http://www.stuff.co.nz/4734642a1860.html
cut……..
The source added: “Guy has never contributed towards the running of the family and his son’s schooling. Contrary to the image being projected, Madonna’s been the rock of the family. She’s the one who has the kids with her at all times.
“They are home-schooled and they go on the road with her.”
There are moments when we look at everyone around the dinner table, and it’s just crazy, but our family is the greatest thing we’ve done in our lives.’
So great, in fact, Jolie may put her blossoming Hollywood career on hold.
The Jolie-Pitt family: Angelina and Brad with four of their six children, Maddox, Shiloh, Zahara and Pax
She says she plans to stay home for another full year, and she expects acting to play a diminishing role in her life as time goes by. Since the twins were born almost four months ago, the older children have been home-schooled: ‘and they’ve had Mummy and Daddy every day for every meal, and they’ve been very close to us,’ Jolie said.
It makes the decision to take a new role ‘really hard,’ she said.
‘Who’s in school at that time? How can I be sure I don’t do too many long hours? Can the three youngest be on the set every day?’
‘As long as I can still be with my family, it’s fun,’ she added. ‘But I only want to do that, and I’m not looking for anything else.’
Being such a devoted mum may also play a part in what roles she takes – with her taking great pride in Kung Fu Panda, the kids cartoon movie in which she provided the voice of Tigress.
We have just been sent this:
“We have just been watching Christian World News on Shine TV Sky channel 111, and they are advertising that next week Tuesday 8.30 pm they will be highlighting and doing a news report on the news about the German Home Educators being persecuted.”
Excerpted from
http://joelthornton.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/germany-home-schooling-the-long-journey-back-into-night/
Joel Thornton’s Weblog
German Home Schooling: The Long Journey Back Into Night!
Published 5 September 2008
Herr “Schmidt” (names cannot be revealed for fear of reprisals) and
his family are facing the loss of everything. They are German
citizens and love their country. Their only crime is that they are
home schooling in a country that refuses to allow parents to make
educational choices for their own children. When Herr Schmidt
insisted on home schooling his children, German officials began
fining him. Without a trial the government levied fines against Herr
Schmidt and his family that he could not pay. Government officials
then began to take money from their bank account — money that was
dedicated to feeding their family and maintaining their home. When
there was not enough money in Herr Schmidt’s bank account, government
officials began to evaluate the value of his house with the intent to
put it up for auction.
Though Herr Schmidt and his family have paid thousands in fines…. He and
his family now have a decision to make; one that they never
previously considered. Herr Schmidt told me last year that he would
not leave Germany; his wife was tired and they would not pack up and
leave the country.
Unfortunately for Herr Schmidt and his family, in Germany “the times
they are a changing.” A new federal law makes it much easier for
government officials to take children from their parents. When
Melissa Busekros was taken from her parents in the Bavarian town of
Erlangen, one of the legal issues that helped us keep Melissa home
after she finally fled state custody was the need for a qualified
psychological evaluation and a certificate meeting an exacting legal
standard. These had to be in place before government officials could
take a child permanently from their parents’ custody.
Germany has now removed this legal protection. That means that
families, particularly children, are open game once they are targeted
by government officials. This new law will leave all families
extremely vulnerable — particularly if they are Christians and home
school their children. The government has free access to all
children, and under threat of fines, imprisonment, and loss of
custody of their children parents are told by social workers what to
do with their children.
The only choice Herr Schmidt has is to flee Germany with his family.
If government officials learn that he is leaving the country with his
children, they will hide behind a recent German court decision that
prohibits parents from exiting the country with their children if the
state believes the parents are not acting in the best interest of
their children. Parents are still free to leave the country, but
their children will be forcibly put into state custody.
One of the most accepted forms of parents not acting in the best
interest of their children is to home school them. The new law gives
social workers a free hand to determine what is best for the
children. There is virtually no room for argument before the courts
anymore; the child has the right to what a social worker thinks is
the best society has to offer — to go to a German public school.
This does not mean that we will no longer fight in the courts. It is
critical that we continue to work within the legal system. Now we
must work in other areas; political, social, the media, and at the
grass roots, to protect the rights of parents and their children. We
must change the nature of the educational system — something
the International Human Rights Group will be addressing through a
serious of upcoming initiatives. These focused efforts include
alternative school choices for Germans families and a German language
curriculum to be utilized by German families — of course, this
curriculum would be Christian based.
Unfortunately for Herr Schmidt, government officials have taken every
Euro the family has. Somehow they have to find the funds to secretly
leave the country before government officials learn they are leaving
and take their children from them.
This is not a fictitious account. Herr Schmidt and his family are
very real people. I have literally broken bread with them. I have
sat in their home, eating goulash and fried bread, praying before a
communal meal, learning to love and respect this family.
This account is all too real in the new German war on home schooling.
While government officials are bearing down on German families, we
have been able to win an important victory on behalf of an American
missionary family. This family came to Germany to help pastor a
church. They have always home schooled their children, and when they
came to Germany they continued to do so. When German officials
discovered they were home schooling, they immediately refused to
grant the family a residence visa unless they put their children in
the local government school. When the Robinsons refused to bend to
the pressure they were given a deportation date — be out of Germany
voluntarily or be forced out of the country.
Because they are Americans, we have been able to use public pressure,
political pressure, and solid legal work to force government
officials to agree to permit the Robinson family to stay in Germany
and fulfill their mission through the end of the year.
The fight to protect the Robinson family lasted nearly a year. It
was a fight that began in an administrative setting and ended in
court. Armin and Gabriele Eckermann, both attorneys for Schuzh,
handled the administrative hearings. These hearings permitted the
Robinson family to remain in the country.
Dr. Ronald Reichert, European Counsel for the International Human
Rights Group, handled the court hearings and was finally able to
negotiate a settlement that resolved all of the issues facing the
Robinsons. The final result is that the Robinsons will legally
remain in Germany — and they are being permitted to home school.
Then they intend to move to another country in Europe and continue
their ministry by pastoring a church in Europe.
The fight for religious freedom and parental rights in Germany,
including the right to home school, will continue. We must stand
with these families and do everything in our power to help them.
We must help some families escape before overzealous German
government officials destroy them. Herr Schmidt did not ask us for
financial help to flee with his family even though he is destitute.
He trusts that God will provide for them by moving the hearts of his
fellow Christians to help — that means us.
Equally important, we must pray! Pray for these families who are
facing their darkest hour. German government officials are once
again using the law to separate children from their parents — their
only crime? Home schooling.
The next knock on Herr Schmidt’s door could be the police pushing
into their home and taking their children to an undisclosed location
without due process of law — just like Melissa Busekros. Can we
really afford to have their pain on our conscience?
For those following the cases of German homeschoolers, here is your
opportunity to add your name to the cause of the Gorber children.
Six were snatched in an armed offenders style raid at the beginning of the
year and have spent 6+ months in state custody.
The 3 year old boy was finally allowed home a few weeks ago.
The children have asked for as many people as possible to support them by
signing the plea for their return, because they have asked and asked until
they are blue in the face and the authorities are not listening to them.
http://educatinggermany.7doves.com/2008/09/06/plea
Thank you!
http://www.catholic.org/clife/back2school/story.php?id=29092
Exams were ordered by a local court in an attempt to determine if a
homeschooling family had committed the crime of “intellectual
abandonment”. Their sons passed them all.
MINAS GERAIS, Brazil (LifeSiteNews) – In a surprise victory against government officials who sought to prosecute a homeschooling family for refusing to participate in the public school system, David and Jonatas Nunes have passed tests proving a high level of knowledge in a variety of subjects, including history, the natural sciences, the arts, sports, computing, and mathematics.
The tests given to the Nunes children were so difficult that public school teachers admitted that they could not pass them. The two boys, aged 14 and 15, had only one week to study for several of the tests, which were announced only a week in advance.
The exams were ordered by a local court in an attempt to determine if the Nunes had committed the crime of “intellectual abandonment”, which could have resulted in a heavy fine, and possibly jail time for the two parents, as well as loss of custody of their three children.
While the boys were told well in advance they would be tested on mathematics, geography, science, and history, they were informed only one week before the test date that they would also be tested on Portuguese, English, arts, and physical education, including questions about the history of handball, basketball, soccer, and other sports.
Despite the short time they were given within which to study, both children passed their tests, David scoring 68% and Jonatas 65%, according to Cleber Nunes, the children’s father. Although the government has not yet rendered a verdict on the scores, the minimum passing grade in Brazilian schools is 60%.
“The tests were very difficult,” Nunes told LifeSiteNews. “There were questions that are given in entrance exams in the big universities. In addition, we were surprised with the addition of four subjects, one week away from the exams. They studied a lot in order to assimilate all of the material.”
“For me, the process by which they passed was very strong evidence that they are, in fact, learning to learn,” said Nunes.”They studied a majority of the subjects alone. We had the help of a mathematics teacher. They studied the rest of their subjects on their own. I gave them very little guidance. That’s the principle of the method that we use.”
Nunes says that he now wants public school students to take the same tests his children did. He says he is certain that they would not come close to passing, and points out that on international tests Brazilian students produce extremely low scores.
The 2007 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares student performance in 57 countries, gave Brazil well below-average scores in mathematics, reading, and science. On its own Index of Basic Education Development (IDEB), Brazil’s public schools score between 3.5 and 4.2, depending on the grade level.
“It’s interesting that if these same tests were given to public school students, the vast majority would not pass them,” said Nunes, who noted that if failing such tests is to be regarded as a crime, “then the government itself would be condemned since their agencies admit the total failure of the educational system that they are requiring our children to attend.”
The Nunes’ victory comes after a year and a half of struggles with Brazilian government authorities, who interpret existing laws to mean that people cannot educate their children at home. The Nunes say they removed their children from the public school system because of the low standards and immorality that pervades the system.
Although David and Jonatas Nunes had already passed law school entrance exams at the age of 13 and 14, the results were insufficient for local government authorities, who threatened to deprive their parents of custody and attempted to levy a steep fine. The Nunes say they have been fighting the case with the help of pro-bono attorneys.
http://www.catholic.org/clife/back2school/story.php?id=29092