A group of local do-it-yourselfers will hold their first monthly meeting October 4 in Hermiston.

They plan to exchange recipes, discuss meal planning and brainstorm ideas surrounding the hat they all wear: home-schooling moms.

Janna Norris and a few of her close friends decided to organize monthly Moms Nights Out after recognizing a need for local, face-to-face assistance and conversation with other parents who have decided to educate their own children in the Hermiston area.

Norris, Marcee Moore and Shannon Davis said they have different reasons for choosing  an alternative option to local schools.

God put the desire in my heart, Moore said. 

She has home-schooled her three sons their whole lives, with the oldest starting fifth grade this fall.

Norris also applied religious rationale for educating her children. She moved from Tucson, Ariz., to Hermiston a few years ago and said one of her first friends was a home-schooler.

The Lord had me meet other home-schoolers, Norris said.

She said when she was young, her pastors wife was a home-schooler.

I thought it was the strangest thing, Norris said.

A friend suggested she try it when her son was in pre-school.

Norris made the attempt, liked it and said she re-evaluates that initial decision every year. After nearly a decade of privately educating her oldest son now a seventh-grader she spoke positively of the effort.

Public school is so U.S.-oriented, Norris said. 

Through home schooling, she said parents can widen their childrens world-views and show them what other cultures are like.

Maybe its because we draw from so many different perspectives, Moore said.

Norris said the literature she teaches has given her children a better perspective on why we are they way we are today.

Davis, a self-described older mother of four, said the benefits of home schooling promote healthy family dynamics.

The best thing about home schooling, Davis said, is theres no differential treatment.

Moore said Oregon laws are home-school friendly, and Davis said a yearly convention in Portland provides speakers from all over the state, legal advisors and additional encouragement.

Morris added that a huge resource exists for every imaginable academic subject.

Moore said many of those resources are available for free and that using unconventional methods produces quality results.

Moore avoided condemning state education facilities, however, and said her advice to other parents varies.

Do whatever is right for your family, she said.

For more information on the home schooling group, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UMHSG/ or call Janna Norris at 541-567-2573.