FREEDOM IS HOMESCHOOLING AND HOMESCHOOLING IS FREEDOM

FREEDOM IS HOMESCHOOLING AND HOMESCHOOLING IS FREEDOM

When I received an email from Henry Cate about contributing an article on Homeschooling to the Carnival of Homeschooling, I was a little taken aback, that a prestigious homeschooling site such as the Carnival of Homeschooling had asked for my contribution on the subject of Homeschooling and I thought to myself �What aspect of Homeschooling can I write about?" My name is Olivia Carter-Hamilton, I'm an ex-secondary school teacher, tutor and trainer, educated and raised in the United Kingdom, that homeschooled my son, up to the age of 16 years old, when he then decided he wanted to attend College and then University, where he graduated with Honours in Information Technology. He is now 28 years old, employed in the computer software and installation industry and studying for his Masters in this field.

I reviewed all the postings and comments that I had made on other homeschoolers postings and the one topic that stood out to me, was on the Rights of Parents to Homeschool their child/ren, a comment that I had made in reply to Andrea Hermitt's post on 'In the Best Interest of the Child', which was made in the families.com website.

In Germany it appears that a dangerous precedence has been made that erode the rights of parents that wish to homeschool their child/ren. The German government took the parents of a child that they wished to homeschool to the European Court of Human Rights with the argument that the parents were depriving their child of a state education and surprise, surprise the German government won.

Why do I say surprise, surprise. I'm sorry, but that was my attempt at sarcasm, having studied the European Parliament and Constitution of the European Union, you will find that Germany holds the majority of seats and power within this centralized European political bureaucracy and I believe it is a blatant attempt by a government power, in trying to influence a precedence for any other government or local education authority, that believe that parents with children of school-age are unable and do not have any of the skills and attributes to effectively educate their own child/ren. Even though there is no German law that states that a child may not be homeschooled. The financial cost of objecting to this decision in the European Court of Justice, (the highest legislative body of European Community members) is prohibitive both financially and in the time it would take for it to be heard and a decision to be made.

In fact, if you think about it, the reason that this action was brought was because, the German government said that the parents were depriving their child of a state education and those are the key words. A state education. An education and curriculum dictated to by the state. Where the state demands the child should attend and the method of delivery left up to teachers, whose responsibilities are not solely centred on the individual child's needs, requirements and pace of learning, or their present skill and ability levels, or teaching in a loving, caring and nuturing, healthy and safe environment, that is state controlled and that is why the German government object to homeschooling and homeschoolers, they want the control over their children and over parental actions and decisions, despite it being of detrement to the child/ren. This is a question all about control.

The parents weren't depriving or trying to deprive their child of an education, they were just attempting to exercise their parental rights and choice to educate their child within a loving, caring and safe home environment, with an extremely low teacher to pupil ratio. As a result of this action and the previous constant persecution, many German parents, with their child/ren have actually emigrated, so that they could effectively educate their children by homeschooling where they will not be persecuted for exercising their choice and right to educate in the best interests of their child.

Some homeschoolers may shrug their shoulders and say what is this to do with us? I believe it is the right of every parent to be given the choice and that is the keyword, the choice, of whether to send their child/ren to be educated in the public school system or whether to homeschool. If homeschooling is right for the child/ren, wherever you live in the world, it should be the right of the parents to have that choice to homeschool.

In conclusion, this ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, sends out an extremely dangerous message to all governments around the world. The message being, that, if you allow children to be homeschooled you are depriving the child of their human rights. Which high profile governing body whether national or local wants to be seen as a human rights violator of children? Beware homeschoolers of America and worldwide, unless we campaign for the rights of all parents who want to have the true democratic choice of what kind of education would be best for their child/ren and who wish to homeschool, then where else will the persecution of homeschoolers start up or intensify next, may be in your town, in your city, in your county, in your state or even your country.

You can also read my blog which is devoted to homeschooling and education on:

At Home, At School, At Play - http://lec23.blogspot.com/index.html

I also contribute and have made quite a few homeschooling comments and postings on another homeschooling friendly website which is:

http://www.families.com/lec23/

May I also recommend 2 other invaluable homeschoolers postings contributors on the families.com website, whom I seem to have contributed the most comments on. These are:

http://www.families.com/ahermitt/

http://www.families.com/twinzplus3/

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