October 1999
Homeschool Profile

Name:      Carole Fillman
Husband: Walt, also Daddy, Sweethear, and Super Servant!
Town:      State College (Houserville area)
Children: Robert (18), Mike (17), Debbie (12), Alyssa (8)

We've been homeschooling for ... This may seem like an easy question, but really it's not. When do you truly "begin" ? I read my first book on homeschooling when Rob was 2. We feel very strongly that homeschooling is an extension of our childrearing. So, that being our philosophy, we've been homeschooling 18 years. And that's before the law was passed to protect us. The day after Rob turned 8, the then Assistant Superintendent phoned to let me know I was truant. Yes, we were definitely members of the Homeschool Legal Defense.

The best thing about homeschooling is ... Being a family.  Knowing, really knowing, our children and being known by them. We would never have spaced our children so far apart, but God thought it best. I love that the older know and care about the younger and vise versa. The most important thing we have to do is to create a Godly home. Homeschooling allows the time to do just that. And it does take lots of time.

The biggest challenge is ... DISTRACTIONS!!!!! Confusing busyness and full schedules with quality childrearing. Somewhere out there is a great little poem that asks, "In all of our doing, have we really done anything? In all of our going, have we really been anywhere?" (That may not be an exact quote. I heard it years ago and it still haunts me.)

It is also a challenge to not compare our family with all those other wonderful, homeschool families out there. We try to focus on what God has given us to do and what we know to be true from His Word.

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