Can you name any accomplished people that were entirely home schooled ?

Question

I'm curious about people that were homeschooled; every single person I know (including myself) that was homeschooled for some or all of their education came out worse for the experience.

A couple friends and I were homeschooled in elementary school and it wasn't until high school that we were up to par in terms of social skills.

Others I know that were homeschooled K-12 are still very odd, either having screwed up values and concepts of the world, an inability to work with others in the real world, or (most commonly) both.

Basically, I think the flaws of retarding your child's social development and experience in the real world will ultimately destroy or at least inhibit their ability to be a useful member of society post high school/college.

I'm not so presumptuous as to state my sample is accurate for the entire population, so I'm trying to find success stories to disprove my theory. Most pertinent would be socially successful people, not genious scientist shut-ins.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi,

Well I am in High School and I am home schooled.  I think that the problem is that people hear that you are home schooled and automatically judge you.  

Sure I do not go out and drink and do drugs, have premarital s*x that will leave me pregnant at 16. I am not a religious nut, nor do I feel a need to conform to societies standards of "normal".  People can call me weird sheltered, unable to interact socially, I have no need for petty complaints as these.  I communicate better with adults then with kids my age due to their low maturity level.  

As you can see I would say that I have better, "Values and Morals," than a traditionally schooled person.  I do not,

A) Drink,

B) Have Casual s*x,

C) DO Drugs

D) any thing illegal

E) I am NOT subjected to peer pressure on a daily basis.

E) 2. I Do know how to handle peer pressure I have been exposed to it...

I think that people need to lay off on the comments that people cannot successfully function in "society," unless you go to a traditional school.  I function just fine, I plan on going to collage to become a lawyer.  A job in which I must "function" in society.

Hundreds of Thousands of people that go to Public or Private traditional school are completely unsuccessful, what about them?  Are homeschooler the only one subjected to this scrutiny?  

Educationally wise Home school is 100% better!  I have had other high schoolers tell me, Oh come to the high school, although you won't get as good as an education, you'll have more fun!  OR, Come to high school we have such great parties!

I feel that High School is about getting an education, not getting lectured on how I should behave in public, or hanging out with people I will not be friends with in 5 years.  

I have thought of another thing in which enriched my life being home schooled thus far.  I have traveled to several other countries.  Interacted with people of different, CULTURES, Countries, traditions, standards of normal and so forth.  Would this be considered socializing?  

I am a certified Scuba Diver.(did not learn in homeschool)

I rodeo on my horses.

I have traveled to several exotic places.

Do all of these things classify as socializing?

I would not have been able to do all of these wonderful things had I been enrolled in "traditional School."

I am not retarded thank you very much!

Hope this helps.

Sorry for my ranting I am just tired of being judged!

After seeing your edit:

Should I look and see where all the other pedophiles where schooled at?

How many Drug addicts went to "normal school?"

How many addicts "Learned moderation?"

You have to remember that we are all different you are looking at THREE people and judging a WHOLE GROUP OF PEOPLE as though we are all ALIKE!

You are entitled to your opinion as am I.

Answer 2

Considering the fact that the concept of public schools is a relatively new...it wasn't until the beginning of the 20th century that most states had "compulsory education" laws, it is funny that you need an example of SOCIALLY SUCCESSFUL people.  You need just look at most historical figures from the beginning of history until the start of the public school system.

I believe that most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence where home-schooled.  Also, next time you turn on a light switch or boot up your laptop, thank home-schooled Ben Franklin.

As for your examples on the the people you know that are socially inept, perhaps you should pick up a newspaper and read the headlines and see that extent of crime, murders, etc. Hmm, my guess is they are ALL the graduates (or non-graduates) of our wonderful public school system (as most people in this country are public-schooled).

I think the people whom you know to have been home-schooled aren't the products of their educations but the products of their parents.  

It really does "take a village to raise a child' and as long as the home-schooling family is allowing their children to interact with "the village",  homeschooling will usually be the best choice for most families.

Answer 3

You may want to check out this link, http://www.homeschoolnewslink.com/homesc... on David and Micki Colfax who home educated all of their children, all the way.  Here is a snippet from the link:

Grant the oldest, and the original news-making graduate of Harvard, is an M.D. working as the Director of AIDS Research for the city of San Francisco with an Adjunct Professorship at the University of California at San Francisco. He is currently testing vaccines for AIDS.

Drew, the second oldest Colfax son, is a death-row appeals attorney in Montgomery, AL.  As part of his work, he reviews cases of “railroaded” convictions. These are inmates on death row who have been unjustly convicted – and often proven innocent! If this weren’t enough to keep him busy, Drew is also a full-time student at Harvard Medical School!

The third-oldest Colfax son, Reed, is a housing-discrimination attorney in Washington, D.C. He is the lead attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.  His wife is an environmental attorney in D.C. They have 2 children, a daughter, Bailey, 4 and a boy Justice, 1-1/2.

Garth Colfax, the youngest, is working with the developmentally-disabled in Sacramento. He is also an all-around computer expert, being able to repair the computers themselves and also design websites. Garth has been married 7 years and has a little boy, Jared, who is 7 months old.

I'd say the Colfax men are quite accomplished.  ;-)

I realize your question pertains to home schooling and even though you say it is not accurate for the entire population, it sort of comes off that way.  How is school the "real world"?  Outside of an office job or prison, where else are you locked away in a brick building, in a single room or two, for eight hours a day with 25-30 people your exact same age, give or take a few months?  The "real world" is filled with all ages BUT not necessarily all cultures, depending on where you live.  I was public schooled the whole way in an all white town in Northern Michigan...not much of a cultural experience.  However, when I moved to Norfolk, VA and then to Florida, I adapted quite easily to people of other cultures.  

- My sister is 37 years old and has had so many jobs that I cannot count, that and she is in jail several times a year for not paying tickets or for back child support.  She was public schooled.

-My dearest friend's sister is on welfare and a drug addict.  She was public schooled.  One of her brothers is in and out of jail and rehab...he was public schooled too.  

-When I type in "s*x Offenders" in the database of the small town I grew up in, guess what?  All of them were public schooled, some were in my class.  

Would it be fair, based on the real life examples above to lump all public schoolers into the same category?  No, it would not.  Your examples fit public schoolers too and if anything, it should tell you that  a persons social skills have nothing to do with how or where they were educated but rather how they were raised by their parents and also taking into account them as a person.  I know home schooled children who fit the range from shy-outgoing...the same as those public schooled and private schooled for that matter.

A young lady I know graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in history just a few weeks ago at age 22.  She has always held down a job and she was completely unschooled.  Her social skills are fantastic...she is moving out of her parents and into an apartment with her boyfriend.

***Your reference to drinking is not logical.  America is FILLED with alcoholics, apparently their high school drinking days taught them nothing.  BTW, as a public school high school graduate I can tell you that some of them were never exposed to drinking because it was school and then straight home or they were never allowed to do anything outside of school functions.  Some kids in school are exposed, others aren't.   There were a slew of kids in my whopping class of 88 students, in 1988, who never joined one sport or extra-curricular activity...I also know those who did.  I knew kids with parents who let them do whatever and they DID *whatever*, others chose not to.  I also knew some who were raised very strictly who went off the deep-end and  didn't continue drinking or doing drugs and others yet who are still in a state of unhealthy addictions.

You need more than two home schoolers in which to base your opinions.  If you took two hundred home schoolers and compared, I bet you would not see much of a difference in them and their public schooled counterparts when it comes to how well one socializes.  In fact, if more people looked at both sides equally, we could forgo these redundant  questions about socialization.

Answer 4

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-h...

follow that link and read the article.

Answer 5

I hon3e3stly doubt the problems these kids have are at all due to homeschooling. A less-than-social kid can come out of any school setting, and believe me, I went to public school until 9th grade and I know TONS of anti-social, messed up public schoolers who couldn't make it in the real world if you held their hand and walked them through it. Public school isn't the real world and it doesn't sufficiently prepare you for it. Those who come out prepared for it either had good parents, at least one good role model (either in or outside school) or the brains to do some real learning of their own off of school hours.

As for accomplished homeschoolers, well, Thomas Edison comes to mind. Yes, this was some time back, but public school did exist then and Edison started off there, but when mom realized he wasn't learning a bloody thing they took him home and did a sort of unschooling of the time, giving him great works of literature and nonfiction to read and allowing him to experiment independently.

Her name escapes me, but I believe the actresss who played Lucy in the recent movie musical "Across the Universe" was homeschooled.

I could list a lot more famous accomplished people, but that would take up a lot of time I'd rather be spending on my school work so I can go out to the movies with my friends later and then pack for a week-long graduation trip to St. Augustine with my boyfriend. (Note, I didn't have but maybe a few real friends whom I enjoyed spending time with before homeschooling, and the ones I had I'd known since before I started school or met outside of school. This of course was not the reason I started homeschooling, but an interesting point I thought I'd bring up.)

Someone put together an extensive list of modern world homeschoolers who became something great. If you check some resolved questions or look at the answer history of a lot of people responding this one one, you should find it.

Answer 6

You summed it up in your edit - this is *your* experience.  Two homeschooled kids that weren't successful.  I think you need to broaden your horizons a bit.

This country was built on the backs of homeschooled kids - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, etc., etc...all homeschooled (either all the way through or until they were ready for college).  Thomas Jefferson homeschooled his daughter so that she would be able to homeschool her children - he felt that it was that important.

Thomas Edison - homeschooled all the way through because he didn't toe the line in elementary and his teacher decided, in the few weeks he was there, that he was a moron incapable of learning.

I know several very successful homeschooled high schoolers and grads just in my own city - 16yo's that are starting college, heck, my own 10yo is taking college science courses.  Some are already shadowing doctors, scientists, lawyers, and business owners to train for their future professions, and others are performing professionally alongside some of the best dancers, singers, and actors in our area.  I know and recent hs grads that are published writers, successful teachers, business owners, and masters/doctoral students.  None of them are socially "retarded" either, and all of them have their heads on straight as far as values and concepts of the world.  They, unlike many people around them, know what they value and stand up for it.

By "screwed up values", do you mean that they don't follow the crowd and live to impress strangers?  They don't spend their time drinking, having casual s*x, and doing drugs because they can't think of anything better to do?  Yep, poor screwed up homeschool kids.  

I'm sorry that your homeschool experience wasn't beneficial - or maybe you just weren't homeschooled long enough to gain any sort of independent thought - but please don't apply your experience to the other 2 million+ kids that *are* successful with it.

I graduated public school, and I know plenty of *very* screwed up people - social idiots, convicted criminals, parents who have had their children removed from their homes - just from my school of 400 kids.  Would they be who you count as "useful members of society"?  Gotta say, I'm glad to not count my child among them.  Never have, never will.

Edit - mr. spear...actually, most of the people on the list above had access to public or private schooling, and did very well without it.  As for Leonardo, had he had access to technology that had the power to detect DNA, he probably would have either discovered it himself or spearheaded much of the research.

Self-educated people often just have that curiosity thing, you know, that makes them want to learn.  They don't have all the information handed to them along with fill in blanks and a due date, so they actually *like* to research.  Silly them.

Answer 7

Albert Einstein

Venus & Serena Williams, tennis stars

John Wesley Powell

John Muir

Theodore Roosevelt

Frank Lloyd Wright

Henry Fountain Ashurst

Pat McMahon

Abigail Adams (Wife of John Adams)

Ansel Adams (Photographer)

Clara Barton (Started the Red Cross)

John Burroughs (Naturalist)

Andrew Carnegie (Industrialist)

Charles Chaplin (Actor)

George Rogers Clark - Explorer

Noel Coward (Playwright)

John Paul Jones (Father of the American Navy)

Wolfgang Mozart

Felix Mendelssohn

Claude Monet

William Penn

Abraham Lincoln

Sandra Day O'Connor (Supreme Court Justice)

Tamara McKinney (World Cup Skier)

John Stuart Mill (Economist)

Charles Louis Montesquieu (Philosopher)

Florence Nightingale (Nurse)

Sally Ride (Astronaut)

Bill Ridell (Newspaperman)

George Rogers Clark (Explorer)

Will Rogers (Humorist)

Jim Ryan (World Runner)

Albert Schweitzer (Physician)

Leo Tolstoy (author)

Martha Washington (Wife of George Washington)

Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins

Dakota Fanning, attress

Jena Malone, attress

Josh Layne, professional harpist

Joseph Pulitzer

Robert Frost

Irving Berlin

Whoopi Goldberg

The Hanson Singers

William F. Buckley Jr.

Agatha Christie

Winston Churchill

Charles Dickens

Thomas Edison

Benjamin Franklin

Alexander Graham Bell

Pearl Buck

General George S. Patton

Joan of Arc

Leonardo da Vinci

L. Ron Hubbard

C.S. Lewis

Just to name a few!

Perhaps the proof is in the pudding itself, not

in the pot it was cooked in???

Answer 8

You know, I can't name any modern famous people off the top of my head. Honestly, I doubt there's a list of "famous socially successful people" somewhere. It's not how things work. Heck, most of the public schooled famous people are questionably socially successful. How many famous people have drug, alcohol and weight problems, divorces and more?

I have met some homeschooling parents who had been homeschooled themselves and they are completely fine, happy, well-adjusted people. I know a number of homeschooling families where the parents are fantastic guides for their kids and I really can't foresee the kids having any problems once they are no longer at home. I will admit to knowing others where I truly wonder what will happen to those kids once they are older--never being properly guided in how things are, just kind of being left to their own devices... I wonder what will happen with them.

I will also say that most homeschooling parents I know are fairly open with their kids about life. The kids are aware of alcohol and drugs and all that. They live in the real world, are not hid from it, and many have PS friends or acquaintances. I don't see how being exposed to drugs and alcohol in PS is supposed to be better and was a way to "learn moderation"--*I* was never exposed to drugs and alcohol when I was in PS, does that mean I couldn't learn moderation? (Actually, other than Communion wine, I'm a total teetotaler and always have been.) Abuse is something that comes from problems within, not "not having learned moderation in high school". The whole partying attitude comes from believing that it's cool or whatever--if you can raise a child to see it from a different light, they won't need to "learn moderation" by getting drunk and all that first.

I appreciate you bringing up such a question. My question to you is: what could your parents have done differently for things to have turned out differently? I don't see what you are sharing as having been the result of homeschooling, but of HOW all these people were parented in their homeschooling.

For example, the girl who always chose her own curriculum and can't hold down a job--this is an extreme unschooling case, by the sounds of it. But this is also someone without a vision, whose parents never supported and encouraged her to stick with something for what would eventually come out of it. Is it homeschooling or how she was parented? I've met some wonderful unschooling parents who still remained parents. They corrected their children's social behaviour when necessary, they encouraged them to get jobs and stick with them--reminding them that not everything in life is set up exactly as we would want it. These are great parents whose unschooled kids who have done superbly well. But it's because of how they parented. I don't hope for nearly as much from some other parents' kids .

The boy who slept with a 14yo... And? What is that supposed to prove about homeschooling? What about teachers who have slept with their students? The scandals with Boy Scout leaders way back when? Priests? Foster parents? Actors? Recording artists? I doubt very highly that homeschoolers would have a higher percentage of these problems than the general population. I would also highly doubt that that 20yo was mentally/emotionally well off--is that because of homeschooling or because ofissues that weren't taken care of or because he wasn't really parented?

For example, I know one homeschooled kid whom I hate being around; he's clueless socially, destructive and more. He's like a wild, uncivilized child. It's not the homeschooling that did it as much as the fact that his mom never stepped in. "He'll learn those lessons on his own," is her motto. Would he have learned those things in school? Maybe, maybe not. I've seen a lot of boys like him in school who just never clued in, were labelled "the bad boys". So is it where he's schooled? Or how he's being parented?

I see your experiences as a way for us homeschooling parents to learn something from them, like the girl who should have been guided to understand that when doing things for others, you can't necessarily do them your way; even encouraging her to have volunteered or held down part-time jobs while going to school and getting those reminders would have done her some good.

You are trying to determine a cause-and-effect scenario in a situtation that is too broad to determine a cause-and-effect scenario. You might as well see if there's a correlation between eating food and food allergies, or exercising and injuries. Homeschooling is a HUGE category and something that can be done in so many ways since parents vary greatly. Any theory based on something so vast isn't going to be valid--too many variables involved.

Answer 9

Don't let these people fool you.  Most of the names on their lists are of people who were educated long before public education existed.  And, they were not home schooled by their parents as many are today.  Most of them had private instructors and tutors.  Most of them were highly educated and skilled in one area of expertise and were absolute virtuosos, not typical of their time.  Few of the names on their list went through anything like what we call homeschooling today.

Besides that, many of the ancient "geniuses" would sound like idiots compared to the average high school freshman today.  Imagine talking to Leonardo da Vinci about the make up of DNA, or the composition of stars, things that today's students learn as a matter of course.

Answer 10

I also agree. Almost all homeschool children I knew, had plenty of social interaction, and when they got to school, they were able to speak for themselves, and make better decisions on life in general so yea some of them were outcast, but that doesn't mean they lack social skills that means, that means because they didn't follow the "in" crowd and didn't drink and smoke and have s*x some were outcast. They were taught to have the ability to speak for themselves and THINK for themselves, and not FOLLOW THE CROWD. Be your own individual.

And one of my mom's best friend was homeschooled her whole entire life, and was able to go to prom (a friends school) and played volleyball and cheerleading for her local community center and Dance Gym (where she met my mom) she owns her own business and is very successful and friendly person. Not "weird" at all and is married with 3 children. (her husband went to public school)

But anyway, I plan on homeschooling my children and I am not worried about it. I plan on teaching my child the correct values, and thinking for yourself and not following what SOCIETY thinks you should be, say, or think. And she will always have social contact.

ADDED:

But those are just certain cases, and do you know whether or not that child was around children his age...

and for that girl, that was her parents fault. Her parents should have had set curriculum, and not let her change it...and she probably just plain lazy and/or her parents didn't teach or educate her about real- life situations, which is a part of homeschooling. She was suppose to be taught that.

Answer 11

I was home schooled, grades 1-12, graduated in 2006. I agree with someone else who said that when you tell someone you're home schooled, they immediately judge you. I can't tell you how many people mocked me and made fun of me just because I was home schooled. They would say things like, "Oh, you must hate that! I'm so sorry," or "You must not have any friends!" Just because I was home schooled didn't mean I didn't go out and spend time with other people my age or have a life outside my home. I did know some kids who were home schooled who were rather odd, but I don't think it's the home schooling that does it to them. There are many different ways to home school and different techniques. Just because you're home schooled, doesn't make you socially impaired or different somehow.

You said: Basically, I think the flaws of retarding your child's social development and experience in the real world will ultimately destroy or at least inhibit their ability to be a useful member of society post high school/college.

My answer to that: Home schooling isn't about locking your child in the closet and never letting them see the light of day. It's just about learning at home. I know some kids who were home schooled don't turn out so well, but look at public school taught children. How many of them aren't "successful"? How many of them are in jail? How many of them have social problems?

Answer 12

I have known several homeschoolers and most of them were very well adjusted. One young man in particular was a college student. He was very involved in campus organizations, got along well with his classmates and was academically far ahead of most of the other students his age.

You may want to define yourself more clearly. What do you mean by "screwed up values and concepts of the world" and "up to par in terms of social skills"?

If by social skills you mean fitting in with the crowd, it is true that homeschoolers are less likely to follow the crowd blindly and more likely to think for themselves even if it means going against the norm.  

First, once upon a time people were free to express their own opinions without worrying about the politically correct police coming in and shutting them down. They were free to be different and some people were more social than others and that was fine.

Second, some students come from "traditional" school settings and have poor social skills or are very introverted.

In truth social skills have to do with the golden rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) not with how many friends one has or how often one shows up at social events. Most graduates of "traditional" high school come out of school with foul mouths, bad manners and what I would consider very poor values such as a tendancy towards casual s*x. I don't want my child picking up on such behaviors.

Answer 13

Here's a list of famous homeschoolers:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

There have been several successful homeschoolers mentioned recently in the news.  The most notable is probably Tim Tebow.  He was homeschooled all the way through high school, and recently won The Heismann Trophy for college football.

Hope this helps!