Homeschooling in the Military
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006By Mimi Rothschild
Families in the military living overseas decide to homeschool for the same reasons families in the states make that decision. Much of the time, it is so they have the freedom to teach their children in a Christian atmosphere without the restraints of public school policy. In a 2002 policy memorandum, the Department of Defense Education Activity released a memo that essentially stated that it neither encouraged nor discouraged military families from exercising their right to homeschool their children.
Military families tend to move rather frequently and with all the other adjustments there are to be made it makes sense to preserve the continuity of the homeschool environment. There are positive sides to this situation as well. Imagine the field trips the homeschool family can take assuming the family is stationed in a safe area. Landmarks that most children only read about can be visited by the family who decides to homeschool overseas.
Even if the children of a future homeschool family are yet to be born or are not old enough at the time the family is stationed abroad, the experience can still be rich for the children. Mom and Dad can pick up souvenirs, take photographs and keep journals of places visited. Future history and geography lessons can come alive with the personal experiences the family encounters.
This would be an excellent time to teach culture differences to your homeschool students. Different foods, different customs, different kinds of stores can all be lessons brought to life for the home schooled children of military personnel. When the family is back in the states, think of the lessons your kids can teach others. Your child could have a lesson in public speaking without even realizing it by sharing his overseas experiences with other home schooled children.
You can most likely meet other families who homeschool while you are overseas and learn from each other as well. Think of the scrapbooks you and the children could make together. Even though this could be an extremely stressful time for the entire family, there are things you can turn into positives simply by turning them into learning experiences. For example, are you able to publicly worship as you choose or do you have to hold church services in your home? Are you able to get the same food and supplies you would normally purchase in the states or is your shopping trip radically different? Whatever the answers to these questions, turn them into learning experiences for your homeschool class. One day, the hardships will be but a distant memory, but the lessons learned will last for a lifetime.