On a weekday afternoon, 17-year-old Rachael, her 12-year-old brother Anthony and 9-year-old sister Melanie, sit around the plush maroon-carpeted living room of their five-bedroom home off of Brunswick Road studying assiduously with thick textbooks open before them.

This is what school is like for the siblings who are homeschooled by their parents, Carrie and Alan Cummins.

“Initially we wanted to homeschool our children because we wanted to have more one-on-one influence and control on their education,” Carrie Cummins said. “We enjoy being with them every day and like the fact that we can focus on their strengths and weaknesses.”

The Cummins, who have home-educated their six children for the past 21 years, are relieved that a California court ruling that threatened to ban homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials, has been nullified by another recent court action.

The initial ruling against homeschooling was the aftermath of a dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and a family from Lynwood who homeschooled their eight children without a teaching credential.

The court will reconsider its stance on homeschooling in June, said Ian Slatter, director of media relations with the Home School Legal Defense Association, a Virginia-based nonprofit defending the rights of parents to direct their children’s education.

Carrie Cummins is a homemaker and a piano instructor. Alan Cummins is an engineer who owns a home-based consulting business for software companies, Carrie Cummins said. Neither of them were homeschooled as kids.

Both Carrie and Alan Cummins each devote at least 15 hours a week toward their children’s education, Carrie Cummins said.

“We probably spend another 100 hours a year scheduling and planning things out,” she added.

It is perhaps this single-minded attention that has sent the three oldest children of Carrie and Alan Cummins — 25-year-old Valerie, 23-year-old Heather and 19-year-old Matthew — to colleges and universities around the country.

They are sincere students “who have an inner desire to please (their parents) because it’s the right thing to do,” Carrie Cummins said.

Every weekday, “school” starts after breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and continues until noon for Rachael, Anthony and Melanie, Carrie Cummins said. In the afternoon, the children finish their pending assignments, Carrie Cummins added.

Carrie Cummins doesn’t believe her children are missing something by not attending public schools.

“The negative effects of being with a large group of children is taken away (when one is schooled at home),” she said. “We do not isolate our children. They are still involved with children their own age and people of all ages at church.”

The Cummins have a distinct teaching philosophy they pursue in their children’s education.

“We believe that the highest goal of education is to teach a child to teach himself or herself,” Carrie Cummins said. “The educational goal we have for our children is that they get a master’s degree in the field they choose. We chose a different path than most people because we thought it would be more effective. So far, the results have been excellent.”

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To contact Soumitro Sen, e-mail ssen@theunion.com or call 477-4229.