Homeschooling in the Black Community Continues to Grow 

by Aziah Siid, Word in Black

There’s only so much a parent will take before making a major decision to remove their child from school. A huge family relocation or simply a rough school year could result in a kid being uprooted from their campus and placed into another for the following school year. But how does a parent make the decision to remove their child from the public education system completely? 

For Jennifer Duckworth and Yalonda Chandler, the two co-founders of the Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham, making that decision wasn’t easy —  but it was based on common sense. They wanted the best for their children and made the decision to homeschool them based on that. 

The two women entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities found each other on social media in an attempt to connect with other homeschooling families, but what they didn’t know is that their friendship would be the foundation of an entire network of homeschooled children and their parents.

“It came about when we both were two homeschool moms who were in other co-op opportunities with our homeschool children, and we both felt like, you know what? Our children are not getting exactly everything that they need in this educational journey that we’ve chosen,” Duckworth tells Word In Black.

What started in 2019 as just a group of ladies looking for ways to create the best safe space for their Black and Brown students to grow eventually transformed into a network of over 300 families planning day programs, playdates, field trips, and more for their children across the city. 

Discover how homeschooling is becoming more popular in the Black community.

 Homeschooling may be preferable to public school, where Black children face racism from teachers and students.

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