Simone Biles is an extremely well-decorated gymnast, but was she homeschooled when she was younger?
Simone Biles was homeschooled. When she was a teenager attending high school, she was homeschooled to better meet her demanding and rigorous training schedule for her gymnast career.
Read on to learn more about this incredibly talented gymnast.
Medals upon Medals
Simone Biles had barely turned twenty-three years of age when she was regarded as the best female gymnast of all time. She’d accumulated a staggering number of awards, and gained worldwide recognition.
At the highest point of her career, Simone staked her claim to no fewer than four Olympic gold medals. When she won these – in 2016 – she wasn’t even twenty years old. She showed incredible prowess in a range of styles and variations and dominated the floor.
Since she entered the world stage way back in 2013, Biles saw unbelievable success. There were many victories claimed by the young, American gymnast. Between 2013 and 2019, Biles won twenty-three gold medals at international championships. She also won four silver and three bronze awards.
The success of Simone Biles was deeply tangible and clearly defined. However, the earliest years of her life weren’t as clear cut. When she was a child, her mother gave her – and her siblings – up, to her grandparents (maternal). This occurred when Simone was just six years old.
Allegedly, her mother – Shanon Biles – was unable to care for her children, owing to drug and alcohol addictions. The siblings had all been rotated in and out of foster care in their home state of Ohio.
Shanon didn’t see her children again for another six years, after handing them over to her parents. She explained that her father refused her any visitation owing to her behavior at the time. When she was clean and sober, then she was permitted to see the children again.
High School, Home Schooled
Simone’s grandparents fully supported her gymnastic talents and skills. They nurtured the innate ability and permitted her as much attention and practice as she needed to succeed. It was in 2012 that they resorted to pulling her from public school, opting instead for homeschooling.
They determined that Simone needed as much time as possible to focus on her sporting career. The best way to manage this was to fully control her education and curriculum. An article in 2019 explains how this worked, stating: “Biles attended an ordinary school until her early teens when her training schedule became such that only homeschooling, on-site at the gym, made sense.”
Simone Biles became a staunch advocate for homeschooling, given her success. There were no restraints placed upon her education, and she picked up everything she needed to function. It may have been a different story if she was homeschooled from day one, though.
However, an article that explores Biles’ homeschooling background reveals that – at the time – she wasn’t in love with the idea. It explains that she said she “hated” being homeschooled, as she was a “very social person”, and “lonely all the time”.
That unfortunately was her sacrifice to ensure success. Her gymnastic abilities first became apparent when she was just six years old. She began training at a very young age, but as with most athletes, reaching the highest tiers of their sport would require sacrifices.
You can see how well her grueling training panned out for her, in the below YouTube video. This performance, taken from her competition at Stuttgart, Germany, secured her five gold medals.
There’s no doubt that Simone Biles found incredible success very early on that would set her up for life. It’s likely that if she hadn’t adopted a homeschooling routine, she wouldn’t have been able to meet the training requirements she needed. By 2020, she was still training, competing, and wowing audiences worldwide.