Evansville parents turning to homeschooling after rise in mass shootings

In the weeks since, parents are thinking about different options than just the brick and mortar school buildings, terrified about their children's safety and the thought of them dying inside of a classroom.

"We want to protect our kids and no parent wants to see their children hurt," said Courtney Nalan, an Evansville mom who homeschools.

"We've had a big increase in the number of people asking about home schooling," said Theresa Slinkard, another Evansville mom who home schools.

169 students and adults have died in 14 school mass shootings in the United States since Columbine in 1999.

"In the past, with other school shootings that have happened," Nalan said. "I've had friends online sharing that fear of just wanting to bring their kids home."

-"Wondering how many parents are considering homeschooling again after yet another school shooting? I feel insane dropping my children off at school when nothings changes. My nerves can't take this."

-"I don't understand why anyone would want to shoot kids in an elementary school. I'm seriously debating homeschooling my children."

-"Another elementary school shooting -- 19 kids dead. I think more and more everyday about homeschooling my kids. This is so heartbreaking."

Some people have been negative online, saying, "Why homeschool your kids when they'll live in isolation and become the next mass shooter?"

"The issue is not that they're homeschooled," Nalan said. "Because all of these shootings that have happened -- they're not homeschooled kids all of these times. And it's not just about their education, it's about their mental health."

"My children are able to communicate with people of all ages," Slinkhard said. "People in all walks of life, not just people who happen to have a birthday in the same 12 months that they do."

"You had Covid happen then all of the mass shootings and you have all the things going on and it's our duty, it's our responsibility to raise our children and so we made the decision that was best for us," Nalan said.

Local Evansville moms are holding an information session for parents interested in homeschooling at the Metro Christian Center at 818 North Boeke Road June 17th at 6 p.m. and June 18th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

I agree, the shootings are likely the last straw AT THIS TIME. Every family, parent etc had a breaking point. The pandemic put the content pushed onto children front and center, and then teachers' unwillingness to do their jobs unless the kids were jabbed, muzzled, and surrounded by plexiglass compounded that awakening. Or, maybe, the treating of parents as war criminals by local school districts broke the camel's back.

Then, of course, is the sexual misconduct dimension - personally I don't think every guy coaching girl's lacrosse is a predator. However, the similarities between grooming techniques AND being a "favorite teacher" are highly correlated, and the data are pretty poor on school self-policing (search for "pass the trash").

Finally, the stereotype that every homeschooling family is a rabid, white Christian militia family stockpiling rations for The Fall is wildly off-base. I know of crunchy granola types who homeschooled to avoid corporate influence in textbooks, and increasingly many minority families are realizing the Educational-Democrat complex really doesn't give a rip about them beyond their votes. Some families are affluent, some aren't, and at least in the co-op in which the little DoodleBobs participated there wasn't any bullying or mean girls.

Every little departure from the trap of in loco parentis is a vote against statism and vote for "putting kids first." It is NOT an easy path, but you - and your kids - will look back on it with a smile

On the contrary, this isn't a question of math but statistics.

The expected payoff of X is the product of the expected probability of X and the expected outcome X MINUS the product of the expected probability of X's compliment and the expected outcome of that compliment.

The loss of a child can came in many ways...SIDS, suffocation, choking, falling down the stairs, drowning, car accidents, school shootings, and so on. Parents seek to minimize that expected loss, or the product of the expected probability of death by X and the expected loss and grieving etc given death by X.

Then there is the compliment, or the benefit associated with an activity that accompanies a fatality chance. For example, a backyard pool carries risks but also benefits, e.g. deepening familial relations, parties, fun with friends, exercise, and so on. Thus, the expected benefit of a pool would be the expected probability of pool benefits times the expected associated benefits (economists would quantify this via a utility function...that's for another post).

Implicitly, or at least subconsciously, every parent (or human for that matter) performs a mental expected payoff calculation across a range of activities. Driving a car? Expected gain minus expected loss of driving to the store with little Mary. Putting a pool in the backyard? Expected gain minus expected loss of the above ground pool with Timmy. Public school? Expected gain minus expected loss of sending John and Mary to the indoctrination center.

Maybe Mom and Dad just about had it with public schools. Via the pandemic they've seen what they're pushing on their kids, the parents get doxxed if they speak out at School Board meetings, and now they're finding out schools "pass the trash" when teachers may have creepy tendencies while the abused child is scarred for life. Benefits of public school include "free" daycare, socialization with mean girls and bullies, and they learn about the Communist Manifesto.

Maybe that payoff was marginally positive before Uvalde. NOW, Mom and Dad, having effectively homeschooled for 2 years AND now having flexible work arrangements, have re-evaluated the devastation if their kids are killed at school when they had the chance to yank them out. Maybe they're also considering the possibility of the teachers being armed...ya know, the groomers and other predators who will be picked by the same Board who hates parents?

That loss function has risen: the expected probability of death by school shooting may still be incredibly small (I don't doubt it's mentally higher now than the actual quotient) but the expected loss and grieving etc given death by school shooting is now jacked - "we could have pulled Johnny but we chose to keep him there, and for what? I'll never forgive myself."

You can't raise a thoroughbred when the parents are asses. But the parents' turning to homeschooling is perfectly rational.

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