Each morning when it's time to go to school, the Seal children gather around the dining room table. Their mother leads them in morning prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance. Then the studies begin promptly at 8 a.m. "They've been homeschooling so long they're used to the routine," Deanna Seal said of her children. Eight years ago, Seal pulled her two oldest children out of a public school. She didn't like some of the things her kids were being exposed to — and she wanted to provide the biggest thing they were missing.
"There's a very big separation between school and religion and I think that's what's making schools suffer," said Seal, 34. "They're taking God and religion out of everything. I think it's not working."
Now she homeschools all four of her children: TJ is 14, Isaiah is 13, Mackenzie is 11 and Kaitlyn is 8.
Three quarters of their eight-hour school day is spent learning religion-based subjects, including science, history and Bible study.
"Our Bible is always on the table. It's always opened," she said. "They go to the Bible when they have problems. If they get frustrated or angry they go to the Bible. It's always within reach."
Seal does her own curriculum and lesson plans and has books with different goals they need to accomplish. "I stick to that as much as possible."
Her husband, Tommy Seal, gets home from the third shift as a forklift operator with Zephyrhills bottled water and makes lunch for the family at noon. He helps teach the children and goes on their field trips.
She teaches them science, history and Bible study together as a group. For the rest of subjects, such as math and English, they split up so she can work with them individually.
The children pull up TV tables around mom and she slowly, patiently goes over their work with them.
"My oldest helps a lot with the little ones," she said.
She added that it was amazing how quickly her third son picked up multiplication and division, hearing her teaching the older boys.
"If they were in a class with 30 other students I think they'd be a lot more confused," she said.
Homeschool Blessings
Seal believes so much in the benefits of homeschooling that she started a local support group called Homeschool Blessings about a year and a half ago. About 13 families of various faiths from Brooksville, Zephyrhills, Dade City and the surrounding area come together to share ideas and socialize.
Seal, who is Christian, said every religious background is welcome. She serves as the group's president. They often meet at First Baptist Church in Zephyrhills. They go on field trips to local parks and to the zoo. And they work together to tend a large, thriving garden at one member's Zephyrhills home.
They grow herbs, watermelons, strawberries, corn, squash and green beans. "Anything we thought of we'd like to eat we put in the garden," Seal said. "And we add to it all the time."
Patricia Bahneman, 43, homeschools her niece and her daughter and joined Seal's support group last year. She did her first year without a support group, which she said was very difficult.
"I am so grateful and I cannot say enough about her and the fact that she started our group when she did," Bahneman said. "It was a blessing."
Though she started homeschooling for academic rather than religious reasons, Bahneman added, "We do have a strong moral background. I think everyone in the group does."
Kim Coley, district 5 director for the Florida Parent-Educator's Association, oversees 51 homeschool support groups in Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Coley helped Seal get her group started.
"That was an area that needed a support group," Coley said. "I was thrilled that she took the bull by the horns and started one there."
Coley estimates that 85 percent of the support groups are religion-based, and that most have "Christian" in the name and ask that members sign a statement of faith when they join.
But she added that some parents who are pulling their kids out of school are not necessarily doing it for religious reasons.
According to a 2003 study by the U.S. Department of Education, nearly a third of homeschooling parents cited concerns about the environment of other schools, including safety, drugs and negative peer pressure. About 30 percent said they homeschooled for religious reasons, while 16 percent cited dissatisfaction with the academics at other schools. Other parents said they homeschooled so they could address their children's disabilities or other special needs.
Called to a path
Seal and her children take a two-week break in the summer. They prefer to work through the summer as much as possible because it gives them a sense of structure, a sense of routine, she said.
"I notice they suffer more taking the summer off," she said. "They get very bored."
According to state law, homeschool parents can choose one of several options to make sure the children are progressing: through visits with a psychologist, an evaluation of a schoolwork portfolio or with standardized testing like the FCAT.
The children will eventually graduate with the Florida Parent-Educators Association, which has a homeschooling convention in Orlando every May.
Though neither Seal nor her husband attended college, she would like for her children to have that chance. "Graduation and college are always on my mind," Seal said.
She likes to see where her children are excelling and give them as much leeway as possible to develop their skills. Her oldest son, TJ, is building his own video game and "can do just about anything on a computer."
She said that people sometimes ask how she can be around her children all the time. "My question is, how can I not?
"I've enjoyed every minute of it," Seal said. "I think that's the way that God was leading me. I know that this is the path that God wanted me to take."
fast facts
Homeschooling
For information about homeschooling or support groups, visit the Florida Parent-Educators Association at fpea.com.
About this story
"Faith in Motion" is a weekly feature about an individual or group doing something inspiring in the course of a spiritual journey. Story ideas are welcomed, via e-mail. Send them to Mindy.Rubenstein@me.com.
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