HOME-EDUCATION part 2

Home-education in France. The French school system is regulated by the Education Nationale (national education), who sometimes makes it very difficult to home-educate, although it is legal to do so. Most inspectors from the Education Nationale say that the child has to be tested based on what a child of the same age in school would know. That is not what it says in the french law. The child can only be tested based on what her or his level was on the last time he or she was inspected. The only test should be at the age of 16 or 18 when the inspector should give him or her a test to see if the person has the skills required by French law. Personally I was tested twice in five years (we were visited by the inspector three times), both times were before we knew the law. If you home-educate you are supposed to send a letter to the Education Nationale and the town hall every September to state that you are going to home-educate your child. Normally the inspector comes to your house every year (not always the case) and somebody from the town hall is supposed to come every two years to see if the children's environment is propice to learning. If you have a more unschool approach then the town hall's visit is not usually what you have to be worried about, it is the inspectors visit that you should prepare for. But if you have a school at home approach, then you needn't worry about either visit (although the test is still illegal).