Augusta kids killed (Another Homeschool Killing)

Helena Independent Record ^ | 8/27/2002 | CAROLYNN BRIGHT

[CholeraJoe]

Augusta kids killed
By CAROLYNN BRIGHT, IR Staff Writer - 08/27/02

Swanson faces 2 counts of murder.
A 46-year-old Augusta mother allegedly shot and killed two of her four children as they slept in their beds at the family ranch about 15 miles southwest of Augusta early Monday.
Jeanette Swanson faces two counts of deliberate homicide in connection with the shootings and is being held in the Lewis and Clark County Jail without bond.
Swanson was placed on suicide watch at the jail Monday afternoon while the bodies of her children — a 10-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy — were brought to the State Crime Lab in Missoula, where an autopsy will be conducted, said Undersheriff Cheryl Liedle.
According to Liedle, emergency responders flocked to the Swanson Ranch just before 6 a.m. after Swanson called 911, reporting that she had shot her two children.
Swanson’s other two children — boys, ages 16 and 20 — were in the house at the time of the killing, but were unharmed in the incident.
Swanson’s husband, Gene, was sleeping in a camp trailer outside the residence when the shootings occurred, Liedle said.
According to reports, Swanson was waiting at the door of the residence when emergency crews arrived.
Her children were located in their beds inside — both were dead at the scene, Liedle said.
Liedle said a firearm believed to have been used in the shootings was recovered at the family home, but officials will await the results of the autopsies to determine whether it was, in fact, the murder weapon.
Court documents indicate that Swanson’s 20-year-old son reported to authorities that his mother had a .38 Smith and Wesson gun in her possession when she placed the 911 call, but Liedle would not confirm whether that was the same make of gun seized at the scene.
Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Sam McCormack said Monday morning that a motive for the killings was sketchy.
However, he said that Swanson and her husband had argued last week about Swanson’s decision to enroll the two children in school in Augusta — Gene Swanson wanted his wife to continue to home school the kids on the ranch while she wanted them to attend public school.
The children attended their first classes at school in Augusta last week.

[KineticKitty]

Have you ever heard of home schooling clubs and organizations? How about Youth clubs? B&G clubs of America, GS, BSA, Church youth programs? I am not accusing you of being stupid or ignorant, but is it possible you may not have all the facts about the vast majority of home schooled children, or the "their not getting enough socialization" theory? I thought that Myth was thrown out along time ago...

[KineticKitty]

jk, or lol usually clues the rest of us in that your lightheartedly joking. I didn't notice tired of taxes making fun of your name beforehand, so it did look alittle like a cheap shot.

Heck, most people find problems with half the names around here... some have even taken exception to "kinetic kitty" go figure. lol

[bokonon]

Hmmmm.

I don't agree with it either. Home-schooled children are DENIED much. Drills, such as being called to the front of the class before one's peers to answer a question and write down the answer for all to read.....are huge.

And this is a replacement for proper education in those fields? "New Math" and "Creative Spelling" are all fine and dandy so long as we have the threat of peer humiliation.

These things cannot be simulated on a sofa with a kitty cat rubbing on your feet and a nearby parent who you know will break - if you bend hard enough.

Sofa? What have you got against cats? Who said anything about parents "breaking." And what do you mean by "break"?

Responding positively to people you don't necessarily like or feel comfortable with is another thing they miss --

People who are homeschooled have to deal with people in life just like anybody else. I assume you think this is a big problem with people who live in rural areas too.

a harsh teacher, learning to overcome fears, and achieve despite them.

Fear of what? What do you mean by "harsh"?
But in a way I agree with you. How can you do these things when you're in the prison that is homeschooling?

Working up a frog in biology lab, collaborating on the trumpet with 7 other schoolmates, preparing to join in with the woodwinds.

Not everybody is interested in music, and those who are will study on their own, and there are other places one can go to study music with other people. One can learn about human anatomy without disecting one, the same goes for a frog. And if you feel the need to cut up a dead frog, there are plenty of sources to buy one from.

The list goes on and on.

You got more of this stuff?

[xsmommy]

we are all civilized folk and had our rodney king moments, tx!

[TxBec]

: )

[xsmommy]

you know lawyers have to have thick skins, so i paid no mind to being called an ignorant, uninformed feminazi who bashes homeschoolers. did i leave out any perjoratives? just kidding. you know how i love a good argument, it is what makes the world go round.

[xsmommy]

but CJ REFUSES to hold my hand and sing kumbayah....: (

[Argh]

Great screen name! I'm tired of Texas too, and I've never even been there!

:^)

uh oh...

[mikhailovich]

Yes, yes, yes, plenty more. I also wasted time once with a man defending his right to 28 wives.

I haven't got time for the pain, man.

[mikhailovich]

Let's just say there is a clearly defined home school camp and a clearly defined public/private school camp. Each usually belittles the other. And on we go.

[bokonon]

Yes, yes, yes, plenty more

Do you just make them up as you go, or do you have a list already made up?

[CholeraJoe]

but CJ REFUSES to hold my hand and sing kumbayah....: (

It has to do with the decontamination procedure I must endure when I touch an attorney. Nothing personal.

[xsmommy]

hey you get too friendly with me and i will give ya West Nile....; )

[johnb838]

Sounds like you are a bit quick to stereotype people.

I'm a hater.

[johnb838]

I mean I'm a hatemonger. Bigoted, right-wing, christian, yadi, yadi, yadi... blah, blah, blah...

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Honey, we speak English in the United States, where in Canaduh is the word taxes pronounced like Texas? ;^)

[sparkydragon]

I wonder if prehaps the mommies' attuitudes weren't to blame? I am, and intend to remain, a stay at home mom, but I have absolutely no intention of allowing my baby to grow up snotty. I'm home so that I can ensure that he learns manners. Daycare centers may do a good job teaching a child to behave around grownups, but their treatment of other children can get downright mean.

sparky

[1L]

that enuff facts for ya?

Well, it sorta defeats your 50k average argument, but...

[1L]

44,600. NATIONAL AVERAGE,Classroom only.

Source, please.

[Tuor]

This mother had been homeschooling these children for years and had enough.

I was waiting for this to spew from your lips (or from your fingers I guess), since that is obviously what you wanted to say from the beginning. This article is meaningless in respect to homeschooling. To take one instance and imply that it can be applied to everyone who homeschools their children is absurd.

If you want to attack homeschooling, attack it on the issues of education, not on whether or not some whackjob can kill her children. I guess that would require too much effort on your part, and on the part of the author of this transparent article.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Where is the evidence backing the above quoted statement? I don't see it in the article. But I guess you're one of those people who never let facts stand in the way of a good (or in your case bad) arguement.

Tuor