My dear reader, when I reflect upon the innocent days of my childhood, they would not have been the same without being homeschooled.

I remember it clearly, at the tender age of 7, all of my neighborhood friends were homeschooled and I begged my mom to let me be homeschooled so I can be like Amanda, Abby, Miriam and the other girls I knew. My parents were not very familiar with the concept of homeschooling and consulted my friend's parents. They soon discovered a whole new world of curriculums and knowledge. Curriculum fairs were a highlight of my schooldays as every summer we would go to a convention center and be amazed by the wonders of science experiment kits, literature books, and those booths full of historical arts and crafts.

I delved into all of the knowledge I could about Napoleon when I was 11 years old and the French Revolution captivated my imagination. Besides that, we went over the history of every country in the world. When I was around 9, I had a musical globe that would play music for every country. I quickly memorized every country of the world and participated in the Geography Bee. Not only that, we went over the history of every country in the world. From the empires of Mali, to the dynasties of ancient China and India, to Simon Bolivar playing tennis with Prince Ferdinand- regions of the world many public schools never touched on were discussed in great detail.

"Ahh what about socialization?" Oh this I shall tell you my dear reader, I had plenty. We had homeschool clubs full of kids my own age and we met and discussed science and geography. I have clear memories of giving a class presentation on Bahrain and another on Bolivia. We also had drama clubs, music lessons and a variety of other activities.

When I got older I joined a civics group for homeschoolers and we had model US Government with real life scenarios to solve. Every year we met in Virginia and participated in either the House or the Senate and were given a world problem we had to find a solution to. During the year we had a homeschool book club and this is where I first discovered the works of Locke, Rousseau and Voltaire when I was 14. This changed my life forever, as I realized I could debate and discuss political theory with my peers. I would not have traded these days for anything in the world.

"What about religion?" What about religion my dear reader? It is a right that the United Nations defends, and neither you nor I have the right to tell somebody they cannot practice their faith. Religion occasionally may touch subjects, but the vast majority of homeschoolers I've talked to had a firm knowledge of history, English, the arts, science and math. Religion is not something often touched upon, except maybe in a world religions class. Even if it was, it is unlikely religion will take up the entire day. As John Locke said, tolerance is a Christian virtue and people should be free to practice and discuss whatever religion they are.

This is not intended as an attack on public schoolers. I believe that public schools can learn much from the way homeschools are set up and run. We preform better on the SATs and at university level, but this is because our education method works. Not every child is cut out for homeschooling, but many are. The individual attention and the encouragement to dive into the world of knowledge will teach a child lifelong lessons. We all have much to learn from each other, as the world is a diverse place that is ready for us to explore. Perhaps instead of attacking homeschoolers, public schools and private schools could adopt some of our methods of teaching geography and civics. Through advancements of education and new realms of knowledge this world will be a better place for all of us to share.

My dear reader, I must end this for now and return to my grad papers I have been laboring of but I suggest this to you- the next time you see somebody attack an institution, have a moment to speak and research what this institution is about and you may be in for pleasant surprises.

Vive la republique, and may we all become a society that advances towards better education for all!