SANDY — When 18-year-old Jacob Franklin walks into a University of Utah classroom in September to begin classes on a music scholarship, it will be his first classroom experience except for small groups of students, homeschooled like himself. The oldest of two children of Don and Kim Franklin, Jacob will take with him to the university a host of national and international piano competition awards, academic achievement certificates as well as running and tennis awards. All of this, said his mother, Kim, the result of the personal discipline homeschooling fosters. "We never really planned on homeschooling Jacob and Jenna," Kim said in a June 1 Intermountain Catholic interview. "But they were so close in age (Jenna is 16), and when it came time for Jacob to start school, it seemed sad to separate them. We decided to try it just for the first year or two." Once the family found a Catholic home school program they liked, she said, it felt more and more like the right thing to do. The Franklins make use of the Seton Home Study School, an accredited home school apostolate, and the Home School program associated with the Colby Academy in Napa, Calif., an accredited distance learning academy. Fresh from placing second out of 30 nations in an international piano competition held on the campus of Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Jacob reflected on his favorite music. "I’d describe myself as a classic pianist, but I’ve been tinkering with jazz," he said. "I’ve been competing since 2001 in state competitions, at the Utah State Fair, and with the Utah Symphony Youth Guild. I’ve always placed in the top three." With her son’s love of the piano, Kim said the family is blessed to live in an area where piano competition is popular. "I also play for enjoyment," Jacob said. "I think my drive is my love of beautiful noise." Piano is only part of Jacob’s life. He is a distance runner and he plays tennis and soccer. He reads the classics, and he’s a snowboarder. He’s as at home playing a pick-up game of basketball at the local gym as he is sitting at the piano in his living room. Being homeschooled doesn’t seem to have cramped Jacob’s social skills. "I feel I’ve really benefited from homeschooling," Jacob said. "I can make friends with anyone." "Neither Jacob or Jenna are dependent upon any single group of people for their friends," said Kim. "Our area has a strong Catholic home school group, and there is also a Utah Christian home school group. The students in the Catholic Home School group often go to Mass together and have other social events." Jacob’s reading habits tend toward English literature and history that ties into literature. He also does well in the sciences and mathematics. He recently wrote at 17-page report on the effects of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States. What does the future hold for Jacob? "Ten years from now, I hope to be doing whatever God wants me to be doing," he said. "Maybe I’ll end up with a double major of music and science or music and business. These next few years I’ll spend growing and further defining myself. I’d like to go to a big university like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Stanford; maybe Julliard." Kim said she is confident whatever Jacob chooses to do, he’ll do well. "He knows he can find a way to learn anything he has to learn, and he’ll enjoy it in the process. "God is showing us how to give our children what they need at home," she said.
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