The recent tragic college killings of Monday, April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech reminded me of another reason why some people homeschool. When our daughter was quite young the Columbine High School shootings happened. I remember watching in disbelief and wondering what our world was becoming. As details emerged I wondered how the parents of these shooters could not have known what their kids were preparing to do. Then I remember hearing of parents who where still waiting to learn whether their children were dead or alive many, many hours later. The agony those parents felt must have been unspeakable as they waited to hear from authorities.

Over the years, I have heard some people argue that you can’t just keep children at home because it “might” be unsafe at a school because that is not how the world works. While I understand their argument I don’t necessarily agree. If a parent is homeschooling solely for this reason and constantly tells the child they are doing so because the world is unsafe, then it will become debilitating for the child and is unhealthy. But the reality is that schools are not safe. Remember Platte Canyon High last fall amongst others? Then there are other safety issues such as bullying, gangs and so on.

Another factor often overlooked is that in a school setting, children are trained to be very submissive to authority figures, such as teachers. If a gunman came into a place of work, adults would take cover, run and do anything necessary to survive. They would not wait for their boss to tell them what to do. This was evidenced by the adults at Virginia Tech who started jumping out windows to escape.

The truth is that there are no guarantees in life. But it is also true that that the likelihood of a random gunman walking into your home, while you’re homeschooling, is very minimal. Another reality for us is that we have always taught our daughter, via TaeKwonDo and conversations, that you never look for trouble but if trouble comes looking for you then you do whatever is necessary to defend yourself and be safe.

The reality is that schools are not safe and there are no guarantees in life, but by homeschooling we have a little more control over the safety of our home and family. And for that, I will give thanks and be sure to hug everyone in the family a little closer tonight as I remember the victims of school violence.