There's more than tattoos and piercing going on at Nightbreed on High Street.

Ten-year-old Billy Birchfield attends school online in a back room while his parents run the shop and help him learn at the same time.

"I like it," Billy said. "It's fun because I'm home all the time."

Billy is homeschooled through Electronic Classrooms of Tomorrow, or ECOT. He logs onto the ECOT site to get notes from teachers, homework assignments and progress reports.

Although 80 percent of his work is done on the computer, he does have a teacher he checks in with locally and is being tutored at K&C Educational Associates.

"The computer does make them lazy on handwriting ... (Getting him) to write anything is like pulling eye-teeth." said Jack Birchfield, Billy's dad.

But Billy doesn't learn everything by computer.

Jack and his wife, Beth, turn trips to Columbus into geography lessons, mesh vocabulary Billy needs to learn for karate into school work and work with him on a day-to-day basis. It's a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job, Jack said.

"You don't get much more involved than this," he said.

Through ECOT, Jack and Beth get a chance to work closely with teachers and intently with Billy.

"It's better one-on-one," Beth said.

The one-on-one experience is something Jack said was key in the decision to homeschool his youngest son. Billy's siblings, Michael, 17, and Melinda, 20, both went through the public school system, but Jack said he wasn't impressed.

"I think a child needs a well-rounded education. Not (education) just geared toward tests," Jack said.

Billy is still tested by the state, but the tutoring he receives at K&C focuses on preparing Billy for the tests, Jack said, instead of everyday curriculum. The proficiency test is an important aspect, though, Jack said.

Before starting ECOT two years ago, Billy was with Core Curriculum of America, another homeschooling program. The schooling was great and Billy received a crate of top-quality books, but the downside was the program was not geared toward proficiency, Jack said.

ECOT also has teachers who work with Jack and Beth.

"ECOT has a stronger support structure," Jack said.

However, homeschooling and online schools aren't for everybody, Jack warned.

"If you need the school system to be a baby-sitter, this definitely is not for you," Jack said.

The program isn't necessarily good for students having a hard time at school either, he added.

"You have to be over his shoulder. It's not geared toward the parent who is not interested in being heavily involved in their child's education," Jack said.

Aside from book learning, Billy is a green belt in karate and will soon start piano lessons. His classroom environment at the tattoo shop also presents opportunities for learning about different types of people.

"I don't think he's afraid of different walks of life," Beth said.

Billy just shrugs his shoulders at what he thinks about having school in a tattoo and piercing shop.

"He's been here since he was a baby, it's all just normal to him," Beth said.

"You don't get much more involved than this."

Jack Birchfield, father of ECOT student