To Keep Them Safe

As I watch students filing out of a school after yet another school shooting, I give thanks that my children are safe at home ... and are homeschooled.

When we started homeschooling, school shootings were not even on our radar. Now, it seems you can't get through a week without hearing of one or more on the news. My social media feeds are filled with images of victims of school shootings, rants about what should and shouldn't be done, and too many posts about children traumatized by lockdown drills. 

Parents are increasingly pulling their children out of school to homeschool them because they feel like it's the only way to keep them safe. Some people say that tragedies can happen at home as well, but I'm sure school shootings aren't all these parents are concerned about.

Friends have told me they want to keep their children safe from the daily expectation that a shooter will one day enter their school - that one day, the drill won't be a drill. They want to keep them safe from bullies, from feelings of inadequacy because they don't fit in with the "cool" kids, and from an environment of fear that isn't predisposed to learning. 

They want their children to be children. They want their children to go outside and play the day away; explore the world around them; be curious about things and eager to learn more about them; not be limited in time or place when it comes to learning; and to feel safe being who they are, looking how they look,  and doing what they want to do. And to feel safe ... just feel safe. 

I am blessed that my children have grown up in a way that encourages them to learn, to grow, and to be themselves - and that a side effect of this is that they feel safe. I'm blessed that the homeschool co-op we attend is safe for children of all colors, abilities, sexual and gender identities, religions, and fashion senses. 

It breaks my heart that there seems to be no good answer to keeping school children safe while at the same time making them feel safe. And that so many children who would otherwise thrive in school navigate the school day through a lens of fear.