Why kids in Finland are so smart

An alternate title to the article, 'What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?' in the Wall Street Journal could be 'Why American Government Schools Suck'. Although previously unaware of the success of Finnish schools, I happily noted while reading the article that several of the reasons attributed to the success of schools in Finland are things that we set out to do when we decided to homeschool our kids. The similarities between the Finnish system and our homeschool include:
• A more relaxed, back-to-basics approach with no pressure to perform on standardized tests. This includes not assigning a lot of homework. Hopefully this will result in a less pressured childhood for our kids. Kids in Finland don't even start school until age 7 and even in high school rarely have more than a half-hour of home work a night.
• Create lessons tailored to the needs of the individual child. Children are not the same and it is ridiculous to expect all children to learn using the same techniques/methods.
• Instill a love for reading. By reading to the kids from an early age and providing plenty of books for them to read we hope that the kids will become independent learners and pursue their own interests.

I thought is was interesting that the Finns don't even spend as much money per student as the U.S does ($8700 vs. $7500). The article states that American educators have gone to Finland to try and figure out how to replicate the success. Somehow I doubt that they will be successful. On the other hand, I have the utmost confidence that our family will see similar results.