The Census Bureau researcher found there are at least 670,000 home-schoolers nationwide. Compare that to about 500,000 charter-school students. The study's conclusions were based on counts done between 1999 and 2001.

"A lot of people tend to treat [home-schooling] as a fringe activity, but it certainly is a strong enough movement that you have to take it seriously," said the study's author, Kurt Bauman, a Census Bureau researcher.

Bauman also noted that home-schoolers are influencing public school systems. Around the nation, public school districts are offering programs that draw home-schoolers.

Florida is particularly hospitable, offering classes with the state online high school and at community colleges, along with the ability for students to participate in extracurricular activities.

Bauman also connects the recent growth of distance or online education with home-schoolers, who use conventional schools to take advanced classes and activities like music and sports.

"It's a beat 'em or join 'em situation for public schools," Bauman said. "If this continues as a trend, schools will find themselves increasingly opening their doors to parental participation in ways that they have not in the past. You can't say you shouldn't be home-schooling your children. You need to lure them back or exclude them. Public schools need to recognize this."

Regaining control

Home-schoolers often are eclectic consumers of education, picking among a variety of programs for those that work best for them:

Julianna Corbo, 19, of Delray Beach, has been supplementing her studies with classes from Florida High School, the state's online high school. She has been accepted at Agnes Scott College, a women's college outside Atlanta, with a full academic scholarship.

Her brother Joshua, 15, decided he wanted to go to a public high school after home-schooling most of his life. He was accepted by the International Baccalaureate program at Atlantic High in Delray Beach and is taking online courses from Florida High School to make up courses he needs.

Morgan Edelman's plan is to finish high school in two years, using a combination of dual enrollment and advanced placement. The Weston 14-year-old wants to get a jump on college courses and intends to go to veterinary school.

Bauman sees the home-schooling choice as a reflection of the turmoil in the educational world, where options have expanded in the public schools, from magnets to charter schools and now, in Florida, a statewide voucher program that allows parents to use public money to pay private-school tuition for their children.

"It's trying to get control back over a system that is changing, and I don't think anybody understands how it's changing. Parents are trying to reclaim the process for themselves. It's symptomatic of a larger force. We don't know what schools will look like in 20 years. People are all trying to grab hold of it, and hang on to that which is of value to them," Bauman said.

Home-schooler Edelman tried a few summer-school courses, but did not like them.

"They weren't flexible enough to meet her needs," said her mother, April Elliott-Edelman. "It was `one size fits all.' And very time-intensive. She'd wait 20 minutes in line to eat, and then have to wolf her food. The essence of school is it's inefficient."

Edelman estimates it takes her daughter about four hours a day to finish her classwork. She has plenty of time left to ride her horse and to volunteer at a veterinarian's office, where she is picking up skills for a future career as a vet.

Freedom to choose

Home-schooled children seem to thrive on the freedom to educate themselves.

"I get to choose what I want to learn and when I want to learn it. I don't think at school I would get that freedom," said Belen Lowrey, 13, of Weston. She is interested in languages and hopes to study linguistics in college.

For parents, home-schooling seemed like the right thing to do for their children

"The vast majority don't hold negative attitudes toward public school. They're just looking for something better. People are motivated because they really do care about education a lot, and there's some worry that their child's needs will not be served in the regular system."

Joy Corbo and her husband Mark started home-schooling about nine years ago, when they became dissatisfied with their private school in Michigan. "I thought, they're finally getting interesting, why would I send them away to school?" said Joy Corbo.

"School took the love of learning out of me," said Alexandra Zwang of Weston, who went to private school as a child. "I don't care if someone said we could have private school for free, that's how strongly I feel about it."

Lona O'Connor can be reached at lo'connor@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4604.