I just heard from Cindy at Dominion Family about the death on July 13th of Dr. Raymond Moore, grandfather of the modern-day homeschooling movement. I started thinking about homeschooling, twenty-two years ago because of two books that I found while browsing a bookstore called Bookstop in Austin, Texas. The two books were John Holt’s Teach Your Own and Dr. Raymond Moore’s Homegrown Kids. Subtitled A Practical Handbook for Teaching Your Children at Home, Dr. Moore’s book didn’t so much advocate opting out of the school system altogether as it did delaying the start of formal schooling until the age of eight or nine or even twelve. Dr. Moore’s idea, which fit well with John Holt’s more philosophically liberal unschooling views, was that young children especially learn best in the home and shouldn’t learn to read and do what he called “close work” until their eyesight had developed physical maturity. He argued that such close work at early ages (five, six , seven) was damaging to the eyes and often caused nearsightedness in later life.

The Moores’ contribution to education is best known for their emphasis on the philosophy that children, especially boys, need individualized attention, chiefly between the ages of 5 and 10. Even those with high intelligence have many times not reached IML (Integrated Maturity Level) at the same rate as their age mates. The Moore Academy does not advocate that they should have no education while they are in this early maturing stage; however, a no-stress approach is urged, with much emphasis on social studies and science, arts and crafts, and music appreciation. We believe phonics can be taught, but without pressure to perform, and with an easy, fun approach that uses learning activities, followed by phonetic readers. Writing is another “pressure-point” that deserves care in instruction. Writing in cornmeal, or sand, sky writing, and lots of dictating to Mom helps to bridge the gap between ability and performance. Math is also taught with lots of hands-on manipulatives, and real-life applications.

Many of you who are not homeschoolers or who have only recently discovered homeschooling won’t know Dr. Moore and his wife and partner in writing, Dorothy. However, if you homeschool you owe a debt to these pioneers. They wrote and talked about homeschooling when homeschooling wasn’t cool; in fact in many states it was illegal. Dr. Moore’s appearance on Focus on the Family in the early eighties and his article in Reader’s Digest, October 1972, “When Should Your Child Go To School?”, excerpted from a longer article in Harper’s magazine, July 1972, influenced many, many people to begin to think about an educational life for children and families outside the parameters of institutional schools. And for that spark, I am profoundly grateful.