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Purcellville, VA, Sept. 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Purcellville, VA—Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the largest homeschool advocacy group in the United States, continues to defend Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their seven children as they seek the freedom to homeschool their children in the United States—a freedom that is severely curtailed in their native land of Germany. On Sept. 6, 2023, the Romeikes were told during a routine check-in at their local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office that they had four weeks to secure passports and return to Germany. The news came without warning, and with no...

Should homeschooling be banned? Harvard Magazine and one of Harvard’s law professors, Elizabeth Bartholet, think so. This is despite the fact that Harvard University admits an appreciable number of homeschooled students to both its undergraduate and graduate programs every year. Readers are urged to conclude that there is an educational crisis at hand. Perhaps there is a crisis, but not in the homeschooling community but rather at Harvard. Let’s deal briefly with the elementary matter of spelling and proofreading. Harvard originally spelled “arithmetic” incorrectly in its illustration of a home-prison depicting an unhappy homeschooled child. It was rendered “arithmatic.” Ahem....

The group and its origins sound innocuous enough. But the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) — a right-wing group founded 36 years ago — has deepened connections between America’s religious right and Russians even as the latter have been sanctioned by the United States, according to a ThinkProgress investigation. By networking with Russians, the HSLDA — now America’s largest right-wing homeschooling association — has provided the Kremlin with a new avenue of influence over some of the most conservative organizations in the United States. And while investigations by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, intelligence organizations, and congressional committees have focused...

Homeschool families in Clinton County, Kentucky, were surprised to see themselves mentioned in their local paper as a topic of discussion during the recent school board meeting. On May 18, the Clinton County News reported that local school officials intend to conduct random audits of area homeschool families this summer because they want to “ensure that all children in our county are getting a rigorous and effective education.” Home School Legal Defense Association opposes any such audits as unconstitutional. We are also troubled by what appears to be the underlying motivation for this proposed meddling by school officials: money. During...

Schooling 'too important' to leave to 'unelected bureaucrats' Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, says that, if elected, one of his strategies to return America to its constitutional moorings would be to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. "I don't think the federal government should have any role in education," he said. "I am a constitutionalist, and I have spent my entire adult life fighting to defend the Constitution and fighting to defend the Bill of Rights. We ought to block-grant that money, send it back to the states, send it to the local governments," he said in a...

Ted Cruz, Homeschooling, S.306, Dishonesty and Pig-Ignorance ~~~you are making a clown argument, bro~~~ One day, when I am acclaimed Galactic Commander, I will mandate a civics test before allowing people to vote and test of reading comprehension skills before allowing them to access the internet. What is circulating now is a story that Ted Cruz supports the federal regulation of homeschooling. There are two underlying causes of this story: rank dishonesty and pig-ignorance. Let's set the baseline. Ted Cruz supports homeschooling. (So does Marco Rubio, btw.) His support has been full, clear, un-nuanced, and unequivocal. Not all states, however,...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Seven homeschoolers in Arkansas who were seized by the Garland County Sheriff’s Department this month remain in state custody after a court hearing on Thursday over the matter. Hal Stanley, a pastor, and his wife Michelle state that they are in shock after their children were removed from their Hot Springs home on Jan. 12 following an anonymous complaint. The situation began last month as a social worker with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) showed up at the Stanley’s door after receiving a complaint that the children were permitted to go outside in the...

An appeals court in Germany has ruled that a family court's decision to keep legal custody of four children away from their parents, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, was wrong, and ordered that complete custody be returned to the family. However, the court maintained that homeschooling endangers children and they should go to school. "We have won custody and we are glad about that," Dirk said in a statement released by Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association, which has been assisting the Wunderlich family since their children were taken on Aug. 29, 2013. The court said taking the children away was...

An Indiana-based energy distribution group that operates in Ohio has informed the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) that the company will not hire homeschool graduates, a situation that may not only reflect discrimination, but also the possibility that, with a nationalized set of standards such as Common Core, homeschoolers could be shown the door when they apply for jobs in the future.

If you’re interested in the Convention of States Project and enjoy a good, old-fashioned debate, you’re in for a treat. Convention of States Project director Michael Farris will join Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge on March 19 and 20 to debate leaders of the Oklahoma John Birch Society on the efficacy of calling a Convention of States to stop the abuses of Washington, D.C. Questions have been swirling around the Convention of States issue, and Michael and Rob look forward to answering many of them. A Convention of States is our best chance to stop the overreach of the federal...

On Tuesday, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) announced a drastic turnaround on the part of the federal government: The German Romeike family, which sought asylum in the United States to home-school their children, will now be allowed to stay in America. “The Romeikes can stay!!!” the HSLDA announced on its Facebook page. Just one day ago, the Romeikes thought they would be forced to return to Germany, where the state could take custody of their children because of their decision to home-school. At a minimum, they would face increasingly harsh fines for violating Germany’s compulsory attendance law....

Today, a Supervisor with the Department of Homeland Security called a member of our legal team to inform us that the Romeike family has been granted “indefinite deferred status”. This means that the Romeikes can stay in the United States permanently (unless they are convicted of a crime, etc.) This is an incredible victory that can only be credited to our Almighty God. We also want to thank those of who spoke up on this issue–including that long ago White House petition. We believe that the public outcry made this possible while God delivered the victory. Via Home School Legal...

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike came to the United States in 2008 seeking political asylum. They fled their German homeland in the face of religious persecution for homeschooling their children. They wanted to live in a country where they could raise their children in accordance with their Christian beliefs. The Romeikes were initially given asylum, but the Obama administration objected – claiming that German laws that outlaw homeschooling do not constitute persecution. “The goal in Germany is for an open, pluralistic society,” the Justice Department wrote in a legal brief last year. “Teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps to...

For nearly 40 years, faith-based families have been able to homeschool under Virginia’s religious exemption statute with the quiet peace and security of knowing that their right to teach their children that God is the beginning of wisdom in every subject was unquestioned. Last week, however, Delegate Thomas Rust (R-Fairfax, 86th District) filed a legislative measure (HJ 92) that throws your rights into question and confusion by urging the Virginia General Assembly to ask the Department of Education to “study” the religious exemption statute. Asking to conduct a study is a back-door way of saying that something should be questioned....

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An Ohio state senator recently introduced a bill that would have forced homeschoolers to undergo government investigation, but promised on Thursday to withdraw the legislation following widespread criticism. Democratic Senator Capri Cafaro has represented the 32nd Ohio Senate District since January 2007. Earlier this month, Cafaro introduced to the Ohio legislature Senate Bill 248 (SB 248), which would have amended the state’s education policy toward homeschoolers and internet-based schools.

Homeschoolers whose children were recently seized by the German government are now not allowed to emigrate to a country that allows homeschooling. In August, the children of Dirk and Petra Wunderlich were seized at gunpoint by German officials because the Wunderlich's refused to send their children to the public school. In mid-September, the Wunderlichs were reunited with their children, but only after they promised to send their kids to public school. The Wunderlichs then requested that they be allowed to leave the country so that they could go to a country that will allow them to homeschool. A judge told...

At a home-school community meeting deep in the woods of Baden-Württemberg, children kick around balls and parents grill sausages while chatting about their latest run-ins with the state. An American woman who just gives her name as “Teri” says she and her German husband started home-schooling their two daughters so they could learn both English and German. “We want them to be fluent in both languages, in both cultures and in both politics,” she says. But when local authorities discovered their daughters were not going to school, Teri and her husband received a letter demanding they enroll them. “The letter...

The Romeikes, a German family granted legal asylum in the United States by a U.S. immigration judge in 2010, will petition the Supreme Court to hear its case to be granted permanent legal status in the country. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike fled Germany after their family was vigorously prosecuted with steep fines, threats of loss of custody of their children, and imprisonment—all for homeschooling. Homeschooling is largely illegal in Germany. Though the family was granted political asylum in the United States, the Obama administration appealed that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, and that Board decided in favor of...

A U.S. appeals court sided with the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday and denied asylum for the Romeikes. They fled from Germany after they were threatened with the possibility of losing custody of their children when they decided to homeschool and refused to send their children to the German public schools. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the Justice Department, in Romeike vs. Holder, that the freedom to homeschool one's children is not among the fundamental rights protected for asylum seekers. The Home School Legal Defense Association, which represented the Romeikes in the case, said it will appeal...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the Obama Administration’s denial of asylum granted to the Romeike family. The Romeikes fled Germany in 2008 when they were subjected to criminal prosecution for homeschooling. They were granted asylum in 2010 by Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, but that grant was overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2012. A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit heard the Romeikes’ appeal on April 23 in Cincinnati, and issued today’s unanimous decision against the family. “We believe the Sixth Circuit is wrong, and we will appeal their decision,” said Michael Farris, HSLDA...