Update (9/30): Colleges Coveting Homeschooled Students
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I am extremely pleased to know that the number of homeschooling black families is increasing.
Before I elaborate on the race issue, let’s look at class. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, half of homeschooling families have incomes of $50,000 or less. Three quarters earn $75,000 or less.
Contrary to popular opinion, homeschooling is not a phenomenon of “the rich.” Well-off families often opt to send their kids to private and parochial schools. A high income is not a prerequisite to homeschooling. Having an intact family is more likely the key to successful homeschooling. Somebody has to be the breadwinner. I can’t imagine one parent working and homeschooling.
What I’m about to say next is controversial, though it shouldn’t be. Married people with children tend to have different priorities and values than unmarried people with children.
For example, a woman who goes to the “trouble” of getting married before procreating for whatever reason (Christian values, fear of stigma, etc.) creates a more stable environment for her offspring. The children’s biological father has more investment interest, so to speak, in his offspring if he’s living with them and married to their mother. Consequently, he’s more willing to do what’s necessary to support them. An intact family has the option to forgo two full-time incomes so the mother can remain at home with the children.
Unmarried mothers have much fewer options. Homeschoolers also tend to be jaded with government schools for religious and/or moral reasons. In that regard, homeschooling will likely remain a phenomenon of religious-minded, intact families of any color.
Now, on to race. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Although homeschoolers often are stereotyped as white and evangelical Christians, in 2003 about 9 percent of homeschooled students were black, and 77 percent were white, compared with a total student population nationwide that was 16 percent black and 62 percent white. Homeschoolers numbered 1.1 million in 2003, compared with about 49.5 million students in public and private schools, according to the most recent federal statistics from the U.S. Department of Education.
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The growth among African Americans can be seen in the increasing number of networking groups, blogs and Internet sites directed at black homeschoolers — and in who is showing up at conventions.
The National Home Education Research Institute reported in 2003 that homeschooling saw its largest increase in Prince George’s County, Maryland, touted as the largest and wealthiest predominantly black county in the U.S.
If parents of any color and creed want more educational options for their kids (and tax dollars), the first thing they need to do is stop voting for Democrats. 
Are you a homeschooling black parent? Let us know.
Homeschooling bloggers:
- Victoria Carrington, black homeschooling mother
- Spunky Homeschool
- The Homeschooling Revolution
- Why Homeschool
- Homeschool Blogger Directory
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Just a monkey wrench for the stew: My daughter is home schooling in Maryland……she has an extended group of 10 kids and eight of them have a black parent and a non black parent. There is no artificial or contrived construct to this. A church has set up a home schooling clearing house and is helping coordinate the process and this is how the “batch” turned out. (The other two children have black parents.)
Interestingly enough, the church also runs its own school.
My hat is off to all dedicated homeschooling parents, and I’m glad to see that conservative black families are joining the trend. I did not have the option to homeschool my son as I was divorced from his father, who was a moonbat and would never have allowed it anyway. I was appalled at what I saw in the school system as my son progressed through it — I was a vigilant mother and made sure he went to “the best” public schools, but that’s not saying much. Many times, I wished I could have homeschooled. The influences in the school system are just so horrible.
Thanks for posting this. I had no idea that black homeschooling families comprise 9% of all homeschooling families. Excellent! Let’s keep increasing the numbers, for all good families with values.
Germans have a solution for their teachers union’s displeasure with the competition of home schooling – it is illegal.
I had to laugh at the thought of anyone thinking homeschooling was a phenomenom of “the rich.” Most of the homeschooling families I know are living on modest incomes, and we are shameless penny-pinchers. (Check out some of our message boards; if there’s a curriculum sale, free offers for school supplies or chicken breasts at StuffMart for $.99 a pound, we’ll be all over it!)Home schooling may mean a lot of short term sacrifices, but the long-term gains are worth it. I’m glad to hear that more black families are are joining the ranks.
As a future employee of my state’s public school system, I have to say that I’m a little critical of home-schooling. Every parent should have the right to choose what education method they believe is best for their child, of course. I just don’t believe home-schooling is it.
I can understand religious reasons for wanting a child not to be in public schools, but I would rather teach a child discernment instead of taking him or her out of such school systems. Kids in public schools are exposed to kids of varied ideologies, family backgrounds, races, religions, sexual orientations, etc. Most conservatives see this is a bad thing. I see it as the opposite. As a Christian student, I had a chance to be a positive role model (I hope) in a lot of my non-Christian friends’ lives. Public schools also prepared me for college, unlike my home-schooled friend who is having a rather difficult time adjusting.
Perhaps what I’m not criticizing is home-schooling. I suppose I would just encourage parents who are doing so to make sure that their kids are being exposed to the variety of ideas that is the real world.
My best friend (black, married w/2 children) is homeschooling as is her sister (single parent, never married, 2 children). Both consider it the best thing they could do for their children. The unmarried sister works from home and telecommutes one day a week.
A quality, reasoned argument, Jay.
I appreciate that.
I have no problem with public school…my kids learn all the moral values they need at home and then put those values to work at the school so that those other public school kids will see how a born again person is supposed to act.
Luke and Jay, your objections have been raised before and while they sound really good in theory, it is not the reality. Imagine if you planted a tiny sapling — you would want to protect it until it gained strength enough to weather the wind and rain and cold. You’d want to water it regularly, because its roots are not deep enough to reach moisture on its own yet. You’d protect it from the frost and depending upon what climate you live in, you might want to protect it from direct summer sunlight too. One day, the sapling will grow into a small tree, and gradually, it will be able to withstand more and more “assaults” while holding itself tall and straight.
Our children are saplings. I do not for a minute believe that “exposure” to the “real world” (considering what the real world is these days) is strengthening for them, or a chance to “model” their good character traits for others. ALL IN GOOD TIME. Childhood and adolescence, is, furthermore, a very emotionally vulnerable time and it is the rare child who can stand up to peer pressure and peer abuse. I am a middle aged woman, considered to be reasonably self confident and assertive, yet I use to suffer terribly whenever my office mates would get into the usual office politics, office gossip, office abuse of another coworker (sometimes me). It took a lot of strength to stand up and say “Enough! This is not the way adults behave. I will not participate in this.” Sometimes the consequences of doing the right thing could win me friends and the respect of others; sometimes the consequences were ostracization or more mean-girl treatment. My point is that ADULTS have a difficult time navigating every single day in a sea of people with bad character traits — why do we expect our very young children to be able to do so, especially when they are in the process of developing their sense of selves? especially when “belonging” is more important than anything to a child and teen?
I pity all the children whose parents honestly think they are doing the wise and good thing by throwing them to the wolves. Children will come into contact with the “real world” you speak of soon enough — there is no way to avoid it, and they will be better able to deal with it not because of premature exposure to it, but because they were nurtured in a loving and moral environment which is what truly strengthens and refines.
This whole philosophy is really analogous to the difference between parents who used to throw their children into the deep end in order to teach them to swim, vs. the parents who hired a swim instructor.
This is excellent news, we love homeschooling -best thing we have ever done as a couple. I help out after work but my wife has worked wonders and advanced our children further this year than all the years of public schooling previous.
I’ve looked at the homeschooling issue with great interest over the years.
I’ve summarized that the ‘problem’ with public schooling (and I’m including parochial schools in that mix) starts around the middle school years, the primary reason being the teachers start losing control of the class environment. I won’t delve into the reasons why. I’ll leave that up to the landscape of fertile minds out there.
What I’m saying is that up to that middle school point, public schooling is generally quite good–even the inner city schools–whereby much good work is accomplished in socialization, orderliness and structure, etc. This has always been the goal of early education.
Furthermore, resources like “industrial-strength” labs, libraries, and access to other facilities generally generally support the early collective study effort.
However, after the middle school point, AHBL. I have personally witnessed the brightest lads and lasses become close to sociopaths at the hands of the P.S. environment. Yes, there exists evidence of success in P.S. education, but these examples are few and far between. The “price-point” ratio is dismal.
As many have concluded, I feel it is beyond the time when our country abandon the “mass-production” model for education adopted at the dawn of the Industrial Age.
In all, Home Schooling should emphasize the ultimate goal of inculcating independence.
Transitioning children from group study to independent study should be a process well thought out in advance. I think that parents have some time between kindergarten and Middle School to mentally prepare their children for a shift to Home Schooling.
This effort should emphasise a migration from collective, assigned study (up through the Middle School years), to “hybrid” systems of study like targeted lecture and focused study groups, to independent study and research–which should be the goal by the time the student reaches the 12th grade.
Three words that will serve the Home School teacher and student well throughout this process: Motivation, Initiative, and Discipline.
… and let me not forget God and Country.
I’ve summarized that the ‘problem’ with public schooling (and I’m including parochial schools in that mix) starts around the middle school years, the primary reason being the teachers start losing control of the class environment. I won’t delve into the reasons why. I’ll leave that up to the landscape of fertile minds out there.
I’ll delve. Younger children are less defiant. Period. The older they get, the greater the defiance and once they reach secondary school age, modern day adults tend to wuss out instead of strengthening their resolve. It takes more stern actions to discipline older kids and school administrations are just too scared to be stern. Same for many parents and teachers. Lots of teachers want to be stern, but are not supported by school administrations.
Find folks who went to secondary school in the 50s and they will tell you that there was much control in their schools.
And this is a nice topic keying on black folks doing something positive (homeschooling).
As a Christian, I can’t in good conscience public school my kids (when I actually have some). It’s my job to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord, which is near impossible when they’re being taught the exact opposite in public school everyday. The thought of sending them off to a public school everyday would possibly be palatable if they’d actually learn something. But they won’t.
If public schools are so good, as our teachers unions constantly remind us, WHY do a majority of public school teachers in the U.S.(and nearly all high office politicians) send THEIR kids to private schools?
Some public school employees apparently have a disconnect between their attitudes towards public education and what is good for their own kids.
I’m not, but one of my favorite “blog buddies” is. She hasn’t posted an entry in awhile because she has two preschoolers and just had a baby. I’m hoping she’ll be back soon!
http://homeschoolblogger.com/schooldaze
Jay, that may have been a good solution for you, but not all parents see that as a good option for THEIR kids. When my kids were in public school, they were appalled at the animal behaviour of the kids they were in class with . And we were supposedly in a good school district with upper-middle class families.
When we switched to private school, the difference was beyond eye-opening. The atmosphere so much more wholesome than public school will ever be. We’ll never go back to public school.
#18
Exactly.
Over the last year I’ve become a fan of Ms. Barber’s. I’m a 51 year old homeschool (HS) dad; proud to be an American, conservative, and Black (my sis married a Nigerian: my niece and nephew are the true African-Americans in the family).
I have the most appreciation for the posts that emphasise balance, whether they lean pro or con homeschooling.
We are into our 12th year of homeschooling (almost done). Our daughter (now age 20) had been in public school (PS) for 2 years. We saw her love of learning begin to fade. Our son was about to enter kindergarten. He never went. To be brief, after prayer, we were led to HS. I sought the Lord’s wisdom every fall asking was it time to PS. His direction was always HS.
My point is this: some HS out of fear; bad idea. Whether parents HS or PS, the basis should always be faith (meaning ‘confidence’, not the term denoting a religious belief); confidence that this is the best thing for your child/childern and family situation.
Not all families can HS, nor should they. I’m a product of PS; my Mom is a retired PS teacher (won’t go into detail about that; I would need my own blog). Public education is a necessity. It is probably the most noble use of our tax dollars and I cheerfully support it.
We were not financially well-off so for our family it’s been a severe financial sacrifice. But the greatest rewards are seeing that our children can think for themselves; they can research facts, verify truth by eternal standards rather than by ‘passion’s flavor of the day’. They’re not by any means flawless individuals but they can read the Founding Father’s documents and clearly see how far our country has gone away from original intent.
Good character makes for good citizens and good citizens benefit society as a whole. Good schools, public or home, incorporate this into its education.
Oh, as a footnote, ’socilazation’ is not a problem. The kids have PS and private school friends as well through church, scouting, sports, etc.
*That’s ’socialization’. Please pardon the typo.
“The children’s biological father has more investment interest, so to speak, in his offspring if he’s living with them and married to their mother.”
Hmmm, I wonder if this is a chicken-or-egg question. Does the father who stays have more interest, or do fathers who have more interest stay? I am not sure it has much bearing on your interesting post, but it certainly would be important to a woman seeking to marry.
Trey
When we were actively involved in the homeschool movement in Chicago 10 to 20some years ago, the group we were associated with was mostly white, a mix of nearly-hippies such as ourselves and devout Christian. The only homeschoolers we knew who had serious difficulty with government authorities were black. Evidently their defection was seen as more of a threat. One girl was forcibly committed because she denied she was being abused.
We homeschool, and in response to Jay’s concerns I will point out that homeschoolers can and often do provide their children a great deal of interaction with the “real” world. I have chosen to join a homeschool group without a religious affiliation so my children will not be in a Christian ghetto, but I will still be there in the background to monitor those interactions. That is much different than what would happen were I to merely drop them at the door of the public school.
They’re just getting tired of the usual revionist history, evolution, sex education, gay indocriantion,envronmental brainwashing and the rest of the stuff favored by the NEA.
Jay:
I and my wife have homschooled our children for the past 10 years. The oldest two went through college on full academic scholarships. (The youngest is in high school.
What precipitated our decision to homeschool was that — despite going to a school system in educated suburbia (the NASA/Clear Lake area in Houston) my middle son was functionally illiterate in forth grade. He was, however getting “A”s in English and reading. This was a child who was neither stupid nor learning-disabled. (He has an academic scholarship now that he is in college.)
The school system was using a “whole English” system of teaching reading instead of phonetics. This creates the illusion that a child can read more quickly, but is really an attempt by (IMHO) lazy and overreaching educators to short-cut the basics for near turn gain. It turns English into hieroglyphics. We bailed, because we did not wish to risk our children’s future any further than it already had been.
Against a life not spent asking “You want fries with that?” all of the issues of socialization, learning judgment, and being exposed to other points of views really shrinks to insignificance.
Our choice was not one of that however. My friends whose kids are currently in public schools are NOT being exposed to a wide variety of opinion. They are being exposed to one very limited view –if you disagree with it you are in trouble. Their kids are not allowed to be children. Many are being medicated for being “disruptive,” when being disruptive is just being a kid or simply challenging the established order.
Further, when I compare my kids — who are all well-adjusted, friendly, outgoing, and open to other’s opinion — to my brother’s family (they chose to send their kids to public school, because they were afraid of what would happen if their kids were not properly “socialized”) I am even gladder that we ignored everyone else’s advice. His kids are obsessed with “the right clothes,” “the cool ideas,” and are dysfunctional, and well . . . paranoid. They think putting other people down is the height of wit.
I don’t regret the choices that my wife and I made for our kids. It required a lot of sacrifices, but I look at two kids well launched on life, and a third on track for success, and that is all the reward I need.
I agree with the premise of home schooling children. I have done a combination of both home schooling and private schooling.
First of all, my wife is a stay at home wife who takes care of our three children. Her “job” is 10 times as hard as mine, and I know that I wouldn’t be able to do it.
With that being said, my three children are 15, 13, and 4. That would be a high school sophomore, and eighth grader, and a preschooler. What we have done is a combination of home schooling and private school. My wife has prepared my children for school by doing the home schooling for pre-school with the intention of sending them to a Christian based private school starting at kindergarten.
While this has been a serious financial burden for our family, I feel that the sacrifice is well worth the burden that we are encountering. My children have a respect level that I find hard to envision with any of our friends children that are in public school. On top of that, the quality of education by far exceeds that of the public school system in my state (GA). An example of that would by son’s composite ACT score of 20 (the school offered all high school freshman the option of taking the ACT), placing him into the upper percentile of high school graduates as a freshman.
Although this has been a difficult process, I feel that the ends more than justify the means with children who are respectful and well prepared for the future. You might notice that I didn’t mention that I am a black male head of household. This is because the principles discussed above should apply to anyone regardless of race. I am just extremely GLAD that more black families are getting the picture.
“Find folks who went to secondary school in the 50s and they will tell you that there was much control in their schools.”
Yep–I did my K-12 between 1954 and 1967, and it was ALL order. A misbehaving kid would be sharply corrected. It’s hard to relate to what’s going on now.
Except…only exception was 6th grade. I had a thirty-something female teacher, who was nice, funny, spontaneous, but she was definitely in the newer mold and she lost control of us. The principal complained constantly and of course we thought she was just a poopy head.
And get this, I really liked the teacher, BUT for some reason I also hit my personal nadir and ditched school for a week until I was caught by my mother. WHY did I ditch school when I liked the teacher so much?? I never behaved like that either before or after 6th grade.
So, I think maybe playing the Nice Guy or Ms. Wonderful isn’t the role of a teacher.
La Shawn:
Thank you for writing this article.
Of the the three kids we Home schooled, two got into Wheaton College (”Harvard” of Christian colleges tho some others “Hope College, Vestment, Pepper dine,” would disagree)
The oldest got a full ride Scholarship to CAL Berkeley but the place disgusted him, so he went Jr. College then to Bible College.
The Baby who was NOT home schooled, struggled and struggled in public school but is now in a CU swimming against the tide in Ki Alpha and Real Life, (Campus Crusade)
While the SF Chronicle would classify us as white Evangelicals, my wife could pass for North African, tho her mother’s family is swiss origin, I’m not digging into the family tree but they are really dark… and beautiful and highly intelligent… and Christian.
Interestingly, our home schooled kids were “A” students in public HS when they went in order to play big team sports – Football, Baseball and women’s lacrosse.
So as far as all that goes, public School took 5 hours LONGER a day to produce an inferior result, the home school children on average were a year ahead of their peer group.
My wife was educated thru eighth grade in a one room school taught by a mean Canadian in Kashwazahki Japan — Missionary kids.
… as were her siblings … of the wife’s “One room Schooled” siblings,
One is a linguist at Harvard — Japanese. One A Psychologist married to a PhD from Berkeley, Economist, — on Wall Street” (met at Wheaton), One Graduated from Notre Dame Divinity School with a PhD in worship & Music, is Music Director of A Catholic Church in Florida, and my wife teaches Classical Piano, did Graduate Work with Mary Saurer, Principal Pianist for the Chicago symphony.
It’s not a brag, but there was something superior in their education and upbringing and it all started with a one room school for Missionary kids on the north coast of Japan in the middle of nowhere.
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