“Wasn’t she homeschooled?” Shrieked Nancy Grace in a question as she covered the news story of a Texas girl who along with her boyfriend and other friends killed the girl’s family members.
The story truly is a tragedy. Apparently, the daughter met a guy at high school who her parents did not like. Her parents tried to break them up. They reportedly took the girls cell phone. It looks like the father hacked into the boyfriend’s myspace page. They did not make the romance easy. The mother, and two younger brothers were killed in their sleep and the father barely escaped. The house was set on fire with the bodies inside and the girlfriend was later found hiding at the home of one of her accomplices.
I have read and heard many reports of the story, but this was the first time I heard that the girl was home schooled. I guess Nancy Grace did some digging. The reporter in response mumbled, yes, in previously, but she was enrolled in school. “Oh”, Nancy said.
I have some questions of my own about case. Why was this 19 year old still in high school? Why are high schools more of a place to hook-up than a place of education. From what I can tell, I feel like this older man saw this very innocent young girl and decided to take advantage of her. (note: I have deleted my previous conclusion that the mom was too young to have a 16 year old daughter in the first place. While the mom was young, 20-21 is respectable age to have a child. The first three comments will explain the change.)
I am definitely bracing myself for the onslaught of comments about inept homeschoolers and homeschool tragedies. My guess however is the problem came from child parents trying to raise more children. I can only imagine there were many hidden problems under the surface that had very little to do with homeschooling.
Frankly, I am weary of the inability of people to separate homeschooling from dysfunction. Homeschooling happens in both functional and dysfunctional families, and is not the root cause of the dysfunction. Like wise dysfunction happens in both homeschooling and public school families and while it may affect the level of education, it also exists separately of it.
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
*Words a homeschooler Should Know