“The four women who gathered around the dining room table of an Oak Harbor home earlier this week wanted to make it clear that they were not there to disparage the local public and private schools. But they were also clear that the choice they’ve made about their childrens’ education does not include such schools.We are all steeped in a culture that says when your children are five years old you turn them over, said one of the four, Renee Knutsen. For us, it took a radical change in thought.Like a growing number of families nationwide, Knutsen and the others have made the move to teaching their children at home. Home-based education, or homeschooling, is an idea with a few advantages that public school officials say they’d like to emulate: individualized instruction, small class size, more chance for experiential learning and a high level of parent involvement. But there are also disadvantages, such as potentially less socialization with other children, loss of personal time for parents, greater responsibility, pressures and cost. There was a time when most everything a child needed to know about the world was located in and around the home. But things like population growth, technology, high-speed travel, advanced communications and civil rights have made the world more complex, and the responsibility for educating everyone equally has been put more in the hands of governments. Today, the education of children ranks as the number one priority of the state.In recent years, however, the concept of teaching and learning at home has been undergoing a major resurgence. The number of Washington State kids currently educated at home is four to five times what it was just a decade ago. Nearly 20,000 students in the state are now registered as home-educated. That includes 150 North and Central Whidbey families who teach and learn at home.It’s a trend that was acknowledged by the state Legislature in 1985 when lawmakers passed the Home-Based Instruction law, considered by many to be one of the most liberal in the country.The four Oak Harbor mothers at the table this week all say that, in retrospect, home-based education was a good choice for them. But they admit that bringing school home was not their first impulse.I thought it was the weirdest thing I’d ever heard. Why would anybody want to homeschool? said Mercedes Fulwiler, who first turned to the idea after noting what she saw as a lack of motivation in public school kids. I said I knew we could do better than this. She currently teaches her fourth-grade daughter at home.The story is similar for Lynne Vagt, who teaches her seven children at home.I was one of those people who thought only special people homeschooled, said Vagt. She said she and her husband were drawn to the concept after talking with other home-based families and after recognizing the importance of close family ties. In our wildest dreams we didn’t think it would go past third grade, but year by year the reasons for it grew rather than diminished.The Vagts’ eldest child is now at seventh-grade level.Knutsen and friend Isabelle Schmidt, who each homeschool three children, say it’s been a good alternative for their military families. Schmidt said the idea of pulling children out of class every couple years and moving them to another school always seemed like a bad idea.I wanted more consistency, she said. Knutsen, a former frustrated public and private school teacher, said she believes homeschooling has provided not only a continuity of instruction for her sons, but also a spirit of learning that they may not have found bouncing from school to school.NO ONE WAYWe’re all very different in the way we view things, said Vagt, trying to dispel the stereotype that home-based education families are all antisocial rebels or religious zealots who distrust government and resist change.For Vagt, the school day usually begins in the morning but there is no special spot set aside for the classroom. The kids often take their studies on the road learning about things by seeing them in action. Since the Vagts homeschool seven kids at once, she said they rely on a fair amount of independent study.Knutsen said she used to have a classroom set up in her home but has since abandoned that idea.School is a way of life for us. It’s not 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock, she said. There are days when we finish math pretty quickly and other days when it takes two hours.Fulwiler operates on what some might consider the fringe of home-based education. She and her husband use what’s called unschooling to teach their daughter. In unschooling, classroom walls, routines and lesson plans all disappear and education is driven by the student’s desire to learn. Fulwiler said she’s not bothered by the looseness of unschooling because her kids have always been interested in learning.The love of learning doesn’t die in these kids. It’s exciting, she said.PROS AND CONSThe ability to tailor studies to the student is an advantage homeschool parents see over public education. The mothers say they can adjust the speed and depth with which a subject is studied much easier than a public school teacher who may have 30 students at a time to teach.Another advantage, the parents say, is that their children get more of an opportunity to be together and learn together as a family. For some homeschool parents, freedom from public education also means the freedom to blend religion with education. It’s an important distinction for Vagt, who starts her children’s education day with Bible and prayer time.You couldn’t do this strictly for religious reasons, but many of the character issues are driven by our religious beliefs, Vagt said. At the same time, however, she said that homeschooling should not be automatically equated with right-wing religious conservatives.The law came from the far left, the hippy generation who said, ‘Leave us alone,’ she said.Homeschooled children can run the risk of isolation if they are left too much alone. Critics say home-based kids lose out on normal socialization with their peers and can sometimes be ostracized.The homeschool moms say their kids get plenty of socialization. Many take part in sports, scouting, clubs and other activities. Homeschoolers On Whidbey, a local support group, organizes regular cooperative classes and field trips where kids get together for larger classes.Given that, Fulwiler said there is also a lot to be said for individuality.Our kids have time to spend on themselves. So few kids have the opportunity these days to just look at a butterfly or work with Legos for hours at a time, she said. Besides, she added, her children have always had the choice of public school. Her two eldest kids both decided to return to Oak Harbor schools as they got older.The moms treasure the family closeness they’ve encouraged through homeschooling. But they all realize that the rest of the world awaits their children as adults.We want our children to grow. We don’t want to hang onto them, said Schmidt.Vagt agreed.I expect that all our kids will go on to college, she said adding that it’s her job to make sure they have the skills and knowledge to take that step when it’s time. My goal is that their choices won’t be limited by the first 18 years of their life.————–Do you qualify to homeschool your children? Here are the legal requirements. At least one must apply.* The student is supervised by a certificated teacher. There must be a minimum of an average of one-hour contact per week with the student being supervised by the teacher. * The parent has either earned 45 college level quarter credit hours or the equivalent in semester hours. * The parent has completed a parent qualifying course in home-based instruction at a post-secondary institution or a vocational-technical institute. * The parent has been deemed qualified by the superintendent of the district in which the student lives. What do you legally have to do?* Parents must file an annual signed declaration of intent with the local public school district.* Children need to be tested annually either through a standardized achievement test approved by the state board of education or through an assessment of the student’s academic progress which is written by a certificated person currently working in education. Test results remain at home.* Parents need to keep copies of the annual test scores or the written assessment and immunization records. “