African-Americans are joining the national home schooling community at larger and larger numbers every year. Following a nationwide trend, educating children at home is becoming a popular option for Black Americans as private school costs rise and the reputation of public schools grows worse. Read about the current movement of African-American homeschoolers.
The best research on homeschooling indicates the total number of children who are homeschooled is 1.5 to 2 million, and that number is growing by 10 to 15 percent per year. But not everyone recognizes the academic and social success of homeschoolers and some criticize the movement as being white and elitist. While it's true that the large majority of homeschool children are white, the number of black homeschoolers is growing rapidly. Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, estimates that there are 30,000 to 50,000 black children being homeschooled today. Others estimate that black homeschoolers make up 5 percent of the total homeschool population. Most importantly black homeschool movement is growing at a faster rate than the general homeschool population.
Margaret is a homeschool veteran who explains why traditional schooling was never an option for her children. Margaret’s narrative documents the complexity of being a single Black mother and choosing to live in a low-income housing community, and not working full-time in order to fulfill her rights as a mother to do what she determined would be best for her children. Her account also demonstrates the role of faith, spirituality, and the complexity of building a curriculum to meet her children’s needs.
Creating a web presence of African-American home school support groups will do much to organize and network families across the country and internationally. This article the basics for creating a personal home schooling website or site for a home school support group or organization.
Significant growth in black families’ participation in home schooling is beginning to show up on the radar screens of researchers. The National Center for Education Statistics computed African-Americans as 9.9 percent of the 850,000 children the federal agency figured were being home-schooled nationally in 1999. Veteran home-schooling researcher Brian Ray figures blacks are currently about 5 percent of the 1.6 million to 2 million home-schooled children but he agrees that black home schooling is growing rapidly.
Footsteps Magazine is a magazine designed for young people, their parents, and other individuals interested in discovering the scope, substance, and many often unheralded facts of African American heritage. It is an excellent classroom resource for teachers, a valuable research tool for students, and an important vehicle for bringing this rich heritage to people of all backgrounds.
Brown Sugar & Spice Books carries African-American children's books, multicultural books, and black history books for adults and children.
This is a great social networking site for black homeschoolers. It is designed to help share educational goals and curriculum plans as well as connect with other families.
With the educational landscape becoming more diverse in America, black parents are looking for better ways in which to teach their children. One of the new educational alternatives and the only one thus far exhibiting parity between the races is home schooling. Though many blacks are embarking on home schooling as a new educational choice, many don't fully know why home education tends to work for black children. This article will piece together clues that account for black children's affinity for learning at home.
4 My Kids Records is committed to producing quality educational and entertainment products that will ignite a child’s excitement to learn. Every catchy song, dance-floor groove, memorable story, colorful illustration and fun-filled animation is created with a timeless heart.
Mocha Moms, Inc. is a support group for mothers of color who have chosen not to work full-time outside of the home in order to devote more time to their families and communities. Mocha Moms serves as an advocate for those mothers and encourages the spirit of community activism within its membership.
Drs. Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom's new book "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning" shows that the government education whites receive is nothing to write home about, but for blacks, it's no less than a disgraceful disaster.
This list is for Christian families of color who've opted to home educate their children. They exist to offer support, fellowship and to share resources with other African American and bi-racial Christian homeschooling families.
Great youtube video discussing various African-centered resources for homeschoolers.
Black parents are now turning to homeschooling their children. After realizing that public schools are failing black children on a massive scale, black parents are turning to homeschooling. This video discusses these issues.
Mothers are bears when it comes down to protecting their children. Read about how this home school mom fought racism in her way and created highly acclaimed multicultural educational tools in the process.
Here are some tips on how to incorporate cultural studies into your homeschool. This can be used if you are trying to include or highlight your own heritage/ background or if you want to study another culture that is not your own. One of the blessings of home education is that you have the opportunity to study various different world cultures without limitations. You can go beyond the one or two holidays or cultural activities that they may or may not do in the public school system. You can incorporate your culture into every aspect of your curriculum or just highlight some of the major bullet points of your culture. Either way I think these tips give a great starting point to enriching your curriculum program.
This work looks at contemporary Black homeschooling as a form of resistance among single Black mothers, exploring each mother's experience and perspective in deciding to homeschool and developing their practice. It faces the many issues that plague the education of Black children in America, including discipline disproportionality, frequent special education referrals, low expectations in the classroom, and the marginalization of Black parents. Most importantly, this work challenges stereotypical characterizations of who homeschools and why.
Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) exists to educate and inform the general public about parental choice initiatives on the local and national level; educate Black families about the numerous educational options available; create, promote and support efforts to empower Black parents to exercise choice in determining how their children are educated; and educate and inform the general public about efforts to reduce or limit educational options available to parents.
The National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance was born out of a desire to unite African-American homeschoolers nationally. Launched in January 2003, NAAHA is the only nonsectarian organization for African-American home schooling families. The primary objective of NAAHA is to disseminate home schooling information relevant to African-American homeschoolers or to anyone home schooling African-American children. NAAHA's fundamental mission is to consistently provide the latest and the best home school information and resources for members and online guests to enjoy--from home schooling books and curricula to new African-American support groups and organizations. In addition to being an information clearinghouse, NAAHA also provides free educational advisory help from educational professionals and from those with a degreed knowledge of a particular subject.