Summer breaks are different for home school families The News-Enterprise

By KELLY R. CANTRALL

Ingalls began home schooling her children because of her husband’s job in the military, which necessitated several moves for the family, she said. The accommodating nature of home schooling made the moves easier, including this past school year, when the Ingalls thought they would be moving again.

Because of the planned move, they started school early — at the end of July — to prepare for the break in school the family would have while moving. Because the move, and subsequent break, did not happen, school for them finished at the end of May, Ingalls said.

Other families follow the local public school schedule:

Marsha Elliott and her two daughters, Mary Kate and Abi, follow the Hardin County Schools’ schedule fairly closely, because the Allegro Dance Theatre, of which Mary Kate and Abi are a part, follows it in its scheduling.

But like the Graveses, their summer break isn’t completely school-free. Both girls continue studying math throughout the summer, as that is the hardest subject for them and they need more time to grasp the concepts, Elliott said.

“I like that both of my children can work at their own pace,” she said.

Hoo Ya! A Victory For A Military Homeschool Family in CT!, 6 July 2007, Consent of the Governed

The DCF Commissioner, Susan Hamilton, send a certified letter to Isabelle Hall-Gustafsen, whose husband had been deployed, saying that DCF has reviewed her file and has decided to reverse their substantiation of the school’s claims of truancy and medical neglect. So the case is now unsubstantiated and the family can breathe a little easier. The news came at the time when SSGT Robert Gustafson, Jr (643rd MP ) returned home from deployment on July 3rd. (I am certain they had a very happy 4th of July!).

Additionally, Commissioner Hamilton has promised to get back to us with plans of implementing the policy changes that NHELD has recommended in order to avoid these types of investigations brought on by false reports by school administrators.

posted by Valerie

The Pilot, Brighton, Massachusetts, 6 April 2007, Should I homeschool?

The points I like in the article:

• … homeschooled children do not show the “black/white” test-score gap that is the bane of public and private schools.
• homeschooled children perform equally well regardless of gender.
• It’s efficient.
• It’s inexpensive.
• Homeschooling tends to develop good habits of reading.
• Homeschooled children more easily become friends with their parents.
• Homeschooled children are free at any point of the day to consider the relationship between faith and reason, …
• Homeschooling tends to foster a lively patriotism.
• Homeschooled children can enjoy the innocence of childhood longer.
• Homeschooled children socialize better.

What I object to is only one point out of many, but it tainted the rest of the article for me:

• 5. Homeschooling requires that the father play the role that he really should play in his children’s education. The experience of homeschoolers is that the mother’s efforts during the day need to be reinforced by the father’s assistance in the evening — perhaps by his teaching a more rigorous subject, by checking homework. This reintroduction of the father’ into education proves tremendously helpful for children to become serious about their studies.

Since when do homeschooled kids need ‘wait ’til your father gets home?’ And why is it the father who teaches “a more rigorous subject?”

I’m the co-owner of a military homeschool list and one of the topics-of-this-morning is the extension of the overseas tours of duty for Operation Iraqi Freedom and assignments to Afghanistan. The mothers on my list don’t have the luxury of their husbands even buying milk on the way home from work, much less of dad picking up the homeschool slack left by mom. (damn those soaps and bon bons) To quote one list member, “[My husband] recently left for our 5th deployment …” The kicker is that even after the servicemember returns, the active duty parent still isn’t available for homeschool duties because of recovery, retraining, and then, of course, redeployment.

Homeschooling is a family project for mothers and for fathers. Parents must plan, budget, give-and-take on scheduling, and support each other. But, to describe the process as the prince riding home on his white steed every day …, that is, like, so 1950s.

Yes, I think that two parents are (usually) better than one.

Yes, I think that parents have different strengths, and that a complementary partnership smooths the home ed adventure.

No, I do not think that one parent has superior brainpower based on plumbing. The gray matter is elsewhere.

The writer’s experience of homeschooling may be that the complementary homeschooling relationships tend toward cooperative instruction by the parents. My experience of homeschooling is that, even in tough times, don’t underestimate the moms.

Cheers to the (super!) moms of HomeschoolMilitary.

posted by Valerie

Times Recorder, Zanesville, Ohio, 21 January 2007, Library offers program to benefit homeschoolers

With her husband in the military, Kim said her family, like many other military families, has had to move around a lot. They lived in Germany for seven years, and not knowing the language or culture, made homeschooling Kody an even better option.

I hope that was the reporter ‘speaking,’ because that reason for homeschooling makes little sense when considering the rich opportunity of living in another country.

Most American military families in Germany have to work to get away from American culture because it is so accessible via movie theaters, chapels, youth centers, Boy and Girl Scouting, baseball teams, AFN-television and radio, DoD schools, the American housing areas themselves, and whatever game succeeded Magic the Gathering.

Just as immigrants to the United States may have “Little” enclaves, so, too, do Americans overseas have “Little Americas.” One of the chief stumbling blocks for families overseas who live on or near military facilities and want to learn the local language is the American community — and the local people around the community who have picked up more English in their years of exposure to the military people who have been around for decades, than Americans do of the local language. A person can be simultaneously living overseas and surrounded by the American idiom.

The exception to this might be for those families whose sponsor is stationed in a remote area. They, indeed, may be dropped into the local culture. In that case the family may have double ‘culture shock’ by living in a foreign area with no buffer and perhaps involuntarily homeschooling because of a lack of a local DoD-povided school. In that case, either a home education program or funding to attend a non-DoD school is provided by the DoD Education Activity.

For the most part, though, homeschooling overseas is a “better option,” but not to get away from the foreign-ness. The fun is to immerse oneself in it. The history alone is a reason to free oneself from the educational 9 – 5 routine. Don’t squander your time sitting in a classroom reading about the Romans and the Alemanni, go out and walk the limes!

posted by Valerie

American Forces Information Service, Washington, D.C., 24 January 2006, DoDEA to Discontinue Remote Home School Program

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2007 The Department of Defense Education Activity will discontinue its Remote Home School Program beginning in school year 2007-2008, DoDEA officials announced today.

“We understand this unique program is valued by our families,” said Joseph D. Tafoya, DoDEA director. “Unfortunately, with the funding allocation and grants expiring for this program at the end of school year 2006-2007, we will have to discontinue the Remote Location Home Schooling Program.”

The saddest thing to me about this program being discontinued is that some people were depending on it for their children’s “permanent records,” especially for the teen years/high school. Military families who left the overseas area were able to continue with the record-keeping provided by IDEA International, and I’ve read comments online that some parents considered this a key feature of the program.

In all likelihood, the families will ‘suck it up and drive on,’ but if it’s one thing military parents don’t need at this point, is yet another change to weather.

IDEA International, Enrollment Eligibility Guidelines for Families Retiring and PCSng CONUS
[note: PCS = permanent change of station, aka a 'move;' and CONUS = continental/contiguous United States, ie, the 'lower 48']

The following applies to families enrolled on or after July 1, 2002. If a family should PCS outside the Pacific Rim prior to August 25th of that year, they may remain in the program; however, they will receive modified benefits as listed:

• Contact Teacher support
• Records/transcripts
• Online resources (WorldBook Online, Lightspan, Inet, etc.)
• Continued use of previously purchased IDEA equipment and curricular materials
• No allotment provided
• No equipment upgrade available

Will the “grandfathered” families who are still schooling their children at home, and using the program’s records/transcripts benefit, be left to continue their own arrangements once the program concludes?

DoDEA to Discontinue Remote Home School Program

…

“We truly regret the disruption this may cause students and families,” Tafoya said. “We do not take this decision lightly; it is the result of careful analysis of the needs of our directed mission.”

One would think that they’d have carefully analyzed their needs before establishing a program that families would be encouraged to rely on during their children’s school years: Education That Goes Where You Go!

posted by Valerie

Chelmsford Independent, Concord, Massachusetts, 21 December 2006, Home for the holidays

The Baxter family probably doesn’t have too much left on its Christmas wish list because they got everything they wanted when Lt. Col. Brent Baxter returned home from Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago.

Brent, who had been overseas for about five months, reunited with his family on his son’s, Josiah, 14th birthday.

…

Brent and his wife, Lisa, have seven children, from Elise, 2 1/2, to Lindsey, 15. All of the Baxters’ children are home-schooled.

“[Home-schooling was] something that Lisa had her hands full with when I was gone,” said Brent.

But, Lisa was always able to turn to Friends of Grace, a home-schooling group based in Chelmsford, for help.

…

And, although he may not have been at home, Brent still lent a hand.

“I helped with homework, from 8,000 miles away,” he said. The Baxters’ oldest son, Josiah is studying biology. Their oldest daughter, Lindsey, 15, is studying physics. Six of the children are learning to play the piano on a Yamaha upright; Brent is also learning to play.

The Baxters found that home schooling fits the military lifestyle, because they have to move every couple of years.

“We don’t have to worry about a child halfway through high school; having to pull them out,” said Brent.

posted by Valerie