Heroes of Homeschooling - 3 Success Stories of Homeschoolers

The number of homeschoolers vis-à-vis the number of regular school attendees is very small. The general perspective is that regular school has many more success stories than homeschool does. But the most surprising successes often crop up from here. The numbers might be small but the percentages are higher. The major reason being the active involvement of parents in the education process and the sheer variety of experiences that the homeschoolers garners.

• Esther Okade

She is a prime example. A 10 year old who loves to play with numbers, she has reached university at a tender age all because her mother taught her math in a fun way that was different from conventional schooling.

• Edith Fuller

She is perhaps best known as the Scripps spelling bee winner. Few know that the precocious child was homeschooled. Her parents became aware of her linguistic skills at a very young age and decided to homeschool her. The focus on her special talent catapulted her to being the youngest winner of the spelling bee at five years of age. Homeschooling had that window which allowed Edith’s parents to concentrate on honing her spelling skills.

• Sam Oosternoff

He is Canada’s youngest parliamentarian. Both he and his brother, who is a professor at Cambridge, are homeschooled. They attribute their success to the rich and varied experiences they had as children. Homeschooling allowed them to have larger social networks and fostered in them a maturity to handle social and emotional situations much more easily than regular school goers.

Homeschoolers almost always have their parents as their primary teachers and are encouraged to have a vaster and more intense practical education. The involvement of the parents in the education process makes them more stable emotionally and socially. You would be surprised to know that most homeschoolers reach college and excel too than coventional school going children.