Child Killer and Enough

A guest post by Blondee.


There is no relationship that lasts longer in this world than the relationship of siblings. God's gift of best friends to us in life. Meet Lauren Belius and her twin sister Erica. Beautiful baby girls, aren't they?

The girls were inseparable, Lauren being the brave 'older' sister, and Erica being the shy little sister.

Older brother Nolan didn't just have to share the spotlight with one cute little sister, but two! These three joined our Taekwondo studio last spring. Busy little kids that we all got a kick out of watching as they learned their counters, kicks and kata's.

Lauren and Erica- blessings beyond words, beautiful memories made of first birthdays, milestones, holiday mornings and their sweet personalities.
Until one horrific morning in July of 2011.
David Trebilcock stabbed Lauren to death in her own bed as her twin sat inches from her in the very same bed, horrified and screaming for help. David had been plotting her murder, going as far as to lock the family dog in the garage and barricade the bedroom door with a dresser before approaching these amazing girls, naked- to fulfill his plan of killing a child.

By God's grace, Lauren and Erica's mom was able to break into the room and attacked David, incapacitating him so she could get her girls out of his evil clutches. Lauren succumbed to her injuries, tragically the little girl with the big grin left her family that day and went to Heaven where she would feel no pain, have no fear, and never be harmed again.


Now a little sister who was shy and dependent on her older, brave sister would be left to navigate the world alone. Her twin, her other half, torn from her right in front of her, torn from us all.

David Trebilcock admitted to murdering Lauren Belius. He did not take the stand in his own defense, instead pleaded not guilty by defense of insanity. He then requested a bench trial instead of a jury of his peers and last week was found NOT GUILTY of killing Lauren.

Our community has been devastated by the murder of this sweet girl, a family broken forever, and a mom has been left to look over her shoulder the rest of her life for a man who made statements that make us all concerned that her other children may be in grave danger when he is released. This man had the foresight to lock a family dog away from the girls it would have fought to protect. He shoved a dresser in front of a door that would have allowed these girls to escape. This man is not an insane man, he's a cold, calculating murderer who just worked our system and has been freed of all charges by Judge Dwyer of Oneida County.

Our laws need to be changed!

There should be NO plea of insanity if you murder a child, and there certainly should be no bench trial demanded by the murderer!
 
David Trebilcock can be out in the world amongst you and me in 12 months!! A man who admitted he had intercourse with a 12 year old child. A man who admitted to having drug problems in the past. A man who hid his past from others and left other states when he knew he was in trouble. The very same man who murdered Lauren in cold blood.
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Allison, Lauren's Mom is asking for help in spreading the word of this injustice. PLEASE, I am asking all of my readers to help me spread the word! Repost this on your own blog. Make every community aware of what our laws really do. Help us gain national exposure to get the ball rolling and make it so David Trebilcock and other child killers can not get away with this!
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Please do not just link to this blog...too many readers ignore links. Please cut and paste! Right click to copy the photos.
I thank you for your help.
Lauren's Mommy thanks you for your help!

Blondee
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On homeschooling and parenting

The shot heard round the world this weekend was that of a father who got fed up with his daughter complaining and lying about him on Facebook.  He made a response video in which he shot her laptop entitled Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen. It went super-mega-extravaganza-like-viral. 6 days, over 21 million hits and remember ya'll 1 million hits makes a video viral.

I am not going to judge him about his parenting skills because depending on the moment, I am either for or against him.... usually based on what my kids are doing or saying at the time.  I can say that I don't find his reaction that unusual.  I found another other parent electronic breaking video on Facebook, with the main difference being between a gun and a bat.  Beat a cell phone with a bat, get 6 thousand views.  Shoot a laptop with a gun... that's money baby!

Anyway, it all just gets me thinking about parenting in the homeschooling community.  As I watched the

Changing my blog title

I am changing my blog title today from Notes from a Homeschooling Mom to Notes from a Homeschooled Mom.

Why past-tense?  For two reasons.  Homeschooling (of my kids anyway) is almost in my past.  I have one Senior set to graduate in a few months, and another child counting the day to when she too will be a Senior. 

Second...  In the near decade since I began homeschooling, I have learned so much... about kids, education, and the world.  Homeschoolng doesn't just benefit the kids.  Parents get smarter too.

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Homeschool update video Feb 2012

Thought it as time I did a homeschool update video.
 Items discussed:

  • My son will graduate this year. 
  •  My daughter will graduate next year. 
  •  Planning for my daughter's senior year.
  •  Curriculum overview for next year.


 
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Are you kidding me? Re: sexual abuse in California school

My brain can't even process this:

Former Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt, 61, who resigned last year amid a school board's firing proceedings, was charged last week with 23 felony counts of lewd acts with pupils, a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday. He is accused of taking bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom, including some with suspected semen-filled spoons at their mouths.


In response, after years of ignoring complaints about this teacher, and a second teacher abusing the same kids, the entire school was emptied and restaffed.

What is worse?

~That it happened?

~That it was ignored by the principal and others?

~That a knee-jerk decision was made to yank everyone from the principal to the janitors?

~That parents want their old teachers back?
(~that this video is followed by the stupid titillating Valentine's Day commercial suggesting that women will give it up if you buy them flowers)
What a big mess.  This is an argument for homeschooling if ever there was one.

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Sacrificing socialization for intelligence?


Typical Group of Homeschoolers
I just read another one of those TIRESOME articles about how homeschooling is great and all, but we are sacrificing socialization and well-roundedness for intelligence.

WHA?

Call me an education snob, but I think that's a fair trade.

 While the student dubbed "most friendly" in high school may do a great job in sales... a very good job with commissions in the six figures even, the kid ignored from the list altogether because he is too nerdy to make the popularity contest will start companies like Apple and Facebook and make millions.

While I am not necessarily expecting this kind of genius from my kids, I am expecting them to be the best at what they are passionate about because they have been given the time and resources to concentrate on those things rather than worry about being popular.

With that said, I feel like I need to address another aspect of this socialization question that I have been seeing as of late.  I keep noticing people saying that homeschooling keeps kids from learning about other cultures. i.e. blacks won't get to learn more about white people, and white people won't know about blacks, and never mind anyone knowing Hispanics and Asians to have yet to have invaded the ranks of the homeschoolers en masse.

But here's a question:  Will you know a person better by sitting next to them in a classroom, or by inviting them to your home for a meal and going to theirs?  I dare say the latter. Homeschooled kids may not get a great quantity of time with people of other cultures, but if they are like my family, they will get quality, one-on-ine time in each others' homes and spaces.

So once again, another homeschooling argument is proven false.

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Image:  By Kingdom Baptist Some rights reserved

Would ANYTHING make you put your kids back in public school?

 For me the short answer to that question is no, but I know many former homeschoolers whose kids are now happily in school.

Happy Elf mom asks, if the school system was trying to sell you on returning to public schools like ( the Custer School District in South Dakota), what would your answer be.

Based on the reasons we all homeschool, I know our answers would be vastly different.  Because we homeschool based on personal experiences in school, our list would look something like this:

1. You know my son is gifted... stop holding him back. (Because he had regular migraines, they made excuses to keep him out of gifted classes).
2. I'm not giving my daughter Ritalin, so get over it. (By the way she will be graduating homeschool at 16, so being a little hyperactive has served her well.)
3. Make the kid behind my son stop smacking him in the head. (The teacher never saw him get smacked, but always saw him turn around and say something to the child who had smacked him.)
4. Don't lose my kid on the school bus again.  (It took a lot of Grace to not kill the teacher who blamed my kid for missing the bus home.)
5. Stop saying stupid things to me based on racial assumptions. My kids' father lives with us.  (You don't even want to know.)

Put aside the fact that public school was a nightmare for my kids that I would not wish on anyone, I have in my mind an idea for an ideal school that if it existed, my kids would have attended... maybe.

1. Kids need to be able to work independently using computer based programs so they can progress at their own speed... especially for math.
2.  School should be more relaxed, more like a study center than a jail.
3. Kids (with parent's permission) should be able to come and go as they please... the hours spent in school should matter much less than progress through curriculum.

This will never exist, and so once again, my kids don't belong in public school.




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12 grade year of homeschooling, Finishing Strong

We are almost done with my college prep series. There will still be a video on completing the transcript.    Stay tuned... meanwhile, ...