Michelle in MO Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 My dh and I were going to enroll probably at least two out of our three girls next year. He had a defibrillator implanted in his heart in the fall (was diagnosed with an enlarged heart) and has made a good recovery. Still, we both felt it was time for me to take the GRE and head back to school myself and get a master's degree. We're trying to look at the "big picture" of what is best for the family. Our homeschooling options in our area (i.e., homeschool group, etc.) have become virtually nil. With these factors in mind, we are most likely sending our oldest at least part-time to the community college and our middle daughter to the high school. We're not sure about the youngest yet. However, listening to the news tonight, apparently there have been four school shootings in the past two weeks! (I guess I hadn't been paying attention until today!) What is wrong with our society? I still have peace about the oldest taking a couple of classes at the cc, but it does make me wonder about the middle daughter at the high school. Believe me, if we had other options, I would do so----but we live in a small town and there are no private or Christian high schools here. None. I know we need to pray and trust God for the right answer---whether it's to enroll them or continue homeschooling them---but this does have me wondering. These school shootings are becoming so common. It's very tragic. Thoughts, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Although tragic for the individual families involved, the chances of any individual being involved in a school shooting is almost non-existent. Think of it like herd immunity. You have to do what feels right for you, but I don't think it's worth changing plans over. Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 You may want to read this report: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/PDFs/061002_Safe_Schools.pdf The part that hit me hard was this: "from 1993 to 1997, the odds that a child in grades 9-12 would be threatened or injured with a weapon in school were 7 to 8 percent, or 1 in 13 or 14. . ." To me, that's high, and I'm willing to bet it's only gotten worse in the last 10 years. That means in a class of about 28, 2 students would be threatened or injured with a weapon in school! It did go on to say that the odds that a child would die in school by homicide or suicide were no greater than 1 in 1 million. Pegasus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 My dh and I were going to enroll probably at least two out of our three girls next year. He had a defibrillator implanted in his heart in the fall (was diagnosed with an enlarged heart) and has made a good recovery. Still, we both felt it was time for me to take the GRE and head back to school myself and get a master's degree. We're trying to look at the "big picture" of what is best for the family. Our homeschooling options in our area (i.e., homeschool group, etc.) have become virtually nil. With these factors in mind, we are most likely sending our oldest at least part-time to the community college and our middle daughter to the high school. We're not sure about the youngest yet. However, listening to the news tonight, apparently there have been four school shootings in the past two weeks! (I guess I hadn't been paying attention until today!) What is wrong with our society? I still have peace about the oldest taking a couple of classes at the cc, but it does make me wonder about the middle daughter at the high school. Believe me, if we had other options, I would do so----but we live in a small town and there are no private or Christian high schools here. None. I know we need to pray and trust God for the right answer---whether it's to enroll them or continue homeschooling them---but this does have me wondering. These school shootings are becoming so common. It's very tragic. Thoughts, anyone? Well, statistically, your kids are very, very safe at school. And having taught and attended private and Christian schools, there are a fair amount of whackadoos to worry about in those places as well. Not to minimize the tragedies in the lives of these individuals. But there's no need to live your life in fear, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 I don't want to live our lives in fear, and there is still a good probability we'll enroll them next year. I guess it's this sudden rash of school shootings that's leaving me wondering. Thank you, Pegasus, for the link to the report! I will certainly read it, and we'll be praying about what to do. There are serious problems with our schools out there and the safety of our children! Thank you both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I don't want to live our lives in fear, and there is still a good probability we'll enroll them next year. I guess it's this sudden rash of school shootings that's leaving me wondering. Thank you, Pegasus, for the link to the report! I will certainly read it, and we'll be praying about what to do. There are serious problems with our schools out there and the safety of our children! Thank you both. I understand, really I do. When 9/11 happened, my eldest was away at boarding school, and I felt really helpless. But I also knew that he was statistically just fine where he was, riding things out with his band of brothers there. You'll just *know* the best thing to do when the time comes. Just trust what you know, whichever way that falls. {{{Michelle}}} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 You may want to read this report: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/PDFs/061002_Safe_Schools.pdf The part that hit me hard was this: "from 1993 to 1997, the odds that a child in grades 9-12 would be threatened or injured with a weapon in school were 7 to 8 percent, or 1 in 13 or 14. . ." To me, that's high, and I'm willing to bet it's only gotten worse in the last 10 years. That means in a class of about 28, 2 students would be threatened or injured with a weapon in school! It did go on to say that the odds that a child would die in school by homicide or suicide were no greater than 1 in 1 million. Pegasus Yes, but that is an overall statistic, factoring in the most dangerous schools in the most dangerous neighborhoods. The statistic wouldn't bear out if they looked at an individual school. Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 A school shooting used to be big, big news. Now, unless there are multiple deaths/injuries, the shootings get only a small headline on FoxNews.com and other media sites, rather than a big headline at the top of the page. There have been shootings here in our area of NC that never made the national news at all. I wonder if school shootings (and other types of assault, such as stabbing) in schools have become much more common than we might think. If there have been shootings in NC that didn't make the national news, surely there have been shootings in other states that weren't reported nationally either. Of course, keeping our kids at home is no guarantee of safety, so I agree with the others that we should not overreact. But it is concerning and depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 for me, it's not the rare school shootings that convince me to keep my kids out of school --it's the every day "minor" violence: daily taunting, bullying, negative peer pressure, social isolation, and actual fights and assaults that are so routine they don't even make the news. And as Pam mentioned -- that's in the "good" schools too. Some kids can handle this stuff just fine. Others can't. None should HAVE to. If you enroll them, i would watch for the more subtle signs. Hopefully it will be a GREAT experience and negative stuff will be minimal. But if it got too bad I'd let them unschool at home before subjecting them to that. Academics is easy to catch up on. Social BS is a lot tougher to overcome. Absolutely do not live your life in fear --but taking prudent steps to keep your kids physically AND emotionally safe is far from living in fear. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kris Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 for me, it's not the rare school shootings that convince me to keep my kids out of school --it's the every day "minor" violence: daily taunting, bullying, negative peer pressure, social isolation, and actual fights and assaults that are so routine they don't even make the news. And as Pam mentioned -- that's in the "good" schools too. This is such a good point. I had no idea what was going on, and what my son was having to put up with, until long after we took him out of public school. I'm sure I still don't know everything, but sometimes he tells me about things that happened and it just makes me sick that I didn't know. Part of the reason he didn't tell me at the time was because he knew I would head straight down there and raise the roof. But it's one of the reasons he has no interest in going back. Apparently, it was a constant battle -- and this is a small school in the country. I can only imagine what kids in the large cities have to put up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 for me, it's not the rare school shootings that convince me to keep my kids out of school --it's the every day "minor" violence: daily taunting, bullying, negative peer pressure, social isolation, and actual fights and assaults that are so routine they don't even make the news. And as Pam mentioned -- that's in the "good" schools too. Some kids can handle this stuff just fine. Others can't. None should HAVE to. If you enroll them, i would watch for the more subtle signs. Hopefully it will be a GREAT experience and negative stuff will be minimal. But if it got too bad I'd let them unschool at home before subjecting them to that. Academics is easy to catch up on. Social BS is a lot tougher to overcome. Absolutely do not live your life in fear --but taking prudent steps to keep your kids physically AND emotionally safe is far from living in fear. Good luck! In fact, that's why we started homeschooling in the first place. My oldest was being bullied by her classmates in 3rd grade (a Christian school; although the teachers were fine, I would have to use that term loosely with the classmates). The experience deeply wounded her, and we decided to start homeschooling. She will start at our cc in the fall (perhaps a summer school course), but doesn't want to go to p.s. It would be hard to enroll her there anyway, at this point, what with transferring credits, etc. We're looking more at what's the best thing for the family. We feel it would be wise for me to go back to school (I'd like to go myself, too!), but I'm not sure if I could handle grad. school and homeschooling. And, like I mentioned before, our homeschool group is down to about nil. Even though I keep my kids involved in other activities, the situation has left a general "pall" cast over them. It is a sad world we live in where the school shootings are becoming so common it's just a "ticker tape" at the bottom of the news screen. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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