Anna Sophia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin Thompson have recorded a YouTube video (below) and written an extensive paper offering a detailed and sincere apology for their book So Much More which was published in October 2005. It is heartbreaking to watch their deep regret for the negative fallout of this book. 

There is so much I could say about this and I’m still sorting out my thoughts. But if you were online in the conservative Christian and/or Christian homeschooling circles in the 2005-2008 timeframe, you will understand how significant this is. 

In December 2005, I wrote about why I was no longer supporting Vision Forum in this post: A Clarification About Vision Forum. It was directly related to the types of teaching in So Much More that were being pushed by Vision Forum. I wrote many posts about the problems related to Vision Forum. 

I participated in a group blog established by Karen Campbell that addressed the stay-at-home daughters movement that moved like wildfire through the homeschooling movement: True Womanhood. This was also due, in part, to the Botkin sisters’ followup project which was a video called Return of the Daughters. 

I truly appreciate that Anna Sophia and Elizabeth have done this. I hope it brings closure for them and for the young women who were negatively impacted by the book. There were many families torn apart by these Vision Forum teachings. 

It is my hope their father, Geoffrey Botkin, will step forward and apologize for his part in this. Yes, these women put their names on the book. But they were teenagers and not even adults when they started writing it. I’ve thought for some time that these beautiful young girls were used by the men around them, including Doug Phillips of Vision Forum, in order to promote their own businesses and agendas. 

I sincerely hope Anna Sophia and Elizabeth can forgive themselves as well. 

I’ll probably say more about this as David and I process it and discuss it, but that is enough for now.