There has been a steady increase in the number of students who are not attending traditional public or private school, and being home schooled instead.

Lincoln resident Jan Wismer has home schooled her kids for the past 13 years.

"Homeschooling isn't just sitting at a desk, it's really a way of life. It's a way of communicating with one another and it's very ongoing," Wismer said.

Wismer has two older daughters, but she now focuses her attention on teaching her younger kids.

"One of the misconceptions is that parents do it because they think they're so smart, we aren't. And we are learning right alongside our children, and we are loving it," Wismer said.

But choosing to teach your children also comes with some challenges.

"The idea that you build your own schedule and you choose your own curriculum that's a big thing and it takes a lot of discipline to stick with it," Wismer said.

Over the last five years Nebraska has seen a steady increase of parents like Wismer, who choose to exempt their kids from the school house in order to home school them instead.

According to statistics from the Nebraska Department of Education, in the 2003-2004 school year there were 4,929 students who were home schooled in Nebraska

That is compared to 6062 students in the 2007/2008 school year.

Russ Inbody with the Nebraska Department of Education said exempting a child from public school is the parent's choice.

"We've always taken the position that that's a parental choice, and if people choose to attend a nonpublic school or an exempt school that is a parental choice," Inbody said.

For Wismer and her husband, their children stand as proof that they made the right choice