Famous Homeschoolers

When you choose to homeschool, you may feel as though you’re out on an island doing the uncommon. But, the truth is, you’re in great company! From elite athletes to politicians to artists, famous homeschoolers are among the most important and talented in our history. Just see for yourself with this list of the most famous homeschoolers.

Are you interested in homeschool? Learn more about Bridgeway’s Pre-K homeschool programs, elementary homeschool programs, middle school homeschool programs, and high school homeschool programs.

Homeschooling Presidents

Some of the most famous homeschoolers in our history have been Presidents. U.S. Presidents who were homeschooled include John Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Garfield, William, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, James Polk, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Washington.

Homeschooling now is even easier than it was for these presidents. Live online homeschool classes connect students with teachers and other students as well as virtual communities of homeschoolers worldwide! Did you know we also offer a Homeschool Associate’s Degree program? You can work directly with college professors and plan to graduate with a high school diploma and an Associate Degree.

Current Famous Homeschoolers

• Tim Tebow– NFL Quarterback and Motivational Speaker
• Justin Bieber– Musician
• Bethany Hamilton– Professional Surfer
• Arran Fernandez– Mathematician, Young Prodigy
• Emma Watson– Actress famous for her role in Harry Potter series
• Julian Trevelyan– Young Concert Pianist
• Esperanza Spalding– Grammy Winning Musician and Child Prodigy
• Venus and Serena Williams– Professional Tennis Players
• Condoleeza Rice– Former Secretary of State
• Sage Katsenberg– Olympic Snowboarder

Learn more about online schools for athletes.

View our detailed list of current athletes that were homeschooled!

Constitutional Convention Delegates

• Richard Basseti – Governor of DE
• William Blount – U.S. Senator
• George Clymer – U.S. Representative
• William Few – U.S. Senator
• Benjamin Franklin
• William Houston – Lawyer
• William S. Johnson
• William Livingston – Governor of NJ
• James Madison – 4th U.S. President
• George Mason – Justice of VA
• John Francis Mercer – U.S. Rep.
• Charles Pickney III – Governor of SC
• John Rutledge – Chief Justice
• Richard D. Spaight – Governor of NC
• George Washington
• John Witherspoon
• George Wythe – Justice of VA

Presidents

• John Adams
• John Quincy Adams
• Grover Cleveland
• James Garfield
• William Henry Harrison
• Andrew Jackson
• Thomas Jefferson
• Abraham Lincoln
• James Madison
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Theodore Roosevelt
• John Tyler
• George Washington
• Woodrow Wilson

Statesmen

• Konrad Adenauer
• Henry Fountain Ashurst
• William Jennings Bryan
• Winston Churchill
• Henry Clay
• Pierre du Pont
• Benjamin Franklin
• Alexander Hamilton
• Patrick Henry
• William Penn
• Daniel Webster

Military Leaders

• Alexander the Great – Greek Ruler
• John Barry – Senior Navy Officer
• Stonewall Jackson – Civil War General
• John Paul Jones – Father of the American Navy
• Robert E. Lee – Civil War General
• Douglas MacArthur – U.S. General
• George Patton – U.S. General
• Matthew Perry – naval officer who opened up trade with Japan
• John Pershing – U.S. General
• David Dixon Porter – Civil War Admiral

U.S. Supreme Court Judges

• John Jay
• John Marshall
• John Rutledge
• Sandra Day O’Connor

Scientists

• George Washington Carver
• Pierre Curie
• Albert Einstein
• Michael Faraday – electrochemist
• Oliver Heaviside – physicist and electromagnetism researcher
• T.H. Huxley
• Blaise Pascal
• Booker T. Washington
• Erik Demaine – Popular Science Mag: One of the Most Brilliant Scientists in America

Artists

• William Blake
• John Singleton Copley
• Claude Monet
• Grandma Moses
• Charles Peale
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Andrew Wyeth
• Jamie Wyeth

Religious Leaders

• Joan of Arc
• William Carey
• Jonathan Edwards
• Philipp Melancthon
• Dwight L. Moody
• John Newton
• John Owen
• Hudson Taylor
• John & Charles Wesley
• Brigham Young

Inventors

• Alexander Graham Bell – invented the telephone
• John Moses Browning – firearms inventor and designer
• Peter Cooper – invented skyscraper, built first U.S. commercial locomotive
• Thomas Edison – invented the stock ticker, mimeograph, phonograph, and perfected the electric light bulb
• Benjamin Franklin – invented the lightning rod
• Elias Howe – invented sewing machine
• William Lear – airplane creator
• Cyrus McCormick – invented grain reaper
• Guglielmo Marconi – developed radio
• Eli Whitney – invented the cotton gin
• Sir Frank Whittle – invented turbo jet engine
• Orville and Wilbur Wright – built the first successful airplane

Composers

• Irving Berlin
• Anton Bruckner
• Noel Coward
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Francis Poulenc
• John Philip Sousa

Writers

• Hans Christian Anderson
• Margaret Atwood
• Pearl S. Buck
• William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Willa Cather
• Agatha Christie
• Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
• Charles Dickens
• Robert Frost – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Alex Haley
• Brett Harte
• L. Ron Hubbard
• C.S. Lewis
• Amy Lowell
• Gabriela Mistral
• Sean O’Casey
• Christopher Paolini – author of #1 NY Times bestseller, Eragon
• Isabel Paterson
• Beatrix Potter – author of the beloved Peter Rabbit Tales
• Carl Sandburg
• George Bernard Shaw
• Mattie J. T. Stepanek – 11-year-old author of Heartsongs
• Mercy Warren
• Phillis Wheatley
• Walt Whitman
• Laura Ingalls Wilder

Educators

• Amos Bronson Alcott – innovative teacher, father of Louisa May Alcott
• Catharine Beecher – co-founder of the Hartford Female Seminary
• Jill Ker Conway – first woman president of Smith College
• Timothy Dwight – President of Yale University
• William Samuel Johnson – President of Columbia College
• Horace Mann – “Father of the American Common School”
• Charlotte Mason – Founder of Charlotte Mason College of Education
• Fred Terman – President of Stanford University
• Frank Vandiver – President of Texas A&M University
• Booker T. Washington – Founder of Tuskegee Institute
• John Witherspoon – President of Princeton University

Performing Artists

• Louis Armstrong – king of jazz
• Charlie Chaplin – actor
• Whoopi Goldberg – actress
• Hanson – sibling singing group
• Jennifer Love Hewitt – actress
• Yehudi Menuhin – child prodigy violinist
• Moffatts – Canadian version of Hanson
• Frankie Muniz – child actor
• LeAnne Rimes – teen-prodigy country music singer
• Barlow Girl – Alyssa, Rebecca, and Lauren Contemporary Christian Music
• Jonas Brothers – Kevin, Joe, and Nick Performers
• Jacob Clemente – Broadway Actor

Take a deeper dive into famous and accomplished entertainers who were homeschooled.

Business Entrepreneurs

• Andrew Carnegie – wealthy steel industrialist
• Amadeo Giannini – Bank of America’s founder
• Horace Greeley – New York Tribune founder
• Soichiro Honda – creator of the Honda automobile company
• Peter Kindersley – book illustrator and publisher
• Ray Kroc – founder of McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain
• Jimmy Lai – newspaper publisher; founder of Giordano International
• Dr. Orison Swett Marden – founder, Success magazine
• Adolph Ochs – New York Times founder
• Joseph Pulitzer – newspaper publisher; established Pulitzer Prize
• Colonel Harland Sanders – started Kentucky Fried Chicken
• Dave Thomas – founder of the Wendy’s restaurant chain
• Mariah Witcher – founder of Mariahs Famous Cookies
• Daniel Mills – founder of Salem Ridge Press

Others

• Abigail Adams – Wife of John Adams; mother of John Quincy Adams
• Ansel Adams – Photographer
• Susan B. Anthony – reformer and women’s rights leader
• John James Audubon – ornithologist and artist
• Clara Barton – Started the Red Cross
• Elizabeth Blackwell – first woman in the U.S. to receive a medical degree
• John Burroughs – Naturalist
• George Rogers Clark – Explorer
• Davy Crockett – frontiersman
• Eric Hoffer – social philosopher
• Sam Houston – lawyer; first president of the Republic of Texas
• Charles Evans Hughes – jurist; Chief Justice
• Mary D. Leakey – fossil hunter; wife of Richard Leakey
• Tamara McKinney – World Cup Skier
• Harriet Martineau – first woman sociologist
• Margaret Mead – cultural anthropologist
• John Stuart Mill – Free-market Economist
• Charles Louis Montesquieu – Philosopher
• John Muir – naturalist
• Florence Nightingale – Nurse
• Thomas Paine – political writer during the American Revolution
• Bill Ridell – Newspaperman
• Will Rogers – Humorist
• Bertrand Russell – Logician
• Jim Ryan – World Runner
• Albert Schweitzer – Physician
• Sir Ernest Shackleton – Explorer
• Herbert Spencer – philosopher, sociologist
• Gloria Steinem – founder and long-time editor of Ms. magazine
• Jason Taylor – plays in the National Football League
• Mary Walker – Civil War physician; recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor
• Lester Frank Ward – “Father of American Sociology”
• Martha Washington – wife of George Washington
• Frances E. C. Willard – educator, temperance leader, and suffragist
• Frank Lloyd Wright – Architect
• Elijah ben Solomon Zalman – Jewish scholar
• Balaram Stack – Award winning Surfer
• Lia Del Priore – Award Winning Gymnast
• Taylor Gladstone – Ballerina

Famous Homeschooling Parents

• Will Smith – singer, actor
• Michael Card – singer, songwriter
• Mike Farris – lawyer and co-founder of Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
• Robert Frost – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
• Christopher Klicka – attorney and Senior Counsel of Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
• Len Munsil – attorney and President of The Center for Arizona Policy (CAP)
• Paul Overstreet – musician, songwriter
• Kelly Preston – actress, wife of John Travolta
• Mike Smith – lawyer and co-founder of Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
• John Travolta – actor, pilot
• Lisa Whelchel – former actress, “The Facts of Life”, now a pastor’s wife and author
• Darrell Waltrip – NASCAR Racer

Is your child an elite athlete or performer? Learn more about homeschooling the famous or child star or performer with Bridgeway Academy.

Ready to start homeschooling or have questions? Give us a call at 1-800-863-1474 to speak to one of our homeschool experts.