Many are the misconceptions about Homeschoolers in America: kids get to sleep all day, go to school in their pajamas, they study too much or not enough, they are not socialized, etc. In 99% of the cases, none of it is true, but it fires the imagination. However, things really become worse elsewhere as families discover when traveling or living abroad—not every country allows parents to homeschool their children.

Kai Kristiansen, a 12-year-old in Norway (where homeschooling is a legal option), was just forcibly seized from his parents’ home because they informed the state that they would be homeschooling him. Kai had been repeatedly bullied in public school there and his parents thought: enough. They informed all of the appropriate authorities and still the child endured the trauma of being wrestled down in the snow and dragged away. The parents do not know where he is being held. Unbelievable.

All who wish to voice their concern to the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC, may do so by writing or calling: (202) 333-6000, e-mail: [email protected].

Yet, here in America, homeschooling is a longstanding tradition, dating back to the Founding Fathers of the eighteenth century and earlier colonists.

From the middle to the end of the nineteenth century, to be start of the twentieth century, individual American states enacted compulsory education laws. But prior to this, many students were either self-educated or privately tutored at home or in groups; most had no education, but served as apprentices at young ages in order to learn trades. So the opportunity for education was very special.

Consider George Washington, tutored for about seven years by his father, Augustine, and half-brother, Lawrence. He learned to survey, oversaw the family’s farm(s), became a general and the nation’s first president. Patrick Henry, his contemporary, also received private tutoring and went on to become attorney, planter, orator and Governor of Virginia. Many years later, Abraham Lincoln was self-taught before becoming a lawyer and serving his country in Congress and then the Presidency. These statesmen employed no speech writers, but spoke and wrote beautiful turns of phrases from the depths of their souls.
It all came from an enormous love of reading and learning in general.

Today, homeschoolers often excel in subjects that local schools cannot offer to the same degree: multiple languages, high tech, robotics, medieval bee-keeping (lol), or just the sense that they will be safe and free to learn while being their best, authentic self. Hug a homeschooler today and be thankful for the freedoms of our country.

————