As the regular follower of HIC may have noticed, we have recently included cases of homeschooled students who have committed homicide or other acts of violence either as homeschooled students or as adults. Our decision to include these cases was based largely on the sheer number of these cases that involved abusive or repressive homeschooling pasts.
As we explain in our introductory post:
It may seem odd to include homeschoolers who perpetrate violence in a database originally designed for homeschoolers who were victims of violence, but in many cases these individuals, too, are victims. Some suffered the repercussions of abusive or isolated childhoods; others were denied access to mental health care or had mental health problems that went unrecognized because of a lack of access to professionals. Some had parents who meant well but were unprepared to handle their child’s additional needs or violent tendencies on their own. These individuals, too, are homeschooling’s invisible children.
We include these cases not to suggest that homeschool graduates are more likely to become violent or that homeschooling is inherently harmful but rather to highlight yet one more manifestation of the impact of abusive or repressive homeschooling environments.
As we say in our introduction:
We need strong, brave individuals to stand up and speak out about the importance of mental health care, about the impact dehumanizing and stifling ideologies and discipline practices have on children, and the real psychological results isolation can have on a person’s developing psyche.
Read our full introduction here.
We will be keeping our listing of homeschoolers who become perpetrators themselves separate from our main database of abused and neglected children. You can read our full database of homeschoolers who became violent here.
