The Right to Homeschool

What Happened to Religious Rights in Wisconsin v. Yoder?

By: A. Biographer

Narrated by: Jennifer L. Vorpahl

Length: 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

About a year before the Woodstock music festival in New York, a religious storm was brewing in a small community in Wisconsin.

It's a place from which many Wisconsinites buy their craft beer, but it was once the place where the children of religious parents could have been forced to attend public school against their beliefs and practices. In New Glarus, Wisconsin, three Amish families were punished by the State of Wisconsin for not sending their children to public school. Despite their pacifist and non-violent beliefs, these Amish families reluctantly decided to challenge the ruling against them.

©2017 A. Biographer (P)2017 Locust and Honey Productions

Yoder is a hero.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Right to Homeschool to be better than the print version?

Audio is always better except for detailed non-fiction with lists of statistics. This book is much better told in audio format because it is a story.

What did you like best about this story?

It gives a good summary of the issues and background of the Wis. v. Yoder case, and it draws accurate conclusions. It is respectful of the Amish culture while accurately portraying the narrow victory for parental rights and the ramifications of that victory.

What does Jennifer L. Vorpahl bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

This is a good narrator with a calm voice. Her voice is not distracting so you focus on the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Everyone should know the history of Wis. v. Yoder and the parental rights issues involved. Yoder and other Amish families won an important freedom at great cost to themselves. The only thing I would change is the reference to Wisconsin's compulsory education laws. Wisconsin has compulsory attendance laws, not compulsory education laws. The state recognizes that it can not force an education, it can only force attendance. It is a minor thing, and the rest of the book is very good.

Any additional comments?

This book is very relevant to the educational issues today, particularly school vouchers, charter schools, and homeschooling.

Basic

Nice pace. Very basic overview of a Supreme Court case often misquoted as forming the basis for the right to homeschool. Does not go into the case law on the freedom to homeschool. Only addresses in its most basic form Wisconsin v Yoder