We got home late last night from the Second
(annual, hopefully!) International Colloquium on Home Education, which this
year took place in Germany, about four hours from where we live. (Next year it's
planned for the Netherlands, so even closer for us--IF we still happen to be
living here, which is doubtful...) The whole weekend was a very encouraging one
for me, because of getting to spend so much time with so many people who really
do understand our situation. There was optimism about the political situation,
although I'm slow at joining in the optimism. I also got a lot of personal
encouragement in some of the choices we have made and might be making about our
"homeschool style".
The Busekros family was also at the Colloquium, including Melissa. She had
her 2 1/2-year-old sister on her lap a lot of the time, sometimes also my
21-month-old on her lap, or both little girls playing at Melissa's feet. It was
wonderful for everybody to see the family there and to meet them in person, but
I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for them--cameras were going off constantly
(I wonder if my daughter will be in any of the press photos?!), and any time any
speaker mentioned her name, there was loud applause and everyone looked
their/her way.
In response to the comment about the contradictions about whether the issue
with Melissa was really homeschooling: no, this family did not start out to
"fight for homeschooling" or to "set a precedent" or anything else like that.
They just attempted to meet their daughter's needs the way she needed them at
the time she needed them. The authorities have definitely tried to claim that
this case has nothing to do with homeschooling--but the facts appear to be that,
at the end of the day, there's nothing else to hang the case on. That this is a
Christian family (and not even state-church--oh no!!) and that a 15-year-old
(now 16 years and one week) WANTS to be with her family, even with her father,
of all people, rings all sorts of alarm bells in this country. That can't be
right, obviously, the parents must have an unnatural hold on the girl, and she
needs to be rescued. Here's a link
to the articles in English about Melissa's case at the website of the
organization that hosted the conference this weekend, which also has links to
other good articles, also in English. (I wouldn't be surprised if within the
next couple of days there are more articles about the conference, probably with
photos, so I'll update if I get a chance.)
I'm not a psychologist or a social worker and I didn't conduct any intense
interviews with any member of the Busekros family. (The most time I spent with
one individual was with the 2 1/2-year-old, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I
don't even remember her name.) But during most of the sessions the family was
sitting very close to us, during breaks I chatted briefly with the mother and
with various children, including Melissa, and they were "normal", to my mind,
chats. Melissa commented to me that she enjoyed the skit that I and another
mother did, and that even though I laughed (when I wasn't supposed to, but the
audience was laughing and I couldn't help it--I'm a lousy actress but I had
fun!), everybody enjoyed seeing a light-hearted view and that it was a nice
break from all the serious presentations. We're not talking deep conversations.
Just ordinary, everyday, give-and-take, in no way different from most of the
quick chats I had all weekend with people from all over the place.
The Busekros family did not set out to lobby for homeschooling, but that's
where they are now, and homeschoolers all over Germany are very impressed with
the courage of this family, and we're proud to have met them.
No comments:
Post a Comment