• The state "child-napping" of a Swedish homeschool boy being escalated to the European Court of Human Rights http://bit.ly/cozLQG #homeschool #

• Parents win skirmish against United Nations: Organizing campaign to ascertain treaties won't usurp authority of parents http://bit.ly/b9AYpI #
• Court accused of violating homeschooler's 'due process' http://bit.ly/bOnXY8 #homeschool #education #

• In Sweden, a 7-year-old was taken from his parents without a warrant and has been held in custody: http://bit.ly/9YqKoS #homeschool #

• BBC article about the Erz family in Germany "Where home schooling is illegal" http://bit.ly/c9vnJd #homeschool #education #

The sweetly-anticipated day of joy, the marriage of Stefan Liedle to Judith Kauffman, came on Oct. 17th. Hearts are overflowing.

The Highländlers was one of 9 international teams to take part in this year’s Folkmoot International Festival:

http://www.folkmootusa.org/

From their website:

Folkmoot USA, North Carolina’s Official International Festival, is a two-week celebration of the world’s cultural heritage through folk music and dance. Held each summer across the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina, Folkmoot features performances, a parade and workshops by up to 350 performers from ten or so countries.

Performers demonstrate cultural heritage through colorful, authentic and original reproduction costumes, lively dance and beautiful music. During its 26-year history, over 200 folk groups from more than 100 countries have shared their heritage and culture at Folkmoot USA.

The Highländlers received a last-minute invitation to fill in for a team that was unable to get visas to enter the United States. Though we are an American team, we represented the country of Scotland. Other countries performing in the 2009 Festival included: Serbia, Greece, Netherlands, Romania, Mexico, Togo, Spain and Israel.
For the 2 weeks of the festival, we lived together in an old school, which had been converted to house and feed the many musicians, dancers, and volunteers who brought a spectrum of world culture to the Appalachian mountains.

A delightful experience!

• Arrived in NC and had our first performance yesterday. Practice with all the dance groups this morning and then a huge gala event tonight. #
• Finished our rehearsal with all the other teams this morning. Ice cream social at three, then the big gala event this evening. #
• Public schedule information: http://bit.ly/hyEPO

  Schedule document: http://tr.im/folkmoot_09_schedule #

HR 850, the resolution from the Georgia (USA) state government, addressing the issue of home education in Germany, was delivered to the following government officials:

German Federal Education Minister: Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan

Baden-Württemberg state representative:  Mr. Helmut Rau, Minister of Education

Baden-Württemberg state representative:  Karl Traub, Education Committee

The Netherlands:  A copy of the resolution was also delivered to the Dutch parliament at The Hague, on June 6, 2009.

To read the text of this resolution:  http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/fulltext/hr850.htm