constant state of flux

CALIFORNIA: (approx. 100,000 - 200,000 children)
“A California appellate court, ruling that parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their children, pinned its decision on this ominous quotation from a 47-year-old case, “A primary purpose of the educational system is to train schoolchildren in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare.”
FROM: realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/

“A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution. The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.”
FROM: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi

UNITED STATES: (1 – 2 MILLION children)
“The legality of homeschooling in the United States has been debated by educators, lawmakers, and parents since the beginnings of compulsory school in Massachusetts in 1852. United States Supreme Court precedent appears to favor educational choice, so long as states may set standards for educational accomplishment. In some states, homeschooling requirements are based on its treatment as a type of private school (California, Indiana, Texas, for example) In those states, homeschools are generally required to comply with the same laws that apply to other (usually non-accredited) schools.
In other states, homeschool requirements are based on the unique wording of the state’s compulsory attendance statute without any specific reference to “homeschooling” (New Jersey, Maryland, for example). In those states, the requirements for homeschooling are set by the particular parameters of the compulsory attendance statute.
In other states (Maine, New Hampshire, Iowa, for example) homeschool requirements are based on a statute or group of statutes that specifically applies to homeschooling, although statutes often refer to homeschooling using other nomenclature (in Virginia, for example, the statutory nomenclature is “home instruction”; in South Dakota, it is “alternative instruction”; in Iowa, it is “competent private instruction”). In these states, the requirements for homeschooling are set out in the relevant statutes.
While every state has some requirements, there is great diversity in the type, number, and level of burden imposed. No two states treat homeschooling in exactly the same way. Generally, the burden is less in states in category 1, above. Furthermore, many states offer more than one option for homeschooling, with different requirements applying to each option.”
FROM: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_homeschooling

FRANCE: (8,000 private and 22,000 public school correspondence homeschoolers)
“More and more families are turning to homeschooling in France. New legislation requires that homeschoolers be inspected every year from ages 6 to 16. The inspections are subjective and the requirements are vague. The “approval” depends on the arbitrary whims of the local administrator. Homeschoolers can avoid inspection by being enrolled in recognized correspondence courses from France. Unfortunately, Belgian correspondence courses are not allowed. The question that is being debated at present is whether or not American correspondence courses are allowed and they are attempting to change policy to allow other country’s courses as well. Homeschoolers are also subject to periodic testing. Some families are told they have to bring their children in for hours of testing at the same level as the public school children are tested. Many families have politely objected to this kind of request by the local school inspector challenging the request by citing the law. It seems that the law is somewhat vague and open to challenge.”
FROM: hslda.org/hs/international/France/

UNITED KINGDOM: (20,000 – 100,000 children)
English law (Education Acts 1944, 1996) says that a parent has a duty to educate their child “by attending school, or otherwise.” You don’t need a permit (England & Wales) Scottish families do need permission from their Local Education Authority and so do all UK families using a Special School. For either Scottish families, or Special School users, permission must not be witheld from you unreasonably. In England and Wales you are not required to notify any authority, except if your child is in school already, when you MUST notify the school IN WRITING.
You are required to write to the school to tell them the date your child is leaving their school, exactly as you would if you were changing schools. This is so the school do not continue to draw public money on behalf of your child as their pupil.
You may prefer to simply state in your letter to the school that your child is leaving, and that you are making arranging private education. Some schools still don’t like homebased education and can sometimes try to argue with you in an inappropriate way. Occasionally they do not even know the law themselves and will try to say you need their permission! This is an unnecessary annoyance for you at such a time so you may wish to avoid it by stating the minimum information required, in your letter.
FROM: firstcollege.co.uk/home_education/

Homeschoolers in England have been able to educate their children without undue interference from educational authorities. Wales is also enjoying a similar educational atmosphere. Scotland, on the other hand, is a little harder. Education law and regulations are made by the government but are generally interpreted and implemented by local authorities. The law is somewhat vague and requires that children receive an education “suitable for their age and aptitude, at school or otherwise.” The homeschoolers have successfully practiced under the term “otherwise.” Often if the authorities find out that family is homeschooling, the family will get a visit from the Local Education Advisor to ensure that the child’s education is adequate. Fortunately, most of these inspectors and advisors are not harassing the home educators. The law does not give them any specific authority to approve or disapprove the homeschool. In Scotland, on the other hand, home educators must first get approval of the local authority’s Chief Education Officer.
FROM: hslda.org/hs/international/UnitedKingdom/

THE NETHERLANDS: (approx. 100 families)
“Homeschooling was recently targeted by the Ministry of Education, but a quick response by Dutch homeschoolers and homeschoolers around the world accomplished an important victory.
In the Netherlands home education is currently not a legal option. Homeschooling parents may try to get an exemption from school registration, but only for deeply felt religious or philosophical reasons. However, these exemptions are recognized with great reluctance, for children are not considered to be educated effectively without public school attendance. Many are denied. Once a child has attended a school even this option is barred. Now only the parents of about a 100 children have been able to avoid this trap to secure their freedom. Many more families would like to home-educate their children but are not able to get their way without years filled with court cases and child protection investigations.”
FROM: hslda.org/hs/international/Netherlands

AUSTRALIA: (20,000 families)
“Australia, according to Meighan’s article, has 20,000 homeschooling families, including those using a two-way radio system for tutoring children in the remote Outback areas of the country. Most states of Australia have legislation dealing with homeschooling. Parents may be required to notify the education department of their intention to homeschool; to register with the appropriate body; or to request permission to homeschool. Queensland is undergoing a review of it’s homeschooling legislation at the moment. Currently, parents are only given dispensation for educating their children at home if they are enrolled in a school of distance education, have a teacher-designed and monitored program, or have a parent who is a teacher. Dispensation must be applied for yearly, and there is now a requirement that satisfactory progress must be made in the student’s studies.”
FROM: naturalparenting.com.au/flex/

CANADA: (60,000 families)
“Is homeschooling legal in Canada? Yes, home based learning, or “home school,” as it is often referred to in the regulations, is legal in every part of Canada and comes under the jurisdiction of the provincial Ministry of Education. Each province has its own Education Act and Regulations with sections relevant to home education.”
FROM: flora.org/homeschool-ca/faq.html#legal

GERMANY: (400 families: underground or in court)
“German authorities who sent 15 uniformed police officers to take custody of a 15-year-old girl who committed the crime of being homeschooled now have suggested a solution that, in their minds, would “resolve” the situation: the parents should give up custody of their other five children.”
FROM: worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54425

“A new court ruling categorizing homeschooling as “child welfare endangerment” contains “chilling” parallels to earlier decisions that in their time allowed German authorities to confiscate children from their parents if they were part of “fanatical Bible” groups, according to a homeschooling advocacy group. A ruling from the State Court in Hamburg dated 1936 pointed to “endangerment of the mental wellbeing of children, who would have been denied participation in the national community…,” a premise that corresponds to the recent Federal Supreme Court decision, the group said.
“Only the words have been chosen somewhat differently by the [present day] Supreme Court in order to conceal the fascist spirit of the decision,” the analysis said.
“It is quite chilling that the reasons stated by the authorities and courts in child custody terminations in Hitler’s regime … correspond in their spirit exactly to the decision recently rendered by the Federal Supreme Court,” the analysis said.
It said what courts used to call the “national community” now is the “public” and what was “participation in the national community” now has been called a justified interest in “counteracting the formation of religiously or ideologically characterized parallel societies and integrating minorities in this area.”
FROM: worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58873

“The Neubronners, a German homeschooling family in Bremen, Germany, have been fighting for several years to homeschool their children. When the government refused to allow them to homeschool, they sued. In response, they have been harshly persecuted by the local authorities. The Neubronners have suffered intense pressure in the form of huge, coercive fines (nearing $10,000), the threat of criminal prosecution and the possibility of losing custody of their children, methods authorities have employed to persecute other homeschooling families like the Brausse and Busekros families. The Neubronners have become the latest victim of Germany’s harsh and repressive policy towards families who homeschool.”
FROM: hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/200801071.asp

POLAND: (approx. 20 families)
The situation for homeschooling families in Poland is getting more difficult. Homeschooling is legal there, but highly regulated. The Educational System Act enables parents to ask public school principals for permission to teach their children at home. Government authorities and school principals have the discretion to make any demand they want on parents before granting them the right to homeschool. Also, every home-taught student is required to pass non-standardized school exams at least once a year, even though no school student faces such a requirement. Most homeschooling families comply with this law, but the number of public school principals refusing to grant permission to homeschool is growing.
FROM: hslda.org/hs/international/Poland/200612190.asp

Go here for more info on international homeschooling laws: http://www.hslda.org