# 13 yr old homeschooling



## louiseelveria (Dec 28, 2011)

Hi all..
My husband and i have been in Spain since march 2011, Our 13 yr old son has been living back in the uk with his older brother & sister-inlaw, now he has decided he wants to come out and live in Spain with us! But he dosnt want to go to school, he want's to be home tutored, I cannot find any info on this! And if we do,will we be breaking the law?? please anyone with advise thank you

Louise x


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

louiseelveria said:


> Hi all..
> My husband and i have been in Spain since march 2011, Our 13 yr old son has been living back in the uk with his older brother & sister-inlaw, now he has decided he wants to come out and live in Spain with us! But he dosnt want to go to school, he want's to be home tutored, I cannot find any info on this! And if we do,will we be breaking the law?? please anyone with advise thank you
> 
> Louise x


Homeschooling is technically illegal in Spain, its also very expensive as you have to buy the on line courses that enable your son to pass the GCSEs. Have you looked at international schools???? Schools in Spain | Nabss

Jo xxx


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## louiseelveria (Dec 28, 2011)

Hi Jo,
Thank you for your quick reply.. I will look into that link you sent me..

I have just looked at couple of the schools one in fuengirola St Anthonys.. We live not far..
Thank you

louise x


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

louiseelveria said:


> Hi Jo,
> Thank you for your quick reply.. I will look into that link you sent me..
> 
> I have just looked at couple of the schools one in fuengirola St Anthonys.. We live not far..
> ...


St Anthonys... wouldnt be my first choice!!!!! I think you're further west than me, but the schools I would recommend are "The British College" Benalmadena, Sunny view, Torremolinos or the Aloha College. But you need to look at them all to see what you think. We all have different criteria and budgets

Jo xxx


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## Sarah Diggins (Feb 7, 2011)

There is a lot of misinformation about education and homeschooling in Spain, but if you read the Spanish law on education, you will find that homeschooling is not illegal in Spain as long as the children are not taught anything that contradicts the Spanish constitution. Our children go to a UK internet school and follow the iGSCE curriculum it works very well and they are progressing well (getting A/A* grades). The one thing they don't get is physical interaction as in school, but they have friends from their internet schools that they chat with everyday. We are still interested to meet up with others who homeschool - we're near Sotogrande, ***********


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

The thread is from 2011 so the OP is probably long gone. Your post may be interesting to some, I am just letting you know it's an old thread in case you hadn't noticed.


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## Sarah Diggins (Feb 7, 2011)

hello and thank you - yes I noticed it was, but wanted to tell people who may find this via search engine (like I did) that it's OK to home school now in Spain!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Sarah Diggins said:


> hello and thank you - yes I noticed it was, but wanted to tell people who may find this via search engine (like I did) that it's OK to home school now in Spain!


have there been any recent court cases you can cite?

afaik the most recent were a few years ago & still left homeschoolers in a bit of an insecure position


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

How could the authorities determine whether a home- schooled child was being taught values inimical to those of the Spanish Constitution or which contravened any of its chapters, I wonder.....
If that is enshrined in some piece of legislation it would be impossible to enforce.

Can someone post the relevant regulation where that is stated?


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## Sarah Diggins (Feb 7, 2011)

I was doing research this afternoon and found the Spanish law translated where it clearly states that there is no law prohibiting home schooling, but now I can't find that page.

I also agree it must be impossible to police who is teaching what values regarding Spanish constitution!

Sorry I can't find that post - I'll look again later to see if I can re-find it


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## Sarah Diggins (Feb 7, 2011)

found it! https://www.home-school.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=756


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Sarah Diggins said:


> found it! https://www.home-school.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=756


The truth is that children are homeschooled here, but the link unfortunately doesn't prove that it's absolutely legal because it is still up to an authority's (usually a judge) interpretation of the law. There is no law saying a child can be educated in a school, at home etc.
Here's one case which I posted in an earlier thread.

Solo la escuela enseña a convivir · ELPAÍS.com
In a case of home schooling in Málaga a family was told that the process is illegal. All children between the ages of 6 - 16 must attend a school to be educated. The court didn't evaluate the level of education the children received, in fact these children speak five languages for example. The sentence is based on the fact that_* education within the official system is a right that children have and children cannot be denied that right*_ For the moment in Spain the only place where children can receive education is in a school, not in a family.
So this is the latest case, but the case before this gave the thumbs up to home education I believe. Also, as it's legal in many other other european countries Spain will probably follow sooner or later.
Just one last thing, the article does say that more than 1000 children are educated outside the school system at the moment...


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## Sarah Diggins (Feb 7, 2011)

interesting - but what this shows is that children are educated within an official system, then that is within the law. Therefore children educated within officially approved UK internet schools, are OK. That was the point I was trying to make earlier (but not very eloquently!).

I can completely see that free-format home education may come under closer scrutiny since there are no official guidelines like there are in France for families who choose this option. I personally think that children probably get a better education in this 'free format' way since the curriculum has become so politicised and is full of government agenda rubbish that children are often brainwashed into believing certain non-truths that the government wants to convey. I see plenty of examples with our children's education in their internet schooling - only partial information given about geographical and historical subjects and then ridiculous repetition of the subjects the government wants to push deep into the children's brains (eg climate change, sex education, etc) but at least if they're at home, we can balance it out by showing the other side and teaching them that what they learn at school is only one perspective.

It's a really difficult choice thesedays -take the children out of the system and they lose the ability to go into higher education, or keep them in and watch them learning overly dumbed down subject matter, restricted text (so presenting one side only), over-sexualisation of children at way too early an age... I'm not sure there is an answer right now, but our choice is mainstream education, at home, balanced by additional information and removing them from the sex education lessons that they really don't need to learn about in primary!

Maybe this was off-topic, but we should all be questioning what are children are being taught and how they receive their education for they are our future generation and leaders!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Sarah Diggins said:


> interesting - but what this shows is that children are educated within an official system, then that is within the law. Therefore children educated within officially approved UK internet schools, are OK. That was the point I was trying to make earlier (but not very eloquently!).
> 
> Maybe this was off-topic, but we should all be questioning what are children are being taught and how they receive their education for they are our future generation and leaders!


I understood what you were saying. What I'm trying to say though is that, here in Spain at least, when the law is nebulous it is up to each individual judge to decide how the law is interpreted. What the judge has to determine here is what is, as you say, "the official system" and you can bet your bottom dollar that "officially approved UK internet schools" are not within the official system as recognised by the Spanish law. The site that you gave the link to has done the same; interpreted Spanish and EU laws and directives, but they are not Spanish judges.

As for the wheres and whyfores of one education system and another, all have pros and contras. I think home education can be admired in some ways, but a good state education should also be given its credit.
This has been discussed (heatedly) on the forum before and it really doesn't seem to go anywhere as let's face it, a bunch of strangers don't usually convince you to change your mind one way or another. However, I'm pretty sure that many (even most) people with children question what their children are taught, visit the schools, meet the teachers and talk to their children about their schooling.

P.S. I do realise that home education doesn't necessarily mean the parents doing all the teaching and it doesn't necessarily mean that children are isolated from others. I think it takes great courage for some to take their children out of mainstream schooling. Others are just a little foolhardy. And the same could be said for those who choose mainstream education, couldn't it?


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## Sarah Diggins (Feb 7, 2011)

exactly right! the only thing I would say is that, in my experience (at least with the international school where we live) there are lots of parents who simply don't care what their children are learning and don't question what the school is teaching (but then there are others who care passionately too!). Anyone who posts on an education forum will be like us- parents who question their children's education, but believe me, there are plenty who accept the system blindly.

One day we'll have that perfect system - in my view that would be a cross between International Baccalaureate and Steiner - so giving structure where needed, but inspiration, free thought and creative development, along with a massive dose of teaching children to question everything no matter how official the source appears to be! And all within the context of a recognised system and free from government control so no hidden agendas allowed!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

There is and cannot be such a thing as a bias- free education. Any act of selection is a form of censorship in that it excludes.


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