Many parents teach religion and enjoy the extended family time together.

For seven years, Steve Moitozo woke up whenever he wanted to. He didn't ride a school bus and he didn't have a locker. He spent his days at home with his family. But last year Steve wanted to play football, and the life he had known for seven years ended.

Steve Moitozo was home-schooled. Instead of going to a regular school with other kids, he stayed home and was taught by his parents.

Steve's father, Stephen Moitozo Sr., is the executive director of the Home School Association of New England, an organization designed to meet the needs of the 1.5 million home-schoolers in America today.

"Public schools only prepare you for institutions," Moitozo said. "The same kids in the same room doing the same thing in the same way at the same time to get the same results, just because they're the same age. That's pretty bizarre.

"My gut tells me that any time I want to produce a product from an institution," Moitozo continued, "the product is going to be of lesser quality than a product that's custom-made. That's the difference between having a builder build you a house to your specifications and letting the government of New York state build all the houses within its borders. We don't let the state build all the houses. Why should we let the state build all the children?"

Moitozo told us that his son and another teen-ager spent a whole year building an Ultra Plane, an airplane, as their home-school project.

"They had to read and write about the rules of the Federal Aviation Administration for operating an airplane. They had to know science as far as (understanding) the lift-off and thrust and weight capacities. They had to know math to calculate the (length) of the runway."

Moitozo admitted this is an extreme example of what home-schoolers can accomplish but stressed that a personalized curriculum is always better for kids.

He told us another advantage of home-schooling is that you can teach your child about religion while teaching them academics, which you can't do in public schools. In fact, 90 percent of the parents who choose to home-school their children do so mainly for this reason, according to Patricia Lyons, a research analyst with the U.S. Department of Education.

We asked Moitozo how home-schooled kids are monitored to make sure they are keeping up with other kids their age. He said there are annual tests; parents choose which type their child will take.

The choices include standardized tests and a presentation of a portfolio of work. There is also peer review, with one family evaluating another's home-school student.

Tests vary from state to state and from district to district.

Colleges that recognize home-schoolers give a lot of weight to standardized test scores. Carol Lunkenheimer, director of admissions at Northwestern University, said that she requires home-schooled applicants to take college board achievement tests in five subjects to substitute for grades.

Moitizo told us there are no requirements to be allowed to home-school _ anyone can easily do it.

Children's Express doesn't really like the idea that anybody without qualifications can teach their kids. We feel anybody can make a mess out of their children, and if a parent fails to teach the child, the child is being deprived of their right to an education.

Moitozo admitted that home schooling "is not for everybody. Does everybody who home schools do a good job? I doubt it. But everybody in the public schools doesn't do a good job either."

We think that at least teachers in schools are evaluated and fired if they're incompetent. You can't fire a mother, though.

We wanted to know how home-schooled kids are socialized if they don't go to school with other kids. Moitozo said home schooling "isn't all or nothing."

Students who are home-schooled can take some of their classes at the local high school, so there is a chance to interact with kids their age. The Home School Association also plans field trips.

"Isolation does not have to be part of home-schooling at all," Moitozo said.

For Moitozo, spending more family time together is another plus of home-schooling.

Children's Express is concerned that kids who are home-schooled might get a narrower base of ideas than kids who go to regular school, where they get exposed to beliefs different from their parents' beliefs.