 Interviews
From the Front Lines
The military homeschooling family: who are we? I’ve
heard people say the reasons for homeschooling can be as
varied as the people doing it are and that there really is
no “typical” homeschooling family. Judging from
what I’ve seen at conferences, I would say that is
true. It’s one of the things I like most about homeschooling
is that it’s a place for square pegs to fit into round
holes!
When we were living in Colorado, I found that most of the
other homeschooling families were the same branch of service
as we were with just a sprinkling of retirees or civilians
added in. Obviously, our civilian numbers were drastically
affected and dropped considerably after 9-11. Often we were
considered the “old timers,” and I hadn’t
thought of us as homeschooling for all that many years. Many
of the families had younger children and/or had just begun
to homeschool.
When we moved to Hawaii and joined the military homeschool
support group, we had families from all branches of the service.
It added a nice flair to the group and opened our eyes to
lifestyles of the other branches. (Navy wives amaze me! And
submariner wives I bow to! Can you say “shore duty”?)
I realize now the Lord was allowing me to develop a respect
and caring for ALL military homeschoolers, not just Air Force,
in order to prepare me for this adventure of writing The
Home Front. Isn’t He gracious? He knows His plans for
us before we can even imagine them.
One thing I was struck by was that I finally met homeschooling
families that were not all junior rankings. That surprised
me until we realized we had just gotten older and had now
been doing this long enough for our husbands to have achieved
some rank at last. When we first began this adventure I knew
of no senior enlisted or officer families that were homeschooling.
It seems we’ve grown up now! Now, I personally don’t
know of any general’s family that homeschools, but
there sure were a ton of colonels’ families doing
so! So now we cover the entire gamut of junior enlisted folks
to senior officers who are homeschooling their children.
That is so exciting to me! (By the way, if you DO know of
a general’s family that is homeschooling, be sure to
let me know! That would make a great article!)
So, who are today’s military homeschooling families?
Here’s an email interview I did recently with one.
Vicky, Navy wife, Southern California
Four children: 10-year-old boy, 8-year-old girl, 6-year-old
boy, almost 3-year-old boy
Years homeschooling: since birth/always, approximately six
years
Curriculum or style you use: somewhat relaxed mix of Charlotte
Mason and classical/mostly literature based (includes Sonlight,
Math-U-See, Apologia Science, Institute for Excellence in
Writing, etc.)
What challenges, if any, has being a military homeschooler
presented?
Frequent moves and dealing with different states’ legal
homeschooling requirements.
What impact has being a military homeschooler had on your
family and on the active-duty member?
We are able to be very flexible with Dad's schedule—frequently
traveling and accompanying him on TADs/TDYs. I like
the stability that homeschooling offers us since we have
frequent moves.
Do they sound like your family? How about this one?
J., Air Force wife, North Dakota (brrr!)
Four children, age 14 (boy), 12 (boy), 9 (girl), 7 (girl).
We are in our tenth year of homeschooling. We've tried
it all, from “school-in-a-box” to unit studies.
We have settled into an eclectic mode of learning. We use
various texts from various publishers, love to read a lot
of literature, and do hands-on science. We try to do as
much together as possible. If nothing else, grouping the
older two and younger two together in history, science,
arts, etc., since there’s a big age difference between
a ninth grader and a second grader! We usually try to have
one family read-aloud going at most times.
How long have you been military?
My husband has served for 19 years, and we’ve been
married for 17 of those years.
How did you begin homeschooling and why?
That could take a whole day to explain. Basically, it boiled
down to this: my oldest was reading fluently at age 4, and
we knew he'd be bored in a typical kindergarten. Actually,
public school was never an option for us, and we just couldn't
afford Christian school at the time! The Lord brought several
homeschooling families into our lives when he was a baby,
and just from watching the families interact, we were interested
and wanted to learn more about it. This, coupled with a desire
to be in control of our children's education, wanting to
be sure God wasn't left out of the equation, financial considerations,
and our son's eagerness to learn made homeschooling a natural
choice for our family.
What challenges, if any, has being a military homeschooler
presented?
Finding and plugging into new support groups is one. This
has also been a blessing as we’ve made numerous friends
around the globe. It’s hard to say goodbye to friends.
Being realistic about the toll that moving and changes such
as long deployments have on me personally, especially as
I get older. I tend to plug ahead and exhaust myself instead
of giving us all weeks to recuperate and find a new rhythm.
So, a challenge for me would be recognizing this and
giving myself permission to operate on a different timetable
than others, given our VERY different lifestyle. Benefits
have been being able to take off when Dad is able to get
leave, lots of very interesting travel and family togetherness.
What impact has being a military homeschooler had on your
family and on the active duty member?
After moving six times in the past 14 years, living in more
rentals and base housing than I can count, one thing that’s
constant (aside from our faith in God and love for each other)
is our homeschool. I think it’s been a wonderful foundation
for the kids, and we haven’t had to worry about school
districts when we move. Also, Daddy can do his job knowing
that the kids’ education is taken care of. I would
say it’s only been a benefit to us all, never a detriment.
My kids feel sorry for kids in school who can’t take
off to go on cool trips or outings when the opportunity presents
itself!
Or is this family more typical and similar to yours?
A., Air Force (Retired) wife, 25 Years, Colorado
Four children 24 (girl), 22 (boy), 18 (girl), 11 (boy)
Homeschooled 15 years using A Beka and Christian Liberty
Academy
How did you begin homeschooling and why?
My (oldest) son was having trouble in school (ADHD), and
since I could let him run off some energy and then sit down
to learn it worked better for us than public school.
What challenges, if any, has being a military homeschooler
presented?
None. We have been in the same place the entire time we
have homeschooled.
As you can tell, the face changes with each family. We are
your neighbors, the family you sit next to in church or see
eating dinner at the restaurant. We are retired, still serving,
or just beginning our careers. We have college-age children
and newborns. We live in the States and overseas. Sometimes
our spouses are with us and other times they are deployed,
attending schools, TDY, or just at the office late. We use
traditional homeschooling methods, and we unschool too. We
stay put and we travel. We live in base housing, apartments,
and huge homes.
So, who is today’s typical military homeschooling
family? YOU are! I would love to include your family’s
story here. Please email me at HomeFront@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com and
share with us about your homeschooling journey. I look forward
to getting to know you!
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