Carlow home educating mother goes to prison today

Read more at this blog…

“Claire Thompson so clearly puts it : “it’s not a matter of simply registering. If it were, many of us would have no problem. its the fact that we have to APPLY to register. ie we have to ask their approval to home educate when we don’t need approval or permission. The right to home educate is covered by the constitution. The law is wrongly phrased. You cannot ask for permission for something you have a right to do. Acertaining the provision that home ed families are making is a separate issue.”

“I urge you all, whether home educators or not, to stand in support of Monica, sign the petition here, write to your TDs, email, ring them, do whatever you can or have time for to help us protect the rights of our families.”

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Australian Home Educators Urgently Need our Help!

From Karen, an Australian:

We would really appreciate your support in Australia. The state of NSW is in the midst of a government inquiry into home education and we’re all concerned about the outcome, which may well have a negative flow-on effect to other states, and possibly even other countries. Home-ed is already strictly regulated and we fear it getting worse – or possibly even outlawed completely.  I’ve outlined what you can do to help, and given some background. Please take a few moments to read, and if you can, 5 minutes to help.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP – A group of home educators have joined together to help people have their say and be heard. They are called HOVA (Hear Our Voices, Australia) and you can find them here: https://www.facebook.com/hovasubmissions

They have put together a survey which takes less than 5 minutes to complete, and it would be fantastic if you could fill it in. It will tell you to only answer page one if you are not in Australia, but even answering just page one will be a big help. The survey is here – Survey of Homeschooling Parents

Please NOTE that the survey date has been extended beyond 31 July 2014.

HOVA are also asking for people to write submissions which they will forward to the inquiry. All submissions made via HOVA will be anonymous. Even a short paragraph would help enormously, showing the government that the world is watching, and that home educators are a force to be reckoned with! Some basic things to say might be that your children are thriving with home education, that they are social and part of the community, that they are learning all the time, that parents have the right/responsibility to educate their children. If you feel able to write even just a short paragraph, it would be greatly appreciated, and you can send it here – hovasubmissionsatyahoo.com (please insert an @)

THE BACKGROUND – In New South Wales (NSW), the regulations for home-ed are making life very difficult for home educators.  The ‘Board of Studies’ has the role of overseeing home education in NSW. Families are required to apply for registration, submit to a home visit, and produce vast amounts of documentation.

Parents in NSW are expected to have extensive planning, recording and monitoring systems in place. Applications for registration tend to be tens of pages long, detailing how the curriculum will be covered, how progress will be recorded and assessed, and providing evidence of the previous year’s progress. Deviation from the curriculum is not allowed.

The Board of Studies in NSW is increasingly granting families only 6 months, after which they have to go through the whole process again. The number of families that are refused permission to home educate at all, is increasing exponentially. There were 13 refusals in 2012; in 2013 it jumped to 73. For anyone following an unschooling or autonomous approach, the regulations are very hard – but even for those strictly adhering to the school curriculum, registration creates a huge amount of paperwork and worry.

HOVA believes the registration process is onerous and seeks less regulation. While it seems unlikely that the NSW government will remove compulsory registration altogether at this point, HOVA are hoping to show that home educators are intelligent and participating members of society who care greatly for their children and their children’s education.

** HOVA really needs to have submissions by 3pm on 5th August (Australian Eastern Time Zone – UTC+10), so time is short, but there is definitely time to complete their survey if not to write a submission. And remember, even a short submission to the Inquiry is better than no submission at all.

Thank you so much for anything you can do to help, and please feel free to distribute this to anyone or any other groups you think may be able to complete the survey and/or make a submission to the Inquiry.

Summary of how you can help:

1.The survey date has been extended(Aussie time) – must be current or former homeschooler

2. Make a submission to the Inquiry via HOVA by 5 Aug (Aussie time) – anyone can do this, homeschooling or not

3. Pass it on 🙂

Again, thank you so very much for anything you can do to help us!

Karen

www.unshackled.me

Previous post:

NSW needs our help

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Homeschooled – How American Homeschoolers Measure Up

Some interesting facts on Home Education in the USA

Homeschooled – How American

Homeschoolers Measure Up

 

Around 150 years ago states started making public school mandatory, and homeschooling eventually became illegal. It wasn't until the 90's that homeschooling became fully legal again. Today, homeschooling is the fastest growing form of education in the country.

Read the rest of these statistics in the link below:

http://www.home-school.com/news/homeschooled-how-american-homeschoolers-measure-up.php

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Please help home educators in N. Ireland by signing this petition

Here is a note I received, via Facebook, while I was still in hospital. I have only just found it. So I don’t know how much longer the petition will be available to sign. So please sign it straight away and pass it onto others to sign – thankyou

Dear Home Education Foundation,

Home educators in Northern Ireland desperately need the help of our friends in New Zealand. The education board here in N. Ireland has recently released a draft policy which will require mandatory registration, approval to home educate, approval of curriculum, home inspections and interviews with children. This is obviously very alarming for the hundreds of families here who home educate their children. Our home education association here is called HEDNI (Home Educators in Northern Ireland.) You can find more information about us here www.hedni.org

We were wondering if there was any way in which you might consider putting a link on your facebook page to our e-petition on change.org, as we could really use some help from our fellow home educators in New Zealand. We just launched the e-petition yesterday and while it has over eight hundred signatures, it really could use your help. Is there any way you would consider helping us by putting a link on your facebook page to our change.org petition to support home education in Northern Ireland.

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-northern-ireland-education-and-library-boards-and-the-minister-for-education-we-ask-you-to-ensure-that-the-education-and-library-boards-policy-on-home-education-accurately-reflects-their-legal-duties-and-powers-and-respects-the-parent-s-duty-to-p

We really appreciate your consideration and any help in this matter.

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Council of Europe report threatens homeschooling

Thanks to everyone who signed this Petition – it has now closed.

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Parliamentarians conflate parallel societies with religious freedom

Sign Petition to Support Religious Freedom

Stand together with families in Europe by taking a moment to sign a petition to oppose this legislation.

Sign now >>

A report on the “protection of minors against excesses of sects” from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) calls out homeschooling as a practice that should be restricted because of the danger of parallel societies and religious sectarianism. Rapporteur Rudy Salles from France speaks for the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: “The Committee … is of the opinion that more measures must be taken at national and European level to counter the excesses of sects which affect minors.” Among other things, the report calls upon all 47 member States to “make sure that compulsory schooling is enforced and ensure strict, prompt, and effective monitoring of all private education, including home schooling” to “counter the excesses of sects which affect minors.”

A coalition formed to oppose the report and its accompanying resolution call them “fatally flawed” and note that the documents “contravene human rights standards.”

“The Salles report and resolution contain sweeping generalizations, vague and unsupported allegations, and one-sided information from biased sources that constitute a blueprint for discrimination against parents and their children associated with religious minority faiths,” the coalition states on its website.

Advocates of religious freedom in Europe and around the world have joined together to oppose the Salles report. The International Religious Freedom Roundtable, a multi-faith association of scholars, religious leaders, human rights advocates and practitioners, sent a letter to PACE President Anne Brasseur on March 31st expressing deep concern about the report. The joint letter attracted a total of 64 signatures from American and European organizations and individuals, including HSLDA.

Michael Donnelly, Director of International Affairs at HSLDA asks friends of homeschooling and religious freedom to make their voice heard.

“Please take a moment to sign the coalition’s petition to help stop the proposed legislation at the Council of Europe and share with others you know,” Donnelly asks. “The Salles report poses a serious threat to religious freedom and goes too far as to undermine a parent’s right to choose to homeschool their child on the basis of their religious convictions, a right that is clearly protected by the European Convention and other human rights treaties.”

 Resources

Read the Alliance Defending Freedom’s analysis of the Salles report.

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Protect Your Family

If you aren’t yet a member of HSLDA, consider joining today! HSLDA’s work benefits homeschooolers in the United States and around the world. We invite you to participate in our ministry to the homeschool community. Join now >>

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Please do so with the whole post. Thankyou

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