As my husband has extended family in Germany, this bit of news is especially troubling to me. (where is the media coverage?)  15-year-old Melissa Busekros was removed from her home several months ago because her parents committed the crime of.......get this.....homeschooling her. (she is now back home) This case has resulted in a legal battle which ended up with Germany essentially banning all homeschooling. There are other German families that have had to go into hiding and be separated, all because they believe in their right to homeschool their own children.

According to HSLDA,  "The European Court of Human Rights’ decision upholding Germany’s move to ban homeschooling, used this concern to rule against the right of parents to homeschool their children."

The 'concern' was that homeschoolers are a 'parallel society', ie not integrating into what is considered socially acceptable. (schools)

Again from HSLDA,

 " For a number of cultural reasons, the average German doesn’t understand the notion of homeschooling. Many German officials fear that active support of homeschooling will result in parallel societies, such as Islamic fundamentalism, that would endanger their country's safety and stability.

In the United States, we understand that homeschooling supports pluralism (a term which essentially means that people of different races, religions, and views should live together with mutual respect and as equal citizens), that individuals have a natural right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, and that the protection of this right is an important function of free and democratic governments."

Let us pray for our fellow homeschoolers in Germany, and especially for the Busekros family. You can visit the HSLDA webpage to see what else you can do.