This episode focuses on the idea of homeschooling our children vs keeping them in the traditional classroom environment to learn. My guest, Nicole Doyle, President of the Dekalb Christian Home Educators organization and co-founder Georgia Black Home Education Network, discussed with me the advantages and benefits of homeschooling our black children especially during the last 3 years during the pandemic. The pandemic forced over 9 million students to be forced to be homeschooled some kind of way. Whether it was through virtual learning, hybrid learning environment, or being homeschooled in general.

She gave a true testimony about her own kids' lives as it pertains to how well homeschooling them has worked out for them. She even got the idea of homeschooling her kids from one of her kid's teachers, who was on the brink of leaving the profession herself to go into homeschooling. She spoke about how she understood early how early involvement in her kids' education/learning was important to their growth, developing, and learning what their interests are and as well as what they're good at. Kids homeschooled can still participate in extracurricular activities as long as they meet the requirements/tryouts, etc.

She spoke to the facts of how many black kids initially were taken out of school to be homeschooled during the pandemic vs how many of them stayed being homeschooled. The percentage of black kids who were homeschooled during the pandemic was 3.3% and the percentage of black kids homeschooled and stayed since the pandemic has grown over 16.1%. She spoke highly about the benefits and successes of homeschooling which is that 75-85% of black students who are homeschooled score higher than their white counterpart who are in public schools.

She talked about the various types and ways of "home education". She broke it down in essence about homeschooling your children is a privilege for those who can afford to do that. Not everyone can afford to step away from the work force to home educate their children. She is in no way anti-school or anti-public or private schooling, but she is pro parents doing what they know is best for their kids and their education which matters most of all. Pro-Parent more so than anything. Interesting fact, colleges and universities even accept and enroll students who were homeschooled, so there's no hindrance or limits to your child's education.

Homeschooling looks different in all cities and states, so it's best to do your research that on what resources are provided, what the requirements are for homeschooling your kids, and what forms to complete from the school and state in order to take your kids out of the traditional classroom to homeschool them because you don't want to the state and/or DFS coming to your door inquiring about your children. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Special thanks to Nicole for being on the show to share some much information about how to go about choosing the best way for our children to learn because no one knows your child or should know your child more than you do as a parent.