When it was time for Savilla Banister to send her first four kids off to school for the first time it was not easy.

‘I had the worst time when they actually went to school, when they all finally got on the bus or in their cars to leave for school that first year,’ Banister said. ‘You know I’m in tears and people are like ‘So are your kids in kindergarten?’ and I’m like ‘No they’re 15 and almost 14.”

Banister, an associate professor of education, home-schooled her children over an 11-year span until 1994, when she needed to go back to work.

‘Otherwise I would’ve continued all throughout high school,’ Banister said.

Two of the kids were entering high school at the time; one as a junior and the other as a sophomore, while the other two were entering middle school.

Requirements for home school

In the state of Ohio, parents wanting to home school their children must submit a form to their local school district excusing them from compulsory attendance for the purpose of home education.

Parents must have at least a high school diploma or an equivalent to it, agree to engage their children in educational activities for 900 hours during the academic year, teach certain content areas and give them an assessment either in the form of a standardized test or a portfolio evaluation by a certified teacher, said Kimberly Murnieks, executive director of the Center for School Options and Finance with the Ohio Department of Education.

Teachers performing the evaluations do not need to be certified in the same grade level the student is in, they just have to be certified teachers, Murnieks said.

Technically, if the home-schooling parents are certified teachers they can perform the evaluation, Murnieks said.

‘Rules don’t expressly prohibit that, but some [school districts] haven’t accepted the portfolios,’ she said.

If parents choose to give a standardized test to their children they have two options.

They can take state standardized tests like the Ohio Graduation Test, but they must take them at the same time and site as the students in their district or they can take national assessment tests, such as the California Achievement Test, Murnieks said.

Parents are not required to provide proof that they have met the 900-hour minimum in Ohio or the 180-day minimum in Indiana, where Banister lived while home schooling. But Banister suggests keeping a log to keep track of their work.

Cutting corners would be easy for home-schooling parents to do without them having the same scrutiny as a teacher would from her school district, but Banister said parents doing that are in a small minority.

‘Most people want to make that extra effort because they’re giving away time and possible income from working another job, instead of staying home with the kids,’ Banister said. ‘So there is a lot of sacrifice involved and people making that kind of sacrifice and with just the natural love of parents for their children ‘hellip; odds are they’re trying to do a good job.’

Collaboration between home school families

Kelly Savino, member of the Toledo Home Education League of Parents, has home-schooled her three children since her oldest child Tyler, 14, was in kindergarten.

She created the Web site homeschooltoledo.net, which helps home-schooling families in Toledo get together to organize field trips and find other home-schooling parents who can team-teach a topic with them or teach their kids a subject they don’t feel comfortable teaching.

The camaraderie between the home-schooling parents and children is strong, Tyler said.

‘Everyone is pretty close,’ Tyler said. ‘The parents all will go out to dinner and the kids are close even though we don’t see much of each other; probably a couple times every two weeks.’

Starting home school

Dulcie Crawford and her husband of Bowling Green began home schooling their oldest son Colin, 6, this past fall.

Neither of them had any previous experience being home-schooled, but they wanted to be with their child during his influential early years, Crawford said.

‘We decided it would be the best way for our family to teach him and give him a Christian education,’ Crawford said.

They are not sure how long they will home school or if they will for their two younger sons, but she does want them to attend public school eventually.

‘We are playing it year by year now, but we plan on doing first grade too,’ Crawford said.

Leaving home school

Savino’s three children are given the option after every year if they want to continue home schooling and this year Tyler became the first to venture off as he began attending Toledo School for the Arts.

Prior to high school he spent a year in an online academy, which his siblings are currently enrolled in.

There have been a few differences for him to get used to, but the transition has been smooth, his mother said.

‘Socially he has done very well,’ Savino said. ‘The first semester he was still trying to get used to how things were weighted, like how tests and assignments are worth different amounts. But he is a very bright kid and very social.’

Other than figuring out how to use the lock for his locker, Tyler said it has been an easy transition.

He has joined the school’s production of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and after high school he wants to go to college to study theater and maybe go into teaching.

Reflecting on his home-schooling experience, Tyler said he likes the environment of high school a little better.

‘I felt like home school was not really structured,’ Tyler said. ‘There was no schedule at all; it was like a couple hours of studying what you’re interested in. I like [high] school better because it keeps you busy.’

The socialization of home-schoolers

Some people get the impression that home-schooled children are not properly socialized, but Savino and Banister do not agree with that assessment.

While being home-schooled Tyler kept busy with several activities including, Boy Scouts, taekwondo, community service and Salami Dragons, a group of home-schooled students who got together and played games.

Home-schooled students are usually social with a more diverse group of people, Banister and Savino said.

‘I think they are better socialized with mixed ages,’ Savino said. ‘They can have a conversation with adults and older people, as well as be friends with students who are several years younger.’

For one of Banister’s children, being social was a problem, but the problem was he was too social.

‘My one son, I made him repeat his junior year because he was getting C’s and D’s in a lot of his classes, only because he was being very social,’ Banister said. ‘He could tell you who was going out with who, and he was in band and drama and two other music things, but he wasn’t doing his schoolwork.’