When The Old Schoolhouse Magazine first planned a tour to Europe, no one knew that it would pan out as an international incident of sorts. We had high hopes of connecting home educators on both continents and allowing them to share their experiences with one another. The events that followed present a cautionary tale for home educators on both sides of the Atlantic.

Preparations for this tour began almost a year ago. The plan was for the Suarez family to travel to England, Scotland, Wales, and Germany and offer encouragement to the homeschool community there, learning from them and making them aware of our magazine, our website resources, and our free HomeschoolBlogger community. The Suarezes were to take a few individuals with them to help with the program. I was to go to the UK to make a presentation about “Real World Homeschooling.” Dora Tokarski, a native of Germany now homeschooling in the United States, was to travel with the Suarezes to Germany and help them there. Our goal was to share ideas and increase our understanding of homeschool communities abroad.

A few generous sponsors helped to defray some of the immense expense of the trip. TOS had 1,000 cotton tote bags printed up with the logos of these companies so that each person who attended a meeting would receive a handsome gift bag filled with samples, catalogs, and resource information. Other companies generously donated several nice door prizes, and plans were well in hand for The Old Schoolhouse to meet with 12 groups in the UK and 3 in Germany. An air of excitement surrounded the proceedings, and the host homeschool families overseas seemed pleased to receive us.

However, when the magazine publicized the itinerary, the reaction was totally unexpected. Who knew that one homeschool magazine could be perceived as such a threat? But it seems that some radical homeschool groups in the UK got wind of the fact that one of our sponsors was No Greater Joy, a ministry of Michael and Debi Pearl. The Pearls publish a range of child training books and a newsletter that teaches the concept of spanking as an overall part of a child training strategy. To most Americans, this is a familiar concept. But in the UK, the matter is fraught with political implications involving an ongoing debate over the effect of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the matter of corporal punishment. Thus far, moderate forms of parental corporal punishment are still considered “reasonable chastisement” in the UK, but some people are seeking to change that.

Into this highly charged atmosphere, we unwittingly moved forward with our visions of goodwill. Some people in the UK homeschool community noted our acceptance of No Greater Joy as a sponsor, and they began to wage a campaign against the magazine based simply on its support of an advertiser who promoted the use of spanking, or “smacking,” as it is termed in the UK.

When TOS was contacted with concerns about this matter, the publishers repeatedly assured those who wrote that we were not going to discuss, teach, or promote “smacking” and simply wanted to discuss home education issues. We did not plan to distribute the No Greater Joy child training guides or to discuss the Pearls’ methods. However, the publishers also refused to be bullied into denying support for the overall ministry of the Pearls as emails such as this one insisted: “I would like to suggest that the magazine should dissociate itself from the Pearls’ ministry, if it wishes to be received positively in the home education community in the UK. If you feel that is not an option, then you should be aware that there are many networked and politically active home educators who will take action to make it clear that the Pearls views, and the magazine if it is connected to them, are not welcomed or accepted by the general UK home education community.” (name withheld)

It was soon clear from the barrage of emails we received that many of the protesters were not just concerned with the specifics of the Pearl method (which many of them knew of only by statements taken out of context), but that most were opposed to any form of corporal punishment and some to any form of child discipline at all! As one person commented: “You should be aware that [our organization] deplores the physical punishment of children and is fully committed to children’s rights as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and as promoted by Action on Rights for Children.” (name withheld)

One person active in the UK homeschool community made this telling personal observation after reviewing dozens of UK posts about the issue: “I am very concerned by the fact that those who are virulently and ideologically opposed to any notion of physical discipline (and, at least in some instances, to Christianity itself) are using your visit to further their own agenda, and I believe that this should be opposed.” (name withheld)

The odd thing is that the protesters claimed that their primary concern was for the welfare of the UK homeschool community. They said they feared that our arrival would cause government officials to associate “home education” with “child abuse” and so restrict their freedoms. In reality, since we were not going to discuss “smacking” and were armed with only a calendar and catalog from a company with the innocuous name of No Greater Joy, it seemed there was little danger of the association unless the protesters themselves created a furor. So what did the protesters do next? Inexplicably, they contacted several government officials to complain about us and deliberately pounded them with messages linking the terms “home education” and “child abuse.”

It is one thing to have someone disagree with your opinion. It is quite another to see the level of emotional hooliganism that was inflicted upon The Old Schoolhouse and any who dared to host us. Since early February, the following events have transpired, according to eyewitness reports or documentation that we have on file:

1. The Old Schoolhouse was sent multiple emails in which we were told to either bow to the wishes of the opposition or to “stay home.” If not, protesters would “take action.”
2. Individuals posed as people interested in attending the UK meetings and requested the itinerary by email. Our supporters asked us to remove the itinerary from our website since it was being used as a “hit list” to systematically contact hosts for the purpose of threatening them with reprisals. In order to protect our UK friends, we removed tour information from our website and stopped sending information to people who contacted us.
3. Several host families informed us that protesters had threatened to call Social Services to investigate them should they continue to support us. Some hosts withdrew their support in order to protect their families. As one host explained, “Their behaviour is very threatening and I can understand that many people would shy away from any involvement with the tour for fear of reprisals.” (name withheld)
4. Host churches were contacted and threatened with boycotts and negative press should they host the group. As a result, most of our public venues reluctantly closed their doors to us. One UK host told us, “I was shocked and in tears long into the night last night after reading some of the blogs that have been written about the tour, especially one that listed my church on a ‘hit list’!! I discovered this AM that my pastor had already received some nasty emails yesterday just a few hours after that blog went live-they wasted no time!!” (name withheld)
5. We were informed by someone connected with Lakenheath that officials at the US Air Force base there had been asked to refuse us access to their facilities. Fortunately, they looked into the complaints and agreed to host.
6. Protesters made contact with members of Parliament and asked them to ban our entrance into the country. At the time of this writing, we have still not heard from Parliament. Likely they are busy with something else—like running a country. Here is a sample of one letter to a member of Parliament. It was posted on a message board to encourage others to contact their representatives: “Please could you look into this matter? The Old Schoolhouse are a Christian, Bibleled, home educating group who are planning a UK tour shortly. They have a website which encourages home schooling - with corporal punishment of children as young as babies in accordance with the Bible, violating the human rights of the child. As UK home educators, we and many other families are very concerned about the UK tour and the possibility of them ensnaring them unaware into their way of punishing children as part of teaching. We are also concerned that they may tarnish the reputation of UK home educating families who put the needs and rights of our children first and would never sanction physical punishment of a child.”

For a time, we considered giving up the tour altogether, fearful of causing greater distress to the Christian homeschool community in the UK. We were little concerned for ourselves. It was almost comical to watch the amount of time, energy, and venom that was expended against us, a relatively small force in the grand scheme of things. One creative individual even made “The Old Schoolhouse Out of the UK” Web buttons for people to put on their websites and blogs! He posted them on his blog site and made them freely available to all. Of course, this generous individual’s blog site also contains such entries as “Yes, I am an Herb Smoker” and “The Problem with God Worship.” They say you are known by the enemies you make.

In an odd way, the opposition was flattering. These people clearly feared us and the impact we would have in the UK. We never had any idea that someone would think we had this much influence. We certainly did not think so. But now we were becoming known to members of Parliament! I was secretly hoping for a private interview with the Queen, but thus far, the protesters have not arranged that.

After the barrage of attacks unleashed by a relatively small but active group of protesters, we began to see emails of support. As these letters began to arrive, encouraging our visit, we were reminded that God had a purpose in it all. Most of those who wrote were appalled at the actions of their countrymen, ones who claimed to represent the homeschooling cause in the UK. They were shocked at the display of bitterness and hatred on the message boards and the threats that they had received, characterizing the reactions as “battering,” “witch-hunts,” and “xenophobic.” These supportive UK homeschoolers individually approached us with sweet attitudes, offering us the most precious gifts of friendship and prayer in those troubled times. If we have made strong enemies with this trip, we have made even stronger friends.

At the time of this writing, the nature of the trip has changed dramatically. Since we had to stop publicizing the tour, we were forced into “underground action” in order to protect those who still wish to meet with us and help us gain a better understanding of their culture. Originally, we had 12 public meetings planned in the UK; now we are reduced to 8 meetings, only some of which will take place at public venues. The rest will be casual meetings held in private homes. Since two of the three Germany meetings were cancelled, the publishers decided to forego that leg of the tour and instead go only to the UK this year.

While there, we still plan to discuss homeschooling issues and learn how to better support one another in the homeschool arena. We do not plan (and never had planned) to engage in political or child-rearing debates. We do not know what to expect in terms of attendance. On the one hand, some people will be frightened to come. On the other hand, our detractors have publicized our coming in ways we would never have dreamed of, and some people are bound to be curious.

We plan to leave within a week of this writing and will remain in the UK for three weeks. While this is not the tour we had planned, it is the one that God has planned for us. We do not know what we will face—if the opposition will follow us, try to prevent our entrance, or fail to materialize. But we do know that friends there await our arrival and need our input and support as badly as we need theirs.

By the time you read this, we will likely be on our way home from England with new stories to tell and exciting adventures to share. Please read our update in the next issue to find out how the story ends.

In the meantime, use this tale as a warning that we need to treasure the freedoms we have here in the USA as Christian home educators. Not everyone is blessed with the support systems that we have here, and ours may not last forever. Above all, we must learn to support our fellow home educators in their home education efforts. We need to band together for support when dealing with government officials and legislators, not viciously attack one another in front of them. In the end, we all have one common goal—to provide the best environment for our children in order to prepare them to meet the challenges that lie ahead. And that is a goal worth working together for.

Amelia Harper is a homeschooling mother of five and pastor's wife. She is the author of Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings, a complete one-year literature curriculum for secondary level students. She is also a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines. www.HomeScholarBooks.com www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/MiddleEarthMom