Good morning! Let's talk about how homeschooling communities are a breeding ground for white supremacy and violent rhetoric that leads to mass shootings.
Replacement theory is now in the mainstream news, but this is something is that I grew up with and was talked about in our church and homeschooling conferences. There was great fear that white people were being replaced and was one of the reasons for having a big family.
I remember going to my homeschool history class and the teacher (local homeschool dad and a state prosecutor btw) urging us to have enough kids to replace ourselves and pointing to European Christians (always code for white people) dying out as a warning.
The homeschooling movement began out of white homeschool parents not wanting their children to attend school with Black kids and honestly, not much has changed as a movement. It's in the curriculum, conferences and part of the vernacular.
Listen to how parents talk about public schools, especially those in predominately Black neighborhoods. You'll hear words like "urban", "low income" and "poor academics" which usually is code for we don't want our kids to be around "those" kinds of people.
White homeschool parents, how are you pushing back against the racism in your community? If you're just starting out, here is a great resource: responsiblehomeschooling.org/guides/resourc…
* I am specifically addressing white fundamentalist/evangelical homeschool parents. These are the communities that I grew up in and what I know.
*Secular/atheist homeschoolers, READ THE ROOM. Learn the history of homeschooling.
Investigate your own motives and how you're helping to solve the problem before jumping in with, "not me."
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*TW religious trauma
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The cognitive dissonance from some evangelicals is ASTOUNDING. It always amazes me.
We used to be in leadership at a church. We tried to use our position to talk about racism in our majority white congregation. It didn't go well. We decided to leave.
We were brought before the session.(aka a room full of old, white dudes)
Manipulation(we married you, taught your kids, loved on you, how could you)
Gaslighting(can you list examples where we specifically supported white supremacy, you're exaggerating, we never said that)
Threats(you will never find community again, do you think you will find another church, we will have to tell them what happened)
Emotional abuse(tears, im hurt you never came to us with concerns, we invested so much into you)
The thing about being raised in a quiverfull family, that people have a hard time understanding, is that you literally have no choices. Zero. None. And it’s an incredibly difficult process to create choices for yourself. Especially as a woman in that scenario.
No degree. Maybe a high school education. No job or limited work experience. I got my my drivers license and my first job in my mid 20’s. I have never been more terrified walking into a job interview to work retail. I was shaking. I didn’t know how to open a bank account or get
insurance or any of those adulting things. I had always been controlled by other people. It never occurred to me I could do things by myself. Or that I could have choices.
I was one of the lucky ones. I married my way out of my abuse which is most often a recipe for more abuse.
I want to talk about educational neglect because it’s a very real thing ex-homeschoolers go through and it’s so damaging. So many stories of children educating themselves or not being taught even the basics like math and reading. And people don’t realize how much that stunts you
I was homeschooled from 6th grade on. We did okay in the beginning but as my parents went deeper into fundamentalism my education suffered. At one point, my parents were educating eight children
children at a time. How in the world is one parent(in most households, moms are the ones doing most of the schooling)equipped to handle that? The truth is they’re not. In highschool, I educated myself. I figured out the curriculum and took the tests. I was a voracious reader so
I’m not sure most people really understand how abusive and isolating homeschooling has the capacity to be.(don’t @ me with not all homeschoolers nonsense) Abusive parents have absolute authority and there is no one to intervene. No teachers, coaches or any kind of non-parental
figure. My parents made every decision for me well into my 20s. All outside influences were heavily monitored. We could only go to places as a family. I wasn’t allowed to get a job outside the home. I couldn’t get my drivers license. My birth certificate was locked away.
I thought all of this was normal but even if I had known it would have been so hard to get away. I was so used to my parents making decisions for me and was fearful of the consequences if I disobeyed. In my 20s, legally I could have just walked out.