Really Sad News Out in Washington State

Most of the time I don’t comment on things like missing kids or domestic abuse things that make the news. I think a lot of that is over exposed in the media and does not help anyone, especially the families of those involved and suffering from the tragedies on top of all the media attention and dealing with the cops and everything.

But we did hear yesterday about a very sad case of two little boys that were killed by their father. Everyone is pretty sure that this guy killed his wife a couple of years ago. Why he was still allowed to see his kids in an unsecured setting makes no sense to me at all.

I think the courts and the Child Protective Services really failed those poor kids. What a horrible thing to happen – lose your mother and then be killed by your own father in an explosion that was meticulously planned and people even had warnings – he got rid of all the toys and wrote farewell emails to his pastor and a handful of other people.

This is a huge fail on so many levels.

Learning About Home Schools

While getting a haircut today, I was sitting next to a nice woman, Gail, who was talking about home schooling with another woman in the waiting area. Not that I intended to eavesdrop, but they were talking across the room loudly and everyone could hear.

Turns out that she was having so much trouble with her public school about her son with ADHD and she could not afford a private school, that she withdrew him from school and is home schooling her son by herself. She had gone to college to be a teacher but had gotten married to someone in the military and they traveled so much that she could never take a job as a full time teacher.

Now they have settled in this area and their son is struggling with a lot of attention issues, which the teachers complain are disruptive. I thought that the schools were required to provide this child with the education suited to his needs. I do not agree with the idea that disruptive students must be sent home for homeschooling. Not every parent is equipped with the skills to teach their own children – many have jobs that they need to support their families and cannot stay home with their children.

I am going to have to get in touch with my local congressmen and see what is being done to help these children.