Multiculturalism- More Than Our Differences

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Homeschool Blogging Carnival hosted by Lisa at The Squishable Baby and Keisha at Unschooling Momma. This month our participants are talking about Multiculturalism.

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Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

In this day and age of such diversity, multiculturalism is a buzzword you hear everywhere. It is so important to address the assortment of cultural traditions that abound in our ever-shrinking world today. Rather than use textbooks or documentaries, our family uses life experience to broaden our views of the world.

We live in an extremely racially and culturally diverse city. Just taking a walk down the street, you may well pass ten people coming from ten different countries. It would be very hard, indeed, for us not to be exposed to the many differing traditions around us. We have friends from all over the world- Japan, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, and Peru, just to name a few. My husband’s stepfather who raised him and whom my children call Grandpa is from Puerto Rico. We are so blessed to have such an array of friends and family from such a variety of places because this translates into great opportunities for us to experience life in far away places, right here in our backyard.

Devin attended a Shinobi Camp over the summer where she learned about ancient Japanese history and the basics of Ninjutsu. She also fell in love with our Japanese friend’s sushi recipe, and she made it herself over the weekend. Devin has been able to attend the Sweet 15 birthday parties of several of her hispanic friends and has attended church with a friend from Peru where they only speak Spanish. Devin doesn’t speak a word of Spanish but loves to attend because she loves her friend.

And this brings me to the one issue I have with how multiculturalism is taught these days. While learning how different our cultures are can be very informative and a lot of fun, I think that sometimes our differences can be stressed a little too much, and it can make some people feel alienated from one another. We need to shift the focus a little to include what we have in common, too, because when we look at and interact with someone raised in a different culture, we need to look at who they are. Not just where they were born. This is such an important trait to have in this increasingly diverse world. When my children and I see our friends, we don’t think: They’re from Jamaica, she’s from Japan, she’s from Peru. Instead, we think: They’re so wise, she’s a daughter of the King, she’s my friend.

As we go about life learning about our beautiful, kind, and amazing friends, I don’t want our main focus to be on how we are different. No…instead, I want to focus on how we are the same.

Devin with two of her friends

 

 

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Visit The Squishable Baby to see how you can participate in the next Homeschool Blogging Carnival where we will be talking about Homeschool Mythsconceptions .

 

Please take the time to read the submissions by other Carnival participants:

 

• Keisha at Unschooling Momma will talk about Multiculturalism in the Home

• Lisa at The Squishable Baby Will talk about Hello Education – Goodbye Fear!.

• Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom Suggests great Asian American Books for Kids.

• Lydia Larae from Lydia’s Handmade Life will talk about Bilingual Learning.

• Shelly from There is No Place Like Home will talk about Multiculturalism is More Than Our Differences.

• Cordelia from Multilingual Mama will talk about how Multiculturalism is the Foundation of her Family’s Homeschool Education.

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