Dozens of parents have asked me about homeschooling. I am honestly back on the fence. Not about homeschooling itself, but about how to homeschool. There are different models of homeschooling and each model can be beneficial depending on the child's and parents' needs. No school system or homeschool curriculum is perfect!

​Here are my biggest observations and takeaways (I speak as a mother of 2, Professor, a clinician, and someone who has taught outside of the U.S. in African schools):

1. Many homeschool models are reflective of traditional schooling such as 8am starts and 3pm end times, and math, science, and reading. Other programs are simply "supports" for parents. For me, I loved the shutdown of schools or social distancing from whiteness. I didn't like how school made my child a zombie. I love that she is sleeping in and waking up vibrant, energetic, and is a social being again (she works out with her dad at 4:30am/5am); and she is no longer expected to be a miniature adult attempting to avoid fights with adults or other students.
I'm not in support of homeschool programs that go from 8-3pm. I do not believe a child's brain needs to be guided by adults via technology for 6 hours out of the day. Go read! Sit in the sun! Talk to other people! Color! Draw! Or, just be! (But, no t.v. or too much social media lol). I did find one program whose motto was no more than 4 hours a day of online learning.

2. Some homeschool sites' online presence is "clunky" and/or doesn't provide enough information for parents to make an informed decision. Second, most parents are not experts on homeschooling. An organization's or businesses' online resources should be streamlined and transparent. What are you asking of us? Our children? What are your prices? What is the curriculum?
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3. Some homeschool programs center culture (e.g. everything from cooking to travel to Africa courses!), but may lack what I might think is an essential skill such as a foreign language (e.g. Spanish or Swahili). Finally, culture should be at the center of all education. Period. But, we have to be careful of throwing everything in the "pot", because it looks and feels good to adults. For example, the number one language spoken by Africans is Swahili (outside of Africa is Spanish!). Shouldn't Black children be learning one or both of these languages? With that said, how do parents choose a curriculum that infuses culture and practicality?
Okay, this post is now too long!

In the struggle for our humanity,

Dr. V
​"Not your mother's therapist, or your brother's life coach."

Yup, that's me, Dr. V, discussing racial trauma at a Midwestern university for Black History Month (#365)!!!

“When will I find the time to write?”

“I do not know what to write.”

“I have a story in me, but I’m just not a good writer.”

“I know my friends and family will not take me serious as an author.”

If you've read this far, be honest, you've imagined yourself as a writer or even a published author. You simply have not found the time, motivation, or courage to write your truths. 

I am looking for social workers, psychologists, K-12 educators, and other helping professionals of color. Yes, you!!

You,  like many people, hold myths in your head about who is a writer and who should be an author. My goal is to teach everyday people, especially practitioners of color, how to "write like a scholar" so you can write for presentation or publication; and live your dream of educating, inspiring, healing or liberating yourself or others. 

Or, are you interested in writing for professional impact or to acquire that dream job? Whatever your reason for having the urge of "becoming" (shouts out to Michelle Obama!!) a dedicated writer or published author.......as a scholar, author, speaker, and therapist, I want to teach busy or unmotivated professionals how to “think and act” like a writer with a purpose!!!

So, here's my invitation: If you've been wanting to #WriteLikeAScholar for presentation or publication, but been holding back due to fear or not knowing how to get started, contact a sistah to learn about my writing course that opens in May: http://bit.ly/venusevanswinters
 
💖💜❣

Peace,

Dr. V 

"Not your mother's therapist, or your brother's life coach."

The political is personal!!!  #writelikeascholar #therevolutionwillbewritten #BFQI

On its official release date, February 22nd, 2019, my new book, Black Feminism in Qualitative Inquiry: A Mosaic for Writing Our Daughter's Body, came in at #1 in 4 categories on Amazon. ​What an amazing week!

​The first week success of ​"Black feminism in qualitative inquiry" demonstrates that the world yearns for more scholarship on Black women's theorizing.
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What can readers expect from this book:
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• Conversations on the histories and futures of Black feminism(s)
• Calls for the decolonization of methodologies
• Centering Black girls' and women's ways of knowing and engagement of the social world
• Stories and narrations grounded in a Black onto-epistemology
• Theoretical leanings positioned in Afro-centrism and Pan Africanism​​

​If I might say so myself, in this book, I definitely showed up as a courageous cultural worker!!! The ancestors are proud.

​You may find the text, "Black Feminism in Qualitative Inquiry: A Mosaic for Writing Our Daughter's Body" on Amazon in paperback and Kindle Edition or here. 

Every Black girl, Black woman, Black child, Black family, and Black community that I ever came in contact with were my inspiration for engaging in truth-telling as a methodological imprint. 

Are you enjoying reading the book? Leave your comments below or on Amazon​.

In the struggle for our humanity,

Dr. Venus E. Evans-Winters
"Not your mother's therapist, or your brother's life coach."
​

​Eventually, hired to teach in Colleges of Education, I quickly noticed the role that Black educators played in interrupting whiteness and the abuse of power in schools. After mentoring and observing Black students and educators involved at various levels of education (i.e. P-12 and colleges/universities), I began to research students', teachers', and administrators' experiences in schools and the support networks they relied upon to cope with home and work life. In short, like many other teachers, Black educators and other teachers of color, enter the profession with much enthusiasm about their craft, but experience stress related to multiple factors. However, in the face of a majority White teaching force, many young teachers of color report feelings of marginalization and exclusion, lack of authentic mentors, and professional development opportunities that do not necessarily meet their socio-emotional needs or cultural affinities (or what they believe to be best for their students of color).
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Since completing that school social work internship, I have become a tenured university professor of education, a licensed clinical social worker and certified school social worker, and a psychotherapist specializing in trauma, resilience and health/wellness. It is shameful that my internship experience turned me off from practicing in K-12 settings. Nevertheless, I've spent the last decade calling for attention to the socio-emotional, physical, and mental health needs of our nation's most vulnerable workforce: those people of color surviving and thriving in education (and closely aligned “helping” occupations) institutions. 

• Who is taking care of us while we spend most of our time teaching/coaching/uplifting/empowering/taking care of others?
• Where are the highly trained mental health practitioners who can understand how the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and xenophobia impact the overall health and coping strategies of minoritized people (as students and employees)?
• How do we discuss our professional and personal health goals with those whom appear to be so distant from us culturally?
• And, how do we discuss racism in the workplace and "our personal business" with cultural outsiders and strangers?
• How do professionals of color, especially women of color ask for help when we have only been taught to be the help?

(See: Melinda Anderson's body of work at "Teaching Tolerance" for more on race and educational equity, or my publications here on the topic.)
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At-risk of sounding like an advertisement (okay, I am politicking), I honestly do believe that we need therapists who, along with cultural knowledge and sensitivity, also understand the political context of education, the stress involved in the act of teaching itself, and the moral obligation to model (social, emotional, cultural, and physical) “health”. Imagine a world where we combine best practices of culturally informed therapy with what we know about professional and personal resilience. 

Are you an educator? How do you cope with positive or negative stress? What are your health goals? Leave comments below or at @DrVEvansWinters on Twitter.

In the struggle for our humanity,

Dr. Venus Evans-Winters
"Not your mother's therapist, or your brother's life coach."