When they wake up at 5:45 a.m., it's school time. They're learning even when they're helping with the family business. In most cases, getting a home school education doesn't end when summer begins.

"This is where the adventure is," said James Stoddard, a home school parent, of his home in Saratoga Springs. His six children are excited to learn every day -- oftentimes waking up even before an alarm.

While the options for home schooling vary from the old classics to new technology via the Web, home school families are not behind the times, or social outcasts among their peers.

Nickie Allen, a home school parent of three in Provo, said that she tries to tune out the negativity surrounding home schooling.

"I don't know what they think. In the old days, everyone thought homeschoolers were backwards people," Allen said. "My husband is a professor. I have a degree. I don't think we are backwards people."

She said she knew she wanted to homeschool her children before she was married, and it has helped bring her family closer together. Allen has also enjoyed providing a specialized curriculum for each of her children's interests.

Bethany, 8, is interested in animals. Elijah, 9, loves comics and has recently started writing his own, titled "Noun Wars." The youngest, Mattia, said she loves wolves, dogs, woodpeckers and "everything in the whole wide world."

Allen said her children have an ability to easily retain what they learn and memorize things, which may make them stick out like a sore thumb in public.

From feeding chickens at 5:45 a.m. to going to see "Les Misérables" at the Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City on a Wednesday afternoon, every day, she said, can be a learning experience for them.

There are still the rough days when she threatens to send them to public school -- something she knows they don't want.

She's not the only "backwards" person in Utah County. Nearly 2,200 children were homeschooled around the county during the 2006-2007 school year, and more continue to choose that course. There was a 9,000-student increase around the state between the 2004 and 2005 school years.

With the increasing number of homeschooled students, parents are also grateful for the increasing number of resources and curricula available to their students.

Why home schoolfi

For some it's a personal choice. For others, it's an escape from the public school system.

"I'm just one of those people who likes to try something new, and teaching was just what solidified it for us," James Stoddard said. The former junior high teacher noticed how things had changed from his own school days -- students frequently talked back to teachers, and he was only managing to get 10 minutes of good instruction in for every hour of class.

At the time, he had two young children, and today, his 12-year-old daughter is a graphic designer, and his 10-year-old son is a 3-D artist for his home-based company.

"We do everything as a family," Stoddard said.

For Jon Yarrington, president of the Utah Home Education Association, it was one thing leading to another.

"We had had enough bad experiences with the public schools," Yarrington said. "I was on my way to work on the day school was supposed to start, and my wife said, 'I'm not going to do it.' "

Thirteen years later, he describes it as one of the best decisions they made for their family.

"I told her, 'Those people are weird,' and she said, 'Well, I guess we'll fit in,' " Yarrington explained.

For Becky Rogers, an Orem mother of nine, it was the increasing amount of homework and the amount of time it took after school.

"If I was going to work with my children, I wanted to do it between 9 and 12 instead of in the evening," Rogers said.

Four years ago, she moved her children to part-time public school, and all of her children have attended kindergarten.

She said that she and Tom, her husband, had preconceived notions of what homeschoolers were like. They now recognize it as one of the best choices they could have made for their family, and it is nothing like what they imagined it would be like.

Opting out

In order to opt out of public schools, families must annually fill out a state affidavit and exemption certificate for home school instruction. Once notarized, the form is submitted to the local school district.

The State Board of Education requires families to agree to follow certain subjects, and meet the 180 days per year and 990 hours of instruction requirements.

The Home School Legal Defense Association, www.hslda.org, provides information on the home school laws for every state and territory in the U.S. as well as legal support for members.

Around Utah County, a chunk of students have continued to leave public schools for home schooling -- 53 students in the last school year in Nebo district, 70 in Provo and 414 in Alpine.

The total number of homeschoolers in Utah County adds up to 2,189 -- the equivalent of 4.5 Suncrest Elementary schools in Orem, 2.7 Mapleton Junior High schools, or 1.3 Timpview High Schools in Provo.

"I felt like a traitor," said Kim Kehrer, a mother of three home school students and a former teacher in the Alpine School District, of her decision to homeschool her eldest daughter.

McKenzie, now a 14-year-old, will start the Utah County Academy of Sciences in the fall.

Even if students opt out, that doesn't mean they can't attend public schools for part of the day or take advantage of programs like UCAS.

Resources for families

From Hogle Zoo to Timpanogos Cave, Kehrer said they are living in one giant school, known as the world.

"It's like I'm in a candy store and I get to play with my kids," she explained of all the opportunities close to home.

Places like state parks and the Bean Museum at BYU are wonderful opportunities for students to get a hands-on experience and learning opportunity, she said.

On Thursday, her family joined other homeschoolers and hiked to Timpanogos Cave to learn about different types of rocks and environments on the trail.

In the summer, parents of public school children can take advantage of many of the same, mostly free programs, Kehrer said, to keep their kids learning and busy. If they don't know where to look, she joked that they can ask any home school parent.

Groups like the Wasatch Home Education Network have support groups for parents to share curriculums, ideas and group activities.

Stoddard said that sometimes it even reaches a point where you have to sit down and decide what home school activities you'll actually have time for.

The Utah Home Education Association is hosting its annual convention today at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City to help parents share ideas and learn more. It lasts from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

More information is available at www.uhea.org.

Brooke Barker is available at 344-2559 or bbarker@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.