Margaret: Homeschooling as a Mother’s Right

Abstract

This chapter chronicles the homeschool practice of Margaret, a 48-year-old homeschool veteran, who had taught her five children since the birth of her oldest child. Margaret explains why attending traditional schools was never an option for her children. She continued to homeschool following a divorce, which meant she had to move into low-income housing in a rural community. Margaret’s narrative documents the complexity of being a single Black mother and choosing to live in a low-income housing community, and not working full-time in order to fulfill her rights as a mother to do what she determined would be best for her children. Her account also demonstrates the role of faith, spirituality, and the complexity of building a curriculum to meet her children’s needs.