Posted in The View From Here

  When I moved to Sweden, homeschooling as we know it did not exist here (or not to my knowledge, at least). I was told that the schools were progressive and that religion was not a problem. With those assurances and the hopes that going to public school would help our daughters make a smoother adjustment to Swedish culture, I placed them in the Swedish school system. The first few years, they seemed to do well. There were a few small problems (mostly their treatment by other children) but that comes with immaturity and can be found anywhere.

Soon we moved to a house in the country and the girls had to change schools. The school in this town was everything short of wonderful; at one point, my elder daughter, who was nine at the time, was being bullied by a girl in her class. Mikaela pushed DD9 down in the playground, made fun of her, knocked her things into puddles, and with the help of her six siblings, even followed her and her sister home, taunting them and throwing things at them. Emboldened by their success at school, these children even entered our yard and tried to start fights or steal toys, but I promptly put a stop to it.

DD9 got little sympathy and no protection whatsoever from her teacher. The girls have been taught not to act against another person; that when there are problems instead of continuing the argument/fight, they should tell an adult in charge. DD9 did so, only to have the teacher brush her off. "Stop complaining." She was told. "All you American children are spoiled."

At the lowest point of the year, I told DD9 to stay away from Mikaela. The teacher demanded to know why DD9 wouldn't play with "all the children". When DD9 informed her that I had instructed her to stay out of the girl's reach, the teacher replied, "Your mother does NOT run my classroom." Not only was DD9 forced to play with the terrorist, to make a point, the teacher seated her WITH Mikaela in class and ordered them to do their schoolwork together. When I complained, no action was taken. If anything, the situation became worse.

My two happy little girls, who could not wait to "have school", became miserable and it was a daily struggle to get them to go. I began to look into homeschooling in Sweden and we met with some local couples who were doing it. I was encouraged. But then I began to have serious health problems and started going through a rather difficult pregnancy.  Elle, our youngest, was born at that time. She had health problems and I was busy caring for her around the clock and healing from the surgery (c-section). I didn't want further trauma for the girls but to be honest I just couldn't handle teaching them at that point in time.

My husband was still working in town a few blocks away from their "old" school and we asked for special permission for the girls to be transferred back. The girls were happier and we decided to move back into town to cut down on expenses and to give the girls a more familiar and friendly environment. As Elle's needs became more manageable, I thought once again about homeschooling the girls.

To be continued...