ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605060114
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-20 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FLOYD
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
John Paul Houston made his decision to home school his children three years ago, the day he met Mike Farris.
Farris, co-founder of the Home School Legal Defense Fund, was campaigning for lieutenant governor in Virginia's 1993 gubernatorial election. Farris lost the race, but his frequent comments about Christian values and the decision to educate his nine children at home produced widespread discussion about home schooling.
Houston still refers to his autographed copy of Farris' "The Homeschooling Father:"
"Home schooling holds greater potential for spiritual success than any other form of education," Farris writes. "...The forces of darkness do not want children to be raised who can not only read and write but also reason biblically and conduct spiritual warfare through godly family living."
For Houston, an agency manager for Farm Bureau Insurance, and his wife, Rainey, teaching their four children at home is a spiritually mandated responsibility, not just a way to enhance learning.
"We have a society so involved in family values, and yet we're shifting the process outside of the house," he said. "The schools can't teach family values because it's not a family situation."
School starts around 9 a.m. and goes until lunch for 7-year-old Ann and John William, who is 5. They sit on the couch and take turns working through their Christian-based curriculum workbook with their mom.
Houston usually works from his home, and sometimes feeds their infant, Thomas, or keeps 2-year-old Cora busy. At night, he'll act out a Bible lesson with the two older children.
"We were kind of scared at first," said Rainey Houston, who married when she was 19 and never completed college. "Right now, I can handle this, but one of these days - when they get up to trig [trigonometry], say - I'll have to stay up late and do my homework."
John Paul Houston is completing a degree from Radford University. The couple claimed religious exemption and therefore do not have to report curriculum plans to the school system or test the children.
Houston said he does want to shelter his children until they have the maturity to understand - and cope effectively - with what the world has to throw at them.
"We do talk to our kids, like, for example, the AIDS awareness week that you see. We talked about it, and that allows us to set the standards and determine their values. It's better having us draw the lines for them."
He said he's noticed the children "mature and socialize vertically, in that they can talk with adults and play with kids of all ages. They're not as strong horizontally, with their own age group."
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM STAFF. 1. The Houston family (from left):by CNBFather John Paul reads to son John William, Cora plays with
2-month-old Thomas and mother Rainey helps Ann with a grammar
lesson. color. 2. With the rest of the family busy studying, John
Paul Houston takes care of Cora, 20 months, and Thomas, 2 months.