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It's early Tuesday morning at Veritas Christian Homeschool Group and kids are pressing down the edges to their homework for their "Open a Restaurant" class. Fourteen children sit at round-top tables and booths showing their teacher menus they made one at a time. Some are crisp computer menus folded at the seam and other's are homemade with markers, stencils and crayons.

"They are all very good, everybody put in a good effort," the teacher says.

This class is one at Urbancrest Baptist Church in Lebanon where children combine skill sets from other classes to think about what it takes to start a business. The students are among 650 studying at home instead of going to public or private schools in the Kings, Lebanon, Little Miami and Mason school districts.

"This is creative thinking, math, and planning what you need to have a business," Veritas director Jill Young said.

The students already decided Fill My Cup Cafe will be the name of their business project and they will only accept cash. Now it's time to vote again — should they narrow it down and vote for the favorite menu, or have many different menus showcasing the same items?

This is a glimpse into the home school world, where students are at home learning with their siblings and then supplement their education at a co-op. In the restaurant class, it brings many skills together into a practical class that will culminate with the cafe being open one day for 45 minutes for teachers, parents and students to purchase snacks.

All proceeds will be donated to an Urbancrest Church missions fund.

Walking through the hallways the classes seem even more interesting — pioneer crafts, engines, physical science, book reports, ceramics. Classes are taught by parents who have children in the program, which is typical with home school groups. Topics can vary depending on the type of class and who wants to take it.

"The classes are chosen by the families," Young said. "The students take whatever their interest is."

Whereas Veritas has a mix of enrichment and educational classes, other home-school groups are more structured and follow a model. Classical Conversations models their co-op classes after the classical model of education that focuses on students practicing rhetorical skills like debate, oral presentations, written exposition, protocol and performance.

Walking into Deerfield Methodist Church where Classical Conversations meets, a group of 4- and 5-year-olds are lined up across the altar steps singing multiplication tables.

"They're doing skip math and hopefully by learning it so young they'll remember it when they get older," director Stephanie Patrick said.

During a period of three years the classical model has three cycles in which lessons are centered around old world history, new world history or U.S. history. All other subjects studied from math, geography to arts center around the main theme.

"This supplements what you're learning at home and the goal is to help teach your children classically," Patrick said.

Home schooling also allows real-life applications students can't get, or rarely get, at a traditional school. Tina Hull, a Lebanon resident, said there are many opportunities her family takes advantage of.

"We just took our son to France because he was studying it. It was a field trip," she said. "Our family goal is to go to every state before they graduate high school."

Patrick agreed and said education is engaging when her six children, ages 13, 11, 8, 6, 4 and 2 connect what they're studying in their Maineville home to the outside world.

"We have been learning about the American Revolution, and we took a trip to Williamsburg, (Va.)," she said. "When we went there it all came alive and it was great."

Home schooling is not only a big time commitment, but also is a big choice parents didn't take lightly. The Kigers, in Pleasant Plain, have been home schooling for five years and have four children, ages 10, 7, 3 and 2.

"Having taught for so many years and seeing kids struggle to keep up with the quota, I felt there had to be a better way," Tara Kiger said. "I had a home-school student who came back because his mom was ill and saw how academically and socially advanced he was and able to communicate with all different age groups. That stood out to me."

Others wanted more quality time to spend with each other and with academics. After Jenny and Dave Truax of Mason saw a special on child pianists, they wanted to give home schooling a chance.

"We saw this thing about accomplished pianist that practices three hours per day and though they got so much quality time with the family and in their education," Jenny Truax said. "I worked in a preschool and had to deal with so many problems, forget teaching anything."

The Truaxes have nine children — ages 14, 13, 11, 10, 9, 7, 5, 4, 2 — and are expecting another — and say they believe in home schooling and how it's worked.

"The benefits we've seen have continued to believe it's worth it," Dave Truax said.

All families agreed the biggest misconception with home school families is many think they are unsocial, weird children — something even the students say isn't true.

"People think home school kids are snobby and think they're better than everyone else but once they get to know us they know we're not like that at all," Zach Moore, a 17-year-old from Lebanon, said. "I think I've done better because I've done better than I did at a public school."

Moore said he started home schooling in the third grade and now is a junior in high school. He spent one year enrolled in a Warren County public school where he said he was bored and got "horrible" grades — which his mom said were Bs. Having both experiences, Moore said home schooling offers something traditional schools don't.

"I think it's more hands-on and kids get more out of it instead of staring at textbooks," he said.

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