She Wouldn't Trade A Minute: Kristean Somers' Interview

Today's interview is with another fellow Hoosier, Kristean. I don't really know a lot about Kristean but we do have one thing in common, she used candy to help her kids learn math too!

For Kristean, the time she had to build a strong relationship with her children has been one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling. To her, it's priceless...

1. How long have you been homeschooling (or if finished, how long did you homeschool)?

Fifteen years. WOW.. has it really been that long?? Seems like only yesterday... I have two left at home still, an 11th grader and a 10th grader. My son has already graduated and moved on with his own life.


2. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it allows. Can you give us a few examples of how this freedom and flexibility benefited you (your family)?

My children were able to learn other lessons, besides those in the textbooks. Such as a strong work ethic ( they went to work with me ), the value of a dollar, cause and effect ( if you don't weed this garden today, tomorrow it will be worse!! LOL ) and many others.

But the best benefit was that we are SOOOO close. It is a relationship that nothing can ever compare to. And time will only make it stronger.

3. Another benefit of homeschooling is the fun factor. Can you give us a few examples of some especially fun times you had as a result of homeschooling?

HAHA... Science class. That was always a hoot. Of course when they were younger they really enjoyed M&M math and art time. But as they got older, science experiments became the sought after activity.

Of course there are hundreds of field trips, from alpacas to flying an airplane and everything in between...

4. We all have funny experiences while homeschooling. Can you share one of yours with us?

Oh my goodness.. there are so many. Soap making was a lot of fun, as was cooking classes, learning algebra again was a fun thing for me (sort of) LOL, all of it really.

There is not one minute I would trade for a million dollars.

A Ride on The Unschool Bus: Kelly Halldorson's Interview

Today we get to meet Kelly Halldorson and family. I was first introduced to Kelly when I attended Porcfest, a freedom-oriented festival in New Hampshire. Well, to be exact, I didn't really get to meet her, but I attended a presentation about homeschooling in New Hampshire and she was a member of the panel.

Brett Veinotte who does the School Sucks Podcast was a panelist too and he recorded it so if you want to hear the presentation, click here. (I said a few words at the presentation too. I'm the one who gave a pep talk for anyone concerned about college and spoke about my daughter's college application experience.)

Kelly and her family decided they wanted to go on a traveling adventure as part of their unschooling lives and they are now roaming the country on a refurbished school bus.

Is that not the best idea you have ever heard for a retired school bus!? I imagine that bus has had more fun in the past several months of its existence than the entire time it was used to dump kids into institutional schools.

(As a matter of fact, I'm thinking someone should start a organization to rescue retired school buses like there are for rescuing retired racing greyhound dogs. Families could rescue those poor buses who are worn out and depressed about their past use and fill them with kids who are living and learning free from the constraints of school.)

You can find more about Kelly and her traveling family of five at her blog. Kelly and her family are also available for speaking, conferences, interviews and a whole host of other activities. Feel free to contact the family at kelly@halldorson.com.

Now, let's get a glimpse of life on the family traveling on The Unschool Bus...

1. How long have you been homeschooling (or if finished, how long did you homeschool)?

We have homeschooled for 7 years, not consecutively. When my children were little they went to two separate private schools, one Montessori type and one Christian.

I homeschooled them upon removing the from the first school and before enrolling them in the second school. My oldest son was in second grade, my middle son was in Kindergarten and my youngest, a daughter, was pre-school age at the time.

They attended the Christian school for three years and my oldest, Wolfgang, attended 3rd, 4th and 5th grade at the school. My middle son, Griffin, attended 1st, 3rd (he was skipped past 2nd) & 4th grade at the Christian school while my daughter attended K-2nd grade.

After those years were through we started homeschooling (which quickly evolved into unschooling) and haven't really looked back - not too much anyway. My oldest son will be starting his last year of homeschooling next month. It has been a wonderful ride and I cherish the time I've been able to spend with my kids along with the relationships we've built as a result of our unschooling.


2. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it allows. Can you give us a few examples of how this freedom and flexibility benefited you (your family)?

Wow, almost too much to list here! My very early homeschooling style was eclectic. However, we quickly evolved into an unschooling approach, a type of homeschooling/education philosophy that provides maximum freedom and requires a huge degree of flexibility and openness on the part of the parent as far as the topics of learning are concerned.

Unschooling provides kids with an environment that fosters their innate desire to acquire information, pursue passions and learn practical everyday/real-world skills.

Last fall we set off to live full-time on the road with our three unschooling teens and what that has allowed us to experience and learn together is really unquantifiable. I have a list on my site of 99 things we did/learned/talked about in our first six months on the road and it's really just a piece of it.

All those experience were possible only because of the freedom and flexibility homeschooling provides.

3. Another benefit of homeschooling is the fun factor. Can you give us a few examples of some especially fun times you had as a result of homeschooling?

Our kids' favorite experience on the road has been our trip to Key West. We parked right in town, in a (closed) bank parking lot, and the kids were able to walk around together on "the Strip" safely because of the proximity to the bus.

They came back within the hour telling us we absolutely had to come meet these people they met in the Wyland Gallery, an art gallery featuring the work of world renowned artist Wyland. You know the guy that paints the huge murals of dolphins (and other water scenes) on big city buildings? Yeah, that guy.

Well, needless to say we followed the kids over and spent the evening chatting and laughing with the managers about art, travel, life experience and island history. They even went so far as to clear out their back parking lot so we could park there for the night.

Another example of fun was when my kids were much younger and we were not yet traveling. A local liberty-activist and videographer was looking to do a little civil disobedience. Through looking into New Hampshire code for ridiculous law he discovered that it was illegal to perform a puppet show without a license. His act of civil disobedience would be to perform a play about Henry David Thoreau in front of the state capital.

I thought it would be fun if we helped. I talked to the kids and asked if they would be interested in making the puppet and helping with scenery. All three were on board.

We spent the next month building paper-mache and felt puppets of Henry David Thoreau, his mother, and a vulture with a badge. We filmed the experience, we read about and discussed civil disobedience and Thoreau, we laughed the absurdness of requiring a license to perform a puppet show and discussed the ethics of victimless crimes and taxes. At the time they were 11, 9 and 8 years old.

This past January Jeff, the kids and I had the opportunity to take a guided boat tour of the Bayou. Not the kind of tour you pay $150 and a guide takes you out on a boat for an hour on the same trip he took the last 500 tourists, but a gifted personal, 4-hour ride through the bayous all the way into Texas waters.

Our guide? Seventy-two year old local resident Don McCaughlin. For four hours we listened to Don tell us all about the land he grew up on - including the history of logging, how to retrieve sinkers (how money can be made at it), art in the area (including all the work he had done), swamp music, and how he was once responsible for finding and rescuing folks reported lost on the waters.


4. We all have funny experiences while homeschooling. Can you share one of yours with us?

Funny experiences? That's an easy one...The looks we get when people find out we live on a bus full-time.

Laughing on a Daily Basis: Laurette Lynn, The Unplugged Mom Interview

Okay, doesn't this photo just make you want to go spend time with these fun-loving folks? I love it and it was the first photo Laurette sent to me. Then she had second thoughts and figured she'd also send a photo in a more 'normal' pose. I have included that one at the end of this post. But really now, don't you think this one is the best?

Laurette is known as The Unplugged Mom and has her own weekly radio show by the same name. On her show she talks passionately about education, homeschooling and freedom.(NOTE: 8/19/2012 Links removed by request.)

I recently listened to two shows where she interviewed Wendy Priesnitz and Linda Dobson, who have also participated in this blog project. So if you've read Linda and Wendy's answers to questions here, you can now go to Laurette's site to listen her interviews where both ladies share loads of useful and inspirational information based on their many years of experience.

Laurette has many more shows on her site as well as other helpful information for homeschoolers, so "unplug from the ordinary" and connect with Laurette.

But first, read on to see how her family managed to morph A Midsummer Night's Dream and Harry Potter into their own unique skit...

1. How long have you been homeschooling?

I've never homeschooled. I've never schooled the kids at all.

I've been schooled myself by the NYC system, but I survived and now I'm healthy and cured. Whew!

I have been a parent since August 28th 2001 and helping my kids learn about the world through, life and literature, nature and nouns, divinity and decimals, humanity and history etc... have always been a natural extension of parenting. For me, Mothering includes math and much more...

2. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it allows. Can you give us a few examples of how this freedom and flexibility benefited you (your family)?

The fact that we are not enslaved to a system that dictates what, when, where, how and by whom my children learn - allows us to enjoy the liberty, peace, inner joy and freedom that is supposed to accompany being human. We are free to unlimited potential in our learning and living experience. I recognize this freedom on behalf of my kids, but thankfully the kids do not know any other way, so freedom is simply part of their lives. Having unlimited access to fill our intellectual cups until they floweth over, and then filling them again... this is the essence of freedom; and thus the essence of being alive.

Without the walls of a classroom or boundaries of a schedule, our time is free and flexible enough to enjoy a solar eclipse at 1:00 am or watch a 5:15 am sunrise on the beach. We can enjoy the museums without crowds or take a month long road trip through a dozen states and linger as long as we like at any given place. We are free to explore the rich tapestry that being alive offers in the depth that can only be truly appreciated through living it, touching, feeling, tasting, smelling and hearing an experience...beyond (albeit sometime including) the one-dimensional interpretation of some elusive board of strangers in text.

Without the invisible prison that a canned curriculum imposes, we are free to linger on whatever captivates us for as we like and truly absorb all of the richness of any particular topic that excites us.

Rather than be rushed into memorizing Egyptian trivia within a 25 minute space, then regurgitating that trivia as if we're on some sort of game show circus - we can explore the ancient mysteries for months if we so choose; and in incredible detail by visiting websites, museums, libraries etc..

Rather than examine rock samples in a lab, or see historical tools behind a glass case, we are free to spend the day with a real life archeological team on an actual dig site - and not have to worry about being marked 'absent' from class.

It's hard to truly capture or pack the reality of true freedom and flexibility that exists outside of school - but that's really just the point - like life, it cannot be explained, it can only be experienced.

3. Another benefit of homeschooling is the fun factor. Can you give us a few examples of some especially fun times you had as a result of homeschooling?

This one is hard for me. Our life is just generally really fun. On a daily basis we laugh and play and explore. We read together, we learn together, we travel together.

I can recall many sunny afternoons walking through the park, laying on a picnic blanket, flying kites or riding bikes together. I can recall many winter days sitting by the fire reading some whimsical novel or acting out scenes from our favorite play.

During a snowstorm last year we had a pancake breakfast on the living room floor and giggled uncontrollably for long periods of time, simply because we were making funny faces and inappropriate noises :).

Recently we put on a skit acting out scenes from Midsummer Night's Dream and everyone wanted to be Puck so we all took turns being Puck, and it somehow morphed into Puck meets Harry Potter and before you knew it we had the whole family involved in this bizarre role-play where we switched back and forth between Shakespearean characters and characters from Harry Potter. King Oberan became Draco Malfoy, Titania became Hagrid, Puck became Hermione and other ridiculous improvisation comedic situations.

There are so many more fun-family times it's really hard to single any out. It's just part of our typical day. And this doesn't even include the parties and field trips and sports and more that we enjoy with friends and in the community.

I can tell you for certain that we love summer baseball season! Both my boys play and we bake under the hot southwestern midsummer sun, but dang it - there is something incredibly wonderful about spending a summer evening at the baseball field cheering on your sons team!

Fun is life, life is fun. When you are not locked into the cattle drive that is the processed life, fun ceases to be something to achieve or plan for, and just becomes part of your existence.

4. We all have funny experiences while homeschooling. Can you share one of yours with us?

Again, it's hard to pick out just one. There was the time my three year old wanted to bring home a duck feather and I was a bit skeeved out by her touching it so I said it was dirty. She said "we'll wash it" Scrambling for excuses I said "you can't get it wet, you'll ruin it" and she said "but it's a DUCK feather!" and my attempt at logic was defeated. We brought home the duck feather and I overcame my germ-o-phobia.

Another time my 7 year old son in the Nature Exchange at the Zoo corrected the park ranger in his math. He laughed at first and told my son he was wrong. My son insisted and said "No! You don't understand, I'm really good at math and you are not right!" A double check revealed my son was in fact correct and the blushing park ranger laughed and was forced to concede. It was my sons adamant and confident insistence that made the situation very funny.

There are dozens of funny moments but I think the funniest are the ones that every home educating parent experiences that while funny in hindsight are embarrassing in the moment. It's when your kids do something that is so blatantly and obviously out of balance with 'norm' that it draws immediate and pressing attention.

We find ourselves blushing and looking around, scrambling in our mind for a way to compensate for the seemingly out-of-ordinary situation. But then the juxtaposition of the light-hearted and free behavior of our kids against the dull, glazed over flow of the mainstream, makes us remember why we do what we do.

There are moments, like when my 6 year old stood up in a shopping cart and began to bellow loudly "Hey there Deliliah" in the middle of Target.... or when my 9 year old daughter decided that an impromptu gymnastics floor-show was necessary while waiting in a building lobby, or when my 8 year old son asks a perfect stranger in Toys R Us if he would recommend one Lego set over another.

It is in these moments that I notice they've shaken up the system and otherwise bored-to-tears "normal" folks begin to look at me for some explanation. I shrug and smile and say "We home educate" :)

And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Fun Is The Core: Desiree’s Interview

Today’s interview is with Desiree Alonso who lives with her family in Tulsa Oklahoma. I met Desiree through the work she does with Unplugged Mom Radio, a weekly radio show about home education and parenting.

Desiree considers herself a BuddhaMommy and you will see how well this fits when you read her interview - she’s as full of joy as the famous “Laughing Buddha.” When she’s not having fun making mudpies and laughing with her children, she blogs about her BuddhaMommy life at “Something Happened on my Way to BuddhaHood.”

Now, relax, get yourself into a Zen frame of mind and meet the BuddhaMommy and her family of “joy-addicts”…

1. How long have you been homeschooling (or if finished, how long did you homeschool)?

It's hard to think of how long I have been homeschooling because I don't feel like I ever "began". I don't feel like there was ever any moment when I wasn't since I became a mother. It just feels like it is the way it has always been. I remember realizing I would be an Independent Educator while still holding my infant child in my arms. I guess you can say I simply *realized* I would be a home educator. I don't really have a specific moment that I can look back on and say, "This was the moment we decided to homeschool." It was more like I simply realized what I already knew. I knew it in my heart, I just knew it.

Ironically, I was very critical of Home Education before I became a parent. Not just that, I was also very critical of mothers who chose to raise their children over a career. I was actually completing my degree when I delivered my daughter and I had it all planned out. I was going to have my baby, get my degree, enjoy the summer with my daughter, work at a university and get started on a good Graduate program. My husband would take care of my daughter while I continued my graduate program and my nani and mother would help raising the baby. Oh yeah... I had it all figured out.

And then, I became a mother.

So imagine my surprise when I realized I wanted to stay home and raise my daughter and I wanted to be responsible for her education. It shocked everyone! Including myself. However, it was also the most natural and easy decision in the world. So I guess my answer is, since my oldest is 7 years old.. I have been on this home education path for 7 years.


2. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it allows. Can you give us a few examples of how this freedom and flexibility benefited you (your family)?

Gosh... the freedom of this path we've chosen is the best thing in the world. I can't imagine life any other way.

We have moved across country because we don't have to worry about "schooling". Our children learn freely and there is no building I need to register them in. We are free to live! to learn! and I don't just mean in very concrete ways but abstract ways as well.

I would say the minute we realized we were home educators... it was then that our understanding of "Freedom" really began. The freedom of Home Education is but one aspect of how our family has decided to reject "compulsory" anything. Albeit, careers, location, employment, our children's choices, etc... Home Education was but our first step in this journey of Freedom.

There are so many benefits to home education. When I think of the freedom it embraces and promotes I think of the freedom to really know my child, to really nourish their potential, talent, individuality and soul.

The freedom for my child to know me... really know me.

The fact that my children have the freedom to be as happy, as odd, as quiet, as loud, as funny, as serious, as intense, as laid back, and as much of themselves as they wanna be, without the risk of being labeled, categorized, branded or singled out. My children are happy to be, to learn and grow. In addition to my love, what better gift can I give them?


3. Another benefit of homeschooling is the fun factor. Can you give us a few examples of some especially fun times you had as a result of homeschooling?

The most fun times we have is when I completely let go and become a child once again. I love to see them playing outside running around and I just jump in there! They go crazy! I love that. I love to get dirty in the mud when they are making mud pies. I love to see them climb trees and I hear that excitement and wonder in my daughter's voice... how excited she is to make it all the way to the top of tree. For that moment I forget how old I am and I am introduced to the magic of tree climbing all over again.

I can honestly say Fun is just the core of what we do. It's a the center of what we do and who we are. That does not mean that there is no "hard work". It just means that even the hard work is fun.

Let's see, some of the fun stuff... deciding to make an alligator out of flour, water and salt and then painting it green... just cause. There was no real reason, it wasn't an assignment from some teacher and it wasn't written in a curriculum. The kids wanted to make clay, they figured out how and then after they figured out how... they wanted to make an animal just cause. We learned about Alligators, the consistency of clay and we also learned that rice grains are an excellent thing to use for alligator teeth!! :)


4. We all have funny experiences while homeschooling. Can you share one of yours with us?

HaHa!! A funny experience. It's funny because I just laugh out loud and say to myself, "when isn't it all a funny experience?" Even the moments that seem to be a challenge, when we look back at those moments we can honestly look back and say, "oh my god what the heck was I thinking?"

Some of my favorite funny experiences are when my kids figure something out faster than I do. Those are seriously some funny moments.

Or they correct me and they are right. I admit sometimes I have asked, "How did you know that?" and they answer, "You taught me mommy." haha!

Or when I have given some instructions and they do it their way and it is more incredible, enjoyable and fantastic! than I could've imagined. I love humbling moments and I can admit I have LOTS of them.

I can't single out specific funny moments but all I know is there have been plenty of moments where I am at the table surrounded by chatter, papers, paint, a question from my 7 year old, a request by my 4 year old and a 2 year old trying to get under my shirt for some lunch and I just feel my hands over my face laughing and thinking... oh my god... my life is too funny. I love it! I can't imagine living any other way.

Unschooling: Educational Anarchy for the Whole Family

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of giving a presentation at the first Agora I/O Unconference. My talk was about unschooling. I gave a bit of an overview of the topic and used examples from our family's experiences.

I was a bit flustered at the beginning because I had some technical issues trying to sign in to the site. (This was presented live.) But once I started talking, I think I rolled along pretty well.

For anyone who is trying to explain unschooling to someone, or trying to convince someone that it is an idea worthy of serious consideration, maybe this video will help.

The Sociable Homeschooler: Vivienne McNeny's Interview

I have a great interview to share with you today. We talk to Vivienne McNeny who refers to herself as The Sociable Homeschooler. She was born in West Germany and currently resides in Texas but she has had some interesting travels before ending up there.

Her personal education experience is a bit unusual too, she went to a convent boarding school in England at age 11. What an interesting counter-experience that must be when compared to her homeschooled children's experience.

Vivienne has a blog, The Sociable Homeschooler and also has a weekly internet radio show/podcast by the same name.

But enough about all that, what does Vivienne have to say about the freedom and fun of homeschooling? Let's just say she's not only had a lot of sociable experiences with her kids, but she's developed quite the relationship with a few animals as well...

How long have you been homeschooling?


I began homeschooling many moons ago when my two sons’ magnet school examiners failed to recognize the potential energy and brilliancy of my unique and truly gifted oldest daughter and refused her a place in the same establishment as her brothers. My options were to keep her at the private Montessori school which was nurturing her excellence while simultaneously draining our meager financial resources; send her to the local public school requiring two sets of PTA’s, principals and politics, or….? Or what?

I didn’t know, until a well groomed stranger crossed my path who homeschooled her children with great success while apparently maintaining her designer wardrobe, manicured nails, expensive haircut, shaved legs and Bruno Maglis. None of the Birkenstock earth mother persona for this stylish lady!

We became fast friends while she mentored and slowly nudged me in the direction of homeschooling, not only my two girls, but the two boys as well. Nineteen years later we are all still alive to tell the tale and I am still available as a homeschool education expert for my youngest daughter who is finishing up her Associate’s degree at the local college and every now and again needs help with study skills, proof reading of essays and general moral support when the academics interfere with her absurdly busy social life and job as a Star Barista in a busy coffee shop.

So, the short answer to your question is, “Nineteen years and counting…”

2. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it allows. Can you give us a few examples of how this freedom and flexibility benefited your family?

Homeschooling is supposed to allow lots of freedom and flexibility and it would have had I been a free and flexible person. That was a process for me.

It was not until I summoned the courage to ditch the curriculum, that everything fell into place and we happily read our way through the remaining sixteen years of our homeschooling career.

We became balletomanes with all the children enrolled at the local studio, until the boys decided theatre was more macho, well one of the boys did, the oldest continued with ballet because he saw a personal opportunity, lots of beautiful girls and only one of him! He was in great demand.

During many a day the theatre was where we played together as a family for the majority of their growing up. They learned how to sing, dance and act, how to design and build sets, measure for costumes, hunt for props and stage manage, how to pull fly rails and track lighting plots and how to record sound effects. Most importantly they learned how to deal with divas, directors and choreographers, their peers and adults and become well known in the community without anybody guessing at their homeschooledness.

3. Another benefit of homeschooling is the fun factor. Can you give us a few examples of some especially fun times you had as a result of homeschooling?

The best thing, well, one of the best things, about homeschooling were vacations. We could go away any time we wanted to, but surprisingly we invariably went at the same time as everyone else because we were caught up in extra curricular activities that were dominated by the public school system and its mandatory holiday schedule.

In the summer though we did go away in September because of theatre, which kept us around until the end of August. So the beaches, pool and restaurants were relatively quiet and the streets were strollable.

We would take the whole of December off to get on with the really important Christmas preparations. We cooked, made crafts and shopped early in the morning while the sales clerks were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Yes, that was good and still is, being able to go to the store while everyone else is either holed up at school or trapped at the office. No lines, no crowds no waiting for us!

4. We all have funny experiences while homeschooling. Can you share one of yours with us?

Here’s the funny story! I have a zookeeper for a son but before he was awarded his science degree from A&M thus acquiring him the unrivaled privilege of shoveling Okapi excrement at dawn each morning and hauling hay for the rest of the day, he volunteered at the local animal shelter where he hosed dog excrement from the indoor and outdoor runs, there is a pattern here if you look closely.

This son would bring home abandoned babies for us to bottle feed, raccoons, squirrels, ducklings, opossum, and the occasional kitten or puppy. These abandoned, wild, babies were not supposed to be handled unless absolutely necessary but my children never got the hang of that, the raccoons were irresistible, so were the squirrels…they were petted, talked to, loved and named; they swam in the pool and romped with the dog…wild? Hah!

As a family all this nurturing became a valuable lesson in responsibility, the little ones would blindly feed at two hour increments all day and night and when they opened their eyes, whoever was first in the line of vision became MUM!!

When it was time to release them at about 8-10 weeks they would either go to a professional rehab place to learn how to survive in the wild (mostly the raccoons), or be released out in the country.

Once we made the mistake of letting a couple of the tamest almost domesticated squirrels loose in our back forty…and now we are paying for it! We play host to a new family of the critters each year in our chimney. No matter what we do to block up the entrances, they always squirreledly find their way home. Rather like salmon swimming upstream to the place of their birth.

They ruin our wood trim, our roof, our house but each Spring we hear the babies; first they romp in the chimney, exploring their nursery; as they get older we watch them cautiously emerge from the stack and run across the roof before returning to Mum, and safety.

At this stage they are nearly ready to flee the nest so we give them a little encouragement. By blocking up the escape holes in the chimney stack we limit their exit to an outdoor vent in the eaves where we can watch the activity. From the vent we run a 2x4 to the grass, and watch for several days as they hesitantly walk the plank nudged by Mum.

When we are certain everyone is out we remove the wood and listen for a day before battening down the hatch. Accidentally leaving a runt inside can foul up the air in the house for months! The following year we repeat the process. No matter how diligent we’ve been with the mesh and the wire, they gain access very time.

As a zoo keeper, with friends in high places, our son is now threatening to bring home a baby elephant to bottle feed around the clock. Charming as that sounds can you imagine elephants in our chimney?

Homeschooling Pushouts and Loopholes

No, readers, this post does not have to do with physical education for homeschoolers. I only wish it did.

Pushouts and loopholes are the names given to certain actions government school officials are doing to avoid reporting the truth of their drop out and graduation rates in their schools.

In other words, the government schools are very busy misusing and abusing laws and in the process are dragging innocent homeschoolers into what is THEIR problem. Here's a link to what's been happening in Richmond Indiana, but I also hear that this sort of abuse of the laws may be going on in other states as well.

I used this topic to experiment with some new online software at xtranormal.com. With this site you can type in dialogue and create a video. It's a lot of fun and I highly recommend it for homeschoolers. Your kids can learn while having LOTS of fun.

Anyway, here's the video I made on my take on the pushout and loophole issue: