After Homeschooling: Successful Recent Homeschool Graduates

It is easy to point out that people like Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin were home schooled. Just about every person alive before 1850 was homeschooling in some capacity. What homeschoolers need to be prepared to tell detractors is many people are successful after being recent homeschool graduates.

Here are some people who were home schooled and have recently achieved a reasonable level of success.

1. Danny Woodhead was born January 25, 1985 and is an NCAA all time leading rusher. He was homeschool until freshman year in high school, and still carried a 3.72 GPA.

2. Alyssa Buecker from Lawrence VT won first place at the KAN Film Festival at age 13. Buecker's last movie, "Carrot Wars," aired on the HBO Family Channel in 2000. After homeschooling, Alyssa went to Johnson County Community College.

3. · Todd Lodwick was born on born November 21, 1976 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and is a retired American Nordic skier and possibly the most successful north American in this skier ever. He participated in 4 Winter Olympics and 143 World Cup events.

4. LeAnne Rimes was born August 28, 1982 in Jackson, Mississippi. She is a country music singer and songwriter. Her debut single, "Blue", was released when she was only thirteen years old, and by age 24 she had sold over 37 million albums.

5. Venus Williams was born June 17, 1980 in Lynwood, California. She is an African American professional tennis player. She has ranked the world's No. 1 female tennis player. As of July 2007, she is the reigning Wimbledon ladies' singles champion.

6. Serena Williams was born September 26, 1981 is an African American former World No. 1 ranked female tennis player who has won eight Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles. She is the last player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slams at the same time. In 2005, Tennis magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player of the preceding forty years. She is the younger sister of Venus Williams.

7. Christopher Paolini began writing the first volume of the famous "Inheritance" trilogy, Eragon, when he completed a home school high school curriculum at the age of 15. He was born November 17, 1984 in Southern California.

8. Erik Demaine was born on February 28, 1981, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is an associate professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He spent his childhood traveling North America with his father, Martin Demaine, an artist and sculptor; while homeschooling. Erik entered Dalhousie University at the age of 12, and completed his bachelor's degree at 14. He is a winner of a MacArthur Fellowship, better known as The Genius Award.

In addition to these individuals who have achieved a great level of success after being home schooled, studies show that homeschoolers "are often more successful in social, academic, and professional areas than their schooled peers." (HSLDA.org)