Race/ethnicity and homeschooling.

[Colleen]

It interests me that the vast majority of people who homeschool are white. Along those lines, I'm curious how many people who visit this board classify themselves as a race other than caucasian. I'm adding East Indian and American Indian as separate categories in case people would prefer those identifiers.

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm mostly American Indian and Irish. My father's mother was actually chief of our tribe until her death. So, I marked American Indian but am mixed. I thought I should clarify since there aren't a lot of American Indians with super curly hair.

[Alice]

I marked white because I am. But my husband is Asian. So depending on who in our family is being talked about it would be white, Asian or mixed.

[Sixmeadows]

So the kiddos would be in more han 1 category

cheri

[chiguirre]

I marked Hispanic, but normally on forms you have to mark race and ethnicity separately. If I'm remembering correctly the census population and employment survey worked that way too.

I think the composition of the hsing community depends a bit on where you live. In my group, there are a lot of Hispanic hsers. I'd even venture to say it's close to the same % as the general population of our town (which is not the same thing as the general population of Houston). I can say with certainty that the % of Hispanics in hs activities is far higher than the % at the elementary school the kids would attend. I will also say that other groups are underrepresented in the hsing community.

[imeverywoman]

:001_smile:

[Virginia Dawn]

My ancestry is western European, you might say Germanic considering the French, British, and German roots.

Dh on the other hand is hispanic or more correctly "Tex-mex." But he often fills out polls and surveys as white or "other." His father was also Tex-mex and his mother was from Monterey, Mexico, and carried a green card.

Our children are confused. They don't feel hispanic, but other people tend to label them that.

[Sophia]

My husband is white, I am hispanic.

My parents are "Tex-Mex" as Virginia Dawn put it, which I think means they identify more with Texas than Mexico (my dad would be very proud to own the Texas sink someone posted awhile ago.)

My children are also confused when people label them hispanic.

[cin]

Dh & I are Caucasian, children are Asian.

[Jenny in Atl]

I am white, but a number of my homeschooling friends are not. In fact, it has been a very nice to see how many African-American homeschool families we have in our Music Co-op of Friday (for example). Maybe 15 out of 200 kids (which also includes a few Latinos and families of mixed heritage as well). And this group is in the burbs, not in-town. Like most areas, Atl is mostly made up of middle to upper middle-class HS families, and each year I see more and more families from all backgrounds (Asian, Black, Latino, etc). From what I have read, African-Americans are the fastest growing segment of the HS pie. I think it might have more to do with the area of the country and the financial ability of the families more than their race or ethnicity?

[ravengal]

African-american mom, dad, and children.

[Renai]

I'm Black, husband Mexican, daughter half white (great great grandparents on rapist's side of family from Ireland and Scotland).

[PiCO]

I'm mostly American Indian and Irish. My father's mother was actually chief of our tribe until her death. So, I marked American Indian but am mixed. I thought I should clarify since there aren't a lot of American Indians with super curly hair.

I put down American Indian also, because I am and official tribe member, but I'm only 1/4 Indian (the least you can be and still be a member of the tribe.)

But no one would know it looking at me. I'm also Finnish, Scottish, and English- so I'm really pretty white (pasty even.);)

[Free Indeed]

I am just plain ol' white! :laugh:

[st_claire]

I think the reason more homeschoolers are white is because unfortunately our society is set up so that white people have the most extra cash. I don't think many minority families could afford to live on one income. Also, first generation immigrants would be unlikely to homeschool because they want their kids to be exposed to Canadian culture which they don't know how to teach them at home. Obviously these are all generalizations, but just my thoughts on the subject.

[Citrusheights5]

I am 1/2 hispanic(Guatemalan), 1/2 white - DH is black. DS3, DS2, and DS1 month- are ours. DD11 and DS 9 are mind from a previous relationship... and their dad is Mexican.

[Excelsior! Academy]

I marked American Indian, but DH is only a 1/4 and I'm pretty close to that. (There is some debate, due to different relatives having differing amounts listed.) I look totally white, but DH looks at least 1/2.

[Mary H]

children are half black half white.

Mary H

[Jean in IN]

well, because I am:) But I'm the only one in my family that is white. Dh is Asian and while 2 of our 4 kids look a little more like me than him, come summer they are anything but white!

[Old Dominion Heather]

The boys are considered Hispanic as well. So... hmmm.;):lurk5:

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm caucasian. Dh is Filipino (which is often marked Asian when there is no "South Pacific Islander" choice). My children marked themselves on the last census form(which allowed us to mark more than one thing for the first time) : Filipino/Scottish/Irish/Spanish

[Stacy in NJ]

:D

[Crissy]

Irishhttp://bestsmileys.com/stpatricsday/2.gif and German http://bestsmileys.com/drinking/6.gif.

[Laurel-in-CA]

It always bugs me that "white" is blanket for Irish, Italian, English, Welsh, French, German, etc.

And, since dh is Chinese, the KIDS are biracial (if you're allowed to use that term for other than african-american mixes, LOL). My mother is the daughter of an immigrant Italian and a fellow whose ancestor fought in the Revolutionary War. My father is a mix of irish and Back-to-the Revolution again British. DH's father was born here, spent early years in China, and then returned here. DH's mother was born in China but came here (thru great trauma) in her early elementary years.

"White" is a very limiting description. "Asian" makes them sound culturally asian, and they're not (except for a fondness for Chinese take-out) as dh is culturally very american.

[cupajoe]

I'm biracial (Caucasion/African-American); DH is African-American.

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

My husband is white, I am hispanic.

My parents are "Tex-Mex" as Virginia Dawn put it, which I think means they identify more with Texas than Mexico (my dad would be very proud to own the Texas sink someone posted awhile ago.)

My children are also confused when people label them hispanic.\

I know, we have the same issues. I'm European mutt and my husband's family moved here from Ecuador right before he was born. My kids don't identify with being hispanic at all, although I usually check both boxes when that's an option. My oldest was invited to a hispanic scholar weekend at Scripps college last fall and we both felt so weird and out of place. Everyone was very nice and no one said anything, but here I am with my Irish German heritage and her with her blue eyes and reddish brown hair. I've never felt so out of place. None of my kids look South American at all. Even my husband looks more Italian than anything. So I suppose I should have checked 'white' since homeschooling was my idea and my undertaking, but I checked Hispanic because I wanted to see one of the minorities choices rise. :tongue_smilie:

On that note, I usually have the kids check 'hispanic' on the standardized tests they take because they test well and I want their scores to count on the Hispanic side. Hispanic scores are always depressed, probably due to the facts that their families are recent immigrants, some aren't as familiar with the language, and of course the socio-economic links to lower scores that are a given. So I figure since they're half and half I want to do my part to show that low test scores are not a genetic thing but a cultural thing. I know that that all by ourselves, our family isn't having that much of an effect, but it's the principle of the thing, y'know?

Barb

[T Baer]

if I chose one category, I will be negating one of my parents. This is an issue that annoys me. One of my parents if Black and the other is Asian. Tiger Woods got some slack on this a while back about him wanting his foundation to be for all kids not just a particular race.

[Scarlett]

I find it interesting that so few people have responded.

T Baer I had a co-worker who was white with two mixed (their father was black) children. She was annoyed by the whole 'choose one box' thing too.

I think we need a box called 'human' :)

[T Baer]

I have been discriminated by those who see color either too dark or not dark enough, the texture of my hair, the sound of my voice, slang or "proper". I have even been discriminated based on my asian name.
Here's something of interest. I got a grant because of my skin and into an accelerated/uplevel class because of my name. Is that racial profiling or is that part of Affirmative Action.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I find it interesting that so few people have responded.


I dunno, I think that 150-some responses is a fairly good representation in the middle of the week.

[Whisperlily]

I think we need a box called 'human' :)

:iagree: I always get irritated with this section of official forms.

I'm not offended by your question, but why is it on things like loan applications? Especially if "your answer will not affect the outcome."

I don't usually answer that part. :tongue_smilie:

[Jenny in Atl]

I think we need a box called 'human' :)

I have always felt this way, but after watching this movie, I feel a scientific backing to that belief. I know others will not agree, but felt like sharing.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/photogalleries/journey_of_man/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4435009.stm

[Margaret in CO]

This is fascinating to me--we have had only one hsing family that was bi-racial in our valley, and they didn't live here long. We have a new Mexican immigrant population, but none of them hs. I'm surprised at the number of nonwhite respondents!

[melissel]

I'm not offended by your question, but why is it on things like loan applications? Especially if "your answer will not affect the outcome."

Marketing, baby! It's all about the targeting.

I checked white, because I am, and I was the primary driver of the HS decision, and I am the teacher (for now--DH is about to take over math :)), but my DH is Hispanic, so the kids are a mix of European, Dominican, and Puerto Rican.

[Kelli in TN]

I am mostly Norwegian descent, dh is mostly Scotch-Irish descent. Can you get any more caucasian that that?


MORE SUNSCREEN PLEASE!!!!:lol:

[Mabelen]

I did not vote because I don't homeschool although I hang out here. My dh and I are immigrants to the US, and that is one of the reasons why I am hesitant to jump into homeschooling.

Anyway, my family ethnicity is one that fits multiple categories. I am 100 % caucasian and both Hispanic and European by culture. My dh you would call East Indian. Our children are obviously a mix of both, and I get very irritated when they have to choose one heritage over the other...

[*anj*]

And, since dh is Chinese, the KIDS are biracial (if you're allowed to use that term for other than african-american mixes, LOL).

Of course you're "allowed" to use that term. It is accurate. Biracial means just that "of two races."

Having said that, I am black and dh is white, so my children are indeed biracial.

Whatever, right? http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/confused005.gif (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/%5Burl=http://www.freesmileys.org%5D%5Bimg%5Dhttp://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/confused005.gif%5B/img%5D%5B/url%5D)

[*anj*]

if I chose one category, I will be negating one of my parents. This is an issue that annoys me. One of my parents if Black and the other is Asian. Tiger Woods got some slack on this a while back about him wanting his foundation to be for all kids not just a particular race.

I am with you 100%. Don't even get me started on this subject, because it really irks me and most people just don't get why it's a big deal.

(Colleen, that wasn't directed toward you personally at all. It's just one of my pet peeves, and I was speaking in a general sense, having gotten into a rather heated discussion on this topic way back when on Ye Olde Boards of Yore.)

[StaceyinLA]

Mom=mostly French
Dad=Scotch/Irish

I guess that makes me French & Scotch/Irish. Ex-dh (kids' father, or, more appropriately, sperm donor) was mostly of German descent.

In 14 years of home schooling, I had only ever met one African-American hs family until this year when 3 more African-Am families joined our group. I don't think we have any bi-racial families, and no other races that I know of or have seen. This is a group of several hundred families, but we are in Louisiana and I think there is still some division among blacks and whites.

The original African Am hs family I met in our group started a national group, the National Black Home Educators' Resource Group. To me, this says that there is a growing number of black Americans home schooling, and I am really happy about that.

[Fourmother]

My family is African American. No mixes on either side unless we count some rather "untoward" family liaisons of a historical nature. (LOL) As the group at the forefront of desegregation and the group that is still disadvantaged by the present state of schools, many African Americans have a special love/hate relationship with public education. I would like to see more of us choose homeschooling and refuse to accept abysmal schools with low expectations.

[Liz CA]

I am mostly Norwegian descent, dh is mostly Scotch-Irish descent. Can you get any more caucasian that that?


MORE SUNSCREEN PLEASE!!!!:lol:

nt

[LadyAberlin]

I'm white but my husband is hispanic.

[Jenny in Atl]

One other frustration with set race surveys is one's ethnic identity. One might be South American (Latino) but be Black/African buy racial heritage. So, which would that person choose on a form? I seen this with friends whose kids are a mix off a number of ethnic and racial backgrounds, hard to embrace all of who they are on a form with just a few choices. When asked, I always say I'm a Heinz 57 (a mix of European and North African) but I just look kinda peach like in winter and more olive in summer. We are all shades and not the absence of color.

[Closeacademy]

My children are 3/4 Appalacian-American with 1/4 of that mostly coming origionally from Suffolk starting in the 1630's. But is also a mix of German, Huegonot French, Dutch, possibly Scotch-Irish, and Jewish (forceably converted during the hundred years war).

The other 1/4 is a German/Belgium blend and the Belgium part may be Black Irish that immigrated early on. My dh's grandmother left Germany 6 months before Hitler closed the border.

So basically, we are Americans who have light skin and our ancestors fled the homeland a long, long time ago.

[Lorna in the boonies]

We are all shades and not the absence of color.

I don't know about that. I'm mighty, mighty close. :lol:

When I was in 8th grade, the boys in my class called me "Glow in the Dark".

(To answer the poll, dh and I are both white. White, white. Specifically, his ancestors came over from England forever ago and settled in a remote part of the country where they inbred for a couple of centuries. My own ancestry is mostly European with a large amount of Comanche thrown in, though you would never guess it to look at me. I'm too busy glowing.):glare:

[Cadam]

According to the statistics the ps is worse for your average minority child than your average Caucasian child so I hope and pray that as homeschooling becomes more mainstream the numbers of minority students homeschooling will rise significantly. The racial separation in scores disappears in the homeschooling stats. Reason #1537 that homeschooling is cool!

[Colleen]

nt