Surely you’ve read the news reports and maybe it’s just me, but the idea that this kid was home schooled sticks out like a sore thumb. How did he get all those weapons? Sure enough, as stories of the news surfaced, reactions to the stories popped up:
“See, I knew there was a reason I thought home schooling was stupid.”
“This kid wouldn’t have had an opportunity to do the planning and get those weapons if he were in public school. Someone would catch something.”
“Plain and simple, home schooling is a bad idea. Rather than teaching kids how to deal with bullies, it shelters them, leaving a psychological mess.”
Whoa Nelly!
Let’s give home schooling a break here! In reading the full story, I found out that this boy had been in public school since kindergarten. His parents pulled him out of public school to home school him because the school authorities were not dealing with the bullying appropriately. So technically, this antisocial psychoses, if it can be blamed on education, is really a product of the public school system and not home schooling.
Opportunities
My kids get tons of opportunities as homeschoolers that other kids their age don’t get. It’s one of the reasons I like home schooling them. However, let’s not forget that many of the school shootings previously. . .Columbine, Little Rock, Arkansas, and others. . .were kids who were publicly schooled. No one caught anything. No one suspected that something was that seriously wrong with these kids. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I think people are more sensitive to threats of this nature now, but I suspect that no one would’ve guessed the terror to come at the time–despite the kids being ‘monitored’ in public school.
The Real Culprit: Bad Parenting
I have not yet heard a statement given by the mother as to why she would allow her son to have such a large cache of weapons. But let’s be honest. This isn’t a case of home schooling gone wrong. . .if anything, it’s a case of bad parenting. If my children are rude or obnoxious it’s because as a parent, I’ve failed to deal with the behavior. Parenting is a responsibility that shouldn’t be left to teachers and I’m afraid our society has lost sight of that. Your child is your responsibility. If you choose to use a school to help facilitate you in the educating of your child well, that’s fine–but he is still your responsibility.
So let’s stop talking about the idea that this kid was home schooled. It is irrelevant in this case. Bad parenting is bad parenting. . .in public school or at home.