We are a military family currently stationed in Guam. My husband, Greg, and I are blessed with two awesome kids, Sarah (7) and Jacob (2). Greg has been in the Air Force for 21 years this April. We use the K12 curriculum (www.k12.com), which I absolutely love.

     There are several reasons why we began homeschooling. One of the main ones was that our daughter was an early reader and found kindergarten at a private school to be very boring. On a selfish note, I love being the one that gets to see the light come on in her eyes as she learns new things!

      The question I hear most often is "What about socialization?" True socialization is simply time spent with other people of all ages. Between Sunday school, park days, field trips, sports and play dates, I think most homeschoolers find themselves struggling with too much socialization, not too little!

       My kids are five and a half years apart. If Sarah were attending a traditional school right now, she and her little brother would rarely see each other. I love the fact that they are so close and get to spend so much time together. . .and that we get to all spend time together as a family!

       Military life does add its challenges, especially being in a remote overseas location. We don't have the benefits of extensive libraries, bookstores, curriculum fairs and teacher supply stores. Instead, we buy a lot of books online; we share books, resources and ideas with friends; we learn how to be creative with what we have!

      One of the biggest blessings that I have received through homeschooling has been the friends that I have made. With the fast turnover of population in most military environments, you can't really take your time and "eventually" make friends. You really need to just jump in with both feet and get involved! 

      My husband Greg recently deployed to Qatar in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am sure that homeschooling while he is gone is going to be a challenge, but I have come up with several ideas to help me and the kids cope during this time:

•       Break the time up into manageable chunks. Greg is going to be gone for ninety or more days. Instead of a calendar to mark off each day, we broke it into three-week chunks. I'm planning on having a mini-celebration each time we reach one of those three-week milestones like dinner out, ice cream for dinner, a movie or bowling.
  
•      Talk about it a LOT! Considering that she's 100 percent Daddy's Little Girl, I was dreading how his leaving would affect her. Greg and I have both made an effort to talk about his trip in a positive light, focusing on the good things, i.e., Grandma is coming for a visit! What will Daddy bring as a surprise? 
  
•       Keep a list of questions that the kids want answered about where Daddy is going. Some things Sarah has come up with are: What will the sand be like? Where will Daddy sleep? Will he have a roommate? What does it look like there? We plan on emailing these questions to Dad, maybe one or two at a time. 
  
•       One of my focuses for this deployment is for my daughter and me to grow closer, for our relationship to be strengthened. What an opportunity for us to have some real "gal time"! I plan on weekly "sleepovers" in my room, watching a movie and eating ice cream. I am really looking forward to being able to demonstrate to my daughter how Jesus can be our "help in time of need".Instead of this trip being a devastating period in her life, my prayer is that God will bless it and use it to strengthen and mature her young faith.