Monsters Among Us
It is with a truly heavy heart that I post about this very sad topic, there are predators hiding in the homeschooling community, and there are those covering up the crimes and shaming the victims. I am lucky to not know any personally but if I did, you know I would not keep quiet, nothing would be able to keep me quiet. Yes, of course there are predators in the public school system, we have seen the news reports and evidence of it. That that is not our personal community, we are homeschooling to do better than that, and yet it seems we are failing to police our own. It could be in part though because homeschooling for many goes hand in hand with the church. We know too well how good the church is at sheltering predators. Or at least anyone who has done any looking into the topic or watched the news in the last decades know it.
It hasn’t gotten better…. there is an accusation that the owners of “The Old Schoolhouse” a popular homeschooling christian magazine have sheltered/defended child abusers, including one of there own sons. I can’t say their son is guilty, innocent until proven guilty after all, but reading what happened I wouldn’t allow my children near that family at this point. We can though know that two predators that Paul and Gena Suarez did support have been convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse – Roy Ballard, and then Mike Marcum in prison for child porn. That is just two that we know of.
I am trying to summarize a situation reported on homeschoolersanonymous by a former employee of The Old Schoolhouse, also the mother of one of the victims, Jenefer Igarashi. It just isn’t possible to express the horror of the situation that family was in and all they have been put through. If you homeschool, please take the time to read it. Jenefer is no longer keeping silent. I wonder what kept her quiet for these past 7 years. Did it have anything to do with religion?
While I am a homeschooling mother we are also Secular Homeschoolers. We have a lot in common with most homeschoolers but we don’t live our lives religiously. This does not mean though that we are not moral people. Clearly people can be religious and not moral. The difference is we are Moral for the sake of being good people, not because we want to be rewarded in the future or fear hell. We are Freethinkers and striving to raise 4 freethinkers. A freethinker is defined as one who arrives at their beliefs through the use of reason, science, logic, and empiricism rather than by relying on dogma.
Still homeschoolers are our community, and when they cover up crimes, when they hide the monsters, it hurts us all, though of course none worse than the victims who sadly are often further traumatized by systems of dogma that shame them and try to keep them quit.
Personally – I was young when I learned just what the “church” would cover up and how it would victim shame, and how so many could turn away in denial of the truth and rap themselves in “faith”. I wish I could say I was shocked by this news about the publishers of The Old Schoolhouse but I believe some of the worst monsters are the ones who think they are right with god. Those poor children.
I agree that cover ups need to be stopped. I think that in any community there can be perverts that hurt children. It needs to stop.
Thanks!
Heidi
There certainly can be predators in any community but I think we need to honestly take a look at the communities most likely to harbor them and why.
It is a stigma that affects all of us. We are also secular homeschoolers, but honestly, I am not surprised by this. It is a sad fact that many factions, whether race, religion or creed, protect their own. Even if their own are not right.
You could be right about people protecting their own, certainly that seems to be the case but it is a hard fact to wrap ones mind around. I guess I can’t know till I have a monster in my own group but honestly I have protected my kids from those that some think would be “one of our own” and I don’t see that changing. The kids don’t see their uncle because he is an addict that can not be trusted. I told him we will give him another chance after he has been sober for a year and has a NA chip to prove it. Course the kids can make their own choices when they are older. My point being, even if people do tend to protect their own, we need to do better! What about protecting our children? Are they not our own as well? Of course this isn’t a question directed at you in any hostile way but maybe you know why some will not protect the children?
Really? This is what we used to call, if we were being truthful, gossip and if we were pretending it was journalism, yellow journalism. I heard from my 3rd cousin’s next door neighbor’s ex-wife’s butcher’s great-grandmother the Cherokee Princess (that is Indian slang, btw, for a hang around the fort, aka hooker, Indian woman). GOSSIP.
You don’t know any but you heard. Good job. Try some investigative journalism and then report back to us some FACTS!
-looks left…. looks right….- Nope, I don’t see were this blog says it is an investigative journalism publication! It is a blog, and the post was sharing my thoughts on an investigative piece. I included the link. I summarized the parts that seemed most important to me and I commented on the state of the community I am a part of, along with sharing a bit of my own personal history on the matter. Your free to not agree of course. Do you know what they call someone that just attacks others for having opinions you don’t agree with?
Interesting read, but I think you are way off base. These people don’t happen in a vacuum. They don’t just pop up like rotten mushrooms. They have always been with homeschooling, at least going back 30 years. And they have help and encouragement. Where is your contempt for those who ‘lead’ these abusers? Where is your contempt for those who depend on fools for an income? Has it occurred to you how fundamental it is for a parent to give up their innate nature to protect their own offspring in order to write checks to the Pearls or the Ezzos or the Fugates or Gothard or HSLDA? What have you DONE about Joes Salvati and his free paddles? Have you DONE anything when you see the plumbing pipe sticking out of the diaper bag? Telling the Internet what is already obvious does not DO anything. Neither does advocating others do something.
You are up against slick sales folks who market perfect children (if you just beat the devil out of them). They prey on parent’s fears of being rejected by their church family because their child is unruly.
It’s too late for The Old Schoolhouse but the system works, the criminals have been martyred. You don’t think they believe they did anything wrong do you? Too many others tell them they didn’t. Are their supporters still collecting money for their legal defense and living expenses?
Homeschoolers don’t cover up crimes – we have just seen what we are up against. Yeah, it has made me angry, but blaming the victims isn’t going to change anything, is it? The real criminals are selling books and giving speeches, preying on the mental incompetence of others.
Where is the contempt for them? Where’s the contempt for those who turn religion on its head, take away all that it beautiful about it and make it about beating children, controlling people and profit? I’ll sit down now…
You are absolutely right, my contempt for the leaders who help create the abusers was lacking in this post. I put out a general call to action, if you see wrong, say something! Again, why is this coming out 7 years later? What have you Done about HSLDA? What have you done about Joes Salvati? I certainly do not support them in any ways. Search my blog and you will see!
How have I blamed the victims? Are you calling the child abusers victims? If so, this is the wrong audience, as a victim myself I will not tolerate trying to take responsibility off the monsters.
Most monsters have supporters, your right about that too, I am sure they have a lot of donated funds to try and fight the tide. People don’t just change over night, but maybe if they hear from others in their community often enough, they will see The Old School house and the powers that twist things for what they are eventually.
Anyone that knows me, follows my blog, knows I am an advocate for peaceful parenting, knows I helped lead peaceful parenting and NVC groups. Knows I have help many with homeschooling and specially secular homeschooling. One can’t simply put all the contempt for the wrongs in the world into one blog post can they? What am I doing? I am sharing my families experience in homeschooling, sharing that not all homeschoolers are religious child abusers, and not just ignoring the elephant in the room. If you have done things that have been effective in this area, do share!