AND YET ANOTHER
Shay Seaborne had an excellent response to the same LTTE.
Building walls? Hardly. We’re tearing down walls between races
Date published: 4/18/2004
Reader Gina Martin’s letter, “Home-schooling may ‘teach’ sectarian animosity,” reflects an inaccurate, stereotypical picture of home-schooling.
She wrote that she is “concerned about the growing chasm between the different cultures, religions, and socioeconomic groups,” and wonders if we “value the importance of exposing our children to those who are different than they are,” implying that home-schoolers deliberately sequester their children.
As a home schooling parent for nine years, I almost laugh at the irony. One of the many reasons I home-school is to “expose” my children to the larger world, and to teach them about different people and cultures.
Were my children in school, they would not have the time to study Mandarin with me. We are learning this difficult language so we can better communicate with our neighbor, a delightful 64-year-old Chinese woman, who speaks almost no English.
Other neighbors include a Muslim family from Pakistan from whom we are learning a little Urdu, and some delicious new recipes.
The people behind us are Muslims from Afghanistan. To either side of them are families from Central America. Down the street, we have a Hindu family from India.
If this isn’t enough, we have a home-school Travel Club, in which we learn about different lands, people, customs, and cultures. We read folk stories, try new foods, listen to new music, attend events, and much more.
Contrary to the popular image, for many families, home schooling isn’t about “building walls around our children,” it’s about opening doors.
Shay Seaborne
Woodbridge
Shay Seaborne is president of the Virginia Home Education Association.
One Response to “AND YET ANOTHER”
Comment by Traci April 18th, 2004 at 11:14 am |
Well said Shay! |