How To Home School: A Guide For Black Families

Black families are home schooling more than ever before. You can too!

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/african-americans-and-home-schooling-a-way-ofreedom-1316681283838

Last summer my school, Achieve Academy, was featured in this NBC documentary about home schooling. Why is NBC visiting families and schools in Middle Georgia to find out about education trends in the US? Great question!

Throughout history, the South has been slower than other parts of the US to break cultural norms and adopt methods that are considered non-traditional, new age, or contemporary. Home schooling has been considered for many years a “white” phenomenon because of our background with civil rights and the struggle for our children to be recognized in an equal public school setting.

Unfortunately, more and more parents are realizing that guaranteeing your child a seat on the Titanic was not the end goal of the civil rights movement. There are many books and studies that have been written that paint a picture of segregated education as one where the black child understood their purpose and the benefit of receiving an education. They were taught by teachers that served as their role models and felt a self-confidence that comes from the security of having a home-school dynamic where parents and teachers were the child’s “village”,

Today, the worst schools in the US are predominately populated by black children, they are often taught by teachers that lack an understanding of black culture, and our children are commonly stereotyped as troublemakers when the reality is they are either confused or bored. Statistics that show black children are disproportionately suspended and held back, not to mention are still routinely prevented from receiving the kind of additional services needed to improve their chances of success.

https://ugaresearch.uga.edu/more-african-american-families-are-home-schooling-their-children/

This article gives the statistics that are forcing more parents to consider home schooling. Many black parents feel that the answer is to take the matter into their own hands and home school their children. Are you one of those parents?

Now, the first step on this road is to understand that home schooling does not have to mean one parent staying at home with the children spending their day at the kitchen table trying to complete text book assignments or force feeding their children Jeopardy facts after breakfast.

Home schooling has matured and developed in the same way as the cellphone (if you’ll allow the analogy!). It takes up less space, makes the user smarter and you can scroll right if something doesn’t agree with your family. In other words, this is a home school buffet, where you can choose your “tasty” vegan, organic and gluten free options or just go for the steak and shrimp. It’s not one size fits all by any means. Our first installment in this comprehensive guide to home schooling is assessing your home schooling options.