The new face of home schooling - More and more, African-American families redefine 'homeroom'***DURHAM, N.C. - There are 200-odd houses in Durham's Eno Trace, but the Smiths' home, at 13 Warbler Lane, is a bit unusual. The first clue: a wooden school desk in the middle of the den.
While other kids stream to bus stops on Monday morning, the two oldest Smith girls - Courtney and Erika - head out to babysit: lessons in physics and American history often wait until nightfall. Meanwhile, E.J. and Cassie, the two youngest, sit back on the couch and fill their notebooks with essays. When they get into trouble with composition, they yell one word: "Mom!" .........***
Wow, now I get to thank you for the link to your thread from 2003. I'm wondering how I missed seeing that. Fascinating thread discussion too!
Something from the article though really bugs me.
"...But a chief worry for teachers, according to National Education Association, is the fact that along with avoiding school violence and unsavory peer influences, home-schooled students often miss out on positive socialization, too. No matter what their grades, the criticism goes, they're missing a crucial part of the American curriculum: fraternization with peers."
Dripping with sarcasm a response was recently delivered by a friend in answer to her nosy neighbor's question "but what about socialization??"
"Oh don't worry yourself about socialization. We began with Hegel and we're teaching our kids all about socialists, socialism, the NEA and oh yes, we're covering the communists too, you know... Karl Marx, Lenin, Stalin.
As a matter of fact in a few weeks we're going to do an in-depth study of Mao Tse-Tung. Junior asked Santa Claus to bring him Chairman Mao's "Little Red Book" for Christmas and we couldn't be prouder."
According to my friend, Glady Kravitz herself couldn't have delivered a larger jaw drop than the nosy neighbor after hearing that.