“Home schooling has a long and successful tradition. Actually, it has two traditions: First, the very wealthy have always educated their children at home, some through tutors and others, themselves; and second, most of the greatest thinkers, leaders, statesmen, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists of history were self-educated.” Oliver DeMille, A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century.
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, Rough Rider
Theodore ”Teddy” Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States. He had an energetic personality and a “cowboy” image.
Teddy was an unhealthy child suffering from asthma who stayed at home studying natural history. In response to his physical weakness, he embraced a strenuous life. He was home schooled and became a passionate student of nature.
During the Spanish American War he led a small regiment in Cuba known as the Rough riders.
In 1901 as vice president of the United States, he became president when William McKinley was assassinated. He was 42 years old, the youngest president in history.
Teddy was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in any field.
Brigham Young, Colonizer
Brigham Young became a Colonizer, territorial governor, and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brigham was the ninth of eleven children. When Brigham was three years old his family moved to central New York state and later to Smyrna, New York. Brigham helped clear land for farming, trapped for fur animals, fished, built sheds and dug cellars, and helped with planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. He also cared for his mother, who was seriously ill with tuberculosis. He did not attend formal school.
Brigham’s mother died in 1815 when he was fourteen. A couple of years later Brigham decided to leave his home and live for a period with a sister. He became an apprentice carpenter, painter, and glazier. Over the next five years in Auburn, he assisted in building its first marketplace, the prison, the theological seminary, and the home of “Squire” William Brown (later occupied by William H. Seward, a governor of New York who also served as Lincoln’s secretary of state). As a master carpenter, Brigham built door fittings, louvered attic windows, and carved ornate mantelpieces for many homes. Many old homes in the region to this day have chairs, desks, staircases, doorways, and mantelpieces made by Brigham Young.
Brigham had a nickname, “American Moses”, because, like the biblical figure, he led his followers, the Mormon pioneers, in an exodus to what they saw as a promised land.
John Jay, statesman
John Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, and founding father of the United States, and the first Chief Justice of the United States.
He was born to a wealthy family of merchants in New York City. He was the eighth child and sixth son. He was educated by private tutors until he was eight years old, when he was sent to New Rochelle to study under Anglican pastor Pierre Stoupe. After three years, he returned to homeschooling under the tutelage of George Murray. In 1760,John went to King’s College. When he graduated he became a law clerk.
Having established a reputation as a “reasonable moderate” in New York, Jay was elected to serve as delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses which debated whether the colonies should declare independence. He attempted to reconcile the colonies with Britain, up until the Declaration of Independence. John became an ardent separatist and attempted to move New York towards that cause.
He co-wrote the Federalist Papers, along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
John he became the New York’s leading opponent of slavery. His first two attempts to pass laws for the emancipation of all slaves in New York failed in 1777 and in 1785, but his third attempt succeeded in 1799. The new law that he signed into existence brought about the emancipation of all slaves there before his death in 1829.
Another world famous politician who was home schooled was Woodrow Wilson President.
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