Links to Other Websites
Marriage
Opposing
Pro-
Abortion
Counsel-
ling in the
Schools
Opposing the Pro-
Homo-
sexuality
Agemda
Standing Up for the Threatened Rights of a Free Society
Help for Parents Who Want to be Involved in Their Children's Education
Table of Contents for This Page
What Choices
Do Parents Have?
Parents' Directive Regarding the Education of Their
Children
Resources for Teachers, Home-schooling Parents, and Other Parents Helping Their Children
Judge orders homeschoolers into government education
News of Concern to Parents and Those Concerned About Parent Rights: "Fifteen year old German homeschooler forcibly admitted into a mental institution" (news release of February 2, 2007)
German Homeschooler Melissa Busekros Home with Family after 3 Month Ordeal
Judge in U.S. Court Targets Home-School Families
What Choices Do Parents Have?T he days are long past when all but the financially well-heeled sent their offspring to government-run “public” schools. Today, a growing number of parents, though a minority still, opt for other choices.Arguments for and against the different types of schooling available can be heated, but in the end it is the parents who have the responsibility to choose. And that choice can be difficult. There is, of course, the financial consideration. Sending a child to an independent school can be expensive. Parents sending a child to an independent school pay fees, as well as paying school taxes like other property owners. Nevertheless, thousands of parents—often parents of relatively modest means—choose that option. Others—and the number has increased greatly in recent years—have chosen to teach their children at home. It is not our desire to be prescriptive and suggest that only one choice is appropriate. Rather, we want to call attention to the choices available, and give parents an idea of where to get more information. Government Schools Government-run schools (“public schools”) can vary widely. Whether or not parents choose to send their child to a province-run school depends on whether or not they feel it can provide a good academic, social, and moral environment on an on-going basis, and whether or not the parents feel that the school needs to reflect their faith views. Parents who take their responsibilities seriously should realize that it will not do to simply send a child off to school and trust the educational authorities to do the rest. Parents need to make themselves thoroughly familiar with whatever school they send their child to, then support it, but also keep track on an on-going basis of the education their child is getting. The establishment of “Traditional Schools” or “Fundamental Schools” was an outgrowth of the “Value School” movement of the seventies. The idea was to provide public schools which will give support to parental moral (not specifically religious) teachings. Judging by the huge number of parents seeking to enroll their children in such schools in Surrey and Langley, parents seem to feel they fill a need. Close parental involvement is one of the keys to their success. To our knowledge, such schools in British Columbia only exist in Surrey, Langley, and Abbotsford. Independent Schools Independent schools vary widely. Some are church-run, some are parent-run, and some are run as businesses by individuals or groups. The Federation of Independent School Associations (FISA) publishes a directory of independent schools, both those affiliated with FISA and those that are not. Interested parents can write to FISA, 150 Robson Street, Vancouver, B. C. V6B 2A7 or they can visit the FISA web site and go to “FISA Directory.” Home Schooling The number of students being home-schooled has increased greatly in
recent years. Under current B. C. law, a parent may register his child
“on or before September 30 each year” with a school in his school
district, a regional correspondence school, or an independent school. The
school that registers a home-schooled child is to provide some educational
services, including evaluation and assessment services and the loan of
educational resources. Parents interested in home-schooling may want to
write to the BC Homeschool Association, 6225-C 136 St., Surrey, BC V3X 1H3
or visit the web page where a great deal of information may be found. END
--E.S.H. (from Parents Alert, Summer 2000) In Defence of Parental Interests A number of
websites, including our own, are devoted to the defence of parental rights
and of children's well-being.
Parents, Here is One Way to Help Protect Your Children Against Harmful Propaganda in the Schools
In a previous editorial (given immediately below), we talked about the necessity of parents taking steps to protect their children in the schools, given the fact that harmful propaganda is a possibility in the school system. British Columbia Parents and Teachers for Life is now offering what we think may be of some help: a "Parents' Directive Regarding the Education of Their Children," a document which parents can deliver to the school making clear their wishes with regards to the education of their children. We think that this document is written in respectful terms yet is firm in stating the parents' wishes. We do not take credit for the idea. Others have written similar documents. We present this as reflective of issues we feel parents should be concerned about, and hopefully reflective of the tone which such a document should have. This document when sent to the school does not come from British Columbia Parents and Teachers for Life. It is only of value if it is recognized as coming from the parents who deliver it. Parents are responsible for the document when they use it. British Columbia Parents and Teachers for Life cannot be responsible for its use, and our name should not be attached to it when it is sent as a parental directive. Should you as a parent wish to change the document in any way, you are entitled to do so. You may have other concerns which you wish to express, or you may wish to change it in some other way to suit your family's situation. Of course we are not responsible for any changes made. It would be well, in our view, to ensure that any changes retain a respectful tone and are carefully checked for wording before the document is delivered to your children's school. The text of our suggested directive follows below:
Parents’
Directive Regarding the Education of Their Children To
the administrative authorities of
Conscious that parents are the first educators of their children and that they continue to bear a prime responsibility for their education, we are communicating the following statement of wishes regarding our children’s education. We request that this statement be kept on file in the school to which we have entrusted our children and that it be brought to the attention of all those teachers and other staff members who will be charged with dealing with our children.. We respectfully issue this statement as a legal directive to school authorities and personnel. Holding certain principles regarding the family as the basis for our own teaching of our child or children, we desire that those principles should in no way be undermined. We hold as an ideal the concept of the family as founded on the life-long commitment of one man and one woman to one another in marriage and on their commitment to the welfare of their children. Nothing taught to our children in the school should undermine respect for this principle. The school should seek the welfare of all children entrusted to it and to the best of its ability protect all from harassment, but it shall in no way teach our children that concepts of the family diverging from our ideal are equal or superior to that ideal. We hold to the belief that human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and nothing taught to our child or children in the school should undermine respect for this principle. We as parents have signed two copies of this document as an indication of our wishes. We request that you return one copy with the signature of the school principal as an indication of his or her having received the document. We further request that any principal succeeding the present one shall likewise sign this document. Dated
this ____________ day of _______________, in the year ___________ at Parents’
signatures: ________________________________________________ --XXX--
Resources for Teachers, Home-schooling Parents, and Other Parents Helping Their ChildrenNote: The following links are given for teachers' and parents' judicious use. As always, BCPTL does not imply approval or total approval of material in a website when we give a link to it. But we hope that in the following sites teachers and parents may find material of use to them in furthering students' education. Educational Links: The following are educational web pages which we have found, or which we have been referred to by teacher or homeschooling parent sourcews: General: Arithmetic and Mathematics Career and Personal Planning
(British Columbia) History BBC: History--Schools, Ages 4-11 Language Arts Literature Music Science Social Studies
Judge orders homeschoolers into government education Court: Family's religious beliefs 'no evidence' of 1st Amendment violation . . .February 29, 2008 By Bob Unruh © 2008 WorldNetDaily
A California court has ruled that several children in one homeschool family must be enrolled in a public school or "legally qualified" private school, and must attend, sending ripples of shock into the nation's homeschooling advocates as the family reviews its options for appeal. The ruling came in a case brought against Phillip and Mary Long over the education being provided to two of their eight children. They are considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court, because they have homeschooled all of their children, the oldest now 29, because of various anti-Christian influences in California's public schools. The decision from the 2nd Appellate Court in Los Angeles granted a special petition brought by lawyers appointed to represent the two youngest children after the family's homeschooling was brought to the attention of child advocates. "We find no reason to strike down the Legislature's evaluation of what constitutes an adequate education scheme sufficient to promote the 'general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence,'" the court said in the case. "We agree … 'the educational program of the State of California was designed to promote the general welfare of all the people and was not designed to accommodate the personal ideas of any individual in the field of education.'" The words echo the ideas of officials from Germany, where homeschooling has been outlawed since 1938 under a law adopted when Adolf Hitler decided he wanted the state, and no one else, to control the minds of the nation's youth. Wolfgang Drautz, consul general for the Federal Republic of Germany, has said "school teaches not only knowledge but also social conduct, encourages dialogue among people of different beliefs and cultures, and helps students to become responsible citizens." Specifically, the appeals court said, the trial court had found that "keeping the children at home deprived them of situations where (1) they could interact with people outside the family, (2) there are people who could provide help if something is amiss in the children's lives, and (3) they could develop emotionally in a broader world than the parents' 'cloistered' setting." The appeals ruling said California law requires "persons between the ages of six and 18" to be in school, "the public full-time day school," with exemptions being allowed for those in a "private full-time day school" or those "instructed by a tutor who holds a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught." The judges ruled in the case involving the Longs the family failed to demonstrate "that mother has a teaching credential such that the children can be said to be receiving an education from a credentialed tutor," and that their involvement and supervision by Sunland Christian School's independent study programs was of no value. Nor did the family's religious beliefs matter to the court. Their "sincerely held religious beliefs" are "not the quality of evidence that permits us to say that application of California's compulsory public school education law to them violates their First Amendment rights." "Such sparse representations are too easily asserted by any parent who wishes to homeschool his or her child," the court concluded. The father, Phillip Long, said the family is working on ways to appeal to the state Supreme Court, because he won't allow the pro-homosexual, pro-bisexual, pro-transgender agenda of California's public schools, on which WND previously has reported, to indoctrinate his children. . . . A spokesman for the Home School Legal Defense Association, one of the world's premiere homeschooling advocacy organizations, said the group's experts were analyzing the impact of the decision. "It's a very unfortunate decision," he said. Randy Thomasson, of Campaign for Children and Families, said under California law parents have the legal right to create a private school in their home and enroll their own children. . . . A legal outline for parents' homeschool rights in California, published by Family Protection Ministries, confirmed Thomasson's description. The state's legal options for home educators include establishing a private school in their home by filing a private school affidavit with state regulators or enrolling in private school satellite instruction programs or independent study programs, it said. The Long family had been involved in such a program with Sunland Christian School, but the appeals court took the extraordinary step of banning the family from being involved in that organization any longer, since it was "willing to participate in the deprivation of the children's right to a legal education." A number of groups already have assembled in California under the Rescue Your Child slogan to encourage parents to withdraw their children from the state's public school system. It's because the California Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked together to establish Senate Bill 777 and Assembly Bill 394 as law, plans that institutionalize the promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and other alternative lifestyle choices. "First, [California] law allowed public schools to voluntarily promote homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality. Then, the law required public schools to accept homosexual, bisexual and transsexual teachers as role models for impressionable children. Now, the law has been changed to effectively require the positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality to 6 million children in California government-controlled schools," said Thomasson. Even insiders joined in the call for an abandonment of California's public districts. Veteran public school teacher Nadine Williams of Torrance said the sexual indoctrination laws have motivated her to keep her grandchildren out of the very public schools she used to support. The Discover Christian Schools website reports getting thousands of hits daily from parents and others seeking information about alternatives to California's public schools. WND reported leaders of the campaign called California Exodus say they hope to encourage parents of 600,000 children to withdraw them from the public districts this year. The new law itself technically bans in any school texts, events, class or activities any discriminatory bias against those who have chosen alternative sexual lifestyles, said Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for Capitol Resource Institute. There are no similar protections for students with traditional or conservative lifestyles and beliefs, however. Offenders will face the wrath of the state Department of Education, up to and including lawsuits. "SB 777 will result in reverse discrimination against students with religious and traditional family values. These students have lost their voice as the direct result of Gov. Schwarzenegger's unbelievable decision. The terms 'mom and dad' or 'husband and wife' could promote discrimination against homosexuals if a same-sex couple is not also featured," she said. Karen England, chief of CRI, told WND that the law is not a list of banned words, including "mom" and "dad." But she said the requirement is that the law bans discriminatory bias and the effect will be to ban such terminology. "Having 'mom' and 'dad' promotes a discriminatory bias. You have to either get rid of 'mom' and 'dad' or include everything when talking about [parental issues]," she said. "They [promoters of sexual alternative lifestyles] do consider that discriminatory." The California plan still is facing a court challenge on its
constitutionality and a possible vote of the people of California if an
initiative effort succeeds.
2.2.2007 - News Release from "Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit" Fifteen
year old German homeschooler forcibly admitted into a mental
institution
In
summer 2004, Melissa was told that she would have to repeat the 7th
grade at the Christian Ernst Gymnasium (a high school where one can
obtain the Abitur, the highest German high school diploma) due to her
bad grades in math and latin. The situation in the class played no small
part in creating this state of affairs - the high noise levels and
cancelled classes prevented her from receiving the educational
assistance she needed during school hours. As Melissa had good
grades in all the other subjects, repeating the whole year would be
mostly a waste of her time, as well as the fact that she would now be in
a class even more problematic than the previous year’s. Thus, it was
decided by Melissa and her parents that she would be tutored
individually at home to meet her specific needs. At her own wish,
Melissa only took part in Music and sang in her school choir. The school
and the local school authorities were not satisfied with this solution,
and consequently expelled Melissa from the school, allocating her to the
local Hauptschule (the lowest in the German three-tier high school
system). The
Busekros continued educating their daughter at home, with their other
school-age children still attending school. At the end of the school
year 2005/2006, Melissa was no longer subject to full-time compulsory
schooling. In spite of this the Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) in
Erlangen appealed to the local Family Court, which ordered Melissa and
her parents to appear at a hearing, which was consequently attended
solely by her father. Melissa was overseas at that point. However, the
authorities didn’t relent and wanted to know in detail where Melissa
was, resulting in an unannounced visit to the family by the Judge of the
Family Court. The
Busekros family is known and much loved by all their neighbours. Their
willingness to be photographed for an article in the local newspaper
demonstrates that they have nothing to hide. That was not good enough
for the officials. On Tuesday 30th January just after 7am, Mrs Busekros and
her children – Mr Busekros had already left for work – were startled
by the appearance of the judge of the Family Court,social workers and
police officials who demanded that Melissa, now aged 15, be handed over
to them immediately. They had as authorisation a decision by the
Erlangen Court (case no. 006 F 01004/06) of the 29th of
January. It stated “The relevant Youth Welfare Office is hereby
instructed and authorised to bring the child, if necessary by force, to
a hearing and may obtain police support for this purpose.” Melissa
was brought into the Child Psychiatry Unit of the Nuremberg clinic and
was subjected to an interrogation in the presence of the specialist Dr.
Schanda. After this interrogation, about three and a half hours after
she was coerced into the clinic, Melissa was returned home. Her relieved
parents and her five younger siblings, who didn’t know when they would
ever see Melissa again, as well as Melissa herself didn’t know that
the worst was still to come.
On
the afternoon of the 1st of February, the judge of the Family Court,
representatives of the Youth Welfare Office, along with fifteen police
officers, marched up to the Busekros home, to haul Melissa off to the
Child Psychiatry Unit of the Nuremberg clinic. The judicial decision
authorising this also removed Melissa from her parents’ custody,
according to her father, Hubert Busekros.This treatment was justified by
the psychiatrist’s finding, two days previously, that she was
supposedly developmentally delayed by one year and that she suffered
from school phobia. The fact that the less than optimal testing
environment and the unexpectedness of the tests could have impacted on
Melissa’s performance were not taken into account in this decision. It
is not known when Melissa’s parents and siblings will be able to see
her again, as the official approach in cases of “school phobia” is
to completely prevent the “patient” from having any contact with
those closest to him or her, as such contact supposedly enables the
phobia. The
article, "Only families open the way for new perspectives "
was accompanied by the photo of a happily smiling Melissa surrounded by
her loved ones – in her current situation, she can’t have much to
smile about. Will her smiles disappear completely, while the bureaucrats
who placed her in this situation remain smug in their certainty that
they have made her life better? What is being done to a sensitive and
musical young girl, just because the bureaucrats want to set an example?
In their zealous drive to enforce compulsory schooling (which by
Melissa’s age is only part-time) at all costs, they readily accept the
trauma caused to the unassuming and lovable Melissa. If
Melissa had lived in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, the
UK or Belgium, all those involved – the schoolgirl, her parents and
the educational officials involved – would have been, at the very
least, unperturbed that she was being educated at home. In these
countries, as in practically the rest of the world, home education is a
legally recognised alternative to school, which can be a boon to
children with special needs and gifts. Many of those German school
pupils who have had to repeat grades would have been able to complete
their schooling without stress in these countries if they had parents as
involved as Melissa’s. Melissa, on the other hand, has been turned
into a psychiatric case : a German schoolchild’s nightmare. The
Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit condemns this inconsiderate and totally
incommensurate behaviour on the part of the officials involved and
demands that they give Melissa her freedom and return her to her family
immediately. Additionally, the Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit calls all
politicians and those in political offices, in Erlangen and the rest of
Germany, to ensure that such human rights abuses and and high-handed
behaviour by government officials are stopped, even if it requires
personal intervention. Published
by Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit e.V. (Network for freedom in education)
Nueremberg, Germany Contact
person: Elisabeth Kuhnle, Tel. +49-721-611979, E-Mail: presse@netzwerk-bildungsfreiheit.de Translation :
Rina Groeneveld An interview with the father Hubert Busekros (in German) and some photographs of Melissa
3-12-2007
By Peter J. Smith
Court [Judge] Targets Home School FamiliesA New Jersey Superior Court Judge said last week that home schooling allows child abuse to go undiscovered, World Net Daily reported. "In today's threatening world, where we seek to protect children from abuse, not just physical, but also educational abuse, how can we monitor the educational welfare of our children" if state law allows home schooling, wrote Judge Thomas Zampino in a child-abuse case. Christopher Brennan, a New Jersey attorney, said the judge is wrong to assume that home schooling is abusive. "He's presenting this as though it's authority," he said. "He's just making this up, with no basis whatsoever."
|
Useful Links to Other Websites
We are, of course, not responsible for the content of external sites.)
Are you pregnant and need help?
Help is available from these centres:
Canada,
US,
UK, Ireland
Pregnancy
Centres: Click
to find a centre in your area
--or, in Canada or the US call 1-800-395-HELP
Abortion procedures and
risks
Abortion:
Stop the Cover-up
Canada Family Action Coalition
CASJAFVA (Canadian Alliance for Social Justice & Family Values Association)
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Focus on the Family: family.org
NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homo sexuality)
Silent
No More
Awareness
Social Conserva
tives.ca
Teachers
Saving Children
World
Youth Alliance
.