Judy Anderson

I had the state called on me when I took my kids out of school, too. When
folks ask, I say we homeschool. They will often aske which curriculum we
use, and I say, "We don't use a set curriculum. We just take it day by
day." I like the looks on folks' faces when the kids tell them that they
don't do homework. This suffuces for most people I have met. If they want
more specifics, I give examples of things they have learned and how, such as
today they were watching the second disc in the Gold Edition Beauty and the
Beast. On the disc was a history of the fairy tale in different cultures,
so I wrote that down for their portfolio (I am required by law to keep one
here in NH, but law also says that viewing it is soley at my discretion).
DH asked me to write such things down because he is still so schooly and has
the typical worries about them playing computer games and watching movies
all day instead of "learning anything". The kids and I had a brief
discussion on interracial marriage while watching Mystery Men for the
umpteenth time because one of the main characters is a white man married to
a black woman. I was looking at photos of the horrible flooding we had here
in southwest NH last weekend and that led to a discussion on cause and
effects of floods, etc. We were watching The Village and my 5yo was asking
how Ivy (who is blind) could run through the field without falling, so we
talked about different ways she had adapted to her blindness. If you give a
couple of specific examples that will usually satisfy anyone. As far as
deschooling, point out that children are only required to attend school for
6 hours a day, 180 days per year (at least here in NH), which is really just
under every other day. I say that we homeschool year-round; summertime,
weekends, traditional school days are all the same to us. I also point out
that by letting the kids pick which days are school days and which are days
off (I don't really, as we don't have any school days), they can learn
things when they are in the best frame of mind for learning that particular
thing, thus eliminating the power struggle over learning something at a
pre-determined time. As for DYFS, I showed them my approval letter from the
school district. She asked to see the same things that the school district
required, so I showed her and that was that. When she first met me, she
commented that jsut from speaking with me, it was obvious I was not
neglecting my children's education, but she did have to see something so she
could mark it in her file.

I hope this helps. I'm sure others will have much better answers for you,
though.

Judy