Tim Tebow reveals how his 'different' childhood education made him who he is today
When Tim Tebow walked into class as a freshman at the University of Florida in 2006, it was the first time in his life he had formal public education.
Tebow’s teachers up to that point were his parents, Bob and Pam, and the lessons he received went far beyond the three R’s.
The former Heisman Trophy winner and current New York Mets prospect talked about how homeschooling affected his life in an interview with Jessica Mendoza that aired Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“They wanted us to learn reading, writing and arithmetic, but it wasn’t No. 1,” Tebow said. “It wasn’t the most important thing.
“They wanted to instill love in our hearts, love for God, love for one another. They wanted us to be able to learn a work ethic, a dedication.”
Tebow’s parents were working as Christian missionaries in the Philippines when he was born. Three years later, the family moved to Florida, and Tebow grew up on a 44-acre farm near Jacksonville.
Rather than put Tebow and their other four children in public school, his parents decided to homeschool them — something that was unusual in the 1980s.
He told Mendoza that his school days started with farm chores, then moved on to Bible study and regular lessons. Tebow recalls assignments on groundbreaking athletes.
“I did a lot of different projects on Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens … because I was so interested in it,” he said. “I also remember doing science projects on why my parents needed to let me take protein because they didn’t understand that protein was a good thing and I needed to take shakes.”
Tebow said he faced some challenging situations as a homeschooler, recalling how his teammates on a youth football team “had so much disdain, you know, because I wasn’t part of them.”
“I went to work on it, and eventually we became friends,” he said. “But people are going to view you as different, and that’s OK. And sometimes I think it’s pretty good to view yourself as different, and that’s OK.”
Tebow said overall his struggles as a homeschooler were few, but “I know it affected [a] lot of homeschool friends of mine, and some of my siblings, and so it’s something that I also took to heart.”
Last year, he wrote a book for homeschoolers titled “Know Who You Are. Live Like It Matters.“
“I still have such a heart to encourage the homeschool kid,” he told Mendoza. “To let them know that they are loved, and they are special, and they might feel different, and sometimes might feel alone, sometimes might feel afraid. There might be those times where you go through that.”
His message for homeschoolers: “You can be homeschooled and you can be the cool kid, and you can break the trends and you can show that, yeah, you’re different, you’re unique, but in a good way.”
It’s hard to imagine a better role model for homeschoolers than Tim Tebow.
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