Black Home Schoolers Share Ideas at Group’s 4th Annual Symposium

Baton Rouge, La.

When Joyce Burges first started home-schooling her children 15 years ago, she didn’t know any other African-Americans who were teaching their children at home. A white home-schooling mom from her church showed her the ropes.

After a few years, Ms. Burges and her husband, Eric Burges, felt they knew enough about the practice that they could mentor others, and they particularly wanted to reach out to African-Americans.

So in 2000, the couple from Baker, La., founded the National Black Home Educators Resource Association, or NBHERA. The organization uses a Web site, a newsletter, and an annual symposium to support black families who are home-schooling. The group held this year’s symposium, its fourth, July 29-30...