I just finished this book and wow! It blew me away. The outcome for this story could have been so different if the mother had not been willing to break the mold of society, and more importantly allow her son to break the mold.First off, every parent should read this book. It is a wonderful story about standing up for your children and allowing them to pursue their dreams and passions. Once you give them the tools the need to learn the things they are interested in learning any other subjects will fall into place and be brought along for the ride.
I think it speaks so clearly about the need to home school so that kids can have the freedom to follow their passions and learn the things they are interested in learning at the pace they want to learn it. There are much better ways to meet social needs than by segregating children by age, and forcing them to learn the exact same things together. Every child has different needs, different interests, different learning styles, and when you put them together with other people who have a common interest they will be social because they have a common ground to talk about. Jake's mother was amazed by how little the difference in age mattered when her son was making friends with college students and professors at age eleven. Having a common ground to talk about made it easier for him to be social than it ever was as a genius kid board to death in a regular elementary school classroom.
The difference between those who believe in compulsive education and those of us who do not is that we who do not believe in it can see that children just naturally love to learn things. All they need are the tools and encouragement to learn what they have a passion for. Ultimately what it all comes down to is what is "The Spark" that ignites a love of learning in your child? Once you find that the possibilities are endless.
Favorite Quote from the book, "If God has a job for you, He's going to give you everything you need to get that job done."
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