A San Diego mother of two has decided to homeschool her children because she is “too scared” to put them in a conventional classroom for fear of shootings.
Alexia Delarosa, 30, says the “crazy” number of attacks in the United States has put her off sending Archer, three, and Arlo, one, to school.
She began homeschooling the two toddlers in August 2023 and has vowed to keep them out of the public school system — at least until they enter middle school.
There have been about 69 school shootings in the US so far this year, as of October 28 CNN.
Alexia Delarosa, 30, mother of two from San Diego, is too full of ‘anxiety’ to send her toddler children to school – and has chosen to homeschool them instead
Alexia shares two sons, three-year-old Archer and one-year-old Arlo, with her husband, coffee shop owner Matthew Delarosa, 38
Alexia, a housewife, said: ‘There are so many terrible things happening in schools. It’s crazy how many shootings we have.
‘That alone is enough to prevent my children from ending up in an environment where that could happen.
“It’s devastating when it happens; what’s next?
‘It can happen at any school. It’s scary and I’m not willing to send my kids to that environment.
‘It has a lot to do with the state of the world; safety is a big factor.’
Alexia says she and husband Matthew Delarosa, a 38-year-old coffee shop owner, were both educated in the public school system.
They had conversations before Archer was born and realized they wanted him to stay away from the classroom.
Alexia also decided she wanted to be a hands-on parent and now claims to devote all her time to her family.
Alexia claims she gets her satisfaction from housework, although she also spends plenty of time promoting herself on social media – she has amassed almost 230,000 Instagram followers
Regarding a traditional school environment, Alexia said, “It’s scary and I’m not willing to send my kids to that environment.”
She also seems to find plenty of time to promote what she presents as a perfect, circa-1950s-esque, domestic lifestyle on social media, with nearly 230,000 Instagram followers.
‘I’ve always wanted a more traditional model for my family. I liked the idea of a 1950s-style family life, where the woman stays at home to take care of her husband and children, and the man goes to work full-time,” Alexia has previously said of her mentality.
The lifestyle she happily embraces fits right in with the #tradwife – short for ‘traditionalwife’ – trend on social media.
However, with her children attending “traditional” school, she believes she “has never felt comfortable with the idea of sending them somewhere for seven hours a day.”
‘I didn’t want them to be in the hands of adults and around other children I didn’t know – that seems scary to me.
‘We both decided that homeschooling would be the best option for us.
‘Both of them haven’t gone to school yet. We started getting them into a homeschool routine.”
Alexia, who only started homeschooling two months ago, said her family was initially skeptical and wondered how long it would last, but they have become “supportive.”
According to the homeschooling schedule she has set up, her children wake up at 7 a.m. and eat the breakfast she has prepared for them soon after.
Alexia starts her two sons by leading two and a half hours of lessons, from 9:30 a.m. to noon
Alexia said, “Myself and my husband both grew up in the public school system. We had a very normal upbringing.
“Our family has been very supportive, but we got a lot of, ‘Okay, let’s see how long that lasts,'” she admitted.
‘Here it is very normal to send your child to a play center when he is two.
“As soon as they can, they go with another adult.”
Alexia added that she finds homeschooling “amazing” and that both of her children are doing well.
‘I’m having so much fun with it. I think a lot of it has to do with planning and being aware of what you’re doing.
‘The curriculum consists of theme weeks.
‘This week we had pumpkin week – all the activities were based around pumpkins, taking out the seeds and thinking about what we can do with them.
‘They learn motor skills, they are creative and they are out in the world.
‘Many activities that I encourage are cooking and baking in the kitchen.
‘Whatever the theme is, I come up with recipes that stimulate that.’
Alexia said she “loves” homeschooling: “I’m having so much fun with it. I think a lot of it has to do with planning and being aware of what you’re doing.”
The homeschooling schedule she’s set up includes waking her kids at 7 a.m. and feeding them breakfast.
Homeschooling begins at 9 a.m. – and ends two and a half hours later, at noon, for lunch.
Nap time is scheduled from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM, before dinner at 5 PM, followed by bath time at 6:30 PM.
Finally, bedtime is at 7:30 PM.
Alexia said she had always planned to homeschool her children, but her husband would like them to attend high school.
She said: ‘I’d rather they didn’t. When we reach those higher levels of education, we can bring in a teacher to teach them.
‘Or there are homeschooling groups that meet. I’d rather go that way.’
According to CNN, 24 of the 69 school shootings this year occurred on college campuses.
The remaining 45 were located on the grounds of elementary, middle, and high schools.