Start small with these proven steps to giving a more diverse, multicultural education to your children. Here’s how.
Incorporating diversity into your curriculum is an ongoing effort for which there is no singular formula. What works for one family may very well not work for yours. In fact, that’s part of the point of a home education to begin with—every parent is the best person to decide what’s ideal for their children. You are capable, and you will figure it out. Believe.
Spreading a more diverse feast for your children is essential work, too. Educational philosopher Charlotte Mason believed that the study of your own country’s history alone “is apt to lead to a certain insular and arrogant habit of mind.” Nobody wants insular, arrogant children.
Of course, even if you know why this effort matters and care to do something about it, incorporating diversity into your homeschool can still feel overwhelming, especially in the beginning.
With that in mind, it’s worth considering a 1/3/5 approach as you’re getting started. In a typical Charlotte Mason school year¹, here’s how it works…
1
Multicultural book per suggested subject
Rather than always use the non-diverse book suggestions provided by your homeschool curriculum of choice, substitute just one “living” book per subject suggested below. For example, if your child is soon to study an American scientist like Thomas Edison, consider swapping it out for a book about Lewis H. Latimer instead.
3
Terms throughout the year¹
Keep subbing out diverse, multicultural books throughout all three terms of your homeschooling year. We can help with that, specifically.
5
Suggested subjects
It’s okay to sub-out books in the easy, obvious subjects as a starting point. Find books in the core subjects your children are studying to provide them with more representative perspectives. At a minimum, that should include history, literature, art, music, and geography, helping them learn about the many people of color who have contributed to our world’s finest prose, greatest art, musical compositions, mathematical theories, scientific achievements, exploration, and more.
15
New stories of color
If you stick to this plan, you will end each year having incorporated 15 more stories of color than you would have otherwise into your children’s education. It’s that easy.
Of course, giving your children books is not the end of the journey. You’ll need to educate yourself and talk about the issues with your children, too. Learn to use language that’s more inclusive. Don’t be “color blind,” but instead, aim to be color conscious and appropriately honor other cultures’ differences.
Charlotte Mason encouraged, “We cannot live sanely unless we know that other peoples are as we are with a difference, that their history is as ours, with a difference, that they too have been represented by their poets and their artists, that they too have their literature and their national life.”
In summary, start small. One step, book substitution, story, and conversation at a time truly can make all the difference. You’ve got this.
__________
Notes:
1: This approach assumes you are using a common Charlotte Mason recommendation of three terms. But if you aren’t, simply tailor these ideas to your own schedule and curriculum.
Takeaways
As you continue forward on your parenting and home education journey, remember…
1
Incorporating diversity into your curriculum is an ongoing effort for which there is no singular formula. Experiment to find ways that work for you.
2
Apply the 1/3/5 approach to incorporate 15 new stories of color into your children’s education each year. They’ll thank you later.
3
Keep educating yourself, staying color conscious, and learning how to talk about these matters with your children in honest ways that honor other cultures.
