m did not pwticipate in the hare school support group activities although the family did join the group. She sees dedication, self-discipline mtivity as necessary traits in the rn ham sehmls. The years since the early 1970's have seen a slm but steady grwwth in the mmrber of hcane-sdmoled studmts despite the availability of public -1s and the grrrwth in the nmbr of private schools.<br><br> Exact m;rmbsrrs of studsnts are difficult to atrtain, but estimates run as high as a quarter of a m i l l i m s ~ p h a r e W y h b e i n g W @ t i n b hare. Public -1 educators and their organizations have taken stands against ham *ling and generally regard it with suspicicm. Legal vary f m state-to-stab and caurtE1 in various areas detxmme its legality.<br><br> for chc~~ing h e schooling elver the traditional class^ setting vary greatly f m family tcl family. The me basic belief all ahare is the desire of parents to be lunre deeply involved in the duatim and M a p m e n t of their dxildren. The mmscript m y be read, quoted and ciW freely.<br><br> It m y not be -intholeor inpartbyarrymeans, d ~ c o r ~ ' a t ssion in witing fmn the oral History Office, Sangamon Spriqfield, Illinois 62794-9243. Table ............... B i r n m m - 1 - 1 z+&mced ~~ -itUte of America ...........<br><br> 2 The curriculum and Progress . . .<br><br> . . a * .<br><br> . . .<br><br> . . .<br><br> . . .<br><br> 3 mily ScS'ledule and Fbles of Eaaan ard Dad ........... 6 Oppsition ......................... 8 T h e s u p p o * ~ ......................<br><br> 9 LaOking Ahead ........................ 10 Admkqes and Disarhrarrtages to Hagne Schooling ....... 11 Advice to Begbmhg Haane IMwators .............<br><br> 12 Urtent t0 C o r r t h Prad- Schooling ........ 14 Q: well1 &rt out, if yauld just name ycnr children for me and haw old they are. Q: Which oines did ycru hcane school?<br><br> A: Suzanne and Doug. Q: TWO of them. t id thq have grade levels that they were at?<br><br> Q: Do ycru have college b a - ? A: Yes, I do. I have an elamtaq *tion degree fram ~ ~ l e s - - College, A: He's a ycruth pastor at a Baptist dnmh Q: Ard huw did yau cams up on ths idea of hams schooling?<br><br> A: Wall, our children at East Park Baptist Acade;my when it clm. Wehadtheoptionof~tweweregoingtodowithaur childrendecidingyou~wktherto send them to apublic school or w h a t w l e ~ g o i n g t o d o o r s e n d ~ t o ~ a u : i c 3 t i m s c h o o l . AXXI p i o u s l y about two years before that my huskud had amtact w i t h anotherpastorwhohadhcaneschoo1edhis&ildmnthmqhacertah curriculum and [he] ms Wling my husband about how wmdm9ul he thought it was a d how his childra in their awn relatimzships with each other had grown so much and the whole family had grawn so nu& closer & just really felt that this ms a great way to do it, When we - whq to decide for oumelves what we should do, we went back to thinking about what this man had told my husband, were kind of curious, W o f starkdreadingbookstmitandtaLMngtoother people who had had h m ~ schooling experimce and &art& praying about it.<br><br> And then [we] just really felt led by the Lnrd that this wrmld be ~thFrrgthatwe~dgoirrtacruraelves. Iguesshanotherwaywe werethinkingabcutthefactof knuwhgthatour&ildrmareour -ibility to raise ard we can eiUier delegate that responsibility to a private slaol, a public school or wlmwer, but we felt at this A: Ihe only other ccwnzectim that I had at the t h was Fat Higgins. Our little girls took piano lessons tcq@ther for Elenreral years.<br><br> She wouldtaXkabclRztit,yau~, a n d & e w a s t h e m l y ~ ~ ~ t h a t I ~ of. Ard I had a sister pmbably six years ago who did it for one year. And a t was really basically the only other camactions that we had.<br><br> Q: Yau mmticaed curriculum. Hcrw did you decide hcrw did yau go about f~aprogramofdxdy? A: Well, okay.<br><br> The basic curriculum that we1 re using is called ATIA [ ~ T r a ~ I m t i t u t e o f A m e r i c a ] . ythuabandandIhadgane to ssnjnarrs &led The Institute of Easic Youth Canflict and weldhad~ionsthrmghgo~totheseseminamthnxqhthis curriculum ard this is wfiat this rmn was using. You have to go to a b a s i c ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ h a v e t o g o ~ t h e a d h m n a e d ~ b e E a you are wen eligible to get into this curriculum ad you have to g o t o a n o t h e r ~ ~ f ~ ~ l t r a i n i n g a l s o , ~ & w e w e n t t o l a s t m.<br><br> Then they have that enrery year whi& well1 be go* to in a couple ofweb. And, so wewarrted to go through that way beawe thiscurriculm, whatthisrrranwastellingw about:- felt- so superior that ELnythirvg that we had seen. The basis of the curriculum was all aspcts of learning and building then ammi scriptures and hhq able to not only leam intellecrtuallybut then try* to assimilate it into the a i f e .<br><br> Ihe curriculum also is like, what y c ~ l might say, the whole family curriculum. It's nat just me .t-saching the children this an their crwn level it's crurwhole family's hmlved. It Ettarts cut in W mmhq and we go the evening using this whole thing thm@mxt W day.<br><br> It hae instead of, they say, a spiral type of cw~iculura ~ is what they call a linear curriculum where it's not repititia~18 frm year to year but ym take a certain subject and study that for hck~wer 1 9 , week or two, or a m n t h o r s m e t h h g l l k e t h a t a n d t h e n y a u g o c m t o ~ ~ . And A: Yes, rn do evaluate aur children weekly, but this is a nm-grraded ~ ~ r r i c u l ~ l l l ~ ~ b E l r j i s t ~ t ~ f E e e l i S t h a t ~ y a u f e e l 1 i k ; e ycslr children have been able to grasp it enough to be able to et it lrrto theh lives and live at what thsylre 1emit-q in their 1 ? ves, obvigugly theylve 1- it.<br><br> And so, we also had a supplmmt that with a redhq, writhq, math, and scane English. We're using the Bob Jones miculum for that. Wzt this [AFIA] carers history, medicine, law, Greek, and all those.<br><br> Ami then yerulm able to tale this-I have a book right here--ycrulre able to take W s and gear it up for older children, , it dawn for yaungBT childreul. A: Right. Q: Yau mentioned applying to get into this.<br><br> Nuw, mst cwxiculms ycru just sesld off for. This is a little bit different. Why is that?<br><br> A: Well, because I think a t what yau 1- in these smhars is basically *hat is inteqrated into the curriculum. And so if a person hasn't been to the mamars, they really have no capehmsicm of what might be in the book in the first place. Sa it ives it a basic w e all familiarity of ht will be -at and the L o n it's sojns.<br><br> Q: Are these people that write these, I assume, are they teachers? A: Yes, well, they have a raanber of people. They have doztors who write, nuw 1% not sum that -'re all together, but they have dactom who w r i t e the &cine part, they have people who are experts in their awn fields write the different sectims of the curriculum.<br><br> Q: Nm, do thery keep track of the childrenls m s ? A: Yes. That's why we senA in weekly mports & then semester they sesd back a caputerized progress of wbat we've been satling in.<br><br> Q: T h r e aran't awhole lot of poplewho haw -1. It's kLnd of mknditimal and yet it's a very old i h , been mound a long time. What did ym think of it?<br><br> A: Persanally for myself, my crwn experience? Well, I wuld say that it's not for -. I &dn1t go up to anybody and say this is far you, because it is difficult.<br><br> It's not easy because yau mlt be a mother who would rather sit arcrurd ad watch TV. You just can't do that. Andycruhavetoredize.Ulatyauareeducatirqyaurd.lildren and so it's a responsibility that you have to t a h very 13eriously.<br><br> It's not ths easiest thing to do in that, you )oxrw, sametimes I feel l h I'd rather use my t h on mysalf or to get mre sleep or to do sm&hing that I might want to do. mt I feel that God has dimcbA us that for the space of t b that we have aur childran that itls byortmt for us to give all that we have to train t b m so that t h e y 1 l l b e ~ i m a d u l U a n d * w a y t h a t w & d ~ ~ t o b e reared, ycxlImQw. Itlsmtthe easiestthhgtodobut 1've found m t ~ ' s d a y l s ~ I t h i n k t h i s i s .<br><br> t h e ~ ~ t ~ , y c s l m , and I can see h m they gmsp it ard I can see haw they've used it. ~ ~ ' s ~ d a y l s w h e r e I t h i n k I ~ t o p t W ~ l e t h i n g aside and let else do it for ms (laughter) ycru Iacrw. We went untiltheendofJune.<br><br> Wewenttenmthsbecausewewentf~daysa week * d of five days a week because my husband has Mondays off. So we went fran Tuesday to Friday. We tonk Mmdays as field trip days and days to be together as a family like that so that's why we went an nmth.<br><br> And ncrw, you knm, I've been off for three weeks and so IlookbackatitandIsay, yaukmw, Iwmldn'tdmrqe. Iwarrtto go back. Even today, nry dlildrenwtms bored and I thought, they don't like the idea vihm yau say schaol, let's go up to our classroam and do smwUxhq.'' They wouldn't like that idea, hrt ~ Y J knm if I cald just tea& ccrslthmally I'd redly anjoy it because I can see that they're getting bored.<br><br> Q: Did you tea& in a traditimal classman? A: No, I never have. I finished my dqme and gut married and we rwvedhereandthenIhadthechildren.<br><br> Ineverdid, Q: wit you are familiar with the traditimal classroam setting? Did you uE3e that )awrwledge en organizing? A: Yes, I did.<br><br> Q: Do yauhave an area that you define as school in the hause? Q: Is it difficult for Mum to put on another hat and beccans teacher? A: Well, see that was one of the things I was real, you kmw, we've only dane this a year.<br><br> So I feel in sum ways 1% sbll really l a . Jhd that was OE of my questia-s, hcrw do I put m the teacher role nuw whereas itla mother before? Scarnet+ that was difficult, espcially w i t h crur older girl who was in farW grade.<br><br> I thinkstaewasrtl~reusadtoaclassmumsetthg, amIIthink~useof her m i t y she's a little bit lazy, yau might say, and so I did have *to get on her. She didn't want to do it maybe in a regular classroam ahs laew she was responsible to another person to a class- team. So that had to be mrkd out.<br><br> Wlt I think what wed id was we had certain re wards type^, youhaw. If theyCrCRlldpmqmssac%rtain~duringacertaindayor certain week that there was a of different things. We had three~thatwesaidwereinpprtarrt: mmd3eronethingwas abadimcetamdsnrs, t h e n e x t ~ w e u s l a y a l t y ~ t s h e a n d h e r bratherrandfxwaxdsthe family, ~ttheyCWUl&'twant:tohavethat siblingrivalrytzyingtocertdoeachcrther, andtheotherthingwas athki- that they had to b attentive.<br><br> I would watclh during the day that by the end of the week they were mamrded with ' if thqwntthewho1eweekwithouttheseX~s. Sothathel=to be able to dxblish more authority over them. A: No, she didn't, she &ly didn't.<br><br> Ycxx lcracrw, ~~ 1'11 just kind of ask her a t . She redly hasn't missed it at all. In fact, thesame~westartedschao1,welll~~~ed~ttotheccruntry.<br><br> She left a lut of her frie that she had there and that mrt a big pr&len e i m . I can m l y see haw crur children have grcrwn a lot closer in their relatiomhip because of being away frm them andhEw~tobewitha&otheratltheth&learninghcrwtoget a 2 q arrd -. That's me of the things this curriculum really emphasizes, too, is the whole f d y as a whole going through it together and trying to be sensitive to each other's needs, trying to see hcrwwe cantale this and apply it to cwr whole family and stretch it&toaurrelativesdtocwrdwrchpeopleandtome.<br><br> Q: Naw ycru mentimed yautll be going to training session this mmwr. Would that be wery year while ycru e y on it? I ' m just & -ited abut go* back this summr because I can see sme things that I knm that I'll and do a little bit differently this year, maw give me saw new ideas.<br><br> Last year before we gat into it, you feel yau dmtt lmuwhow to ask the right -ti- when ye#2 don't knew - to [knuw] vihatts going on. 2Uxl nm I feel I can go back and people who% been in this a rmmber of years I can sit dam and say, Well, tell mz abut this or huw did ym work out and things 1 h that. I feel like W l y wen going back this year Ill1 learn more than I did last year ard be able ta sit back ad say, I1This is huw WB can do this a little bit differently, and "Ch, I did this right, ycg;z kmw, ard I can see huw .that w i l l all work WtheT.<br><br> So 1% real excited about go* back. Last year we went wt to Oklahclma City and this it's going to be in Xhcocville, Tamesse at the University there. Theretll be roughly abut smen thcslsand pecple there.<br><br> As soon as our children get up to junior hi@ age, then they start going zlnd they have separate training grrruplsforteens. Thqhavesclnretqeth~~buttheyhaveseparate trainhgfortheteens, too. Andwhattheycallwhentherygetupto that lwel, they call it an a w a e prqram.<br><br> A: Yes, nerw I knaw a lot of hcane achml people w i l l say, I W e 1 l l just [go] to a certain age but thiEl curriculum is directed tmard b e ~ a b l e ~ ~ y h i t ~ h i ~ s c h o o l ~ ~ f n t o l i k ~ i c s - l q p e p r c g m m s w i t h ~ o f w f i a t t h e y m i g h t w a r r t t o prsua as they get a little bit older. A: Mat. That was me of the things that I think as getting into it more and mre that w i l l becaane easier for me.<br><br> Yau have to have a lot of creativity to be able to say let's apply this to t b b f m gradsr, letls apply this to the ' and have it all work cut. hirve a teacher's or m- m type thing that give you a lot of idem cn wl.lat ycru can do. So it wasntt like I had tocxaaeupwith But yeru do have a lot of meativity and I thinlrjue;t:be~aurse?~neutoitthatI-ltqui~asuptoFa+ a s h t Ipmbablycouldbe.<br><br> I thinkasgettirrgmreqx=&mce Ill1 pmbably be able to see hw I can do better later. Q: can you give me an i&i of ymr &wdule, daily? Because that's wte a bit of difference between a f d grader and your a then ycgl have the little ones, too.<br><br> A: Right. I% usually try to skrt between 8:30 arad nine every day d then weld go till w e had a break. Usually I told my daughter after she did three subjects which was usually like 10:30 and e l m and then weld have about fiftem m h r b break for sMck and then we'd usually go till abart Wve.<br><br> And then usually took off abautan~forl&by*~Imadel~andgert:thediW doone. U s u a l l y d u r ~ t h a t t h I 1 d m - l m m g e h e r t o ~ t o h e r brotherrs or they'd play g2uaes or color or lacrw. We tried to use that tinre.<br><br> And then weld usually go till generally it just depended, three d i r r r e s wen four in the afternoon j u s t ~ ~ ~ h a d t o d o a n d h a w f ~ ~ ~ r k e d ~ t h e i r lists. NC~W our w l d always tmk a nap in the aEterrwon so thatls vhy we did more of the subjects, l h my daughter did her reidhq thm, more of the t h h q that I had to be a little bit more U m r e ~ ~ w i t h ~ i n t h e a ~ . Idomethingwithmy ~ a n d t h e n d o ~ w i t h h i m , t h e ~ c s ~ , and thmI1dgivehimaworbheet, ThmI1dgoarertomydaqhterand I1d do smethhg with her that I had to go wer with her ycru kxrw, and then I1d give her a worksheet.<br><br> I'd just go back and forth. Then our ~ 1 d I h a d t o ~ t r a i n h i m t h i s y e a r a r a d t h i n g s l i k e that. There wmild be a lut of distractions, you haw.<br><br> I think this year one of tbe things I 1 m going to do is I 1 m go- to haveherwmkinhermmbedrocan11~3rebyherself~ getheradeak. I think scmtirrues for her sarme of those distractims wme to the pint wherehermrkacRzldhrwebeen~ faster if aurmmeyewQ1d wamlt sonoisyorwhatwer. M w i U ~ o u r b o y , the-, n o t h g n r e a s ~ t o g e t ~ .<br><br> AndcRlr~-year-oldh@waildhold up the phonics cards and held say it with c u r ' f W m, m i i s a y t h e ~ w i t h h i m m i I c a n 6 e B ~ i ~ alutof different~thmqhthisyeartqether. Andalso1 think w i t h our daughter, too, that we're going into the Alpha Curriculum a little bit d c h is mre like, I dan't how if ym1re familiar w i t h the ACE [merated olri&tian Ed.tucation]. [We] choose a q 1 e of different subjects for .that because I think scenetimes she did lack a little notivation and ycu have to work up to those [Alpha Qmga aUrriculum] ta a c d z h lwel, and I1m not wen sure, a certain ammt right or a aerbh think Ethe needs pmenbge or saethiq like that before you go cm.<br><br> I think ahe needs that at least for a cmuple o f ~ ~ i l s h e c a n ~ o f g e t i n h e m a l f intothegrooveofwhat mire doing, tm. A: Well, ncrw I dcm't knm. (laughter) rnia~zsly, 1'11 ham to be ~ I n o r e t i m e w i t h ~ y c ~ z ~ w n d d o ~ ~ j n t h i n g s .<br><br> Then2 againif omdaughter is inherrocandoingmxeof her-, then that w i l l probably be of a help ard a m I3me-yearr>1dt hefll be a little bit older and ax baby, he mft be to the age where hefe walkingoranythinqyet. Hefllbetakinqmps. Tbrefsalotof flexibility.<br><br> Ycru just have to roll with the punches. I think for a person who canft do that that's why hare schm1d.q W d n l t work for thm, yaulacrw. Thatfs Pkly I say I dorlft think weqbdy could do that.<br><br> You just have to be a flexible emugh to be able to say, yau kmw, we have to do this right: nuw and if we canft, if not do- right then Ifll just fly off the handle anl call it quits for the day. You just have to say okay happened, we have to pill1 a x s e l v e ~ c back togeumr. Q: Doeanft leave much t b for you, what you said earlier.<br><br> Yau qmd all that t h educating and w i t h ycrur children. A: Thatfe true. I guess my husband has tried to really malca up for that.<br><br> Iwas~tallyearsoIwasverytiredandhereaLly helpad out morewith the hamholdtypethings. It wamft like he m a -night andexpechdms towait on [him], ymIntcrw. He didn't wer do that anyway, but mm realizing that I was in a sense wcrkfng, too, even~Iwasathcaneinmreof awayof ahusband andwifewhentheyboth~kanddothhgsammdthshowe.<br><br> Andhe was vary amsiderate of that. A lot of the t h b p that he wmld try t o h e l p r r v e m ~ ~ h e w a s n f t t e a ~ t h e r s u b j ~ . Oneof the t h i r v g s t h a t m d n W i ~ t h i E t ( = ~ ~ ~ i ~ u m i s i n t h e ~ ~ h a v e a time where we try to tea&- d.laracterpinC:iples that theyfre working on during the day.<br><br> He would do that type of stuff and so that took a little of the off me in that sense. Q: ?hat was one of nry questions. Man is sa involved in tead-hg and I ~ j u s t ~ h g w h a t p a r t D a d w a s e x p c k d t o p l a y .<br><br> Sameofthem they don't do mything. A: Right, right. You hmw, like you might say the reading, mithy aritb&ic, he wasn t really that involved in but the things that we did do with the other part of the curriculum, we were all h l v e d inthattq@thsr.<br><br> E v e r y ~ ~ ~ d t r y t o g o a r e r ~ t t h i r r g s t h y were l *. We Bath have our am, at they call this ie a wisdcmbaaklet. So in the f d l y has their am.<br><br> Hefs right there with it, b. Reinforcing the thhqs, you knm, if I say, fWl, t h i s i s ~ I ~ ~ f r e g o ~ t o b e a t t o d a y , f f t h e n ~ h E ; cameshameforsupiperhetalksabartthe~iamethingsardaakswlzat they've 1- and tri- to give sane new ideas cm the same things. So that part of it hefs very h l v e d in.<br><br> A: WkruEibard? Yes, I W d say that there was. Naw our daughter when she gat into the frrncthns in her ma, she had a little trouble it.<br><br> She had a little m l e with that. And it seared likemyhusbandfs almys beanverygocd inmathand inwrithqand different things l h that. He help a teemgem at our dm& with their algebra and trigamwhy an3 all that type of stuff.<br><br> I felt Q: Did y m have q mctions to your takirvg m ham schooling? Was there anyI3ady that said, I1Ycru got to be mazy?11 A: W e l l , 'I think a luk of peaple wre xwlly skeptical. I think it ~ w h o ~ ~ v e ] u # r w n .<br><br> W e f o u r d ~ a r r y b o d y t h a t ~ r u n i r r t o seems that they knm satebdy, scxm place who has hare schcmled. A relative, txxebdy not wen -ily here in tam, but sme place acrosEithe~hashawssclhooledandmostof thetinretheyhad favorable, you krww, favorable ideas of it. tires we've met pople who ha&% had an associatic01 at all m very skieptical, But people who have had s a ~ associatian w i t h rxanebody where were ~ f m r a b l e .<br><br> ThenI~wlmIfirr3theardt;heidea, Iwas slr;eptical of it, too, rzntil I read a b u t it and just seamhed it out for myself and weighed the pros and cons, you 3cnerw. And saw what U i m we really wanted to go w i t h it. Itls just a lack of )oxrwl&ge for a lot of people just makes them skptical.<br><br> Q: Did you amhct any h l officials and indicate what you were doing w i t h your dlildren? A: Yes. '&Js Super- of Schools we cmntacted him and told him m ~ p l ~ m h a m e b l i r r g & ~ t h i n k t h a t h e ~ b a c k a letter~iayjng.u.Latthere~certainre&ram3~t~wrere to fulfill, a certain number of days, a cdain ratmber of, I think, ~ a r ~ 1 Z k e t h a t t h e y h a v e a r i ~ t t o o c a r u ; a r t a n d look uve~ your cu~~iculum.<br><br> lhey rrwer did. A lot of pople taks the stand, *Wor~% kwh us. T h i s is crur thirrg, we have the right to do what we want to do, and dmlt touch us.I1 My husband and I have t a h ~ m the idea that anybdy wer an authority, any gcnremment: official, ar@dy over an authority is there for aur crwn good and that if they wzurt to in and see h t wetre do- then that's fine.<br><br> I dmlt thinkthatehwycan~inandtslluswhattotea~andhaJtogo it, but there might be pople who wmld just have their kids hams ard sit back and watch TV all day and they [authorities] are thex to protect that el&. And so we have no pmblem at all w i t h the gmmmmt or wim the officials making sum that w're doing what wetre suppcsed to be doing. A: No.<br><br> Q: Ycru just contachd the off ichls. A: Yes. A: No.<br><br> A: Yes, but welve never gone to the nbsetings. We're just members. I think I took my children to me field trip.<br><br> This year I'd prabably 1 i k e t o g e t m o r e ~ l v e d b u t l a s t ~ I ~ ~ c w e r w h e l r n e d w i t h . t h e mmmt of work and being and w i t h my husband's am responsibility w i t h the &m& that there just wasn't the to get t o g e t h e r w i t h m ~ ~ ~ r p o r t g r a r p . Eut I iruaghUzat it's probably very profitable for the people who really can get imrolved and give eid~utherideas.<br><br> IthinkIpmbablywilltrytoqetaurchildrento mre of the field trips that offer. I lacrw ane of the t h b p that I read pecriple have said when yau first startolrtycru~~havethatge~~trityof feelinglikephaveto get.throoaghwery-, dOwery=-, do . because you're so afraid that thay're going to fall - ?<br><br> - ' r e not goingto-uptmwfiat theyadhave h a regular school. I lacrw I did the same Wrq, and a lot of that is busy work that they put in w. It's nat that it's not tea-, but it's not all v.<br><br> I tkink I felt: lib ycru have to get through this or next year you8re not go- to grclw. (laughter) Atd I think this year I can probably be a little mre secure as to what they're doing. Then we're going to go Elhead d have them tested the skudardized achiammt test to see they're at.<br><br> W i t h this curriculum [RITA] mt, I can't say that all, they say that mst of the students theylre at will be very very hi@ in their mading and their -im. They said liks in the junior high years that nmt of the studsnts enrolled in this will be up in lib the ninety-five peroent=ile, alnusest dl1 of them. And a lot of it is because there's a 1atofVdxll~thrrcRafPlthis.<br><br> oneofthethingsthatthey enyhasize is a lot of reading of smi- to ycrur childrm and me of ~~WtWeap3hasizeis~tycrureallycutba&mycxlr'XIT mkhhq m dm't have a TV at all which FFB really haye tried to stick to. They said if you tyv to go five hours a week as the maximum for yaur childran and be selective in what thq watch. We've redly tried to do that and I guess hcrpernly that w i l l help.<br><br> 'Ifley have to learn huw to be creative in order to fill in the evenhgs. If the TV1s nat mthanrmybe~havetasit~andreadbooksorwlehavetodo ' asa familyor figureoutwhatyoucanputtogethertoplay w-l ay w i t h each other, and SO we're trying to get them to think creatively, trying to cwne up w i t h their am ideas instead of be* WbrtainedbytheTV. ~ l A m t t ' s h a r d b e c a ~ s c P n e t i m e s ~ want (laqhter) to have a little baby sitter and can get away for a while.<br><br> Rxt m redly eied to stick to that. Q: Have qrcw been h a m wim the material Wtts been ccrvered? Does it eeem right?<br><br> A: Yes, way section, it's exciting. Ycru just look at it and yau can see all these neat t h h p that are c a h g c u t of it. -Is a lot of analogies, and I thhk a lut of good learning can be associated Q: Did ycru see 1 - like that go an in the traditianaJ.<br><br> classroclm a - ? You have an adhmntage, I guess it's an adtvarrtage, of acl~~lparing .the way ywtr daughter was undsr tradition cl-, get up and go to sdwol. A: Ithinkin-wayswlehadsameofthatbutsleeqrou'relimi- w i t h the emwutlt of studmts that ycru have, yau Icncrw.<br><br> W i t h tutorial typeof tea-withthe individual youcan just W a f takethan arrd say, ' ' M I S go frcnn here". And then w i t h your awn children ycyu c a n j u s t ~ i t ~ t h s d a y , yau]cnckJ. Ardsoyou're l i m i t e d h t h e c l a ~ i s r o a n w i t h t h e ~ o f studentsthatyouhaveand just be- able to say, l'Okay.<br><br> This applies to this principle or mt we're l - . Letts just go t m a m w and take a field trip an it.!' Well, yau just can't do that in a normal classrogn and say "Okay. Letts go to the fanm and let's see hclw the tractors laok and see how the pl- lock am3 see hcrw that all wrks together and see how a farskerwmld do that," two or thme t h a week.<br><br> A lot of teachers ~ I ~ a r e ~ t i v e c a n d o t h a t w i t h ~ i r s ~ . Bcrtthay are a little bit THC,= limited on that. Q: You've kind of tauched on this, but since y c ~ z have one year under yaurbelt, ~tdoycruplantochangeforlsextyear?<br><br> -cumto e? A: I think I'm going to have more like have a t h schedule for our daughter e~~pecially. Saying I1Okay, you ham a certain anmnt of tire to get this certain work done.<br><br> If ycru don't get it done, then you'll henre hamslklPrk." Because I f d where before ahe1d piddle amutd too mudl. You kmw, she might take * that I knew, I man, a page of math she cmld do fine = a half hour she carld h a v e g o t t e n i t d c n e i n t e o l ~ . A n d I t h i n ) r t h a t , ~ ) m a u , v d l e n 1% planning crut daily if I see it's ' she's gomg to be familiar with or that Mm her that 1- I ' m going to say, I1Okay.<br><br> Yaulve got this arrant of t h to do it in. If you dm't get it dme then yau w i l l have to tale time that ym would have later to play or to do what yau warrt to do and you'll have to finish itthen." Ithinkbecause~~Ifeltlhshehadwastedtirrve an3 .Ulere wwld be sa l ~ n y more things that she cauld be using it for and 1 - and maybe pmqmss faster if &he wouldn't piddle around. So that's one thing I'm go- to do.<br><br> Than just like I was saying, I want to get mre of W type thing with these, a t we call W w i h booklets, and just be able to bring in all these different areas of 1 - w h i d ~ has the& crwn -. If the book says, whether it be her readirzg book or her English book, says write a paper her papers w i l l be directly hived with what she's bean learning that whole day and than that whole week and do things mre like that. I think just using more of nry uwn ideas.<br><br> Q: Is there a lot of writing in this curriczzLum? A: No, redly wasnlt. Itls hard to -lain.<br><br> There can be if you want it to he. She didn't feel like she was proficient emup to be able to do w i t h it, but thme can be a lot of and wr~ting. Q: It just depends m havmudl yrxl want to apply it?<br><br> A: Right. I f d l i k e f o r m y k i d s I ~ ~ t o l c n r e ~ ~ d a r a d I want to be able to write well and else I think: w i l l Mn3. of fit in because if you can bm =te arri if ycu enjoy reading tkaan p'll almp learn.<br><br> yt daughter nerw, yau kmf, - I r e havirgthissurmnarprogrmnwiththelibraryardshe1sgoingthraagh bookslikethis (snapf-) andIhCYwevenasIwasgrwnlirsgup1 nenrsr&.thatmuch. I t w a s a u r s a n w 2 m s t i l l l ~ u s t o ~ t o him but I'm glad our daughterls starting to set a good example because 1 t h i n k s c r m e t i m e s b c r y a d a n 1 t 1 h t o ~ ~ m u c h a s g i r l s d o ~ s o we're really trying to encrxlrage that. A: Well, a 1ut of people say a di-get and they always bring thisup.<br><br> IthMrthisisprohbly~ofthethingsthatpeoplebring up the mst in cowcem is the socialization and t~ me I dm% see a dhdmbge to that at all. If you had an rmly child, lived in the c c g l n t r y ~ t h e y ~ ~ a b l e ~ ~ s n y ~ l d r e n a t a l l y a u ] a w r w o r a q b c d y ~ ~ t o ~ , I m i g h t b e ~ . ButIthirik thatls me of the reasons the Lord has bl-us with f a r children because thmels always ~socializatim, ccnrtimzally a l l the time w i t h each &her.<br><br> We realize that the -test socializatim is not necessarily with .their am peers but with werybody, you hew, adults, teenagers, relatives, and that yau leam that thmqh nat d y dldren your crwn age, but wexybdy and wet- really tried. My husband will let the kids, he usually drives the van, and he lets .them ride with him and so they get to be arrxlnd the older people ca and a lot of the diffcmnt kus children. Y m 3mcrw, they ride m the bus even Umugh they dmtt have to go on the bus, they ride with i2te bus children & like that so they're mntimrally arrxlnd a lot of different people and just trying to teach them haw to actarrrundwsry~ofagegmup, Ithinkmeof thereasom1 guess, too, Iwasthinkirrgabaztthis.<br><br> Oneof thereasonsthatwedid ch.axetohamslschoolwasbemuseofthepeerpressure, m y h u d x d cdllls it peer dqmdenq in the schools today. I guess we felt like wimmyhusbandworkingwfmtaanagersfmtenyst~rsncrwycxl~see s o ~ ~ f h C l W t h q ~ b e c c a n e s o ~ o n t h e t h c l e a g h t s , t h e i a of theirpeergroup. Wewantedtobeabletokeepcxlrchildrmand bath them that the absolutes of right and wmng, ethics yw haw, thingrs like that d a t they wmldntt have to be so dependent on what their peers are doing.<br><br> They could M on their crwn and I think t h a t ' s c a e o f t h e ~ t h a t m ' r e r e a l l y t r y ~ t o t e a & ~ , and1 canreallylseewfthourdaughter. S h e t s a ~ atd she doesntt -ily have to go with the crmd and so wetre trying to teach them that. I think that Is a positive aspst of it.<br><br> And a lot of people say, Well, yaufre trying to isolate - . I 1 And llYau'm try to just nut let them 6ee the reality of the world" and "4, IthhktheB ledoessayWtwefremppcm&tobewiseasserpents and harmless as dams, you m. And you donlt necessarily have to g e t h ~ s ~ w r o n g t o ~ w h a t ~ r ~ r ~ g i s a b o P l t a n d s o I t h i n k i n that waywelretryhgtohelp our children in that.<br><br> I1mtryhgto think of a negative. (laughter) Q: It was so positive you didn't have negative? A: Yes, I guess the mly thhq is that my crwn tiredness, ny awn lack of being able to do for myself.<br><br> Whan my are all grcrwn theytllbegrmmarryway, soImtthavetowcmyabutthattaomwh. A: Yes, ard thatls one of the things I db withmy kids. We had a Valentinets Party, we had a Christmas and we did ar crwn parties at harrre.<br><br> We made Valentine ards and we handed them out to eveqbdy at and tried to do W,rqs for Daddy arxl like that so t h q didn't feel liks that was king left art of their lives. Tried to fill it in w i t h that type of stuff, Q: If smwm came to yau and said, llItm considering haw -ling. What would ycru advise nrs.I8 What kind of things could ycu help them out with?<br><br> A: Well, I m d first of all see if they would dedicate thawelves tothsfact:U~attheywarrtedto, youknaw, or if they-justdoing it go a l ~ with the crmd or sanebdy else that they had kncrwn. You do have to have a s t m q lwel of dedication to it arrd see haw dedicate3 they really are. I would w hcrw -1 their children are under - 1 of them.<br><br> I lowrw I had a girl in our church, it hasn't beentoolrmgandshehasthreebays,theoldestisad'loolage. She's thekindof aparsonwfinlshers, &-and-. S h e w W o f u p ~ ~ t ~ ~ d 1 3 a c r w t h a t E i h e t s ~ k i n d o f thinking, ''1 dmlt kmw what I'm go- to do with my kids.<br><br> I really don't knm if I wazrt to W to a public schml, I don't knm if ~ ~ s a C l h r i s t i a n ~ l ~ w a n t t a s e s l d ~ t o , ~ ~ a n d s c s a e t ~ I thought w e l l , maybe she'd hams -1. Wrt I thought she's not the type. I don't think ahe a d do it.<br><br> I donlt knuw that she'd have the discipline in herself to be able to sti& to it. There's a ~arrveRlrrtofEtelf-disciplh~t~~hast;o~eandharve ymr children disciplined, too. I would lmk to see their latel of dedicationinthatway.<br><br> AndthenIwwldthMrthatIwouldhelpthwn with the curriculum that they U d choose in getting .them, helping t h m w i t h t h e ~ a r d d e c i ~ a l s d h e d u l e a n d t h h g s l i k e t h a t , Iguasrsyaumightsay. ButIthhikarry33odywhohasthatlevelof edumtim who m work w e l l with their children can probably do it, I m they're nut illiterate thmedves. There again, with this curriculum I h g h the peaple are doing it m t are college graduates, a lot of l3wn are pastors.<br><br> You lam, that I think that maybe a who maybe hasn't gone on to college and doesn't have a lot of the math and thirrgs like that that they ma* wouldnlt tab them Uunqh the high school. But for especially the Ermaller Childrm they shauld be able to do all that with them, but I dank think it would be a pmblem with them. Q: Are the kids h a m I1ve aaksd you that before about the niraeyeaycold, but the doesn't m to , .<br><br> Q: Was that of the curriculum? A: Yea, that's basically part. They want you to mmrize scripture.<br><br> I End of Side One, T a p One A: No! ycru cmthally get new whes. Now we w m t through five of these ul one ysar, five of these booklets, and w@ are conthldly gettimg more all the t h .<br><br> Q: Ard 1% somy, I don't m. Do you have a test m these? No?<br><br> A: No, well, there are. There is a test. It8s not redly what yc~z would grade A, B, C, or D.<br><br> Wrt they- a mastery test they call it. You can see hcrw much they8ve assMlatd basically just thrwgh mmhlly, not life. That's waluated too, how well you feel 1i.h theylve takesl that and applied it to their life and we didn8t really give that to our - .<br><br> Q: Th is is a tarrific curriculum. Ncrw 18ve h@md of sms folks that justkindofmakeupl3Arawnarrdthemareall sonmydifferent oms. Didycru look at athers?<br><br> A: Well, Ithinktheatllyothercnewt3ccmi~when~&the Bob Jones curriculum thmqh the math and the mlish and the reading. W e felt like that me, and we had heard this before, that they really stmgly eqhsize -, a lot of type of thing mther i2mn rote in me;11~3ry. I felt that that would be mre effective for crur a: Chose the Bob Jones?<br><br> Q: I mad in me of the hae school magazines a statistic, I forget W aact number, but that a 1- of hamre schoolem quit afkermfimtyear. Samofthemdonltwenrrraksit-wfiatwe wald call a -1 year. It didn't really go into that, it just said ~ w a s a ~ ~ .<br><br> cmldycru-that? w t h e r e t t f m e s when yaz wevrted to say, I1Let1s go back to the way it warstv? A: Yes, it pwed through my mind, but that's as far as it went because Ithmght, well I feltlbnyhuabandand1-direcrtedof the fnrd to do that and that I felt like if we - d h & d of the Lard to do this that He wuuld give us strersgth to do it and if it was going to be right for us, then I CCOZldnlt @t.<br><br> Y m hm, that Is v h t theImdwantedustodo. AndIcanseethiscumiculumtheyclaim that they have, I1m not sure how l ~ n y families are enrplled in this naw, but they have a very, very law percentage of people v&o quit. V y , very luv.<br><br> And the oms that thq have had were things like the wife died, you lacrw, things lih that or they became missimaries to a different cvxnrtry or * t h a t w a s ~ o f ~ aut-of+tm-ordinary f= ratherthan 1 Q n l t this, I ' m frustrated, I dcnlt lib it, yau know. IUt they have very law rnanber ofpeaplebhoquit. A r r d I t h i n k ~ b e c a u s e y c r u c a n t a k a t h i s ~ yaucansaethscharrgeinycrurd'lil~tslives~ybe~resothan saeof~othembecauseitls justmakingschaolatham~this is more of a life style is what it is.<br><br> In sawe ways we've dm,nged our whole life style raw sayirq, IIOkay, ncrw we have sdml at hartbe rather than in the c l a s s r w ~ ~ ~ And I think when I tried to make ~ l ~ i n t h e c l a s s r p g n t h a t t s w h e n I b e c m r r e ~ ~ ~ r a t h e r than this is crur life style ncrw, letls just start at it when we getup in the morning and go IAvmugh it until the end of the day. Ard then justhrPvecrurcertaintirm?whenwedothat. Q: So you really like it?<br><br> A: Yes, I do. (laughter) Q: Youlre going to stay with it. A: Yaulre nut going to taLkms out of it.<br><br> Q: I'm not try- to. 1% just kyirg to find out the ~ y s the wherefores. Well, I was just g1anch-q mer my list ard I don't see anything else.<br><br> Is there I m y have left out or anythhg you wanted to a? Going to = year next year do it again? Iwashtere&&~of~weweretalkingabutthetrainfng,when you go for that they knmxldnlthave y c ~ z as a beginner, do they sqamte y c r u a t a l l a s t o t h e ~ o f ~ienmthatyouhaveinthis?<br><br> A: Last year thq didn't do this, but they're having pople who are just beginning came o m day early. D-m they're having pecple who have been in it before, axre an m y , mY it really doesn't start until Tuesday for werybocty else so that they're getting- same tking of huw to fill a t yaur blue reports and things l h that, a~yaulvebeenhitycru~lydanitrueed. Theydon'tmakeitthe saxe enrery year.<br><br> They have maybe a little bit different just like a preacher. Y w m just taks * t h a t m a y b e yau feel that migM be of a little bit of a help t l uwt han you had last year, even though it's ihe same thing. Even thmgh we'll be talking about theEjernrethhgtheylllbegivingusnerwideas, n e w ~ t o t h i r i k ahmt, new inspiratim.<br><br> I 'm just really excited about going back. Q: Aria that lasts aweek? A: Yes, frmm m y lm Friday.<br><br> Arrd -@re all C h r i s t h . A Christian curriculum so it's just great to be tbsre. A: I dcalt kmw of any -1y.<br><br> 1- that there are. I a book by a mn named John Holt. Ard 1% not sure that he WEIS a Chrishan m.<br><br> It didn't ccane frcrm a Christian And so I 1 m s u r e a t t h e r e a r e . Ilcnawthatthemefamilywfiogotalatof publiciw that's out in California, t h q have the rjon that went to Hzmmxd? a: No, they aren't.<br><br> A: Also my children we had a Weekl Ibader Magazine arxl they had a little arta.de in there abcut in ami haw educated Udren d they m y have been, but that wa&nlt in the article. It was in just a regular type ngazine talking abcut that. Q: ArrythirYg yauld like to add?<br><br> Well, we've cwered it real well and a* all ycnxlve mly hen doing this for a year and seem -1-le about mt you're doing.

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