Is anybody unschooling in Switzerland ?

[Ariane Becker]

We are looking for a place to unschool in Switzerland, we are now in the Canton of Bern but they are tightening the laws every year and we are looking at relocating, does anybody have experience to share. We are considering England next, are there some areas where it is not possible? Any comment would be appreciated.

[Ariane Becker]

Hello Cyn,

I am glad to see "bold" parents wanting to homeschool in Switzerland, where the social pressure is intense!

We passed the inspection, although the school inspector wants to confirm in written that our kids did not meet the standards of the Bern Lehrplan. But we prepared so much documentation that she could not fail us - at least for now. She did not say when she would come back, so I kind of plan to see her before December, at the rate of two inspections/year. So much for unschooling.

The Argau Canton allows homeschooling but for kids older than 12 years the parent teaching needs to have a Maturity Degree, which I have not.

In order to homeschool in Bern you need to find a teacher to back you up, which is sometimes hard to do, as they can be afraid of mingling with homeschoolers. Depending on the area where you live I have heard of some inspectors that are quite nice and some tougher. They recently included in the Bern laws that they need to control more the homeschoolers, so I gather that the inspections are going to get tougher in general.

They are also threatening to allow homeschooling only to parents that are teachers, so I think our days are numbered.

Sorry that I don't have more optimistic news for you, I wish you anyway all the best for your homeschooling.

Sincerely,

Ariane

[Cyn]

Hi Ariane,

I live also in the Canton of Bern, in Bern actually, and wish to unschool my kids next year. They're still young (5 and 2). I asked for the law and was told it was quite easy, but as I understand from your post, the inspections are quite hard?

If you wish to stay in Switzerland, I heard that the canton Aargau is home school friendly, there is there a coop and they meet every month.

How was your inspection by the way?

Regards,

Cynthia

[isa margerit]

sure we'd love to meet! are you able to PM me?

warmly.

Isabelle

[Ariane Becker]

Hi Isabelle,

Thanks for your comment, the problem is, we already tried to homeschool in Vaud! The school inspector came two times to our home and failed us, our kids' level did not match the school's level. When they asked us to put the kids in school we had to leave.... Maybe it's because the school inspector got lost coming to our place - I always thought that teachers knew Geography, especially for a country as small as Switzerland.

It probably depends on the age of your kids. Mine are now 8, 11 and 13, right in the middle of school age, and we feel the pressure to "socialize". In Vaud you do not have to put your kid in school until the age of 7. But maybe it got changed with the recent new regulations. After all, they changed the ending year from age 14 to 15, just when I thought that the pressure would be over soon with my oldest kid.

We are going to have a school inspection end of June, and although I would love to unschool we have been preparing for it following the Bern school learning plan. But I am afraid I am not very positive and pretty sure we will have to relocate again.

You are not too far from us, can we meet some time?

Ariane

[isa margerit]

hey Ariane, we are in Vaud. ( at the BE/FR edge, so really close to BE)

there are at least 5 families of unschooolers that i know of in Vaud.

the visites de controle look pretty school-at-home oriented but apparently people make it work.

From what i hear, England sounds way more supportive but i have very little direct info.

Warmly,

Isabelle