TresSugar

Homeschooling German Family Seeks Asylum in US

CitizenSugar — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 06:00:55 -0700

Like many Europeans before them, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike have left the mother country for America under a cloud of religious persecution. That's what the husband and wife are telling US immigration authorities, anyway. The couple says they were persecuted in Germany for their evangelical Christian beliefs and for homeschooling their children. They now seek US asylum so they can stay in Tennessee where they homeschool their children.

In Germany, families cannot homeschool. German police even took the Romeike children from their home to school. Parents can face prison or fines for teaching their children at home, instead of sending them to school. In America, homeschooling is legal and gaining popularity.

The case will go before an immigration judge this Thursday. How do you think the judge should decide? Should the Romeikes swallow their pride and follow the German rules, or should the US offer them refuge?

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California Parents Do Not Have Right to Homeschool

LibertySugar — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 15:01:08 -0700

This week, a California appeals court reaffirmed the state's compulsory education statute - which requires parents to send children to an accredited full-time day school, or have their children instructed at home by a credentialed tutor. The panel of three judges, rejected the notion that parents have a constitutional right to educate their children at home.

The parents in the lawsuit also argued that the state's law violated their freedom of religion. But the court rejected a parallel to US Supreme Court allowing for Amish families to withdraw their children from schools at age 13. The judges reasoned that the present case missed various common factors, including deep religious beliefs held by an organized group. Simply asserting a religious objection, would be too easy a loophole.

Do you think parents have a right to teach their children at home, or a legal duty to make sure they are being taught by accredited teachers?

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Many Blessings: Christian Sect Believes Its Kids Will Fix the US

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

It's not uncommon to say children are a blessing, but Quiverfull (the name of a small movement among Christian Evangelicals) families take the belief very, very seriously. So much that they eschew all forms of birth control, even natural methods, and 10-children families have become the norm. Is it so there's enough love to go around? Partially. But more disconcertingly, it's because they believe the answer to America's "moral decay" is a return to pre-industrial revolution times when contraception was incompatible with Christianity, patriarchy reigned, children attended homeschools, and families were self-sufficient. And they - or their children - plan to lead the movement.

Despite a wide concern that Christianity is dying in the United States and Europe, Rev. James McDonald, the pastor at an Illinois church filled with Quiverfull families, is not worried about his numbers. "In denomination after denomination their children are leaving in mass exodus," McDonald said, "and this is a major, major problem, especially when most families only have two or three children."

"Only" two or three children? Is McDonald saying that, while other Christian denominations decline, they will rise? Are Quiverfull families trying another kind of "family planning"? Find out after the jump.

HIV-Positive Teen Bullied at School, Sues School District

LibertySugar — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:00:28 -0800

While at school, a 14-year-old HIV-positive girl confronted hateful notes left on her locker, was told by her soccer coach that the team could use her HIV status to scare the other teams, and endured name-calling on a regular basis.

The AP reports that the ridicule became so harsh that the girl left school. Now being homeschooled, she has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that school officials did nothing to stop the crippling bullying.

This isn't the first time this exact Indianapolis school district has faced a controversy surrounding a student with HIV/AIDS. During the 1980s, Ryan White, a young boy who contracted HIV from a blood transfusion, successfully won the right to attend school in the district. Federal law guarantees a child with HIV/AIDS the right to confidentiality, and prohibits discrimination against them in schools, among other things.

Do you think the school should do more to help this teen go to school in peace, or is there no way to fight the stigma and control the actions of others?

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Group Therapy: How Do I Befriend Other Women?

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:00:00 -0700

I never had a close relationship to my adopted mother, and I never knew my birth mother. I have one older sister who I have never been close to, and I was home-schooled kindergarten through high school, so I never developed close female friendships or did the normal girl stuff as a kid. Now, at 24 years old, I have a lot of trouble relating to other women. I want to have close female friends, but usually when I'm around women, I feel irrationally jealous and antagonistic toward them because they seem so much more together than me.

It leads to jealousy in my relationship too; I get really jealous when any woman talks to my wonderful boyfriend who I know would never cheat on me. I guess I just have trouble reading other women's motives. How can I get over this? How do I go about making friends with women? It seems like the only ones I ever meet are b*tchy and look down on me because I never went to a dance and I wear jeans and t-shirts every day.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: To be involved in more GROUP THERAPY, click here]

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Boy Bands in the 60's

GiggleSugar — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:15:00 -0800

It's hard to imagine that these guys existed in the same era as The Rolling Stones and The Who--you know, cool bands. Maybe they were home-schooled or something--by elves from Vegas.

A picture says a thousand words, but I really only have one: Wow.

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