The story of how the Romeike’s, a German homeschooling family, was granted asylum by a judge in Tennessee has made quite a few waves, with reports in Time, Education Week, Forbes, The Washington Post, not to mention blogs.  I’ve seen a nearly constant stream of updates in Twitter as yet another circle of people I follow learn the news and pass it on.

Homeschooling, it seems, may have finally been defined as a basic human right as well as a particular social group by an American court.  HSLDA says they took the case partially in hopes of influencing public opinion in Germany.  It certainly has spurred the national debate, with the story hitting major newspapers, television, radio and the German blogs are on fire with the discussion.

I wanted to provide a slightly different perspective on the issue, with the thoughts of a secular German homeschooler/unschooler who currently has children in the German public schools.  The translation is my own.

Thoughts on the Romeikes:

The WDR (Translator’s note: West German Radio, German public broadcasting) holds a team meeting, One of the topics:  The Romeike Family.  The current WDR editor asks whether one can be skeptical of the Christian views.  I, like the conversation partner who spoke with the WDR, think yes, one may.  BUT no one, because of his beliefs or because he represents a minority, should have to leave this country, because enough other families know that things aren’t the best with our own schools.

“Why shouldn’t we allow home education in Germany, where perhaps only a couple thousand would take this option?” were the thoughts posed to the WDR.  The answer came quickly.  The editor said only two words, “If that.”

Yes, if only a few thousand families were to home educate.  If only a third of these did so for Christian reasons.  A strong country should respect its minorities and not suppress them.  Because most Germans love their land and should be supported.  The editor also took these thoughts in his meeting.

I’ve been at “learning at home” for almost six years with my oldest son Manuel, whom many of you know.  For almost two years, he has been learning almost fully alone.  The first years were also arduous:  Considering what needed to be learned, the search for materials, the preparation and follow-up, the learning alongside.  It was also expensive, in two regards:  all the books to buy, supplemental materials, one tinkers, works, holds animals, plants and visits museums and other institutions–everything for education.  And one pays court costs in order to be clear of penalties and fines.  It was also a very beautiful time and it is still now, because Manuel has become an independent, self-possessed young person–like many free learners I have come to know.  Most do it for reasons very different from the Romeikes, the authorities however proceed the same: Fines and penalties and finally comes the youth welfare office, which tries to compel the children to school with threats.

Now my youngest two sons go to school–many of their best friends are unschoolers and homeschoolers.  They go to school, because that is what one does, because they can and are successful and–and because they may learn at home what they do not receive in school.  Without challenge at home, without support for their interests, the education in the school would be insufficient.  I was raised Christian, but am of the opinion that my children should decide for themselves which beliefs they would like to have and was always dissatisfied with the religious instruction in the schools.  Therefore, my sons go to Ethics.  (Translator’s note:  Religious education is compulsory in Germany, generally Protestant in the north and Catholic in the south.)

Today in the school is a participatory concert, a minister will come, he will sing with the children.  In the first two school hours.  Normally in this time, core subjects are taught.  Normally after that,  one of my children has PE, which is canceled for the day; a substitute teacher will keep the children busy.

We must pay 2 Euro per child for the minister’s concert, we received a parent letter which stated that the children of the first grades would participate in the concert as a required event.  We were not asked how we felt about that.

I asked my children if I should ask the teachers what the Ethics children were to do in that time–and whether they would actually like to go.  My younger son gave the answer: “But Mama, we’re singing the songs of Noah’s Ark, we’ve been practicing.  EVERYONE’S going.”  We’re a democratic household, had the boys said they wouldn’t like to go, it would have to be considered how the school could accommodate the children.  So it was naturally also simple, they wanted to participate, so they will participate.

I had no more words after that for the statements of my children, I had to reflect on that.  Clearly, today they have gone there.  It is sure that it will be fun for them.  But I have understood what persuades Christian homeschoolers like the Romeikes to leave this country, although I find it unfortunate.  We still have a constitution, with parental rights and freedom of belief.  I have tried to grant this freedom of belief to my children.  I hold to the law and my children attend a state school, which also has nice aspects, because in that time I can work and have time for my children in the afternoons.

But–today the state, represented by the primary school, determines that my children are required to compensate and accompany a minister for a concert and prior to this, the school successfully proselytised them and taught them subjects of faith without my knowledge.

My children are strong children and tell everything at home and we will talk about it and answer the questions that come up.  But what about the children that have a home where parents do not have this time–because there is too little money and both parents must work all day?  What about the children who may not be able to bring their questions about new beliefs home to their parents?  Does the state really have the responsibility to determine in which Christian beliefs my children should be brought up?

After the Romeike’s asylum proceedings, the state, the schools and the teachers should reflect what their purposes are.  Above all that, while the press explains that Germans have fled to the USA for their freedom of belief and were granted asylum, today Christians, Muslims and children from other religions sat in an elementary school gymnasium and participated in a concert with a minister, the exact contents of which were previously unknown to us parents.

I wish the Romeike family well, and may Germany go thoughtfully into the day…

~Corinna

And indeed, what are the purposes of the state in education? Preparation for a global economy and socialization, the latter of which has significant parallels with the “parallel societies” argument Germany has used to support it’s persecution of homeschooling families.  That is also why I think it is important to get the answer to the ubiquitous question “What about socialization?” right.  We as homeschoolers are held in the middle of our own national conversation and while I do not foresee us seeking asylum abroad any time soon, I do believe how we answer this with friends and strangers may have a greater long term impact than all our legislative efforts.

I am happy to see this has sparked quite a bit of conversation in Germany.  It is one thing to hold that “children should go to school” and quite another to be confronted with the consequences of deciding not to, which at times leads to the decision to face losing your children or fleeing the country.  And while many have tried to make this about religion, Corinna makes it clear that your religious beliefs are irrelevant when the state discovers you are homeschooling.

What do you think about asylum being granted for homeschoolers fleeing Germany?

_________________

Other blogs discussing the decision:

HomeschoolBuzz
Why Homeschool
Examiner.com
Stop the ACLU
RedStateEclectic
The Teacher
The Divine Life
Home Education Magazine
Educating Germany
The Daily Salty
Babycenter

homeschooling home education Romeike asylum socialization religion

We now have a homeschool room.  Something I never particularly wanted to have, and a concept I have at times resisted.  But then we bought this house and with it came this little, boxy room with no purpose in all our other plans for the house.

Wouldn’t it be nice to put the bookshelves in there?

We thought, mindful of the overflowing bookshelves crowding the front room and children’s room of our old house.

We could keep all my homeschool supplies in that closet.

We thought, remembering the manipulatives stored under the bed, in the laundry room and in the attic.

Ooh…and a place to keep projects.

We thought, remembering the work laid out on the kitchen table that became a centerpiece for meals.  Because the kitchen table as homeschool classroom doesn’t work so well if the lessons don’t end by dinner time.

And the homeschool room was born.  It is overflowing with books, and the manipulatives are stacked helter skelter in the closet.  Posters are lying on the floor, and my whiteboard is tucked behind a shelf that doesn’t belong in there.  Pull out shelving is planned for the closet to keep my things neat and accessible, but there are many projects in line before that one so the room will have to wait.

As I sort through boxes and try to figure out how to make a temporary home for all this stuff that is not going to be a continual source of frustration until the time and budget allow for the light remodeling, I come to terms with a simple fact.

I never wanted a homeschool room.  In fact, I rather liked our boundary-less homeschool space.  Calling it a homeschool room brings to mind images of lined up desks and children facing forward, though the room would never fit five desks and there’s little chance of them all facing forward at once, anyway.  But all I need is an old analog clock that buzzes hanging on the wall, some fluorescent lighting and the classroom image would be complete.

Oh, and maybe a modern playground just out the window that they never actually get to play on.  That brings back memories.

So I think, “What’s in a word?”  Why does “a place for all my stuff” have to be a “homeschool room” and why does that have to remind me so strongly of a school room?

And I  look at the bookshelves, double stacked with books, thinking of all those boxes still in the garage with books to be unpacked and shelved.  I’m running out of room.  And it dawns on me.  This isn’t a homeschool room.  It’s a library.  A place to go to choose a book, start a project or just stare out a window.  A place for a quiet game, a quick lesson or a needed escape.  A small, homeschool library.

Now I just need to teach the kids to whisper.

homeschool homeschooling home education

I’m totally reposting an old post for My 3 Boybarians’ Blog Hop.  Not all that much has changed since the last time I posted on the topic, except that I have a fifth child now. And a kitchen table which is currently buried under their latest project.

First, we have the independent learning center.  This is where children may come to select activities and interact with one another during self-directed, exploratory activities.  Note the purple curtain in the background.  This is actually a sunroom-turned-bedroom and thus has three walls of windows, covered here for intimacy, but opened in the daytime to allow minds to range freely even while bodies are trapped indoors.  Going with the Bringing-the Outdoors-in theme, my children are preparing for a camp out.  Or is it a camp in?

With only 900 square feet, finding a place to get away is sometimes a challenge.  Here, my daughter has solved the problem beautifully by retreating to the top of her bunk bed.  And pulling up the ladder, which you cannot see in this picture.  She has taken a quiet moment to read a book…at 11 PM!  I think she may be a bit like me.

Many homeschoolers do the bulk of their teaching at the kitchen table.  We did away with that nuisance long ago and no longer own a kitchen table.  Instead, we use TV trays for just about everything that might pass as school.  Here, the children are playing a nice game of chess.  I love this picture because….well…it just looks so homeschoolerish.  Nevermind that neither of them knew how to play when this picture was taken.  It is all about the image discovery.

With limited space comes creativity, and every room and every piece of furniture does double duty.  Here is an impromptu tea party on my old bed.  And what tea party is complete without a baby dressed as a…actually, I’m not sure what they were thinking.  Their living doll is pretty patient, however.

Last, but not least, is the center of our homeschooling: the sofa.  And here you can see a little of my philosophy of how to keep toddlers under control while teaching: just give them the same tools and let them play along.  Note the ubiquitous TV tray.  Can’t do school without it.

As you can see, our school room covers pretty much the entire house.  Nine hundred square feet may be small for a house, but it isn’t bad for a school room.  All that aren’t pictured here are the laundry room because they aren’t allowed in there.  Just LOOK AT WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF and I think you will understand why.  And the kitchen.  For some reason, young children near open flame requires a level of atttention I do not have behind a camera, but if you follow that link, you will see my three year old in her chosen profession which definitely involves the kitchen.

And it is the school room of my dreams because here is where my children are now, building something for their futures that we cannot yet even guess at.

homeschool homeschooling home education

After the discussion on my last post, I’ve been wondering just how involved the average homeschool father is in homeschooling.  And it looks like the discussion has already begun a bit with Homeschool and Etc., Zimmszoo, and Only Sometimes Clever sharing their thoughts.  So I thought I’d conduct a little poll.  Wholly unscientific, and from which no meaningful conclusions can be drawn, but I’m curious anyway.  For the homeschool fathers out there, how involved are you in the homeschooling of your children?

Around here, my husband is very supportive although not directly involved.  Actually, that is part of why we homeschool in a round about way.  As a railroader, he has a crazy schedule, and for those precious few hours when he is both home and awake, we find the family time to be more important than the school time.

Other than being a check on a budget that might otherwise spiral out of control, he has very little to do with any of the educational decisions made.  Not counting the first big one which would be the decision to homeschool in the first place.  I was totally against it, and only consented to teaching kindergarten because I think Playdo is as important as pencils at that age, and the local school district does not necessarily agree.

I began homeschooling knowing full well my daughter would be enrolled at the school in first grade.

From that point on, I’ve pretty much gone on about “my thing.”  And, for the most part, it works.  I’ve never particularly lamented the fact that he doesn’t do math lessons or listen to them read.  I know he trusts me to do my best for the children and (almost as important) I know he won’t say too much about the last order I put in to Amazon.com.

I don’t expect him to take on the role of teacher, nor do I particularly want him to take on the role of principal in our little homeschool.  I could not do this, however, if he weren’t on board.  If I felt like I was continually being compared to the public school.  If I had to keep my doubts and frustrations to myself to keep from adding fuel to the disagreement on how to educate the children.

There are enough people out there who question the decision to homeschool without it coming from my own home.

homeschool homeschooling home education homeschool dads

By all accounts, Lisa Naeger is an outstanding homeschooling mother of eight years.  She appears to be in compliance with all homeschool laws in Missouri and her children have excelled on measures of academic success according to two professional testing companies, one of which was picked by the court.  How does such a mother end up before the court, fighting for her ability to continue to homeschool?

Divorce and a custody battle.  It is like that case out of North Carolina, but without the strange church 3,000 miles away.

Now, “Friends of Lisa” has been started to help support her in her battle and to “[ensure] that your homeschooling rights in St. Charles are not compromised.”  And Lisa has gone on a speaking tour to “get her story heard and to instruct and warn other home schoolers as to how fragile our home schooling rights can be.”

To be clear:  I don’t have a problem with any of the above people or organizations supporting Lisa.  They are homeschoolers in her area and appear to know her and are familiar with the case.  By all accounts, she is a wonderful homeschooling mother and I sincerely hope the courts rule in the best interests of the children without reflexively assuming that means public school.  What concerns me is this warning.  Is our ability to homeschool so fragile that it is affected by a custody dispute in St. Charles, MO?

When I shared my thoughts on the case in North Carolina, I was gently reprimanded by “A Guest:”

How I manage homeschooling with children across such a broad age range (10, 6, 4, 2 and 4 months) is probably the most common question I am asked.  It is also one of the more difficult ones for me to answer.  The hardest is “How do you get it all done?”  Because I don’t.  And really, the answer is the same regarding managing homeschooling different ages.

I simply don’t.  At least not in the way the other person seems to think.  Most people seem to be under the impression that having two school-aged children means I have two separate curricula to go through, while pulling off a little preschool with the four year old and keeping the younger two occupied as best I can.

Answering questions based on a misperception has always been difficult for me, especially when the conversation is with someone I scarcely know who is just curious about homeschooling.  Answering directly makes it sound like I’m not really doing anything with the younger children, while discussions regarding the differences between schooling and home education take longer than the normal social limits set on small talk.

Sometimes, I really do feel like I’m speaking a different language.

My eldest is really the only one who ever balks at homeschooling.  I made most of my mistakes with her, and there is a lot I would change about how we started if I could.  For the younger ones, however, it is all they’ve ever known.  They have grown up playing at my feet while Mouse and I discussed a book, went over math or tried a science experiment.  When they were old enough, they were drawn into the conversation.

Or more accurately, they demanded to be a part of it.  My two year old breaks down in tears if I call for the children to come to the table and I have nothing prepared for her.  My six year old wants to know more about everything and is continually asking me to write new things he has learned in his old lapbooks.

I teach and they learn what they are ready for.  But then there is this notion that somehow the younger children will miss out on something.  As if the fact we covered amphibians last month means we will never talk about them again and my younger children will grow into adulthood never knowing the life cycle of a frog.  But around here, no lesson is ever really over.  In fact, that is why we are drifting away from lapbooks.  They run out of room for all the additions my children want to make over time, and these additions represent something very important in education I want to encourage:  Just because the unit has ended doesn’t mean we are finished learning about the subject.

And that all goes to show that I should have foreseen the first real difficulty I’ve experienced teaching children of different ages together.  How, in all my planning, did I think I was going to get away with assigning The Hobbit as silent reading?  Barely into the introduction, as I mentioned that JRR Tolkein and C.S. Lewis were friends, I had the rapt attention of four little imaginations.

Send Mouse off with the book by herself?  I think there would have been a revolt and definite claims of favoritism.

homeschool homeschooling home education multi-aged homeschooling

Catholic Dads recently asked how other homeschool families discuss homeschooling with family, friends and paticularly with the homeschooled children.  Particularly the questions of children seem to draw out uncertainties.  After all, we have so much power to frame the entire discussion and insert our views into our children.  Catholic Dad’s questions echo my own thoughts as I attempt to answer my daughter’s questions:

But how do we explain this [the reasons we homeschool] to a five year old without a.) giving him the impression that he’s missing out on something fantastic, b.) running the risk that he looks down his nose at other kids who do go to school or c.)getting the impression that schools and everything associated with them are to be avoided?  Homeschool Diplomacy

They are good questions and the answers deserve some pondering.  After all, short of sending your children off to school for an extended period, any answer given will only be part of the story.  It’s like trying to explain a foreign culture without it coming down to food, holidays and national costumes.

I don’t have an answer.

Actually, I have more questions.  Essentially, they are the same questions, broadened and not specific to homeschoolers.  How do we explain differences and diversity to our children?  Whether it is a woman dressed in a sari, or with a hijab covering her head, a child with obvious physical deformities or a man behaving bizarrely on a street corner, how do you address the questions your children have?

As a child stands staring, the most common reaction I see from parents is a swift diversion and a muttered “It’s impolite to stare!” as the child is whisked away.  Now, it is impolite to stare, and an important part of raising children is teaching them these finer points of social life.  But in that moment, the child has also noticed something:  people are different.  We come in different colors, shapes and sizes, we have different customs, we speak different languages and some of us suffer from diseases and disorders that make us noticeably different.  Some of us are hurting, are hungry and even smell.

But it is impolite to stare, so we whisk our children away.

I’d be the last to say that it is appropriate to turn the person into an object lesson. . .although a man with a neck injury at McDonald’s once told me he never minded the children staring.  It was the parents shuttling them out of sight that got to him.  But I can’t help but wonder how many parents pick up the conversation with their children later.

I wonder, because a lot is learned in that moment.  A lot more than perhaps we realize.  It brings us back to that socialization issue homeschoolers are so fond of:

The process whereby a child learns to get along with and to behave similarly to other people in the group, largely through imitation as well as group pressure.  Answers.com

It is also a process which occurs without critical analysis.  That quick but firm redirection (with perhaps a touch of shock) may teach our children a lot more about our culture than simply that it is impolite to stare.  After all, there seem to be certain “things not spoken of” that we aren’t even supposed to look at.

But how do we (and how should we) discuss these issues with young children?

homeschool homeschooling diversity socialization

The Globe and Mail out of Canada has some nice commentary on homeschooling.  I particulary liked the fact that the author’s “conversion” to a supporter of homeschooling occured not after being inundated by statistics and well-crafted arguments.  Instead, she was confronted with a roomfull of homeschoolers in a homeschool information night at her library.

Seated beside a mom with coiffed hair, polished nails and an elegant suit, I listened wide-eyed as audience members talked about a world I had totally misunderstood and stereotyped.

. . .

None of them were hippies. None seemed overly religious or way out there. In fact, the only trait they shared was a conviction that they – as moms and dads – could better prepare their children for life.

She does have one question, however:

Research shows home-schooled kids outperform their public-school peers. So why so is there little or no financial encouragement for parents to take it on?

I don’t know how these things work up in Canada, but down here in the states I think the question is fairly easy to answer.  For the most part, we don’t want the money.  We don’t want the oversight and we don’t want the control.

We just want to be left alone to follow our convictions and educate our children in freedom.

Some previous discussion about tax credits, for the interested:

Federal tax credit for homeschoolers

MO looks at parental rights, tax credits for homeschoolers

homeschool homeschooling home education tax credits for homeschools

June 16, the new school law was presented to the Swedish minister of education.  Based on its understanding of the European Convention on Human Rights (itself based on the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights), homeschooling will be made illegal.  The following is a letter forwarded to me from a homeschooler in Sweden:

*******************

Dear friends,

Today the Swedish Government released its suggestion for a new Swedish school law which has been in the works for many years.

The position on homeschooling in the suggested law is a return to darkness. It is unbelievable.  Homeschoolings will NOT be permitted for those referring to philosophical or religious reasons according to the European convention on Human Rights!

The reason given is:

“…that the education in school should be comprehensive and objective
and thereby designed so that all pupils can participate, regardless of
what religious or philosophical reasons the pupil or his or her care-
takers may have.”

Thus, the suggested law argues:

“…there is no need for the law to offer the possibility of
homeschooling because of religious or philosophical reasons in the
family. All together this means that this suggested change cannot be
said to contradict Swedens international obligations Human rights
conventions].”

The quotes above are my [the author of the original letter!] translations from the suggested law on page
584. The suggested law can be downloaded in Swedish from the Swedish Government homepage: http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/11355/a/128290

That the Swedish Government is making homeschooling illegal is Sweden showing off its worst totalitarian socialist roots. We will need international support to show that Sweden, as a member of the international democratic community, cannot take such a position. As Sweden is often seen as the great social utopia of the world, it is important for Swedish homeschoolers to win this battle.

Sensible international suggestions about the new Swedish school law can be sent to: skollagen@education.ministry.se

You are welcome to contact me at: jonas@rohus.se or the whole Rohus board at: styrelsen@rohus.nu

Best regards

Jonas Himmelstrand
Member and pedagogical advisor of the Rohus board

*************************

Hopefully this does not go through, but from my understanding, homeschooling in Sweden is a very rare event.  According to A to Z Home’s Cool, there are only about 200 homeschooling families.  Like the situation in England, it appears that it is official interpretation of international treaties that is behind the attempt to restrict homeschooling.  At the same time, homeschoolers in Sweden are using the language of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a defense.

homeschooling homeschool home education Swedish homeschooling

JJ Ross pleads with homeschoolers to think a little before writing.

Homeschool advocates, please, please educate yourselves first before you “defend” homeschooling freedom in the public square, lest you make our community’s thinking skills seem inadequate and thereby bolster the regulators’ case or the standardizers’ case or the social worker-teacher union-UN case.  Cocking a Snook

I always have a little difficulty with the various discussions about how certain segments of the homeschool population need to back away from certain lines of reasoning lest we all suffer.  To be honest, most of them come across to me as “If only those whacked out conservative evangelical types would shut up already…”

But is there one way, one right way, to engage the public in homeschool discussions?  I can be both snarky and serious, dismissive and cordial.  It all depends on who I’m talking to and whether or not I think they would listen.  Of course, the problem with blogging is that everyone can listen, but in so doing I ask them to do a little reasoning of their own.

I agree with JJ Ross when I listen to a Senator who introduced a restrictive homeschooling bill say she received emails calling her a communist.  I agree when I see in an official report to the English government that no one in the Local Authority would be the intellectual equivalent of their child.  Those are stupid things to say to a government official who is looking at regulating homeschools.  But does that mean we all need to follow the talking points?

I’m going to borrow a bit of philosophy from evangelist Ravi Zaccharias and adapt it to my purposes.  Essentially, the apologist must argue from three levels simultaneously:  the theoretical, the arts and the “kitchen table.”  All three are important.  All three influence how homeschoolers are perceived.  All three are valid, depending on context.  Context is key.

Refining the philosophical is of importance in communicating with academics and policy makers.  When speaking with researchers, we need to speak their language.  They like statistics, but in a field where valid, scientific statistics are lacking (and often vociferously attacked) it is difficult to give the peer-reviewed, double-blind study they are looking for.  And that in and of itself raises concerns for many.

But how important is that to the rights of homeschooling families?  Does our freedom to educate our children rest in the hands of Rob Reich and Kim Yuracko?  Perhaps not as much as we think.  Certainly their writings give a level of credence to other attacks against homeschooling in media and in government.  They certainly shouldn’t be ignored and their arguments should not go unchallenged.

The objections raised by politicians are certainly more immediate.  They have the power not merely to influence opinion but to change law.  Historically, however, we have been able to hold our own against the state.

Over the last twenty to thirty years, it does not appear to me that the arguments for and against homeschooling have changed much.  I have not been involved in homeschooling for even half that time, so perhaps my impression is inaccurate.  Still, we have made decisive gains in the acceptance of homeschooling.  Perhaps it is because of the amazing rhetoric of a skilled few.  Perhaps it is because of the deafening noise of the many when homeschooling is challenged.

But I believe it has primarily to do with that “kitchen table talk.”  Every time the Department of Education asks, more people indicate favorable views toward homeschooling.  I seriously doubt most of the people in those surveys have read Nicky Hardenbergh’s response to Rob Reich.  Somewhere along the line, however, I bet they met a homeschooler.  Somehow, they were able to overcome their stereotypes, their reflexive fear of what is “different” and see homeschooling in a different light.

I am thoroughly convinced that the future of homeschooling rests in the opinions of my friends, neighbors and others in my community rather than in the hands of a few highly educated objectors.  For that reason, I sincerely believe that the casual conversations I have at a ball game, in line at the grocery store, sitting in the doctor’s office, etc. are far more important to the future of homeschooling than anything I have ever written on this blog.

That is the level at which we act and interact.  It is where the abstract becomes concrete.  It is where the homeschooler ceases to be part of the “Other” and becomes part of the community.

homeschool homeschooling home education