GoBigEd

Posted 1:18 PM by Susan Darst Williams

BLACK FAMILIES GETTING IN TO HOMESCHOOLING;
AN ANSWER FOR THOSE WHO FEEL TRAPPED IN OPS?

Here's a surprising story that could contain pearls of wisdom for black Omahans who aren't happy leaving their children in the Omaha Public Schools, and can't wait the years it may take to sort out all the issues in court and the Legislature and turn them around, if ever:

According to U.S. Department of Education figures, more than 100,000 black American children are now being homeschooled, and their numbers are growing faster than whites.

An estimated 9% of the homeschoolers in this country are African-Americans, the 2003 figures show. That shows a lot more diversity in homeschooling than most people think. Black kids make up 16% of the student body in public schools.

The reason for increasing black representation in homeschooling may have as much to do with quality as with social issues often cited, such as safety. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University reported recently that a black public-school student has three times as much chance as a white student to be labeled "special education." Parents of smart black kids don't want their kids misunderstood, mislabeled, and miseducated, and so the "do-it-yourself" option comes to the fore.

Maybe it should be happening more.

Read more on:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/25/MNGLCLC58S1.DTL

Another resource is the National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance.