Police Called to do Wellness Check on Homeschoolers

by I. B. Lyon

It’s back to school time! People generally either love or hate this time of year. Many kids are ready to go back to school, and some are dreading it. Many parents are excited to get their kids out of the house, and many educators are dreading it. Now, one thing you have to deal with for a couple weeks is the bombardment of back to school pictures on social media. Tons of parents post cute first day of school pictures with info about their kiddos. Some go all out with fancy boards, and some parents just force their kids to hold up a piece of paper with the grade their entering into.

The Strong River Bend (SRB) police were called to do a wellness check on the Auffgridder family. Neighbors had not seen the kids in quite a while. Multiple anonymous callers said they hadn’t seen any back to school pictures, and they were concerned about the kids’ wellbeing.

The Auffgridders made some lifestyle changes late last year. They decided to start homesteading and homeschooling their 4 kids.

The father and breadwinner Ben Auffgridder said, “We made some major lifestyle changes late last year. My wife quit her job, and she started homeschooling the kids. We also bought some chickens, goats, cows, and pigs to be self sufficient and homestead. We don’t go out to eat anymore. The kids really only go to church and a few other places. Plus, we live way off the road in the woods. My wife and I got off social media, so I guess people just don’t see much of us anymore. But, we’re all doing fine.”

An anonymous neighbor said, “I realized that I haven’t seen the Auffgridder kids in a while when I started seeing all the back to school pics. Susie would always post the cutest pics of the kids going back to school, and I thought that something had to be wrong. But, it’s good to know they’re all doing well. I had no idea they’d started homeschooling and gone all granola on us.”