Homeschooling in Germany
My sister, Ronda, just moved to Germany a week ago with her family for a year-long adventure. Ross, her husband, will be studying theology and writing a book at a major Germany university while the family learns about living in a new and interesting culture.
Ronda has been homeschooling her four beautiful children for many years now … there are some specific needs that she’s able to meet inside the home, and she’s just a wonderful educator. But now their plan has hit a major bump in the road. Homeschooling, you see, is illegal in Germany … and it appears that the authorities are asking their family to conform to German regulations. Here’s an excerpt from an email that she just sent to me:
[Name Removed] from the office in [city removed] where we applied for our visa yesterday called today to say that we must put our children in German school. She would like us to meet her Friday morning, bringing an interpreter since she doesn’t speak German, to sort this out.
I have wanted to come home many times already this first 6 days, and now I feel so utterly defeated and angry. Please pray for us. This is more than we know how to handle, especially with no language skills.
The language barrier obviously makes it difficult for her children as well, who are brilliant but would still have an obviously hard time in the German educational system. Furthermore, from what I’ve read, there are many New Age and explicit things that are being taught in the German schools … and it’s pretty easy to see why my sister would prefer to continue homeschooling her children.
Please pray … they’re fighters, but that’s much harder to do in a foreign land!
May 24th, 2006 at 7:06 pm EST
you have really cute nieces and nephews
May 24th, 2006 at 8:12 pm EST
I know … it must run in the family.
The family of the in-laws, that is.
May 25th, 2006 at 3:57 pm EST
To look on the bright side, they are at a really good age to quickly learn another language, something that would benefit them their whole lives.
As far as being exposed to other ideas, that is kind of the point of school. If kids are only exposed to one set of ideas, they grow up with stunted minds.
I give thanks every day that my Mom let me read anything I wanted. She taught by example, and that is what has always been my first guide.
May 25th, 2006 at 5:02 pm EST
Sue, I appreciate your positive outlook … and the decision that my sister and brother-in-law made to move to Germany in the first place obviously reflects their belief in learning other languages and being exposed to a new culture. But, as Dennis Dudley (a college friend) always said, “Some people are so open minded that their brains are falling out.”
From what I’ve read, I have 2 main issues with the German educational system. First is the constant confrontation with the topic of sexuality. I refuse to go into details here, as I want to keep webeldotnet PG-13 (believe me … some of it is downright sick). If you care to know details, search the web.
Second, as I mentioned in my post, “there are specific needs that my sister is able to meet inside the home”. To be more specific (yet still purposely vague), these are “special needs”. To say that my nephew, who has very distinct and unique sensory integration issues, should be placed in the German public school system is absolutely ludicrous. I didn’t mention this before … but my sister’s family is from Princeton, NJ, the home of our country’s finest private schools. Even those institutions couldn’t meet his specific needs as well as my sister can.
Some other families also claim that the system undermines parental authority through promotion of the state’s moral values, which are designed to create autonomous individuals. I don’t know a lot about this, but I see how it could be a problem for some families who are raising their children with Judeo-Christian morals.
May 28th, 2006 at 12:58 pm EST
Dennis Dudley! I can hear it…
May 30th, 2006 at 7:00 pm EST
Check this out:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42476
They’re really not too friendly towards homeschoolers in Germany.
June 15th, 2006 at 12:28 am EST
An update from my sister: