BellaOnline Forums Education Homeschooling Today's school shooting/gun found elsewhere

I dare anyone to tell me I'm overprotective!

http://www.wral.com/apnationalnews/9982709/detail.html
The county coroner says at least six people were killed in a shooting at a one-room Amish schoolhouse, where state police said earlier a gunman killed "a number" of people Monday in Pennsylvania's bucolic Lancaster County.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Schools_lockdown.html
Two schools were locked down Monday while police searched for a teenager who had been spotted on a high school campus with a gun, authorities said.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing could happen anywhere--grocery stores, doctor's offices, insurance offices, post offices, churches, retirement homes, wherever.

I'd worry more about bullies, employs with criminal records, gangs, drugs, lack of appropriate supervision, open campuses, etc.

Well of course it can happen elsewhere, but I'd be there with the kids when it happened. I'd be there to provide guidance and try to help. I'd be there to throw my body over theirs.

School is supposed to be the next safest place compared to home, but it's not. You put that many hormones and half-formed opinions and attitudes all in one place and it can't be good.

I don't think we can point a finger and say "there--that happened because schools are dangerous." Nowhere is 100% safe, even home (domestic abuse, home invasions, drive bys, etc.). Whether homeschooling or otherwise, all we can do is teach our children to be responsible, be aware, to look out for themselves and others and to be self-reliant.

The reality is that there will be times I am not with my child, and as my child grows older he will demand greater independence from me. If I'm too protective, I do him a great disservice.

Lynn,

6 year old girls were shot execution style--in the heart of Amish Country.

It's one thing to talk about being too protective of teenagers, but of young children?

Jan

Yes, Jan, I'm not belittling the fact that it happened or the terrible outcome. But again its something that could happen anywhere--next door to your/my home, in Amish country, in cities, in rural areas. An armed someone determined to gain entry into a school, home or other place will find a way in. That's something a bit out of the direct control of a school.

Schools have control over their employees and students (theoretically) and can (if they wanted to) control bullying, gang activity on campus, drug access/use on campus, hiring of employees with criminal histories, etc. They can't control the loon on the street that has his/her own psychotic agenda to complete at all costs.

HI Meg,

I am from North Las Vegas, grew up there and today when I heard that my heart sank. I have a niece and nephew who go to school in that area. All this makes me sick. The elementary school that I went to there now has a 10 foot chain link fence all around it, looks like a prison but it had to be done to protect the kids there. My heart goes out to the Amish and I hope that they can find some kind of peace, if that is possible.

Eva
Who now knows she made the right decision to homeschool

....How many more innocent people have to die like this before America does something about its Gun Laws? The situation is abhorrent and execrable.

[quote]I dare anyone to tell me I'm overprotective!

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Alexandra: Guns don't kill people; people kill people. If its not a gun, its a knife, a bomb, poison, whatever. Removing guns won't stop loonies from murdering people.

What we have to pay attention to is that crime can happen anywhere at any time; and no matter what we do, no place is 100 percent safe. Take care and necessary precautions, teach your children to do the same, and live life as best you can.