1. Are you regulated by the state re homeschooling? Do they dictate your curricula or make your kids submit to standardized testing?

Answer:
(taken from http://tnhomeed.com/HSLaw.html)
Tennessee laws regarding home schooling are varied. There are choices. In Tennessee you have 3 options for registering as a "homeschooler":

* with the Local Education Agency as a n " independent homeschooler"
* with a Church Related School as a "homeschooler"
* with a Church Related School that considers your home a satellite campus of their school. You're considered a "private schooler" as noted below.Technically, this isn't homeschooling according to the Jeter Memorandum but enrollment in "private school". This is an important legal distinction you'll want to remember. But since it's done at home by the parents--most of us call it homeschooling.
* Enroll in the distance learning program of a school accredited by AdvancED per the Tennessee State Board of Education's Category III definition. This is also not homeschooling but private schooling.

I use the 3rd option, so technically I'm a private schooler. It amounts to the same thing but it offers me more "protection" as well as options.

I'm registered with Home Life Academy in Memphis. They do not require a certain curriculum nor standardized testing. I am in complete control. I chose this school primarily for those reasons. My personal educational philosophy poopoos standardized testing as a measure of intelligence. I think they were invented to gauge teacher performance and help with budget reviews. I don't believe every child learns and grows and develops at a "standardized" rate, so I choose to educate my children with a focus on their individuality.

Now, with that said, the state can, at any time, question us. If that were to happen, I would of course refer them to Home Life Academy, but I do keep examples of the kids' work. I try to journal what I can, and I use a computer curriculum that keeps track of their attendance. It also quizzes and tests them.

I'm happy to answer questions.

There's a surefire way to get your kids to do something - tell them they can't. We laugh about this sometimes, but it's a truth we, as parents, ought to heed. 

There's a story about a study being done in an elementary school. The researchers planted some flowers on the playground and let them grow. All school year the flowers bloomed and the kids barely noticed them. Then one day near the end of the year, one researcher came into the class and said, "Now kids, see those flowers out there? Whatever you do, don't spit on them. We want them to keep growing and it's really important that you don't spit on them." They secretly video-taped as over the next few weeks every single kid went up to the flowers and spit on them!

It's really easy to just set up the rules and expect your kids to obey, and if you're tough enough you might get them to fear you enough to do as you say, but there's a better way. 

I recently had a moment of clarity. I love those. Anyway, I was disciplining my son, Andrew. It wasn't the first time that day. Andrew is my challenging child. He is very strong-willed. He feels so strongly that things should go a certain way 

He focuses his mind on something and WILL not change it. In fact, he HATES change. I mean, he LOATHES it. We recently moved to a huge house with lots of space outside to play. It's a nearly perfect place, but he wants to move back into our 1100 sq. ft. house where you could only play in our little backyard. He hates change. If I had to compare him to an animal, I wouldn't hesitate to say, "bulldog". Any bulldog owners out there will know exactly what I mean. They are stubborn and opinionated, but oh so charming. That's Andrew.

We have had to walk such a firm line with him to keep him from being rebellious. Well, we were up in his room. He was throwing a fit. I was sitting with him explaining that he's not to act that way. It hit me with a blow - I may never be able to control him. I may never be able to control him. That's exactly what went through my brain. I may never be able to make him conform to the image I have of a good child. He might always make me look bad. The next question that ran through my brain was, "Can I love him the way he is?" Can I accept him even if he's different than what I want? Maybe he'll walk a path that doesn't make sense to me.Maybe he'll show us a different perspective on life. If I try to make him conform to the identity I want him to have, our family may miss out on his unique gifts. So I set him free ... in my heart.