Homeschooling Around the World

Carlos Vinícius Reis has played a key role in Brazil's homeschool movement. He is the Director of Institutional Relations at ANED Brasil (National Homeschooling Association of Brazil) and is the one who spearheaded the first Expo for Homeschooling in Brazil. In this episode, Mike and Vinicius discuss what's happening with homeschooling in Brazil right now and they continue last week's conversation about Brazil's first national homeschool conference.

Gustavo Borges and his wife are new to homeschooling but have embraced the movement helping to organize the first ever Expo for Homeschooling in Brazil. Mike and Gustavo discuss his homeschooling journey, reflections on organizing and experiencing Brazil's first national homeschool conference, and homeschooling in Brazil as the Senate continues discussion on legally recognizing homeschooling.

Sameera is a homeschool mom to four children and is actively involved in her homeschool community in the United Arab Emirates. In this episode, Sameera shares about her homeschool story, how she uses her YouTube channel, Parhai by Samz, to help other parents with their homeschool journey, and what living in the United Arab Emirates is like as a homeschool mom, an ex-pat, woman, and individual.

Homeschooling was illegal in Namibia when Monja Gouws decided to homeschool her children. However, Monja had a strong desire to homeschool her children and found a way to do so by registering a school for one. Tune into this episode to learn more about Monja's homeschooling story as a parent and one of the founders of The Homeschool Association of Namibia, what homeschooling in Namibia is like today now that it is legally recognized, and more!

Joanna Merrett is a researcher working on her Ph.D. in the UK. In this episode, Joanna shares how her background in early education led her to home education and what she has discovered about home education through her research projects. She also discusses the Schools Bill, which seeks to impose a mandatory register on homeschoolers, with Mike Donnelly.

Back in April, we spoke with Alberto Solano who is a homeschool leader, businessman, and homeschool dad to five homeschool graduates. In this episode, Mike connects with Alberto's daughter, Marian Ramsey and Marian's husband, Jordan Ramsey, who is also a homeschool graduate. Find out how homeschooling shaped Marian and Jordan as individuals and benefited them in their relationship with their family and each other.

Alexandre Moreira joins Mike to discuss Brazil's path to legalizing home education and speaks on his personal experience in the Brazil Ministry of Education; his involvement with the homeschool movement, and his fight for freedom to homeschool in Brazil as the "icebreaker ship" not just for homeschooling families but for all families and the general freedom of educational choice in Brazil!

Join Mike as he talks with Chris Cordeiro and Bouwe Van Der Eems from South Africa. Learn about the history of South Africa and the amazing growth of homeschooling and discuss how can homeschooling transform families and cultures?  Chris, Bouwe, and Mike will discuss this and other fascinating questions! 

Homeschooling communities have to be organized and ready to defend their freedom because, as our guest puts it: "We are often the first ones under the steamroller." Join Mike Donnelly and Scottish homeschooling parent and advocate, Alison Preuss to talk about her homeschooling journey in Scotland, and what it takes to defend homeschooling freedom!

Agnė Kundrotienė  is co-founder and president of the Lithuanian Homeschooling Association  and a key participant of Lithuania's homeschooling legalization work that re-legalized homeschooling in 2019.  Agnė discusses the process of re-legalizing home education in Lithuania and details how the Global Home Education Conference hosted by the Global Home Education Exchange encouraged her in her fight for homeschool freedom in Lithuania.

From school teacher to homeschool mom and advocate for homeschooling in Bolivia, Dorcas Ross joins Mike Donnelly in discussing the structure and environment surrounding education in Bolivia and what she is doing to further the homeschool movement. 

Alberto Solano is a homeschool leader, businessman, and recently graduated homeschool dad to five children from Mexico. Choosing to homeschool his children required ‘a leap of faith', but making this decision has allowed Alberto to discover the value of homeschooling and moved him to become actively involved in the fight for homeschool freedom today. In this episode, Alberto shares about his homeschooling journey, how he is trying to advance homeschool freedom in Mexico and around the globe with Mike Donnelly.

Peter Costea is a Houston-based lawyer who came from Romania when it was under Communist rule. With the help of other like-minded folks, Peter launched a pro-family movement called the National Renaissance Alliance (ARN) that advocates for Christian values, parental rights, and family values. Mike Donnelly sits down with Peter to hear how he left Romania, his connection to homeschooling, and about homeschooling in Romania!

What would you give up to homeschool your children? Would you leave everything? Your home? Your career? Your family? The Romeikes are modern day pilgrims who gave up all of that and more to follow their conviction to homeschool. They are true homeschooling refugees. Don't miss this powerful moving interview with this heroic couple, Uwe and Hanne Romeike, who feel that they have gained far more than they lost as they sought freedom to homeschool.

Godfrey Kyazze is the founder of Homeschoolers Uganda Group (HUG), a pioneer of homeschooling in Uganda, and a homeschool dad to four children with his wife. Mike Donnelly sits down with Godfrey to discuss Uganda as a country and to learn about Godfrey's vision for homeschooling in his homeland.

Emi Tolgyes-Busz is a homeschool mom to three boys with a diverse background as a missionary teacher, lawyer, and lawyer-linguist. Today, she continues to use her legal expertise to fight for homeschooling freedom in Hungary and shares about the changes she hopes to see in the Hungarian homeschooling environment with Mike Donnelly.

Ignasi Callizo is the General Director of OIDEL, an NGO that supports freedom and education and is trying to influence international policy in favor of homeschooling. In this episode, Ignasi shares about his Catalonian identity and dives into a wide-ranging discussion about the freedom and right to education through a legal, international, and philosophical lens with Mike Donnelly.

Sílvia Cópio joins Mike Donnelly to talk about home education in Portugal. Sílvia is actively involved in home education as a homeschool mom and advocate. Sílvia is President of Movement for Freedom in Education in Portugal and serves as the GHEX Europe Regional Committee Chair. Sílvia is married to Paulo Cópio and a homeschool mother of three boys.

Mike Donnelly sits down with Tim Chen, the founder of Taiwan Homeschool Advocates (TAH) to discuss the homeschooling environment in Taiwan. Tim shares how he became actively involved in Taiwan's homeschool community and how homeschooling made it possible for him and his wife to provide their children a multicultural and multilingual learning experience.

Robert Bortin's joins Mike Donnelly in this week's episode of Homeschooling Around the World! Robert is a homeschool graduate and now a homeschool dad and CEO of Classical Conversations. Robert is dedicated to advocating for and serving the homeschool community in the United States and globally.  To date, Classical Conversations is serving more than 50 countries!

Finland is small, but the future is bright for home education.  Juhani Paavolainen is the Chairman of the Finnish Home Educators Association; he is known as the "Defender of Home Schooling in Finland".  He also is an Expert at the Education and Culture Committee in the Parliament of Finland.  Join Mike Donnelly in a conversation with Juhani Paavolainen on his personal journey in home education and his efforts to defend educational freedom in Finland. 

Mike Donnelly discusses the culture and homeschool environment in the Philippines with Edric Mendoza, Founder & Chairman of the Homeschool Association of the Philippine Islands (HAPI). Edric relates his personal experience with home education as a homeschool parent and advocate. 

When Canute Waswa and his wife started to discuss their idea of the best education for their children, they realized that it didn't exist. This marked the beginning of their journey as homeschooling parents and provided them the opportunity to become homeschool leaders on a regional and global level. Mike Donnelly sits down with Canute for a close look into this journey and to discuss the homeschooling environment in Kenya through its culture, education system, and government relations.

Erika Di Martino is a leader in home education in Italy. Erika is the founder of Edupar.org, an Italian social network of home educating families, and the online alternative learning platform EDUlearn. Erika joins Mike Donnelly in a heartfelt discussion on how she became a homeschool mom & advocate and how she is supporting and encouraging families not only in Italy but across Europe. 

Homeschool luminary, Debra Bell, sits down with Mike Donnelly to discuss her homeschool journey and her many roles from a public school teacher, homeschool mom, business owner, and researcher - she currently oversees AIM Academy Online and serves as the Vice-Chair and Director of Research for the Global Home Education Exchange (GHEX). 

Mike Donnelly interviews Catherine Sunshine, a homeschool mom and advocate. Catherine faced a challenge when she decided to object to TUSLA enforcing its own policies when it came to homeschool registration. The Sunshine family lost their case in the district court and then appealed the decision in the circuit court and won! A victory not just for the Sunshine family but also for all homeschool families in Ireland. Catherine and Mike discuss the aftermath of the court case in Ireland and new restrictions on homeschooling since COVID. 

Mike Donnelly interviews home education leaders Juliet English and Randall Hardy along with ADF International attorneys Lorcán Price and Lizzie Troughton to get their expert insight on the judicial review outcome for home educators in Portsmouth, England.

Mike Donnelly announces breaking news from the United Kingdom and interviews Fiona and Rodney Rajkumar from Trinidad and Tobago!  Fiona is an Associate Professor at the University of the Southern Caribbean and Rodney is President of the HomeSchool Association of Trinidad and Tobago.  Join Rodney and Fiona as they tell us what homeschooling is like in Trinidad and Tobago and what is next for the homeschool movement there!  

Gerald Huebner sits down with Michael Donnelly to discuss homeschooling in Canada and all his international efforts for the homeschool movement, including his involvement as Chairman of the Global Home Education Exchange. Gerald serves as the board chair of HSLDA Canada and the Canadian Centre for Home Education. Gerald worked for over 37 years in senior management of the agriculture department with the provincial government in the province of Manitoba. Gerald and his wife Bev have shared their journey and experience with parents, government officials, and others in over 12 countries around the world.

Juliet English discusses home education in the United Kingdom and her background as home educator. Juliet is an advocate of home education and is engaged in a number of initiatives which benefit home educators in the UK, drawing on her personal experience of educating her own 7 children, running groups, activities and conferences. Juliet is a director at Streams Education, a non-profit company offering support and advice to home educators, and runs the Learn Free Home Educators' Conference in the United Kingdom. 

HSLDA Board Member, Rogers Hellman came to the rescue to assist homeschoolers in Panama.  Rogers Hellman's background is in technology as a programmer, instructor, team lead, and in executive positions in companies such as Transaction Information Systems,  America Online, and others. He has developed a medical record system for use in emerging countries that also functions as a disease surveillance system (epidemic warnings).

Michael Donnelly and Patricia Zarate Perez discuss the homeschool environment in Panama and the recent law changes that recognize home education in Panamanian law.  Patricia Zarate Perez is a professor at Berklee College of Music and Director of the Panama Jazz Festival, who homeschools her three children with her husband, UNESCO Artist of Peace and GRAMMY award winning artist, Danilo Perez.