Probably a very common question, but...

[chrissy]

how do you make sure your homeschooled children are exposed to diversity?

my son is not yet 4 and up until very very recently i was pretty sure he would go to public school. i am starting to think more on the subject and a lot about homeschooling appeals to me.

i am very very concerned about him getting to know all sorts of people though and am concerned that it will be difficult if i homeschool him. i know this is a common myth about homeschooling, so please school (ha!) me on how you wise mamas make sure your kids get to know all different kinds of kids.

thanks mamas! i'm a new lurker to this forum and i love it!

[AnnR33]

Going to school doesn't ensure that he's exposed to diversity, or how he deals with it, KWIM? It kind of depends on where you live and how you talk about differences in your own home.
We lived in Iowa and a non-white student was a rarity in the area we lived. But we had friends that lived in student housing at a local univ where there were lots of asian children. They would play there and learn korean words, try some different foods and often play without know each others langauge-play is international I guess But this wasn't related to my kids being homeschooled or going to public school. This was just us "living" in our community.

You expose your kids to diversity just by living in your community-going places, shopping, playing at the park, etc. How you talk to your kids about differences is from your values, not any schools. And I'd bet you'd be saddened to see how some kids treat others that are "different" by whatever standard in the schools.

If you homeschooled you'd probably find some support groups in your area that had some diversity of ethnicity, religion, etc. This would be a good source of education for you and your kids thru group activities, etc.
Just my thoughts on the subject
Ann

[USAmma]

My dd IS diversity. But anyway, I seek it out with my friends, playgroups, homeschool co-op, and Parks and Rec classes. If nothing else we will make an effort to attend multicultural festivals. Last session Abi took preschool Spanish. This session she's taking Karate. I was thinking about signing her up for Irish Dance sometime.

When I went to school we had mostly white people. I got my diversity through life experiences more than school.

[SagMom]

We dont' seek out diversity. It's just....there. It's not even something we discuss, really, although occassionally there are questions about people's religious practices or why they wear head scarves, etc.

My kids are around people of different ages, religions, nationalities, incomes, races, etc. etc. more from their everyday life than when they were in school. Their ps was all-white, middle-lower to middle class christians. They had units of study about diversity, but they weren't living with it.

I think a lot depends on the area you live in and where your children would be if they weren't in school.

[chrissy]

yeah, i guess it really does depend on where you live. growing up i went to public school and my schools were very diverse. i look back on my school experiences as both positive and negative but the biggest positive for me was the diversity. i have never again been so consistently in a diverse environment and i think being in one during such formative years made a huge impact on me.

my kids are young now- almost 4 and almost 1- and i find that i have to seek out diversity. we live in the south (not where i grew up) and everything still is so segregated here.

it is very very important to me that my children feel comfortable with all kinds of people, and i have found that i must seek that out here. i'm not just talking about color and race- though that is probably my biggest concern. i also want my kids to know people from all economic backgrounds, all ages, all educational backgrounds.

i think bussing is still common here (for better or worse) so our schools are quite integrated. i am fairly sure that if my kids went to public school they would be in a diverse environment. private school- no way and that is the reason i won't send my kids to private school.

i definitely think that the way we talk about differences in our home is probably the most important thing. so far we don't really talk about it unless the kids bring it up or it comes up naturally. i don't feel the need to point out differences to them until they notice them. *i* miss the diversity i grew up with and find it odd that my new home is so white bread. we do seek out multi-cultural experiences (festivals, etc) and we all enjoy them.

i am very new to the idea of homeschooling and i haven't looked into what my area has to offer in terms of homeschooling groups. i will have to check that out and i hope that i find them to be diverse in terms of race and class and religion.

i do like the idea of parks and rec classes and sports leagues where my kids could be with all kinds of other kids.

i appreciate your responses. i realize this is kind of a hot-button question and i appreciate all of you guys taking the time to answer me.

[umbrella]

My dd was exposed less diversity when she went to school.

[Brenoi]

We found diversity by homeschooling. Our public school is very homogeneous, but since we homeschool, we experience a much more diverse group of people by expanding our surroundings - traveling, taking advantage of activities outside our area, and being a part of real life.

[Ann-Marita]

I believe that diversity is part of real life, not part of the WASP-ish elementary school DD would have gone to.

[dharmamama]

Here are some methods from my own life:

1) adopt an African child

2) adopt an HIV+ child

3) adopt a child of a different faith

4) join a sangha run by lesbians

5) get your sister to marry an Iranian

6) cozy up to your Dad's friends from India

7) make friends with the family at the park who have a deaf child

8) hang out with the family with the autistic child

I make this list somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but my point is that there are lots of ways diversity can creep into your life, and you don't necessarily need (or want to) go out of your way to "expose" your child to it. It works best if it's a natural part of their lives.

(Of course, we didn't do any of the things we did with a specific eye toward bringing diversity into our lives, but it is possible to keep diversity in mind when making ordinary decisions: which doctor/dentist to see, which part of the city you attend storytime in, what parks you choose to take your kids to, which restaurants you frequent, where in the city you do your grocery shopping, where in the city you go to church/temple/mosque, etc. You could also consider moving to a more mixed-race/socionomic level area or attending a place of worship outside your normal faith [or lack thereof] or sending your kids to activities run by the social services organization that serves people with disabilities.)

Namaste!

[Fairy4tmama]

Originally Posted by dharmamama

Here are some methods from my own life:

1) adopt an African child

2) adopt an HIV+ child

3) adopt a child of a different faith

4) join a sangha run by lesbians

5) get your sister to marry an Iranian

6) cozy up to your Dad's friends from India

7) make friends with the family at the park who have a deaf child

8) hang out with the family with the autistic child



Namaste!

:LOL :
ITA with PP that you can seek out and surround yourself with diversity. Something eles that may help is reading picture books that are diverse not in an artificial way but just in a mater of fact way KWIM

[luv my 2 sweeties]

i definitely think that the way we talk about differences in our home is probably the most important thing. so far we don't really talk about it unless the kids bring it up or it comes up naturally. i don't feel the need to point out differences to them until they notice them. *i* miss the diversity i grew up with and find it odd that my new home is so white bread. we do seek out multi-cultural experiences (festivals, etc) and we all enjoy them.

Chrissy,
I just want to assure you that these *are* very important things you are doing. I grew up in small towns in the mid-west where basically everyone was white (in the schools and the community) with a rare exception here and there. But my parents, while not big into seeking out multi-cultural events, did teach us that people are people, regardless of skin color or social staus, and I believed them! So when I got to college (my first ethnically and geographically diverse invironment), I was open to everyone. I had some lessons to learn, to be sure! I had been in a bit of a bubble, if you KWIM. But I was actually *less* prejudiced than some kids who had more experience with diversity. Some of their attitudes had been negatively colored by racial tensions in their schools and/or communities for example. My parents could have done a better job of making us aware of the *issues* of race and ethnicity in America (although they themselves were probably not very aware of them), but the essential things they did right.

This is not to say that diversity is unimportant! It is crucial for us too, espeically since our children are bi-racial. (See? I even *married* a black guy! :LOL ) Our kids *would* have more opportunity to interact with many children of different backgrounds in school, but I'm not convinced those interactions would be net positive. Homeschooling does allow us to live in a city with lots of diversity and pretty good social integration, but less than stellar schools. That way we can continue to see lots of different faces at libraries, stores, parks and rec classes, etc. Whereas if we lived in a nearby town with good schools, it would be much whiter. Sad, but true! It would be a very hard decision for our family! We are doing pretty much what you are doing. Seeking out diversity and multi-cultural experience where we can find it. Obviously, our family is also more "diversity aware" than my family of origin was. Sounds like yours is too. I think your kids will do fine. They might not be able to have close childhood friends of different backgrounds, but that doesn't mean they will be resistant to such relationships as they get older and go out into the wider world.

[oldcrunchymom]

I agree that going to school in a diverse area will not necessarily make one more accepting of diversity, and that going to school in a homogenous area will not necessarily turn one into a bigot. That said, my kids are exposed to way more "diversity" in outside activities than they ever would be at school. Our school district is about 99.5% white low-class-to-middle-class Christian. People out of that range tend to homeschool or send their kids to private schools.