@rgquote:Home schooling has been thrust into the limelight this week after Government announced plans to enforce restrictions on the number of students they could take. Reporter Karen Smith went to just one of the Island's many home schools to find out what it was all about.

Ten years' ago, mother Susan Roberts began to home school her two children after becoming severely disenchanted with the public education system.

Being products of Government education themselves, it was not something she and her husband Connoth had ever considered doing, but in the space of a few months, their comfortable three-bedroomed-home in Whale Bay Road, Southampton, had doubled up as a classroom.

She tutored her young son and daughter through the rigours of algebra, fractions, nouns, physics and even Spanish, after becoming certified in the internationally-recognised School of Tomorrow curriculum. Soon, the little acorn she had planted began to grow.

Mrs. Roberts said she had no intention of ever opening up her home as a school to other children, but was approached by parents who were desperate to find an alternative for their youngsters.

And now, seven years after taking in somebody else's child for the first time, she has educated a number of Bermudian children, and currently has a class of 11.

She claimed that students have only left her school prematurely if asked to by her, because of unsuitability or bad behaviour, or because they have left the Island. And she said all of her students had graduated.

Her own daughter, Nicole, graduated two years ago with the highest level, an academic diploma.

"I was simply educating my own children, but then a mother called me one day and literally begged me to take her son," said Mrs. Roberts.

"I really felt for her because she said she had nowhere else to turn. I said `OK, we would see how things went'.

"From there things began to grow. People just started to call me up and ask for help."

Just a year after taking her first `outside pupil', Mrs. Roberts, who has a degree in retail, had a class of seven.

Now she has set herself a limit of 12.

When you walk into her home, you could be forgiven for believing you were actually in a school.

While there are the curtains hanging at the windows, cushions, ornaments, family photographs and sofas found in any home on the Island; educational posters adorn the walls, along with ornamental plaques that refer to classrooms, learning and student responsibility.

A huge banner on the wall, next to a times table poster, reads: "Learning is fun".

In the den, used predominately by the Roberts family, there is a ceiling-high book shelf where the school's text and written books are filed.

The green-painted ground-floor home is not huge, but it has a number of separate rooms - many of which are utilised for the school.

Yesterday, in the living room sat five or six students at individual desks. Mrs. Roberts' own desk, looking much the same as a teacher's desk in a mainstream school, sat in the middle. And a huge marine display took pride of place in the background.

It had been completed by the students for the Ag and Fish Show this year, and actually picked up first prize for the best secondary school display.

In the kitchen were three students, either at desks or the dining table; in the hall, there was one; and in her son's bedroom, there were two, including her son.

There was not a sound coming from any of the rooms, except when one of them need to ask for help.

Mrs. Roberts said the objective of the School of Tomorrow, which she claimed is used in 7,000 institutions in 108 different countries, is to allow children to work at their own pace.

She said every year, students were expected to complete 12 text books at each level in a variety of subjects, ranging from math, English, science, history, a language, economics and social studies, depending their ability.

If they failed an examination at the end of a level, they had to go back and do it again. However, if they are able they may well work through two or three levels in one year. The students set their own pace.

She said: "The students have to have a pass rate of 80 percent in order to move on. We do not believe in moving students on when they have not grasped the foundations.

"When so many of our students first come to us, they are actually behind their age level because they did not have basics, but were moved on regardless.

"Here, the parents and students know they will be doing the same level over and over unless they put the work in."

School at Whale Bay Road is from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. each week day, with similar holidays to the pubic system.

If the students are working to their schedule, they can take advantage of a 30-minute break mid-way through the morning. If they are behind, the break is shortened.

"The hours of this home school are less than the public system, but we believe in quality rather than quantity," said Mrs. Roberts.

"We don't have the same discipline problems as the big schools, so we can progress at a faster rate. The big schools are very much stop and start, but we start soon after 9 a.m. and get an awful lot done.

"Every day students are required to study at home. They must study their sciences and social studies, and every other subject that requires memorisation or new concepts.

"Our programme also involves a great deal of parental involvement, so although they leave here at 1 p.m., they do not stop being educated. Parents know they have to be involved."

The teacher said if students failed to complete their home work twice, their parents were called, and repeated bad behaviour or poor attitudes were not tolerated.

As a Christian school, the students, she said, are taught not only an education, but also how to be good, productive citizens with the use of honour, responsibility, loyalty, diligence, hard work and thoroughness, to name a few.

Before they are accepted, students must undergo a diagnostic test to establish what their needs are. Depending on their age, their ability and their willingness to work, depends on how well they do.

She said the sooner the youngsters arrive at her school, the more chance they have of climbing to the next level.

There are three different diplomas for the students to aim for:

The academic diploma, achieved by her daughter, is the highest level. Her son Scott and another student are studying that level now.

There is also the general diploma, achieved by most students, and a vocational diploma.

Mrs. Roberts said: "We like to see how far we can push them, then we fashion the education for each child.

Although Mrs. Roberts likes to assist as many families as she can, she admits to being choosy about who she takes.

"I'm really careful about who I take into my home when I'm interviewing people," she said.

"I ask questions about learning disabilities and behaviour problems. We have had people lie to us, but we always find out pretty quickly because the school is so small and I do a lot of one on one with them.

"I have a wonderful group of co-operative, well-behaved children whose parents are deeply involved with their children's education,

"I don't want to do anything to upset that. I would protect these children as if they were my own. Their education is our future."