More Black Families Homeschooling

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Maxwell Robinson was the only black child in his kindergarten class when taunting started. And by the end of the first grade, seeing his reaction, his mother, a nurse, changed her shifts so she could homeschool him. Now, at seven, he is better adjusted and doing better academically.

According to the National Home Education Research Institute, Maxwell is one of 220,000 African American children currently being homeschooled. While white families cite religious or moral disagreements with public schools in decisions to leave traditional schooling, black parents cite the culture of expectations or dissatisfaction with how their children, especially boys, are treated.

Joyce Burges of the National Black Home Educators notes that in the 15 years since the organization was founded membership has grown "exponentially." While earlier conferences attracted only 50 people, now more than 400 attend.

Likewise research has increased with Ama Mazama, a faculty member at Temple University, providing particularly interesting findings and trends.