The Global Homeschooler - Meet Khadijah

By Khadijah at Yemeni Journey.com

When people hear that I grew up Catholic in a village of 600 in southwestern Wisconsin, they wonder how on Earth I got to where I am now- a Muslim woman living in a Yemeni coastal town with my African-American husband (his father is from Benin) and our little tribe of eight children. The answer is that I was raised to think globally, an attribute that I strive to pass onto my children.

The Kickapoo Valley is a vibrant place. “Hippie” type back-to-the-landers co-exist with a well established good old boy network. In the fall migrant workers came to pick apples, and when they came into town I was fascinated, listening to their rapid-fire Spanish. While tension would sometimes exist between these groups, in general they all lived together fairly companionably.

My parents raised me to be open-minded and curious about the world around me. That being said, it was a difficult thing for them to cope with my marriage; mostly, I believe, because they thought it would make my life somehow more difficult, being in an interracial marriage. They ultimately accepted it, though, just as they accepted three out of their five children becoming Muslim. Our family was incredibly diverse once we all started getting married. My eldest brother married a Jewish woman, my other brother married a Pakistani, and one of my sisters married a Moroccan. Can't get much more global in a family than that, right?

My parents were right, though - things were difficult for us in some ways, not only due to the mixed race issues, but because of the anti-Islam backlash after 9/11. While I was busy teaching my children to learn about and understand that we don't live in a box, a lot of other people seemed to be moving backward into their own little mono-culture worlds. This is not only depressing, but dangerous. When we moved to Yemen I thought some of our problems would be solved, but they were not; they simply changed to different prejudices and intolerances.

I homeschool my children for a number of reasons, but one of the greatest benefits is raising them to understand that we live in a huge world full of different ideas, values, cultures and experiences. They must see the good they can bring not only to themselves, but to the world and the people in it. A positive, proactive approach empowers them as individuals to work towards bettering themselves and the world they live in.

Here are some of the things that I have found help them relate to our global community:

1. Life is a bit like one of those huge sampler boxes of chocolates. You don't know what you're getting when you first encounter one, and each one is unique in its own way. You don't have to like every single one, and certainly you will have a favorite, but it's good to know about each one and what makes it special.
   
   
2. There are numerous examples throughout time of different peoples and tribes co-existing peacefully. I teach them this from both world history and, more specifically, Islamic history. We have to learn to deal with people who don't look like us, or believe like us, in the correct, just, fashion- and this is a lesson that is sorely needed in the world today.
   
   
3. I teach them to value each person as an individual, not to always think in terms of groups- “us” and “them”, “good guys” and “bad guys”. They have to understand that individual people are faced with choices every day in which they can make a difference. Every group is made up of these individuals. So while it is easy to vilify a whole group, it is not one solid unit. Rather, it is made up of strong people and weak people, educated and uneducated people, leaders and followers; by thinking of them all as one unit, we devalue and dehumanize them, and it is easier to slip into an “enemies” mentality. I want my children to celebrate the diversity within themselves, as well as understanding the diversity of humanity as a whole.

These are just some of the approaches I take when trying to instill an understanding of global community in my children. Some may resonate with you, some may not. I would love to hear some of your ideas and experiences concerning this vital issue in our world today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can read more about Khadijah's creative homeschooling ideas at Riehl Life where she regularly guest posts, and shows us that necessity truly is the mother of invention.