Beyond the Classroom: The Growing Movement of Black Families Homeschooling and Microschooling

The number of families microschooling and homeschooling continue to grow since their initial climb in popularity five years ago. During the pandemic, families wanted different options than the traditional public school setting. Families were home and microschooling before 2020, of course, but these two options skyrocketed as more and more parents decided to take a chance on a new learning environment for their student.

EdChoice recently hosted a panel discussion during the National Urban League’s Annual Conference that brought together Black homeschooling and microschooling mothers to share their experiences. Each of them came to their respective schooling type for different reasons, but the one thing they had in common was wanting something better for their kids and other children in need of a different option.

Christina Garrett didn’t plan on homeschooling her kids but saw that they needed the consistent presence of their father and knew that she wanted flexibility, autonomy, and a way to shape her family’s future. Her kids participate in a homeschooling co-op, a group of homeschooling families that share resources together.

Many factors can drive families to consider homeschooling. Encouragement from her son’s teachers was the nudge Nicole Doyle needed to take the leap. At the time, her son had ADHD and undiagnosed autism. Nicole had been working at his school, so she had a close working relationship with his teacher. When the teacher made the suggestion, Nicole said, “It just made sense to try.” She has since graduated three of her children from homeschooling and currently has a ninth grader.

There are often stereotypes of what a homeschooling family looks like. A recent blog by Angela Watson of the Homeschool Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University and Matthew Lee of Kennesaw State University, broke down the characteristics of families choosing to home or microschool their kids, and it’s not who you think. Panelist Tiffany Blassingame underscores the data that Angela and Matthew found. There is not one specific profile for a home or microschooling family and it’s not only for wealthy, two-parent households. Tiffany said, “This option can also be for nontraditional families who need that extra flexibility and support” like many of her students at The Ferguson School.

The bottom line is that homeschooling and microschooling can be for anyone. Families come to these educational options for many reasons: safety, values alignment, academic rigor, cost, etc. For these three moms, choosing to home educate may have been new to them, but Black Americans have been homeschooling for generations; this is nothing new.