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Carolyn Williams, who homeschools her three children, teaches a Latin lesson to her daughter Jordan, 11, while
Carolyn Williams works on a history lesson while helping homeschool her daughter, Jordan, 11, in their Spotsylvania County home.
Homeschooler Steaven Williams, 16, works on a biology lesson in his family's Spotsylvania County home last week. |
BY CATHY DYSON
Carolyn Williams had charts and chore lists around her house long before she started homeschooling.
That's because the Spotsylvania County mother's curriculum goes well beyond academics.
Williams has taught her three children how to cook and do research, clean and diagram sentences, be able to maintain a bank account or discuss the feudal system during the Middle Ages.
"I don't think it's good to be highly educated but have no character," she said.
Years ago, she read a book that suggested a parent should love her children as if they're not going to be here next year--and train them as if the parent's not.
"I live by that," she said.
Twins Nikko and Steaven (pronounced like "heaven") are 10th-graders whose curriculum includes advanced courses.
The 16-year-olds also have been doing their own laundry for years and won't bring home bags of dirty clothes when they're in college.
"We know how to survive," Nikko said, to which Steaven added: "We know how to take care of ourselves, do our laundry, clean the house."
And cook--as well as eat.
The twins, who wear size-13 shoes, commented on their skills as they devoured an apple pie baked by their sister, 11-year-old Jordan.
'A FIGHTING CHANCE'
The Williams family is in its sixth year of homeschooling and part of the growing trend of black homeschoolers.
The National Home Education Research Institute estimates that 220,000 black students are homeschooled nationwide. That's 2 times as many as in 1999, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The number of homeschoolers is rising across the board. Estimates from the institute suggest that almost 2 million students are being taught at home, compared with 1.1 million in 2003.
Carolyn Williams used to be the only person of color at homeschool conventions or local gatherings. She's still in the minority, but is noticing changes.
Black parents tend to homeschool for the same reasons as others, said Jennifer James, founder of the National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance.
They want to make sure their children get a well-rounded education, aren't exposed to various social ills and are prepared for college.
But black parents also have unique motivations, James said.
Agnes Hendrix of Spotsylvania said she wanted her four children, now ages 14 to 21, to learn about blacks who were inventors, politicians and leaders, not just slaves.
"I remember coloring some of the faces brown in many of our primary readers and Bible stories so our children would see people who looked like us in the stories we read," said Hendrix, who has been homeschooling since 1991.
Parents also mentioned that their sons, especially, weren't challenged or even expected to perform as well as others.
"One of the main sentiments echoed by black parents is that they have to give their children a fighting chance in this world," James wrote in a 2007 magazine article. "They believe that homeschooling is the best way to do that."
Like many homeschoolers nationwide, black families also keep their children home for spiritual reasons.
"We believe that it was simply in God's plan for us
ALL THAT TOGETHERNESS
Williams grew up in the republic of Malawi in southeastern Africa, and wasn't exposed to the American school system. She has heard the concerns of black homeschoolers, but says she hasn't experienced them.
Initially, her twins attended a Christian school where Williams taught.
As she listened to her sons talk, she thought they were merely memorizing, not learning.
Before Jordan started kindergarten, Williams and her husband, Shawn, a retired Marine and currently a computer systems analyst. switched to homeschooling.
The early years were tough. Williams has always liked checking off her to-do lists, and she worried she wasn't covering all the mandated material.
Plus, she had to get used to being with her children all the time.
She jokes that she's like the parents in the commercial who shop for back-to-school supplies as "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plays in the background.
The family eventually adjusted. Williams came up with "accountability spreadsheets" to measure progress and learned that Nikko can set his own schedule, but Steaven needs micromanaging.
Jordan is like her mother. She likes to check off tasks as she finishes them.
LUNCH WAS GREAT
As the twins got older, they said, they had doubts about their homeschool education. Kids in their neighborhood, off Tidewater Trail, teased that the boys didn't know as much or have the same social skills as public-school students.
So Nikko and Steaven, who have been schooled in critical thinking, conducted an experiment.
Both attended the second semester of public high school last year.
They absolutely loved lunch and physical education. They did so well in their academic subjects that teachers told their parents they wished they had 30 of them.
The twins also discovered they weren't getting as much done.
Both are avid readers who like to complete a task and move on to the next one. At school, they had to wait until everyone finished.
"A lot of kids goofed off," Steaven said.
He left before the semester ended. Nikko finished the term, then agreed to go back to homeschooling.
"It settled it, that this is the best thing for them," Williams said.
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
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Carolyn and Shawn Williams spend about $1,000 per child each year on homeschooling. That includes curriculum, field trips and classes with a local homeschool cooperative. Five people live on one salary, so Carolyn Williams keeps a tight budget. To save money, she: Cuts their hair. Buys and cooks in bulk. She bakes 20 loaves of bread at once, and double batches of entrees, and loads up the freezer. Vacations in the off-season, when prices are lower. Doesn't get her nails done, buy new clothes or paint the house as often Sticks to the basics. If the children want extras, they buy them. Recently, the family ran out of vanilla ice cream and Steaven wanted more. He used his money and bought the bargain brand. |
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The Williams children spend about seven hours a day on schoolwork, including Saturday.
They're usually up and dressed by 8:30 a.m. and start with Bible devotions. Then they work in the study room, living room or their own bedrooms on subjects. The twins play hockey in Washington, so they use their travel time to study vocabulary words and fact sheets or to listen to lectures on tape. And there are constant debates among family members. "Discussions happen all the time," Carolyn said, to which Steaven nodded and said: |
