Family Travels an Intensely Personal Path : Lifestyle: Time outweighs money. Home education outweighs public schooling. For one family, it was the right choice.

When Juniper reached the age to start school, we were caretakers of a remote ranch in northeastern Oregon. Getting to school on the rambling rural bus, being in school all day and then getting home would have taken 12 hours. We weren’t willing to commit her to a day that long.

We had already started her education ourselves. When she was 6, Juniper learned to read, with the help of my wife, Laura, and she has read avidly ever since.

Amanda was 4 and listened in on the reading lessons and was soon reading simple books herself. Within a year she could read almost anything she wanted.

Juniper and Amanda are 16 and 14 now. State tests required of home schoolers show that our approach to education has been academically successful. It has also helped build a firm foundation for a cohesive family. Our interests center around the home, the family and our creative pursuits.

We have no television. We write, draw and paint, listen to music, read, and share a deep and active interest in the outdoors and wildlife.

My jobs have not always been full time, partly because I was injured in a highway accident. But when the site-manager’s position opened up at a Girl Scout ranch in Colorado, the whole family looked upon it with enthusiasm because we needed the extra income.

We stayed 21 months. The higher wage was great. We could see, though, that the job cost us irretrievable time together.

Our supervisor, aware of our priorities, offered us a position taking care of another ranch. We took the job, even though it cut our income by a third.

It has been seven months since we made the change and none of us regrets it. “I feel like I have my parents back,” was Amanda’s assessment. Juniper agreed.

Once again, we have time for leisurely mornings, when all of us work together to prepare breakfast, clean up afterward and linger to talk about what we’ve dreamed or what we’re thinking about. Juniper and Amanda read to Laura as she works in the kitchen. We sit around the table after dinner and talk.

Is it an ideal existence? No. Sometimes financial pressure can be intense. But we have what we really need. A house, with utilities paid for, is furnished with the job. Our income takes care of food, music lessons and other essentials.

We have not given our daughters a rich environment in material terms. Most of our clothing is from second-hand stores, and we are satisfied with that.

When I think of enriching children’s environment, I don’t think of material items. I think of love and parental support.

Do we ever regret our choice? Was it too much of a sacrifice?

No. Far from it. We love our children, and love becomes the environment. We teach our children and we learn in the process. Sacrifice? Far from it. It is not always the easiest way to live, but it is the most richly rewarding.