This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays. ~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~~Mark Twain

There are as many reasons for homeschooling as there are homeschoolers. Most who choose this path have made careful consideration of many issues before coming to this decision. Some families do it for religious reasons; the Bible gives instructions to "train up our own children" and lots of folks take this seriously. Others have chosen homeschooling because of the dangerous place schools have become and feel a need to protect their kids from physical and psychological dangers. Still more have come to realize that their children have educational needs that can't be met in a classroom setting. They have lost(or never had) faith in the public education system and have decided they CAN do something better!

Mark and I believe that learning is a natural process that begins at birth and lasts a lifetime. Because we aren't under the constraints of a government education we can enjoy a rich and varied learning experience rather than race through subjects that must be "learned"(memorized) for a state test. A public school(or private) setting doesn't allow for natural abilities or interests; everyone must remain on the same page at the same time. Homeschooling allows the kids the time and freedom to study what interests them and allows me, as a facilitator, to make learning the basics as painless as possible.

We use an unschooling approach but I like to use the term "Life-based Learning" or "Learning-With-Life" instead. The word "unschool" evokes a negative connotation, something we are *not* doing rather than what we *are* doing. We use real-life situations, educational videos, television shows, music, the Internet, and TONS of books for science, history, geography(cultural and physical), and whatever other interests we decide to pursue but they are decidedly not labeled as "subjects".

We've hiked in old mountains, waded in cold streams, watched balloon glows and earth-moving equipment, seen baby birds grow up and observed wildlife of all sorts. A few of our more interesting adventures have included trips to a local(we were in Austin at the time) limestone cave where we learned about geology and cave life, to Seaworld and the San Antonio Zoo to study ocean creatures and rare, exotic animals. We got to see some of the only Fossas and Komodo Dragons in the country. In the summer of 2001 we took a trip to Oklahoma to visit relatives where we got to observe huge drifts of Monarchs and other butterflies feeding on butterfly plants. A few years ago my parents purchased an old farmhouse in the mountains of western North Carolina. Mark and Ryan went with my dad for several weeks and enjoyed learning how to renovate an old homestead.

Recently Ryan discovered coin collecting which has led to much more history than he had been exposed to in the past. The girls love cats, drawing on the computer and in their notebooks. They like the Japanese style of drawing, anime, and have done many mermaids, fairies, dragons and other creatures. Our "life-based learning" is wonderful, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Public School's Role in Our Decision to Homeschool:

Both of my parents were public school teachers, my dad was even a coach, so it was a bit strange at first to entertain the idea of homeschooling my children. My own public school experience was average at best. Even though I was one of the "smartest" in my class(one of those who made 99th percentile scores on all those silly standardized tests), I was unwilling to jump through the political hoops to be a part of that elite group of "Who's Who", it was all so fake and meaningless to me. My goal in high school was to NEVER, EVER, take a book home from school, unless it was something I wanted to read(like my biology books), and by-God I didn't!! I witnessed, among many humiliating episodes, the cruel treatment my brother endured because he chose cross country running instead of the UIL math-science team. He went through SO much crap just to be valedictorian of his class, which hasn't influenced his adult life one whit.

I had always been curious about homeschooling but didn't start seriously thinking about it until Ryan was four years old. We enrolled him in a public school pre-kindergarten program on the urging of family and friends who had children near Ryan's age. They told me that we'd all be much happier if he was able to socialize with kids his age and give me a break for a few hours each day. This sounded like a good idea at the time and Ryan started pre-k in August of 1997.

Ryan began not wanting to go to school, he'd been left on the bus one afternoon and another time the school had failed to put him on the bus home so I figured that was the problem. His teacher had also diciplined him for something he had done at home(that I'd told her about away from school). I also suspected he would rather have been home playing in the backyard with his little sister and his dog. The school counselor told me Ryan was "just pulling my chain" and was a "master manipulator". She gave me a video on discipline and told me that I had to show him who was in control. His teacher admitted that she thought he was retarded because he rarely spoke up, let alone misbehaved. He amazed her at the nine weeks evaluation when he named six different names for the color purple(lavender, lilac, grape, etc.) and counted to 147 before he ran out of objects to count. She began sending home information on ADHD in his back pack and suggested that I have him tested for it as well as other psychological problems even though she said he was far from exibiting any symptoms. It is like there "had" to be something "wrong" with him. Sorry but I don't believe it is the school's job to label my kid with a false syndrome of some kind.

Since pre-kindergarten isn't required, nor kindergarten in Texas, we made the decision to withdraw him in January of 1998. We followed the rules and brought a letter stating our intent to withdraw him to homeschool, Mark hand delivered it to the principal's office. We got a call a few days later from the truant officer at the school. She said that we couldn't withdraw Ryan from school for ANY reason. She was very rude, even yelled at me. Even though I told her we had followed procedure by bringing the letter, she insisted that we bring him back because homeschooling was(in her opinion) "not a valid reason".

Later that week I got a call from Child Protective Services. We'd been turned over to their office because we had taken him out of school. They wanted to do a home visit to make sure that he wasn't being abused. I let them go ahead and come because I had done my research on the legalities of attendance requirements and homeschooling and I knew I was in the right. Had I known then what I know now they would never had made it in my door without a search warrant since there was no probable cause of abuse. I don't have proof that misinformation was given to CPS but since they said the school told them about us and they took the time to come out and investigate, then surely *some kind* of negative information was given. The school district was getting money for every student who was enrolled in the Pre-K program and also from him being in the free lunch program. I am quite sure that this is the only reason that CPS was notified, it was a scare tactic to make me rush him right back to their doorstep. If at any time in the future I am confronted by CPS, a school district, or any other agency I will require that they get a search warrant and provide me with a list of the charges that are being investigated.

*******Late August 2003, School vs Soniers, again!!*******

Tuesday morning around 9:30ish, August 26th, Ryan and Amy were two houses down, Ryan on his bike, Amy on foot. They were approached by the local Citizen on Patrol car which cruises our neighborhood from time to time. The car stopped and a woman got out to question them. Ryan told her he was homeschooled and then she asked him where he lived. I admit I didn't prepare him for this, didn't think I'd have to, but it really bothered me that she asked where he lived!!!! Later in the afternoon I was rocking Sarah to sleep and there was a knock at the door. Ryan and his homeschooled friend answered the door and a deep voice asked if their mom is home. Thinking it was a sales person of some kind, I went to the door with Sarah draped over my shoulder and a great big sheriff was standing there. He said he was sent by the school district to investigate the truancy of my children. He asked if I had any documentation of my homeschooling. I told him that nothing is required by the state of Texas and he commended me on knowing the law. We had a good conversation and he left satisfied that my kids weren't truant.

Mark and I talked about it and he decided to call the police department to complain about the Citizens on Patrol approaching the kids. After several phone calls back and forth between the officer in charge of the CP and the people who'd accosted Ryan and Amy it was determined that the woman was not the one who called the school and she was very sorry for causing us alarm. The police officer told us that they are not supposed to approach children in any way and he had coached the CP on that issue.

The more I thought about it the more furious I got so I called the school superintendent's office and finally(after being on hold several minutes) spoke with the counselor for elementary and middle school kids. I wanted to find out exactly what had been said to make them call the county truancy office since homeschooling is legal. She told me that there had been 3 calls from the same person in the past 2 years on us but they've never sent anyone out until now, my guess is whoever called did witness the exchange with the Citizen Patrol though(too much of a coincedence). The counselor read from my file(yes, they have a file on me which I find *extremely* offensive) that there was "no learning going on" and "no curriculum being used". I have NEVER spoken to anyone in our area about what kind of curriculum we use. The counselor told me she wasn't familiar with homeschooling laws so I enlightened her. I let her know that I thought schools should become familiar with homeschool laws so that they don't end up harassing people. In Texas, homeschools are considered the same private schools and exempt from ALL state laws governing public schools.