How did these people learn so well outside of the public school system?

Question

How did George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, James Madison, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt learn communication and leadership skills without the benefit of public schools?

How did Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur, and George Patton learn their communication and leadership skills without the benefit of public schools?

Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Cyrus McCormick, and Orville & Wilbur Wright, George Washington Carver, Pierre Curie, Albert Einstein, Booker T. Washington, and Blaise Pascal learn engineering, chemistry and other sciences without the benefit of public schools?

How did Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin, and Patrick Henry learn their skills without benefit of public schools?

How did John Jay, John Marshall, and John Rutledge become U. S. Supreme Court judges without benefit of public schools?

All the above were homeschooled.

Answer 1

Let me just say that as a homeschooler, I hate these lists of famous homeschoolers. Many people accept them without question and really, how Benjamin Franklin got his education has little bearing on how I homeschool my kids.

I homeschool my kids because it works now. not because some dead American was homeschooled.

Answer 2

I think that back in the day, there was more of a hunger for knowledge than there seems  to be by young people now.  Of course good morals, values and God was very important to most of them also.  When these things are not of importance than a lot of other things in life are not either, and the young person is less likely to succeed.

Answer 3

Thomas Edison is always one of my favourites as a homeschooling example. After he had learned the basics, he was unschooled. He knew all kinds of historical stuff because he read extensively on it--no adult taught him it. Nobody taught him all the science he learned--he learned it from reading books and trying experiments found in books, then going beyond. His dad would try to get him to read some other books, to expand his mind--even paid him for it. Edison read the books, got the money, then used the money to purchase more chemistry stuff. :)

And really, how do people with degrees know most of what they know? It is NOT from the time spent in class since the general expectation is 2 hours outside class for every hour in class. It's from the books they read, the things they explore. Much of my college courses were profs lecturing to us or writing on boards. Frankly, they could have written it all down and given it to me and I would have gotten through it all much faster!

My personal question is always: who said that the first teacher had the right to teach? The first individual to train other teachers--who trained THAT person to teach? We're not talking brain surgery here--and I say this as a trained teacher--we're not talking about identifying things that can be a matter of life and death. We're talking about learning. And while a teaching degree can do wonders for a person who will be trying to help 20-30+ kids learn what the government has decided they need to learn. But teacher training doesn't give you some magical power to teach an individual child.

And schools were NEVER designed for social interaction. They came into place because governments started requiring that children get an education. Having that requirement means providing a *free* place for the children to be educated because not every parent could pay for the private schools that some went to.

Answer 4

Somehow they muddled along didn't they, but they never really amount to much.... LOL

In one Public Middle School I attended as a child, the math teacher was also teaching Literature, and gym.  The teacher was trained and schooled as a Math teacher, but the school needed help.  Somehow that was okay.

Answer 5

They learned well because homeschool can provide an excellent education for the student

Answer 6

Great individuals have the ability to think for themselves and the initiative to strive for greatness.  They feel safe to explore, to create, to think outside the box. Homeschooling fosters these characteristics.

Answer 7

Very true. They were amazing. And askbabbs, how did they get the smarts in order to go to those colleges and institutions? Homeschooling. I am a homeschooler, and when I got my standardized test back I got post-high school on many of the results. Math is one of my worst subjects, yet I still got a 7.3 grade equivalent. They were testing for General Science, and I had done astronomy that year so I got a 4.8, but hey - that was my lowest score. And don't believe that junk about anti socialization - my brother is one of the most popular teenagers around.

Answer 8

Can we add Helen Keller, Lisa Welch's (Blair from Fact's of Life) children, Will Smith's children to that list!?

We don't homeschool because some dead famous people were homeschooled. We do it because it is what's best for OUR child(ren).

The list just shows that homeschooling has been around much LONGER than our PUBLIC school system and is growing because Homeschoolers KNOW what they are doing and how to get the most from their children with the LEAST amount of interference.

Answer 9

mmm...

Answer 10

They had secondary educations in institutes, colleges, universities, military school etc.........

Answer 11

Let us not forget the young author of Eragon. Christopher Paolini credits his early success in literature to the fact he was homeschooled. He says it allowed him the freedom to dream and write his imaginings down. It allowed him to learn to write well. He says there is no way he could have done this in traditional school. But, I'm sure the critics will say that the wealthy young writer is not well socialized. (The poor thing)

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/arti...