In the face of worldwide declining births, shouldn’t we be thinking about ways to structure society so it makes having children desirable? The surprising increase of homeschooled children in recent years is also an indicator that more parents want something that society is not providing: not more time in school, but more family time.

John Holt: “I have met some fine teachers who have told me that for as long as twenty years or more they have been working in this or that school or system to bring about some of the kinds of changes I am urging, and with no success at all. I can admire their courage but not their tactical judgment. Not only have they wasted their time, skill, and devotion; they have given them to an institu­tion that has made bad use of them.”

John Holt sometimes used his Sony Walkman cassette recorder to tape his public talks, and this one, on April 29, 1985, turned out to be his last. The sound quality deteriorated a lot on this tape, so I had it remastered successfully and I hope you enjoy the audio. John was dealing with cancer during this talk and he died on Sept. 14, 1985. Nonetheless, John continued to share and explain his ideas about education in an amiable manner at this event, enjoying his interactions with the children and adults, and making some off-hand comments about Shakespeare and other educational topics that will infuriate some and tickle others.

The conference opened with a panel discussion, “What’s the growth potential of emerging models?” The bottom line is the growth potential is strong, especially from the growing number of parents and educators seeking alternatives to conventional schooling, with the recent strong rise in the number of homeschoolers leading the list of “education consumers” these schools and businesses seek.

Why should we think of school as an all-or-nothing institution? Part-time school could be one way a family could move toward homeschooling.

While there have been many stories about gifted homeschoolers achieving academic success over the 40+ years I’ve been writing about homeschooling, two things leaped out to me from Ms. Tillman’s story: her desire to share her love of science and art with other young people, and her desire to “focus on who I am" as her next step.