I never worried about Captain Science being expose to a diverse enough assortment of people. Our family isn’t monochromatic. The kids’ godmother is black, our dear family friend who is for all intents and purposes their aunt is Japanese (lives in Japan, visits yearly), their great-grandfather is Mexican. Captain Science went to a Montessori school for three years. It was owned by an Iranian couple and the ethnic/racial make up of the school was mainly Iranian, Indian, black, Chinese, and white, in that order. From there, he moved to the public school, which adequately represented our part of the county’s diverse makeup. His classmates were white, black, Hispanic, Arabic, of varying religions and socioeconomic backgrounds. Being around people of all colors was normal for him.
Now we’re homeschooling, though, and that has changed. The homeschool co-op is predominantly white. Most of the children he plays with regularly are white, because that the demographic of our street in the neighborhood. Every child in The Tank’s preschool is white (and most are Methodist, because it’s a Methodist preschool and their parents belong to the church — we don’t). When we go to the local playgrounds, they seek out playmates of all colors, but they just aren’t getting the same sort of daily exposure to diverse groups that Captain Science used to have.
This worries me. How do other homeschoolers address this issue? Do they address it at all? Do they worry about their child being limited to other children who are of the same race, religion, and/or socioeconomic status? I know that for some homeschooling parents, this is exactly what they strive for, but to me, it’s one of the few down sides to homeschooling. Most of the homeschoolers around here are white and that’s just the way it is. It’s not like I can magically manifest a more diverse group of kids, just to compensate for that uncomfortable feeling of homogeneity.
I think race is an important issue to address, though. I don’t buy into the whole “we live in post-racial times” nonsense. We don’t. Having a president with his own diverse background doesn’t completely eliminate racial (or socioeconomic) tensions and disparity in this country. It was just so much easier to talk about diversity when we were in a group that was actually diverse.
It’s not just that most homeschoolers are white. There is some diversity at Master’s Academy, but in many places, well, “birds of a feather flock together.” That’s why I think that groups defining themselves only in terms of what they don’t want has been so harmful for the homeschooling movement as a whole. Conservative Christians only here, Muslims only here, Jewish homeschoolers only here, oh, here’s a group for black homeschoolers, and I bet you good money that you could find a group named, say, “Chinese-American Homeschoolers Of X” in many cities or states.
Seriously, why can’t we all just join hands and sing Kumbaya?
I do worry about it, somewhat, but I’ve come to realize that there is no perfect solution. If EG were in our zoned public school, I’d be lamenting how all the different groups cluster today, with little cross-group friendships (because that’s how that school is).
I think the hardest thing to talk about is socioeconomic status, though. Race is “easy” to explain through an evolutionary lens. Socioeconomic status? Not so easy.
Well, in our town whites are actually a lower percentage of the population then hispanics. I’ve always thought we had plenty of diversity even within our homeschool group. My 8yo actually asked me at Costco’s food court 2 days ago, why he was the only red head in the room. LOL. Oddly enough he didn’t notice he was the only child speaking in English.
I grew up with a lot of (good old boy southern) prejudice in my home and have worked very hard to teach my children not to make judgments based on people’s appearance. It burns me up the prejudice I see here in SoCal against hispanics.
Some ways we add diversity to our lives is by attending various cultural events (MLK Day activities, Native American pow-wows, Quiencenarias, etc). Los Angeles has a ton of great cultural museums that we like to visit, such as the African American Museum and the Skirball Museum.
Socioecomonic IS harder, especially when trying not to put them “down” a level. Does that make sense? We work with a lot of charities from the homeless shelter to Hands of Mercy in Mexico. These organizations treat the poor with respect but it is difficult to establish relationships of equal footing when one is embarrassingly better off than another person.
Luckily our extended family is about as racially diverse as you can get. We’re military and we live on base, so our neighborhood is a fairly good mix as well. The only time I’ve ever felt like too much of the same is when we first moved to this area and got involved with the base homeschool group – all white, all evangelical Christian, most in long denim skirts. It was my first experience with such a community; it was odd and stifling (oh, the stories I could tell!) so we disengaged and we don’t miss it.