SPECIAL: Why You Should Say Yes

If Your Child Asks to Be Homeschooled

By Linda Dobson

The Associated Press news report that follows is 18 years-old…18 years-old.

Two Madison, Wisconsin boys, ages 10 and 13, died of gunshots. Their mother said they evidently sneaked out of the house and killed themselves rather than go to school. She said they just hated school. She said, “They wanted me to homeschool them. If I had only known it was that important, I would have tried…”

I’ve lived with knowledge of this story for 18 years. During the subsequent eighteen years, wouldn’t an enlightened society work tirelessly to make the school experience better for its children?

An enlightened society would, but ours hasn’t. Last night I learned of another heart-breaking story.

Little Ashlynn Asked to Be Homeschooled, Too

Her name is Ashlynn Conner. She was a bullied 5th grader in central Illinois, but she won’t be bullied anymore. Ashlynn hung herself with a scarf in her closet where her sister found her. “The 10-year-old girl committed suicide after asking her mom if she could be homeschooled.”

http://www.fox59.com/videogallery/66090095/News/Family-says-bully-made-10-year-old-commit-suicide

Her mother said Ashlynn was teased by kids around the neighborhood and at school.

“Ashlynn’s ugly, look Ashlynn’s ugly. She’s fat. They’d call her a slut.”

She knew what was going on, she just didn’t know what to do. Conner said when Ashlynn came home last Thursday, she had asked to be home schooled.

“It was the first time ever that she had asked me if she could be homeschooled and I told her ‘no.'”

Why You Should Say Yes If Your Child Asks to Be Homeschooled

• The school environment your child experiences is worse than the school environment you experienced; it gets worse with each generation, not better.
• Odds are very good that even though you have a good relationship with your child, and you ask your child about his/her day, you are not getting the whole story. Children may be embarrassed to admit to problems such as bullying and harrassment, either from peers and/or staff. Look at the Penn State child rapes.
• The drugging of children in schools is epidemic.
• Schooling methods are antithetical to children’s natural ability to learn in the real world.
• Schooling is oppressive to your child’s spirit, and s/he may not be able to explain to you what s/he is experiencing. “Oppression of spirit is a noxious by-product produced while stewing schooling in a pot with unions, administrators, multi-billion dollar budgets, state education departments, and school boards, then letting politicians control the heat.”
• Current school practices exist to serve the system and the adults who work in them.
• Too many children are very stressed out, and have no coping mechanisms unless they are told about them.
• The school’s physical environment may be negatively affecting your child’s health and well-being.
• You can be proactive by homeschooling before something happens.

For your child’s sake, read all of the links contained above. All of this lack of respect for children is in the news now. It’s happening now. Whatever you do, for your child’s sake don’t take the easy way out by saying “these bad things happen in other schools, but my child’s school is quite good.” (This links to “Teacher accused of sexually abusing students in Arizona,” where the parents first learning of accusations say, oh, no, this is a good school.)

If your child asks to be homeschooled, please do whatever is necessary to honor that request. The homeschooling community is large and happy to help your family get started. Finding support is as easy as a Google search online.

Are you prepared for your child to ask to be homeschooled?

Be prepared to say yes.

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