There are many reasons to educate your children in the safe and nurturing atmosphere of your own home. Control over curriculum is an issue for some; a desire for children to receive the most personalized educational experience possible is the impetus for others. As long as parents comply with state education laws, there certainly is no legal reason to do otherwise. Of course, time restraints and access to curricular materials are stumbling blocks for many home educators. We can't give you more free time (sorry), but we can put you in the know about websites for homeschoolers that address curricular issues, state laws, and provide places for you and your students to hang out with other courageous homeschoolers.

• Kaleidoscapes! For Kids and Home Education Enthusiasts! is a great place to start. The site consists mostly of bulletin boards, some to which you may post and some to which you can't, but all of which have lots of great information on curricula, unit studies, and other resources. One of these boards has information on state compliance laws in quite a few states. There's even a general hangout for homeschoolers -- students and parents.
• The Wonderful WWW of Homeschooling Humor is a boon to those with homeschooling horror stories or HS Top Ten Lists. In addition to providing an excellent links list, this site takes the edge off homeschooling parents who forget that they're people too -- and people sometimes make mistakes.
• The Homeschool Gazette is an excellent interactive tool for homeschooled kids. Unfortunately, subscription isn't free, but the high quality of games and activities that challenge children's creativity and intelligence may make a subscription worthwhile for you. You also can find out about joining the Parent Soup webring, which features other homeschooling sites and other sites of interest to families.
• Finally, Homeschooling Information and Homeschool Resource Pages, a publication from second-generation homeschoolers, offers terrific homeschool resources. These include curriculum and correspondence programs, software companies and online resources, a list of homeschooling resource catalogs, and more.