CASE STUDIES: AFRICAN AMERICAN HOMESCHOOLERS:
WHO ARE THEY AND WHY DO THEY OPT TO HOMESCHOOL?
BY
SHEILA L. SHERMAN

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

K-12 Educational Administration
2012

ABSTRACT

CASE STUDIES: AFRICAN AMERICAN HOMESCHOOLERS:
WHO ARE THEY AND WHY DO THEY OPT TO HOMESCHOOL?
BY
SHEILA L.SHERMAN

Homeschooling is not an aberration but a phenomenon which many scholars believe to be
associated with the most idiosyncratic individuals. As unconventional as this educational method
may appear, the practice of educating children at home is one alternative to charter, public,
private, or parochial school that has increased in its appeal in the African American community.
To date, there are no large-scale longitudinal, empirical, or qualitative studies about the
thousands of African American homeschoolers. The study by Fields-Smith & Williams (2009),
found race, religion and home-school interactions as reasons for electing homeschooling.
According to African American parents in this study, race, religion, culture, and teacher’s low
expectations are the most common reasons for opting to homeschool.

Copyright by
SHEILA L. SHERMAN
2012

DEDICATION

I could not have made it alone and without the encouragement and support of many family
members, friends, and colleagues. Many feel that religion has no place in education, but how can
you dissect a person from their beliefs? First, I must give the highest praise to my creator and
sustainer, Jesus Christ, Hallelujah, for giving me a sense of purpose and the vision to direct my
path to Michigan State University. Second, I would like to acknowledge my late parents, Tazie
and Earlene Sherman, who passed away five weeks apart during my Ph.D. journey. I am grateful
for their unconditional love and support over the l8 years it has taken me to go from Masters to
Ph.D. this dissertation defense & anticipated celebration comes only with mixed emotions as I
think of you. Your values in attaining the “most education I can get” is one reason I am here. I do
this in memory of you and your love for me; others should be so blessed to have had two parents
like you for 43 years of their lives. My children, Alexis Nicole has watched me go through so
many changes during her years of life from birth to adulthood-finally huh?? Sydney, not unlike
her sister, has never known a time when her mom has not been in school-it would not surprise
me to see you as a scholar; keep up the good work and the 4.0 grade point average. Thanks to my
many friends, Michelle, Bronwyn, Leezah (Dr. Brown-Ellington), Gene, Jean and Jennifer to
name a few for your support and ear from beginning to end.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The academy is fraternity. First, let me state an unscholarly sign of relief, “Wow,” to Dr.
Christopher Dunbar, Jr. as my advisor and chair of both my proposal and dissertation
committees. Thank you for making this sojourned adventure a true learning experience and not a
nightmare. I do not think it could have been possible to be assigned a more perfect advisor for
me. I am appreciative of you, mostly, for your candor, but particularly grateful for your sense of
humor; both are characteristics that an apprentice needs when trying to pledge this fraternity of
scholars. I would be remiss if I did not go back to the very beginning of the application process
to MSU and give special thanks to Dr. David Arsen. It was that pivotal hour with me assessing
which program would best suits my needs based on my cupidity and background that informed
my decision to join the Educational Leadership team. Because of you, I did not waste valuable
time and money trying to figure where I needed to be. Dr. Cusick, former Department Chair,
proposal committee member, I thank you for welcoming me into the department, supporting and
introducing me to the benefits of AERA involvement. It is because of your support, I had two
great years as the junior and senior newsletter editor for the Graduate Student Council. Thank
you to Dr. Maenette Benham for the role you played as director. Anyone who did not prosper
from your writing seminar really missed out on invaluable writing strategies. Dr.Reitumese
Mabokela-thank you! As a contributing member on my proposal and dissertation committees, I
applaud your insight and critique; you are a wonderful inspiration to me as researcher. Gratitude
is given to Dr. Muhammad Khalifa and to Dr. Francisco Villarruel for being welcomed additions

v

to the defense committee. Your willingness to undertake this task is sincerely appreciated. I
would like to acknowledge the other contributing professors: Dr. Melinda Mangin who inspired
this research, Dr. Andrea Evans of Northern Illinois University, who held my hand
during my first AERA, Dr. Linda Tillman of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for
your support as a Barbara L. Jackson Scholar, candid discussions about existence in the
“academy” and your concern for me when I lost my parents. Last but certainly not least, Dr.
Gaetane Jean-Marie of the University of Oklahoma-Oklahoma City for being a mentor that
surpasses any expectations I could ever envision. I appreciate your many hours of open
discourse, lunches, and for the opportunity to co-author my first journal article with you. I am a
firm believer that you are not a success on your own and without intersecting the journey with
others- thanks to each of you.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………….......viii
KEY OF ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………………………..........................ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1
Government Involvement………………………………………………............5
Government Funding………………………………………………………….5
Government Regulation…………………………………………………...…8
Homeschooling as an Educational Alternative…………………………………..12
Historical Comparisons of Black and White Homeschoolers……………….......13
Statement of Problem…………………………………………………………….16
Purpose of Study …………….………………………………………..................19
Research Questions...............................................................................................21
Conceptual Framework.........................................................................................22
Background and Rationale....................................................................................24
Summary…………………………………………………………………………29

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Definition of Homeschooler…………..................................................................31
The Homeschooling Movement………………………………………………….31
The Religion-Homeschooling Connection……………………………....33
Homeschooling Disparities Among State………………………………………..33
Michigan Homeschooling Requirements………………………………...35
Deciding to Homeschool………………………………………………………....37
Historical Overview Blacks and Education……………………………………...39
Pre-Civil War………………………………………………………….....39
Statistical Data on Homeschoolers…………………………………..…..46
A Decision to Homeschool………………………………………………50
Attempts to Close the Achievement Gap………………………………..50

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS
Problem and Purposes Overview………………………………………………..56
Research Questions……………………………………………………………...58
Rationale and Assumption for Qualitative Design………………………………59
Researcher’s Role………………………………………………………………..60
Participant Selection……………………………………………………………..62
Data Collection…………………………………………………………………66
Interviews………………………………………………………………………..68

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Observations……………………………………………………………………..69
Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………….71
Trustworthiness…………………………………………………………………. 72
Limitations of this Study…………………………………………………………75
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….76

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS OF DATA
Participant Selection……………………………………………………………..78
Data Collection…………………………………………………………………..81
Interviews………………………………………………………………………...84
Observations…………………………………………………………………......85
Who Are They? The Dampare Family…………………………………...87
Who Are They? The Urban Family…………………………………..…95
Who Are They? The Ham-Kyu Family………………...………………103
Who Are They? The Patterson Family……………………………….111
Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………121
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………121

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Background……………………………………………………………………..125
Overview of Study…………………………………………………………….126
Findings……………………………………………………………………….129
Assumptions…………………………………………………………………..138
Recommendations………………………………………………………………142
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………143
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………….147

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………….157

LIST OF TABLES

viii

Table 1

Family Units………………………………………………….………………..66

Table 2

Data Collection Methods Used in the Study: Limitations and Advantages……67

Table 3

Strategies Implemented to Ensure General Trustworthiness of the Findings.…..73

Table 4

Dampare Instructional Day……………………………………………………..89

Table 5

Urban Instructional Day………………………………………………………...100

Table 6

Ham-Kyu Instructional Day…………………………………………………..110

Table 7

Case Study Demographic Data……………………………………………….134

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KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS

AERA

American Educational Research Association

AAHNET

African American Homeschoolers Network

ATM

Automated Teller Machine

AYP

Adequate Yearly Progress

CAT

California Achievement Test

DOE

Department of Education

ESEA

Elementary and Secondary Education Act

FOCUHS

Families of Color Using Homeschooling

HSLD

Home School Legal Defense

JBHE

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

MAT

Metropolitan Achievement Test

NAAHA

National African American Homeschoolers Alliance

NAEP

National Assessment of Educational Progress

NCES

National Center for Educational Statistics

NCLB

No Child Left Behind Act 2001

NHERI

National Home Education Research Institute

NHES

National Household Education Surveys Program

PFI

Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey

x

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Homeschooling was common at the church I attended. My church was primarily White
but my husband is Black, so my children are biracial. I wanted them to experience the
world as Black children not from a White perspective.1
–Donna, homeschooling mom
I saw some kids at church with negative attitudes, a bad demeanor towards life, and other
bad habits; it reminded me of how I acted as a kid. My husband had been homeschooled
and had already been a part of this experience.
–LaTrice, homeschooling mom
I have had a mixture of teachers in public schools. When I lived in Georgia, the preschool and kindergarten teacher didn’t know what to look for in my daughter and the
teacher’s son was in that class. Her first-grade teacher was nurturing, her second-grade
teacher was excellent, but her third-grade teacher was just okay. Then we moved to
Illinois. After my school district rezoned, the students were mostly Black but all the
administrators were White, and they were not willing to accommodate my daughter’s
needs.
–Rita, homeschooling mom
Initially, I thought it was just weird, White church folks who homeschooled. But my son
requested to be homeschooled after dealing with his last teacher and principal in
Farmington Hills. He is a high achiever, he was reading at 3 years old. He knew the
difference between upper and lower case letters and could read 100 sight words by the
time he was 4 years old.
–Rachel, homeschooling mom
We started reading some of the books in the curriculum. There is no mention of anyone
other than a White person. It is a lie, it is insulting, and it is not right, so that is one of the
most important aspects of homeschooling—that you can empower your child with the
1

It is important to note the terms: Negro, Colored, and Afro-American are all outdated words
for people of African ancestry; however, for periods in time, these terms were appropriate.
Today, Black or African American is an acceptable, synonymous term that refer to an individual
who belongs to the African American or Black, non-Hispanic community. “The term, ‘African
American’ refers to approximately 33 million people who make up 13 percent of the U.S.
population with largely African ancestral background” (Mickey, 2008).

1

truth. We went to the Potomac Bookstore and my son Zebulon said, “Mama, why is
everything about Jesus and why is He white everywhere?”
–Monique, homeschooling mom
LaTrice, Donna, Rita, and Rachel are African American homeschooling mothers who
have provided a glimpse into their reasons for choosing homeschooling as the approach
to education instead of entrusting their children to a charter, public, private, or parochial
institution. In lieu of the common tradition of sending the child off each weekday to learn
under the direction and supervision of trained pedagogical practitioners, these students
can stay home and learn in their pajamas. The opinions and concerns expressed by these
mothers are not atypical of the sentiments among an increasing number of African
American homeschooling families. For these families, the primary concern is to make
sure their children are well-prepared with a solid foundation to become productive and
contributing citizens in the United States.
Homeschooling is not a clear concept in many individuals’ minds. In general, little is
known about homeschooling. Many people simply do not understand how homeschooling is
done, why a family would want to do it, or what kind of person chooses this kind of educational
alternative. This research is comprised of four case studies. The case studies enable the reader to
learn who these families are in addition to background information regarding their obstacles to
public schools and the versatility within the homeschooling movement. Last, this research will
attempt to offer a clearer lens for comprehending the situational contexts of African American
homeschooling families.
When designing case studies such as these, it is imperative to provide a rich and
descriptive context. Yin (2003, p.13) defined a case study as, “…an empirical inquiry that
investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when boundaries

2

between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident….” Therefore, this study triangulates
data about African American homeschoolers through case studies, semi-structured face-to-face
interviews, and a survey instrument. According to Merriam (1988, p. 8), “A case study can also
include data gathered by a survey instrument.” Through this triangulation method, the researcher
aims to inform readers by supplying evidence to interpret this “culture’s web of symbols,” in
other words, to determine who these African American homeschoolers are and why they have
opted to homeschool (Gertz, 1973).
Educational systems have undergone a lot of transition, reform, and turmoil in an effort to
improve student achievement to give our students a competitive edge on a global level. There
have been countless initiatives to improve the academic standing of our students collectively
when compared to systems in other countries worldwide. One of the earliest reform efforts is
commonly known as A Nation at Risk. However, the complete title of the report submitted by
the National Commission on Excellence in Education is: A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for
Educational Reform. Here is an excerpt from this report:
Our society and its educational institutions seem to have lost sight of the basic purposes
of schooling, and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them…
(p.5). The people of the United States need to know that individuals in our society who
do not possess the levels of skill, literacy, and training essential to this new era will be
effectively disenfranchised, not simply from the material rewards that accompany
competent performance, but also from the chance to participate fully in our national life.
A high level of shared education is essential to a free, democratic society and to the
fostering of a common culture, especially in a country that prides itself on pluralism and
individual freedom (p.7). (U.S. Department of Education, A Nation At Risk, 1983)
This passage from A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (1983)
suggests that the United States is a country that allows for diversity and permits individuals the
freedoms to promote their political beliefs, religions, and the liberty to select the institution that
is best suited to educate their children. Even though homeschoolers are exercising their liberty
and for some, their religious beliefs as they home school their children, homeschooling families
3

remain a minority group because they choose to educate their own children. Many citizens
oppose and do not believe parents should have a fundamental right to home school.
In a democratic society, majority rule must be coupled with guarantees of individual
human rights that, in turn, serve to protect the rights of minorities—whether ethnic,
religious, or political…. The rights of minorities do not depend upon the goodwill of the
majority and cannot be eliminated by majority vote. The rights of minorities are protected
because democratic laws and institutions protect the rights of all citizens. (U.S.
Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs, December 15, 2010)
These freedoms are integrated components of democratic principles. Whether one agrees
with the concept of teaching your own children or not, there are implied guarantees under the
premise of democratic principles. As U.S. citizens who have inherited the fundamental rights to
these freedoms, parents have been empowered to select the educational institution that best
supports their own values and beliefs. “Parents” would also include homeschooling parents and
their human rights as part of a minority population. In essence, the majority of the population
chooses to delimit their options to public, private, or parochial institutions. Fundamentally, only
a small minority of the population opts for a different direction by invoking the right to educate
their children at home.
Therefore, this research study will present data of a few of the African Americans from
this growing segment of the population. Contained in this study are various perspectives of their
fundamental right to home school as a viable alternative to public, private, or parochial schools.
This chapter is divided into the following subsections: (a) Government Involvement; (b)
Homeschooling as an Educational Alternative; (c) Historical Comparison of Black and White
Homeschoolers; (d) Statement of Purpose; (e) Purpose of Study; (f) Research Questions; (g)
Background and Rationale; and (h) Summary of Introduction.

4

Government Involvement
It is important to highlight some of the contrasts in government involvement with
kindergarten through twelfth (K-12) grade education when examining educational options which
include home schools. For the purposes of this study, I will present a brief comparison of the
level of government involvement with homeschoolers versus other types of educational
alternatives. These two aspects of government involvement with K-12 education are funding and
regulation. I submit that these forms of involvement should be compared because as taxpayers,
citizens provide financial contributions to public schools. Homeschooling parents are taxpayers
and, perhaps, homeowners. Therefore, some of their earnings go to public schools through
income taxes from wage earnings or if they are homeowners, their dollars go to public schools
through assessed property taxes. There are three typical ways of funding schools: (1) Local
spending; (2) Foundation program; or (3) Power equalization program (Munley, V. G., & Harris,
M. H. 2010, p.26-27). The level of involvement by local, state, or federal governments varies
from state-to-state. Government is involved in the educational process in some aspect. Although
this study will only highlight some of the challenges homeschooling families experience to
inform the body of current literature, there are opportunities for future research in the areas of
financing home school education and the variance in state regulations of home school education.
Government Funding
In general, society may assume the government exclusively supports public schools
education only from kindergarten through grade 12. I contend this is not true. Vouchers are
available in some state to parents who opt for alternative schooling options such as private,
parochial, or charter schools. Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana are a few states who assist parents
with alternative schooling vouchers. Tom Corbett, Governor of Pennsylvania, proposed a bill

5

that would allow vouchers to be used to transfer out of public schools to private or parochial
schools. Indiana allows vouchers for private, parochial, or charter schools. Ohio supports
vouchers for private and parochial schools. In each of these states, parents who are considering
the option of home schooling cannot use vouchers as an alternative to public school, private or
parochial schools despite the documented evidence that academic gap between White and Black
homeschoolers has closed. Evidence will be stated in the literature discussed in Chapter 2. When
it comes to funding homeschooling families with similar support that students would receive in
private, parochial, or charters schools, typically, homeschooling parents face barriers to teaching
their own children at home.
In a comparison of the financial support given to educational entities and home schools,
the government demonstrates a level of disparity with financial support for families who desire
to home school and families who select to enroll in other schooling options such as private,
parochial, or charter schools. States and federal governments typically support the majority of
public schools in the form of grants. When school districts accept state or federal grant dollars,
they also accept the regulations that come with receiving those funds. Grants are provided to
public schools with a portion of taxpayers’ contributions: local, state, or federal assessments.
Generally, when a state or federal government provides a grant to a school district, the school
district has agreed to expend the money according to limitations and conditions of the specified
grant. If the district fails to follow the grant’s stipulations, the district will be required to repay
the money and could, subsequently, face sanctions in subsequent years. Usually, grants given to
districts will pay for supplemental materials to close achievement gaps, provide teacher
development workshops and training, purchase supplies or equipment that will increase literacy,
and to provide supplemental tutoring services to students who are identified at-risk of failing

6

either because of socio-economic status, a language barrier, cognitive/speech impairment, or
disability, for example. To date, there is no local, state, or federal grant or bank loans to support
home schools in the same regards as public schools. However, there are banks that will lend to
parents for private school tuition. There are no grants to support home- schooling parents’
professional development or training, and no grants to provide supplemental materials to close
achievement gaps or to get services for students with special needs. There has been no
precedence to support that if given the financial assistance to teach their own children that
homeschooling families would not comply with the government regulations.
When examining government assistance to families who teach their children at home, an
examination of assistance to parents who teach their children at the pre-school level cannot be
overlooked. According to a longitudinal study of a 2001 cohort of children aged birth to 4 years
by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), as of 2005–2006, approximately 13%
of children in the sample had attended home daycare provided by a parent or relative (NCES,
2008). A daycare often takes the form of a home school when instructional activities are
provided to young children in preparation for entering a conventional school program. A daycare
is defined as a “daytime supervision and recreational or medical facilities for preschool children,
physically challenged people, or seniors wanting special assistance” (American Heritage Online,
2010).
Many times, financial support to open a daycare is available from either public school
funding or federal grants issued by the state. Ironically, the government can be identified as a
biased home school supporter, because it does provide assistance with a home school in the form
of daycare for children who are not required to attend school. However, there seems to be
disparity by governments in relation to parents who home school and parents who run home

7

daycare centers. An argument is that government finally supports home daycares because it
provides employment to the parents who run them and they can, in turn, service the community
by allowing other parents the opportunity to receive child care by these parents. However, it
appears that parents who home school would also provide services to their own children; in some
cases, they would also teach other homeschooling children if they are part of a cooperative
group. There are federal programs to support Head Start, Pre-School Enrichment Programs, and
Early Childhood Block Grants for children at risk and special needs. However, for parents who
are interested in educating their children at home, there is no funding when wanting to teach their
own children from 0-4 years. However, there are means for parents to borrow money for tuition
if the child attends, private, charter or parochial schools in K-12. A review of the literature on
homeschooling showed that no studies have addressed the issue of financial support by
government or by banking institutions in the form of a student loan to assist with payment or
enrollment of online courses and programs for homeschooling families.
Government Regulation
Most local and state governments take a-hands off approach with homeschooling
families, others do not. For example, states such as Ohio and New York mandate reporting the
intent to home school, require the name of textbooks, curriculum, evidence of progress reports
and annual assessments such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, CAT, or MAT to the local school
district (HSLD.org/laws/analysis/New_York.PDF, 2011-2012). Michigan does not require
notification of the intent to home school or monitoring by the local school district. Later, in one
case study, you will learn about an African-American homeschooling family in Michigan who
utilizes the local public school for special subjects such as gym and the arts program. For states
that regulate home schools and monitoring, they do so without providing financial support to

8

homeschooling families for these regulations. Despite the financial support provided to public
schools to support student learning, funding is not given to home schools to provide parent
training and development as instructional leaders. This research study is not to advocate that
local, state, or federal funds should or should not be allocated to homeschooling families. The
purpose of this section of the study is to inform scholars and the limited body of literature on
African American homeschoolers that there is need for future research when examining the lack
of financial support by the government for financing home school education and for professional
training for homeschooling parents.
In recent years, government has become increasingly involved in the homeschooling
process. Compulsory attendance laws vary from state-to- state and for states that have more
regulations and require monitoring of homeschooling families, those procedures would increase
the financial burden by governmental agencies including local school districts and, consequently,
tie up human capital resources with the monitoring process. Many governmental entities have
filed law suits and passed laws to increase barriers for parents who home school. Homeschooling
has been debated in the United States since at least the 1830s. This debate continues today,
including the regulation of homeschooling (Ray, 2000a; Burkard & O’Keeffe, 2005; Howell,
2005; Reich, 2002, Ray & Eggleson, 2008).
When parents elect to educate their own children in grades kindergarten through 12, they
are often subjected to serious barriers by government institutions. Although as many as 17 states
have mandated support of homeschoolers by local school districts in the form of teacher support
and extracurricular programs, for instance, homeschooling families find themselves encountering
a lot of resistance by public school districts (Fields-Smith & Williams, 2009, p. 382; Smith &
Farris, 2011). In some cases, vouchers are given to parents to go to charter schools. In recent

9

years, parents have faced increased restrictions or legal actions by local and state governments as
a way to promote an orthodox educational institution.
These legal sanctions and disciplinary actions attempt to deter parents from teaching their
children at home. For example, Richard and Margie Cressy, homeschool parents of four children
ages 8 to14, were recently arrested by the Montgomery County (Maryland) sheriff for failing to
report to local school district officials. The arrest took place despite the local district’s
recognition that the Cressys were in compliance for the 2009–2010 school year (Homeschool
Legal Defense Association [HSLDA], 2010). A similar case began in 1984, involving Michigan
HSLDA members Mark and Chris DeJonge, lasted for over 10 years, and resulted in a landmark
decision in the state supreme court; this decision led to an exemption for homeschoolers from
teacher certification requirements (HSLDA, 2009; Shane, 2008). “Today, Michigan boasts one of
the best homeschool laws in the nation” (HSLDA, 2009).
The HSLDA cites current examples of legislation and legal cases in which parents are
either facing restrictions on their right to homeschool or legal action once they have decided to
homeschool. In Illinois, Representative Danny Davis has proposed increased federal grants for
creating or expanding home visitation programs (H.R. 2205—Education Begins at Home Act of
2009). As of April 2009, four representatives in Alaska has proposed House Bill 69: Alaska
Parents as Teachers Act, which would begin as “voluntary” monthly home visits and parent
meetings and health screenings for children; however, the HSLDA fears that this now voluntary
program would eventually lead to mandatory visits. Six senators have authored proposed
changes to Georgia law that would require parents moving to a new district to enroll students in
school or file an intent to homeschool within 30 days of commencing a homeschool program or
risk criminal misdemeanor charges of up to 30 days in jail and fines between $50 and $500. In

10

addition, five Georgia House members have authored House Bill 524: Requiring Approved
Home Study Programs, which would amend the language in the compulsory attendance law that
a child be placed in an “approved home study program.” Currently, there is no “approved” home
study program in Georgia. However, in the California case, Mrs. B v. Community Services
Agency, Mrs. B’s welfare benefits were going to be reduced because the agency said her
daughter was not attending high school. The judge ruled that the agency was in violation as it
had not defined “attendance at school.” In Kansas, a public school district refused to accept a
family’s right to homeschool despite the state acknowledging their right in the case, Mr. & Mrs.
T, where the parents filed the required "Non-accredited Private School Report" with the state.
The school district then had the assistant district attorney file a petition to have the children
removed from the home and tried to have the parents pay for their foster care while they were in
the system. The public school demonstrated prejudice against the parents and neglected to follow
their own truancy policy; the case was dismissed. “An appellate court decision in California in
February 2008 essentially marked as illegitimate the educational practices of the parents of an
estimated 166,000 homeschool students” (Egelko & Tucker, 2008; In re Rachel L., 2008;
Maxwell, 2008; Ray & Eagleson, 2008).
Within these cases are attempts to limit or remove parents’ rights to teach their children
in lieu of public schools. In the case of Mr. & Mrs. T, the parents did what was required of them
in filing the Non-accredited Private School Report. Again, legislatures seek to take actions
against parents who seem to be exercising their liberty and right. There are certainly cases where
local schools create barriers to the rights and liberties afforded to all citizens. While there are
instances where a homeschooling family is not doing all that it claims to do, many of the
homeschooling families are successfully teaching their children according to the studies

11

conducted and published by NCES in 1999 and 2003. All homeschooling families should not be
subjected to increased restrictions because some families take advantage of the current systems.
Homeschooling as an Educational Alternative

Parents who choose to homeschool their children must weigh the benefits of home
education and the consequences of alternative educational institutions. “Despite increasing trends
toward home education, empirical research on the benefits and challenges of homeschooling
remains limited” (Fields-Smith & Williams, 2009, p. 370). Many homeschooling parents are
skeptical about the quality of education in schools outside the home. However, some African
American families who home school obtain services or utilize some aspects of conventional
schools’ curricula. Other parents do not believe that public, private, parochial, or charter school
educators will not competently prepare their children to be fully-productive citizens who can
participate in our society. For example, an African American homeschooling mom, Lisa PeytonCaire, stated the following in an online response to a blog:
Though many Americans don’t want to acknowledge what Black parents know intimately
well, the fact remains that America’s public schools do not serve all children well. Black
students, particularly Black boys, get the shortest end of the stick it seems regardless of
the class or income of their parents or their innate abilities. (April, 25, 2008)
For some homeschooling parents, religion is the motivator behind homeschooling. For
example, Paula Penn-Nabrit, an African- American homeschooling mother, states, “I absolutely
believed that homeschooling was something God wanted us to do and, consequently, I believed,
that our faith in pursuing it would be more than adequately rewarded in the final analysis”( PennNabrit, 2003, p. 63). “Certainly, we know homeschooling is not the exclusive pathway to a life
well lived…But in our instance, the freedom to form a holistic educational environment helped
to create a life that was well lived” (Penn-Nabrit, 2003, p.50). Other homeschooling parents have
opted to teach their own children due to continuous disappointments with other educational
12

institutions, where they felt the instruction was substandard. In an essay, homeschooling mother
Detra Rose Hood stated, “There is a way to keep our children on track. They do not have to
become lost souls. We can help them become productive, caring human beings” (as cited in
Llewellyn, 1996, p.232). In many cases, these sentiments persist among many homeschooling
families regardless of the federal, state, or local school reform.
In the 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, the bells and whistles blew to awaken our society
from the educational coma that had existed far too long in public education in the United States
of America, ostensibly the world’s superpower. Our country has had great challenges with
preparing our children with the skills needed since then. Subsequent to this 1983 report, we have
created many educational reform programs to correct our shortcomings. However, our
educational system has been inept with empowering our children with literacy and other skills
needed for the 21st century particularly African American children (Gosa & Alexander, 2007).
Historical Comparisons of Black and White Homeschoolers

Scant empirical or even anecdotal research has been conducted on African American
homeschoolers. Thus, any historical comparison between the Black and White homeschooling
movements or individual homeschoolers will be inevitably limited. The meager literature on
African American homeschoolers that does exist is quite recent. In comparison, literature on
Caucasian homeschoolers dates back to the 1800s and is written exclusively through the lens of
Caucasian researchers about Caucasian homeschoolers. To understand the current state of the
homeschooling in the United States and how African American homeschoolers fit into this
history, however, it is important to trace the origins of the movement.
Early evidence of homeschooling dates back to the mid-17th century. For example,
Linsenbach (2006) found that, “in 1642, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law that

13

required parents to make sure their children could read.” From the early 1800s to the present,
homeschooling has been a common way of educating children in the United States. Many
families farmed for a living during the early 1800s, which made regular attendance at a formal
school difficult for many children. During that period, there were few professional educators,
particularly in rural areas. Educators with anything other than a European heritage were
inconceivable; in particular, educators of African lineage were scarce. Homeschooling, as a way
of educating children, was commonplace in agrarian cultures during the early 1800s (Gatto,
2000); however, because of the lack of formal education during that time period, it is likely that
homeschooling was not a traditional method for educating African American children.
Today, homeschooling has become an atypical way to educate one’s children in the
United States, regardless of location: rural, suburban, or urban. Despite the momentum of the
historical 1954 case, Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas and the antagonistic
fallout from the Little Rock Central High School in 1957, African American families still were
expected to utilize public schools as the primary means to educate their children (Bankston,
2007; O’Brien, 2005). These historical events facilitated an expectation and pressure to send
one’s children to a public school from within the Black community. There was a feeling that the
struggles and the loss of life to attain the rights and access to attend these institutions must be
respected. Paula Penn-Nabrit, an African American homeschooling mother and attorney states in
her book, Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our African American Sons to the Ivy
League:
Providing one’s children with the very best possible education has never been an option
within our families’ worldview it’s an obligation. For generations, our families, like
many other African American families, endured enormous sacrifices and hardships in
order to meet that obligation…. Our families were convinced that this [in reference to
homeschooling] was probably a mistake, a big mistake, the kind of mistake with longterm and seriously negative consequences. (p. 60)

14

st

Now in the 21 century and after the Civil Rights Movement, we find more African American
families employing an educational method once associated with agrarian culture: homeschooling.
For Penn-Nabrit, this choice does not represent a break from the past:
We were and continue to be grateful for the inroads of access to education exemplified
by Brown v. Board of Education….While it may have appeared so on the surface, we
weren’t criticizing Brown v. Board of Education any more than we were criticizing our
parents’ decision to educate us in predominately white schools. Every generation has an
inherent obligation to determine, independently, what is best for its children. (p. 66)
Although the majority of our society has embraced and accepted changes in the fields of
transportation, technology, and banking, we have been less willing to accept changes in the field
of education at the same pace as other industries. Changes in education have often lagged behind
other fields in the areas of technology and leadership. Our society has embraced substitutions
like the automobile for the horse and carriage, the laptop computer for the typewriter, and the
automated teller machine (ATM) for a human banking teller. In contrast, many are still reluctant
to view and accept the way children are educated in the same regard as other industries. We have
refused to accept that students are different and learn differently than in years past. Today’s
students belong to Generation Y.
Generation Y (as well as X, to a lesser degree) is also the first to grow up with computers
and the Internet as a significant part of their lives. Constant experience in the networked
world has had a profound impact on their style in approaching problem-solving situations.
(UN.org, n.d.)
For children who are not successful in the traditional school setting, parents are willing to use
non-traditional ways to educate their children. The majority of families in this country will assert
that pedagogy is best when it takes place outside the home and is performed by compensated
st

pedagogues. Homeschooling, as an educational alternative in the 21 Century, is perceived as an
educational method from the past and not of the present. Despite this perception and according to

15

NCES 1999 and 2003 studies, although it may not be the most effective means for educating the
majority of today’s students, it has been an effective option for many students and their families.
However, the choice of educational options should ultimately be determined by parents.
Meighan (2001) states:
One of the great supporters of school as socialisation was the USA educationalist John
Dewey, but he wanted schools to be democratic in style, with high levels of participation
and power-sharing, not the totalitarian style based on domination and imposition. The
domination model of most of our schools was not part of his plan....Yet, there is still
surprise when a family decides to opt out into home-based education! (p. 78–79)
Some members of the African- American community embrace this educational alternative; the
exact reasons are undetermined (NCES, 1999, 2003). Apple (2006) provided a broad overview of
the predominant reasons that parents choose to homeschool their children:
Their reasons are varied and understandable: the tragic rates at which black children are
miseducated in or pushed out of public schools; the stereotyping that goes on; the loss of
one’s cultural and political heritage; and yes, for some, religious motivations are also
there. (para. 8)
Neither prior to nor subsequent to my dissertation proposal defense, have there been any largescale longitudinal studies with in-depth empirical data published that are exclusively framed
around African American homeschoolers. Some small studies have centered specifically on
African American homeschoolers. For example, Fields-Smith and Williams conducted a twoyear longitudinal study of Black homeschoolers (2009, p. 373). These 24 participants’
demographic background varied widely and their rationales for homeschooling also varied.
While a review of the literature discloses the lives of African American homeschooling families,
more scholarly research is needed to inform the field of education of this recent trend within the
homeschooling community.

16

Statement of the Problem
Homeschooling is not an aberration but it is a phenomenon that many scholars associate
with the most idiosyncratic individuals. As unconventional an educational alternative as this
method may appear, for an increasing number of African American families, the practice of
educating children at home is a viable alternative to charter, public, private or parochial schools.
In recent years, homeschooling has crossed racial, political, and religious lines. Homeschooling
is increasing in appeal among racial-minority communities, among political conservatives as
well as liberals and within several religious dominations, including Christian, Protestant, Jewish,
and Atheist populations. In the South, most homeschoolers are evangelical-to-fundamentalist
Protestant (Cullum, 2005). The homeschooling phenomenon of the 1970s was an easily
identifiable bi-product of the rising opposition to government and a dichotomy of political and
religious ideologies. However, Van Galen (1991) classified home schooling parents into two
categories: pedagogues and ideologues. Pedagogues are, according to Van Galen, those parents
whose children were in public schools but opted for homeschooling because their primary
concern was academic achievement; their children were not being challenged. In comparison,
ideologues opt for homeschooling to teach values and to enhance family relationships.
Today, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), the
homeschooling movement has increased by phenomenal rates in the African American
community, going from nearly 84,000 in 1999 to over 103,000 in 2003 (NCES, 1999, 2003)
without any conclusive links to ideological influences. As the number of African American
homeschoolers rise, there is a subsequent reduction in public school enrollment. However, in the
limited body of literature published over the last three decades, there have been no large-scale
longitudinal, empirical, or qualitative studies that have researched the thousands of African

17

Americans who are homeschooling. Very few researchers have targeted this population of
homeschoolers to examine their reasons for homeschooling. In this study, two overall questions
informed this research: (a) Who are these African- American families? And, (b) why have they
opted to homeschool their children? A sub question is, do their reasons for homeschooling differ
from those of the larger population of families who homeschool? In this research, case studies of
four African American families were conducted to learn the answers to these questions.
This post-Civil Rights increase in African American homeschoolers is subsequent to
legislative initiatives and reform efforts designed to correct the problems that have permeated the
public school systems for decades. African American children have continued to lag behind
Whites in academic achievement (JBHE, 2000). Although the gap in reading has closed, there is
still a gap in some areas (Carrington, 2005). However when examining the 2007 National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment scores for fourth-and eighthgrade public school students, Blacks scored, on average, 27 points lower than Whites. African
American parents have taken great measures to provide the best possible educational
opportunities for their children. As a community and from a historical perspective, many African
Americans families have, for generations, encountered volatile protests, bussing to communities
outside their own, and have made financial sacrifices by paying tuition for private and parochial
schools for a kindergarten through twelfth grade education. Penn-Nabrit (2003) states,
As self-employed parents with three kids and no financial aid, coming up with twenty
thousand dollars a year was an ongoing struggle! ....C. Madison felt we should shoulder
the financial responsibility of our children’s education. Our parents had made enormous
financial sacrifices to educate us, and C. Madison felt we could no less for our own
children. (p. 9)
Despite the efforts of parents like Penn-Nabrit, the achievement gap between the majority
of White and Black children persists across the country. For the participants of this study, they

18

are too knowledgeable about this gap and have chosen, for various reasons, to execute the option
of homeschooling. This study seeks to understand the reasons which prompted their decisions.
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to research reasons why more African American families are
selecting homeschooling as the means to educate their children. According to the findings of the
previous studies by NCES (1999, 2003), African American families who are homeschooling do
so for various reasons, including morals, religion, low teacher expectations, and so forth.
However, there is at least one critical theorist of educational systems, Michael Apple, who
believes homeschooling decreases the ability to form coalitions needed for changing the system.
He state:
If we do not continue and expand our engagement in such organized and long term
struggles for a system of public schooling that is worthy of its name, more and more
black parents will seek alternatives, be they vouchers or homeschooling. The way to
demonstrate our respect for such parents is to make it more likely that they will not have
to leave public schools. (Apple, 2006, para. 11)
According to the participants of this study; public schools have failed their children for
various reasons resulting in their decisions to begin homeschooling. More African American
families than ever before are choosing a nonconventional alternative to public, private, parochial,
or charter school education: homeschooling. In an effort to gain a more comprehensive
understanding of why these families are leaving conventional schools at an average rate of 4,000
per year (NCES 1999; 2003), the research questions must be answered.
As a former public school teacher, I noticed that my colleagues were curious whenever a
homeschooling student of African lineage enrolled in the school where I taught. This K–8
school, located in the heart of the cultural area in Detroit, had approximately 60 students per
grade level. Many of the students were driven to school and the student population was mostly
middle to upper-middle class. Many politicians such as the deputy mayor, city council members,
19

and the attorney general for the state enrolled their children in this school. This K-8 school was a
feeder to the top three high schools in the Detroit Public School system, and admittance to this
school was by lottery and a wait list. There were very few students who qualified for free or
reduced-price lunch. The small, intimate setting provided a strong sense of community and
family. Many of these students began the kindergarten experience together and remained in the
school until eighth grade. While the student population was approximately 90% African
American, the Caucasian and Asian students felt very comfortable in this close-knit environment
and many of their best friends were African American. Because of the solid bonds that were
already formed, it was difficult for outsiders to be accepted, regardless of whether they had been
homeschooled or not. Moreover, if students came in with an antagonistic or arrogant disposition,
they were outcasts almost immediately.
On occasion, African American students would transfer into the school for a year,
perhaps two years. Homeschooled students did not remain there for more than two years. It was
not due to a lack of rigorous programs and extracurricular activities. The school would be open
until at least 7:00 p.m. nightly due to all the extra activities. However, when a student who had
formerly been homeschooled enrolled in the school, teachers—Black and White alike—would
focus specifically on that student, looking for some type of academic or character flaw in order
to link it to homeschooling. If a flaw was found, it was almost always linked to “a lack of
socialization.” It was common to hear teachers criticize the student’s behavior because he or she
had been isolated from daily interaction with other students for a period of time. The transferredin homeschooled children never had an academic performance problem.
From my experience as a teacher in that school, without exception, the African American
homeschooling students who attended the school were outstanding academically, but they did

20

experience conflict with their peers. It appeared many of the difficulties were because of a level
of arrogance and superiority brought into an already established clique. The homeschooled
students were straight A students. Yet, as a staff, we never understood exactly why these families
and students left the school and no one really, to my knowledge, ever extended themselves to
find out why they chose to leave a seemingly desirable learning environment. We need to learn
who these families are and how can we keep families and students satisfied with conventional
schools. Thus, I attempt to answer the question: Who are they?
The secondary purpose of this research study is to contribute to the general body of
literature concerning the fundamental ideologies of homeschooling families. Specifically, this
study will add to the limited body of literature framed around the African American
homeschooling families. The families’ reasons for homeschooling may or may not prove to be
different from the ideologies of families from other racial groups who home school. Moreover,
the ideologies of today’s homeschooling families may or may not differ from the families who
homeschooled during the 1960s and 1970s. However, given all the investment in educational
reform, the numbers of homeschooling students is continuing to grow at phenomenal rates.
Regardless of the measures taken by Congress, states, and local districts to reform and to correct
problems experienced by conventional schools, unresolved issues permeate to a level that many
African Americans are choosing to educate their own children.
Research Questions
In this study, two main questions informed this research:
(a) Who are these African American families?
(b) Why have they opted to home school?

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(c) Subordinate Question 1: Do their reasons for homeschooling differ from those of the
larger population of families who homeschool?
(d) Subordinate Question 2: Were the families’ decisions to home school a direct result
of shortcomings in public education.
In this research, case studies of four African American families were conducted to learn
the answers to these research questions. According the NCES studies, the number of African
American homeschoolers increased by at least 19, 000 between 1999 to 2003 (NCES, 1999;
2003). Yet, there remains a large gap in the literature of research studies around African
American homeschoolers. This study addresses this need for additional research that
transparently informs the ideologies, descriptors, and reasons for selecting this method for
learning. To date, there have not been any significant and in-depth case studies of AfricanAmerican homeschooling families to learn why they have chosen this option and what
circumstances prompted this decision.
Conceptual Framework
To be transparent in our understanding of what constitutes homeschooling, I will examine
the definitions synthesized from the literature beginning with Dr. Brian D. Ray (1999), a prolific
researcher and author on homeschooling. According to Ray, homeschooling is:
….a learning and teaching situation wherein children spend the majority of the
conventional school day in or near their home or within the community in lieu of
attendance at a school or conventional institution of education while the parents or
guardians are the principal educators of their children. (p.2)
Reich’s (2002) simpler definition of homeschooling is “…the education of children under the
supervision of their parents within the home, apart from any campus based school” (p.276).
Reich’s definition is partly true, as some homeschoolers actually attend a school on campus for

22

part of the day, usually for the arts or for athletic programs. From an ideological perspective of
home schools, it can be said that:
The contemporary emergence of this alternative teaching mode represents a growing
trend that can, in its modern inception, be viewed as an outcome of a direct reaction to
the many shortcomings of public education that were commonly raised by educational
reformers of the 1960s and early 1970s. Early home schools reflected the alternative
views and practices of these reformers (Knowles, Marlow, & Muchmore, 1992, p. 195)
Dr. Ray’s (1989) study provides a comprehensive definition that is most meaningful for this
study. I want to understand the circumstances and rationale that prompted these African
American families to educate their children at home. I want to learn if their decisions to
homeschool were “an outcome of a direct reaction to many shortcomings of public education”
(Knowles, Marlow, & Muchmore, 1992, p. 8). Research-based organizations such as the
Department of Education, the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the
National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) have not initiated studies with a large sample of
African American homeschoolers in years past or present. The NCES, endorsed by the
Department of Education, published the findings of two studies conducted in 1999 and 2003
framed around the general population of homeschoolers. The NCES broke down the enrollment
number of homeschoolers by race. However, these two NCES studies did not conduct analyses
of ideologies or reasons for homeschooling by racial groups. After reviewing the nominal
amount of literature framed exclusively around the African American community of
homeschoolers, these two questions remained unanswered:
1. Who are these families?
2. What circumstances lead to the decision to homeschool?
With the majority of literature framed around Caucasian homeschoolers, it is impossible to
compare, contrast, and analyze data from previous studies on African American homeschoolers.
The purpose of this study is to gain better understanding of the driving force that has fueled the
23

African American families’ decisions to opt for homeschooling as their alternative to
conventional schools.

Background and Rationale
Public education in recent decades has experienced what this researcher calls the “seesaw effect” of fads. Fads are not static. They reflect temporary shifts in style and appeal. This
effect has indoctrinated educators across the nation to a particular conceptual model of faddish
reforms and initiatives. Typical of many new leaders at local, state, and federal levels, are the
inception of new agendas and more fads. Although many of these faddish reforms may not be
unique works of art or major paradigm shifters, they often are previously accepted concepts that
have been tweaked to reflect society’s current needs and trends in the field of education. For
many educators, the “just wait and see what happens next” attitude becomes norm as the next
proposition for reforming education emerges.
Homeschooling, in general, is an atypical fad. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary
(2009) defines a fad as “a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal.” The
concept of teaching your own children has been around for nearly 200 years, as previously
discussed. The 1999 and 2003 studies conducted by NCES reveal an apparent resurgence in
home schools going from 850,000 in 1999 to over 1.1 million in 2003. Like the popularity of
bell-bottom jeans in the 21st century, homeschooling has hibernated in the last decade and is
beginning to awaken with a rage. There was an increased number of documented African
American homeschoolers from 1999 to 2003. The notion of parents educating their children at
home in lieu of conventional schools has increasingly appealed to different populations,
particularly African Americans. Homeschooling is a nontraditional method of education that has

24

crossed educational, racial, cultural, religious and socio-economical lines. Although
homeschooling has been around for decades, its popularity seems to go and come as do society’s
sentiments on education at any given point and time, giving it the “see-saw effect.” Even in the
21st century, however, the idea of African Americans educating their children at home is
perplexing to many, including well-educated individuals within the African American
community, because it lacks the historical origins that those of the Caucasian community have.
When speaking to colleagues in the field of education, this research topic has been met with
bewilderment and enthusiasm. Educational researchers know very little about homeschooling
relative to African Americans. Naturally, the first two inquiries that colleagues make are:
1. What events are prompting African American families to transition to
homeschooling?
2. What does this family look like?
The latter question would encompass religious ideologies, cultural practices, and socioeconomic
and demographic data. Large-scale studies of African American homeschoolers with descriptors
such as religious affiliations, number of students in the family, supporting organizations and
reasons for homeschooling are non-existent. Therefore, a synthesis of African American
homeschoolers literature does not inform researchers about the phenomenon. These unanswered
questions drive this study.
Ostensibly, some African American families are electing a nontraditional method such as
homeschooling as a way to shun the pitfalls of illiteracy and disenfranchisement. According to
the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) aforementioned statement, “A high level of shared
education is essential to a free democratic society and to the fostering a common culture
especially in a country that prides itself on pluralism and individual freedom” (1983). If African

25

American families are selecting homeschooling as their educational alternative, as part of this
democratic society, then they are, in fact, exercising their individual freedoms to educate their
own children in order to have “…the chance to participate fully in our national life” (U.S.
Department of Education, 1983).
While homeschooling is an alternative approach to education and although it may not be
the chosen method by a majority of American families (97.8 % of students are educated by other
means, according to the NCES 2003 data), it is important to learn what has caused the paradigm
to shift in the African American community. Since homeschooling is a nontraditional
educational alternative for African American families, a logical presupposition would be that this
method would hinder possible disenfranchisement in public, private, charter, or parochial
schools. Seemingly, this community aspires to homeschool as a way of exercising their
individual freedom collectively as a family by selecting homeschooling as their preferred method
of instruction. Many parents in our country are frustrated with failing public schools. African
American parents are frustrated with a system that their ancestors fought so hard to have equal
opportunity and access to; this system has disenfranchised many Black families. “In addition,
African American students continue to face racism and discrimination from elementary school to
college” (Mickey, 2008, p.21). Challenges to a good education persist for African American
students through U.S. school systems. It is unlikely that their child will be recommended for
honors, advanced placement, or gifted programs.
Starting with Jenkins’s (1936) study, which found that despite high intelligence test
scores African American students were not formally identified as gifted. For over 70
years, then, educators have been concerned about the paucity of Black students being
identified as gifted. (Ford, Grantham & Whiting (2008, para. 1)

26

The reality for the participants in this study was there was little hope that their child would be
prepared for and admitted into honors or gifted programs. These types of programs are a preface
to college and the work force.
According to Ladson-Billings (1996):
Ultimately, the work of education in a democracy is to provide opportunities for all
citizens to participate fully in the formation of the nation and its ideals. These ideals can
never be fully realized if significant portions of our society are excluded from high
quality education and the opportunity to play public roles in society. African American
students are suffering in our schools at an alarming rate. They continue to experience
high-drop out, suspension, and expulsion rates. While possessing a high school diploma
is no guarantee of success in U.S. society, not having one spells certain economic and
social failure. (p. 16)
Ladson-Billings (1996) suggests that the negative outcomes of many African American students
stem from disparity in access and opportunity. Her description of failing students is a harsh
reality for Americans who have not themselves faced these situations in their daily educational
experiences. However, for some African American families, these outcomes could have been
candid snapshots of their child’s future if they had chosen to remain enrolled in conventional
educational programs or institutions. From the increased numbers of African American
homeschooling families, more parents seem to be taking preventative measures to combat the
high dropout rates that Ladson-Billings described. According to a NCES (2001) report, dropout
rates for African American students (12.6 percent) were nearly double compared to the rate of
European American students (7.3). Many educational institutions have taken measures to
correct lagging achievement and disparity issues. Obviously, initiatives like NCLB, which
requires states to assess students and school districts’ Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward
the ultimate goal of academic proficiency, have, indeed, left some students behind. This initiative
and countless school reform efforts have not produced substantial positive outcomes as intended.

27

Academically, U.S. schools are still leaving students behind particularly in the African American
community.
Beginning at the introduction of this paper, the U.S. Department of Education refers to
“this report.” This document refers to “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational
Reform” (A Nation at Risk). Nearly 27 years ago in 1983, the National Commission on
Excellence in Education released an analysis of our schools that prompted reform initiatives
throughout the United States. The culmination of this report was the catalyst for massive changes
and accountability measures at many levels. It was the mechanism used to enlighten the general
public of the need for massive reform and school restructuring. It exposed weaknesses in our
school systems and provided the leverage that local and state educational agencies needed to
implement these reforms. A Nation at Risk’s primary purpose was to inform citizens that
students’ academic skills must improve in order for our country to be globally competitive.
President Ronald Regan, in his State of the Union address, gave highlights from that report,
which exposed public schools’ strengths and weaknesses when compared to global educational
systems like Japan and Korea. According to Rebecca Herman et al. (2008, p.10):
In 1994 the Improving America’s Schools Act introduced the concept of holding schools
accountable for student performance on state assessments. Although the act encouraged
states to assess whether schools were making progress and imposing sanctions on those
that did not, it lacked much force.
The Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 also was instrumental in providing funding for
Title I (U. S. Metric Association, 2003). In March of 1994, Goals 2000: Educate America Act
was signed and subsequently led to the passage of the Improving America’s Schools Act in
October of that year. The purpose of this law was to make U.S. students competitive across the
globe. As a result, states enacted laws that opened the minds of citizens to consider
nonconventional schools such as charter schools and vouchers as alternatives to traditional public

28

schools. These laws encouraged competition through the formation of themed charter schools,
the distribution of vouchers, and even the creation of virtual schools that used the Internet.
Ladson-Billings (1996) concurred with the A Nation at Risk report, stating that in a democratic
society, everyone must have access to education and fully participate by being contributing
members of this society. But if students become unmotivated and disenchanted with educational
systems, they will not be positive contributors to our nation’s society and economy.
A truly democratic society does not sanction actions that absolutely or remotely exclude
its members during the educational process. In addition, a democratic society does not condone
indirect dismissal of those who drop out of school. Today, despite documents and laws such as A
Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind (NCLB), two reform initiatives enacted in years past to
correct the problems with the way we educate and assess our nation’s students, many families in
the African American community continue to feel compelled to seek nonconventional
educational alternatives such as homeschooling. For these families, this educational option
affords parents a way to prepare their children to become viable and educated members of U.S.
society.
Summary
The homeschooling movement has evolved to an educational alternative that is no longer
exclusive to one culture or religious group. African American parents are making sacrifices and
are willing to educate their children at home in lieu of other alternatives such as charter, virtual
private, parochial, or voucher programs. In the past, homeschooling was an option chosen by
agrarian families—mainly Caucasians living in rural communities who did not have many
choices or alternatives for education. Today, there are many educational alternatives other than
homeschooling. Parents can choose public, private, parochial, virtual, or charter schools in lieu

29

of a homeschool. The government does not make homeschooling barrier free; there are, in some
states, many regulations to which a family must comply. Homeschooling and the documentation
of this phenomenon have been traditionally associated with the White or Caucasian community.
Examination of their purposes has been determined to be primarily social change, ideology,
religion, or issues of immorality in public schools. According to Knowles, Marlow & Muchmore
(1992), contemporary home schools are no linked to the liberal roots of home education. With
the increasing numbers of African American homeschoolers, research is needed to identify
reasons for this increase within this community and to learn African American families’ values
and beliefs. In addition, at present it is unclear whether certain traits, ideologies, or beliefs can be
generalized to the majority of African American homeschoolers.
Research-based organizations and institutions need to conduct large-scale studies focused
on African American homeschoolers, similar to those conducted on the general homeschooling
population by the NCES. When comparing data from studies on homeschooling, there are
inconsistencies in reported numbers of homeschoolers in general and the number of African
American homeschoolers in particular (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003; Ray, 2005, 2006). Because
the regulations and laws requiring homeschoolers to register with a local school district or state
agency vary from state to state, the numbers are not clear. It is difficult to determine the precise
reasons why the majority of African Americans are selecting this option rather than simply
changing schools because only small-sized populations have been the subjects of this research.
These parents are essentially taking active roles in their child’s education. However, parents who
value education and have concluded that there is a problem with the way their child is being
education cannot afford to be passive. Taking a passive role will cause their children to be left
behind in this society and, as a result, they will not have a place in it.

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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Definition of Homeschooler
A homeschooler is defined in many ways. It can be a public school student who is
temporarily given home instruction while on a temporary leave of absence. However, for the
purposes of this study, we will use a different framework of homeschooler. Berg Olsen (2007)
defines homeschoolers as follows:
…a person can be considered as being homeschooled if they fall into any one of the
following categories: 1.) their mother, father, or another family member teaches them at
home; 2.) a private tutor or a governess is hired to instruct them in the home; 3.) they are
self-educated or unschooled and learned on their own; 4.) they are in a traveling showbusiness family and use homeschool curriculum while on the road.
Dr. Brian D. Ray, a notable researcher on home school education and President of the
National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) stated (2011):
Homeschooling, by definition, is family-based, home-based, and usually parent-led—
with parents in charge of the child’s education. If a parent wants another parent to do all
the teaching and be in charge of the child, then it is probably not homeschooling…. In
homeschooling, parents recognize their own responsibility and right to direct the
education and upbringing of their child….Often classes for a specific subject are taught
by someone other than the child’s parent. …This is a common, legitimate, and
philosophically agreeable. (p. 1)
Other researchers have definitions of homeschoolers (e.g., Holt, 1986; 1989, & Reich, 2002).
Toppin (1967) provides a simplistic, ideological, and legal definition: a homeschooler is when a
parent or guardian takes part in the homeschooling process. For the purposes of this study, we
will use Dr. Ray’s definition of a homeschooler.
The Homeschooling Movement
The review of literature suggests the origins of homeschooling in the United States date
back to 1852, when agrarian communities in Massachusetts invoked the first compulsory
attendance law (National Conference of State Legislators, 2008). Subsequent to 1852, little is

31

known about homeschooling until the 1960s when authors began to document interest in this
educational alternative. During this span of time, there was no incentive to report the
homeschool, so many did not bother to report their status. A review of literature does show that
home schools of the 1960s and 1970s reflected a liberal, humanistic and pedagogical orientation
that was compatible with the alternative views promulgated by Reformers; they did so as
advocates of social change more so than reflecting educational innovation (Knowles, Marlow, &
Muchmore, 1992). Acceptance of home schools as a way of educating children has progressed
slowly in the United States.
As late as 1989, only Michigan, North Dakota, and Iowa still outlawed home education
(Somerville, n.d.). By 1993, home education was legal in all 50 states. Today, “some form of
homeschooling is now legal in every state, though the rules and regulations vary widely”
(Bennett, Finn & Cribb, 1999, p. 605).
“By the mid-1980s, the successes and benefits of homeschooling had become more
apparent” (Linsenbach, 2006, p. 3). Most of the homeschooling population fell into one of two
categories: fundamentalist Christians or socially alternative pedagogues. The literature on
African American homeschoolers, though limited, does not seem to show the ideological
dichotomy of fundamentalist Christians and socially alternative pedagogues that is prevalent in
the homeschooling population as a whole. No conclusive evidence has shown that AfricanAmerican homeschooling families are social alternative pedagogues like homeschoolers in the
Caucasian community. According to Fields-Smith and Williams (2009) “African American
families that home school do not necessarily represent the ‘Conservative Right’, ideologue, or
pedagogue images typically associated with home schooling in the literature” (as cited in
Pedroni, 2007). Additionally, although the roots of homeschooling began in rural agrarian

32

communities in the past, not all homeschooling takes place in rural communities. Fields-Smith
and Williams (2009) found no evidence that African American homeschoolers live in rural areas.
Llewellyn (1996) contextualized15 African Americans within the home-educating community;
these individuals reside in urban and suburban areas, not in rural communities.
The religion-homeschooling connection. Parochial or religious-based schools can
openly use faith as part of the educational curriculum. Given the variety of educational structures
in place today, much of American society is surprised when parents decide to educate their
children on their own instead of entrusting them to a traditional type of school with trained
educators (Meighan, 2001). Data from the 2003 Parent and Family Involvement in Education
Survey (PFI), part of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), shows that
nearly 30% of the 239 homeschooling families surveyed cited religious or moral instructions as
the primary ideological reason for selecting this alternative to compulsory education.
Religion is an integral part of the majority in the African American community. The
relationship between religion and the African American community was very evident during the
Civil Rights Era, whose notable leaders included Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.,
Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and Rev. Joseph Lowery. The impact of religion on African-American
homeschooling families’ decisions to opt to learn at home will be discussed subsequently in the
findings section of this study.
Homeschooling Disparities Among States
Each state, and sometimes even individual school districts, sets its own rules regarding
homeschooling requirements. As a result, accurate data about the number of homeschoolers in
America is not currently available. A contributing factor to this delimitation is erratic reporting
of homeschoolers to local school districts in each state. No federally regulated reporting system

33

is currently in place for homeschooling families to follow. Each state has its own set of
regulations and standards, which can vary immensely. According to the Homeschool Legal
Defense Association (HLDA), 10 states do not require a notice of intent or “to initiate contact”;
15 low-regulatory states require only parental notification of intent to homeschool; 19 states have
“moderate regulations” such as test scores and local evaluation of student progress in addition to
initial notification of intent; and the remaining six states have “high regulations.” In addition to
the moderate regulations, the six high-regulation states—Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts,
North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and New York—require “curriculum approval by the state, teacher
qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials.” Indiana and Illinois do not require
homeschooling families to obtain licenses or to report their option to homeschool.
The courts have played a key role in the homeschooling movement. Indiana’s landmark
1904 case, State v. Peterman (32 Ind. App. 665, 70 N.E. 550), legitimized home schools as a
viable educational option by stating that a school is “a place where instruction is imparted to the
young..... the number of persons, whether one or many, [do not] make a place where instruction
is imparted any less or any more a school.”
The 1950 historic Illinois case, People v. Levisen, 404 Ill. 574, 90 N. E. 2d 213, cited part
of the Indiana case and stated the following:
This landmark case held that a "private school" is "a place where instruction is imparted
to the young ... the number of persons being taught does not determine whether a place is
a school." (404 Ill. at 576, 90 N. E. 2d at 215.)
The Illinois Supreme Court emphasized the right of parents to control their children's
education: "Compulsory education laws are enacted to enforce the natural obligations of parents
to provide an education for their young, an obligation which corresponds to the parents' right of
control over the child. (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 400.) The object is that all shall be

34

educated, not that they shall be educated in any particular manner or place." Levisen, 404 Ill. at
577, 90 N. E. 2d at 215.
Michigan homeschooling requirements. Michigan, the setting for this study, is one of
10 states that do not require prospective homeschoolers to register their intent to homeschool
(HSLD, 2009). Although Michigan does not require reporting, parents have the option to do so.
Despite the non-reporting requirement, the state has set legal precedents by contesting
homeschooling. The state has brought suit against a number of parents who have sought to
educate their own children: for example, Michigan v. Nobel 57th Dist. Ct., Allegan County,
Mich. 1979, People v. DeJonge, 442 Mich.266 1993, and Clonlara, Inc. v. State Bd. of Educ.,
442 Mich. 230 1993, (Somerville, n.d.). Michigan was the last state to allow homeschooling by
parents. The resulting aftermath has created a level of anxiety with exposing themselves. “No
one knows how many "underground homeschoolers" there were in the late 1960s and early
1970s, but in many states, the only way to homeschool was to hide” (Somerville). This appears
to be the sentiment today by many homeschooling families-not just African American
homeschoolers.
For example, the DeJonge family had spent eight years in court, and had lost every single
hearing before they reached the Michigan Supreme Court. By a 5-4 decision, that court held that
the Michigan compulsory attendance law violated the rights of parents who had a sincere
religious objection to using certified teachers (People v. DeJonge, 442 Mich. 266,1993). In a
companion case, the court ruled in favor of the Clonlara School, which used certified teachers as
required by law, but only for a few hours each school year. The rest of the instruction was
provided by parents (Clonlara, Inc. v. State Bd. of Educ., 442 Mich. 230, 1993). Currently, the
state of Michigan’s legal description for homeschooling is:

35

A child is not required to attend a public school…
(3) (a) The child is attending regularly and is being taught in a state approved nonpublic
school, which teaches subjects comparable to those taught in the public schools to
children of corresponding age and grade, as determined by the course of study for the
public schools of the district within which the nonpublic school is located.
(3) (f) The child is being educated at the child’s home by his or her parent or legal
guardian in an organized educational program in the subject areas of reading, spelling,
mathematics, science, history, civics, literature, writing, and English grammar.
(4) For a child being educated at the child’s home by his or her parent or legal guardian,
exemption from the requirement to attend public school may exist under either subsection
(3)(a) or (3)(f), or both.
A homeschool family operating under 380.1561(3)(a) as described above is considered a
nonpublic school if in compliance with the Private, Denominational and Parochial Schools Act,
1921 PA 302. If a homeschool family chooses to operate under exemption (3) (a), it may report
to the Michigan Department of Education.
After deciding to homeschool, parents have the option to report their intent to
homeschool at the Michigan Department of Education. In the aforementioned cases, none of the
plaintiffs or defendants was African American. “It is riskier for African Americans to start
homeschooling than it is for other families” (Somerville, n.d.).
African American homeschoolers need to really be strategic in how they document
courses of study and student progress should they opt to homeschool. Because there is scant
research on African American homeschoolers in particular, there may be increased risks for
those who engage in this educational alternative. According to Llewellyn (1996), Michael’s
sentiments reflect some of the challenges African American homeschoolers may experience.
…He told me his name was Michael. "I totally see what you're saying about school, how
it's a waste of time," he said,” And I know there's a lot more I could learn and do on my
own. But I can't do it, because I'm black. I walk into some business to get a job, they want
to see my diploma. I tell them I educated myself according to my own interests, and it's
over. They say, 'Right. Another dropped out-nigger.'" (Llewellyn, 1996, p. 12)

36

Llewellyn, a former teacher, author, and unschooling (different than homeschooling) advocate
states (1996, p.13), “Later I thought back to the conversation, and I wished that I had also been
able to say, simply, Well, Michael, black people homeschool too.” But at the time I didn’t know
whether that was even true. Llewellyn is Caucasian. Llewellyn also stated:
Now I know it is true, and that many black people homeschool to save themselves from a
system which limits and destroys them, to reclaim their own lives, families, and culture,
to create for themselves something very different from conventional schooling. (p. 13)
Michael recognized the need for validity by “the system” if he wanted to get a good job
or to go to college. He realized, as a high school student, that he already had an obstacle, his skin
color. If he chose to homeschool or unschool, this would be another strike against him.
Some states require reporting not only the intent to homeschool but also, require families
in these states to work with local school districts for monitoring, evaluation or assessment. In
Michael’s case, if he and his family had worked with local school districts, the documents
needed in his job hunting experience could have provided ample proof that he fulfilled state
requirements. In contrast, if families choose not to report their intent to homeschool, perhaps
they should utilize ways to create a transcript to persuade others of its rigor and legitimacy to
alleviate levels of frustration like Michael’s.
Deciding to Homeschool
Despite the legalization of homeschooling, many citizens, regardless of race, have mixed
reactions to the notion of schooling a child at home instead of in a more conventional school
setting. Although this approach to education is not a new concept to many Caucasians, the
concept of educating children at home continues to be novel idea for many African Americans.
As an illustration, one African American homeschooling mother, Sandra, explained her
experience like this: “…people seemed to resent the fact that she has chosen to home educate. I
think that people know sometimes what they should be doing and they’re not doing it” (as cited
37

in Fields-Smith & Williams, 2009, p. 381). Hence, the decision to homeschool is not an easy
decision for some families to make. These families must consider changes in family structure
and income earnings that might result from homeschooling. Fields-Smith & Williams (2009)
found that “parents’ decisions to homeschool led to challenges characterized as systemic issues,
lifestyle changes, logistical issues, and home educator praxis.” For this research study, it was
imperative to examine and observe the African American family who chose to homeschool and
equally important was to learn why this method of education was their preference. The findings
of this study will add to the nominal body of literature exclusive to African American
homeschoolers.
Laws impact identification. Since 1993, when homeschooling became legal in all 50
states, restrictions have been placed on parents’ rights to homeschool, such as occurred in the
nd

California 2

District Court of Appeal’s decision in 2008 case of Jonathan L. v. The Superior

Court of Los Angeles County. The president of the HSLD, J. Michael Smith, summarized the
decision as follows:
On February 28, 2008, the California Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a juvenile court
proceeding that declared that almost all forms of homeschooling in California are in
violation of state law. (Private tutoring by certified teachers remains an option.)
Moreover, the court ruled that parents possess no constitutional right to homeschool their
children.
The prolific education advocate, John Dewey, would most likely be frustrated with the six highregulation states as well as with California, which is actually considered a low-regulation state.
Such restrictions on parental rights to homeschool do not support the democratic style of schools,
but it does give the dominant control to those in power to make laws such as congressmen.
Meighan (2001) states:
One of the great supporters of school as socialization was the USA educationalist John
Dewey, but he wanted schools to be democratic in style, with high levels of participation

38

and power-sharing, not the totalitarian style based on domination and imposition. The
domination model of most of our schools was not part of his plan…. Yet, there is still a
surprise when a family decides to opt out into home-based education! (pp. 78-79)
As Meighan points out, Dewey would not be pleased with the legislative restrictions placed on
parents’ rights to homeschool if this society truly is democratic. According to homeschooling
proponents, government is essentially dominating the educational system by restricting parents’
rights to teach their own children. Legislators are facilitating the placement of homeschoolers in
government-based schools by hindering the process to homeschool. Many homeschooling
families face obstacles in their pursuit to educate their own children. The HSLD is an
organization that offers membership to homeschooling families in the event there is a need for
legal counsel. They represent homeschooling families in all kinds of matters, from alleged
truancy charges to accreditation cases.
It is an arduous task to locate homeschooling in the African American community. Two
reasons for this challenge are, first, the disparity in reporting procedures across the United States
and, second, the antagonistic systems currently in place that have been invoked by state
legislative bodies and local school districts like those in—but not limited to—California. Many
families would opt to hide in their homes rather than face scrutiny by state educational
institutions. There continues to be a disparity in the reporting systems nationwide, which makes
collecting data problematic. With homeschooling’s rise in popularity, legislators are enacting
laws to increase parents’ qualifications to homeschool their own children.
Historical Overview: Blacks and Education
Pre-Civil War. African Americans have had a long and, at times, adversarial relationship
with the U.S. public education system. Before the abolition of slavery in the South, violence
often ensued when Blacks attempted to learn to read or attain an education. If someone like a

39

slave master discovered that a slave could read or write, he or she likely would have been
sentenced to death, particularly in the South. Sambol-Tosco (2004) stated the following:
Concerned that literate slaves would forge passes or convince other slaves to revolt,
Southern slaveholders generally opposed slave literacy. In 1740 South Carolina enacted
… one of the earliest laws prohibiting teaching a slave to read or write. In other parts of
the South the mid-eighteenth century saw an expansion of earlier laws forbidding the
education of slaves. (p. 2)
Horace Mann Bond (1950) explained:
In 1700 Negro slavery was well established in North America; the plantation system had
emerged in the South, the family type in the North. The “Black codes” earlier developed
by Spanish and Portuguese, began to be adopted in the Northern English plantations.
These codes prescribed education of Blacks, as dangerous to a slave system. (p.103)
According to Bond (1950), things began to change for Negroes around the 1800s.
“Schools were established for Negroes, North and South; the Black codes, especially in their
educational proscriptions, lapsed in enforcement” (p. 103). The 1850s saw further changes in the
education of African Americans: “The ‘Black codes’ were severely revived and enforced…. Fear
of slave revolts and disturbance of the South’s ‘peculiar institution’ by Northern agitators led to
the imposition of heavy punishment for the crime of educating Negroes in the South” (Bond, p.
103).
Throughout this period, no official record of Blacks homeschooling their children exists.
Because of possible negative and violent repercussions, homeschooling could not have been
documented even when it did occur. Thus, accounts of homeschooling prior to the Civil War are
anecdotal. For example, in a 2004 PBS interview, former slave Bob Ledbetter described his
educational experience as follows:
BL: I, I say, he can tell you, I never went to school a hour in my life.
[interviewer]: Uh huh.
BL: Not a hour.
[interviewer]: Well, you, you, then could you read and write?
BL: I could read and write too. I do, I can send a letter all over this world if I just knowed
where to send it. Course I can't write it pretty like people do, but anywhere I know where
40

to send it, I can send it.
[interviewer]: Well, uh, how did you learn to write?
BL: Well my daddy just taught me how to spell a little at night. Well after that then he
kept, uh, copies, and I take copies and just learn myself.
[interviewer]: And how you learn to read?
BL: Well he learn me at night. He said he, he wasn't no educated man. He could just read
printing. And he set up at night and teach his children. That's the way we learned.
Ledbetter was taught at home by his father; thus, according to various definitions of
homeschooling, he would qualify as a homeschooler.
After the Civil War, for many Blacks, learning took place in one-room schoolhouses, a
stark contrast to the more creatively designed schools known today. Whites often underestimated
both the desire for and ability of Blacks to seek an education. For example, in Richardson’s
(1986) paper on Southern Blacks and the American Missionary from 1861-1890, he documented
some teachers’ accounts of teaching Blacks during the post-Civil War period:
Teachers constantly wrote in their reports of the enthusiasm that Blacks exhibited for
learning. One teacher of Black soldiers reported, “I am sure that I have never witnessed
greater eagerness to study … a majority of the men seemed to regard their books an
indispensable portion of their equipment, and the cartridge-box and spelling book are
attached to the same belt,” while missionaries reported a desire for learning more than
food by the freemen. (p. 25)
Though Richardson did not mention the teachers’ race, during the 1860s-1890s most
missionaries were White. The teachers, as described by Richardson, appeared to be amazed by
the soldiers’ eagerness to learn.
This amazement, though likely widespread, has no historical underpinning. W.E.B.
Dubois reported in his 1901 study of the Negro Common School that two years after
Emancipation (1865), fewer than 100,000 Black students were in schools in the South. By 1900,
more than 1.5 million Black students were enrolled in schools.
Some would be surprised at the list of those who have helped to create and shape our
society cannot credit our public school system with shaping their educational experiences:

41

Famous people throughout history were homeschooled as children. They include:
Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Abe Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Robert E.
Lee, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, Mark Twain, and many more. (Olsen, 2007)
As this list suggests, the research on homeschooling has always been more closely
associated with White families than Black families. Absent from this list are names of
individuals of racially diverse, African, or African American backgrounds. Cogent arguments
cannot be made to identify or substantiate if there are any prominent African Americans of the
past who were homeschooled. An exception, George Washington Carver was a homeschooler,
according to both definitions of Ray (2011) and Toppin (1967). Most of the literature about
George Washington Carver states he was educated by his adopted mother (Boerer, 2010;
Phillips, n.d.).
Born into slavery in Missouri, Carver set out to learn despite prejudice and hostility.
Taking in laundry to support himself, he attended schools in Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa,
alternating periods of working and schooling so that he was over twenty when he entered
high school (Toppin, 1967, p. 267)
David Guterson alleges that Fredrick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington
Carver should be added to the list of notable homeschoolers (1992, p. 5). However, evidence
does not support this.
Booker T. Washington was cited in various sources as having been homeschooled, but
the literature does not support these allegations. Susanna Ashton in the Southern Literary
Journal states:
For Booker, the next few years of his childhood were marked by periods as a domestic
servant to local families, interrupted by stints of hard labor in the salt mines and farm
labor at home, all the while attending school whenever he could. (2007, p. 3)
Similarly, Frederick Douglass’s homeschooling experience was not confirmed through a
synthesis of literature. There was no literature to credit homeschooling as the means for his
scholarly notoriety. A list of successful African American homeschoolers could not be located
42

during the course of literature review. Therefore, there are discrepancies in reports of African
Americans like Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass being homeschooled. Similarly,
there are inequities in the data, today, with the number of African American homeschoolers.
Although many African American children realize that doing well in school will facilitate
entry to secondary education, gaining the support of teachers and overcoming the obstacles to
attain the skill set needed to get to college is not always easy. According to the Enquirer, 85,000
African American children learned at home in 2003. These students’ families have concluded
that public school systems are not the best way to educate their children. Few studies on
homeschooling have centered on Negro, Colored, Black or in today’s terms, African American
culture. It is not to say that Blacks did not homeschool, rather it was not very common for Blacks
to report being educated in the 1600-1800s.
Blacks sustained a zest for learning and education for a long time until after the Civil
Rights Movement of the 1960s. However in recent years, the enthusiasm and the eagerness to
learn by many Black students have been squashed by failing public schools systems that often
employ unqualified and inexperienced teachers who have low expectations and biased belief
systems. Schools are often inferior and unsafe; they experience racism and prejudice in schools
that are inadequately led and funded (NCES 2003, 1999; Fields-Smith & Williams, 2009).
Aronson (2004) states:
For many students and parents of African ancestry, “even when students start out
matched-in terms of parental income and education and the quality of schools the
students attended—a significant achievement gap remains between black and white
students” (e.g., Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Massey, Charles, Lundy, & Fischer, 2003). ( p.
15)
Education as Liberation. The emphasis on attaining a good education through the
public school system has always been a tenet of the Black community. According to Anderson
(1988), the larger African American community has long believed that education has the power
43

to liberate. Research studies have corroborated the notion of education being an asset to families:
“African American parents value the educational success of their children,” according to the
Bradley, Johnson, and Rawls’ study (as cited in Abrams & Gibbs, 2002; Danby & Alford, 1996;
Gardner & Miranda, 2001; Troutman, 2001).
First-hand anecdotal accounts also demonstrate this view of education as liberation. For
example, Paula Penn-Nabrit (2003) described her and her three sons’ investigation of their
ancestry:
We tracked the paternal line back five generations: the boys, their dad; their granddad Dr.
Henry Clarke Nabrit; their great-granddad Dr. James Madison Nabrit; and their greatgreat-granddad Henry, the Well Digger, born a slave…Their great -granddad James, born
during Reconstruction, saw education as the cornerstone of freedom. He and his wife had
eight children, all of whom earned advanced degrees in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Nabrit lineage was more atypical for a Black family during these decades. Paula
Nabrit wrote about her family’s decision to homeschool after her sons’ experiences at a
predominately White private school.
For the African American homeschoolers, today, there has been a significant change in
the willingness to enroll in many public schools. According to Scott-Jones (2002), a 1994 Cairns
and Cairns study states:
African American males and females had lower drop-out rates than Caucasian American
students because jobs may have been less available to them than to Caucasian American
drop-outs and African Americans may have seen education as an avenue for upward
mobility.
For generations, African Americans have fought to have a good public school education.
Despite their efforts, African Americans are mindful that their children remain behind the
achievement of White children (Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Massey, Charles, Lundy, & Fischer,
2003). Many families have begun to use homeschooling as a means to close the achievement
gaps. Parents in the African American community are using their rights as parents to do what

44

schools are not doing. “Black families’ perceived that institutional norms and structures within
schools created destructive, rather than supportive, learning environments for children of African
descent” (Fields-Smith & Williams, 2009). “Yet, there is still a surprise when a family decides
to opt out into home-based education” (Meighan, 2001).
The value that the African American community put on their right to a quality public
education was evident in the Civil Rights Movement, the landmark court cases of the 1950s such
as Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), and the subsequent violent
desegregation of schools epitomized by the Little Rock Nine (1957) in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Notwithstanding all of the fights for equal opportunity and access to public education
from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement until the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001, a paradigm shift in sentiments and cultural allegiance surrounding the value of public
education by the African American community has taken place. Two National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES) studies (1997, 2007), found the number of African Americans who
dropped out of high school decreased from 13% in 1997 to 8% in 2007, this number remains
high for a population who fought and died to have equal access to the same quality schools as
Caucasians. The most recent scientific study of the homeschooling population conducted by the
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2003) is limited in scope. This study fails to
segregate determinants or descriptors based on race. The African American homeschooled
population has expanded from .08 percent of nearly 1.1 million families in 1998 to 9.2 percent in
2003, according to NCES (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003). There are inconsistencies in data, which
report both the actual number of homeschoolers in general and the number of African American
homeschoolers in particular (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003; Ray, 2005; Ray 2006). The most recent
scientific study of the homeschooling population conducted by NCES (2003) is limited in scope.

45

This study fails to segregate determinants or descriptors based on race. The African American
homeschooled population has expanded from .08 percent of nearly 1.1 million families in 1998
to 9.2 percent in 2003, according to NCES (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003). There are
inconsistencies in data, which report both the actual number of homeschoolers in general and the
number of African American homeschoolers in particular (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003; Ray,
2005; Ray 2006).
Statistical data on homeschoolers. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE)
states that African American parents do not homeschool as often as White parents (“Bad News,”
2000). While Caucasian families have been the primary and largest population to homeschool for
over a century, a statistically significant number of African Americans and other racial
populations have embraced this method of education (NCES, 2003, 1999). In the 1990s, the
homeschooling phenomenon began to gain in popularity (Reich, 2002). While there has been a
decline in the Hispanic subgroup, dropping from 1.1% in 1999 to 0.7% in 2003, this approach to
education has resurged in popularity once again like a fad in the Caucasian community (NCES,
2003). Since 1999, the number of Caucasian families who have begun to homeschool increased
from 2.0% in 1999 to 2.7% in the 2003 study (NCES, 2003). Homeschooling has increased in the
African American community at a phenomenal rate, 1.0% in 1999 with 84, 000 students to 1.3%
or 103,000 in 2003. Within the various studies on homeschooling in general, there are
inconsistencies in data that report the overall number of homeschoolers and the number of
African American homeschoolers in particular (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003; Ray, 2005, 2006).
The NCES study shows that more often households who homeschool have only one parent
participating in the labor force, 5.6%. Only 1.1 percent of homeschooling families have both
parents in the labor force (NCES, 2003). However, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher

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Education, Black homeschooling families are more likely to have both spouses in the labor force
than White homeschooling families (“Bad News,” 2000). In a 1999 study of 20,760 student
homeschoolers, Rudner found that of the study participants, 94% were non-Hispanic Whites and
the majority of them were fundamentalist Christians (JBHE, 2000). Only 6% were minorities;
less than 1% were Black. Carrington (2005) found that the homeschooling phenomenon has
“grown at the astounding rate of 4000% in the past 20 years…. Although African Americans
only represent about 3% of all homeschoolers, Black children are 5 times more likely to be
homeschooled than they were just 5 years ago.” Therefore, the exact number of African
Americans who are homeschooling is unclear, and little to no data is available on parents’
educational levels, because of the lack of research on the African American group specifically.
However, what we do know is that parents in the African American community appear to
be taking their children’s education into their own hands because of experiences cited by
Ladson-Billings and other researchers about issues of high drop-out, suspension, expulsion, and
retention rates of students (1996). Jean Anyon (1997) states, “Research has shown that
instruction in inner-city schools is often based on cognitively low-level, unchallenging, rote
material” (p. 7). Parents’ educational attainment levels do not seem to be a determinant in
whether or not parents opt to homeschool. According to NCES (2003), the amalgamation of data
collected about the homeschooling population in general, 30.8% of parents had at least a
bachelor’s degree, 19.6% had graduate degrees, and 24.5% had a high school diploma or less.
Again, no subgroup data is available about African American parents and their educational
attainment. However, the JBHE states that 56.7% of mothers and 66.7% of fathers who
homeschool have at least a bachelor’s degree (Summer 2000). JBHE goes on to say only 15% of
Black adults have a bachelor’s degree, without citing the educational attainment of an exact

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number of Black adults who homeschool. The African-American homeschooling population is
diverse. Celebrities, Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith support homeschooling. In a 2006 interview,
rapper and actor, Will Smith, states:
The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school. Traditional
education is based on facts and figures and passing tests—not on a comprehension of the
material and its application to your life. Jada and I homeschool our children, because the
date of the Boston Tea Party does not matter (Grant, 2006)
When the interviewer, Grant, asks Smith does he actually teach them, Smith states, “No, we
have hired teachers who teach what we feel is important. For example, Plato's Republic—kids
need to know that. Why is that not taught in first grade?” Smith is part of an economically
diverse group that believes that neither public nor private schooling is the best method of
education for their children, and he seeks to have some control of what his children learn.
Because the number of the African American homeschoolers is on the rise, more in-depth studies
are needed to gain a better understanding of the plights of this community.
A parent who teaches in the homeschool, generally teaches on a full-time basis and does
not usually work outside of the home; one can infer that the working spouse has a high enough
income to support the family. In the study of African American homeschoolers, Fields-Smith and
Williams (2009) reported, “Participants explained while their family income would be
considered middle class, it took creative and strategic budgeting to live on one income instead of
two.” “At times the decision to stay at home fed negative reactions from family members and
friends” as some of the homeschooling mothers left fields like law, accounting, and real estate. In
many cases, the one working spouse is college educated. For example, Beatrice Woods-Cooper,
an African American mother, holds a degree in biology and was on her way to medical school
prior to learning of her pregnancy (Henderson, 2005). Woods-Cooper was an entrepreneur and
operated a day care center from home. Another African American couple studied included Paula

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Penn-Nabrit, who graduated from Wellesley College, and her husband C. Madison Nabrit, who
graduated from Dartmouth. The Nabrits worked at home while homeschooling (Henderson,
2005). In each of these examples, parents generated income not outside the home, but from
within the home. Pamela and Keith Sparks are both educated; he is an attorney who works
outside the home and Pamela, the homeschooling parent, completed her degree from Stanford
and is the full-time teacher (Sparks, 1996). Cherie Pogue, a high school graduate took charge of
homeschooling her four children on a full-time basis. Michael, her husband, not only was a
captain in the military, but he went on to earn his Master’s degree (Pogue, 1996). Both the
Sparks and Pogues are African American homeschooling parents. Each of these families had at
least one person who attained a bachelor’s degree. In the former example, Will and Jada Pinkett
Smith, African American actors, neither of them are college educated, but they have the financial
means to hire teachers to teach their children at home.
The popularity of homeschooling among single parents is increasing. Kevin Brooks, a
divorced African-American father in Arlington, Virginia, and a researcher for Motorola, pulled
his 14-year old son, Kristoff, out of public school when Brooks realized he was spending hours
teaching skills that Kristoff should have already mastered (Coleman, 2002, p. 24). Some African
American families, like many of the Caucasian homeschooling families, decide to homeschool
for religious reasons. Michelle and Allan Shaw expressed that “home was the best place to teach
their children strong academics, religious values, and instill their own sense of ethnic pride”
(Coleman, 2002). Another homeschooler, Penn-Nabrit (2003), stated, “Our desire for a holistic
educational experience where their spiritual, intellectual, and physical development would
receive equal attention was an extension of what we wanted for our family.” Case studies
conducted during the course of this research attempt to determine if there are any differences in

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the African American families who indicate religious and ethnic values versus academic reasons
were their primary motivations for homeschooling .
A decision to homeschool. According to the NCES, factors leading to the decision to
homeschool appear to be based on teachers’ low expectations of Black male children, lowoverall performance of schools, and safety (including drugs and negative peer pressure) and
environmental issues (NCES, 2003). The “teachers’ low expectations of black male children”
factor is one of a few findings specifically related to African American homeschoolers.
Therefore, when pondering the reasons why African American families have opted to
homeschool, issues involving race may be a contributing factor. However, according to Smith
Amos (2005), an African American, “large class sizes, low academic achievement, peer
pressures and the high cost of private education” are the primary reasons why African Americans
decide to homeschool. If the cost of private education is indeed one reason for homeschooling in
the African American community, then the NCES does not address the high cost of private
education nor does it examine large class sizes. Demographically, the African American
homeschooling population seems to mirror a collage of the African American community as a
whole. There are not any apparent common descriptors within this population of homeschooling
families; there are various reasons for selecting this educational alternative.
Attempts to close the achievement gap. Problems with the education system persist for
many African Americans, regardless of reform initiatives such as A Nation at Risk and No Child
Left Behind, which were designed to correct the problems of our nation’s schools by eliminating
the disparity in the quality of schools and increasing the number of highly qualified educators
working in disadvantaged schools. African American youth from higher-income households
and/or with more highly educated parents do much better in school than African American youth

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who lack these advantages, but not nearly as well as Whites in similar family circumstances.
Indeed, the school performance of affluent African American children often is closer to that of
poor White children than that of affluent Whites (Gosa & Alexander, 2007, p. 286).
Eight years after A Nation at Risk, our government increased the number of federal
regulations to improve schools and to help students succeed in public schools. President George
W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in conjunction with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Once authorized and
implemented, ESEA compelled public school educators and school districts nationwide to be
accountable for student achievement or the lack of it. A passage taken from the White House’s
web page states:
The purpose of Title IV is to promote parental choice and to increase the amount of
flexible funds available to states and school districts for innovative education
programs….For that reason, the Administration seeks to increase parental options and
influence. Parents, armed with data, are the best forces of accountability in education.
And parents, armed with options and choice, can assure that their children get the best,
most effective education possible. (White House.com)
Increasing parental options, as stated on the White House’s web site, implies that parents are
given the tools to anatomize the educational options available. It does not state that parental
choices are limited to public, charter, or private school options. This passage does state
that”[parents] can assure that their children get the best, most effective education possible.”
Providing parents the choice of schools and funding to support that choice is part of the No Child
Left Behind Act, Title IV. When taking into account the intent of both the A Nation at Risk
report and the NCLB, these two initiatives were designed to do, at minimum these three things:
1. To reform our public schools by restructuring the size of its high schools;
2. To improve curricula by making them more rigorous and to make stakeholders
accountable;

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3. To create vouchers and charter schools to promote direct competition between
those institutions and public schools that will ultimately increase the quantity and
quality of schools to provide parents with more options.
If these initiatives succeed, three main changes are likely to occur. First, failing schools
would improve as a direct result of both initiatives. If this is true, it would eliminate the need for
students to leave public schools as a consequence of poor performance on Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) reports and state assessment exams. Second, mandatory state assessment exams,
federally-funded tutorial programs, and educational initiatives would rectify the problems
leading to low student performance; students who need the additional tutoring would be able to
get the help needed to perform better on more rigorous curricula and close their personal
achievement gap. Third, student failure and dropout rates would be at nominal levels given the
regulation of state exams, implementation of tutoring programs, creation of new initiatives aimed
at increasing academic achievement, and other innovative educational options. Last, if parents
are still not content with either their child’s academic performance or the school’s performance
as indicated on AYP reports, they can elect to withdraw their child from that failing school and
enroll him or her in another educational institution or a school of choice. Former U.S. Secretary
of Education, Rod Paige stated, "For too long, many of our schools did a good job educating
some of our children. With this new law [NCLB], we'll make sure we're providing all of our
children with access to a high-quality education” (Smith, 2002). While NCLB has taken steps to
give all children access to a quality education, it cannot regulate teachers’ beliefs and biases, or
negative stereotypes regarding students of African American heritage. Neither NCLB nor A
Nation at Risk has addressed shortfalls such as some teachers’ ineptness and lack of expertise in

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regard to working with students of African lineage or students living in impoverished
communities.
According to NCLB, parents should expect financial support to elect schools of choice,
even homeschooling if that is an option. Both Title IV of the ESEA and NCLB were to include
provisions “to increase the amount of flexible funds available to states and school districts for
innovative education programs” (White House). I would think “innovative education programs”
would also include homeschools. If the three aforementioned posits are true, a child who is not
successful in their public school, would be supported by both the local school district and by the
state even when the desired “choice” is that of a homeschool. However, that is not necessarily
the case given the disparity in laws in each state, specifically with notifying authorities of the
intent to homeschool. For example, in recent months as indicated in the case of Jonathan L. v.
Superior Court (2008), the state of California has attempted to prevent parents from
homeschooling their child unless the parent is a certified teacher. This, however, was not
California’s first attempt at discouraging entry into homeschooling. The following passage
published in 2004 states:
Two years ago in California, panic erupted in many homeschool households after former
state Superintendent of Instruction Delaine Eastin issued a letter to superintendents,
attendance officials and private school coordinators stating that “In California,
‘homeschooling’—a situation where non-credentialed parents teach their own children,
exclusively, at home, whether using a correspondence course or other types of courses—
is not an authorized exemption from mandatory public school attendance.”
(“Homeschooling Increases,” 2004)
Legislators in several states like California are beginning to rethink the qualifications and
regulations of homeschools, as in the case of Jonathan L. v. Superior Court (2008). These
deterrents are not limited to California. Actions like those in California would deter some
parents who are interested in homeschools. Efforts like those in California have led to the need
of a Homeschool Legal Defense Association to provide legal support to homeschooling families
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across the country. Many state superintendents like Delaine Eastin and state legislatures have
created obstacles for parents who desire to educate their own children at home. Although this
paper is not intended to highlight the increasing number legal restrictions state agencies have
implemented over the years, a question for future research, if data supports the academic gap
between White and Black homeschoolers has been closed, why do states want to prohibit parents’
rights to homeschool (NCES, 2003)?
The number of African-American homeschooling families has increased. A presumption
is that the right to homeschool will become more of a challenge and will face more regulations in
future years. According to the 1999 and 2003 homeschooling studies by the NCES, parents of all
racial groups have increased selection of homeschools as a viable alternative to conventional
private, public and charter schools in the United States. This demonstrates that additional
research is needed in the area of cross-racial homeschoolers. Parents who choose to homeschool
often encounter financial disparate treatment when compared to parents who opt for charter
schools or vouchers as their educational “choice” option. These families do not have the same
financial incentives as those who choose other educational alternative like vouchers, for
example, and they do not have the same support of governmental agencies as those who opt for
charter schools or vouchers, so why is homeschooling an attractive approach for African
American families?
This study attempts to offer insight into the homeschooling phenomenon with particular
emphasis on the African American family. It complements the limited but increasing body of
work that suggests that African American homeschoolers have closed the achievement gap with
Caucasian homeschoolers (Ray, 1997). Additionally, this study adds to the literature about the
ideological reasons why African American families have chosen to homeschool. The reasons

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why these families have opted to educate their own children may or may not coincide with
reasons of Caucasian-homeschooling families. This research study uses case studies to
understand the African Americans who are opting to home school by providing thick
descriptions of their culture, values, and ideologies (Gertz, 1973) and to learn why they have
selected this educational option above all others.

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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODS
This chapter provides a case study and presents a transparent and in-depth description of
how this study was designed and how data were collected. Schwandt states (1997, 1993), that
methodology refers to the “theory of how inquiry should proceed. It involves analysis of the
principles and procedures in a particular field of inquiry” (as cited by Glesne, 2006, 8). As such,
in this chapter, five sections are devoted to methodology: (a) Problem and Purposes Overview
(b) Rationale and Assumption for Research Design; (c) Research Questions; (d) Data Collection;
and (e) Validity and Trustworthiness.
Problem and Purposes Overview
Research by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has shown that in
increasing numbers African American families are turning to homeschooling as an option for
educating their children. According to an NCES survey, in 1999 approximately 1% or 84,000 of
all homeschoolers in the United States were African American (Bielick, Chandler, &
Broughman, 1999). Just four years later, in 2003, that percentage had risen to 1.3 percent or
103,000 homeschoolers (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003). Though these NCES studies represent the
most reliable and trustworthy figures available, many researchers believe that these figures likely
underestimate the actual number of homeschoolers in the nation, including the number of
African American homeschoolers (Princiotta & Bielick, 2003; Ray, 2005, 2006).
Despite this growing population of African American homeschoolers, scant research has
been done to document and understand the reasons behind these families decision to turn to
homeschooling as an option. The NCES studies in 1999 and 2003 did not have any significant
emphasis on racial demographics to determine why there has been such a rapid increase of

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African American homeschoolers in comparison to the general community of homeschoolers. In
addition, the data in those studies did not determine if the reasons for homeschooling varied by
racial groups. The reasons why these students are leaving urban and suburban educational
institutions and the impact such a change might have are being ignored. Instead, much of the
current education research of African American students appears to be centered on increased
enrollment in charter schools in urban areas. Although the U.S. Department of Education has
financially supported extensive research about the homeschooling population, no research on
African American homeschoolers has been supported by the Department of Education.
Using a case study methodology, this research study attempts to fill this gap in the
literature by exploring why four African American families have chosen homeschooling as the
best option for educating their children and detailing how that homeschooling occurs. This study
seeks to understand why this option was selected over other educational alternatives such as
public, private, or charter schools.
Homeschooling is not a clear concept in many individuals’ minds. Homeschooling is an
enigma. In general, there is skepticism about the whether or not someone can truly homeschool
their children, and the general population knows very little about homeschooling. According to
Green & Hoover-Dempsey (2007), “although homeschooling is growing in popularity in the
United States, little systematic research has focused on this population” (p. 267). Many people
simply do not comprehend how homeschooling is done, why families want to or choose to do it,
or what types of people are engaging in this educational alternative. The words “homeschool”
appear to provoke a level of curiosity in the minds of many individuals. Cizek stated educational
researchers have failed to spend much time or money informing the general public about this
option to traditional schooling (as cited in Green & Hoover-Dempsey, 2007, p. 267). Researchers

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in education, even those in urban education, have ignored this population of students. Society, in
general, remains skeptical and curious when considering the effectiveness of parents as primary
educators to their own children.
Research Questions
Two questions that were left unanswered by previous research have guided this study—
African American homeschoolers: (1) Who are they? and (2) Why do they opt to homeschool?
Rationale and Assumption for Qualitative Design
Prior to commencing the research, I made assumptions about the families who chose this
educational alternative. I will admit, I knew very little about this community. These assumptions
were made even prior to reading the literature about African American homeschoolers. Like
many outsiders, my perceptions about African American homeschoolers were:
1. The relationship between a child and a parent would facilitate trust; thus,
the child is more receptive to learning from the parent, the first teacher; the parent
cares for the child’s welfare.
2. The primary reasons African American families homeschooled were in alignment
with Caucasian homeschoolers as suggested by NCES (2003): religious/moral
reasons and school safety/environment;
3. Homeschooled students lacked socialization skills because families taught in
isolation;
4. Parents cannot be more effective teaching their children than pedagogical
practitioners; and
5. Locating and extracting data from research participants would prove to be
unsuccessful.

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Taken together, the 1999 and 2003 NCES studies provide a general overview of the
reasons families chose to homeschool. While these studies included some data on racial
groups—Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian—descriptors by racial groups were
not provided. Additionally, to date, the homeschooling literature does not address issues specific
to African American homeschoolers.
With the research goal of understanding who African American homeschoolers are and
why they choose to homeschool, a qualitative research design made the most sense. Yin (2003)
suggests that in choosing between qualitative and quantitative methodology, the research
questions determine the type of methods to be used during the course of research. Qualitative
methods allow the researcher to produce thick descriptions through the experiences and stories of
the research participants in the unique context or natural settings (Glesne, 2006; Merriam, 1988).
This research includes case studies of four different African American homeschooling
families. Case study methodology proved to be the best means to understand why AfricanAmerican families are opting to homeschool. The advantage of using case study is “its
observations—beyond what might be available in a conventional historical study” (Yin, 2003, p.
8). Case study addresses the “how and why” questions that focuses on contemporary events
(COSMOS Corporation, n.d., cited in Yin, 2003). Using more than one case study allowed me to
compare and contrast the cases of each family. Multiple observations of each family
strengthened the validity of the findings. The research sites were the four families’ homes, an
authentic setting in each case as described by Creswell (1998, 2003). By conducting observations
of the families’ natural environments, I was able to document and understand the authentic way
homeschooling took place for each family. To capture the authentic or natural setting, I observed
them in their instructional environment. As a result, I came to understand each family as a

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collective unit and not in chunks; I gained a holistic interpretation of each family’s unique
context.
Multiple qualitative methods were used to answer my second research question—Who
are African American homeschoolers? The case studies were useful in answering this question
because they provided thick descriptions of the families’ cultures, values, and ideologies. In
addition, observations, field notes, and interviews were used to triangulate data. As the
researcher, I conducted an introspective analysis of personal biases, values, and interests in order
to capture the most authentic observations of each family possible. Self-examinations of my
prospective biases were needed because my professional training as an educator could have
clouded my lens during data collection. I conducted self-analysis continually whenever I
experienced inner thoughts during the observations because I wanted to offer suggestions for
improvement but could not.
Researcher’s Roles
Prior to undertaking this research project, I had taught in a large urban public school
district in grades K–12 for nearly 14 years. During the participant recruitment process, I
disclosed my professional experience to prospective participant families to maintain transparency
and to facilitate gaining their trust. My role as researcher was emphasized. It was not to critique
the manner in which families homeschooled. Rather, I sought to understand who they were as a
family unit and collective group and why they ultimately opted to homeschool. My challenge
was to keep my expertise and my fundamental role in proper perspective in relation to the
research. As Glesne (1999) stated, it is not only important to recognize and to acknowledge the
researcher’s expertise in relation to the scope of the study, but it is also imperative to recognize
the “subjective relationship to the research topic” (p. 17). The researcher assumes two roles in a

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qualitative study: researcher as researcher and researcher as learner (Glesne, 1999). It was within
the researcher-as-researcher role that the online contacts, the semi-structured the interviews, the
observations, and the data analysis occurred.
I strived to be objective throughout the data collection process; however, the final data
analysis was inevitably limited by subjectivity. The interpretation of qualitative research was
conducted through my lens as a human being; thus, my limitations, biases, and perceptions
inevitably impacted the data analysis. To lessen the impact of my subjectivity, I kept in mind
Glesne’s advice: “When you monitor your subjectivity, you increase your awareness of the ways
it might distort, but you also increase your awareness of its virtuous capacity…. Seen as virtuous,
subjectivity is something to capitalize on rather than exorcise” (p. 109). Because the researcher is
the primary instrument for data collection and analysis (Merriam, 1988), I self-examined my
training and biases to ensure that subjectivity did not impact the data collected.
While wearing the hat of researcher as learner, I became aware of self from the beginning
of study by a continuous awareness of the biases and predispositions that made me curious “to
learn from and with research participants” (Glesne, 1999, p. 41). Using a semi-structured
interviewing method, I gained clarification through subsequent follow-up questions and
conversations. As researcher as learner, I needed to facilitate a rapport with participants, thereby
generating open communications with the families.
Participant Selection
A total of four families were used as case studies in this project. Locating and recruiting
families to participate in the research was more challenging than expected. Because participants
for this research were very difficult to locate, the purposive sampling method was used to select
participants (Patton, 1990). This approach was decidedly the best method because it allowed a

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specific group of people to be targeted. The ability to make a link to groups of African American
homeschoolers was the most critical step in the research process; without African American
families, there would be no research study.
Participant recruitment began with the snowball technique. In this sampling method, the
researcher contacts key informants about the project and ask those informants to contact other
potential participants. Those participants contacted others, and so on. This sampling method,
however, proved to be ineffective, most likely because of the reluctance and mistrust that many
homeschoolers have of researchers. I received no legitimate contacts or leads for prospective
participants using the snowball sampling method.
As I searched for prospective families to participate in this study, I learned that many
homeschooling families are reluctant to participate in research because there is a level of distrust
in the process. Some homeschooling families fear that the researcher will criticize the way they
homeschool. Other families are fearful that the state educational agency will become intrusive in
their homeschool experience. Some states require mandated reporting, but other states do not
require notification of the intent to homeschool. The fear of many families is that researchers will
notify enforcement entities such as local school districts or state agencies that families are
homeschooling and as a result, their lives will be complicated. In several cases, law-abiding
parents have been fined, prosecuted, or falsely arrested for actions taken within the scope of
homeschooling rights. Conversely, in some cases parents have violated laws regarding
homeschooling in their respective states. The purpose of the Homeschool Legal Defense
Association is to defend subscribing members in prospective legal interactions with school
districts and other law enforcement agencies.

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Optimistically, I turned to in the Internet to recruit families through on-line networks for
African American homeschoolers. Using the Internet search engine Google, I entered the key
phrase “African American homeschoolers.” This search yielded more organizations than
expected.
I electronically mailed (email) the owners or creators of several of these targeted Internet
groups through their networks, explaining my research project and asking how I could join their
networks to gain access to African American homeschooling families. These networks include
interracial families and are thus not racially exclusive to African Americans. Though many of the
groups were originally designed for African American families, the network facilitators generally
allowed White parents access to the network if they homeschooled their biracial children.
Because the focus of this study is African American homeschooling families, I was very clear in
my online discussions about the type of participants I sought.
Gaining access to these members depended on the rules of each particular network or
group but was generally comparable to acquiring a password to get into a secured community.
For example, many Ning or Yahoo groups require a level of screening by the owners to assess
the applicant’s qualifications or purpose for wanting membership to that group. To earn
acceptance to these group, the prerequisite was to apply for membership and to complete the
enrollment process. Some groups asked screening questions such as, “Do you homeschool your
children?” or “Why do you want to become a member of this group?” For other groups,
applicants have only to hit the “Join This Group” button to become full members who can openly
communicate with other members without moderation by the group’s owner.
As a result of the initial request for membership and completion of the screening process,
two organizations for African American homeschooling families agreed to allow a formal

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solicitation for research participants to be posted within the online message center. Five
organizations permitted access to their networks or groups: National African American
Homeschoolers Alliance (NAAHA), Black Homeschoolers (Ning), Culture at Home (Yahoo),
African American Homeschoolers Network (AAHNET), and Families of Color Using
Homeschooling (FOCUHS). Conversely, other group owners asked about the reason for the
research and the need for membership without granting access and without subsequent contact
with me to grant access. The majority of participants for the dissertation study came from two
groups: Culture at Home and NAAHA.
Once I was granted membership in the groups, I created an authentic profile and posted
my photograph in the members section of the networks. The membership profiles asked
questions about homeschooling that I could not answer. I completed the demographic data
required by each network and posted a statement of purpose for desiring access, not as a
homeschooling parent but as a researcher. To protect the integrity of data collection and the
study, I disclosed my true purpose for wanting to become a member of the groups. In my profile
I informed all participants that I was a researcher and former public school educator. In addition,
I stated that the premise of this study was not to find fault in how the families homeschooled, but
rather to gain insight into who was actually homeschooling and why they chose to homeschool.
By joining these groups, I, in essence, became an “indigenous” insider, which allowed me to
establish a good rapport with other members and gain a level of trust because of our overlapping
links as educators, mothers, and African Americans.
Having the position as an “insider” facilitated a level of authenticity. Creating a profile in
the network or group was equated with being in the natural setting and comparable to going to
the site of the participant to conduct research. If I had not created a profile, the families would

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have been suspicious of the authenticity of the study, my validity and trustworthiness would have
been questioned. The profile facilitated establishing credibility with members.
In each online community, I posted a message in the message center stating the purpose
of the study: to meet families who would be interested in participating in this dissertation study,
Case Studies: African American Homeschoolers: Who Are They and Why Do They Opt to
Homeschool? Eighteen families eventually responded to these postings, expressing interest in
participating in the study. I performed initial screenings to determine eligibility to participate in
the research via email. Once families appeared to fit the framework of this research, consent
forms were mailed to each family. Upon receipt of signed forms, the researcher scheduled a
telephone screening interview to ask the initial 10 questions from the protocol. The telephone
screening was a second level of eligibility verification. Subsequent to the screening interview, I
arranged an appointment for the initial observation.
After further communication and through screening, four of these 18 families were
eventually selected for inclusion in the study. The 18 families were screened using the following
three criteria:
(1) Parents and children had to be African American;
(2) Participants were required to be current not former homeschoolers;
(3) Participants had to agree to be observed during the instructional day and
consent to being observed in their normal homeschooling area.
These criteria allowed the researcher to select participants within the scope of the study, which
included a focus on mono-racial families.
Two of the four families agreed to participate in the dissertation research on the first
contact. The remaining two families responded to the second posting for participants and

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subsequently consented to participate in this study. Participant families were located in
Michigan, Washington D.C., Oklahoma, and Illinois. Pseudonyms are used throughout this
dissertation to protect the identities of the homeschoolers. In two of the families, both parents
had at least a bachelor’s degree. In the other two families, the instructors were high school
graduates; one was in pursuit of computer certification and the other was starting a business from
home. Three families had fathers who were at home part time. One of these fathers worked in the
private sector and the other two were working out of state due to a lack of employment where the
family resided. Table 1 outlines this information for each family.
Table 1.
Family Units
_____________________________________________________________________________
Family
Urban
Ham-Ying
Dampare
Patterson
State/District of
Residence

District of
Columbia

Agree to participate

2

Parents Education

Bachelors- Both Associate-Mom

nd

contact

Illinois

Michigan

Initial contact

Illinois
nd

Initial contact

2

Contact

Bachelors-Both

Bachelors- Both
Masters- Dad

______________________________________________________________________________

Data Collection
Data collection methods included participant observation, semi-structured interviews,
and field notes. Triangulation of data among these various methods increased the validity of the
research and study findings. Different researchers and authors suggest different combinations for
methods triangulation. For example, Yin suggests “six sources of evidence…” for case studies
that a researcher can provide to increase validity through use of triangulation of methods that can

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be any combination of: “…archival records, direct observation, documents, interviews,
participant observation and physical artifacts” (2003, p.85). In contrast, Glesne (2006) and
Creswell (1998) propose a very different combination of triangulated methods to collect data:
semi-structured interviews, and observations. Table 2 shows the methods used in the study.
Table 2.
Data Collection Methods Used in the Study: Limitations and Advantages
Method
Semi-structured
interview

Variation
Face-to- face

Benefits of Method
Researcher prepares
protocol questions in
advance guided by
research questions;
Participants can freely
answer open-ended
questions; Researcher
can hear responses and
view body language to
suggest if follow up
probes are needed;
Easier to establish a
rapport with participants

Observation

Researcher as
observer

Researcher as
learner
Field notes

Analytic notes
Reflection of ideas,
problems,
interpretations,
things to follow up

Limitation of Method
Researcher’s
presence, may
intimidate participantmay lead to biased
responses; Participant
may view Researcher’s
body language,
appearance, and body
cues to participant’s
responses; Difficult to
detect if responses are
true; May take more
time-require travel
costs

Observation-more indepth; data collected via
wider lens of natural
setting, participant
behaviors can be viewed
and recorded
Facilitates good listening
& communication; open
to new views of data

Respondents’ actions
may be unnatural
because of
researcher’s presence

Can perform bias and
self-reflection check

Can miss key
observational data
during note taking

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Self-bias could skew
data collection

Interviews
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents. The interviewing instrument
was designed for adults as the primary participant. The intent of the research protocol was not to
engage children in the interviewing process. Instead, children were asked unscripted questions
subsequent to the observation when prompted by a particular event for the purpose of gaining
clarity. To ensure that I observed, heard, and interpreted that particular event correctly, I would,
on occasion, ask a child a question. That question would not come from the original protocol. As
required by IRB regulations, parents had to give consent to have the children participate in the
interviews-they did. During the interviews and observations, questions were not directed to the
children despite having the parents’ approval by way of consent forms. The interview protocol
was designed around the primary research questions and sought to gain insight into what each
family did to homeschool their children. Children were observed as they interacted with the
primary instructional parent, but the semi-structured questions on the protocol were designed to
solicit in-depth descriptions of their experiences from the adult perspective.
The semi-structured interview was conducted each day at the conclusion of the
observation; this would prevent the family from being overwhelmed. The interviews took place
over a span of 12 weeks. However, due to relocation out of the area, it took nearly 5 months to
conclude the interviews with one family. Only one father provided data in the first observation.
The fathers worked and were not involved on a daily basis with the instruction. Fathers were not
the primary instructional parent. Two of the fathers worked out of state. The other subsequent
observations were only with the instructional parent, the mothers. Time was often limited for the

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interviews because of the daily instruction schedules. During each observation, interview
questions were taken from the protocol guide based on the research questions. There were a total
of 85 questions on the research protocol.
The benefit of a semi-structured interview was that it permitted participants to engage in
a conversation more than a structured interview would have (Baumann & Bason, 2004;
Schostak, 2006). The semi-structured interview method allowed participants to elaborate in a
conversational mode; in addition, this approach provided an opportunity to follow up with
additional questions, as necessary. Through these interviews, each family provided thick
description of their experiences with homeschooling.
Observations
Initially, I thought that it would be rather easy to observe each family for consecutive
days. Based on my experience with public educational systems, I brought my pre-conceptions in
to the research project expecting to arrive and leave at the same times each day. The observations
did not take place in that manner. I conducted seven observations for each of the four families
over the course of three months to learn how each family operated their homeschool. The
observations were not for consecutive days because of family schedules, illnesses, and out of
town travel. Observations took place at each family’s home and the time of arrival and departure
depended entirely on their agenda for that day. Families’ instructional agenda and schedule
varied from family to family. While one family had a very rigid schedule and took care to have a
concrete regimen, two other families were less rigid but did have a typical schedule while the
other family was far more liberated. In each case, the home was the primary research site. As
Creswell suggested (2005), I went to the participant’s site so I could better understand the
phenomenon through an understanding of that site and its people (p. 204). I observed each

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family unit. In each of these four cases, the mother was the primary instructor. Upon the first
observation, I introduced myself to the children with the parent in the room and informed them
that I just wanted to learn how their family homeschooled. I asked them to pretend like I was not
watching them learn. I did not interact with the children during the observation and instructional
time. Children were observed in the home environment during instruction and during their other
activities such as music lessons or art. In some cases, educational activities were outside of the
home. When I was observed the families and home instruction, I never interacted with the
families. There was no reason for me to act in any other role other than as a non-participant
researcher. Prior to the first observation, parents were informed that I was not there to participate
in the instructional process. For this study, field notes and observational data were collected and
used for data analysis. Field notes were written and data were collected each day for clarity.
Initial observations occurred wherever the children and instructors interacted whether it
was in the instructional area, in the family room, or outside of the home. It was important to
allow the parents to homeschool in the way they would normally instruct. All subsequent
observations were made in the area for instruction unless the itinerary called for activities outside
of the home. As researcher, it was critical to observe the families in their natural setting. A
natural setting increased the likelihood of experiencing a typical instructional day for that family.
Not only were the instructional strategies and interactions with the children observed, but also
the manner in which parents negotiated instructional activities and transitioned instruction
between content areas. Observations revealed the amount of planning involved, the interruptions
that were typical for each home environment, and the amount of structure provided during the
child’s learning activities. The observations offered insight into some of the benefits and
challenges of homeschooling for these families. They also allowed the researcher to view the

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variety of strategies instructors used in homeschooling. The observations also focused on the
teacher-student relationship and the “classroom management” strategies that were used in the
homeschool. Classroom management was indicative of how the child behaved during
instructional time.
Data Analysis
These instrumental case studies provide insight into an issue or redraw a generalization,
according to Stake (as cited in Glesne, 2006, p. 12). I compiled data for analysis by reading all
notes from field notes, observations, and interviews. I synthesized the data into chunks using a
thematic analysis approach to coding data. The thematic analysis was done across all four case
studies. I examined and organized the data for comparisons and contrasts between each family.
As with most studies, as Glesne suggests, “you acquire even more data than originally
envisioned” (2006, p. 151). I utilized spreadsheet software, Excel, to form and create the
categories according to the themes that emerged from the collected data. I was able to gain a
holistic interpretation of data after the synthesis of the clumps was broken into smaller clumps.
As a qualitative researcher without a pre-established goal or a hypothesis that was being
tested, I was able to collect a significant amount of data that was useful in answering my research
questions. Not until the synthesis of these various data sources was I actually able to determine
which data were useful in relation to the two questions of this study. I quickly realized that I had
far more data than I could use for this study. Yin (2003) says that much of the judgment in which
data are useful is contingent upon the researcher’s interpretations and the presentation of
evidence. Therefore, the data that answered the questions which were the framework for this
study became the focus of the analysis. The participants provided thick descriptions of their
feelings, thoughts, and concerns about their children’s education during the interviews and

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observations. Through these descriptions themes emerged that formed the basis for the research
findings discussed in the next chapter. In addition, I collected data that could be used in future
research to learn about other aspects of homeschooling such as the use of best practices,
curriculum, and record keeping. All data, including that not used in this study, is stored safely
and securely per the IRB requirements.
Trustworthiness
Holloway and Jefferson (2000) provide a framework through which researchers can
perform self-analysis. To promote trustworthiness of the research design and analysis, the
authors suggest that the researcher ask him or herself four questions to ensure the checks and
balances of research (Holloway and Jefferson, as cited in Glesne, 2006, p. 55):
1.

What do you notice?

2.

Why do you notice what you notice?

3.

How can you interpret what you notice?

4.

How can you know that your interpretation is the “right” one?

Essentially in the first question, the researcher is examining the opportunity cost of noticing one
thing over another. I realized that when an obvious event or statement received my attention,
something else either went unobserved or received less emphasis in my notes. Table 3 depicts the
measures taken to ensure trustworthiness.
The second question initiates a reflection of biases to determine why a particular event or
comment was noticeable to the researcher. Because I had nearly 19 years of experience as an
educator, the materials, lesson plans, classroom management, and strategies used in instruction
were of particular interest. I was naturally curious about the entire process of teaching your own

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child (ren) and why a parent would opt to do it. With self-reflections conducted throughout the
observations, I realized that I was drawn to taking notice of the organization of how and what
was being taught; this was interesting to me because of my expertise in education and prior
teaching experience. Table 3 demonstrates the process incurred throughout the study .
Table 3.
Strategies Implemented to Ensure General Trustworthiness of the Findings
Strategy
Researcher as learner

Description
Performed a self-analysis to check for biases which would
hinder the objectivity; reflected upon subjectivity.

Checks and balances

Asked myself 4 critical questions to perform a self-analysis
as a researcher:
(1) What do you notice?
(2) Why do you notice what you notice?
(3) How can you interpret what you notice?
(4) How can you know that your interpretation is the “right
one?”

Triangulation

Performed semi-structured interviews with open-ended and
general questions, recorded field notes, prolong
engagement, and conducted a survey.
______________________________________________________________________________
Through self-reflections conducted throughout the observations, I realized that I was drawn to
observations of the organization of how and what was being taught; this was interesting to me
because of my expertise in education and prior teaching experience. Therefore, it was imperative
that I use a triangulation of methods and self-monitoring of subjectivity to ensure that data that
would not be biased or that irrelevant data was not infused into the findings (Glesne, 2006).
Glesne (2006) states that a researcher needs to reflect upon their subjectivity in terms of
what is heard and noticed on a continuous basis. I found myself self-checking continuously when
I was in the position of researcher as learner to check for biases that would hinder objectivity and
may be favorable to a particular family because of the rapport that has been established and

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because of the researcher’s expertise in teaching. There was a fine line between establishing and
maintaining a rapport with a family when positioned as the researcher as researcher and when the
position was as researcher as learner. When positioned as researcher as learner, it was easier to
allow the educator in me to take a dominant position. A more critical point is to determine if
these noticeable events or obvious comments were provoked to gain my attention.
Holloway and Jefferson’s (2000) third question relates to how researchers interpret what
they notice. During the course of the observation, I did not make a judgment of what was useful
data and what was not useful. I recorded what I observed. When I compiled the data for analysis
and synthesized the data based on what was useful in answering the research questions, I also
interpreted what I noticed. I know my interpretation of a noticeable event was determined by the
length of time spent observing the participants and the environment to determine if this event or
comment was significant. Spending seven days with each family provided a basis for
interpretation. The goal is of any research study is to provide credible and reliable analysis. To
minimize this potential for errors in interpretation, I conducted more than one observation,
thereby increasing the level of validity in interpretation. Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggest that a
period of prolonged engagement is critical for establishing credibility. Prolonged engagement is
necessary to ensure the researcher’s interpretations are solid; I established a good rapport with
participants over time to avoid misinterpretation of their responses, actions, and personalities. “If
prolonged engagement provides scope, persistent observation provides depth” (Lincoln & Guba,
1985, p. 304). For instance, if a participant repeatedly used an uncommon expression or
referenced the same event continuously over the course of the observations or interviews, then I
used follow-up questions to gain insight and ensure that I had correctly interpreted the event

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during an observation. Some repetitions of key words by participants provided insight to why
homeschooling was a preferred educational option.
Holloway and Jefferson’s (2005) last question suggests knowing that the interpretation by
the researcher is correct. The ‘checks and balances’ associated with doing research provided
clarification of responses; I asked follow-up questions when there were doubts or ambiguities.
This was a critical step that provided a form of checks and balances in establishing validity in
research.
Limitations of this Study
The limitations of this study grew throughout the research period. Initially, the
anticipated limitation was participant recruitment. Indeed, gaining access to potential participants
was problematic. Because some states require reporting of the intent to homeschool, records of
those families must exist. However, because many states protect the privacy of students, I could
not contact the Michigan Department of Education, for example, for a list of homeschoolers to
call to solicit participation in the study. I therefore had to turn to the Internet and online
communities to target and recruit participants.
During this process, I encountered the second study limitation: a general lack of trust that
many families had, stemming from numerous legal actions that have been taken against
homeschooling families in the past. Some families were hesitant to trust me despite disclosing
my experience as a former public school teacher. In fact, my past teaching experience may have
deterred participants from engaging in the research once they read my true purpose for joining
the homeschooling networks. Table 3 describes the methods used in the study for data
collection.

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A third limitation was retaining participants throughout the study period. Some
participants discontinued the study because of challenges such as death of a family member,
relocation of a spouse or the entire family, personal illness, or for other reasons which were not
disclosed. Losing participants after commencing the interviews was the most devastating aspect
of this research study because significant time had been spent with the families, in some cases
travel expenses were incurred, and a lot of data had been collected. However, realizing these
complications were not within in my control as a researcher made them easier to accept. As a
researcher, learning to deal with indirect rejection was challenging. When obstacles hindered a
family’s ability to complete the research, I realized that this type of rejection should not be taken
personally unless it stemmed from a research design flaw, which was not the case.
Funding was also a limitation. As a private researcher without institutional funding, I
faced additional obstacles in recruiting participants that well-funded researchers might be able to
avoid. For example, increasing the number of case studies also would mean an increase in travel
expenses—something I could not afford. Second, funding to advertise this research in print
media and online media such as on websites that specialize in homeschooling curriculum and
blogs might have increased the number of participants. Finally, a limited number of
homeschoolers will find intrinsic value in their involvement in a research study without receiving
any tangible goods. After speaking with homeschoolers, I believe many families would be
interested in receiving a free gas card or discount coupons for books, educational materials, or
school supplies in exchange for participation in a research study. Providing such incentives to
participants, however, would be expensive.

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Conclusion
Data was collected and analyzed with methods such as participant observation, field
notes, semi-structured and in-depth interviews. The objective of these instrumental cases studies
was to gain insight into African American homeschooling families. This curiosity was prompted
by an article which stated that the number of African American homeschoolers had reached a
phenomenal level. However, after reviewing the last study conducted by the NCES in 2003, I
began to wonder if they primary reasons for homeschooling in that study were the same for the
African American homeschooling population. Considering the limited amount of research on
African American homeschoolers and fewer scholarly articles and studies published in the
existing body of literature, these were questions which remained unanswered: (1) Who are they?
and (2) Why do they opt to homeschool? Observational and interview data were collected by use
of field notes and audio recordings. The audio recordings were part of the field notes and were
transcribed using word processing software. All the data was broken into chunks and
synthesized. Themes arose from the cross-case analysis and will be presented in the next chapter.
During the research study, I used guided conversations to gather clarity and to obtain an
understanding of how the data were linked to and aligned to the research questions.
Conversations allowed for clarity and an in-depth understanding. It is my recommendation that
an ethnographic study is conducted in the future to understand if there are any cultural
differences in the way African Americans homeschool in comparison to Caucasian
homeschoolers. These are the 2 largest racial groups in the United States according to the NCES
1999 and 2003 studies. There are so many questions about the African American homeschooling
family that remains unanswered.

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CHAPTER 4
RESULTS OF DATA
This research includes case studies of four African-American families who are currently
homeschooling their children. These families belong to various homeschooling networks such as
African American Homeschoolers Network, Black Homeschoolers, or African-American Home
School all designed for the African American family; however, as a side note, membership in
these networks is not racially exclusive to Blacks. The semi-structured interview allowed
participants to engage in a conversation more than a structured interview. This approach
provided an opportunity to follow-up with additional probes, as necessary. The interview
protocol questions were not originally designed with the intent to engage children in the
interviewing process despite having their approval by way of consent forms. The interview
protocol was designed for adults as the primary respondents. However, as needed, children were
asked questions to gain a better understanding of a comment or event that was not transparent
during the observation. In addition, children were observed as they interacted with the primary
instructional parent, but the questions were designed to solicit in-depth descriptions of their
children’s experiences from an adult perspective.
Participant Selection
I solicited participants from several online networks created for African-American
homeschoolers because the snowball sampling method proved to be unsuccessful. When I used
friends and acquaintances for referrals, I received no response from the prospective participant. I
did not get many leads or referrals because the majority of my colleagues or friends do not know
many African-American homeschoolers. As a result, I had to use another research method,
purposive sampling, to locate families with links to homeschooling. Some of the online networks

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and groups were no longer accessible via their published contact information found on the
Internet search engine, Google. The telephone numbers for the contact person were not valid.
Some groups published specific meeting places such as libraries and arts centers. When I called
those locations, I was informed that those homeschooling groups no longer convened there.
Finally, newer groups like those created online in Yahoo and Ning networks were
discovered. Online participation included blogs, pictures of families, and demographic profiles of
African-American homeschooling families. There were 18 families who initially responded to
the solicitation for participants posted in the message center within the online networks. The first
email I posted in the Yahoo and Ning networks conveyed the purpose of the desired membership
was to meet families who would be interested in participating in my dissertation study, Case
Studies: African American Homeschoolers: Who Are They and Why Do They Opt to Home
School?
The online networks created a safe environment giving these families a reasonable level
of control over the inquiry process. Use of electronic mailing facilitated an initial sense of
protection for parents who made inquiries. I believe these prospective families wanted to assess
the risks associated with involvement in the study prior to electing to become an active
participant. Email facilitated initial access to these prospective participants. It also served as the
best way to appease members with an outsider who had gained access to this members-only
society. The Internet and initial electronic correspondence generated a pool of prospective
participants and a way to determine their preliminary eligibility for the research study.
Once the contact information was given, I followed up with a telephone call greeting to
make a personal introduction and to provide legitimacy to the solicitation for research
participants. I believe hearing a human voice, my voice, promoted a level of comfort for

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participants rather than communication made solely by electronic means. Many people are
reluctant to impart personal information to an unknown individual via the Internet without first
establishing a rapport prior to that initial email contact. I believe the telephone contact with an
actual person increased the level of trustworthiness.
A second telephone call was made to the prospective participants within a week to
conduct an in-depth screening interview. The goal of the telephone screening appointment was
twofold: first, it would inform prospective participants about the manner in which the interviews
would take place and second, it would give me an opportunity to gather data to ascertain whether
or not these families would fit the framework of the study. During the telephone screening, the
families were asked the first 10 semi-structured questions from the protocol which were designed
to collect demographic data. After the initial screening interview had concluded, the families’
responses were analyzed. Two families were immediately excluded because their children were
infant age. They were interested in homeschooling but they had not actually homeschooled a
child. Given the purpose of this study was to understand the rationale behind selecting this
educational alternative above all other options, those families did not consider other alternatives
for educating their child because at least one of the parents had been homeschooled.
Subsequently, consent forms were mailed with pre-paid stamped envelopes to each of the
remaining 16 families prior to the initial observation in accordance with the Institutional Review
Board’s requirements. Six of those 16 families gave immediate verbal approval of the study
during the second screening interview and stated they wanted to participate. Ten of the 16 forms
were never returned. Two follow-up calls were made to those 10 families to confirm receipt of
the consent forms and to assess if there were unanswered questions that may have hindered
returning the consent forms. I did not receive a response from those families. However, after

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receiving consent forms for only six families, I was excited to have these families as participants.
However, subsequent to the first observation, two of the families later withdrew participation in
the research because of personal reasons. One of the instructing mother’s father passed away and
the other family was entering the divorce process. In the end, four families continued on to
conclude the research study. These are the four families who will be presented in this chapter:
the Dampare, Urban, Ham-Kyu, and Patterson family.
Data Collection
For this study, the field notes and observational data were collected and were used for
data analysis. Subsequent to the initial telephone conversation, a screening interview was held to
ascertain eligibility and to determine genuine interest in the research. The first observation was
scheduled after consent forms were returned with a signature. The initial observation provided
data about the actual edifice where instruction occurs in the family’s home and it facilitated a
level of comfort for both me as researcher and the family. As a researcher, I was a bit anxious
about doing quality research and about making sure that I captured relevant data during the
observation. I did reflect on Glesne’s work on self-monitoring (2006) and Holloway and
Jefferson’s (2000) questions work for maintaining checks and balances during the data collection
phase of the study so I would not get distracted by personal biases. Interview and observational
data was collected at the participants’ home. As researcher, I reviewed notes and compiled data
collected each day for clarity. Interviews and observations did not occur simultaneously.
Data was collected through use of semi-structured interviews of each family. These
interviews were with the instructor parent rather than the collective family. The mother was the
primary instructor in each family. Children were observed in the home, during home school
instruction, and during other activities which may have included their educational activities

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outside of the home. In some cases, I asked children questions subsequent to an observation to
clarify comments or to understand their actions. These follow-up questions were not part of the
written protocol, but were necessary to ensure that an event or comment was interpreted
correctly; questions were only directed to the children for clarification.
I conducted seven observations for each of the four families over the course of 12 weeks
for three of the four families to learn how the families operated their home schools. One of the
families relocated to another state for the last two observations which resulted in two additional
months added to the data collection timeline. Each family had their own daily agenda. Therefore,
an observational day varied in length according to what was planned for that day. The
instructional approaches and schedules varied in each of the four cases. Based on the unique
context of each family, observations began as early as 8:00 a.m. and concluded at 4:30 p.m. With
another family, the day began at 11:30 and concluded at 2:00 p.m. One family had a make-up
observation and instruction day on a Saturday when the instructional day was postponed because
the instructional mom needed to take her mother to the doctor. There was one family maintained
a very strict regimen with a consistent beginning and ending time. Also, this family had a preprinted lesson plan ready for me upon my arrival. As the researcher, I observed participants in
their natural settings and observed them when allowed according to their family’s instructional
and personal agendas not according to my schedule or my research agenda. Initially, I thought I
would have a set schedule for all families. One of my preconceptions was that I expected each
family to have a firm time for instruction but this was not always the case. Home schools do
allow for flexibility in approach, scheduling, curriculum, and pacing. Parents can modify their
schedules based on need and wants. For example, one mother stated her son was fascinated with

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spiders and insects. If allowed this area of study would consume a lot of their instructional time
but she has to make sure all other content are covered for that day.
The greatest challenge for me as the researcher was adapting and changing my projected
data collection deadlines a few times. I had to be flexible. Observations had to be re-scheduled
several times because of health challenges, family issues, doctors’ appointments, and relocation.
Initially, I was a bit irritated when a family had to cancel, but I had to evaluate my feelings. After
realizing that these are people with lives of their own and they had no reason to value my
research study like I did. I was allowed to observe them when it suited their schedule. The delays
began with a son getting ill and then the entire family was sick with the flu. The observations
were moved back two weeks for this family. Another family relocated out of state subsequent to
the first five observations to give the non-homeschooling son a new opportunity to “get himself
together and to get away from distractions.” Again, I had to do a self-check realizing these are
people-things do happen in all families. Life simply happened to them.
In an effort not to overwhelm each family, I conducted the semi-structured interviews in
stages as opposed to asking all the protocol questions in one or two observations. Time was often
limited for the interviews because of the daily instructional schedules. Observations allowed the
researcher to understand some of the benefits and challenges of a homeschooling family. One of
the benefits of homeschooling is the potential involvement of the child and parent in
collaboration with the planning and learning. Each family allowed the child to voice their likes
and dislikes about the subject and in the planning. An additional benefit of learning at home is
the discussion between parent and child about learning. For example, a decision can be made to
spend more time on a topic or take a field trip to reinforce or provide more depth in learning.
One family actually participated in an occasional co-op group. Outsiders may say this kind of

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flexibility increases students’ engagement and makes learning relevant while others may say this
approach has non-scripted pacing and the child will not attain state standards. Because students
were active participants in the planning process, I saw more of a level of enthusiasm than I
would see if a child was doing was he was simply told to do. I did witness instances when that
same child was not so enthusiastic about a particular content area, but he did the work just as
most non-homeschooled students do. At times, I saw when the role of parent vs. teacher was at
play. However, continuous challenges with homeschooling are avoiding the distractions at home
such as temptations to answer the phone when it rings during instruction and to complete errands
during instructional periods. Financial challenges with homeschooling are purchasing
instructional materials or paying for memberships to museums or expenses for online
homeschooling resources. Finally, another potential drawback for learning at home would be
parents who have expectations of the child’s ability which are too high, children not having
support of professionals who specialize in cognitive impairments or special needs, and children
who prefer to be taught by others. It was beneficial as a researcher to view the variety of
strategies instructors used in homeschooling.
Interviews
As I begin this section of the chapter, I will reveal to you the four case study families: the
Dampare, Urban, Ham-Kyu, and Patterson families. The interviews were conducted with parents
and on occasion, children. Each family consented to children being interviewed. However, the
purpose of the research protocol was to gain insight into each family’s uniqueness in relation to
the two guiding questions of the study: Who are they? and Why Do They Opt to Home School?
While the protocol is quite lengthy, for the purposes of this section, I have composed compiled
responses which are most indicative of each family’s uniqueness. This is in relation to the first

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research question: Who are they? After collecting the data, an analysis was conducted to assess
themes. Each family conveyed a thick description of their own experiences and their rationale for
selecting homeschooling as their preferred way of educating children. One of the benefits of
observational data was viewing the teacher-student relationship and to view how “classroom
management” occurred. Classroom management is as germane to instruction for a
homeschooling family as it is for a traditional school classroom. In the case of one family, as
stated by one of the homeschooling mothers, Monique Urban, it is difficult for her to teach or
work with the oldest son when the youngest son is awake. If he was not asleep, she had to
engage him first in an activity before attempting to instruct her eldest son, Zebulon.
Observations
It is in this section of the chapter that I will present the case study of each family within
their real-life context and then link their responses to the primary research questions that shape
this study:
1. Who are these African American families?
2. Why have they opted to home school?
3. Subordinate Question #1: Do their reasons for homeschooling differ from
those of the larger population of families who homeschool?
4. Subordinate Question #2: Were the families’ decisions to home school a
direct result of shortcomings in public education?
Homeschooling is not a clear concept in many individuals’ minds. However, it is through
this thick description that a transparent depiction of these four African American families is
provided. The purpose for conducting these case studies is not to find fault nor is it to create a
movement for homeschooling, but it is to provide a realistic view of the families lives as

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homeschoolers. The most interesting aspect about doing this study was learning that many of the
pre-conceived notions relative to homeschoolers from a generalized perspective and the
connections to Black homeschoolers were, in many instances, not true. Nor, were those preconceived notions able to be substantiated and linked to the African American homeschoolers.
Observations occurred wherever the contact was made whether it was in the instructional
area, in the family room, outside of the home, or a combination of any of those areas. It was
important to allow the parents to home school in the way they would normally instruct. With
homeschooling, itineraries for the instructional day are not limited to activities in the classroom.
I interpreted this flexibility in locale as another benefit of homeschooling. The classroom is
mobile, wherever they go can be their classroom. The ability to observe the families in their
natural setting increased the likelihood of experiencing a typical instructional day. These
opportunities gave clarity to how learning takes place in the home. I observed not only the way
in which parents instructed their children , but I also observed the manner in which parents
negotiated instructional activities and the transition between content areas. Again, this process
varied as did the culture within each family’s home varied. For example, Rachel Dampare was so
structured that there was almost no instructional time unaccounted for even as she transitioned
from math and science in the kitchen to violin lessons in the living room. With the Urban family,
all activities took place in the dining room which was adjacent to the living room area where the
computer was located. For the Ham-Kyu family, all the instruction was in the adjacent dining
and living room. However, there was sometimes difficulty in getting Brian to stop one
assignment once he was engaged. Observations revealed the amount of planning involved the
interruptions that are typical of a home environment, and the types of structure for the learning
activities. In one observation with the Ham-Kyu family, the youngest son, Brian, was not in the

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mood to learn that day. However, he wanted to paint and his mother allowed him to do what he
wanted to do instead of the lesson that was planned. Rita Patterson did not seem to have any
issues with transitioning her daughter from subject to subject. Similarly, the observations also
disclosed some of the challenges that many parents experience when trying to teach your own
children; they became frustrated when the child was not on task or when they had an interruption
in instruction which mirrored the frustrations of many professional teachers. Classroom teachers
also get frustrated when there is an unexpected fire drill or unplanned assembly. On occasion, the
younger children played on the emotions of the parents. In most cases, it did not alter the tasks
that were taking place.
In an effort to provide a description of each family, responses are provided to reflect who
these families are and to provide a background of each family.
Case Study
Who Are They? The Dampare Family
The Dampare (pseudonym) family is from suburbia Michigan. The home’s décor is
accented with Kente Cloth and African-heritage accents throughout this three-leveled singlefamily ranch-styled home. They used most of the home for instruction: the kitchen breakfast bar
and table are used while mom is in the kitchen, the living room area is used for music lessons,
and there is a formal classroom set up in the basement that is used on occasion. The basement if
covered with educational paraphernalia typical of many classrooms. As with all the families who
participated in this research study, each had its own unique history and story. However, the
Dampares informed this study on several levels. It was interesting to observe a family who is
close to the television situation comedy, The Cosby’s Huxtable family. The father, Eugene, is a
certified engineer who has a real lineage of royalty; a dynasty in his homeland located in West

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Africa. His grandfather is King of his village and he is a prince. His father and his children
cannot be seated on the throne; it can be passed only through the mother or his aunt’s side. He is
indeed a Prince Ashston Fredua-Agyemang Dampare (pseudonym). The homeschooling mother,
Rachel, has been homeschooling for nearly 12 years. She has a bachelor degree in education and
she happens to operate an after-school tutorial business (see Table1). In addition, she is quite
knowledgeable about African culture and history not solely because of her marriage to her
African husband, but also because of her previous employment working in a museum and
teaching students about Africa. Upon the initial meeting in person, Rachel and I realized that we
had probably met once before when she was employed as an educational coordinator at the
museum.
The Dampare children are multi-talented. The oldest child, Janice, is a young adult, 22
years old, who works part time out of the home. She is also in college; consequently, she was not
around very often to participate in the study and to share her experiences with homeschooling.
The youngest child, who shall be referred to as Ashton, is taking online classes from community
college. Ashton was named to reflect his lineage of royalty. Ashton has spent a lot of summers in
his father’s homeland in West Africa to learn customs and traditions that are customary of the
Rites of Passage. The Rites of Passage is a sacred ceremony symbolic of passage into manhood
that he will experience as part of his lineage. Ashton has also visited Europe; his goal is to visit
each continent. Although he is not sure about going to Antarctica because he stated, “only
researchers go there.” It seems that every detail about his life has been carefully planned.
The homeschooling day is thoroughly typed, printed, and kept in a binder once the day
has concluded. Although Ashton gives some input in the planning, the day is primarily planned
by mom. Instruction begins at 8:00 a.m. and the day does not conclude until after several

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practices of both sports and music. Rachel’s lesson plans would make a teacher-in-training weep
with the explicit details; every minute is accounted for. Included in the daily regimen are times
allocated to Bible study and devotional, violin lessons, soccer practice, Boy Scouts, piano
lessons, and Latin. Breakfast and lunch time are also accounted for daily. Monday through
Friday is also planned in a weekly planner including the transportation time to take Ashton to his
part-time public school activities. Ashton still likes to attend public school and usually leaves at
10:30 a.m. to interact with some of his former friends from the public school he formerly
attended on a full-time basis. Table 4 reflects the typical day for Ashton:
Table 4.
Dampare Instructional Day

Instructional Day: Monday-Friday
Beginning Time
7:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m.
8:30 a.m.

Ending Time
7:29 a.m.
8:29 a.m.
9:59 a.m.

Task
Breakfast and chores
Prayer and Bible Study
Language Arts
/Grammar Reading,
Writing, Spelling

10:00 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
1:45 p.m.
2:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.

10:15 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m.
2:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.

8:00 p.m.
9:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.
6:59 a.m.

Morning break
Math
Lunch and recess
History
Afternoon break
Science
Free time
Soccer/ Boy Scouts
Homework/Online
Classes
Free time
Bed time

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On one of the observational days, Ashton sees a spider on the wall and captures it with a clear
plastic box. Rachel gets an index card to help get the spider into the box. Ashton sat the spider
near the book he was reading and began to observe it with a magnifying glass. Rachel stated,
“Normally we keep it, observe it and then release it.” Ashton stated, “He (the spider) has a leg
missing.”
Subsequent to the distraction of the spider, Ashton began to review his lesson from
yesterday’s Bible study; he said, “I never pronounce their names correctly.” Religious freedom is
one aspect of homeschooling that this family likes; homeschooling allows them to incorporate
Bible study into the school day. In fact, his Boy Scout meetings are held at their United
Methodist Church (name withheld). It was during this observation that I learned the family and I
attend the same church. I contemplated whether or not I should reveal this detail but I believed
transparency was important; therefore, I revealed this discovery at the end of the day as I was
leaving. Mom addresses a question from the Bible lesson to Ashton, “Was there ever a time
when you took the easy way out? He reflected and responded, “Yea, math.” They went over
several examples of how he takes the easy way out; she also asked him to remember the coach
making the comment at soccer practice. She said he was being lazy. Rachel then asks him, “Are
you going to school today?” He says, “I don’t know I have gas.” She says, you better hurry up
and get your socks and shoes on if you are going. He repeats, “I have gas and don’t like to do # 2
at school.” He reminds his mom that she (the teacher) yells when they are late. Ashton then
gathers his belongings to get ready to go to school. We drive about 5 minutes to drop Ashton off
to school. Upon return, they eat lunch and Rachel talks about how his violin teacher prepares a
cassette for him to listen to and he repeats his favorite song over and over. After lunch, we then
proceed to the front living room and his mom sets up everything for the violin practice. As an

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observer, I thought he played wonderfully. His mom stated she is a bit nervous about the
upcoming recital. The daily instructional lessons are a compilation of pre-printed materials,
worksheets, workbooks from various sources and areas of interest that Ashton has. For example,
they did a scrapbook to capture their trip to both Africa and Europe. Ashton really enjoyed this
scrapbooking project as a culmination of his travel. His mother stated he is very interested in
history; Ashton loves to study and read as much literature as possible about the Civil War.
This family was not as concerned about peer pressure or school violence as a reason for
homeschooling this is in contrast to NCES data. However, the ability to teach religion, culture,
and heritage were secondary reasons for homeschooling behind their primary reason for
homeschooling: concerns about low expectations for him as student, an African American male,
and a lack of academic stimulation were primary reasons for homeschooling. He was removed
from public schools after his parents reached an impasse with the Caucasian second-grade
teacher and the principal. “His classroom was 80% White, 10% Indian and Arabic and about
10% African American. The population is projected to be 25% African American by 2015. They
are now trying to develop cultural sensitivity, but not from homeownership from renters, said
Rachel. Rachel adds:
I have a vested interest-this is my child. This is my child- this is of mom…in the womb
from mom and not even from dad; Dad don’t have anything baby can latch on to. This
will not supersede nature; it is something that teachers just have to have-non-measureable.
Either you have it or don’t. In the classroom, in cases of children-what person on this
planet don’t want to be loved or cared for?
It was because of Ashton’s experience with his last public school in a Detroit suburb that
he asked his mom to home school him. Rachel stated that Ashton has never been an average
child. She said he read early, at 3 years old. He walked at 10 months and he could distinguish
between upper and lower case letters of the ABCs and knew 100 sight words by the age of 4. An
example of him not being average is Ashton is currently enrolled in Piedmont Valley
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Community College located in Virginia where he is taking online courses. Some of Rachel’s
responses are below:
Why did you think it was worthwhile to participate in the study?
Rachel: I wanted to make sure that a Michigan State researcher had a participant from the
area. I wanted to enlighten the study.
How did you hear about this research study?
Rachel: It was either through Unschoolers group or the African-American
Homeschoolers group.
Do you believe your son is more academically successful at home than a traditional classroom?
Rachel: That’s a loaded question, that is a yes & no question. I wasn’t homeschooled, but
the schools that I attended prepared me academically well. It is a personal choice in
regard to what you may feel your child needs. Maybe in my case, schools in the 60s and
nd
70s, teachers had no problems grouping based on ability. If students in the 2 grade
rd

could perform at a 3 grade level, they would allow that child to excel and push them
outside of the box. Kids who could not handle the curriculum could be put in support
services; special ed kids were not mainstreamed. Now there is a different approach that
everyone is together or mainstreamed, but for kids who learn outside of that circle or box
it has limitations.
Was cultural education a motive in your decision to home school?
Rachel: Probably in the beginning-no. Our primary decision to home school was about us
having a male child who was “checking out of school.” We wanted to put the safeguards
in place to make sure he matured as an African American male and have the
opportunities to be successful. When a male checks out of school, that is a warning sign. I
was a dept head in charge of 22 people; I walked away. We did not want to take the
chance to see what was up the pipe.
How is addressing culture at home school different than addressing it at a public school?
Rachel: Culturally, I don’t feel he suffers from a lack of culture because of his
neighborhood, the multitude of activities, and all his travel. Even though we live in a
predominately White neighborhood- we live in a culturally diverse population. Most of
his friends are Indian, Pakistani, Iranian, and Iraqi. It was mainly about their father who
is Ghanaian. It is by nature that they are connected to their culture.
I was very candid with the principal regarding Ashton’s White female teacher being
insensitive with kids of color. I told the principal about the teacher not being connected to
kids of color. I asked him (the principal) when is the last time she taught a class on Asian

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culture or Indian culture? The teacher missed the mark when me and my husband told the
teacher when working with this type of child (inquisitive); you need to be in control of
the classroom. The one thing that hurt him (Ashton) was when the teacher asked him to
do a report and go back as far as two generations (grandparents). He was so discouraged
and bewildered by her grading on that assignment. He was so proud of his lineage.
Ashton heard his mom respond to the question and he interjected his comment:
When I did the family tree last year, I wanted to show the 7 generations and the king in
my family. I knew a lot about my genealogy- I went back to slavery and I did not get to
go present all of it.
Rachel: He got a very low grade and someone else who colored and put pictures on a
tree received a better grade. The teacher gave him a lower grade than the student who
colored. His father is a member of the Dampare dynasty. The dynasty can be passed only
through the mother (paternal grandmother) or his aunt’s side. His teacher would not allow
him time to talk about the royalty in his family. She (the teacher) yelled to him, “I told
you only to talk about 2 generations.”
Another example, Hashir, Ashton’s best friend from Pakistan, would write about write
about Pakistan. But the teacher told both Hashir to stop writing about Pakistan and
Ashton to stop writing about Ghana. She told the boys to stop writing about their
countries. The teacher had very limited cultural connections to her students. If a teacher is
culturally insensitive, the teacher should seek outside sources. Teachers should be open to
learning about their students’ backgrounds. In the case of Ashton’s public school class,
six kids were often singled out; they hung out together. There were 4 children of color
and 2 Caucasian friends who had been friends for a couple of years. But only those who
played together in this group were always getting in trouble.
Typically, what do you do when the doorbell rings?

Rachel: Normally, we don't have interruptions (door or phone). However, if I need to
meet with someone during his school day, I plan meetings around our lunch hour or
recess hour.
Since beginning this study, are there any changes to Ashton’s academic program that you
foresee in the near future?
Rachel: Yes, Ashton wants to continue his study of Latin but also wants to learn Russian
and German.

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Should values, cultural identities, and religions be reflected in the public school curriculum?
Rachel: No. Teachers are not-it could wind up…you mean as far as being taught? I guess
I am a believer of separation of church and state. It would require an expert to teach these
subjects. I think teachers are having issues now in Warren because of the number of
African Americans going into that community. They are getting the lower SES African
Americans in their district. I don’t define you (Whites) by the folks in the trailer parks. So
why are you judging those who are of lower SES status by all of us.
In one of our earlier interviews, you mentioned what child doesn’t want to be cared for. How
does caring and nurturing impact student achievement?
Rachel: From a psychological perspective-when they have limitations; they can shut
down on you and won’t go any further. If you have a special needs child- they got 2
words out of 10 and they feel that based on their abilities, they may be motivated to get 34 words correct. Children are reflections of little adults. Their feelings are bigger. Kids
interpret differently and their spirits can be broken. In the current climate, there have
been numerous studies, that in the African American community, we have to pay close
attention to males from 8-about 12. Could nurturing have turned that around? For
nd
example, I have a 2 grader who I tutor, he says that a White female teacher doesn’t like
him-I see the physical depression and it is articulated in the classroom. I see the 10-15
sheets of work a week; he is getting sad faces and “Fs” on his work. He tells me I want to
do it with you because I know you like me. His mom is moving towards homeschoolinghe has mentally checked out. As this young man’s tutor, I am concerned because he has
mentally checked out and that nurturing could have helped this child.
Do you think it is possible for teachers to bring caring and nurturing into instructional practices
for 30-35 students?
Rachel: Yes, but it takes a teacher who has a natural ability and the desire to see each
child succeed against extreme odds. It takes a well-organized teacher. But it creates a lot
of pressure because of No Child Left Behind has taken the creativity away.
Do you think that these characteristics are lacking by instructors inside public classrooms?
Rachel: I don’t want to do a broad brush and I think it would be unfair. It is hit or miss. I
think standardized test data could help some awesome and great teachers. Poor school
performance is not always to do with what happens in the classroom. Affluent districts
don’t have to deal with-momma shot up last night or momma got shot and that baby saw
that or momma could not feed us last night. Sometimes teachers give all the nurturing and
caring they can and that does not reflect upon that spelling test. I think all teachers should
rd
possess nurturing and caring or they should not teach. In 3 grade, he was not feeling the
love or interest in going to school.

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What recommendations would you make to public school educators based on your previous
experience as an instructor?
Teachers should be culturally sensitive. They should be conscientious of their actions.
They should be nurturing and caring to the point that they do not cause a child to
mentally check out (learning). Most teachers do the best they can.

Who Are They? The Urban Family
The Urban family resides in an apartment building in the midst of many different
complexes and townhouses in the heart of the Washington, D.C. communities. This family of
four resides in an apartment where the décor is like that of the Dampare family. It is also
demonstrative of the African pride and heritage obviously celebrated in this family’s home.
There are African artifacts vividly displayed around their home including a large world map and
a map specific to Africa. The family adorns locks and other natural hair styles symbolic of their
pride and African heritage. For instruction, the family’s dining table in the dining room is the
primary place for instruction. The computer is located in the living room area but it is visible to
the table where most of the instruction takes place. The very organized hall closet is full of
books and instructional materials. There are labeled containers with arts and crafts materials that
the boys use when it is art time. The homeschooling parent is the mother, Monique. She keeps a
file cabinet of records, if needed. It is here that the containers contain the assignments that will
be worked on for that day. There are 9 containers in the rack used in instruction. This is the
system that Monique states she learned from another homeschooling family.
This is a busy household with two young boys, Aaron and Zebulon, wanting and
demanding their mom’s attention most of the time. The father, Earvin, is currently unemployed
as he has had some physical challenges in the last few years and is wheel-chair bound. The
mother works part-time as a writer. She attended one of the top Historically Black Colleges and
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Universities on the east coast where she obtained her bachelor degree in journalism. The contact
between the family and the researcher had been lost just after the telephone interviews and three
observations due to the family’s personal reasons, but upon browsing a Costco magazine just
prior to tossing it into the garbage, an article and picture of Monique and her two boys captured
my attention; the author was none other than Monique Urban. There was a level of excitement to
see Costco highlighting an article on African American homeschoolers and how useful Costco
was in helping them save money on school-related supplies in the home school.
Like many homeschooling families who have only one parent working, home-schooling
is a very large sacrifice for the entire family and money sometimes become scarce. This family’s
employment situation is typical of many homeschooling families. Oftentimes, one parent stays
home to homeschool and the other parent leaves home to work. However, Monique states she
has no regrets and it is all worth the sacrifice. She states that “sometimes money is an issue
because there are some programs and curriculum that I want to buy, but when those materials
cost in the area of $200 to $250, we just can’t afford that.”
Admittedly, Monique stated that sometimes, the demand on her time is taxing with both
boys wanting her undivided attention. Monique states that (demands on her time) is her biggest
challenge. She is hoping to get Aaron, her youngest son at 3 years old, on a schedule where he
will remain sleep while she works with the oldest son, Zebulon is 9 years old. Monique
confessed that it is very difficult for her to teach her oldest son, Zebulon, and mother the
youngest son, Aaron, at the same time. Monique seemed to want suggestions about what to do or
how to handle Aaron while giving Zebulon the attention he needs when instruction is taking
place. Like the other participants, as a researcher I did not offer any suggestions. Although as a

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parent and a teacher, I wanted to do something to help her. I realized that if I did anything during
this study, I would compromise the research.
During the observations, the day usually began around 9:00 a.m. after breakfast. The time
was not precise but generally in the vicinity of 9:00 a.m. There was an aide who came in to help
with the care of her husband and to assist with household chores. As the aide cleaned the kitchen
and swept the floors, Monique began to instruct as best she could if Aaron did not demand her
immediate attention. Initially, the youngest son, Aaron, was clearly distracted by having a
stranger present in the house on the first day. He enjoyed performing and he was naturally
curious about the purpose of having someone taping the conversations. Before we began on the
first observation, I allowed Aaron to hold the tape cassette so he would understand the small
device. I even allowed him to record his name so he had a better understanding of how it worked
and why I needed it to be positioned close to the instruction at that time. I did not want Aaron to
play with the tape recorder while it was running. It needed to capture the instruction. By the
second observation, he was did not seem to pay attention to the recorder at all. He was quite
energetic and enjoyed receiving attention from anyone who was around. He even took off his
underwear to get attention from the mother on the first day of observations. As the observations
continued, Aaron began to be more comfortable with me being present and observing and he
became calmer as time went on. As a researcher observing Monique’s dilemma, it was critical to
capture how she managed to navigate the learning environment and to proceed with instruction.
At this point, remaining focused on instruction was a bit challenging as the observer. As an
educator, it was so very tempting to try to offer help with Aaron. He needed an engaging activity
while Monique divided her time and attention between the two students. On the first day of
observations, Zebulon requested her permission to begin the day’s work with a mathematics

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lesson. Zebulon loves math. However, Monique did not allow Zebulon to start his day with his
favorite subject every day because he would not get to the other areas that needed to be covered
each day. Although he did give input about his daily assignments, he did begin 3 days with math.
The schedule for each day fluctuated depending on what was accomplished the prior day.
Initially, on the first day of observation, Zebulon did not need assistance with the assignment
because he was completing the remaining boxes from the previous day. He worked for about 6
minutes then he came to a section where he needed Monique to explain the directions and to
show him an example of how to do the problem. As the observational days continued, there
seemed to be consistency with Monique introducing a new lesson or concept and Zebulon was
continuing the assignment independently until there was a point where he either had difficulty
with the work or needed clarification about the instructions.
On the first day, Monique took Aaron to the computer to work on a new phonics program
while Zebulon worked on his math. Because of his small size and the size of the chair, Aaron had
to sit on her lap while they explored the different aspects of the program. This new program
seemed to be the perfect distraction that Aaron needed. They started with the tutorial. He was so
excited that he was operating the mouse by himself. Monique had all of Aaron’s attention as she
demonstrated how and when to click his response and to wait to see if his answers were correct
or not. He was totally excited about this new program. They sang the song together and then he
was excited to get the answers right and wrong. He had another opportunity to operate the
mouse. The lesson lasted about 40 minutes. Zebulon would watch the interaction between
Monique and Aaron. Aaron asked to do another lesson and Monique allowed him to work
independently while she went back to give Zebulon her attention. She checked over the
mathematics while Zebulon went into the box and began a spelling assignment. Zebulon had

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been working on the assignment for 7 minutes before the telephone rang. Zebulon’s godfather
had the violin repaired and he was delivering it. Zebulon was so excited to get the violin back so
he could not wait play it. Aaron was equally excited that he left the computer to see the violin.
Aaron then grabbed the violin and ran to the back to the bedroom so no one would take it from
him. Zebulon had to chase Aaron to get the violin back. Aaron cried when Zebulon took it back.
The godfather left. Aaron was so angry at that moment that he forgot all about the computer
program. As the observations continued, Aaron was able to go through the computer program
with little assistance from Monique.
To get them both focused again, Monique asked Aaron, “Do you want to do some art?
Aaron exclaimed, “Yeah”! Aaron proceeded to get the art supplies from the container located in
the closet where all the instructional materials, records and lesson plans, books and art supplies
were kept. Aaron got paper, colored cotton balls, glitter and glue and began to make his own
craft without any assistance from Monique. Monique continued with Zebulon’s language arts
lesson. She cut the lesson short that day because she had to go run errands. Monique has a
system of organization and record keeping that works for Zebulon because he is able to get
started independent of her. According to Monique, their homeschool schedule is not concrete
with definite start and stopping times. She stated this is the benefit of homeschooling is that it
allows for flexibility. Table 5 depicts what the day usually looks like for this family:

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Table 5.
Urban Instructional Day
Instructional Day: Monday-Friday
Beginning Time
8:30 a.m.
9:00 a.m.

Ending Time
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m.

9:45 a.m.

9:45 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.

10:00
10:15 a.m.
10:15 a.m.

10:15 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
11:30 a.m.

11:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.

11:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.

Until
1:30 p.m.

1:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

3:15 p.m.

Task
Breakfast
Language Arts/ Math/
Reading [Zebulon]
Hooked on Phonics
{Aaron}
Morning Break {Aaron}
Arts & Crafts { Aaron}
Morning
Break[Zebulon]
Science [Zebulon]
Free Time {Aaron}
Lunch
Language Arts/ Math/
Reading , Spelling
[Zebulon]
Nap {Aaron}
Language Arts/ Math/
Reading , Spelling
[Zebulon]
Language Arts/ Math/
Reading , Spelling
[Zebulon]
History/Geography

This was the first day that the observations ended early. The only other day was Day 3
when Monique was called to run an errand for her mother.
Why did you think it was worthwhile to participate?
Monique: Because it is important that African American homeschoolers are studied as a
relevant subject to study. It is important telling our story as oppose to others to telling our
story.

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Do you believe your child is more academically successful at home than a traditional
classroom? If so, why do you think so?
Monique: Well I think he is more- (successful), in most cases. That would be the case the mother is the first teacher, she has the child’s interest at heart and will not make
assumptions about the child. If something is not right, something needs to changed,
maybe the curriculum needs to change and not assume it is because the child is special ed.
How important is learning about African American Culture and heritage to you?
Monique: Absolutely-what is education if you are not learning the truth and you are not
fitting it in the grand scheme of things? That is the biggest issue with schools that all
children are taught from a European perspective. I think that history is important because
it makes a child feel important about their history and their contributions. There is no
mention of anyone other than a white person in most books. It is a lie, it is insulting and it
is not right so that is one of the most important aspects of homeschooling is that you can
empower your child with the truth. We went to the Potomac bookstore. Zebulon asked,
“Mom, why is everything about Jesus and why is he White everywhere. For my child, the
mother of civilization is a Black woman; there are black scientists, black doctors and
black fathers in the home. For my children, it is important that I do a better job than the
local public schools would have done.
Have you ever experienced any racist attitudes when affiliating w/non-African American
homeschooling support groups?
Monique: Not really-no. I found most White homeschooling groups to be welcoming.
Once you took on the role of instructional leader, did the expectations for your child’s academic
performance change?
Monique: No, they were always high.
Is there a difference in the family structure or relationship because of homeschooling?
Monique: I think so. I think that a lot of children not really think of themselves as being
close to their parents. I enjoy and like being around my child (Zebulon) and his brother.
He is more mature (Zebulon). He gets to experience more real-life situations. Sometimes
we have to run errands- we live schools and we home school later or that is the activity.
He is actively experiencing home school. He knows how to prepare meals. He can cook.
He can packs lunches and gives his brother his breathing treatments.

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Describe your process for planning instructional activities?
Monique: We are not completely ‘unschooling’ anymore. I use interest-learning. He likes
to study history. He told me some interesting things over breakfast. We picked up a book
on Washington D.C.; there was a poster from C-Span that listed the time lines and all the
presidents. We went to the National Aquarium. He has to do a report on eels and
stingrays. He can type it up and do it using the Internet. That is writing. We use
Singapore math and Rod and Staff for grammar….For history, I use Story of the World.
This was written by a White woman, but there isn’t a lot of talk about ancient Africa.
Egypt is no where ancient. The Well-Trained Mind- is it very Eurocentric. I have taken
some of her resources and have plugged some cultural aspects into it. Core Knowledge
Series…I checked out a book called, What Your Pre-Schooler Needs to Know. Little Red
Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs-that is cute, but where is the culture? I am like
are you kidding me? We will learn the African American equivalent and the key concepts.
When we out in the world, he will get those things (White culture) but at home, he will
get more culturally relevant. With Zebulon, we did not read any books with any people
other than African Americans. He thought he was from Africa. If all the books and
pictures are White-what must that child think?
Typically, what do you do when the doorbell rings?
Monique: Normally, we answer the doorbell. It could be a delivery or something important.
Since beginning this study, are there any changes to Zebulon’s and Aaron’s academic program
that you foresee in the near future?
Monique: Money is a factor. I hope to be able to get Zebulon into a football program. He
really wants to play football. But, since we do not go to a public school, there are not any
programs available to him that are affordable. That is why I am considering allowing him
to go to a public high school so he can play football and, hopefully, get a scholarship to
college. I also want him to take some online classes.
With Aaron, I want to be able to get him on a program where I can balance the two.
Some days are better than others. Some days they both need all my attention.
Do you utilize any part of the public school system or resources?
Monique: No, we don’t.
Is your child academically successful at home?
How do you measure success?
Do you use assessment exams, if so, which ones and how often are they given?

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If you had to name just one thing you believe has made the most impact on your child’s success
at home, what do you think that would be?
Monique: I would say that knowing that …how do I put this? Knowing that I have high
expectations for him and feeling that I believe he is smart and he can do it-having a
mother who believes in you. It positively impacts his self-esteem. He will do his work
and he misses things- my reaction is that he was rushing and not that he couldn’t do it.
My assumption is he is brilliant-period. That brings the best out of him. I am looking for
things to challenge him. If there is a talented and gifted program, that is what I want.
What do you envision for your child once the high school requirements are satisfied?
Monique: College –definitely
Do you have transcripts for the college admissions process?
Monique: No, I will have to start some process of generating transcripts.
Do you ever plan to return your child to public schools for instruction in the future?
Monique: High school is a consideration- not a public school unless it is an absolutely
fantastic. It must have advancement placement in math and science and sports. I am
looking at a private school. Who knows, we may just start college classes when he gets
16. One of the Heisman trophy winners was homeschooled—he didn’t do high school.
What are some of the challenges your family has had w/ homeschooling?
Monique: One of the challenges is financial- paying the bills and having the money to
travel more. I haven’t been able to do it. Sometimes there are classes I would like for
Zebulon to take and sometimes not having an opportunity for a break once or twice a
week. And the same for my little one—I would like for him to be able to do some things.
Who Are They? The Ham-Kyu Family
The Ham-Kyu family structure reflects that of many modern-day families. This family is
a blended family that resided in a Chicago suburb. The parents and one of two sons lived in this
apartment within a multi-unit building. The home has a very simple décor. The white walls are
barren and decorated with only educational posters in addition to Brian, the youngest son’s
artwork. The classroom for instruction is a table in the eating area of the apartment. The
computer is located close to the table. There is a food chart located on the wall and a color chart.

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As with many families impacted by the state of the economy, the father, Rutherford, works
seasonally as a construction manager and electrician. He has remained in the workforce while the
mother, LaTrice, had to stay home to raise their youngest son. The eldest son was not in the
home at the time of the observations; he was living in Oklahoma with his maternal grandparents.
Subsequent to the first five observations, the mom and youngest son relocated to Oklahoma
while the father continued to live in Illinois to make a living.
This blended family began when the parents met online. The home is a modest apartment.
Upon the initial observation, I finally met LaTrice, a married mother of two sons, in response to
the solicitations posted online in various homeschooling groups. She was one of the initial
people to volunteer to participate in the research. The homeschooling groups that were chosen
suggested that they specialized in African American homeschoolers by their names. LaTrice
responded to the posting. Her initial response was, “Hello, I received a message in my one of
my groups that you are doing a study on home school families and that you are seeking more
African American home school families. I have been homeschooling for 5 years and would love
to participate if you still need people.” The next response was framed specifically to see if she
would fit the parameters of this study: being an African American homeschooling family. When
looking at her signature, it was different and non-traditional for an African American family:
LaTrice Ham-Kyu, a different combination with some kind of cultural influence.
When viewing the name, an assumption was made that she was married which prompted
a curiosity about the origin of a surname like Ham-Kyu for an African American family. Like
many people and as a researcher, I tried to figure out something about this person based on a
name prior to the initial observation in an effort to make sense of her name to “put her in my own
box.” The first name, LaTrice, is seemingly a name that an African American female would

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have. The surname, Ham-Kyu appears to be Asian, but the country was unknown. LaTrice stated
her eldest son, Alexander, who was 15 years old when we began, had been educated in public
schools until 5 years ago. She and Rutherford also have a son together, Brain, who was 4 years
old, was going to be homeschooled totally.
When I got to her apartment complex, it was 11:30a.m. I arrived 30 minutes late which
really angered me because of the horrendous Chicago traffic. I was delayed in maneuvering
through the city to get to the Chicago suburb. This was the time that she suggested I come to do
the initial observation. I found a warm smile and a little person, immediately she introduced me
to her son, Brian, the four-year old. I walked in and noticed a gentleman on the computer and the
telephone and she said that was her husband. After returning from the restroom, I took off my
coat and laid it across the chair as LaTrice and her husband were in the midst of having a
discussion regarding her older son’s teeth and dental expenses. It was someone from the dentist
office that was on the phone with her husband, Rutherford.
Again, I began to introduce myself by providing her some background knowledge of
myself and my interest for doing the research. It was important to reveal that my hometown is
only about 30 minutes from her in an effort to ease any anxiety that she or her husband may have
about participating in the study. She already knew that I lived in East Lansing, but hoped that a
more familiar community would lend to a higher level of credibility. In addition, as researcher, it
was important to explain what the purpose of the study. Her husband, Rutherford interjected a
few comments about his knowledge of my hometown and its economic plight. We began to have
a very open exchange about the city and schools in my hometown. Since I had never spoken with
her husband online or on the telephone, I did not know much about him at all and to be honest,
she never mentioned having a husband. Naturally, I then painted a picture of my professional

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experiences in the public school system and tried to reassure both she and her husband, who was
now listening, that I really wanted to contribute to the limited body of scholarly literature
focused specifically on African American homeschoolers.
After a another 19 minute conversation ensued about Gary and his musical interests, he
left and I was able to get to the purpose of this initial visit-homeschooling. There was a food
chart above the dinner/work table. In addition there was a color chart. LaTrice began to tell me
about her experiences with getting Brian into a pre-school program. After only a couple of days,
LaTrice stated the day care director stated that her son was too immature for pre-school. She got
excited and stated, “How are you too immature for preschool? Isn’t that the purpose of preschool
to get prepare you for kindergarten?” She continued to describe her experience; I believe this
was because Brian has mild speech impairment (more of a lisp) and “because he needed a speech
therapist, the daycare didn’t want to work with him.” She continued to show me some of his
artwork where he loves to finger paint. Her son, now 4 years old knew his colors and could count
to 100. She stated she works with him every day but they do not have a rigid schedule. She stated
because she was a single parent with Alexander and did not have time to homeschool. Her
former career was in the banking industry where she worked in customer service.
How did you learn about homeschooling?
LaTrice: I learned about it from a group of kids at church. There were about 5 kids who
were homeschooled. But I saw the kids and their attitudes and demeanor towards life and
they had bad habits which reminded me of how I acted as a kid. But, my husband was
homeschooled and had already been a part of it. The benefits of homeschooling are that it
gives an opportunity for both the child and parent to connect.
How so?
“There is more openness; you are together all the time and we spend time together as a
family. We do not have a scheduled dinner time like some people.”

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If they are involved in a project, then she will wait to cook dinner. At the time of the
observations, there was a ruling in California where parents’ rights to homeschool were going to
be restricted. She gave her opinion on that matter by stating:
LaTrice: That is ridiculous. It is kind of a double-edge sword. On one hand, I feel like a
teacher who is credentialed can teach better. But it is really sad on the other hand because
so many children have failed. She states, she wanted to know “What are they doing
different? Why are so many families trying to home school now?
Why did you think it was worthwhile to participate in this research?
LaTrice: I don’t believe there is enough information African American homeschoolers. It
is not known. And I thought that was very important for the African American
community. Yes, we home school and it is nothing wrong with it. There are a lot of
taboos. My mom didn’t think it was a good idea-she was not for it. She was ignorant of
the fact. I began to educate her. She didn’t think there were African American
homeschoolers. She was impressed when my son got accepted to the top Christian high
schools (she is referring to Alexander) in Oklahoma.
Do you believe child is more academically successful at home than a traditional classroom? If
so, why do you think so?
LaTrice: I would say, from my kids, yes. With Brian, he has benefitted with
homeschooling because he is so active. A lot of districts are not supported of very active
kids and he is not ADHD. I noticed the speech therapist would make comments and she
would make a comment when he would get distracted. He is someone who works in the
school system and if she is coming at me like this, who else? With A.J. (Alexander) he is
more laid back. I learned so much with homeschooling, he noticed how much he learned.
How important is learning about African American culture and heritage to you?
LaTrice: I teach it. I am very strong with teaching it. I try to instill it in my kids. It is very
important to me to understand where we come from and where we are. The information
in history books does not match up to who we are.
Have you ever experience any racist attitudes when affiliating w/ non-African American
homeschooling support groups?
LaTrice: No, not racism I would say more or less uncomfortableness…like “Wow, this is
an African American homeschooling family? How do we deal with this? Some people
did talk to you-some didn’t. That was when I was in Chicago.

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Which one do you believe is more important and more influential on a student’s academic
achievement: parents' expectations or teachers' expectations?
LaTrice: I think the parents’ (expectations) more than the teachers. I think all kids want to
gain their parents’ approval. If they don’t have a parent then they want the teachers’
(approval).
Is there a difference in the family structure/ relationship because of homeschooling?
LaTrice: There is a difference in the way in the way I structure my day-definitely. There
was a big difference coming home when I knew that I was going to be homeschooling.
When I knew I was going to restructure day. There was a big difference. With the oldest
one (Alexander), I was going to take more time with the oldest one. With Brian, I can let
him work on his own. He is learning about continents and states and singing them. I can
be playing the songs and I can be working with the client (social media). I can do a
format of excel page and still be mom, cook clean etc.
Can you describe for me your homeschooling days?
LaTrice: We come together in the morning. 11-12:30 and Fridays is longer- we do a lot
of games. I let him (Brian) know what he is going to do each day. We do our devotion. I
let him get the workbook. Every day he does something.
Who makes the decision about what is going to be studied and how much time is spent on this
particular activity or skill?
st

LaTrice: For the most part I do. This is the 1 year that my husband wanted to be actively
involved. It is not that he didn’t want to but he was working so much. In the past, I was.
So, he calls every night so Brian can read a book to him.
Do you utilize any part of the public school system or resources?
No.
Is your child academically successful at home?
How do you measure success?
Do you use assessment exams, if so which ones and how often are they given?
LaTrice: A.J. (Alexander) - I did-twice a year through the Texas School Board District.
With Brian, I assess by his activity and the interaction. I get it by his interaction with
people. He is only 4 and I don’t’ think he needs it on a piece of paper.

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If you had to name just one thing that you believe has made the most impact on your child’s
success at home, what do you think that would be?
LaTrice: Probably, the belief that we work with them where they are- not put them where
they are not ready. We put too much on putting our kids where everyone else is. I have to
move with Brian. Alexander was not a jumper.
What do you envision for your child once the high school requirements are satisfied?
LaTrice: With A.J. (Alexander), I envision to go on the path that he is going-going
forward to get the job done. Do what you have to do to do what you want to do. He made
the choice- he wants to be a teacher.
LaTrice: Brian- it is funny because it is so far off. I pray a lot. I think he will take over
the family business. He likes watching his dad doing electrical work or being an
apprentice. I think he will take over the family business.
Do you have transcripts for the college admissions process?
LaTrice: Yes, when he went to high school (Alexander). There is a program that I found
called T-scripts. You set up your structure. You give them the grade and they set up the
G.P.A. You can PDF it- that is what I did. I have found a lot of free and resourceful
programs.
What are some of the challenges your family has had with homeschooling?
LaTrice: Homeschooling a high schooler was the most challenging. It was a challenge
because it was a whole new level. I had to train myself because I had to be ready. I found
th
a course for high school homeschoolers when he was in the 10 grade and that took a lot
of pressure off.
Do you collaborate with other African-American homeschooling families?
LaTrice: Yea, it is a group called FOCHUS. I collaborate with them a lot.
What kind of support did you get from homeschooling support organizations, if any?
LaTrice: Just support… being able to talk to someone and getting resource on how do I
work with a preschooler.
Do you ever plan to return your child to public schools for instruction in the future? If yes, what
are your reasons?
LaTrice: I do not know probably not.

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What recommendations would you make to public school educators based on your previous
experience as an instructor?
LaTrice: Because we had a niece we had to deal with. She didn’t read as quickly as other
kids did. Not all kids read at the same level. It doesn’t mean that they are not learning or
they are stupid. We had to fight all year for the school not to hold her back. I had to get
blunt with the teacher. They are all not auditory and visual learners. I know it is hard but
you have to try to find something to get to that kid just because they don’t learn at the
same rate.
Typically, what do you do when the doorbell rings?
I answer the door. We can always pick back up where we left off.
LaTrice Ham-Kyu was a very personable individual. She was more laid back in her
approach to homeschooling. This is supported in her responses to the protocol. She was
extremely interested in contributing to the research; she felt it more like an obligation to
contribute to the limited publishing on African American homeschoolers. She is frequently
visible online. Here is the typical instructional day for Brian as indicated in Table 6:

Table 6.
Ham-Kyu Instructional Day
Instructional Day: Tuesday-Friday
Beginning Time

Ending Time

Task

9:00 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

Bible

9:30 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

Language Arts

10:30 a.m.

11:30 a.m.

Math and Science

11:30 a.m.

1:00 p.m.

Activity varies with
the day (computer
work, learning games,
oral work)

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When observing LaTrice Ham-Kyu’s approach to homeschooling, I noted that her
method is as unique as most households are individualized by its own culture. Brian starts his
day and eats breakfast at various times. As a result, home school begins at various times of the
day. While there may not be a systematic schedule or way for any family to home school, it is
their way of doing it. Flexibility with scheduling and the types of instructional activities could be
viewed as advantages or disadvantages of homeschooling. As researcher, it is difficult not to
infuse biases when observing the various ways families homeschool and how they navigate
through their days to teach their children. As an educator and researcher, it is somewhat difficult
to observe silently when the study is about teaching children. However, LaTrice stated she has
searched websites for free instructional materials, with success, because many of the programs
designed for homeschoolers are very expensive. She has learned to be resourceful because of
their limited budget. For some families, attaining inexpensive or free books and materials is very
important because some families have a limited budget for homeschooling materials.
While locating resources for these home schools was an expressed and reiterated
challenge for the families who participated in the study, it is understandable how assembling the
materials, curriculum, and supplies can be a frustrating process. In public schools, usually there
are individuals or teams who review or assemble instructional materials for teachers. As a
researcher, it is interesting to note there are some free programs and software provided to
homeschooling families via the Internet. In contrast, as an educator, I want to provide these
supplemental resources to parents of students who are in public schools who also may desire to
reinforce curricula. Free supplemental materials may be helpful to children in lower socioeconomic brackets or those students who simply need extra support in certain content areas. At
the conclusion of Day 7, LaTrice showed me a few websites used for tutorials and transcripts. As

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researcher, I was intrigued about the resources that have become available for families who teach
their own children. However, comparison and contrasts of these programs and resources is an
area for future research.
Who Are They? The Patterson Family
This Illinois family is located in a suburb south of Chicago. The mother, Rita, has been
homeschooling her 10-year old daughter, Kristian for a year. She began to home school when her
family relocated from Georgia. Rita is the primary instructor. The father, Dennis, works fulltime but only teaches on an as-needed basis in the area of mathematics. Rita has a Bachelor of
Science degree in business from Northwestern University. Her husband is a graduate of both
Northwestern and Purdue Universities. Both of his bachelors and masters degrees were earned in
engineering. He travels frequently out-of-state for his job. Their residence is in an upper middleclass neighborhood where many homes average in excess of $200, 000. The house has a more
traditional décor, adorned in French Provincial décor. All the living and dining room areas are
decorated in that style. Unlike the other three families, this one lacks ethnic symbols throughout
the home with the exception of the den. The den is located next to the kitchen area that is used
for homeschooling. However, in a bit of contradiction to the French period décor are Afrocentric accents throughout the den via artifacts such as authentic statues and headpieces from
South Africa. There are many books on the shelves along with two desks and a computer on
each. One of the computers belongs to Kristian and the other used by the adults. Rita stated that
both she and Kristian will do research simultaneously. “That is the perfect area for working on
social studies especially geography. We both will get on the computers when exploring new
topics and doing research.” There is a world globe in the corner and several binders clearly

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labeled for the different content areas. Rita states she is dissatisfied with the curriculum that is
out there for African American homeschoolers. She stated:
It reflects nothing but White culture and I do not like it. Why even bother to home school
if you are going to just accept what is being handed to you? The whole point of
homeschooling is to be able to modify what is being taught to reflect your beliefs and
culture.
In addition, she does not use textbooks but prefer to put lessons together based on Kristian’s
areas of interest. She admitted she did purchase one of the curriculum programs initially when
she began to homeschool to get an idea of what to do. They read books together and travel to
explore those areas. Rita stated that textbooks limit their creativity and thinking.
According to Rita, Kristian was a good student when they resided in a large urban city in
Georgia. In terms of racial demographics, the majority of the staff and students in the former
school were African American. Rita responded:
Kristian thrived in that environment; it was quite a nurturing school. This is a challenging
task- to put lessons together. Parents do not know how tedious homeschooling can be
especially if you want your child to know everything there is about a subject. I do not
want parents to be fooled about the amount of work it takes. Sometimes, I spend about 2
hours a night, planning out the next day’s lessons and sometimes, I have to research a
topic to make sure I totally understand it.
She would like more of an Afro-centric curriculum and she does follow Dr. Jawanza Kujufu’s
theories about education.
Rita stated she felt compelled to home school Kristian when she relocated to Illinois. She
stated the good feeling they had about public schools ended when they relocated to their Chicago
suburb.
I thought this particular school was going to be good for her. Although, my neighbor was
always talking about homeschooling, I thought she was just a bit strange. She is White.
Initially, I just thought she just didn’t have a life. Actually, I thought she was crazy for
staying home to teach her kids. So after listening to her talk about it so much, we did our
research and thought this was something to consider and thought it was conducive to
raising a family. I was apprehensive about moving to a predominantly White

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neighborhood though because of the community that we moved from in Georgia was just
the opposite.
Rita’s feelings mirror the stereotypes of homeschoolers in general. Many believe
homeschooling families are eccentric. However, the need to home school was as a result of
events in their new Illinois school district. Rita conveyed the problems her daughter experienced
were not necessarily in relation to differences in race, but it was a matter of self-esteem.
The work load became overwhelming and that is all she could do (work). It was a matter
of her spending all her time in school, come home, and do homework most of the evening,
eat dinner, and then go to bed to only have this begin all over. This is not the life that she
should have. Kristian should have a balanced life. That is why homeschooling works for
us. She was not motivated at all to go to school. It was such a change in her disposition. I
think the teachers just didn’t seem to care about my child in the way they cared for the
Caucasian children. The interaction was different. They could not relate to her at all.
Their school district is small. Changing teachers within a grade level is limited because
the district is small.
Their decision to home school was also spiritual. Rita exclaimed, “God laid it on my heart.” She
knew she had to do something but did not really investigate African American homeschoolers
until she discovered a group online.
So, after my neighbor kept mentioning it to me, my husband and I started researching it
and later on I came across African American homeschooling groups. In the beginning,
I just did a broad search on homeschooling after talking to my neighbor about it several
times. I thought it was just kinda crazy to teach your own children. But then, I somehow
came across these groups on the web and got really excited. I thought oh, wow, there are
Black homeschooling groups too!
Typically, the instructional day for this family begins at 8:30 a.m. Knowing this, I arrived
at 8:15 on the first observation day. Kristian came downstairs and introduced herself at 8:25 and
then she sat down at the kitchen table. The mother and daughter had finished breakfast and had
already cleaned the kitchen; the dishes were in the dishwasher. Rita prepared a copy of the day’s
agenda. Dennis was out of town and would be gone for the next couple of days. Rita reviewed
the lessons that she and Kristian covered the day before. She asked Kristian if she had any

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questions about the previous day’s work. Today’s first assignment was to learn the preterit tense
conjugations for –er verbs. Kristian had been taking Spanish for about 8 weeks. Rita began the
lesson by reviewing the rules for conjugations and asking Kristian to begin by conjugating an –ar
verb (covered the day before). Kristian picked the verb, trabajar (to work). She went through all
the pronouns beginning with 1st person, “trabajé and then showed her mom all the conjugations
until she finished. “Trabajaron, very good!” said Rita. “Now I want you to use each of these
pronouns and verbs to create a sentence.” Ironically, I was a Spanish teacher for many years so I
really appreciated the lesson. Again, I had to contain my excitement because my observation was
as researcher. They continued their lesson and began to practice with the irregular–er verbs in the
preterit tense. The lesson continued for 45 minutes and then the telephone rang. Rita stopped and
talked with the caller for nearly 10 minutes while Kristian continued with the irregular verbs (on
her own). When Rita was off the telephone, she told her mom she was confused because the
conjugations did not follow the normal pattern like the other verbs. “Encontrar and continuar is
different,” said Kristian. Rita informed Kristian that “Spanish has stem-changing verbs.” They
continued the explanation and exploration for another 30 minutes until Kristian and Rita did a
verbal and written exchange for nearly 30 additional minutes. Normally, their day begins at 7:30
a.m. with breakfast. Instruction begins at 8:30 and continues to 11:30 a.m. The day usually
begins with Spanish, math, and language arts. Rita stated she took Spanish classes for 3 years in
high school and 2 years in college; however, by teaching Kristian, it has helped her renew an
enthusiasm for the language. Rita stated, “This is the most practical language to learn based on
the changing demographics of our nation and the large Hispanic population.” According to the
2010 Census Report entitled, The Hispanic Population 2010, Illinois has maintained its position
since 2000 as having the fifth largest population of Spanish speakers in the United States.

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Kristian will travel to Mexico in a couple of months with her parents where she can practice her
language skills and see the country and its people in their native land. Rita stated, “It is important
to be immersed in the culture.” Rita also plans to make sure Kristian learns Mandarin Chinese. I
know “some African American children who seem to do very well with this language.” She
stated that many urban schools are incorporating it into the curriculum.
The Pattersons do science on alternate days and they get social studies in during the
evening. “When we travel, it is not just for pleasure. We take advantage of the experience and
link it to home school.” After 11:30, they stopped for lunch for about 30 minutes and then they
exercised for another 30 minutes. Rita stated they will sometimes put in a DVD with exercises. .
She stated if the weather is nice, they may go outside and she will let Kristian ride her bike to get
some fresh air and then they resume about 12:30 and do a couple of additional lessons until 2:30.
Kristian practiced piano for an hour. On this day, Kristian decided to get her skates out of the
garage for exercise. After 2:30, the mother and daughter team takes another break and run
errands or go to piano lessons which they have twice a week on Mondays and Wednesday
evenings for an hour. When they return in the evenings about 5 or 6 p.m., she cooks dinner and
then she supervises Kristian on the computer for an hour to allow her to explore different
countries on the computer or to read current events. It is during this time that Rita will start
planning the instructional activities for the next day. Kristian is then allowed to read a novel for
an hour before going to bed about 9 p.m. During a previous interview, the following questions
were asked:
Why did you think it was worthwhile to participate in the study?
Rita: More families need to home school and not just Black families. The benefits are
infinite. It is a way to unite the family and to give us additional time together that we
didn’t have when Kristian attended public school.

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How did you hear about this research study?
Rita: I am a follower of two groups for African American homeschoolers: Culture at
home and Black Homeschoolers on Ning.com.
Was cultural education a motive in your decision to home school?
Rita: No, culture was not a primary reason for homeschooling, but as I began to explore
the curriculum, I noticed all the context was from a White perspective. I understand that
we are not usually the ones writing curriculum, but why should we just teach the
curriculum from the European perspective. One of the benefits of homeschooling is the
ability to infuse our heritage when applicable and to use books that are the same or higher
quality as those centered on Europeans. For instance, when we do science, I try to infuse
literature about African American scientists, where applicable. I don’t just sing Kum Ba
Yah and that is it. It has to be totally relevant. But, I also want her to understand that there
were educated Black folks who were contributors to who we are now from earlier periods.
Yes, we had slavery, but as a people, we have accomplished and contributed a lot to this
country. Not every Black person was working in the field, working in the kitchen or
cleaning floors. Although, there was and still is nothing wrong with those skills, but we
were and still are intellectual too.
How is addressing culture at home school different than addressing it at a public school?
Rita: I believe that teachers need to center their instruction around the students who are
sitting in the classroom. You can’t do that effectively if you never get to know your
students. I know that it is not possible to know everything about the 30+ kids in the
classroom but every effort should be made to know the parents before there is trouble. I
believe that you should know that a child is motherless or fatherless before demanding a
family tree. Perhaps, finding out after an assignment that the parent may have died in a
tragic accident, or after a long illness is too late after the child fails the assignment
because it brought up bad memories. In Kristian’s case, the teacher failed to make any
connection to her. She felt like an outsider.
No, I mean culture. How is addressing culture in home school different from in a public school?
Rita: Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t listen. I can, as I stated before, tailor the lesson to meet our
needs as a family. I can teach her the truth but from our perspective as African Americans.
In public schools, you have to be careful and take into consideration not only ethnicity
but also religious beliefs of everyone. However, I think if I were teaching a diverse
group of students, I would take advantage of that opportunity to infuse everyone’s culture
into the lesson. So, take Thanksgiving- we don’t need to focus only on the Native
Americans, but also learn about the Pilgrims. This was not a great group of people who
were sent away from Europe but a bunch of criminals who were undesirable over there.
We can talk about that issue, but in public schools there would be protests and uproar,
I’m sure, for teaching against the grain. But, you never hear the truth about them or see it
written in textbooks just like it took decades before you saw anything positive about

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African Americans in textbooks. I remember seeing in books, naked pictures of African
women with their boobs exposed. Or, we were shown in chains as slaves.
Why do you think it was worthwhile to participate in this research study?
There has not been a lot of research on us at all; we are kinda hidden except for online.
But, I think there should be larger research studies based on African American
homeschoolers. I would be interested in reading and learning about the large group of
homeschoolers in our community. I don’t know if anyone cares or wants to invest the
money in doing it. Maybe it will happen in 10 years (she laughs).
Do you believe your child is more academically successful at home than a traditional
classroom? If so, why do you think so?
Rita: Yes, based on what I have seen since she has been home, definitely. She is more
sure and more confident in what she is doing and she knows that she can continue to
investigate and explore things that she is interested in doing. I know she didn’t ask to
continue on with a topic when she was in school-she just wanted to get the homework
done.
How important is learning about African American culture and heritage to you?
Rita: It is important to know about where you come from. Unfortunately, for the majority
of African Americans, that privilege was taken away from us when slave masters stripped
our heritage, languages, and religions and more importantly, our identities were taken
away. Think about it, the Italians, can still speak Italian, the Chinese can still speak
Chinese, Arabs can still speak Arabic, and the Spanish-speaking community can still
speak and practice their language customs. Only the African Americans have been
stripped of our culture. I cannot celebrate the customs or speak the native tongue. From
which country in the whole continent of Africa am I from? I don’t know. Our family
probably will never know our true heritage. So, yes, it is important to teach her what I
know of our heritage. But because we are here in America, we have to learn and know
about the cultural majority in order to survive-learning that is not an option.
Have you ever experience any racist attitudes when affiliating with non-African American
homeschooling support groups?
Rita: No, we have not experienced any racist attitudes-not at all, because now we are
affiliated with only the Afro-Centric groups. I don’t think racism is a problem in the
homeschooling community. In the beginning I tried a couple of the co-op groups for
homeschoolers, but we were the only family of color. So, this was actually worse than
staying in public schools. We stopped going. It was very comfortable and it was cliquish.
Who knows if that was because of the established cliques or because of race.

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Which one do you believe is more important and more influential on a student’s academic
achievement: parents' expectations or teachers' expectations?
Rita: Wow. I know that meeting my parents’ expectations were very important. Actually,
I wanted to exceed their expectations. I believe that children want positive affirmation
from whomever they feel is vested in their learning. So, because I am the teacher and
parent, I would say parents’ expectations are more influential.
Is there a difference in the family structure/ relationship because of homeschooling?
Rita: Oh most definitely. We have a lot more time together. We are together all day and
night especially when my husband is gone for work. But when he is not traveling and
gets home, we still spend a lot of time together. We may go out together for dinner. Our
relationship is definitely stronger because now I have a better understanding of what
interests my child and I know things about her that I would not know if I was sending her
off to school every day. My husband will review her work when he has time just to catch
up on what have been doing.
Can you describe for me your homeschooling days?
Rita: Well, we awake at 7:30 and instruction begins promptly at 8:30. We continue until
11:30 then we take an hour break for lunch and exercise. Then we resume at 12:30 and go
until 2:30. We take another break for errands and then I begin to cook dinner. We are
usually done about 7 p.m. I allow Kristian to get on the computer which is her time to
explore social studies topics. She is doing that while I am on our computer planning her
next day’s activities. She reads a novel before bed and then it is lights out for her.
Who makes the decision about what is going to be studied and how much time is spent on this
particular activity or skill?
Rita: I do the majority of the planning but I do allow her to explore and to inform me
about her areas of interest. I want her to buy into her learning. This way, it won’t be a
struggle to teach her because she is genuinely interested in the topic. But, at the same
time, I understand that she will love to do what is fun and enjoyable but we also have to
cover the material and courses needed for her to be prepared for college.
Do you utilize any part of the public school system or resources?
Rita: No.
Is your child academically successful at home?
How do you measure success?
Do you use assessment exams, if so which ones and how often are they given?

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Rita: I look at the goals and objectives of the lesson and determine if she meet those goals.
We are not required to give an assessment in Illinois but we will give her one this year.
If you had to name just one thing that you believe has made the most impact on your child’s
success at home, what do you think that would be?
Rita: I think showing her that I believe in her is the most important aspect of being home.
I know she will be successful later in life.
What do you envision for your child once the high school requirements are satisfied?
Rita: Well, going to college is a must not an option. Both her dad and I have graduated
from Big Ten Institutions so I know that she must go to a Big Ten or Ivy League school.
It is up to her.
Do you have transcripts for the college admissions process?
Rita: We don’t have transcripts yet. That is something we will do after this school year
since I have only been at it for a year. We do keep records of her grades, lessons and
samples of her work in case there is ever an issue.
What are some of the challenges your family has had with homeschooling?
Rita: We have not had any major issues with homeschooling except when I am sick with
a cold or she is sick, we don’t do as much as we normally would do but we do some
learning that day. It has not been much of a problem at all for us.
Do you collaborate with other African-American homeschooling families?
Rita: Yes. That is the benefit of getting online and getting in groups for African American
homeschoolers. Someone may post a question or ask for suggestions on what they are
teaching and I will often share my lessons and vice-versa. I will ask for help or
suggestions and they respond. There is no need to make this more complicated than what
it already is.
What kind of support did you get from homeschooling support organizations, if any?
Rita: Being able to understand why anyone would want to venture out to teacher their
own child. It does require patience but I first thought, why would someone want to do
that? So, when others think of you as crazy, you know that you aren’t the only crazy
person.
Do you ever plan to return your child to public schools for instruction in the future? If yes, what
are your reasons?

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Rita: No, at least no time soon. Maybe in high school if she thinks about it or wants to do
it. Or, if there comes a time when the material is too complicated and there are subjects I
think she needs assistance with. But, I may just enroll her in a community college to take
those subjects.
What recommendations would you make to public school educators based on your previous
experience as an instructor?
Rita: The first recommendation would be for teachers to take time to know their student
population. If they have students from different cultural groups, they need to examine
their personal biases and then work on themselves. How effective can you be if you know
you have issues with a group of people based on race or religion? I would also take it a
step further by researching common stereotypes of a race and examine how much of
those stereotypes you believe in. Then, you will know if you have issues that need to be
resolved outside the classroom.
Rita asked Kristian what was the best thing about being homeschooled? Kristian stated,
“I get to read a lot about all kind of animals. I love dogs, but I love horses more.” She also stated
she wanted to develop her skills as an equestrian. Her mom stated that Kristian will own a horse
when she hits the lottery. Rita then stated, “I don’t play the lottery.”
Data Analysis
After reading all the notes from observations, interviews, and after reviewing the data
collected from the survey, data was then prepared for analysis. Thematic analysis was the
method chosen to interpret the data collected in this study. The field notes data taken during
observations and data from the semi-structured interviews were examined to categorize and to
conduct a synthesis of the clumps using the thematic analysis approach (Glesne, 2006;
Merriman, 1998; Patton, 1990; Rossman & Rallis, 1998). A holistic interpretation of data was
then initiated. Afterwards, a synthesis of the clumps was broken into smaller clumps. The data
was then examined for comparisons and contrasts between each family. However, it was not
until after the synthesis of this data that it became apparent which of the collected data was
useful in relation to answering the two questions that guided this study. Consequently, emergent

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themes became transparent from across the cases studies of each family. These findings will be
discussed in Chapter 5.
Conclusion
In this study, I paid close attention to the steps that promote trustworthiness according to
Holloway and Jefferson (Glesne, 2006 as cited in Holloway and Jefferson 2000, p. 55). One of
the things to look as a means of substantiating trustworthiness of research studies is the name of
the author’s research institution. For example, notable research institutions such as Stanford,
University of Chicago, and Michigan State University lend to trustworthiness as these
institutions have set a precedent with producing credible and noteworthy research scholars like
Linda-Darling Hammond, Carol D. Lee, and Reitumetse Mabokela. However, another way a
researcher can perform a self- analysis is by using Holloway’s and Jefferson’s 4 questions for
making sure the checks and balances of research are in order to promote trustworthiness:
1. What do you notice?
2. Why do you notice what you notice?
3. How can you interpret what you notice?
4. How can you know that your interpretation is the ‘right’ one?
Essentially in the first question, the researcher is examining the opportunity cost of
noticing one thing over another. I know my attention cannot be equally given to two events
simultaneously. For example, if I notice an event to my left, I cannot possibly notice everything
taking place to my right; my head will be turned in one direction or the other. As the researcher,
when the obvious event or statement received attention, something else did not get that same
attention at that particular time. There were many noticeable events that occurred during some
of the observations which alerted me that I needed to conduct a self-check about why I noticed

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some of the things that I did which were not always in alignment with instructional events. For
example, when the telephone rang and the parent instructor stopped teaching to answer the call, I
wondered if that could have waited until instruction was over or not. I had to ponder if I was
being judgmental as a teacher or was I noticing this event because I was suppose to take
everything into account as researcher.
The second question insinuates a reflection of biases to determine why a particular event
or comment may be noticeable to the researcher. In doing a self-check, I had to suppress my
background as a classroom teacher to determine if these events clouded my lens as the observer.
Because this researcher has had nearly 19 years of experience as an educator, the lesson plans
and the strategy used to decide what was being taught and when it was taught was interesting to
me. As researcher, I was curious about this process and I had to take notice of myself to assess
why certain details were more interesting data than other data. I had to determine if some data
stood out to me if for no other reason than because of my background in pedagogy. Therefore, as
the researcher, I used a triangulation of methods, self-monitoring of subjectivity and member
checks to make sure that the wrong data was not infused into the findings (Glesne, 2006). As the
researcher, I needed to reflect on the subjectivity in terms of what was heard and noticed on a
continuous basis. While observing each family throughout the study, I realized I was monitoring
myself. Because the families were made aware of my background as a teacher who taught K-12
as well as adult learners, a couple of parents wanted some input on instructional resources. I did
not interpret the solicitation for resources as any deficiency by the parent. I viewed this
solicitation from the lens of a novice instructor. Those parents were searching for the best
resources for the least amount of expense as any conventional teacher would do.

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Third, interpretation of a noticeable event should be determined by the length of time
spent observing the participants and the environment to determine if this event or comment is
significant. Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggest that a period of prolonged engagement is critical
for establishing credibility (as cited in Glesne, 2006, p.167). The question becomes, how long is
‘prolonged engagement’? For this study, prolonged engagement was in excess of 7 observations.
The instructional day varied from family to family and in each family, the length of the day
varied. Within the homeschooling community, there are families with very rigid schedules who
are self-disciplined to home school 5-6 days per week, then there are those times when the
family vacation is centered on instruction. For example, the Dampare family framed their trip to
Africa around learning not only the family’s heritage, but also about the continent. Their son’s
goal is to go to each continent with the exception of Antarctica. He stated, “There isn’t much
there.”
Therefore, prolonged engagement was necessary to make sure the researcher’s
interpretations were solid. As researcher, it was critical to develop and to establish rapport with
participants over time to avoid misinterpretations of their responses, actions and personalities.
After speaking with these families over time by phone and in person, I felt I had a ‘solid’ sense
of their personalities and actions. “If prolonged engagement provides scope, persistent
observation provides depth (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 304 as cited in Glesne, 2006).” For
instance, if a participant repeatedly uses an uncommon expression or references the same event
continuously over the course of observations or interviews, then the correct interpretation or
analysis of data would provide clarity by use of follow-up questions or the witnessing of events
during an observation. I did not hear expressions or language that was unique to only one family
throughout the study, but I did hear messages that were reinforced continuously by certain

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families. For example with the Urban family, there were references to European influences such
as physical characteristics and literature based on European culture. I realized that the
reiterations of these types of comments as more important to this family than some of the other
comments based on their frequency of use. However, this was not noted until the data was
synthesized.
Four African-American families participated in this research. Each provided insight on
their reasons for homeschooling their children. These families did not decide to home school
simply to just try it out. For these African-American families, their decisions to home school was
based on a prior experience or it was driven by an unwillingness to accept the alternative of
going to public, private, or charter schools. I will discuss the themes that emerged in Chapter 5
through use of a cross-case analysis.

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CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The notion that African Americans homeschool their children remains a novelty within
the African American community. Dialogues about African Americans homeschoolers are
uniquely held among African Americans and educators. In the 1950s and 1960s, Negroes
(known today as African Americans) struggled for equality which included a right to an
equitably funded educational opportunity comparable to Whites. Today, many people within the
African-American community are rather shocked to learn that African Americans are choosing to
forego the public school systems in order to instruct their children at home in lieu of public
schools. In the African-American community teaching your own children reflects a shift in the
education paradigm. This shock is due to the well documented and, oftentimes, violent act that
Negroes endured for this right to separate-but-equal educational opportunities which are forever
embedded in United States’ history. Given this historical data, many African Americans have
difficulty rationalizing and embracing the notion of homeschooling .The expected norm within
the African American community has been public school education. In the African American
community, many still believe that it is important to take advantage of the opportunity afforded
to them by their elders to go to good public schools to have the same opportunity as Whites in
their quest to live the “American Dream.” The opposition to homeschooling does exist for
Caucasians; however, I argue that adverse sentiments by the Caucasian community are not for
the same reasons as for the African American homeschoolers. The reasons for homeschooling
are major points of distinction between the two racial groups.
In this chapter, I will present the findings of the research which reveal these African
American parents’ reasons for opting to homeschool their children using a non-traditional

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approach to education. The findings of the research study will be presented in this chapter. In
addition, the subsequent five sections will be (a) Overview the Study, (b) Findings, (c)
Assumptions, (d) Recommendations, and (e) Conclusion. It is in this chapter that links to the
existing body of literature are made.
Overview of Study
This dissertation study is composed of four case studies which present research of
African American homeschooling families. From the existing body of literature, very little
research, until recent years, has been conducted about this population of homeschoolers. When
the word ‘homeschool’ is mentioned to many individuals, in many instances, the first image is of
a Caucasian religious fundamentalist. However, I posit that these African American families’
primary reasons for opting to homeschool are in contrast to those expressed in the body of
research about Caucasian homeschoolers. While the literature suggests that the majority of the
homeschooling population falls into one of two categories: ideologues and pedagogues, I suggest
that this is not true of the four families who participated in this research study.
In recent years, a number of small research studies have been conducted about African
American homeschoolers. However, these scholarly studies were not executed on a national
scale like those administered by NCES in 1999 or in 2003. Although the NCES studies did
highlight all racial groups, the studies did not segregate reasons for homeschooling by race. The
existing studies which centered on African American homeschoolers have been much smaller in
sample size and in scope. When reviewing the demographics of the NCES studies of 1999 or
2003, all races were studied. Data was not analyzed specific by racial categories. Those
participants who were involved in the 1999 or 2003 studies did so as part of a collective group of
homeschoolers regardless of race and respective reasons for homeschooling.

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One of the leading researchers in the area of homeschool education is Dr. Brian D. Ray.
In as much as he has written and published numerous articles, studies, and blogs about
homeschoolers, there is not one major study with emphasis on this growing segment of
homeschoolers. Dr. Ray does state that the African American homeschooling population is
increasing. According to a NPR radio interview, Dr. Ray stated that there had been nearly a 40,
000 increase in African American homeschoolers in over the past 3 years (September 16, 2007,
NPR). Despite the growth of African American homeschoolers, and regardless of Dr. Ray’s
acknowledgement of this fact, he has not devoted time and research to learning or addressing the
reasons why this group is increasing at phenomenal rates.
The scholarly studies conducted by researchers at institutions of higher learning have
been limited in both depth and scope. These sample sizes were small and were framed around a
specific hypothesis in comparison to the larger studies conducted by NCES. According to the
literature, there is an estimated population of African American homeschoolers of nearly 85, 000
which makes this group of homeschoolers the second largest racial group. Considering this
estimation, there have not been any large-scale studies on African American homeschoolers
conducted by the Department of Education or National Center for Education Statistics like those
in 1999 and 2003. Given the time that this number has been reported, over 10 years according to
NCES, there does not appear to be any interest by large research institutions to really learn why
the paradigm has shifted for this group of Americans. The rationale is unclear.
While gathering literature for this research study at an American Educational Research
Association conference, a representative from the Department of Education laughed when I
inquired about the existence of literature pertaining to research on African American
homeschoolers. Sarcastically, she stated, “so how do you intend to collect your data?” I felt and

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realized that regardless of the sample size of participants and its findings, the outcome would be
viewed as insignificant. However this research is needed for several reasons: (1) to learn why
African American families have decided to seek this unconventional method of educating their
children; (2) to determine if they are ways to hinder African American students from leaving
public schools; (3) to contribute to the limited body of literature on African American
homeschoolers; and (4) to mitigate negative outcomes on public schools as a result of African
Americans leaving, if any.
Paula Penn-Nabrit, attorney-at-law, businesswoman, homeschooling mother, and author
of, Morning by Morning: How We Homeschooled Our Sons to the Ivy League (Penn-Nabrit,
2003) conveys how she and husband, Charles M. Nabrit, transitioned from a two –parent
professional family to a one-income homeschooling family. While the book disclosed that Paula
and Charles are religious practitioners and those religious-based values were critical
determinants in opting to homeschool, religion was not their primary reason for opting for this
viable educational alternative to private schools. A long family lineage of high expectations and
college graduates were conspicuously discussed, however, the underpinnings of this book and
the primary reason for considering this alternative to private schools was due to a conflict
involving race and the challenges they posed to authority at their children’s private school
leadership. Consequently, these parents managed to get their sons, to Princeton University and
Amherst College. This feat is viewed as successful; it is the ultimate goal of many parents,
homeschoolers or not, to get their children to college; getting admitted to Ivy League status
schools are a bonus for many parents.

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Findings

Race, Culture, Self-Esteem, and Self-Identity
Upon review of the data collected, each family had some concern involving culture and
self-identity. The Dampare, Urban, Ham-Kyu families’ concerns were framed around race,
culture, and self-identity for Black male children; this was one of their primary reasons for
homeschooling. According to the 1999 and 2003 NCES studies on homeschooling, the second
largest racial group of homeschoolers is African American. Issues involving racial concerns are
not consistent with the findings of the aforementioned studies as a reason for homeschooling
with the majority of homeschoolers.
The Dampares’ lack of enthusiasm to remain in a public elementary school was prompted
by what the parents and son felt as continuous disparate treatment by her son’s Caucasian
teacher. Meetings and discussions with the teacher and, subsequently, the administratorsprincipal and superintendent, centered on cultural insensitivity and race. All parties reached and
remained at an impasse. According to Rachel Dampare, Ashton’s teacher did not treat her
students of color, including those of Middle Eastern descent, with the same care as the Caucasian
students. She believed the teacher’s disposition demonstrated insensitivity for racial diversity and
cultural heritage that deviated from her own within her own classroom. The culminating event
for this family was when the teacher gave Ashton a lower grade for his research project. His
extended knowledge of his African lineage went back as far as 7 generations and he was excited
to share his lineage with his classmates; today, many African Americans lack ancestral
knowledge of this depth. In addition, Rachel stated, her son and “his group of friends in the class
were subjected to discipline more often when comparable offenses were done by White

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students.” With the last year, there have been numerous articles citing investigations into
whether African American students are punished more severely for similar infractions by
Caucasian students. According to Jim Bradshaw with the U.S. Department of Education, his
department is launching their own investigation "Specifically, the review focuses on the
disproportionality in suspension rates," he said (as cited by Giunca, 2011).According to Rachel,
self-identity, heritage, and pride in culture needed to be protected and it could not be done if her
son had remained in the public school setting.
The Urbans’ decision to homeschool was prompted by the lack of African American
culture and heritage taught in the public schools. Monique stated, “the same people are discussed
every year during Black History Month (i.e. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks etc.).”
According to Monique, the curriculum used in most public schools is culturally and racially
biased and written from the European perspective. She stated there is only European culture
reflected in the reading materials and assignments. Developing and maintaining a strong selfidentity and taking pride in heritage and culture were her primary reasons for homeschooling.
She wanted her sons, who already knew their African heritage, to maintain that identity. She
stated they are proud of coming from Africa and her son, Zebulon, talks about how proud he was
of being Black and from Africa. According to Monique, that level of pride and self-identity
would be destroyed if her sons went to public schools. Monique did not believe that her family
will ever cease homeschooling. She would consider a “very good public school with an athletic
department” when Zebulon gets to high school because he wants to play sports. Monique stated,
“as of now, unless I am able and can afford a private school, I doubt I will ever stop
homeschooling.” Their primary reason for homeschooling was to teach African heritage and to
protect her sons’ self-identity as strong Black males.

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The Ham-Kyu family’s decision to homeschool was primarily prompted by the actions
taken at Brian’s initial visit to a public pre-school program. When Brian was screened, they
wanted to label him as special needs because he has a lisp. LaTrice would not allow the label
because of his mild speech impairment, the preschool claimed that Brian was “too immature for
preschool” and that he should stay home a bit longer. According to LaTrice, she was infuriated
with the teachers’ response. LaTrice and her husband felt this label would affect his self-esteem
as a child and there would be negative consequences with allowing him to be labeled at this
young age. In addition, she stated, “it is very common for Black males, in particular, to be overidentified as special needs.” “The purpose of preschool is to increase children’s skills so they can
be academically successful later. She stated, “How can you be too immature for preschool-isn’t
that the purpose of going to school at an early age- to get ready for kindergarten?” However,
initially when she began to homeschool it was because of her eldest son, Andre. She remarked,
“he needed to be more focused as a high school student.” Her primary reason for opting to
homeschool Brian was because of this pre-school experience. Her desire for him to have a strong
self-esteem and not be another Black male overly identified as special needs.
Although the Pattersons were not concern with self-identity of a Black male child, they
were concerned with their daughter’s self-esteem and her pride in her culture. The Pattersons felt
a sense of obligation to teach African American history and culture because of where they
resided; however, it was not the primary reason for opting to homeschool. Initially, they were a
part of their local school system. Instead, for the Pattersons, teaching culture and history was a
benefit of homeschooling: the ability to teach whatever you want. Rita Patterson stated, “it
should not be enough to simply accept a curriculum, as an African American and instructional
parent, the curriculum should be modified to reflect what is important to the family.” Despite not

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having a male child, Rita Patterson that Kristian’s self-esteem was important in their decision to
homeschool.
Religion
Although, two of the families incorporated bible study into their daily lesson plans,
religion was not the primary reason for selecting a non-conventional schooling method. For the
Dampare and Ham-Kyu families, religion was important but it was not at the forefront of their
decision making. These families did not exclusively use a Christian-based curriculum for
instruction. The Dampare family used some materials that cited daily scriptures. The other
family simply read the bible on their own. The Dampare, Ham-Kyu, and Patterson families had a
source of validation from church members who were homeschooling. Consequently, they heard
about the concept from other church members prior to engaging in homeschooling themselves.
LaTrice had observed a homeschooling group at her former church. Teaching religious values
and beliefs was important to each of these families, but it was not a primary reason for opting to
homeschool. Because homeschooling allows families to plan lessons however they choose,
incorporating religious study into their daily regimen is a part of the Dampare and Ham-Kyu
families ‘educational study.
Low Teacher Expectations
These three families, Dampare, Ham-Kyu, and Patterson, primarily became disenchanted
with the public school system as a result of a classroom teacher. Interactions with teachers and
the teachers’ low expectations of their children were primary reasons for electing to homeschool.
In each case, the teacher behaved in a way that their actions clearly communicated to these
African American parents that their child was incapable or unable to perform on grade level.
Teachers were unwilling to learn about the student’s individual needs or unwilling to

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differentiate instruction for that child. In the Dampare case, the mother and father tried to reason
with the teacher, principal, and even the superintendent to resolve their concerns via several
meetings. It was only after these meetings failed to resolve their concerns that the family
separated from the public school systems. Rachel, as a former public school educator, executed
due process beginning with the teacher before meeting with administrators. For the Dampares,
“it was important for her to see how she was treating these children.” Low teacher expectations,
racial bias, and lack of sensitivity were not indicated as primary reasons for homeschooling in
the 1999 and 2003 NCES studies. Low self-identity was not the three most important reasons for
opting to homeschool for White homeschooling families when reviewing the literature.
There are two questions and consequently two subordinate questions that have framed
this research study of African American homeschooling families:
Research Question 1
Research Question 1, Who are they (African-American homeschooling families)?
1. Three of the four families have instructional parents with at least a bachelor degree.
2.

In each family, the mother is the primary instructional parent. The dad is used for
instructional purposes only as needed. In the Dampare, Ham-Kyu, and Patterson
family, the dad travels or is stationed away from home for work.

3.

Each family consists of a traditional family structure of mom and dad

4.

Three of the four families were only educating black male children.

Table 7 shows the demographic information of all four families in this study. It also
provides background information on their education levels, laws of their state, and other

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pertinent information about their homeschooling experiences. This information will serve to
inform in more detail the first research question: Who Are They?
TABLE 7
Case Study Demographic Data
Descriptors
Family Size
Gender of
Children
Ages of Children
Number of years
Homeschooling
Primary Parent
Instructor
Father as Second
Parent Instructor
Connected via
Support Group

MONIQUE
Urban
2 children,
2 parents
2 boys

LATRICE
Ham-Kyu
2 children,
2 adults
2 boys

RACHEL
Dampare
2 children,
2 adults
1 boy, 1 girl

RITA
Patterson
1 child,
2 adults
1 girl

3 yrs. & 9 yrs.
6 years

4 yrs. & 16 yrs.
8 years

9 yrs. & 20 yrs.
10 years

10 yrs.
1 year

Mother

Mother

Mother

Mother

No

As Needed

As Needed

As Needed

African
American
Homeschoolers

FOCUHS

African
American
Homeschoolers
& Unschoolers
IL & OK
MI
Ages 7-17 [IL] Ages 6-16 [MI]
Ages 6-16 [OK] If 11 years or in
grade 6 prior to
12/1/09 or
Ages 6-18 [MI]
If not in grade 6
or 11 years
before 12/1/09
IL- Voluntary
MI-Voluntary

Ning Group:
Blackhomeschoolers

No (initially)
Mandatory-Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Residential State Washington D.C.
Compulsory
Ages 5-18
Attendance
[D.C.]
{www.hsld.org}

Mandatory
Reporting of
Intent
Reported Intent
with State
Agency
Conducts Formal
Assessment
Utilizes Coop

New as of
March 2008

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IL
Ages 7-17 years[IL]

IL-Voluntary

Table 7 (cont’d)
Attended Other
Educational
Institutions
If Yes,
Type of School
Receives Support
from Public
School
African Heritage
Curriculum
Supplements
Curriculum with
African History
Child has Input
in Planning
Parents Work
Parents Work
Outside of Home
Parents’
Education

1-Child, Yes
1-Child, No

1-Child, Yes
1-Child, No

Both Children,
Yes

Yes

Public

Public

Pubic

Public

1-Child, Yes
1-Child, No

Both Children,
Yes

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

1-Yes
No
MomEntrepreneur
Bachelor-Both

2-Yes
Dad-Yes
MomEntrepreneur
Associate Mom

2-Yes
Both-Yes
MomEntrepreneur
Bachelor-Mom
Bachelor-Dad

1-Yes
Dad-Yes
Mom-No

No

Bachelor-Both
Masters-Dad

Research Question 2
Research Question 2, Why have they opted to homeschool?
1. Race, culture, self-identity and low teacher expectations were the primary reasons for
opting to homeschool these black male students. This was inconsistent with the
NCES 1999 and 2003 studies.
2. The Patterson, Dampare and Ham-Kyu families were homeschooling as a result of
actions by a public school teacher. This was inconsistent with the NCES 1999 and
2003 studies.
3. Incorporating religious values were important to each family; however, only two
families made it apart of daily practice in the homeschool: Dampare and Ham-Kyu.

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Unlike the 1999 and 2003 NCES studies, it was not a primary reason for
homeschooling.
Subordinate Question 1
Subordinate Question 1 asked, Do their reasons for homeschooling differ from those of the
larger population of families who homeschool?
When compared to the 1999 and 2003 studies conducted by NCES, the top three reasons
why families opt to homeschool are different than those cited by participants in this study.
According to the 1999 study, three primary reasons for homeschooling indicated by the
frequency rate of respondents are: “49 percent of homeschooled students had parents who
believed they could give their child a better education, 38 percent had parents who
homeschooled for religious reasons, and 26 percent had parents reported a poor learning
environment at school” (Bielick, Chandler, & Broughman 2001). In this study, parents did not
cite their ability to do a better job and a poor learning environment as their top three reasons for
opting to homeschool. Although, an inference could be made that the learning environments for
both Kristian Patterson and Ashton Dampare were poor learning environments.
While teaching religious content was a benefit of homeschooling in this study, it was not
a primary reason in the decision to homeschool. Of the 4 families, two of the families
incorporated religious study in their daily curriculum. Even though the study of religion is
important to the Dampare and Ham-Kyu families, it was not the primary reason for opting to
homeschool. Instead, it was one of the benefits allowed by this educational alternative. Teaching
religious and moral values is often cited by homeschoolers. These findings are inconsistent with
the findings of this study.

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Subordinate Question 2
Subordinate Question 2: Were the families’ decisions to homeschool a direct result of
shortcomings in public education.
As Question 2 is written, the Urban family’s concern about what is typically taught in the
public schools was a factor in deciding to homeschool. For the other three families, their
decisions to homeschool was not a “direct result of shortcomings in public education” but it was
a result of actions by representatives of public education, teachers. Teachers and administrators
did not resolve the parents’ concerns. The Dampare family’s issue was brought to the teacher’s
attention but not resolved. The concern for the way Ashton’s teacher treated students of color
and the way she interacted with Ashton escalated to the principal and ultimately to the
superintendent where it became apparent that there was an impasse with these public school
educators. Therefore, unresolved conflicts were the primary reasons why these families chose to
homeschool. It was after attempts for resolution for the Patterson, Ham-Kyu and Dampare
families. More important, it was the realization that these educators, comments and actions was
not apparently apart of their consciousness; they maintained a nonchalant disposition. It became
apparent to these families that their concerns were not taken seriously. This facilitated a high
level of dissatisfaction which lead these families to opt to homeschool.
Teachers’ low expectations evolved as the most common theme that made the greatest
impact on their decision to homeschool. In the case of the Dampare family, according to Rachel,
Ashton’s teacher treated kids of color different than Caucasian students. According to Rosenthal
and Jacobson (1968), the Pygmalion effect is more commonly known as self-fulfilling prophecy
would be damaging to these students in the long-term (as cited in Bothamly, 2002). Teachers’
low and negative expectations and internal thoughts would affect their treatment of students

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which would ultimately to lead to students’ negative responses. Consequently, some students
behavior with various teachers is somewhat based on how the teacher perceives or interacts with
students. With each family, it was low teacher expectations by a Caucasian teacher of a Black
student. This is not to imply that it is impossible for Black teachers to have low expectations of
Black students; however, this is a finding of this study. For the Pattersons, Rita stated that her
teachers did not seem to care about her daughter. She believed that lack of caring in her new
Illinois school district/ was because of the differences in race and culture in comparison to the
culture and the treatment her daughter received in Georgia.
Prior to homeschooling, three of four families’, the Urbans, Ham-Kyu, and Dampares’
children were enrolled in public schools. These families were opposed to subjecting their child to
another public, private or charter school. A secondary reason was self-identity and self-image
was important for each family. Third, for two of the four families, money was an issue;
consideration of private schools was not an option. Consequently, private school was ruled out as
an alternative to public school. None of the families considered a charter school. Each family’s
homeschool operated in a totally unique style. Their instructional approaches varied as with the
way in which navigated content areas and the daily agenda.
Assumptions
Caring and Education
Although the families did not directly state, “they cared” about their childrens’ futures, it
was implied not only through what was stated in the interviews, but it was also implied by the
parents’ actions. Noddings (2002, p.1) stated:
…the origins of care may be domain specific-that they lie in the small group setting that
we have come to call ‘home’, and probably, in parental love. If this is true-if, that is, our
sense of caring and being cared for starts at home… starting at home does not suggest
that we remain there.

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Although Noddings was suggesting that the level “caring” starts at home, she advocates for
caring to transition outside of the home. Rita Patterson stated in Chapter 4, “I think the teachers
just didn’t seem to ‘care’ about my child in the way they cared for the Caucasian children. The
interaction was different. They could not relate to her at all.” The care that Nodding implies is
demonstrated by many public school teachers. Many teachers demonstrate caring beyond what is
required of an educator in relation to his or her job description. Yet, other teachers have biases
which negatively impact certain groups of students. It is important to most parents whether or not
their child learns to best of his or her ability. These families decision to homeschool is a
reflection of caring about their child’s education. Also, three of the families cared about the
social injustice these students experienced by educators. I do not suggest that teachers should
demonstrate caring as much as a parent should. However, based upon the interviews conducted
in this study, parents felt that there was a lack of care by teachers, and in the Dampare case, by
the administrators.
The outcomes of these homeschoolers’ experiences with home education remain to be
seen in future years. However, parents were willing to do high-stakes risk- their child’s future
based on their beliefs that they could do a better job teaching their own children. This was not
articulated by parents as their primary reasons for opting to homeschool but, these African
American parents were unsuccessful with conventional educational institutions. Ultimately, they
believed their children could have more success at home than in a public school classroom.
For some parents, being the educator at home required a level of sacrifice. To use an
economic term, there were “opportunity costs” for the parent to remain home and to work as the
instructional parent. According to Business Dictionary, the definition of opportunity cost is:

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A benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve
something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative
uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost.
For some families, the opportunity costs of homeschooling are sacrificing the alternative: a
second income, development of a career, and time to devote to other things.
Assumption 1
The primary reasons African-American families homeschooled were in alignment with
Caucasian homeschoolers as suggested by NCES (2003): religious/moral reasons and school
safety/environment.
I have learned through this study that while religious/moral studies were important for the
Dampare, Ham-Kyu, and Patterson families. It was not the primary reason for deciding to
homeschool. Dampare and Ham-Kyu families embed religious studies in their daily
homeschooling regimen. The Patterson family believes the ability to study religion is a benefit of
homeschooling.
Assumption 2
Homeschooled students lacked socialization skills because families taught in isolation.
Homeschooling families, particularly the participants in this study, created unique
approaches to this non-conventional educational alternative. Each of the four families has
membership(s) in African American homeschooling networks; these networks allow families to
collaborate online and at real-time events. The Dampare family participates with a small,
multicultural cooperative group. Ashton Dampare goes to public school for integrated arts, is a
boy scout, and plays on a soccer team. The Urban family is part of several African American
homeschooling networks which incorporate activities for the entire family. The Ham-Kyu family
participates with church groups. The Patterson family is involved with online homeschooling
groups but not with any social groups.
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Assumption 3
Parents cannot be more effective teaching their children than pedagogical practitioners.
To determine whether or not parents in this study are more effective than trained
educators would require careful and long-term analysis beyond the scope of this study. It would
be difficult to reach this conclusion. The way each family chose to create their instructional
program was uniquely structured; the delivery of content and instruction also varied. At this time,
I cannot make a determination whether or not a parent is more effective than pedagogical
practitioners. What I can conclude is that children who are homeschooled are just like children
in public schools- they are different and respond to learning in different ways. Some students,
regardless of environment, learn by listening, seeing, doing; differentiated instruction works.
Rachel Dampare was the most structured and appeared to be the most effective instructor. Her
son, Ashton, knew the schedule for the day. Rita Patterson created her own agenda and it seemed
effective with Kristian. Like Ashton, Kristian appeared to like the way she learned; Rita
implemented a rather strict guideline for instruction. Monique Urban used a published system
and curriculum which her oldest son, Zebulon. He was knowledgeable about how the system
worked and complied with the system. Monique’s biggest challenge was “classroom
management.” She was trying to master teaching more than one child at the same time; this
challenge is not much different than that of public school teachers who, in many cases, have
more than 30 students in a class. LaTrice Ham-Kyu has the least rigorous schedule of the four
families who participated in this study. However, a determination cannot be made at this time
whether or not Brian will master standards required of other homeschooled students at the same
grade level.

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Assumption 4
Locating and extracting data from research participants would prove to be unsuccessful.
I began this research study with an optimistic perspective: the snowball sampling method
would yield a large sample size of participants for the study. According to the NCES data, there
are nearly 85,000 African American homeschoolers; therefore, as a researcher, I made an
assumption that most of those 85, 000 African American homeschoolers would be as interested
as I was in the research. I made another assumption was there would be at least 85-100 people
willing to participate in the study. It did not take very long for me to realize that using this
method to locate participants was not going to be successful. Use of the Internet was the most
critical part in identifying prospective participants for this study. I commenced the study with a
non-realistic perspective about the practitioners of this non-conventional education alternative. I
believed that many African American homeschoolers would be as receptive to contribute to the
limited research as I would. However, once I read and analyzed the existing research and
literature, I realized that many prospective participants, depending on the state laws, would put
be putting their homeschools at risk of governmental interference. Given the number of
participants who initially inquired and began the research participant process, I believe there is
great potential of conducting a larger study to better informed the public about this population of
homeschoolers. This study did not prove to be unsuccessful; it provides a general understanding
that not all African American homeschoolers conduct their schools the same way. Each family
operates their homeschool in a unique way. The way in which African American families
homeschool is configured based on its belief systems, individual student goals, and the reasons
opting to homeschool.

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Recommendations
The literature on African American homeschoolers is very limited. There are several
areas that need to be studied:
1. Longitudinal studies are needed to analyze longevity of African American
homeschoolers and to assess how effective homeschooling parents’ instruction
is on student achievement;
2. Large sample sizes of African American homeschoolers are needed. With an
estimated population of 85, 000, there needs to be sample size that could
inform the public of the plights of this community as a collective group.
3. If most of these 85,000 African American homeschoolers are former public
school students, what are the implications of these families’ withdrawal from
public school districts and what, if anything, can be improved to deter the
withdrawal? Is there a negative impact on public schools?
4. Since 1999, it has been noted that the 2

nd

largest population of homeschoolers

are African Americans, why the lack of interest by notable researchers?
5. Since many for-profit educational companies are now creating more charter
schools and receiving local funding via public schools to do so, should parents
be entitled to a portion of the local school district’s tax dollars to educate their
children at home.
Conclusion
Today, the majority of African American students are educated by means other than
homeschooling: public, private, parochial, and charter schools. However, interest in
homeschooling continues to increase in a phenomenal way in the African American community.

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There is information to be learned from those who have opted to home school instead of
selecting a conventional educational program and institution.
As a public school educator, I learned through this study that I had a level of ignorance
comparable to many of my colleagues who never bothered to ask questions of any
homeschooling family who enrolled in my previous K-8 school. I have witnessed and even been
a part of side-bar discussions speculating what occurred in a homeschooling environment.
Educators should, in a non-judgmental way, learn about this population and learn why this
population is opposed to taking part of the conventional educational system opted for by the
majority of families in this country. Educators should learn about it from the source,
homeschoolers and in this case the African American homeschoolers. The most difficult aspect
of studying “ what went wrong” is that many educators would not actively listen to what is being
articulated. Rhetorically, would the effort be made to repair the damages and perceptions of
those who have opted to leave the public school systems especially when those issues are
addressed by a minority of students and parents.
The fear of the unknown is almost always a threat. Paradigm shifts have been the topic of
many books; ways to convince people to change their way of thinking have been best selling
publications. Kuhn states, a paradigm shift is when "one conceptual world view is replaced by
another" (1970, p.10). People especially educators have to work at accepting what is not familiar
to them; usually this practice is done on a gradual basis. Acceptance of homeschoolers is no
different than learning to live without a landline telephone. It takes time and practice. For the
majority population, homeschooling is a non-traditional way to educate children. There are three
critical questions many educators need to ask themselves: (1) What actions prompted their
sentiments about public schools? (2) Are their concerns, perceptions, or issues valid to them?

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And (3) How could we (educators) have resolve their issues or concerns sooner? These three
questions are not exclusively important to solely African American homeschoolers, but they are
equally important to many families who have decided to seek an alternative way of educating
their children. Although many educators mentor their students and demonstrate extraordinary
care for them, others simply do not think of every student in their classroom as if he or she is
important as their own son, daughter, niece, or nephew. We should care for these students and do
everything in our power to let them know we care. For homeschoolers, these students have an
alternative option for care and for learning. Some of our students have parents who are absent
from the home and they count on us- we are obligated to keep the embers flaring in these
children. They need to dream, hope, and more importantly, to want to learn.
The majority of educators have never had the opportunity to listen to homeschooling
families’ sentiments to learn why they decided to teach their own children. For years, we have
made assumptions about the entire community of homeschoolers. There was an appearance, from
the outside, that the homeschooled students who enrolled in schools experienced difficulties in a
school environment due to a lack of socialization skills as a result of being confined and isolated
to the home school. Several teachers were dismayed to learn there were African Americans who
were homeschooling their children when these students enrolled in our school. Frankly, the
consensus was that these families probably were just religious radicals similar to the Caucasianreligious fundamentalist homeschoolers. This experience with these now transitioned
homeschoolers facilitated a curiosity about the African American homeschooling population; this
curiosity prompted the first research question: Who are They? It is because of these experiences,
I did this research.

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APPENDIX

147

INTERVIEW PROTOCOL – i034006

Opening:

How many children do you homeschool?
How old are they?
What are their grade levels?
How long have you been homeschooling?
Were you employed prior to instructing your child?
Who is the teacher in this family?
How did you learn about this study?
Why did you think it was worthwhile to participate?

1. Tell me about your educational experience as a child (parent). (purpose: to gain
understanding of their sentiments regarding schooling-possible bias)
2.

Do you have any formal training in teaching/instruction?
If not trained as an educator: Are you concerned that your lack of training in teaching
will hinder their child’s academic achievement at some point? If no, how do you make
adjustments or compensate for areas that you lack sufficient knowledge? (i.e. cooperative
groups, software etc.)
If no advance college degree: Do you believe that because of the lack of formal college
degree that you will reach a point where you can no longer instruct your child?
If yes, then, how do you plan to eliminate/ address this problem?
If no, then what will assist you in continuing the instructional process?
3. Are there any areas where you feel like you are lacking expertise?
If yes, then what will you or have you done to increase your knowledge or professional
development as an instructor?

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In 2001, Bush signed into law, an Act, No Child Left Behind Act, are you familiar with
this act? If yes, continue w/ questioning and do they believe they are highly qualified? ; If
no, tell a bit about the act and move on.
4. What attracted you to homeschooling?
5. Why did you choose this alternative over some of the other alternatives such as private
education or even charter schools?
6. What were some of the areas such as academic, social or other, did you specifically need
to correct and address to assist your child?
7. As a follow up to the previous question, why do you feel these areas were not properly
addressed in the public schools?
To whom were these concerns addressed or what measures were taken to address
your issue(s)?
8. Do you believe your child was “left behind” under NCLB? If yes, could you describe this
sentiment?
9. Since the implementation of NCLB, did you see any changes in your child’s school to
improve performance or to improve your child’s specific needs?
10. As a follow up to the last question, did you see any changes in your child’s teacher’s
instruction in your child’s core classes?
11. Under the criteria of NCLB, do you believe your instructional practices and outcomes
make you highly qualified to teach?
12. Do you believe children more academically successful at home than a traditional
classroom? If so, why do you think this is?
13. Do you feel the intimate connection, for example, nurturing and caring makes a
difference in terms of your child’s academic success?
How do these components, nurturing and caring, make a difference?
14. Do you think that these characteristics are lacking by instructors inside public
classrooms?
15. How do you recommend teachers incorporate caring and nurturing into the instructional
process without crossing the lines of the teacher-student relationship?.
How does caring and nurturing impact student achievement?
How is this approach different than public school environments?

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Do you think it is possible for teachers to bring caring and nurturing into instructtional practices for 30-35 students?

CULTURE
16. Was cultural education a motive in your decision to homeschool?
17. How are you able to address cultural needs at home?
18. How is this different from the public school classroom?
19. Describe the demographics of your child’s school.
20. Given the demographics of your child’s school and classroom, were your cultural needs
addressed?
21. Should values, cultural identities and religions be reflected in the public school
curriculum?
If yes, how these things be taught or incorporated in public schools? If no, why not
and to what degree should it be addressed ?
22. How could schools better address culturally diverse populations?
23. Have you ever solicited help/support from non-Af. Am. Homeschooling support groups?
24. Did you ever experience any racist attitudes when affiliating w/ non-Af. Am. support
groups?
25. Do you think race matters as much in homeschooling environments as it does in public
school environments?
26. In your opinion, do you think mono-racial classrooms are more conducive to learning?
Please explain your feelings.
27. Do you believe this has made a difference in terms of the classroom setting and focus of
curriculum you’ve selected for instruction?
28. Is your culture reflected in the curriculum you use?
29. How can schools meet the needs of all students of racially diverse backgrounds?
30. Do you believe parent expectations affect their child’s performance?

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31. Do you believe teacher expectations affect their child’s performance?
32. Did the expectations of your child change as a result of you taking on the instructional
leader role?
33. Which one do you believe is more important and more influential on a student’s
academic achievement, parent(s) or teacher(s)expectations?
34. Is there a noticeable difference in family structure or relationship as a result of
homeschooling?
35. Do you believe a familiar home environment supports the learning process?
36. Do you believe it is possible to reproduce the environment in a public school setting?
Instruction/Learning

37. How does, in your opinion, real-life/real world experiences impact student learning?
38. Do you bring realia into your homeschool classroom?
If so, how do you do this?
If you don’t, why do you chose not to incorporate real- world experiences into your
instruction?
39. Describe for me how you plan your instructional activities?
40. Who makes the decision about what is learned and how much time is spent on this
particular activity or skill?
41. Do you utilize any part of the public school system or resources?
42. Do you copy of mimic any part of the public schools usual procedures (i.e. minutes per
subject, school hours, courses taken)
43. On average, how much time do you spend in preparing for the next day’s lessons?
44. If you teach more than one child, how do you divide your time to preparing and
instructing each student?
45. Do you think this is a reasonable amount of time for teachers to do on a daily basis
given the size of most classrooms?
46. Do you think classoom size is a factor in public schools?

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47. What should be the maximum size, in your opinion, that teachers should have in a
classroom?(elementary vs. high school)
48. Do you spend the same amount of time on each subject?
49. Is your child academically successful at home?
How do you measure success?
Do you use any assessment exams to measure progress, if so which ones?
50. Do you believe your child is more successful at home than when he/she was attending
public schools?

51. If you had to name just one thing that you believe has made the most impact on your
child’s success at home, what do you think that would be?
52. If you give assessment examinations, how often do you administer these exams?
53. Have there been any noticeable changes/ in your child’s progress?
Future Plans
54. What do you envision for your child once the high school requirements are satisfied?
55. Has your child communicated any plans of their own for the future?
56. Have these plans for the future been influenced in any way by homeschool instruction?
57. Have the plans for the future changed from previous plans while attending public school?
58. Does your child plan to go to college?
59. Do you have transcripts for the admissions process?
Are you required to report grades and/test scores ?
60. Do you think your child has learned skills that are transferable to a collegiate setting, if so
which ones?
Public School Perceptions
61. What was the financial situation of your child’s public school & district?
If limited/bad: Did that impact programs and instruction?

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If good: Were the resources in the district distributed fairly to all schools and
classrooms?
62. Do you believe your child was given the basic level of care in school?
(ex. free lunch app, counseling, if spec. ed, accomoda., trans, psy, soc wkr, for.
lang.,arts)
If not, why do you think was the problem?
63. Did you child have any social concerns when attending public schools?
Support for Homeschoolers
64. What are some of the challenges for your family with homeschooling?
65. If so, what is your biggest adjustment?
66. Do you think there are enough resources available to homeschoolers in general?
African Americans in particular?
67. Do you attend any conventions/conferences for homeschoolers?
68. Is there intra-collaboration with homeschoolers (i.e. Black & Hispanic , Black & White,
etc)
69. Do you collaborate with other African American families?
70. Is there sufficient support for homeschoolers?
71. Did you get any support from the school district or state department of education?
72. What kind of support did you get from homeschooling support organizations, if any?
73. Which organization/agency was the most supportive?
How did they help you the most?
74. Which was the least supportive?
75. Describe the process you took to get started with this initiative.
76. Do you report your intention to homeschool to the state DOE? Why or why not?
77. Do you belong to any online homeschooling networks? If so, which ones?

153

Reflection
78. Do you think your child has been more successful at home and not in a public school?
Why is that?
79. If you considered other alternatives other than public schools prior to choosing
homeschooling as an alternative, what were those other choices?
80. What convinced you to home school ?
81. Do you ever plan to return your child to public schools for instruction in the future?
If yes, what are your reasons?
82. Do you believe your child will be more successful now if he/she ever returned to public
schools?
83. What tools do you think your child could take back to public schools if they returned to
public education?
84. What recommendations would you make to public school educators based on your
previous experience as a public school parent?
85. What recommendations would you make to public school educators based on your
previous experience as an instructor?

154

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