Parents heap praise on home schooling

Joyce Kinmont hadn't heard of home schooling or imagined the public pressure against it when she decided some 30 years ago to educate her children herself.

"It was intimidating," she said of jail threats she received from school officials. Now, Kinmont says she has no regrets about her decision to teach her six children.

"We like the way our adult children are," Kinmont said Saturday. "It's wonderful."

Kinmont and her husband, Dick, were among the recipients of the Utah Home Education Association's first "Somebody Award" at UHEA's Convention and Curriculum Fair at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

UHEA President Jon Yarrington said the association is celebrating its 25th anniversary by recognizing the pioneers of Utah's growing home-school movement.

Other honorees are Ken and Laurie Huffman, Andrew and Kathy Allison, Reed and Mae Benson, Matt and Janet Hilton, and Gayle and Don Ruzicka.

Gayle Ruzicka, who was recognized for her lobbying efforts on behalf of parental rights, said it was Kinmont who motivated her to home school her children. The experience, she said, taught her children to put family first. "They are each other's best friends," she said.

Yarrington acknowledged that when his wife first decided to home school, his reaction was, "Those people are weird."

Now, he says, "There is no better way to educate children than in the home."

Yarrington said about 7,000 families belong to UHEA, one of several home education associations.

He said home schooling is growing by about 15 percent a year. When the audience members at Saturday's keynote address were asked if they were fairly new to home schooling or just investigating, nearly half raised their hands.

Yarrington's advice to the so-called newbies: "Don't chicken out."

Keynote speaker Joyce Herzog cautioned against teaching skills such as reading before a child is ready.

"Woodrow Wilson did not learn the ABCs until he was 9," she said of the former president. "The last two presidents have declared that every child should read by age 8. . . . Let me warn you some children won't be reading by age 7. That's OK."

Parents with difficulty teaching children such academic skills should approach them the same way as skills such as potty training or tying shoelaces, she said. Wait a while, try again later, make it fun.

Jan Reed of Nephi was at the convention looking at curriculum for her 6- and 8-year-old sons, who have never attended public school. She says religion is part of her children's curriculum, something that wouldn't be possible in public schools.

They get one-on-one attention from a teacher who loves them, she said, and social interaction through church and activities like playing soccer and Scouts.

"It's more than just an educational style," she said. "It's a lifestyle . . . It's just a gentler way of living."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com