair.

An Unschooler's Holiday

Just in case you didn't know, today is Learn Nothing Day. It's going to be a busy day for us, but I suppose we can try to do our best to keep our minds closed to anything new and sparkly for just one day.

The Size of Things

I mostly wanted to bookmark this to show my children, but then I thought there would be others who would enjoy this illustration.

Homeschooling: Back to the Future

This is an old piece from The Cato Institute that I may have even had in my files once upon a time, but I thought it was one of the more interesting pieces on homeschooling and I really appreciated the historical look beginning with Raymond Moore and John Holt. I am of the Holt persuassion, and I have often encouraged people to look to work by Raymond Moore, especially when anxieties about reading and writing come up in regards to young children.

The constituencies Raymond Moore and Holt individually attracted reflected the backgrounds and lifestyles of the two researchers. Moore, a former Christian missionary, earned a sizable (but hardly an exclusive) following among parents who chose homeschooling primarily to impart traditional religious mores to their children--the Christian right. Holt, a humanist, became a cult figure of sorts to the wing of the homeschooling movement that drew together New Age devotees, ex-hippies, and homesteaders--the countercultural left.

The two men earned national reputations as educational pioneers, working independently of one another, eloquently addressing the angst that a diverse body of Americans felt about the modern-day educational system--a system that seemed to exist to further the careers of educational elites instead of one that served the developmental needs of impressionable children. In the 1970s the countercultural left, who responded more strongly to Holt's cri de coeur, comprised the bulk of homeschooling families. By the mid-1980s, however, the religious right would be the most dominant group to choose homeschooling and would change the nature of homeschooling from a crusade against "the establishment" to a crusade against the secular forces of modern-day society.

Buttressed by their national media appearances, legislative and courtroom testimony, and speeches to sympathetic communities, Holt and Moore worked tirelessly to deliver to an often-skeptical public the message that homeschooling is a good, if not a superior, way to educate American children; that it is, in a sense, a homecoming, a return to a preindustrial era, when American families worked and learned together instead of apart.

Please take the time to read the entire article here:
Policy Anaylysis
Homeschooling: Back to the Future

Thanks, Rebecca, for the link.