Another attack on homeschooling?

self | self

[hsmomx3]

Did anyone catch Linda Vester's Dayside program today? Toward the end of her program, they discussed the children a New Jersey family adopted(?) and how they had been starved.

Reference was made that this couple were homeschooling these kids and that they were Christians.

Linda seemed more outraged that they called themselves Christians. But the fact that homeschooling was brought up again by I believe, a person in her audience as a way to hide abuse is getting a little old.

First CBS, now this.

Don't get me wrong, what happend to these kids is terrible but the constant attack on homeschooling is really irritating.

[dirtboy]

But the fact that homeschooling was brought up again by I believe, a person in her audience as a way to hide abuse is getting a little old.

Well, in this case the kids WERE homeschooled, and that is offered as an explanation as to why the starving of the boys went undetected. But, considering that all those caseworker visits TO THE HOME failed to stop the problem, I'm hard-pressed to see how a teacher in the classroom might have done better.

[r9etb]

Don't get me wrong, what happend to these kids is terrible but the constant attack on homeschooling is really irritating.

The ugly fact is that, if you think about the sorts of folks who might do this -- "Christians" of the whack-job variety -- home-schooling their kids sorta fits the profile.

Before you get all upset, I most certainly do not think that home-schoolers are likely to hurt their kids. We've done it, and many of our friends do, too.

But for people like these, or Andrea Yates, or various others, it just makes sense that they would choose to home-school. It's part of whatever twisted thing that drives them to hurt their kids in the name of "helping" them.

The point being: people choose to home-school for a lot of reasons, and some of those reasons are not good.

[r9etb]

We've done it, and many of our friends do, too.

Erm ... home-schooled, that is... ;-)

[Aquinasfan]

Don't get me wrong, what happend to these kids is terrible but the constant attack on homeschooling is really irritating.

No kidding, but get used to it. The propaganda machine hasn't turned its sights on homeschoolers yet. But that's changing as homeschooling becomes a threat to the government school monopoly.

[STONEWALLS]

"homeschooling becomes a threat to the government school monopoly."

that's exactly what's happening our area.......home schooling is growing at the rate of 15% a year.....a fact not over looked by the Teachers Union; who quickly put pressure on the state legislature to pass more and more home school requirements red tape and regulation......their long term goal is to crush home schooling all together.

[Lizavetta]

I heard this briefly on the radio, but the interesting part is that a bunch of social workers are getting fired over this.

So once again we have an abuse/neglect situation that was being monitored by government agencies in which there was homeschooling......disaster prevails and the statists call for government regulation of homeschooling. In other words, government failed and the solution is more government intervention.

Can't anyone see the irony here?

[hsmomx3]

I hate to sound like a nag or so negative but how many of you have seen kids who come out of a daycare that look quite small and have dark circles under their eyes? We used to have neighbors who had kids like this and they were not homeschooled.

Or how about all of the kids (mainly boys) who look like zombies at public schools who are on ritalin? These are not visions of healthy kids either. Please know that I am not directing my frustration at you. I'm just voicing my opinion.

[hsmomx3]

" But that's changing as homeschooling becomes a threat to the government school monopoly."

Isn't that the darned truth?

[whereasandsoforth]

These boys were not homeschooled. They were home abused. They were also under the watchful eye of all sorts of gov'ment do-gooders. This gov'ment overseeing did nothing to stop the horror. That being said, how could anyone honestly argue that homeschooling parents should be subjected to mandatory gov'ment supervision. It didn't help these boys, did it? The gov'ment supervisors are the ones that need to be watched.

[freedox]

"The point being: people choose to home-school for a lot of reasons, and some of those reasons are not good."

Well stated, r9etb. In this case, homeschooling apparently allowed this family additional cover for their sickening misdeeds. Just about any legitimate practice can be twisted and abused, and homeschooling is no exception. I don't see this as an "attack" on anything or anyone, other than the family in question.

[ICE-FLYER]

They have nothing and it hurts them to see that Homeschooling is so much more successful than even homeschoolers are willing to admit.

I would love to see these liars answer to the most detailed study of homeschoolers done.

Check out the study here

[ICE-FLYER]

I'll try the link again.

Click here!

[Roughneck]

The ugly fact is that, if you think about the sorts of folks who might do this -- "Christians" of the whack-job variety -- home-schooling their kids sorta fits the profile

Too bad they were not islamists - they would have gotten away with it...

[WackyKat]

If it is a fact that the children were homeschooled, then the media are right to report it.
When violence occurs against children in a public school, do the media cover up where the violence occurred?
No, they don't.
If the children had gone to a public or private school, don't you think someone would have noticed they were famine victims?
I am in favor of homeschooling, but your expecting the media to engage in a coverup to protect its image is ridiculous.

[dirtboy]

I hate to sound like a nag or so negative but how many of you have seen kids who come out of a daycare that look quite small and have dark circles under their eyes?

Not too many who are 19 years old. Look, I'm sure that the opponents of homeschooling will use this as a propaganda tool. But that doesn't change the simple fact that the parents did, indeed, homeschool their kids. Rather than being upset at anyone who points out this fact, you might instead prepare your arguments to counter what will be coming - for example, look at other serious cases of abuse and see how many are from people who sent their kids to public schools.

[alisasny]

I agree with the other poster that they were HOME ABUSED. Frankly I bet they all are illiterate and not even on a basic kindergarden level. If the media wants to call these boys homeschooled fine but show me any learning that went on in that house other than abuse.

[freedox]

"I agree with the other poster that they were HOME ABUSED. Frankly I bet they all are illiterate and not even on a basic kindergarden level. If the media wants to call these boys homeschooled fine but show me any learning that went on in that house other than abuse."

Does it really matter? Even if these kids could recite the entire Encyclopedia Britanica from memory, it wouldn't make them any less abused, would it? How would you propose that we as a society go about differentiating the "home schooled" from the "home abused"? Or do you think society has a responsibility to do so?

[Yosemitest]

Check out this home-schooler.

Called a wunderkind by Publishers Weekly, Christopher Paolini’s abiding love of fantasy and science fiction inspired him to write his 472-page fantasy novel, Eragon, when he graduated from high school at fifteen. He also drew the striking dragon-eye cover and meticulous maps.

Obsessed with both heroic myths and the fantasy genre, he is a voracious reader with an insatiable appetite for unusual knowledge. He travels to bookstores, schools, libraries and fairs, promoting his book and encouraging young people to read. To enliven his presentations, he wears medieval garb and does live sketching. He lives, with his parents and sister, in Paradise Valley, Montana.

Biography provided by the author, October 2002

And from childrensbooks.about.com.

Author of Bestseller Eragon a Teenager

Can you imagine writing a 528-page fantasy epic for children and seeing it shoot to the top of the bestseller list by the time you were 19? It happened to Christopher Paolini. According to a fascinating missoulian.com article, Christopher Paolini began to write Eragon, when he was 15 years old, the same year the home schooler received his GED. "Paolini describes the main character, 15-year-old Eragon, as a person who is trying to figure out how he can live with honor in a world that doesn't seem to make sense."

[jocon307]

"Frankly I bet they all are illiterate and not even on a basic kindergarden level."

Yes, I was thinking along these lines too. I mean the parents didn't even feed them, why would we think they taught them anything, or that in such emaciated conditions that they'd be in any shape to learn anything.

The oldest kid was 19 and he weighed 45 pounds. I'm having a hard time understanding how he lived to be 19, quite frankly.

I heard McGreevy on the radio today, he is livid. He actually said that the social workers had failed not only their legal, but their moral duty. For once he is right, and I hope his firings stick, although with gov't jobs you can't be sure they will.