Despite the distractions, the older children's schooling has an orderly, comfortable routine. They begin each morning with Bible study.
On a recent morning, Curto curled up with Chamberlain on the couch and read a children's Bible while Caedyn sat at the kitchen table reading a book with scriptural answers to questions about abortion, heaven and other topics.
The family's Christian faith was the primary reason they decided to home school.
"I felt it was something God called me to do for my children," Curto said.
She worries that in a public school, her children would be exposed to topics such as same-sex marriage or that holidays like Christmas would be marginalized.
But Curto insists that she has no interest in sheltering her children -- she said she taught Caedyn about Darwinism alongside creationism.
Math comes next on the morning's agenda, with Chamberlain practicing subtraction while Caedyn does word problems.
Curto has designed most of the lessons, but the children are also in classes at Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach: Chamberlain is taking knitting and volleyball; Caedyn is studying grammar and composition.
As they get older, the children will probably take academic classes such as high-level science through their church or a community college.
The Curtos plan to allow their children to decide whether to attend high school. Caedyn, a floppy-haired competitive skateboarder, is torn.
A traditional teenage experience would be fun, but the flexibility of home schooling allows him to practice each day at skate parks -- and travel to competitions.
He doesn't have hours of homework like his best friend, who attends public school.
"He always has homework. Even on weekends, he can't really do anything because he has so much homework," Caedyn said.
"I'm so used to being able to do my work whenever I want. I'll probably keep doing this. There's a lot of freedom," he said.
That freedom is now at stake in the recent court ruling.
The appellate court ruling stemmed from a child welfare case involving two children who enrolled in a parochial school that facilitated home schooling and were educated at home by their mother.
A lawyer appointed to represent the children requested that the court require them to physically attend school so adults could monitor their well-being.
