LDS Home Educations
Assn.
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Ritchie Kinmont, Homeschool Dad
Ritchie Kinmont - "Every Child
Needsa Gas Engine" - LDS-HEA Conference 2003
Ritchie was in second grade when we began homeschooling. As a teen he took a few classes at the local high school, then at the local college when he was 16, followed by a year at Dixie College in Southern Utah studying airplane engines. Then he got his pilot's license before serving a mission in South Carolina, after which he went to the local Applied Technology Center to learn the CAD CAM, did some free lance work, then went to work for a large corporation where he designs large machinery.
Ritchie baptized Laura into the church in 1993 and married her into the family in 1994. She now teaches part time at a Montessori school where their youngest son Matthew spent a few hours a day for a year. Their oldest, Alex, went from homeschool to a science-based charter high school this year as a 9th grader. Patrik will join him next year as an 8th grader.
Matthew developed epilepsy a year after this address was given and passed in his sleep in December of 2008 at age 8 1/2. He had been baptized, and Ritchie was endowed for him in February of 2010. Laura felt him there, jumping around the room, full of joy. There are obvious lessons in their story about the importance of family time and the shortness of childhood. This family, with significant challenges, did it well.
Reed A. Benson
Ancient Scriptures, BYU
Brother Benson spoke at our very first LDS-HEA conference in 1992 and was with us for many years thereafter. He gave us energy and courage. In 2002 he was ill, but came to receive an award. Both he and Sister Benson spoke briefly. Since then he has been in retirement.
President Ezra Taft Benson died on Memorial Day, a Monday, in 1994. Our Conference was that Friday, and since the General Authorities conduct the funeral of a prophet, our group of several hundred eager and faithful homeschoolers was blessed to hear a son's loving tribute to his beloved father.
Listening between the lines, you'll hear that President Benson loved the homeschoolers!
Paul R. Mero, President, Sutherland Institute
LDS-HEA Conference 2006
As President of the Sutherland Institute, Paul has been instrumental in influencing public policy and in legislative issues in Utah and internationally. Among his many publications for the Sutherland Institute is an essay on Self-reliance in Education. He is also co-author of The Natural Family: A Manifesto together with the Howard Center.
Paul and his wife, Sally, have six children and two grandchildren. They are long-time homeschoolers.
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Why a Grandma and Her
Daughter-in-law Love Homeschool LDS-HEA Conference 2005Darla Isackson, a reporter for Meridian Magazine online, researched and wrote several articles about the history of public schools in early Utah. She also wrote about the homeschool movement.
Heidi Hanks, her daughter-in-law, joined her at our conference to share her "conversion" story, her early fears, and her firm love of homeschooling.
After being named New York City Teacher of the Year on three occasions, John Gatto quit teaching. He resigned on the OP ED page of the Wall Street Journal in 1991 -- while still New York State Teacher of the Year -- claiming that he was no longer willing to hurt children. Since then he has spoken non-stop all over the world. He's a fascinating speaker, but he's not for the faint of heart!
John's most popular book is Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992); his most scholarly book is The Underground History Of American Education (2001). His website is johntaylorgatto.com