FAMILIES TAKE ALTERNATIVE APPROACH: TEACH CHILDREN AT HOME

DeAnna Arevalo is loaded with reasons to teach her daughter, Iliana, at home. Arevalo believes she has her daughter's best interests at heart.

"I can give her what's best in education by personalizing the process," Arevalo said. "I can feed her things that she hungers for."

Another reason is to protect her from peer pressure.

Arevalo believes it's better to wait until children have the necessary skills to deal with peer pressure, and then expose them.

The curriculum chosen by Arevalo is called "Sonlight," a Christian-based curriculum. It introduces children to world culture and teaches them an appreciation for differences. Arevalo plans to introduce history through historical novels.

There are plenty of opportunities for social situations for children taught at home.

Arevalo said that with this method, she can choose which social situations she wants her child to be in. For instance, physical education is held at Main Street Fitness on Mondays, and plans to swim at the bubble in Cape Girardeau, once a month, are on the agenda and an enrichment program will take place at Fruitland Community Church on Monday afternoons.

There are Christmas parties, Valentine Day parties and end of the year parties, too.

Arevalo will teach conversational Spanish for home-schoolers on enrichment day at Fruitland Community Church in October.

The way the enrichment program is set up is there will be three ongoing programs: piano, Spanish and choir. The fourth program will offer alternating subjects: swimming, sewing, Christian study, art, woodworking.

Becky Tyler has reviewed lessons over the summer with her children, Andrew and Hannah, but has officially started back with the A BEKA program for home-schooling. She has taught her children at home for three years now. Tyler taught third and fourth grade combined in a Christian school in Illinois, for about three years. She recognized that Andrew needed a more individualized program and could not expect that from a classroom teacher.

"Teachers must meet the needs of the entire classroom," said Tyler, who first found out about home-schooling at a group meeting of home-schoolers.

Tyler wants to instill a love for learning and teach her children the skills to be able to continue learning.

"It's exciting, but a lot of hard work," said Tyler. For those who may be thinking about making the change to home-schooling, Tyler said, "If you've got the desire to learn, there's a wealth of information out there for you."

Tyler warns that people must also guard against going overboard. With the excitement of learning new things, children sometimes need time to just kick back.

Andrew Tyler, 9, said he liked learning at home because "we don't have to do all the busy work." Andrew's favorite subject is physical education, with reading running a close second.

He'd like to take over his grandpa's trucking business when he grows up.

Andrew has taken piano lessons for two years now and has begun his second year on the Jackson Swim Team.

His father, Ed, will take Andrew to the bubble in Cape Girardeau at 5 a.m. to train, as part of the physical education program.

Hannah Tyler, 6, said science is her favorite subject and that she'd like to be a ballerina or a baton instructor when she grows up.

She wants to go to New York City to become a ballerina. She has friends that play dress up with her, and Hannah, by far, has the most make-up.

The Tyler family acts as a host for foreign exchange students in their home. The children enjoy having students from other countries in their home.