Linguistic Diversity in California Homeschooling

• In Event: Curriculum, Contexts, and Considerations: Homeschool Research Breaking New Ground

Abstract

As researchers investigate dimensions of diversity with the homeschooling population in the United States, family profiles such as race, ethnicity, region, education, and income level (Sempeles & Cui, 2024) offer deeper understanding into the variety of people choosing homeschooling. Across those demographics, when parents have a language background other than English, they have linguistic resources that they may draw upon in their homeschooling practices. This qualitative study with California homeschoolers explores the parent perspective about how their language background interacts with their educational choices.
When a parent chooses to homeschool, they assert their autonomy in directing the pedagogy, content, and context of educational activities (Jolly & Matthews, 2020). In the process, they draw on whatever capital and resources they have available to them. Community Cultural Wealth offers a framework to understand how parents have a range of social capital available to them as they engage with raising their children (Yosso, 2005). Even though all parents bring linguistic capital to their homeschooling practice, parents who speak more than one language have a multilingual resource to offer their children through homeschooling. This study centers linguistic capital in an inquiry about how parents perceive and draw on their multiple-language background when they make decisions about homeschooling.
The study was conducted in two parts. First, a qualitative survey gathered information from 57 multilingual homeschooling parents in California about their reasons, goals, challenges, and language background in their homeschooling. Second, interviews with 6 survey participants from the two most-represented language groups of the survey participants inquired more deeply into their experience of homeschooling. Overall, 29 language groups were represented, with Spanish and Mandarin being the most common. The information provided by participants was coded for descriptions that pertain to having multiple languages in the home, specifically if language use was part of their reasons for homeschooling, the goals they have, or the challenges they experience.
The study concludes that multilingual homeschooling parents utilize their linguistic capital in a range of expressions, from no expressed influence to deeply connected. Of the parents who identified their language background as involved in their homeschooling experience, some parents indicated that they use their LOTE (Language Other Than English) mother tongue fluency to support their children’s world language studies, some parents encourage LOTE conversational fluency in their homes alongside an English-dominant curriculum, and some parents choose to maintain their mother tongue in the home, taking advantage of homeschooling as an opportunity to develop full multiple-language literacy for their children.
Students in California schools speak many languages, and homeschooling families are no exception. Literacy in multiple languages is a valuable skill in our increasingly globalized world and understanding the efforts of homeschooling families to support this linguistic development highlights the possibilities available for homeschooled students and the capacity their parents have for supporting their learning. Echoing Bjorklund-Young and Watson (2024), across the diversity of homeschoolers, motivations and supports may look different for each group. Homes with diverse language backgrounds have their unique characteristics to expand our understanding of homeschooling.

Author

• Georgina Justice Aubin, USF