Deutsch Welle article(in english)

DW has an article about homeschoolers in German. After the article there is a space to send them your commensts.

Please, please, please send in a comment. Even if it is just a couple of lines.



Below is the letter I sent in:



I am an American living in Germany. I am married to a German and have three children. I wish they allowed homeschooling here. It would give us so much flexablity. Homeschooling for the government is not about what is best for the child, but about control.
For instance, the eight year old Timo G., 100% handicapped, who has been learning at home for awhile at to the recommendation of his medical specialists. This should come to an end, the responsible leader of the Local Education Authority decided. Timo must be driven daily to a special education school which is 75 miles from home, despite the fact that several medical opinions proved that this travel and the separation from his known environment would disturb the development of the boy massively. As the family does not accept this verdict, the authorities are now threatening to remove custody.The system does not take into consideration a slower child or even a gifted child. A child may excel at Math, but have problems with German. The child fails to keep up with other in one subject, but is bored in another. Homeschooling parents, like other parents, only want what is best for their child.
The system is not fluid enough to deal with changes in a child's life. Like two grandparents dieing within weeks of each other. The child does not have time to grieve, he must perform he is in the fourth class and if he does not he will end up in the lower schools.
Do I want control? Yes, I do, but I share the brunt of the responsiblity for my child. I do not have learn every year my children's strengths and weakness. I do not have to figure out how to challenge 33 children individually. I only have 3.