Homeschooling

From Conservapedia - Reading time: 26 min

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For the homeschooling courses available for free on this website, see Conservapedia:Index
Homeschooling consists of the practice of students receiving education from a parent or guardian, or instructors acting under the direction of a parent or guardian, rather than from teachers in a formal school setting like a public school. Virtually every area of the United States has local support groups for homeschooling, which often meet in church facilities. Nearly 7% of college-educated parents homeschool their children.^[1] "In 2012, there were around 1.8 million homeschool students [in the U.S.], and in 2021, that number is expected to be above 5 million."^[2] For much of American history, at least until after the American Civil War, the average American received only about 2 years of formal schooling.

Homeschooling grew by almost 75% in the eight years before 2011,^[3] and more than doubled in the following decade despite attacks from teachers' unions and government bureaucrats.^[4] In one survey, "the average homeschooled student scored at the 88th percentile" in the core subjects of reading, language and math.^[5] The most successful mathematician in contests in history, Reid Barton, was homeschooled.^[6] The greatest gymnast ever, 2016 Olympic champion Simone Biles, was homeschooled. One of the greatest college football players—the first to win the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore -- Tim Tebow, was homeschooled until college.^[7] A Wimbledon tennis star, Melanie Oudin, chose homeschooling beginning in 7th grade: "With how much I improved in the first year at home, I knew it was the right choice."^[8] Homeschooled students make up many of the top college and graduate students in mathematics today.^[9]

Homeschooling parents have many available options to supplement education at home:

• attending a weekly course provided in many areas by the homeschooling community - a Conservapedian has taught such courses since 2002
• using a correspondence school (or the modern video- or computer-based equivalent)
• taking classes at local museums or nature centers
• joining with other families to share teaching responsibilities in a co-op
• encouraging the student to self-instruct using library books, traditional textbooks or workbooks, knowledgeable mentor's and/or hands-on experiences
• hiring a tutor for certain difficult topics, like physics
• attending a brick and mortar institution for certain classes and taking other classes at home

Homeschoolers often include local "after school" enrichment programs like scouts, 4-H, sports, music lessons, karate or dance classes, public library programs, and summer camps as part of their educational program. Some areas have extracurricular clubs and activities specifically for homeschoolers, some allow homeschoolers to participate in local public school's after school activities, and some homeschoolers participate in extracurricular activities independently from their schooling through private organizations. Homeschool graduates vote in higher percentages: in 2003, "76 percent of homeschool graduates surveyed between the ages of 18 to 24 voted within the last five years, compared to only 29 percent of the corresponding U.S. population."^[10]

Homeschooling Statistics[edit]

In the United States, homeschooling included an estimated 1.1 million students – about 2.9% of children in grades K-12 – in 2007. "The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 74% from when the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999, and up 36% since 2003."^[11][12]

Families who homeschool their children do so for a number of reasons. A 2001 study by the US Census Bureau found that the single largest reason that parents homeschool is that they feel they can give their children a better education at home. This accounted for 50% of the homeschooling families; religious reasons came in second at 33%.^[13] Other frequently mentioned reasons include dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools, the ability to provide religious or moral instruction along with academics, the ability to control what the child is being taught, flexibility in meeting the needs of a child with special needs (such as a physical or mental health problem, a temporary illness or giftedness), flexibility in scheduling family life, and concern about safety, drugs, and peer pressure at other schools.^[14]

Admissions departments at major colleges are now familiar and comfortable with homeschooling, according to a 2004 Boston Globe article. The article quotes a Williams College admission officer as saying:

"We read homeschoolers' applications just like any other application. They don't get any special consideration, but they're not discriminated against, either. Their applications are interesting, and they've certainly done independent work their whole lives."

It notes that the acceptance rate of homeschoolers at Williams is 20 percent,^[15] virtually identical to its overall acceptance rate.^[16]

In the United States, some states permit homeschooled students to participate in extracurricular activities at their local public schools.

In one way or another equal access is expressly allowed by the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. In most other states, participation is worked out on a case-by-case basis.^[17] In addition, some states, such as Alabama, are considering equal access legislation.^[18] In New Jersey, school athletic associations dominated by public schools exclude homeschoolers from participation in athletics, even though they allow students at different charter schools to participate.^[19]

Academic level[edit]

Many studies over the last few years have established the academic excellence of homeschooled children.^[20] Most recently, the average ACT (American College Testing) score of homeschooled students in 2009 was higher than the national average.^[21] ACT-tested graduates reporting themselves as home-schooled numbered 4,593 in 2000, a 41-percent increase. Home-schooled students achieved a composite average of 22.8, 0.1 points higher than in 1999.^[22] An extensive 2009 nationwide study conducted by Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute,^[23] found that homeschoolers scored 34-39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests. The new study was described as “the most comprehensive study of homeschool academic achievement ever completed,” in which Ray surveyed 11,739 homeschooled students from all 50 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico, and drew from 15 independent testing services. Demographically, 82.4 percent of homeschooling parents identified themselves as Protestant Christian, 12.4 Roman Catholic, 1.1 percent atheist/agnostic, 0.8 percent Mormon, 0.4 percent Jewish, 0.2 percent Eastern Orthodox Christian, and 0.1 percent Muslim. Neither the income or educational level of parents appreciably affected the results.^[24]

Reasons for Homeschooling[edit]

Reasons for homeschooling include:^[25]

• Seeking a higher academic level, and avoiding violence, intimidation, invasions of privacy (e.g., searches) and other hostile aspects of the public school culture.^[26][27][28]
• Freedom from a culture of depression and liberal and/or atheistic bias found in public and many private schools.^[29][30][31] See: Religiousity and homeschooling. Interestingly, homeschooling has actually increased among irreligious parents, often for some of the same concerns as religious ones (flexibility in their children's education being a common one, along with the mandatory vaccine issue).
• A more flexible daily schedule, ability to take vacations and travel during the school year, less commuting, and a healthier diet.^[32]
• Avoiding the frequent illnesses, unhealthy obesity, and fatigue that result from the daily routine of public schools
• Avoiding conflicts with public school officials.
• More time spent by parents with their children in formative years.
• Avoiding objectionable vaccines, "mental health" screening, and questionnaires.
• Avoiding competition between genders, including public school feminists favoring girls over boys.^[33][34]
• Developing the discipline to be self-employed as an adult, and to work at home.
• Creating an environment in which students are less likely to pick up lifelong unhealthy habits from peers, like drug abuse, tobacco addiction, sex addiction, pornography, or alcohol.
• Having the time and availability to learn a trade or profession as an apprentice, as has been done throughout history.
• Homeschooling is often an essential approach to achieve the very best in many fields, from mathematics to music to certain sports.^[35]
• Be part of a community that has a much higher percentage of adopted children than formal school; the homeschooling community has a refreshing culture of life.
• Avoiding being subjected to homosexual and transgender indoctrination.
• Avoiding political indoctrination.
• Homeschoolers are seen to develop independent thinking and self-reliance that help insulate them from techniques of mind control that afflict public school students and teachers^[36]
• Assuring the rights of parents to control the education, upbringing and discipline of their children.
• Giving children a safer learning environment free from the risks of bullying and mass school shootings.^[37][38]

Reasons Not to Homeschool[edit]

We know that homeschooling may have its benefits but it is not for everyone. Reasons against homeschooling include:^[39][40][41]

• If You need to Work and do not have time for Homeschooling
• You Might not Know Enough about Teaching
• You are Poor and Do not have A Lot Money Because Homeschooling is very Expensive
• Your School is a Conservative Christian School

It should also be noted that stay at home moms, the most common teachers for homeschooling, reported having happier lives than their working counterparts.^[42]

Homeschooling worldwide[edit]

A thriving homeschooling movement exists in Canada, and homeschooling also fares well in Australia and New Zealand. It is relatively new in South America, and reportedly faces strong government resistance in places such as Brazil. Homeschooling also faces significant challenges in many other counties. The governments in Shanghai and Beijing are largely opposed to homeschooling. In European countries, it is sometimes more restricted than the United States, or illegal, such as in Germany. In Switzerland, many cantons still allow homeschooling, but not all.^[43] Sweden recently passed legislation which is expected to ban all homeschooling, except for children with medical exemptions, or foreign workers with the appropriate work visas.^[44][45] Recently alarming in England is a June 11, 2009, report on home education by Graham Badman, former Managing Director of Children, Families and Education in the County of Kent, which would effect critical changes in regulation of homeschooling. The report, which was accepted in full by the British Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, uses the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to militate against the educational rights of parents.^[46]

About 30,000 homeschoolers lived in the entire UK in the 2016–2017 school year, a nearly 100% increase from 2011.^[47]

Homeschooling is rapidly rising in China, despite the communist country's stringent education regulations.^[48]

Homeschooling in the United States[edit]

In the United States, homeschooling is generally legal in all areas, though states vary widely on the number of requirements that a family must meet in order to homeschool their children.

The Home School Legal Defense Association provides a map dividing states into four categories, and providing state law on each: No Notice (the state does not require any notice for parents to begin homeschooling), Low Regulation (only notice is required but nothing more), Moderate Regulation (requires notification, test scores, and professional evaluation of student progress), and High Regulation (same as Moderate plus items such as curriculum approval, teacher qualification, and home visits by school officials).^[49] Information is also provided for Washington, D.C. and American territories.

Notwithstanding state law, courts have not hesitated to impose their liberal views on this issue. For example, in New Hampshire (a state classified as Moderate Regulation), a court-ordered a thriving, 10-year-old homeschooled Christian girl to attend public school, solely in order to expose her to "different points of view at a time in her life when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief and behavior."^[50][51] On the other hand, a 1985 Texas case clarified that homeschools in Texas were considered private schools, which the state had no authority to regulate under existing law.^[52] This has made Texas, a generally conservative state (and listed by the Association as Low Regulation),^[53] one of the friendlier jurisdictions for homeschool families, though local school districts still attempt to impose their – generally illegal – requirements on homeschool families.

History[edit]

In the United States, opting out of public schools is not new. When Thomas Edison's public school teacher said he was "addled",^[54] Edison's mother took him out of public school and taught him at home.

Education at public school year-round from about ages 6 to 18 became common only in the 20th century due to compulsory education laws. The first law requiring attendance at public school passed in Massachusetts in 1852; the second such law passed in Washington D.C. in 1864; and most states did not pass mandatory schooling laws until between 1870 and 1917.^[55][56]

But even under compulsory education laws in the late 1800s, the school year was only twelve to twenty weeks long. Very few stayed in school from ages 6 to 18. For example, by 1900, only 6% of Americans had graduated from a formal high school. Moreover, these students did not learn basic skills like reading in school; they learned those at home.^[57]

Baltimore's Calvert School began selling the school's curriculum to parents in 1905. Within five years, more than 300 children were enrolled in Calvert's correspondence courses. Over the next hundred years, Calvert served over 500,000 children from a wide variety of families nationwide and around the world, including missionary families and those in remote locations.^[58]

The homeschooling movement began in the 1960s from very different ideological sources. Seventh-Day Adventists Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore pioneered homeschooling as a result of their research into education and their concern about the harmful effects of schooling on students, particularly boys, between ages 5 and 15.^[59] On the other side of the political spectrum, John Holt wrote a book critical of schooling in 1964, entitled How Children Fail. Holt was "a left-winger who regarded schools as instruments of the bureaucratic-industrial complex."^[60] More generally, millions of Americans were alarmed at the 1962 U. S. Supreme Court ruling which banned school-sponsored prayer in public schools, and many of those parents began to look for alternatives.

Truancy laws brought pioneering homeschoolers into conflict with local officials. The first New York Times story on "home schooling" appeared in 1974, and concerned two parents charged with "educational neglect" by the Westchester County Department of Social Services. Tests showed that they performed at or about grade level "except for one who is a little slow in reading," and the parents received strong support from a state senator.^[61] By the mid-1980s the Times was running articles with titles like "Schooling in the Home: A Growing Alternative" and "There Are Benefits In Homeschooling," and states were legalizing homeschooling.^[62] A 1997 article said "It's not only Christian fundamentalists any more" and a 2003 article noted "Unhappy in Class, More Are Learning at Home."

New York is the only state which currently requires all home school students to take the GED equivalency exam in order to receive a high school diploma. However, in most cases, they are not required to take the otherwise-mandatory exam prep course first.

Prominent people who were homeschooled[edit]

Throughout history, a remarkably high percentage of accomplished people were homeschooled, including many great mathematicians. Here is a growing list of such achievers:

• Ansel Adams, (1902–1984), the finest landscape photographer of the twentieth century. "At twelve, unable to stand the confinement and tedium of the classroom, he utterly disrupted his lessons with wild laughter and undisguised contempt for the inept ramblings of his teachers. His father decided that Ansel’s formal education was best ended. From that point forward, the boy was homeschooled in Greek, the English classics, algebra, and the glories of the ocean, inlets, and rocky beaches that surrounded their home very near San Francisco."^[63]

• John Adams (1735–1826), U.S. president. Learned to read at home, and was then taught in the kitchen by a neighbor with a handful of children. He matriculated to Harvard College at age 15.^[64]

• Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), the author of Little Women and other great works, was taught by her father.^[65]

• Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.), the greatest military leader of all time, was taught by his father and, as arranged by his father, by Aristotle.^[66]

• Susan B. Anthony, leading pro-life feminist and advocate of women's suffrage. Her father homeschooled her.^[67]

• Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. David Brooks wrote, "His mother didn't enroll him in the local schools because, as Raffi Khatchadourian wrote in a New Yorker profile, she feared 'that formal education would inculcate an unhealthy respect for authority.'" ^[68]

• Jane Austen (1775–1817), one of the most popular novelists of the early 19th century, was school-educated for only a year, after which she was taught at home by her father, her brothers, and herself, using their large family library.

• Benjamin Banneker (1731–1806) wrote the first almanac by a black man and helped survey Washington, D.C.. Banneker was taught to read and write by his grandmother in rural Maryland."^[69]

• Clara Barton (1821–1912), pioneering nurse during the Civil War, founder of the American Red Cross. Barton was homeschooled, and at 15 started teaching school. She later attended the Liberal Institute in Clinton, New York.^[70][71]

• Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), inventor of the telephone. His deaf mother taught him to read and write, and he returned the favor by inventing the telephone to try to help her (and other deaf persons) communicate.

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), a Christian who spoke against Hitler and was martyred for doing so.

• Willard S. Boyle, the inventor of the CCD that is at "the heart of virtually every camcorder, digital camera and telescope" and is used in "every picture on the Internet, every digital and video camera, every computer scanner, copier machine and high-definition television," and for which he was awarded a shared Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009.^[72]

• Mary Breckinridge (1881–1965), pioneering American midwife and founder of Kentucky's Frontier Nursing Service. Mary's father was a diplomat, and she was educated in America and abroad by private tutors.^[73]

• William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson and before that was the founder of the modern Democrat Party. He was also the leading critic of the theory of evolution who prevailed in the Scopes Trial and was perhaps the greatest orator in American history. He was homeschooled until age 10 as his mother taught him to stand on table to recite his lessons.^[67]

• William F. Buckley, leading conservative intellectual. He was homeschooled by his parents and tutors.^[67]

• Robert Burns (1759–1796) Scotland's national poet.

• Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), the brilliant American businessman and philanthropist of the late 1800s, his father was a poor weaver and Andrew dropped out of elementary school^[74] and had only five years of formal schooling.^[75]

• George Washington Carver (1864–1943) Botanical and agricultural researcher and educator. Born a slave, Carver "learned to read, write and spell at home because there were no schools for African Americans in" his area.^[76] He did not attend school until age 12, when he went to a one-room schoolhouse in Missouri; he later graduated from Minneapolis High School in Kansas. Became the first black student at Simpson College in Iowa, transferred to Iowa Agricultural College in 1891. Earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1894 and a Master of Science degree in bacterial botany and agriculture in 1897.^[77][78]

• Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789–1857), one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, was taught by his father during an 11-year retreat to the country to escape the French Revolution. His father "wrote his own textbooks, several of them in the fluent verse of which he was master. Verse, he believed, made grammar, history and, above all, morals less repulsive to the juvenile mind."^[79][80]

• Madison Cawthorn, the youngest congressman (R-NC) who was elected in a stunning upset shortly after he turned the age of 25 in 2020, defeating his Establishment and Trump-backed opponents in his primary by an astounding 2-1 landslide.^[81]

• Pafnuty Chebyshev (1821–1894), one of the greatest Russian mathematicians, was homeschooled until college.^[82]

• Agatha Christie (1890–1976), best-selling English mystery writer. Christie was homeschooled by her mother, who encouraged her to write from a very early age. At sixteen she was sent to finishing school in Paris.^[83]

• Winston Churchill (1874–1965), British statesman. It was at home that he was taught how to read, write and do math, and was not enrolled in a school until several months into the school year at the age of seven. After only about two years at that school, he was abruptly pulled out and then spent several years under the instruction of two maiden sisters in a less formal school setting.^[84]

• Charles Dickens, prolific English author who could not afford school. His "passions for reading were awakened by his mother," who homeschooled him with a curriculum that included English and Latin.^[67]

• James B. Eads, the greatest river engineer ever; by age 13 he spent his "time reading in his library. So began Eads' education as an engineer. He tinkered with his own inventions at home, building a six-foot long model steamboat when he was in his early teens. And he was intrigued by the inventions of others."^[85]

• Thomas Edison (1804–1896), the most prolific inventor in the history of the world and considered by many to be the most influential person of the last 1000 years.^[86] His mother pulled him out of public school at age 7, after just a few months (his learning difficulties stemmed from a large loss of hearing caused by illness), and began homeschooling him by reading from the Bible.

• Jenna Ellis, attorney for President Donald Trump, was homeschooled through 12th grade.^[87]

• Paul Erdos (1913–1996), the most prolific mathematician of the 20th century, was taught at home until college.^[88]

• Pierre de Fermat (1601?–1665), the greatest mathematician of the 17th century and the founder of the modern theory of numbers, was homeschooled.^[89]

• Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), a leading Founding Father and prolific inventor and statesman, only attended part-time school from ages 8 to 10.^[90]

• Robert Frost, the leading American poet of the 20th century and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He "disliked school so much he became physically ill; what schoolwork he did was done at home until he passed the entrance exams and entered high school."^[67]

• Evariste Galois (1811–1832), among the brightest mathematicians ever and the founder of Galois groups and fields and Galois theory. "Until the age of twelve Galois had no teacher but his mother, Adelaide-Marie Demante."^[91]

• Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804), one of the main Founding Fathers. He was not allowed to attend school because his parents were not married. Instead, he was homeschooled using Greek and Roman classics in the family library.^[92]

• William Hamilton (1805–1865), the greatest Irish mathematician and biggest contributor since Isaac Newton of mathematics to physics. He was taught by his uncle, the Reverend James Hamilton.^[93]

• Zac, Taylor, and Isaac Hanson, of the band Hanson. Educated at home by their mother, and later by a tutor.^[94][95]

• Matthew Henry (1662–1714), "nonconformist" Presbyterian minister in England, and author of Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, perhaps the most esteemed devotional commentary of all time. Under State persecution, Henry was homeschooled by his father, and for a time by a tutor, before moving on to a Christian school in 1680.

• Katharine Hepburn, who won the most Academy Awards ever for an actress (a total of 4).

• Jaime Herrera. She was recently elected to the U.S. Congress.^[96]

• Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910), abolitionist, writer, and women's rights activist. Julia was educated by tutors at home and in girls' schools until age 16.^[97]

• Carl Jacobi (1804–1851), a prominent and prolific German mathematician, was taught at home until the age of 12 and was taught the classics and mathematics by a maternal uncle.^[98]

• Henry James (1843-1916), one of the greatest American authors. He was taught by tutors while his family traveled.

• Joan of Arc (1412–1431), one of the greatest military leaders ever. Taught domestic skills and religion by her mother.^[99]

• John the Apostle (c. A.D. 20–100), the author of the Gospel of John, considered by many to be the greatest written work ever. He also wrote several other books in the New Testament. His parents placed him, most likely as a child, under the homeschool-like teaching of Jesus rather than a more traditional school setting.^[100] John became the first to develop Christian faith and his work has since spread Christianity to billions.^[101]

• C.S. Lewis (1898–1963), the author of the Chronicles of Narnia and other famous works, was taught at home by his mother and a governess until age 10, and later sent to be taught by a tutor to prepare him for Oxford.^[102]

• Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), American president. "Though his [formal] education was limited to a few months in a one-teacher school, Lincoln avidly read books such as the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress and Weemss Life of Washington."^[103]

• Countess Augusta Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), a visionary programmer and namesake of the ADA programming language, was homeschooled by governesses and tutors hired by her mother.

• General Douglas MacArthur, the leading American general of the 20th century, both in World War II against Japan and in the Korean War. His mother homeschooled him until the age of 13, at which point he attended West Texas Military Academy.

• Marcus Aurelius, Stoic philosopher and last of the "five good Emperors" of Rome. In his Meditations, he says that he learned from his "great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally."

• Benoit Mandelbrot, a Yale mathematics professor known as the "father of fractals" and the person who coined the term,^[104] received no extended formal schooling and was taught at home by his uncle beginning at the age of 12.^[105]

• Mark, also known as John Mark, the author of the earliest Gospel who learned by tagging along with his mother, who was a follower of Jesus; Mark witnessed the teachings and Passion at an age of perhaps only 10 years old.

• John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States for 34 years (1801-1835) who vastly expanded the authority of the federal judiciary, and previously served as a Secretary of State under President John Adams from 1800 to 1801; homeschooled almost entirely by his own parents.

• Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), noted violinist and conductor, never attended school, and was taught mathematics, History and Hebrew by his father, and French, German, Italian and Spanish by his mother.^[106]

• John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), influential 19th century political and economic philosopher, was home-schooled by his father, James Mill. He learned Greek at age 3, Latin at age 8, studied economics, history, science, etc. before age 10.

• James Monroe (1758–1831), highly successful U.S. president, homeschooled until age 11.^[107]

• Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), primary drafter of the U.S. Constitution, homeschooled until he attended college at Columbia University, from which he graduated at age 16.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), German composer. "He was educated by his father, Leopold Mozart, a violinist of high repute in the service of the archbishop of Salzburg."^[108]

• Isaac Newton (1643–1727), considered the greatest physicist of all time. He was homeschooled until age ten, and then was an underachiever at school until he lodged with the headmaster.^[109]

• Christopher Paolini (1983–), the author of the best-selling Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance). He was homeschooled by his parents, through an accredited correspondence course from the American School in Chicago, Illinois, from which he graduated with his high school diploma at 15 years of age.^[110]

• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), one of the greatest mathematicians and philosophers of all time, was homeschooled by his father.^[111]

• George Patton (1885–1945), one of America's greatest generals. He was taught at home until age 11 based on his "father's theory of education" that "youthful mind should be led along a path that parallels the development of the mind of the race" by being read to by elders.^[112][113]

• Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), one of the greatest mathematicians ever and an original developer of the Theory of Relativity. Poincaré, who had diphtheria as a child, received special instruction from his gifted mother and excelled in written composition while still in elementary school. He entered the Lycée in Nancy (now renamed the Lycée Henri Poincaré in his honor), in 1862 and spent eleven years there. He entered the École Polytechnique in 1873, graduating in 1875. After graduating from the École Polytechnique, Poincaré continued his studies at the École des Mines.^[114]

• James Polk (1795–1849), President of the United States from 1845 to 1849, one of the few presidents who actually did what he promised to do (annex Texas, acquire western territory, and not run for a second term). He was homeschooled until age 18.^[115]

• Alexander Pope (1688–1744), one of the greatest and most-often quoted English poets and essayists. "From Twyford School he was expelled after writing a satire on one of the teachers. At home, Pope's aunt taught him to read. Latin and Greek he learned from a local priest and later he acquired knowledge of French and Italian poetry."^[116]

• Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951), designer of the German Volkswagen Beetle automobile and founder of the Porsche motor company. He was homeschooled in addition to attending Regensburg Reichstechnikschule,^[117] which is ironic given that homeschooling is illegal in Germany today.

• Eleanor H. Porter (1868–1920), author of the classic 1913 novel Pollyanna and its sequel Pollyanna Grows Up, about an eternally optimistic missionary child who, by playing the "glad game", transforms an entire community. Porter, a Christian and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was "educated in public schools during her childhood until illness caused her to turn to private tutors. She then attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts."^[118][119]

• Joseph Priestley (1733–1804), the father of modern chemistry and the discoverer of oxygen, dropped out of school as a teenager and privately learned geometry, algebra and numerous languages.^[120]

• Bernhard Riemann (1826–1866), a German recognized as the greatest modern mathematician. He was taught at home by his father, a Lutheran minister, until he was ten. After that he was tutored by a teacher from a local school until he entered the Lyceum in Hannover at 14.^[121][122]

• Chanel Rion, a reporter from the conservative One America News Network, who became a national news item in 2020 by attending and asking questions during President Donald Trump's news briefings on the coronavirus.^[123]

• Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), U.S. president. He was educated by private tutors at home through age 14, then entered Groton, an elite private school in Massachusetts, in 1896.^[124]

• Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), U.S. president. "Roosevelt never enrolled in a public school. He was mostly instructed by private tutors until he entered Harvard College in 1876."^[125]

• Erwin Schrodinger (1887–1961), was one of the developers of the theory of quantum mechanics in physics. "He was not sent to elementary school, but received lessons at home from a private tutor up to the age of ten ...."^[126]

• Joseph Smith (1805–1844), was a mayor, a lieutenant general, a political theorist, a city planner, and a religious organizer and the founder of the Mormon Church. He was deprived of a formal education but was mainly self-taught and "instructed in reading, writing, and the ground rules of arithmetic.".^[127][128] His mother said that he was often "given to meditation and deep study."^[129]

• George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), author. Tutored in the classics by a clerical uncle until he entered school at age 10. Left school by age 15.^{[130][131][132]}

• Mark Twain (real name was Samuel Clemens) (1835–1910), American author and satirist who said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Attended school through the 5th grade, where he "excelled only in spelling" and was frequently truant, then worked as a printer's apprentice for a local newspaper. His mother said, "He was always a great boy for history, and could never get tired of that kind of reading; but he hadn't any use for schoolhouses and text books."^[133][134]

• Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who came to America in 1831, when he was 25 years old, and wrote a two-volume definitive study of American culture entitled Democracy in America.

• Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian artist, inventor, and all-around "Renaissance man". Leonardo went to school in Vinci, where he learned to write, to read and to calculate, and was taught geometry and Latin. At 14, Leonardo moved to Florence where he began an apprenticeship in the workshop of Verrocchio.^[135]

• Charles Wesley, the author of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!" and the founding Secretary of the colony of Georgia in the New World.

• Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the "Little House on the Prairie" series of books.^[67]

• Andrew Wyeth (1917–), American artist, was tutored at home until he was 18.^[136]

• Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), considered the finest architect ever, was taught at home by his mother who dreamed that he would become an architect. She used "Froebel's geometric blocks to entertain and educate her son" as his father led the family among various Baptist churches, where he preached.^[137] Wright then attended high school but dropped out of college.^[138]

• Brigham Young, first governor of Utah, the leader of the Mormon Church, and founder of 200 towns and villages. He was homeschooled and had only "11 days of formal education."^[67]

In addition, a number of prominent people have chosen to homeschool their children. David Guterson, author of the novel Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), which won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award, also wrote Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense (1992), an account of his family's homeschooling journey.^[139] Actor and recording artist Will Smith and his wife actress Jada Pinkett Smith homeschool their children.^[140] Michele Bachmann homeschooled her own children, but Minnesota authorities prohibited the homeschooling of foster children (Michele Bachmann also had 23 foster children).^[141] Roseanne Barr stated in an interview that she has started to homeschool her 11-year-old son.^[142] Kristin Maguire, head of the South Carolina board of education, which governs all its public schools, homeschools all four of her children.^[143] Elizabeth Edwards, the late wife of the Democratic vice-presidential nominee (2004) and presidential candidate (2008) John Edwards, homeschooled both of their youngest children.^[144] The wife of Glenn Beck homeschools their children. Ayn Rand praised homeschooling in her popular work, Atlas Shrugged: "I came here, not merely for the sake of my husband’s profession, but for the sake of my own. I came here in order to bring up my sons as human beings. I would not surrender them to the educational systems devised to stunt a child’s brain, to convince him that reason is impotent, that existence is an irrational chaos with which he’s unable to deal, and thus reduce him to a state of chronic terror."^[145]

Others were taught to read at home prior to any school. For example, Ronald Reagan was taught to read by his mother before attending school;^[146] the only African American man to win the Wimbledon tennis championship (in a stunning upset that relied on a brilliant strategy), Arthur Ashe, was nicknamed the "genius" and had been taught to read by his mother at age 5.

See also[edit]

• People Who Arguably Were Homeschooled
• Homeschooled celebrities
• List of homeschool curriculums
• Articles about Homeschooling from previous "In the news"
• Home School Legal Defense Association
• Homeschooling in England and Wales
• Essay:Characteristics of Homeschoolers
• Homeschooling and sports

External links[edit]

• Christian Children Must Have More Than A Fighting Chance - Four reasons to homeschool your children, by Art Robinson
• [21] - List of homeschooled achievers.
• Isabel Lyman, Homeschooling: Back to the Future? The Cato Institute (January 7, 1998)
• Homeschool Central - Free Online Resources for Homeschooling
• [22] Homeschooling for Autistic Children
• Homeschool to Harvard - A Success Story.
• Homeschool reading program - not reviewed yet for quality

Further reading[edit]

• Gaither, Milton. Homeschool: An American History (2008) 273 pp. The standard scholarly history
• Benefits of Homeschooling, by Israel Wayne of The New American, February 7, 2019.
• The Case for Christian Education, by Israel Wayne of The New American, February 7, 2019.

References[edit]

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