The eyes of the nation are on this case. A Pennsylvania couple—Louann Bowers and Sinhue Johnson—was arrested for concealing their five children from the eyes of the world, raising them without heat or electricity, not providing for their basic health care, isolating them from anything found on the “outside,” and for not seeing to their educational needs. The couple is currently locked up in York County Prison, and the children have been placed in foster homes. They have received medical treatment and most of them have been enrolled in school. The parents say they have been homeschooling the children, but in Pennsylvania, the law requires that homeschooling parents register with the state, provide evidence of immunizations, and follow a certain curriculum. As these requirements were not met, the parents are outside the law in this as well as child endangerment, and it’s unclear how much schooling the children might actually have received.
This is exactly the type of situation that “proves” how bad home school is. Homeschooling families already face a lot of criticism for “sheltering their kids,” not giving them a “social life,” and just plain being “weird.” But this case is completely different from that of a regular home school family. This case cannot be held up to “prove” anything.
Most home school families are normal in every way, except for the fact that they’ve chosen to educate their children differently. They live in warm, comfortable homes. They eat nourishing foods. They interact with the world around them. They have friends and visit parks, playgrounds, churches, and libraries.
I’m so sorry for the children of this couple, who have experienced malnourishment, cold, and loneliness. But I wish to most ardently state that this is not a typical situation for a home schooling family, and I hope that those who oppose the practice will see the difference and not use this as part of their argument.
Related Blogs:
Couple Who Caged Their Special Needs Children Get Two Years in Prison
Homeschooling – Cover for Child Abuse and Sexual Exploitation?
Parents in the News – They Did What?