What Does the Turpin Family Tragedy Mean for Homeschooling Families?
If you have been following the news lately, you have heard of the Turpin family. This was a family located in California. They also happen to homeschool. The 17 year old daughter recently escaped their home and called 911 to report the abuse her siblings were suffering. Upon entering the home, police officers found children chained to furniture, completely malnourished and living in filth. Six of the children in the home were said to be adults, one in preschool and six were school aged. The home was registered as a private school in California with the father being the principal.
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According to the law, there are three ways to register as a homeschooling family in California. This family had legally registered their homeschool as a private school and mailed in the necessary paperwork yearly. Even though they followed this law, they were abusing their children. This has led many to lump homeschooling families together and call for tougher laws for these families. California politician Jose Medina is one of those requesting more regulations so that he can insure this will not happen again. He believed they were able to do this because the children were hidden from the public. Under current California law, the California Department of Education does not monitor, inspect or oversee private schools.
I already can tell just from reading about regulations in California that their rules for homeschooling are more strict than other states. For example, to homeschool in Texas, you simply need to pick a curriculum and begin schooling your children. There is no paperwork you need to fill out, no checking in that needs to be done, essentially there is nothing unless your child was already in a public school. If that is the case, you simply write the district a letter letting them know you will be in charge of the child’s education. A friend of mine would homeschool in Pennsylvania and she would have to create a portfolio for her son each year to be evaluated by a teacher in the district to make sure he was on course with the rest of students his age.
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The problem here is not the homeschooling laws, but instead it is the abusive families. One does not need to punish all homeschooling families because of one bad apple (or potentially many bad apples)! We cannot all be held guilty by association just because we are all lumped in one category of families who homeschool. The problem does not get better by requiring families to check in regularly with CPS, open their homes for surprise inspections or randomly interrogate children about their family life.
The Turpin family had two demented adults at the head. They were able to hide the fact of their abuse from family members in other states. They knew just what to do to stay hidden from the public eye, because they did not want to be found out. Tougher regulations on their family, or others like them, would not necessarily insure that no other child would be abused at home by their parents. Abuse happens just as likely at public schools, by teachers (hello Mary Kay Letourneau), at churches, with friends, and the list goes on and on.
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Homeschooling is a right that we must protect. Millions of children worldwide are homeschooled because their parents have made a decision to remove them from public school and take an invested interest in their education. There are many reasons parents do this. Most parents who do this are deeply involved and interested in their children, knowing that they love them more than any teacher ever could, so they truly have their best interests at heart. As a former public school teacher, I know now that my children are receiving a better and more well-rounded education than they would have in public school. I cannot even imagine sending them to public school.
Adding extra requirements would not do anything but take away time that these parents should be investing in their children and their education. Allowing CPS or another party to enter each home and evaluate them is definitely not the answer! Abusers will find a way around any law that is put out there. Extra regulations on families would make it impossible for some to continue to homeschool their children. This is a right we cannot allow to be taken away.
Articles:
Will the Turpin Family Tragedy Result in a Double Tragedy?
California Torture Family: How 'home schooling' covered up Turpin House of Horrors abuse
Be sure to join the @familyprotection community here on Steemit. They are helping to support families who are being attacked by CPS and other government agencies. They help educate the world on the horrible practices of these corrupt organizations. They shine a light into the darkness! The community supports parents decisions about their own kids and keeping the government out of those decisions. Because of that, I support this group.
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Thank you for all that you guys do! Families need protecting - thank you for working for them!
I agree whole heartedly! One horrific case of abusive parents (who homeschool) does not out weigh all of the myriads of cases of abuse in the public education system. Where are the calls for "greater regulation" within the classrooms? To say that CPS needs to get involved in every homeschooling family is outrageous. @ironshield
Lol - greater regulation in the classroom doesn't get you anywhere! They don't care about the classroom. They care about the homeschools because those homeschool kids should be sitting in the classroom where the school makes their money. At home, they aren't getting a penny out of those kids. That's what this is all about. I read a post on a friend's FB page today and she spelled it out. The "facts" here aren't adding up. Whether this family really did this to their kids or not, the mainstream media is crucifying them and all other homeschool families in hopes of ending this "trend" of homeschooling. Parents in CA pulled their kids from school over the mandate that they must be fully vaccinated. So CA lost money when they started homeschooling. Now they need some crazy family to look horrible on the news who also homeschools. Wham. There you go.
Yep, this is not a homeschooling issue really.. But rather about crazy people doing this to their kids. Maybe there should be some type of checkups on the families who choose to homeschool their children? Just to check if something like this do not happen in the future.
It is sad to read about these things happening to children. Unfortunately, it is probably not the first case of such a thing happening. But, homeschooling has nothing to do with this. This all has to do with crazy people doing crazy thing to their children.
There does not need to be a check on homeschool families to ensure we don't do this to our kids in the future. Most families homeschool in order to keep their kids from being bullied, bored or worse at school. They are loving families who want to be with their kids. I don't know of a single family who homeschools who doesn't like their children. Mine drive me insane some times, but I think they're the coolest kids out there. ;) This family...whatever they did or did not do...is being used by mainstream media to prove a point. The government wants more regulations, fewer people homeschooling and more money put into schools for childrens' attendance. If this family is really guilty of this, they are sick, but it has nothing to do with them homeschooling. The "facts" of this case don't line up.
and the media will ALWAYS pick the most negative horrible stories to focus attention on when it comes to homeschooling... among other topics.
Yes, that is so true. And they don't even tell the truth or really relay all the facts. This case is definitely an example of the same.
Great article! I stand with you on this as a homeschool parent. We cannot allow our right to teach our children to be taken away because of one bad apple. I hate to hear about abuse like this, especially when it’s from the parents. I pray for families and children’s like this often. Stories like these does put the heat on us because people place homeschoolers into one category. If one homeschool is doing it so are the others and that is definitely not the case. Thank you for bringing our attention to this~
I read a post on a friend's Facebook page today that makes me question the validity of the whole situation. It is insane how the media plays their cards just right to create a frenzy over the abuse by this homeschooling family, when in all reality, it's probably more like California is trying to get less parents to homeschool. They've lost tons of federal dollars at their schools because of a required 100% vaccination policy of all students. So parents have pulled kids to homeschool them. What's the best way to get back at these parents? International media frenzy leading to regulations in California that make it more difficult to homeschool there! I don't know what the truth is in this situation, but a lot of the "facts" don't add up and if the mainstream media is picking up this story...it makes me wonder even more!
Wow I had no idea all of that was going on out there. I must admit I’m glad to see more and more parents sticking their ground and not vaccinating under pressure. These vaccination laws are getting stricter and stricter. This is one of the reasons we don’t watch mainstream media any more...most of the news is exaggerated and even made up. It’s sad that you can’t trust the news channels to give you the real news. They don’t want us to know what’s really going on.
Yes, they definitely don't want us to know what is going on! It is so sad that we can't trust the media. It is good to see parents standing up for their right to parent their own children and make decisions for them.
👋🏽 Hey! I’m a homeschooling momma too. Glad to get familiar with more of us.
Hey that’s awesome and great to know!!! 😃
We need to all get together out there somewhere - discord or something!
@metzli#4942
Yes we do @apanamamama!! Totally agree!!!
Agree. It's the human attitude that always become the root of the problem not the system. System can be changed but human attitude is the hardest to change. Like this family's case, their parent probably treated their children as an outsiders instead of their own children, maybe because they thought their way is the best way. I've seen some of my friends homeschooled and most of their parents are more strict than the school teachers but glad that they're not abusive.
Homeschooling parents may be more strict than a public school teacher, but have you ever been in a public school classroom? Kids are insane and they can pretty much do anything to a teacher with very little discipline. I know, I was one. My kids behave very well because they know what is expected of them at home and they know there are consequences for not doing what they should. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I don't know what the "facts" are involving this family, but they definitely don't make sense. Mainstream media is making sure of that.
This is a thought provoking article. Do you think it would be better if a centralized organization should be required for home schooling families to support each other and provide protection for families in need?
Our family has considered homeschooling for a while but found we can't be with our kids for that long. It was better to send our sons to the public school and teach them after school.
There are groups out there to provide legal protection for families. You can't be with your kids that long, as in all day? I do not sit with my kids all day long. We have a lot of stuff going on including meeting up with friends, chores, doing our schoolwork, making meals, playing outside, etc. If it were sit at a desk and look at each other all day (like a normal school-length day), no one would like that.
Got it. Thanks @apanamamama for your reply. Bottom line is my wife thinks they need adult supervision all the time. So the school is like her babysitter.
I found you through NeedleworkMonday but stayed for the articles.
I look forward to seeing more of your posts.
Nice! Thanks for stopping by! I've seen a few of your other comments. :)
I do agree the Turpin case is about abusive adults and not about homeschooling
Yes, that is true. I hope the truth will come out at some point. I had forgotten that mainstream media can't be trusted to deliver the truth when I wrote this article. Now I'm finding out more "facts" behind this and wondering what the real deal is...losing out on money because parents decide to homeschool (and not vaccinate) sure is hard.
It is hard to know what news is trust worthy and what to believe these days
I agree. We home schooled our kids because English speaking school would have been enormously expensive where we lived at the time, and because they both have AD/HD or whatever is the latest term for it. We knew how to handle it, teachers seldom do (or did back then anyway).
That is true - expensive and the teachers don't know how to handle anything that is out of the norm. I know, I was a public school teacher.