The day I asked the girl questions was the same day that I began to investigate other aspects of homeschooling. Just about every child I met from families that home schools are on average smarter and love learning more than those who sent to public schools. A lady in our congregation also home schools her children, and I find the same thing applies. Her children seem better educated, better behaved, and more
adjusted to their environment.

My girlfriend was home schooled as well. She has a better grasp of science, foreign languages, and other areas of knowledge. She is also a faithful member at the congregation we attend. I would also like to point out that nearly 80% of publicly schooled children leave their congregations when they move out on their own. Most of these kids also do not have the moral values that their parents try to instill. I am willing to bet that if I were to take an average ten years old girl from a public
school and Emma and ask both basic academic questions, Emma would better answer the questions. Emma would also better interact with adults, and will also ask me a few questions that would require much thinking to answer.

Kudos to Jon and his wife for caring enough and taking the time and expense to properly teach their daughter. In saying this, I am not putting down public school teachers. I home schooled myself and also attended public schools. In public schools, I have had many, many highly educated, wonderful teachers who were full of knowledge and wisdom. Most school teachers teach because they love teaching. However, teachers are required to followed canned curriculums which do not fit the needs of all students. In addition, public school teachers must also teach to the lowest common denominator. Kids that are unable or unwilling to learn a specific subject causes the teacher to have to spend more time reteaching certain concept thereby holding back those who are more well-suited or willing to learning the course. The brighter students end of being bored to death with the class. The students who are unable to learn a specific subject become frustrated with their progress and therefore may begin to hate or dread school. Many of the students who have trouble learning a specific subject and hold back the “brighter” student may do very well learning the subject at a later time. They may also benefit from a different method of teaching that is not generally available in the public school.

The main things that kids need to learn are reading, writing, and arithmetic. Once a student learns how to do these well, he or she can learn most everything else on their own. When I was a kid, I had many questions about many things. Instead of my parents telling me to ask the teacher, they bought books that taught what I wanted to learn. I spent much of my time learning these subjects. At 11, I was playing with electronics and building simple circuits. At 12, I was writing programs for the first home computers that came out. From what I see from kids today, schools teach compliance and “social issues” more than they teach science, math, etc. I would rather that Emma (and most other kids) stay home and get a real education than see her sent to public schools where she would have corporate and government policies shoved down her throat.

With that said, homeschooling is a big commitment and should be taken very seriously by parents. Parents who take their kids out of school and neglect to spend the time to do a proper job of educating their kids will end up with young adults who are unable to support themselves or live a happy life. If parents are not serious about making sure that their kids are educated, then their kids would be better off getting the minimal education from their local public school. I have not yet seen any kid that has been home schooled less able to cope with life than their publicly schooled counterparts.

Cheers!

Majorly NSFW link…
http://www.fohguild.org/forums/screenshots/10545-funny-strange-random-pics-117.html#post668429