Homeschooling Heroes: Simone Biles

by Christina Yeager

Homeschooling doesn’t mean your child has to be an athlete, actor or performing artist. Plenty of families homeschool to bring balance in their daily lives when traditional public school schedules don’t work in their favor. However, when your child IS an athlete with a possible Olympic career, a home-based education will help them achieve their goals. Simone Biles wasn’t 100% sure that she wanted to give up going to high school to homeschool to train for competitions, but it paid off in gold!

Image by FlickreviewR [ CC BY 2.0 ] via Wikimedia

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Simone Biles was raised and adopted by her grandfather, who ensured she got the proper education and training her gymnastics career deserved. She started a home-based education in 2012 that allowed her to increase training. Simone graduated in 2015 and decided to attend UCLA which was put on hold to participate in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Achievements
Simone has been participating in gymnastics since she was six years old when becoming interested after a field trip. Her interest led to rigorous training and development of impressive skill in the sport. Biles has been known for her stellar performances of high -level executing of difficulty. She has participated in Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam and Floor Exercise.

Simone has brought home many medals for the United States through competitions on the national and international level in and out of the Olympic spectrum.

Accomplishments
This young lady has enough gold in medals to make Fort Knox jealous and that doesn’t include her bronze and silver medals! They could all be listed here, but it would take up quite a bit of space. Let’s focus on the big stuff:

• 2016 - The 1st woman to win 4 straight United States all-around titles in 42 years of the sport at the P&G Championships
• 2014-2015 - Selected United States Olympic Committee’s Female Olympic Athlete of the Year
• Owns the most world medals in United States history at 14 medals
• Hold the most World Championship gold medals of any female gymnast.

Other awards and notable mentions:

• 2016 - Won the Glamour Award for the Record Breaker
• 2016 - Was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Women
• 2016 - Was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25
• 2016 - Chosen as Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation
• 2016 - One of the finalists for Time magazine's 2016 Person of the Year
• 2017 - Won the ESPY Award for Best Female Athlete
• 2017 - Won the Shorty Awards for the Best in Sports
• 2017 - Won Teen Choice Awards’ Favorite Female Athlete
• 2017 - Won Laureus’ World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year 
• 2017 - Named one of the Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine
• 2018 - Awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award
• 2018 - Named ESPN The Magazine's Most Dominant Athlete
• 2019 - Named Laureus’ World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year for the second time

Simone also starred in a Tide commercial with fellow gymnasts called the “The Evolution of Power” before her participation in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Currently
Simone Biles has been busy since she was six years old and decided that gymnastics was the life she would lead. She has been on a hiatus from the sport while still training to enjoy for a bit.

Rumor has, she has re-entered the sport-sphere since the 2020 Olympic Games are just around the corner! Psst - the video below is proof! 
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