I did/do not want to homeschool.
This was not my plan.
I don’t have anything against homeschooling and I don’t have anything against the public school – I just never imagined that I’d be one of the homeschooling moms. I was public schooled and both of my parents are public school teachers. I honestly just never even considered it an option. Public school served me well so why would I consider homeschooling?
We homeschool for a very different reason than a lot of families.
A lot of families homeschool because…
- they don’t believe in the public school system of “one size fits all.”
- they didn’t have a good public school experience.
- they want to be the primary teacher in their kids’ lives and they want to be the one to establish positive character traits.
- of religious reasons.
- *Add your reason here*
I’m sure you know all the normal reasons that you hear over and over.
You see, NONE of those apply to my family.
We homeschool because we are military family.
Did you know that military families are twice as likely to homeschool? Only about 3.4% of the nation’s K-12 kids are homeschooled. Whereas over 6% of military families homeschool. That’s *almost* TWICE as many homeschoolers. (According to PBS.org)
Below I’m going to share the top reasons that military families homeschool that are not the “usual” homeschooling reasons.
Reasons Military Families Homeschool
1. All the Moves
My husband’s job requires that we move a LOT. We’ve been an Air Force family for coming up on five years and we’ve lived in four states already and are awaiting our next orders to move.
Moving this often does not give our kids very much stability in schools. I have an Army friend and her daughter would start 2nd grade at her SEVENTH school! They’ve now decided to pull her home because the moves are too much to move school to school.
2. Different Standards and Curriculum State to State
It’s easy to miss a thing here or there and have gaps (big and small) in curriculum because of moves. At least with homeschooling, there are smooth transitions.
3. Deployments
Not all families go home to family when their spouse is deployed but some do. This can be a huge deciding factor. You can’t just leave if your kids are enrolled in school.
4. Odd Schedules and Heavy Operations Tempo
My husband is a pilot so his schedule is all over the place. Sometimes he’ll be gone Thursday – Tuesday, home Wednesday – Friday, and then back on the road again on Saturday. The schedule is different every week. He’s home different days and hours every week. We like that we can have our “weekend” whenever my husband happens to be in town.
When there is a heavy ops tempo, it means that our spouses are gone flying a LOT. This happens often, so it’s important to us that we are free to be a family whenever he is home.
5. Training
We move a lot. But in between moves, we also have TDYs (training). The Air Force does not pay for us to go to trainings with our spouses but it’s not uncommon for us to pay our own way to go live with them. Many times our spouse will get home from a deployment, be home for a few weeks, and then get sent off to a 1-4 months training. Yea….no. I’m going with him. Homeschooling allows us to pack up, go with him, and be a family.
Learn more Military Acronyms Here.
6. Experiential Learning
Military kids travel. My kids have seen about half of the 50 US states and they are just preschoolers and we are at the beginning of our military journey. I’ve heard of homeschool families changing curriculum based on where they live. They might study botany in a farm-heavy area and study ocean life when they live near a beach. They go and SEE and experience the lessons because they have the opportunities to.
7. Poor Schools near Duty Station
We, as military families, don’t get a say in where we live. We might be sent somewhere with poorly rated schools. Homeschooling is a way that we can make sure that our kiddos are getting the standard of education we desire for them to have.
What are your Military Family reasons for homeschooling? Does this list resonate with you? Comment below! I love to hear from my readers!
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