Military Families And Home Schooling
By Sylvia M. Olberding
Fall 2004
The typical image of home schooling is of mom sitting around the kitchen table with the kids and stacks of books. Yet home school actually is much broader than that. While some describe it as simply duplicating school at home, others define it as a lifestyle commitment in which parents and children work and learn together.
Home school education, legal in all 50 states, is an alternative form of education rapidly gaining popularity across the United States and within military families stationed all over the world.
Among military families who move every two or three years, benefits of home schooling include maintaining stability and continuity in education and providing unique family bonding, since parents are also teachers and siblings are all in the same class.
Frequent moves requiring children to change schools often lead to serious problems with stability and self-confidence, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). Also, students may find themselves repeating subjects already learned in their previous schools, which can lead to boredom and disruptive behavior. HSLDA maintains that home schooling provides students with stability and continuity.
For many families, the greatest benefit is the closeness and bonding that comes from home schooling. These families spend so much time together that they may reach high levels of mutual understanding.
"I would never have guessed that we would be this close and get to know our kids this well if we had not made this commitment," said Lynda Muller, a U.S. Air Force spouse who has home schooled for 10 years.
Though opponents of home schooling often point out problems with isolation and lack of socialization, most research indicates the opposite. Many home school students participate more readily in community and church activities than their public school peers, and most are involved in extra-curricular activities outside of their regular school time. These students also generally spend more time interacting with adults.
"My children spend so much time with adults that they are more mature in some areas than their peers. In a traditional setting, students interact only with each other and their teacher in a confined setting, whereas with home schooling they are living and learning realistically," Muller said.
Flexibility is a key component in home schooling. Curricula and extra-curricular activities are chosen according to children's interests and abilities. Support is available from websites such as the Home School Internet Resource Center (www.rsts.net) and from community youth organizations, home schooling network groups, public libraries, and even public schools.
The drawback for military children is that often these resources are not always readily available to them, especially when stationed overseas. Not all military communities offer the same resources, and obtaining materials not available at the schools or libraries can be costly, though most materials are easily available through catalogs and the Internet.
Moving between traditional and home schooling education may cause some initial problems. When switching from traditional education, students may lack the motivation to learn on their own and may have trouble respecting parental authority in the teacher's role. On the other hand, students switching to traditional education may find they are not getting enough attention or help from a busy teacher and may feel unsatisfied with the limited amount of time to spend on any one subject.
Though home schooling allows flexibility, the degree of flexibility depends on state laws where the military family resides. Most states require some sort of record keeping and some require specific testing.
For families stationed overseas, state laws do not apply, but the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) does recommend informing base commanders of the intent to home school and to verify whether certain local or host nation requirements apply. In most cases, families can home school without any restrictions and are provided with necessary support from local Department of Defense schools.
In the Muller family's case, they were provided with free use of the school library, loaned textbooks and supplementary materials, and were allowed to enroll in music and art classes.
According to Lynda Muller, "Everything becomes a learning experience after a while, and I never would have dreamed of all the support we received from our military base community."
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Sylvia M. Olberding wrote this article for MilitaryStudent.org, an official DoD web site and part of the Lifelines service network.
