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Anyone with experience getting a homeschooled student into the military?


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My 12th grade dd is interested in getting into the Navy and possibly pursuing something in the area of nursing/paramedic. We have homeschooled since 2nd grade through a private ISP that keeps all our records and awards a diploma, but is not accredited. I am wondering what our chances are of her getting in?

Anyone with experience getting their homeschooled child into the military? I would love to hear your experience.

Thanks,

Tami

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Those are two different careers. One requires college (nurse) and she should be applying very soon. After she gets a nursing degree, she would be going to Officer Training School and eventually be commissioned as a 2LT in the army or Air Force or as an Ensign in the Navy.

 

On the other hand, a paramedic is probably the emt career field and that is an enlisted occupation. Your daughter, if she is interested in that, should be talking to recruiters now or soon. One thing you would have to explain is that in the military, the recruiter may promise you emt training but you may end up in some other job. They can also talk about grat assignments in Hawaii or Europe or somewhere else and you can get Afghanistan or Iraq.

 

In both cases, medical and physical requirements will have to be met. Being a homeschooler is not a disadvantage or an advantage. Your daughter would have to take the some tests and pass the same requirements but the fact that the diploma is from you is not a factor.

 

Among the great benefits are free health care, GI bill which is fantastic now, great home loans with no money down through VA for when she does settle down, and a good salary. If she stayed in for 20 years, she also would get a retirement pay.

 

Have her start thinking about what services she is interested in and what she really wants to do. Then you can ask more specific questions. There are military families from all three services that have medical careers on this board. (Marines use Navy personnel). Hope this helps.

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Are you a HSLDA member? I do not know what information is available on the HLSDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) for non-members, but you might want to look over here: www.hslda.org

 

In any case, if you PM me w/your mailing address I will be happy to send you the one and one-half page article in the Sept./Oct. 2009 issue of their magazine which discusses homeschoolers enlisting in the United States Armed Forces. It looks very informative.

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My son joined the Marine Corp after he graduated high school and had been homeschooled since 3rd grade. Being homeschooled wasn't an issue.

 

I will agree with the above poster that said the recruiters will talk about getting her into the field/place she wants, but that is certainly NOT guaranteed (or probably even likely).

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We have had a meeting with a recruiter already. The recruiter did seem to have a bit of an issue with her being homeschooled. They said they would have to talk to the principal/administrator at our ISP school.

 

Did any of you who have kids who enlisted have this problem?

 

Thanks again for your replies,

Tami

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If you are a member of HSLDA, contact them. They have a lot of experience with this problem. The DOD policy is that homeschoolers are supposed to be treated the same as regular high school students. There should be no extra hoops to go through. The only time there could be is if your child wasn't homeschooled throughout high school since then they want to be on the lookout for kids who were expelled or threatened with expulsion and are only be homeschooled because of that.

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We are HSLDA members and if they give us much trouble I will contact HSLDA, but what will HSLDA do?

Basically, we gave the recruiter her transcript up through the end of 11th grade. She has been homeschooled since 2nd grade and we have been with the same ISP (Private homeschool) all the way through high school. It is not an accredited school. The recruiter said that our principal/administrator of the ISP would have to talk to the education person with the Navy and possibly have a meeting with them. I don't know what we should do at this point.

Tami

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Dh was homeschooled from 3rd grade on, and is enlisted in the Navy as a hospital corpsman (what your ds would probably want to be, if he goes the enlisted route.) Dh had his AA degree at the time he enlisted, but the recruiter did still balk at the lack of hs diploma/GED. Fortunately, we had FIL (dh's father, a Master Chief at the time, now retired after 30 years service) helping out. Somehow the issue was resolved, but I don't remember exactly how. I think the recruiter contacted somone higher up for help, or maybe FIL found a Navy instruction that clarified things (something he loves doing :).) At any rate, it ended up being a non-issue. Do they accept the GED in lieu of a diploma? (I'll ask dh when he wakes up from his nap...) If so, that might be an easy way to resolve things.

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What HSLDA has done is lobbied and helped enacting laws and regulations so you don't have to have a GED to enlist if you were homeschooled. ALso, so you don't have to have attended an accredited school in order to enlist. By far, most people who call them do so because of questions, not to start a lawsuit. You would be calling them to get clarification about what the rules are regarding enlistment in the armed forces by homeschoolers. Please call. Do not have your child take the GED without calling them first. Just this last fiscal year which ended in Sept 2009 was the first year that the all volunteer military had no problems whatsoever recruiting the full amount of enlistees needed. That means they are being picky now. A person with a GED is in the lowest category to be picked. A high school graduate including homeschool is in a higher category. My husband is almost 23 years in the AF but I don't know the exact current rules for enlistees. I have been reading the HSDLA magazine for years and they have had articles about the homeschooling and the military enlistment issues for the entire time we have been homeschooling (15 years). Call them and get clarification.

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As far as the Navy goes, you absolutely can have your job position guaranteed through the recruiter. Just make sure it is all in writing on the contract. You can also get a secondary school guaranteed. When I enlisted, I got Hospital Corps School, and Medical Laboratory Technician guaranteed before I would sign on the dotted line. Now whether the field your daughter wants is open for that kind of deal really depends on the needs of the Navy. I'll have to ask DH, but I know that somewhere on the Navy website, there is a list of secondary, or "C" schools for corpsmen that tells which fields are "hot fills" meaning that the Navy is really low on these billets, and they have to fill them as soon as possible. If there is something like that that your daughter is interested in, the recruiter could give her that school also. There are all kinds of things like Lab, Xray, Pharmacy Tech, Mental Health, Surgical Tech, Cardiovascular Tech..etc. Of course, she could always pick one of these up later, but just from experience, getting a job after Navy Corpsman life is much easier if you have a specialty. Taking a "c" school does not guarantee that you will not get deployed, but it gives you something wonderful to fall back on for the rest of your life. My husband was a general corpsman for many years and enjoyed it very much when he was working in an EMT/Urgent Care capacity, but there were many instances where he was tasked to work in medical records, supply, or administration where he was completely miserable (of course, that's just him...). The point is, General Corpsmen (with no "C" school) get a lot of good training and usually promote faster, but some people like to specialize and have a definite job. At any rate, its something to think about before you sign on with the recruiter. Good luck!

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