People will naturally be skeptical of homeschooling, and that’s because it has been consistently pounded into us that school is crucial to succeed in life, and that learning and knowledge and self-improvement can only happen behind its walls. It’s hard to shake off such beliefs when they’ve been ingrained into us every time we’ve tearfully begged to stay home from school as children!
As a response to such doubts- in this section I’ll put the spotlight on famous homeschooled people from all walks of life: scientists and statesmen, authors and athletes, inventors and entrepreneurs, artists and composers, medical practitioners as well as military officers who all managed to obtain great success in their fields as well as contribute significantly to the world. This issue's homeschooled superstar is none other than Thomas Alva Edison.
I'm sure he barely even needs an introduction, since few men have had such a direct effect on the technology of modern society. If you're not sure what his impact and contribution to the world was, try imagining life without light bulbs or fluorescent lamps, audio recordings and motion picture projectors, electric generators and alkaline storage batteries. Edison is credited for the development of all those things. In fact, this great man was the world’s most prolific inventor: to this day, he holds the record for producing the most inventions – over 1,000!
Of interest to us is how was he educated? Did he or did he not go to school? If he did, what did he have to say about his experience there? Who are what did he credit for his success?
As a response to such doubts- in this section I’ll put the spotlight on famous homeschooled people from all walks of life: scientists and statesmen, authors and athletes, inventors and entrepreneurs, artists and composers, medical practitioners as well as military officers who all managed to obtain great success in their fields as well as contribute significantly to the world. This issue's homeschooled superstar is none other than Thomas Alva Edison.
I'm sure he barely even needs an introduction, since few men have had such a direct effect on the technology of modern society. If you're not sure what his impact and contribution to the world was, try imagining life without light bulbs or fluorescent lamps, audio recordings and motion picture projectors, electric generators and alkaline storage batteries. Edison is credited for the development of all those things. In fact, this great man was the world’s most prolific inventor: to this day, he holds the record for producing the most inventions – over 1,000!
Of interest to us is how was he educated? Did he or did he not go to school? If he did, what did he have to say about his experience there? Who are what did he credit for his success?
The answers to those questions in brief are as follows:
- Most sources tally the amount of time he spent in school at just three months!
- In that time- his teachers weren't helpful and dismissed him as "addled" (an equivalent term in our times might be being labelled with ADD)
- Knowing her son better than that, his mother found that unacceptable, and trusting her own judgment, she pulled him out of school to educate him herself. Edison enjoyed being taught by his mother. At the same time, he spent many hours reading - both in their home library and at the public library. His father gave him a 10-cent reward for each book that he completed.
- In his own words Edison would later recall that "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint."
To recap: during his lifetime, Edison had 1,093 patents granted to him by the U.S. Patent Office, and he worked on at least a thousand other inventions. He was the first inductee into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1983, the United States Congress designated February 11, Edison’s birthday, as National Inventor's Day. Life magazine, in a special double issue in 1997, placed Edison first in the list of the “100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years.
Wouldn't you be interested in what a man as obviously intelligent and successful as Edison had to say about schools, about the vital role of a dedicated parent, and about the very nature of learning? Here are some pertinent Thomas Edison Quotes:
“I remember that I was never able to get along at school. I was always at the foot of the class.... I almost decided I must be a dunce.”
“I like the Montessori method. It teaches through play. It makes learning a pleasure. It follows the natural instincts of the human being . . . The present system casts the brain into a mold. It does not encourage original thought or reasoning.”
"If parents pass enthusiasm along to their children, they will leave them an estate of incalculable value.... " (emphasis mine)
“Our schools are not teaching students to think. It is astonishing how many young people have difficulty in putting their brains definitely and systematically to work…”
Some people might say that Edison's words applied to another time, when schools were much different than what they're like now. But on the contrary! In Edison's time it should have been much more difficult for him to accomplish so much when knowledge and information and training is as available as it is now! Just imagine what a person who decided to seek self-education under the guidance of his parents could accomplish in our day and age!
In conclusion, here is a brief list of Edison's Inventions, a man who as a boy spent just 3 months in school, was taught by his mother what she thought was needful, and spent the rest of the time following his own interests.
A Brief List of Thomas Edison's Inventions
- Electric Vote Recorder 1868
- Printing Telegraph 1869
- Stock Ticker 1869
- Telegraph Transmitter 1870
- Telegraphic Recorder 1871
- Electric Typewriter 1871
- Automatic Telegraph 1872
- Galvanic Storage Batteries 1872
- Duplex Telegraphs 1873
- Quadruplex Telegraph Repeater 1875
- Telephonic Telegraphs 1876
- Acoustic Telegraphs 1876
- Pneumatic Stencil Pens 1877
- Perforating Pens 1877
- Phonograph or Speaking Machine 1877
- Carbon Button Microphone 1878
- Dynamo 1879
- Incandescent Electric Lamp 1879
- Magnetic Ore Separator 1880
- Process for Preserving Fruit 1880
- Electric Meter 1881
- Electric Motor 1881
- Dynamo Current regulator 1881
- Underground Electric Conductors 1882
- Telephone Repeater 1884
- Fuse Block 1885
- Thermo Electric Battery 1888
- Phonograph Recorder 1888
- Phonograph Reproducer 1888
- Kinetograph and Projecting Kinetoscope 1897
- Reversible Galvanic Battery 1900
- Disc Phonograph 1911
- Kinetophone 1913
- Portable Disc Phonograph 1929
What could children with this day's resources do if left to pursue their own open-source education?