Earlier this week, I mentioned a piece of the reason why I decided to homeschool my kids in my community chat. As I sat down to plan out their school year, it really got me reflecting on the why behind all of this. Why do I homeschool? I know it’s about more than just a guy showing up at my son’s elementary school with a machete. No, really — we’re about to get to that, I promise.
But let’s start there, because a guy really did show up to my kids’ school with a MACHETE. That was, without a doubt, one of the top ten worst days of my life. I was home, it was my day off, and my phone dinged with a notification: “(Name of school) is under lockdown.“ I sat straight up, anxiety filling my chest. What do you mean, lockdown?! I screenshotted the text, switched out of Messages, and opened Facebook.
I went straight to our local Facebook group. “Does anyone know anything about this lockdown?” I posted, attaching a screenshot of the alert. Within minutes, comment after comment started rolling in. One of them had a picture of a man in handcuffs, with squad cars lined up all across the front lawn of my baby’s school
That was the first time I truly felt afraid to send my kids to school. The thought of leaving them in the hands of strangers already made my stomach turn — and now I had proof that my fear wasn’t unfounded. The rest of that school year came and went, and summer finally arrived.
Halfway through the summer, my husband and I started talking about holding our middle child back from preschool, partly because of everything that had happened the year before. So I decided to homeschool him, at least for that year. Our oldest wasn’t even part of the plan yet — not until we went to fill out his paperwork at his new school after we moved.
The front office had bulletproof windows.
That was it for me. I couldn’t sign that paperwork with any confidence. Between that, the machete incident the year before, and everything coming out in the news about what was being allowed — and not stopped — in schools, I had reached my limit. I finished the homeschool paperwork and kept him home too.
I don’t regret this decision for a single second. Homeschooling has been such a blessing for our family. I’ve gotten back so many hours with my kids — hours that would have quietly slipped away, swallowed up by the public school system. There have been real sacrifices to make this work on one income. But I would rather be broke than get that phone call. The one every mom prays she never gets, telling her something happened to one of her littles.
I'd love to hear the story behind your own homeschooling journey! Leave it in the comments below.