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Very nice - one can only hope someone in Sweden actually sees it. Here is a copy of the letter we sent to the Swedish Education Ministry (at skollagen@education.ministry.se)

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is truly hard to understand why Sweden would want to take a huge step backward by adopting anti-homeschooling legislation. Such legislation is more in line with the WW II-era laws still in force in Germany and which are being challenged ever more strongly in the courts, rather than with the modern/progressive approaches taken in the United States and the majority of Europe (France, England, Switzerland, Austria, etc.).... Read More

Those educated on the topic recognize that this is clearly not a question of academic standards and achievement. After all, homeschoolers routinely outperform their public-school peers, as well-documented in Progress Report 2009: Homeschool Academic Achievement and Demographics (see http://www.hslda.org/docs/media/2009/200908100.asp). Our own daughter, home-schooled since age 7, is now studying at Arizona State University with the highest merit scholarship offered by that institution. Removing her from the cookie-cutter public school environment was the best decision we could have made.

On the contrary, the clear implication is that this legislation derives not from an altruistic desire to benefit children, but rather from fear and an agenda of control – the educational establishment’s irrational fear of the superior results demonstrated by the home-schooling community, and a desire for increased power and control by government bureaucrats.

We can only encourage the Swedish legislature to “lift the covers” and expose the true motivation for this proposed legislation.

Most sincerely,

Derek and Heike Davis (US and German nationals, respectively)

We too would like such info. My German (and home-schooling) wife has been diligently forwarding homeschooling-positive information/articles to her friends/family in Germany. We also bring their attention to the various horror-stories in the media about the treatment of German HSers and write to the responsible government officials.

But, for the ... Read Moremost part, it just seems that the majority of Germans have simply been propagandized by the gov/enducational establishment into thinking that the state always knows best.

I think it is perhaps more powerful to provide real/personal examples of Uni success of former homeschoolers - this tends to discredit all those unsuported "shoot from the hip" arguments used against HSing.

Derek: I fully agree with you. Providing examples of successful homeschooling in America is a good idea.
Sheri: Show your friends and relatives from you own experience that homeschooling is successful and good results in academics and socialisation. Let them know that homeschooling is not a spleen of fundamentalistic christians but of "normal" people. Germans are afraid of parallel societies and minorities who are not integrated. They must learn that such prejudices are absolutely unjustified

Bei der SPD weiß ich nur Bayerns Pfaffmann, der sich einmal in die Richtung geäußert hat. Bei Grünen und Linken ist mir bis heute kein Name bekannt.

This is a proposed law, not yet adopted. Those who would like to support Swedish homeschoolers should read the article and email the Swedish government at the link found within.

Oh, and sign their petition.

It is not yet adopted, but already now homeschoolers in Sweden are refused their legal right to homeschool their children in many regions. We heard from many complaints in the last weeks.