Question for military families, those who move often

[ElizabethB]

Anyone started homeschooling because of problems with a certain location and then just kept on because you ended up liking it?

 

Or, other reasons that military families homeschool at twice the rate of civilians? (According to this article it was twice the rate in 2001 and has not since been studied.)

 

Of course, there is also the keeping school constant while moving 8 times in the last 8 years reason, but I wouldn't think that is a primary reason for people to start homeschooling, I'd think you would need a bit more of a motivating reason to start. It's one of my reasons for continuing, though!

 

(On a somewhat interesting side note, I have a friend who says that Catholic schools are run almost exactly the same in every state. She says that this is very helpful to their transitions. Two of their schools have had the exact same name, even, their school in Arkansas and their school in Illinois!)

Edited March 4, 2011 by ElizabethB

[Barb_]

Anyone started homeschooling because of problems with a certain location and then just kept on because you ended up liking it?

 

Or, other reasons that military families homeschool at twice the rate of civilians? (According to this article it was twice the rate in 2001 and has not since been studied.)

 

Of course, there is also the keeping school constant while moving 8 times in the last 8 years reason, but I wouldn't think that is a primary reason for people to start homeschooling, I'd think you would need a bit more of a motivating reason to start. It's one of my reasons for continuing, though!

 

:iagree: All of the above. We started homeschooling in 1995 partially because of my daughter's school experience in Florida. It was to be for a couple of years to tide us over until we could afford private school. Then we began moving (8 times so far) and added 5 more kids, so homeschooling was easier than not. It's worked out well for us!

[TammyinTN]

We had a bad experience with the Barstow, CA schools while living at Fort Irwin. We started and never looked back. With all the moving around it was just easier on the kids to homeschool. They know what mom and dad expect.

[ElizabethB]

:iagree: All of the above. We started homeschooling in 1995 partially because of my daughter's school experience in Florida. It was to be for a couple of years to tide us over until we could afford private school. Then we began moving (8 times so far) and added 5 more kids, so homeschooling was easier than not. It's worked out well for us!

 

That's more than a couple of years!

 

Interesting. 1995 was the first time I met homeschoolers that I didn't think were crazy far out wackos. We lived in a horrible school district and many of the people I worked with homeschooled. (I was military at the time.) Seeing "normal" homeschoolers and the things I was seeing with my phonics tutoring, I started to seriously consider homeschooling as a possibility in my future.

[Mom in High Heels]

From the time Indy was born I really wanted to homeschool. I was working though and he went to a Catholic Kindergarten. He did not have a great time there and I hated that I never saw him.

During his first grade year, we knew we would be moving at least twice (James Bond was in a school for his new MOS-after WOCS) and I hated the idea of him switching schools twice. Since I was no longer working, I told JB I wanted to hs him, and he was fine with it. Well, not fine. I had to do some convincing, but he came around. :D

Having attended several DODS schools in my youth, I've never been a fan, especially of the one here. Every person I know who has a kid there complains about what a horrible school it is, and then questions why I hs Indy.

[Hedgehog]

We're not a military family, but we move as often as if we were - 8 times in 12 yrs so far. DH does contract work, so we have 6mos here, and 12mos there. We've stayed longer in this house than any other as his most recent contacts have been in the same city.

 

Originally we chose to HS because we felt it was unfair on the girls to keep changing schools. It was traumatic enough when they changed ballet schools. We got used to it and felt it was a good fit for our family. Nowadays though, it has more to do with the academics and behaviour, so even if we stayed her forever (bar some major life-changing event) we'd still be HSing.

[Amira]

We're not military either, but we do move all over the place often, and that's the primary reason why we homeschool. It wasn't exactly the reason why I never sent my oldest to kindergarten in the first place, but it definitely has been a big part of why we've never even considered public school. My sixth grader has moved seven times during elementary school, including 3 international moves. We never could have done that without homeschooling.

 

I would consider an international school if we could afford it and if we lived near one.

[Jamee]

I know a few families who homeschooled this year due to impending moves and schools that would potentially have their children in several different schools. I'm not surprised that homeschooling is so hight amongst the military community.

[Marie in Oh]

who wouldn't understand all the other good reasons we homeschool. When some casual person asks, I tell them we are military, move alot, and want continuity in their education. Their response is always, "Oh, that totally makes sense." End of conversation, no debate. This is not the only reason, and we would even if we were not military, but it sure does help.

 

We have had friends start homeschooling becasue their child had been in 3 schools in as many years, went from a bad school to a good school, and just wasn't up to par. They are no longer hsing, but it worked for that particular situation fot those particular reasons.

 

We are spending the summer overseas with dh on a long assignment, and hs helps so much as we can be done by the end of April so we can pack and be ready by mid may. We are doubling up on assignments and such. I can't imagine being stuck in a traditional school schedule and not be able to make those kid of decisions.

[dm379]

It is one of the main reasons we homeschool. That and getting tired of hearing how great the schools in the area are only to find out they were horrible. My dd would have hit 9 schools by the end of 4th grade and my son 7 by the end of 2nd grade. We've got 2 more moves coming up in the next 15 months. There's no way they could get an education like that.

[mommaduck]

Yes, and also because of my husband's work schedule. Second shifters would never see their kids if the kids were in school (my husband's job has run 6-7 days a week many years...so weekends don't count). He's on thirds now.

[RobynN]

We're not a military family but do travel year-round for my husband's job. He is an independent contractor and works on power plants all over the U.S. We have a 42ft fifth wheel toy hauler so we take our "home" with us. We have a house too but it's used mostly for storage now since we are never there.

 

Traveling was not the main reason we chose to homeschool but now homeschooling is the only way to keep our family together. We may be at a job for a couple of weeks or a few months so putting the children in public schools would not work.

[SailorMom]

Yes - New Mexico. We knew we would only be there 9 months, younger DS was starting to show signs of LD's, and we had had a horrible experience at the beginning of the school year in Alabama. We thought we'd try it in New Mexico and then decide. Older DS was homeschooled for 6 years after that, on year 7 with younger :)

[Parrothead]

who wouldn't understand all the other good reasons we homeschool. When some casual person asks, I tell them we are military, move alot, and want continuity in their education. Their response is always, "Oh, that totally makes sense." End of conversation, no debate. This is not the only reason, and we would even if we were not military, but it sure does help.

 

 

Substitute "government employee" for "military" and that is pretty much what I tell people with the same reaction.

 

 

 

I grew up a navy brat changing schools ever two years. When it became obvious dh's job would fairly similar to being in the military continuity of education became one of the top 3 reasons we started homeschooling.

[Mrs Mungo]

Anyone started homeschooling because of problems with a certain location and then just kept on because you ended up liking it?

 

Or, other reasons that military families homeschool at twice the rate of civilians? (According to this article it was twice the rate in 2001 and has not since been studied.)

 

Of course, there is also the keeping school constant while moving 8 times in the last 8 years reason, but I wouldn't think that is a primary reason for people to start homeschooling, I'd think you would need a bit more of a motivating reason to start. It's one of my reasons for continuing, though!

 

(On a somewhat interesting side note, I have a friend who says that Catholic schools are run almost exactly the same in every state. She says that this is very helpful to their transitions. Two of their schools have had the exact same name, even, their school in Arkansas and their school in Illinois!)

 

We started homeschooling when we lived on a tiny post in Germany. I tried to talk the DoD school into letting my eldest start school when she was 4, almost 5 because she was already reading and doing all of the other things they are expected to do in K and more. They insisted she had to be 5.

 

The next year she was 5, almost 6. She was reading Stuart Little, Roald Dahl and The Children's Homer. I tried to talk them into letting her skip K. Nope, no way. I found out they were going to spend the whole first month learning their alphabet. There were something like 22 boys and 2 girls in the class (not including dd). I decided we weren't going to do that.

 

We moved the following spring. We were in limbo for several months with our families while dh attended schools. We moved to NC in September and dh deployed 2 weeks later. Putting her in school at that point would have been a disaster.

 

Next we moved to Hawaii, a state with horrible public schools and extremely expensive private schools. There were a ton of people who homeschooled there who had never homeschooled before. I had a friend who paid $10K/semester for her dd to attend a private school for *kindergarten*.

 

We moved back here in the middle of the year. We were in limbo from 6 January until last week when we moved into a house, and this is eldest's freshman year in high school.

 

It's not just moves or schools or limbo or deployments or terrible schools or moving in the middle of the year, it's ALL of that and more.

Edited March 4, 2011 by Mrs Mungo

[blondeviolin]

My husband's active duty military, but we do NOT move frequently. (We've lived in Oklahoma for five years.) However, BECAUSE of what we've witnessed with the school districts here, we have known we'd homeschool since my oldest was a tot. Thankfully for us, Oklahoma is a very lenient homeschooling state.

[BlsdMama]

Us!

 

My DH had already vetoed my idea of homeschooling when Ana was little. He joined the Army and we moved to Southern CA and he said that we should until we move back to the Midwest. Almost four years later we moved back and continued to homeschool. :D

 

Here we are now, with Ana as a freshman in high school, still homeschooling, and no end in sight.

[RoundAbout]

who wouldn't understand all the other good reasons we homeschool. When some casual person asks, I tell them we are military, move alot, and want continuity in their education. Their response is always, "Oh, that totally makes sense." End of conversation, no debate. This is not the only reason, and we would even if we were not military, but it sure does help.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

People find it very unthreatening since they know our situation of moving every few years doesn't apply to them.

 

We would probably lean towards homeschooling anyway but as a military family we just don't see how we could get a quality education for our son without it.

 

There are other advantages too like being able to travel whenever my husband has time off instead of waiting for a school break. Military jobs are often not very flexible.

 

Also the fact that we can look at each new duty station with a sense of adventure instead of freaking out about the local schools. I have friends who have been in tears when it comes time to move because of schooling. Some even keep their family apart for months/years to stay in a good district. I'm sure that can make sense if a long deployment is in the future, but after spending so much time apart our family time is now too precious to waste.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Yes, and also because of my husband's work schedule. Second shifters would never see their kids if the kids were in school (my husband's job has run 6-7 days a week many years...so weekends don't count). He's on thirds now.

 

My husband works 12-16 hour days. The last job he worked 6 days a week as a normal schedule and added about every other Sunday. And that was when he was in port, which wasn't often.

 

Even when the kids were little, we were the family out on the playground at 6:30 or 7 pm waiting for dad to come home so we could go have dinner. If my kids had a regular school schedule, where they had to be up early to catch a bus, they would never see dh.

 

Now I will say that sometimes the flexibility of homeschooling can be a negative. When we're moving, I have to admit that it might be nice to ship the kids off to school in the morning and have the day to pack/unpack/do all the little appointments necessary for the move. Instead I either need to drag them with me or leave them on their own with work assignments. And I do feel like sometimes their school suffers from the chaos of having our house turned upside down.

 

Probably the continuity of knowing what they are doing for school balances out the chaos. But it just isn't as painless as I envisioned it would be when we were starting out with homeschooling.

[Barb_]

But it just isn't as painless as I envisioned it would be when we were starting out with homeschooling.

 

:iagree: Sing it, Sister.

[eternalknot]

Anyone started homeschooling because of problems with a certain location and then just kept on because you ended up liking it?

 

Or, other reasons that military families homeschool at twice the rate of civilians? (According to this article it was twice the rate in 2001 and has not since been studied.)

 

Being active duty was an important factor in our decision to homeschool, but not because we were in a poor location or because we knew we'd be moving frequently. Neither was true at the time of our decision.

 

Time together was our primary motivating factor. My husband was always in the field, or at NTC, or deploying. When he was actually home (whether for a 24 hour shower in from the field, or R&R leave) I didn't want to worry about school, schoolwork, or trying to deal with that during his time at home - or truthfully, in the days and weeks after he left again and the kids were an emotional wreck.

 

I didn't want my kids in DoD schools so they would always have been in an academic setting where the staff was considerably less familiar with how to handle a kid dealing with deployment, and many classmates unable to relate to the experience.

 

My job also requires frequent travel and small separations from the kids. Homeschooling just made sense to preserve and protect those pockets of time we were able to spend as a family unit. We couldn't eliminate our jobs, but we could elimimate the time the kids were away at school.