Culturally Sensitive Home Schooling

Our guest blogger this week is Deborah Clouser. A TCK and a mom of three TCKs, Deborah has served as an education consultant in West Africa since 2005. She has enjoyed serving families who use a variety of educational options, including home schoolers. Debbi moved from Burkina Faso to the Metro Washington DC area in 2013 and is presently teaching 2^nd grade in a French immersion public school. She continues to work with Anchor Education, PACE, and consult with families in her agency via email and Skype.

Let’s take a peek into Emily’s home school classroom. It has the usual maps and graphs on the walls, the bookcases full of curriculum and resources, and the desks and chairs. The children are busily engaged in learning tasks. This home school is quite different, however, from a home school in North America. The children in this home school are TCKs and they are being educated in a culturally sensitive way.

Mike and Emily live in a village in West Africa, where they are engaged in church planting and training leaders. Their four children, ranging in age from 4-12, are home schooled. Although Mike and Emily attended public schools while growing up in the United States and Canada, respectively, they are committed to making sure their children are receiving an education that is appropriate for children growing up in West Africa. They have intentionally set out to help their children become experts on the country and culture in which they are growing up, even though it would be easier to just educate their children in the same way they themselves were educated.

What does a culturally sensitive home school look like? Why is it important for TCKs to receive a culturally sensitive education?

Children who spend their formative years in a culture different from their parents’ home cultures will have a unique identity. They will identify to a degree with both cultures, but never fully with either one. It is their birthright to be able to function adequately in both those cultures and for that they need to have an insider’s knowledge about both of them.

Because TCKs often spend a majority of their growing-up years in the country where their parents work, they will be forever influenced by the experiences they have in that culture. If they learn the language(s) spoken there, understand the customs and traditions, and are able to function within the society there, they will likely have a positive appreciation for that culture and its people. If, on the other hand, they are sheltered from the culture and never bond with its people, they may well have a negative experience. Adult TCKs who have not had positive experiences often show regret and even resentment that they were not afforded the opportunity to integrate into the culture of the country in which they spent their childhood.

Home schooling families have a unique opportunity to provide cultural learning for their children. They have the flexibility to integrate language learning into their school day, study the history, geography, and politics of their host country, and learn the local currency in Math class. They can take field trips to learn about the customs, traditions, and occupations of the country. They can use local friends and neighbors as cultural guides to help with their learning.

Mike and Emily, in their village in West Africa, are determined that their children will learn to speak French. They hired a local school teacher part time for the task and gave him an outline of what he should teach in order of importance. He has taught the children the national anthem of the country, as well as local games and songs. Additionally, he helped them memorize Scripture and church songs in French. Each class the children work on conversational vocabulary and sentence structures, then go into the community to practice what they’ve learned.

Another goal Mike and Emily have for their children is that they become experts on their host country’s history, geography, and customs. Each child, depending on their age, does a research project every school year on an aspect of the country. They have produced power points, lapbooks, and research papers on the history, geography, religions, folklore, and traditions of the country. This “insider” knowledge has opened doors for the family in their village and neighborhood.

Implementing a culturally sensitive home school takes planning and determination. It’s important to sit down as a family and talk about your goals for cultural learning. Acquiring a second language is a non-negotiable, as this is such a crucial part of a TCK’s identity. Some living situations make it difficult to adequately learn another language, so much planning and effort must go into this.

There are many opportunities available for cultural learning no matter where you live! Get started by making an extensive list and then brainstorm for the best ways to make it happen. Your adult TCK will thank you someday!

Are your families practicing culturally sensitive homeschooling? SHARE your tips for encouraging homeschooling parents in this, and strategies you’ve seen families use well for this!

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