Atten-HUT!! The Gouge On Homeschooling In A Military Family

As more and more families across the nation decide its's time for change and bring their children home for school, so goes the way of military families as well. There is no set number carved in stone but the numbers have risen substantially in the past few years. Many families are lost in a sea of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) memoranda and can't tell heads or tales of the hoopla they are trying desperately to decode. I have been there and done that! Literally! We are a military family and have been in DoDEA base schools in the states, DoDDS base schools in Okinawa Japan, public schools, charter schools, and homeschool. I want to help you sort it all out as best as possible!

Let's get on with a bit of the regulation info first, and then we can move to some information that will help with the everyday fun stuff rather than just the nuts and bolts of it all! The Constitution of the United States puts the responsibility of education squarely on the shoulders of the states. This includes dependent children of military members, too. Sometimes it gets confusing with home of record, state of residence, and so forth but simply put, you home educate your children according to the regulations to the actual state you live in. Here is a bit of what the DoDEA website says:

It is DoDEA policy neither to encourage nor discourage DoD sponsors from home schooling their minor dependents. DoDEA recognizes that home schooling is a sponsor’s right and can be a legitimate alternative form of education for the sponsor’s dependents.

A host nation, state, commonwealth, or territory where a DoD sponsor is stationed may impose legal requirements on home schooling practices. DoDEA encourages DoD sponsors who wish to home school their dependents to communicate their desire to their commanders to determine if there are any command policies or other rules ensuring that home schooling practices meet host nation, state, commonwealth, or territory requirements. Sponsors are responsible for complying with applicable local requirements.

DoDEA-run schools on bases within the United States are becoming a rather rare site in recent years due to the cost effectiveness of sending military dependents off base to the local community schools. As a matter of fact, there are only 7 states currently that have these schools within their bases. This may be confusing to many people as many bases still have schools aboard the installation but they are completely run by a local authority. This happens to be the case where I live here in Arizona. A local call to the school should clear the confusion right away if you aren't sure.

If you happen to be assigned to a base that does still have a DoDEA-run school, and live on installation in base housing, then you have options available to you that you may want to consider. You are allowed to use both auxiliary services as well as academic resources equal to what a child enrolled in the school would receive. Auxiliary services include access to the school library, after hours use of school facilities (comparative to what other enrolled students are allowed), and participation in music, sports, and other extracurricular and interscholastic activities. Academic resources include the loaning of textbooks, workbooks, library books, scheduled standardized tests, software, and so forth. DoDEA schools also offer a wide range of extracurricular activities which vary from school to school. Possible activities include drama, public speaking, Model United Nations, cheerleading, music, and Future Business Leaders of America. The military sponsor should contact their local school to obtain a current listing of what is available. It is not necessary to contact your base commander but it is an option if you should choose to.

Do you live overseas? These same options and more apply to you as well though they will greatly depend on where you live. Depending on your circumstances, you will probably have one of three choices available to you for homeschooling. The first is homeschooling as a parental preference and you pay for everything out of pocket as you more than likely do already. The second option is to utilize the DOD schools as stated above just like you would if you were stateside. This only pertains to you if you are a sponsored family. That means you are on the orders with your military member and fall under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). You can borrow textbooks from the school, participate in extra activities or sports, take standardized testing, and so forth.

Lastly I want to share with you a program called Worldwide IDEA. In the past this was a program funded through grants that allowed military homeschool families to be reimbursed for their school materials. Considered an e-school, with resources for record keeping and teacher sponsorship, as well as reimbursements for materials and internet service, this was a great option for many families. Unfortunately the grant funding has been cut and the reimbursements are no longer available. However, Worldwide IDEA has not given up the fight and is working to have the DOD recognize homeschooling as a viable, legal, GOOD choice for military families and are working with the folks in Washington to make that happen. There are still pay options available for families and the peace of mind makes it well worth it!

How and what you qualify with for Worldwide IDEA will depend on several things. First, if there are DOD schools available at your base then you will have to pay for your children to be enrolled in the program as if it was a private school. However, if there are not any DOD schools available, then you qualify under the Non DoD School Program (NDSP) and can be reimbursed for your school costs if you are homeschooling your children. I encourage you to visit the Worldwide IDEA website at http://www.worldwide-idea.org/index.html to find out your eligibility status if you are in an overseas location.

So, now that we have the basic facts out of the way, let's move on to some fun ideas! Why not take advantage of the uniqueness of the place you live and work for everyday school learning? There are many opportunities for learning through field trips that others in your homeschool community might not have. For instance, one of our sons absolutely loves airplanes and helicopters. Dad, who just happens to be an "air-winger" worked it out through contacts on the flightline to have part of his birthday party be a tour of one of the birds. You just can't get better than that for "cool points" with a then 6 year old! Because of that first experience of being up close and personal with a helicopter, our son was interested in furthering his learning by finding out what the call signs on a plane mean, what the different sounds are so that he can pick them out just by sound even if he can't see them, what the shapes are and more. This is everyday learning and most importantly, it is real life learning.

Maybe you are doing a unit study on fruits and vegetables. The commissary is available for tours usually 30 minutes prior to opening. You just have to call the manager and set it up! Or maybe your child has an interest in film or journalism. Why not give the base paper, theatre, or public affairs office a call to set up an interview and tour of the process? These are all great opportunities for you to take advantage of so why not utilize them as part of your school routine?! And don't forget your base library has free internet access on top of all the books and videos you can check out. I love that!! I saw an advertisement for a piano video online, I went to the library to see if it was there and it was. Just consider it a try before you buy opportunity.

Are you Navy or Marine Corps? How about taking a Tiger Cruise? These are space-available cruises from an outer port back to homeport for certain age groups of your family when your service member is deployed aboard ship and returning home. Imagine the excitement for a 12 year old boy (or girl) to be aboard a real naval vessel and getting to watch the ins and outs of typical navy life. Just think of the essays you will get after an experience like that!!

The opportunities for learning are all right there in front of you. You have to be willing to go search them out for your own base though. You probably aren't going to find a list of "things to do" for homeschoolers but that doesn't mean they don't exist. If you live overseas, learn the language, eat the food, shop in the stores, and collect the change for a coin collection. Just do stuff! I know once you realize the potential of what is there just waiting for you to reach out and grab hold of it, there will be no looking back. SMILE! ENJOY! LIVE! LEARN!

Special Thanks goes to: Tonya Brewer at WorldWide IDEA and Lorna Dennison at Department of Defense Education Activity for their help with providing the most up to date information and navigation through their respective websites.