Recently Darcel wrote an awesome post called 7 black homeschool bloggers you should know. The post went viral as moms found it and added their names to the list. Among those who commented is Paula Penn-Nabrit, a consultant, lawyer and Wellesley college graduate who homeschooled two of her three sons to the Ivy Leagues and wrote a book about it. She was kind enough to answer questions for Baby and Blog. Check it out.
How did the idea to homeschool your sons come into your head?
I wish I could say we began planning our homeschooling journey as soon as the pregnancy test came back positive. But that would be a lie. I can’t even say we began thinking about it that early. We simply enrolled them in the best school we could find. And when challenges presented at that school, we tried to help address and correct them. When that didn’t work we enrolled them in another school and began the process anew. By the time the boys were expelled from their last school due to chronically late tuition payments they’d been in 5 different schools:
i) an experimental, Montessori-type school;
ii) a highly ranked, public school (out of our district but we thought it’d be worth the paperwork);
iii) an exclusive, expensive, co-educational, independent day school;
iv) a good public school in our suburban district; and finally
v) another exclusive and expensive, but this time single-sex, independent day school.
These were diverse, yet well-regarded, high performing schools. They were in different cities in different regions of the country. Yet the same sorts of challenges kept emerging. It seems obvious now, but at the time we were stunned with the realization that institutionalized education, whether public, private or parochial, whether in urban, suburban or rural communities are all designed to do similar and very specific things, namely educate and socialize the next generation to support and expand the existing status quo. Once we realized that, the complexities of our recurring challenges disappeared. We were actively working at home to ensure our sons didn’t become part of the status quo, so of course there were conflicts–we were (unconsciously) working at cross-purposes with the very schools we selected and getting mad at them for doing what they were designed to do!
Was homeschooling popular among mothers in general, and black mothers in particular at the time?
When we began homeschooling in 1991 it was far from popular. Ohio has a long history of religious homeschooling due to Amish and Mennonite communities and more recently conservative, right-wing, evangelical Christians, a smattering of anti-government survivalists and folks seeking more intense academic challenges for their children (read the above as predominantly Caucasian-white). But for the first few years of our “adventure” we knew no other black homeschooling families.
What kind of reception did you get from other black women when you shared that you were homeschooling?
Surprise, suspicion and suspense, tinged with sadness.Virtually every black woman I knew expressed what appeared to be genuine surprise when told we were homeschooling. “Why would you do that?” Of course the surprise wasn’t centered around the “why” as a denial of institutionalized racism as much as it was centered around the “why” as a ‘do you think you can do anything about institutionalized racism?’ And that’s where much of the suspicion came into play; suspicion we felt our sons were too good to deal with institutionalized racism, suspicion we felt we were braver/better parents for taking on the responsibility of homeschooling, and suspicion that we might be right.
The suspense and sadness I understood. There was a great deal of suspense about the outcome. And the underlying sadness was easily understood. It was and continues to be sad to look at the impact of systems of institutionalized racism and its crippling effects on the holistic health and development of all our children–regardless of gender, race or ethnicity. But when you’re the black mother of black children, the reality can be especially painful, and sad.
How much did you homeschool your sons?
When we began homeschooling in 1991 our eldest sons, Charles and Damon, were 11 year old 6th graders and Evan was 9 and in the 4th grade. We developed our own curriculum, moved to a 12 month calendar, eliminated cable, video games and all discretionary, i.e., non-essential spending and hired African and African-American graduate students (7 of the 9 were male) at The Ohio State University to teach biology, French and mathematics. My husband, CMadison insisted the boys do all their athletic programs (football, fencing, swimming, tae kwan do and tennis) through city-wide parks & rec programs. Our sons are 5th generation members of the Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith, a 100+ year-old congregation, so they participated in choir, the Bible bowl team and later worked as counselors at Vacation Bible School and residential church camp. They rounded out their community service component of homeschooling as volunteers at the Center of Science & Industry (they each had 2, 500+ hours by “graduation.”)
Evan was always an artist (he’s completing his MFA at UPenn this May) so he attended Columbus College of Art & Design Saturday School from age 7 until he left for Amherst. Starting at 13, he also had the opportunity to work with the late great, Roman Johnson, a noted African-American artist each Saturday afternoon. Our sons also participated in BalletMet, Opera Columbus and various theater programs and productions around Columbus. We used traditional enrichment programs like Space Camp in Florida, Oceanography Camp in Maine and Engineering Camp at Ohio State to support specific areas of interest.
Our management consulting business (PN&A, Inc., www.nabrit.com/pna) allowed us to travel extensively with them, domestically and internationally. Charles, Damon and Evan HATED being homeschooled from the very first month until the very last one but we continued, unrepentant until they went to college. Charles and Damon went to Princeton in 1998 and Evan entered Amherst, a top ranked liberal arts college, in 2000.
When you started, was it your intent to get your sons into Ivy League schools?
No. Our strategy was to develop an environment of holistic health where they would be nurtured and validated spiritually, intellectually and physically. Relying on “faculty” who were the adult versions of them was a critical component of that strategy. We were convinced academic excellence would occur organically in such an environment–and that excellence would open a world of post-secondary options for them. We figured that if they could meet the admissions requirements for Ivy League institutions, they’d be competitive for any other options, collegiate or otherwise.
All 3 of your sons have been successful in diverse fields. Why do you think they responded so well to homeschooling?
I have to admit our sons didn’t respond well to the idea of homeschooling. They did however respond very well to the holistic health of the environment we created for them and specifically to the almost continuous and engagement with their father and their tutors. They responded extremely well to community service and travel. But they didn’t like all year school, they didn’t like no cable and they definitely didn’t like no video games. But probably the biggest issue was their discomfort with our lack of experience or expertise and what they saw as our racial “issues.” While their “re-entry” was difficult, it confirmed our assessments about the challenges of academic excellence and academic integrity operating in the midst of institutionalized racism. Homeschooling had established a pattern of critical thinking and a decided (if initially unacknowledged) comfort in operating independently, outside established parameters. Coupled with the experience of elite, post-secondary schools they were well-equipped to operate in diverse areas of professional and personal endeavors as adults.
Do you think homeschooling is for every child? Or does it work best with certain children?
No. I think homeschooling is a viable and growing educational option, but it is not the only or even the best option for every child or every family. Homeschooling worked well for our family, but I don’t think any single educational option works best for every single child. I think homeschooling works well when the parent(s) and child not only love, but like and respect one another. Most parents and children love one another, enormously, but that doesn’t mean they all like and respect one another enough to enjoy spending the bulk of every day together.
Homeschooling worked well for us because: a) My husband, CMadison was the number cruncher in our home-based business so he was an ever-present, yet benevolent ruler of our homeschooling enterprise; b) Charles and Damon are just 27 months older than Evan and the three of them were very good friends; and c) we live in a city with lots of external resources, e.g., our extended family, church, a fabulous public library system, The Ohio State University and a host of other colleges and universities, community arts programs, etc. I think homeschooling might be harder with a single child or without some of those supports.
For black mothers who can’t afford to homeschool their children (due to single parenthood/a financial need to work), what tips can you give for supplemental homeschooling?
One of my pet peeves is people who advise about things they haven’t done, so I try not to do that–ever. I became a single parent when CMadison died in May and while I’m heart-broken, our “baby” is 31 so the parenting work is done. I wouldn’t presume to advise sisters who are actively navigating single parenthood and trying to educate minor children. On the other hand, if you have a copy of Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our Sons to the Ivy League, you might peek Chapter 24; So How Is This Relevant If I Don’t Choose to Homeschool? I really tried to look at how the things we learned homeschooling could be applied to more traditional educational settings.
What are your thoughts on early literacy? How soon do you think children should be introduced to the alphabet?
I’m big on early literacy meaning I think parents should read aloud to children early and often–we began when ours were in utero–but not a single one of our sons were early readers. I tried. I so wanted them to be early readers. I made gigantic flash cards and taped them all over the house so they could see the words as I spoke them, “Table”, “Chair”, “Cabinet”, etc., etc. I bought tons of alphabet books and made smaller flashcards with pictures of simple words to practice reading “Me”, “Cat”, “Red”, etc. but none of my efforts worked. They did not read early. And they weren’t early talkers or early toilet trainers. The only things they did early were (a) escape–out of cribs, strollers, 2nd story windows, out of the house and out of the back yard with its 6ft privacy fence and (b) build. They were building all kinds of complex Lego constructions at 2, long before they were potty trained at 3 (yes, both grandmothers were appalled! and no, I didn’t care;) and they were almost 4 before they were solid readers. But I’m happy to say that while none of them ever became engineers they each mastered both reading and toilet training beautifully, thus proving my theory that the difference in start time is nullified once mastery occurs. It’s more important to learn well and to learn joyfully than to learn early, ijs….
What are your thoughts on the American public school system?
My company, PN&A, Inc.’s consulting work involves demographic research and statistical analysis–we collect, track and try to connect data points–so I know the U.S. educational system, public, private and parochial is not globally competitive. Public schools face the biggest competitive challenges because in the U.S. school funding is not nationally derived, it is what I call “zip code derivative” meaning the socio-economic status of the residential community determines the funding and frequently the success of the school(s) in that community. I know conventional wisdom says “you can’t keep throwing money at the problem” but ironically the dispensers of that wisdom most often live in well-funded zip codes and/or pay $50K+ private school tuition. For an excellent international overview of America’s comparative status educationally at the elementary, middle and high school level, see Julia Ryan’s December 3, 2013 article in the Atlantic, “American Schools vs. the World: Expensive, Unequal, Bad at Math.”
Some very interesting information. Ladies, I would love to hear your thoughts.
If you want to know more, pick up Paula’s book Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our African-American Sons to the Ivy League. To learn more about Paula, check out her website PaulaPenn-Nabrit.com.
About Leila
Leila is the founding editor of Baby and Blog. She splits her time between editing hair and culture site, Black Girl with Long Hair, whipping up butters at BGLH Marketplace, and writing here. She adores her husband and two kids, her parents and her friends. But she hates Chicago weather although she is slowly coming to peace with it...
