Brits tighten screws on homeschooling

  A recent British report called for government takeover of homeschooling. Released in June, the report was commissioned by the Children’s Secretary of Britain, England’s version of the Department of Education. Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), said the report is bad news for Britain.
  “It would require all homeschoolers to have to register with the equivalent of the federal government here [in the U.S.],” he said. “Secondly, they would have to be available for home visits ... from government officials to separate them and ask them questions about their homeschooling, whether they like it, etc.”
  Smith was even more troubled by another aspect of the report: All homeschool curricula would be controlled by the state. “In other words, homeschoolers would be unable to choose their own curriculum,” he explained.
  Smith said the measure used Articles 12 and 29 from the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child Treaty to justify the report. HSLDA founder Mike Farris is concerned that the same U.N. treaty could be used to the same ends in the U.S.
  www.onenewsnow.com, 9/23/09