Educating children should be counted as a privilege

Feb. 14, 2007 - I like to take my kids places. Often, those places are routine errands or simple outings. My children join me at the office where they either work on school, run a few copies or play, depending on the day. We go to the store, sometimes to compare prices or gather supplies for our latest project, other times simply to shop for necessities.

These activities are not extraordinary, and most families engage in them. The part that is extraordinary is that I can do all of these things during school hours, without fear that any of us will be arrested, fined, jailed or committed to an institution.

I have never had to pause for even one moment to worry that someone noticed that my children were with me during school hours or that the bus didn't stop in front of my house today. We simply do what we do.

As an American, I wear many freedoms, some of which I rarely even think to notice I possess. The freedom to choose to homeschool has been on my mind lately, as the homeschool blogging community is abuzz with news from Germany.

You might think that any law put in place by Adolf Hitler would be subject to - at a minimum - a critical review, but the law enacted in 1938 governing homeschooling still stands. In Germany, homeschooling is illegal.

From time to time, I read about old laws here in the United States that simply stayed on the books and were forgotten. We don't see many police reports involving spitting on sidewalks, but some places still have such ordinances in effect.

The authorities don't enforce those laws, and when someone looks back and finds such a statute, everyone has a good chuckle at the town council meeting before the old law is repealed.

The archaic law in Germany that governs homeschooling is not seen there as a laughing matter, either by authorities or by the few hundred brave families who choose to homeschool.

In many cases, German homeschoolers are fighting for the right to homeschool for religious reasons. It is a losing battle. The state routinely locks up parents or removes children from their homes when they are found to be homeschooling.

Many of these families, once political refugees from communist Russia, now find themselves fleeing again, this time to countries that will allow them to educate their children at home. Other parents find themselves released from jail only to be faced with hefty fines and a home forcibly emptied of the children they hold so dear.

The Busekros family began homeschooling for a practical reason. Like many teens, Melissa had her academic strengths and weaknesses. While still a student in public school, Melissa earned failing grades in Latin and math. Initially, her family tutored her in these subjects while she attended school for her other subjects, but the local school didn't like that arrangement and sent her packing. Being pushed out of school for failure and nonconformity happens in Germany, too.

In Melissa's case, authorities recently followed up with an unexpected course of action. Instead of arresting her parents, as has happened to many other homeschooling parents over the years, Melissa herself was taken from her home to a psychiatric ward. Her diagnosis? School phobia.

This month in America, we set aside time to honor two men. Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, both homeschooled, who stood for life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and equality. All ideals that are the cornerstones of our country. They, and many others, dedicated themselves to carving out and preserving hard-won freedoms for the rest of us.

For the privilege to choose how to educate my children, and for the many other freedoms I sometimes take for granted, I offer my humble gratitude.

Rose Godfrey is a speech pathologist and homeschooling mom in Marysville. She can be reached at homeschoolmom@thespeechworks.com.