Who says homeschooled children are sheltered? Who says they lack world experiences? Raise your hand if you think homeschoolers are so insular as to never feel the sting of social experiences. What about the “real world”?
How is this little story for real world experience? My 13 year old daughter plays volleyball. During one of the days at volleyball camp my daughter overhead a girl saying to another girl, “I cannot believe they let people like that in here.” People like what? My daughter realized the “people” that girl was referring to was an African American girl who just walked onto the court. The girl she was speaking to hushed her but my daughter could not tell if her hushing meant disapproval or she just felt it was not the right time to express that thought. To make matters more interesting my daughter is biracial. To make matters even more interesting my daughter is as “white” as me and does not have dark hair. Chances are the girl who made the remark would not have cared if my daughter was standing there because she would have assumed she was Caucasian.
So what does this mean? Well, it means racism is alive and well much to the dismay of many. It means a girl of 13 must live in a very hateful home to make such a comment. It also means that this poor African American girl has no idea how little a few team players feel about her or worse she does. In addition, it means my daughter just had firsthand experience that racism is not in the history books. While I love for my children to experience things firsthand this is one experience I could have lived without. Yet, I do not intend to shelter so if this is what is out there then bring it so we know how to face it.
You may be asking yourself what type of team consists of such a racist child and if the racist feelings exist beyond this one isolated incidence. The team is a Christian homeschool league, surprised? Possibly not. Not since or before has my daughter seen any other racist things occur and the few African American girls are treated the same by everyone. Does this mean it was isolated or the others are just better at keeping it under wraps?
Ironically, the girl spewing the racist comment who may be sheltered and insular gave my daughter a real life experience she won’t soon forget. So even in homeschool world hurtful things are said and hurtful people exist. Homeschool is not shield against life nor do I think most homeschoolers intend it to function in that manner.
What are your thoughts?