Sadly, about the only people reporting on these incidents seem to be Christian groups and homeschooling networks on the Internet. Groups like the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). As mentioned above, the AP has a story that has made its way around the wires, too, but there doesn’t seem to be much independent coverage of this by the Old Media.

This seems odd since it is quite an interesting story where it concerns international relations. The HSLDA says that this ruling is “embarrassing for Germany.” That may be but the rest of the media is silent. Read more…

PURCELLVILLE, VA- A German couple who fled to Tennessee so they could home school their children has been granted political asylum by an immigration judge in Memphis. (See earlier story)

The decision clears the way for Uwe Romeike his wife and five children to stay in Morristown, Tennessee, where they have been living since 2008.

German law requires children to attend public or private schools, and parents can face fines or prison time if they don’t comply. Romeike, an evangelical Christian, said he believes Germany’s curriculum is “against Christian values.” Read more…

It’s the middle of the school year. Unfortunately, there’s been one more bullying incident on the bus. The principal says his hands are tied, and maybe you’d consider driving your child to school (10 miles away). During those desperate times, you’ve considered homeschooling. Double DeckerAfter all, this double decker looks more appealing than that yellow one. Read more…

I continue to be amazed at the public displays of rank anti-religious ignorance by members of the “educated class.” This time it’s in an article entitled “The Harms of Homeschooling” by one Robin L. West (h/t to Izzy Lyman), from a recent issue of Philosophy & Public Policy, published by the University of Maryland. The name of the publication led me to expect something academic, but the article is basically a bigoted screed against the supposed religious extremism of the “hard core” of the homeschooling community. It’s chock-full of dispassionate academic prose like this (describing homeschoolers): Read more…

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — On a rainy Friday afternoon in October, junior quarterback Stevie Douglas emerged from a well-traveled minivan that had begun its journey in Clinton, La. Teammates Ronald Brown, Rennel Hammond, Mike-el Arvie and Jeremy Arvie emerged from a white van bearing the logo of the New Life Tabernacle Church in Opelousas, La. From other vehicles came more players — 21 in all — and they toted their duffel bags into one of the leftover FEMA trailers that served as locker rooms for a tiny football stadium in the shadow of a graveyard.

Once inside, several players dipped into their bags and pulled out their helmets. Then they dipped back into their bags and pulled out screwdrivers to repair their helmets. The team doesn’t have an equipment manager for the same reason they didn’t come to Hattiesburg in a school bus. To use a school bus, the Patriots would have to play for a brick-and-mortar school.

The vast majority of the players are on this team homeschooled. Read more…

When 7-year-old Annabelle Kirkpatrick studies fractions and converting pints to quarts, she and her mom go into their kitchen and start cooking.

For a lesson on caterpillars, they browse around their backyard flower garden for a look at the little critters firsthand. After all, Annabelle is homeschooled, which means her parents’ two-story house in Eustis is her classroom.

Angela Kirkpatrick decided last school year to homeschool her daughter, who became one of a flood of Florida children who suddenly left private and public schools to learn at home. Read more…

Many public-schooled students certainly wouldn’t pass my standards, and my children shouldn’t have to pass the state’s standards. I don’t have anything to hide; however, the question isn’t whether I and other home-school parents have something to hide or not, but whether we should have to prove something or not. Parents shouldn’t be held accountable to the state. The state – and its educators and educational system – should be held accountable to parents and taxpayers. Read more…

PURCELLVILLE, VA, Jan. 19 /Christian Newswire/ — In what could be a major international embarrassment for Germany a federal immigration judge in Memphis Tennessee is expected to rule this Wednesday on the political asylum case of the Romeike family who fled persecution by German authorities over homeschooling in August 2008.

“The persecution of homeschoolers in Germany has dramatically intensified,” said HSLDA staff attorney Michael P. Donnelly. “They are regularly fined thousands of dollars, threatened with imprisonment, or have the custody of their children taken away simply because they choose to home educate.” Read more…

This is week 212 in the carnival of home schooling. If this was the carnival of home schooling for dogs it would be week 1,484.

Before I get started with the theme of this week, I thought this would be the best time to talk about the big news story going on right now. I certainly don’t mean Leno vs. Conan. Laura presents 21 Ways For Your Children To Help Haitian Earthquake Victims posted at Practical Homeschooling. Read more…

Sam BlumenfeldAll candidates for office promise to “improve education,” but when they are elected, they haven’t the faintest idea of how to proceed from there. That’s because the whole idea of education reform is based more on the deliberate falsehoods produced by the educators than on the reality of why our schools are the way they are.

I have been writing critically about education for the last forty years, and the one thing that has become quite obvious to me is that all of the serious problems we have in public education today have been deliberately caused by the educators themselves, and that no true education reform is possible so long as we rely on the educators to create and implement these reforms. Read more…