Guest Author - Meg Grooms

A rapidly growing group of homeschoolers across the world are coming together to boycott The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which runs homeschoolblogger.com, a popular free blogging service just for homeschooling families.

Why?

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is published by Gena Suarez, an outspoken supporter of Mike & Debi Pearl. The Pearls are owners and writers of No Greater Joy and To Train Up a Child, a series of books, magazines and newsletters focusing on raising children by Christian principles.

The Pearls recommend very controversial methods, the most controversial of which is "The Rod". The Rod is a piece of plumbing line, about 18 inches in length, used to routinely whip children from the age of infancy. Parents are instructed to whip their infants daily to teach them submissiveness from the very start of life. They also recommend putting one Rod in each room of the house as a reminder to children of what will happen should they misbehave.

An excerpt from their book:
http://www.foche.net/TUAC.htm

In their book the Pearls advocate pulling an infant's hair, "thumping" a toddler and daily routine whippings of infants, toddlers and preschoolers to teach them to be submissive. They encourage parents to begin whipping their children 10 times several times a day when the child is still an infant to begin forcing a child to become submissive, "As the mother, holding her child, leans over the crib and begins the swing downward, the infant stiffens, takes a deep breath and bellows."

The Rod became public news in March, 2006 when a mother using the Pearl's methods was charged with murder and child abuse. Please read the entier article here.

If you would like to boycott TOSM and the Pearls, please visit
A Small Corner of Nowhere to pick up your boycott graphics and action pack.