On the Nature of Education

What are some of your initial ideas about homeschooling before you read? What do you think is the ultimate purpose of education?

I have never met a homeschool kid so based on media presentation and general opinion, I initially percieved them as awkward and extrememly sheltered by their parents due to religious reasons. I believe that the ultimate purpose of education should be to prepare children how to be independent on their own once they become adults. Different subjects in school expose students to different fields of study to pursue in.

 
Describe some of Megan's experiences as a homeschooled student in what her mom terms "delight-directed integrated study."

O'Gieblyn's mother homeschooled her children since she believed that institutionalized schooling was full of "busy work" that did not truly foster purposeful learning and only conditioned students to be complacent adults. She thought that the experiences that her children would see in their barn and in nature would promote more indpendence and time to self-reflect. One of the important "experiences" her mother taught her was when she watched and assisted the midwife that delivered her mother's youngest child.

How does O'Gieblyn trace the foundations of homeschooling to the Enlightenment era?

After giving several anectdotes of her walks through nature during her childhood, Megan O'Gieblyn presents the pedagoy introduced by Jean-Jacques Rosseau in his novel Émile during the Enlightenment Era which promoted independence for children through exploration. 

Later in the essay, she discusses the case of the Austin Package Bomber, Mark Conditt, who was homeschooled. The media seized on this to portray his isolation. Does O'Gieblyn feel the media portray homeschooling fairly in this passage?

O'Gieblyn admits that these cases were of homeschooled children that were unable to properly fit into society due to improper education and socialization from their parents. However, the media would attempt to make the club Mark Conditt was a part of seem like for neo-nazi Christian terrorists which is unfair and portrays homeschooled childrens negatively. Contrast her experience as a homeschooled student to what happens when she enrolls in a public school?

When she begins public schooling, Megan O'Gieblyn would often be frustrated that she was forced to work on subjects she had no interest in or didn't understand. She was at different levels in her subjects, failing chemistry and math, but excelling music theory. Why do you think O'Gieblyn choose to finish with a critique of the bestselling memoir, Educated? Did you agree or disagree?
She chooses to end with the harsh criticisms Tara Westover faced for Educated's mixed tones that don't explicitly demonstrate that she hated her life while being homeschooled to demonstrate that everyone's childhood should be filled with mixed feeloings. As homeschoolers are not sufficiently equipped with the tools to fully socialize, public school children do not experience enough real life experiences. O'Gieblyn concludes that "We are all like Frankenstein's monster, victims of our own miseducations", no matter the pedagogy our teachers employ.