Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman, director of the Maryland-based Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars, noticed something interesting about her group’s Facebook page. Between October and early December — a month before and a month after the 2024 presidential election — about 100 new members joined.

Ali-Coleman said that interest in her organization, a research group chronicling the experiences of Black families, may have been inspired by parents concerned about the possible election outcome and plans the incoming administration has to abolish the U.S. Department of Education.

But the associate English professor at Coppin State University also believes it’s part of a growing movement of Black parents to take control over what and how their children learn.

“Homeschooling is really about curating what their children’s education is going to look like,” she said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in 2020, that curation skyrocketed. According to a 2023 Forbes story, the number of Black homeschool students grew from about 3% in the spring of 2020 to 16.1% by fall of that same year — the largest increase across any racial demographic.

While the conventional wisdom is that white families have chosen that path for religious or political concerns with public school curriculums, “Black parents homeschool for a variety of reasons, including the microaggressions, the overt racism and things that were happening in school, and the lack of opportunities,” she said.

I had an enlightening Zoom conversation with Ali-Coleman and two of her community colleagues: author and former public school educator B. Sharise Moore of Baltimore, who wrote a textbook specifically for Black homeschool students, and Latania Chisholm of Jamii Leadership Incorporated, a Baltimore organization that includes a community-based homeschool collective.

Ali-Coleman said virtual learning during the early stages of COVID was particularly enlightening to parents of kids in traditional schools who, for the first time, witnessed their children’s educations from across the computer screen, “seeing these things through Zoom and the way these teachers were talking to their kids.” She found Black parents were also frustrated with how schools handled education during that time.

Moore said she thinks the numbers of Black families exploring homeschooling as an option have grown because information about collectives and the number of people already homeschooling can increase the confidence of families considering it. “Khadijah was the only person I knew who was doing it [homeschooling], and I thought ‘Maybe I can, too,’” Moore said. “So many people are doing this regardless of the administration that’s in power.”

Chisholm, who used to have a home-based day care, entered the homeschooling space in 2020 when she started educating her own grandchild during the pandemic. “She already didn’t like traditional school. She was like, ‘I gotta go back every day?’” Chisholm recalled, laughing. The grandmother teamed up with a friend who was a teacher and mother, and they split up duties, with Chisholm teaching the younger children and her friend taking care of the older students.

The result, Chisholm said, has been a holistic approach that mixes in-person instruction with field trips, art classes and community involvement. “Families need support,” she said. “It’s been an up and down, but we’ve been very fortunate. It’s been really wonderful, and I look forward to seeing where the collective [Jamii Leadership] goes.”

The ultimate goal is more control over how their kids are learning, said Coleman, Moore and Chisholm — something that’s lacking in public school. Moore, who taught in districts around the state, had an eye-opening experience when she was taking graduate courses in curriculum while actually writing curriculum for one of those districts. She found there was no input from “all the stakeholders that should be involved,” including parents, students and special education students.

“I thought, ‘This is a problem,’” she said. But when she asked if she could include some of her findings in the curriculum she was writing, she was told no. After Moore entered the homeschooling world, she wrote “Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturistic Textbook for Middle and High School Students” that covers everything from vocabulary and activities to discussion prompts.

I haven’t considered homeschooling my son myself, especially as a single parent who doesn’t have an educational background. But Ali-Coleman said research and the backing of collectives like Sankofa Homeschool Community in Washington, D.C., and other families can erase some of those fears. If formal schooling isn’t serving children, she said, it’s up to the families and community to take control of shaping their children and forming bonds that go beyond the classroom.

“I did this to be able to spend time with my daughter and to engage with her,” Ali-Coleman said. “She’s spending most of her time at school. I’m spending most of my time at work. When do we connect?”