By now we have all heard of the Connecticut school tragedy which took 26 lives, including 20 children ages 6 and 7. Any normal mother is grieving and suddenly over aware of where her children are and wondering if they are safe. The day it happened I could not even bring myself to bother with school. We literally sat on my bed watching movies all day. All I could do was be near my babies. I wanted to jump on top of them and shield them even there, in the safety of my bedroom, in the safety of my locked house, in the safety of the country where "things like that never happen". I won't let it.Isn't that what we always say? That can't happen here. It won't. We don't live in an area where murders live. I homeschool. I keep my kids with me nearly every moment of every day. When they are with me, they are safe.It can't happen. I won't let it.
At first it was about gun control. That argument even made me angry. Control the guns and you control the criminals. Now it is about where we send our children to school. If those parents were only homeschooling! If they only knew how much safer we are here, at home, tucked into my bed, watching family movies together. Nothing like that happens here! I won't let it.
You all know that I am a supporter of homeschooling. I think it is the best way to educate. I do. I do not however, think that now is the time to be shoving the fact that our children were not the victims in the faces of those whose children were! As I write this my two oldest are sitting in a crowded restaurant, with few exits and little hope of escaping someone determined to kill. Thursday we were in a gym where 20 little girls lined up practicing cartwheels with no closets to run to should someone come in determined to kill. The location of where these children were is IRRELEVANT in the grand scheme of the evil that happened. Evil knows no boundaries. It doesn't care whether your child is homeschooled, or public schooled. It doesn't care if your child is 7 or if they are a young college student. Tragedy happens EVERYWHERE. The first victim was the killers own mother, in her own home.
The location was tragic. The fact that it was mostly children was tragic. The thought that you can't go to school, or to church, or out to eat without at least putting yourself out there for something tragic to happen is sometimes unbearable, especially after events like this. But now, my homeschooling friends, is not the time to preach homeschooling. Now is not the time to forget that even if we don't agree on educational philosophy, that these parents sent their precious little ones to a place where they should have been safe, where things like this shouldn't happen. Instead of taking this and using it as a homeschooling platform, I beg of you to do nothing but cry with these parents, pray for all of those involved, and remember that we are only protected by the grace and mercy of God and at any point, he may also allow our little ones to be taken, maybe even violently, and nothing, not even homeschooling, can prevent that.
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto,27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto,27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6
