Ramona Petersen decided to home school her three children because Ashley, Caleb (pictured above) and Travis each have different learning needs VIDEO CNN's Charles Zewe reports on one family's experience with home schooling in Texas. Windows Media 28K 80K  MESSAGE BOARDS: Changes in education  ALSO: TV ads, police grants target school violence

August 17, 1999
Web posted at: 1:32 p.m. EDT (1732 GMT)

In this story: Many reasons for home schooling 'Tremendous sacrifice' Education evaluation difficult RELATED STORIES, SITES

PLANO, Texas (CNN) -- Ramona Petersen doesn't have to worry about her kids running into violence at school -- they're at home, like more than a million others across the country.

Gathered in their living room in Plano, near Dallas, Ashley, Travis and Caleb Petersen are being taught by their mom.

"I cannot change the world," the Texas mother told CNN, "but I can start with the three that I've been given." She calls it an investment in their lives.

A growing number of Americans feel the same way, but the reasons given by parents are varied.

Ramona Peterson looked into home schooling after realizing that her children had "different learning needs and different learning styles."

Other parents cite religious guidelines, the desire to spend more time with their kids, a better education, concern about morals taught at school and fear of school violence.

Educators in Colorado said parents there showed increased interest in home schooling immediately after April's student massacre at Columbine High School in suburban Denver.

The concern has carried over into other states, as well.

"We are seeing a number of people say, 'I'm just concerned about safety,'" says Tim Lambert of the Texas Home School Coalition.

That's what prompted Venita Minter to begin teaching her 10-year-old daughter, Victoria, at their home in Carrollton, Texas. "There is no safe school," the girl's mother told CNN. "There is just not a safe environment."

Whatever the reason, there is a price to pay. "It is a tremendous sacrifice of time, finances," said Cindy McKeown, a mother of four from Middletown, Pennsylvania. "You have to home school because you believe it is the best option for this child."

And home schooling cannot prevent tragedy or keep kids from growing up, said Ruth Blount, who home schools her six children in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

"There's always a risk with children. Something horrible could happen in our family even if we home school," she said. "At a certain point, your kid's going to have to choose on their own. But when you home school, you have the time with them to plant those seeds more easily."

Teaching children at home has gradually moved into the educational mainstream. Unlike 15 years ago, each state now recognizes the parental right to home school and all 50 states have legislation or case law governing academic standards.

Texas, for instance, only requires courses in reading, spelling, grammar, math and good citizenship.

Attendance records don't have to be kept, teachers don't have to be certified and there's no mandatory testing. No report cards.

Some education experts are concerned that parents aren't able to provide an in-depth education. And then there's the isolation factor, leading to a lack of socialization skills.

In Texas, where the Petersens live, home school attendance records do not have to be kept and teachers do not have to be certified

"If children and young adults are not exposed to a wide variety of people, then they have a very limited opportunity to learn to interact with them," says John Stansell of the University of North Texas.

To prevent such isolation, some home schooling parents have organized athletic activities and field trips for their children.

The National Education Association, the nation's largest public-school teachers' union, has an official resolution stating that "home schooling programs cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience."

The NEA advocates a requirement that only "persons licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency" be allowed to home school and that the curriculum should be approved by the state department of education.

Correspondent Charles Zewe and The Associated Press contributed to this report, written by Jim Morris

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.