FOSTER -- When Raymond and Janet LeFebvre decided to educate their 7-year-old daughter, Heather, at home, they weren't quite prepared for the first civics lesson she would receive: the appearance of a police officer in their doorway to deliver a summons.

"I mean, was that necessary?" asked Mrs. Lefebvre. "To have a policeman with this huge gun on his hip show up and do this?"

The officer was Sgt. Roy Mumford, who doubles as the town's truant officer and who the LeFebvres conceded was "as nice as could be" and only carrying out his duties. His duties that night were to let the family know that Heather was considered truant since March and that they would have to show up in Eighth District Court, Cranston, to explain their actions.

They pleaded innocent and further court action has been set for July 1.

The LeFebvres can expect Heather to go through many more of these civic lessons in due process and constitutional law before the ordeal is over, because letters from Foster Supt. Tetreault indicate that this will not be a cut and dried affair.

In addition to the court appearance, the LeFebvres will be given an opportunity to explain their case to the school committee at its regular meeting tomorrow night.

Heather's parents say she is creative and gifted. And the Foster School Department, though trying its best, is not equipped to handle a child whose capabilities are not geared to a structured learning environment, they say. In addition, they maintain that Heather is a very sensitive child and feels insecure and inhibited in a classroom.

What is at issue is home education, though the LeFebvres are far from the first couple to test Rhode Island's state law concerning it. It is an issue that has been pulled though the state courts for several years. The most notable case was that of Brigitta VanDaam of Providence, who taught their daughter at home for more than three years before reenrolling her in school.

But little has been settled in the courts, other than that the schools must provide a form for parents to fill out indicating the study plan. But for the LeFebvres, the form is too rigid and does not allow the flexibility they assert is necessary for the learning environment Heather needs.

The reasons why parents remove their children from public schools and teach them at home vary.

Some have argued that their children keep falling behind and that they, as parents, could help them with more intensive training at home. Others have religious beliefs that they say interfere with the philosophy of public education. In some cases, the children are bedridden for a long term, which is one of the conditions the state had in mind when the law was written.

For the LeFebvres family, however, it is none of the above. As a gifted and creative child, they said, heather needs an environment that allows her to follow her own instincts and ambitions rather than a formal and structured classroom atmosphere.

"In the elementary school, Heather started to withdraw." said Mrs. LeFebvre. "She's a sensitive child and doesn't deal well with peer pressure." It is only in recent weeks that Heather has started to "come out" from her pent-up emotions, she said.

The Lefebvres' child is not hyperkinetic, emotionally disturbed or stubborn, they said. Mrs. LeFebrve called those names as "unfortunate" labels, which often prompt educators to take the wrong course of academic action. Heather is just different. In a creative sort of way, they said. Not elite or stuck up but special in a way that needs a different environment for now.

They stressed that pulling their daughter from the classroom is not just an excuse to give her the easy life. In fact, Heather may be in for more learning than most students ever had nightmares about because for her school will be a total involvement, a continuing process that is always going on, her parents said.

It just will not have the rigid time guidelines such as an hour a day for history and an hour a day for science, they said. If, for instance, Heather shows an interest in nature, she would be allowed to pursue books and field trips in that area until she has quenched her thirst for it, they added.

But if her interest waned in a topic after only one day, she would not be forced to confront it day after day, a method that proponents of home education say is not conducive to learning.

Teaching something basic like math could be incorporated into the learning process by having Heather figure budgets for trips they make, for instance, the LeFebvres said.

"Gifted children have preferred ways of learning," said Mrs. LeFebvre, 28. "you can't tell what will be happening three months from now. But it will be constructive. Sure, there might be lulls until something else sparks their interest, so it's difficult to say math and the sciences will be covered every day. You've got constructively channel the child's energies."

She added, "Learning is no 9-to-3 type of thing. It's an ongoing process. If you allow a child to follow a natural scope of interest areas, you will find a well-rounded curriculum developing.

Raymond LeFebvre, 37, a social worker with the state Department for Children and Their Families, agrees: "If you're turned on to it, you stay with it. It doesn't make sense to study it for only one hour and then go on to something else. We want to make it an enjoyable experience."

Home education proponents agree that unless the creative process is allowed to blossom before their teens, long-time blocks may develop, locking up large portions of the child's abilities.

The LeFebvres are serious enough about their efforts that they have put up their newly built house up for sale. A beautiful, two-story wood house, the mortgage requires both their salaries. But Mrs. LeFebvre plans to stay home with their daughter to lend guidance to her education, and so had to quit her job in Warwick.

The job? An administrator with the National Foundation for Gifted and Creative Children.

How long they plan to keep her out of school is unknown, they said, adding that it will be as long as it takes for her to open up her creative channels and establish a secure footing.

And of the turmoil coming up in court, they said that it too, could be a learning experience.

Taken from the Providence Journal-Bulletin - 6/25/82