The New York Times recently published an article about military families and home-schooling. Because this topic hit home for me, I felt like I should weigh in. Currently, I am stationed in Japan in a semi-remote location with my family. My daughter, who is now in school, will have to face moving to another school at least two, if not three, more times during her educational career (this is not counting moving off to college). Not only is the stress of switching schools hard on our military children but the thought of moving to a different home, finding new friends, mom and dad being stressed out and a plethora of other factors weigh in on the child during this process.
Having the option of home-schooling is one that a handful of military families here in our location do use, however most do attend the American school on-base. Military kids are resilient and from what I can tell, do adjust quite well. One point I feel the article missed is what support services military kids do receive or have access to on base. Not only in school do they get services, all families have access to counseling, support services and any additional support they may need - all located on base.
Shedding light on the families that support our military is critical, the New York Times did a great job in giving a brief insight on how our kids transition from school to school and also utilizing the home-school option.
Associated Press. (October 27, 2013). Retrieved October 28, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/us/military-families-who-want-to-home-school-their-children-find-support.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&partner=rss&emc=rss
Ken, I completely understand the frustration and want to home school students rather than having them try to readjust to a new school every so often. I think if parents are willing to put forth a strong effort to educate their children on their own it can be very beneficial. I have had students who have come from home schooling in the past and sometimes it great and I have no issues. However, sometimes it can be hard for parents to work full-time and educate their children, I've had students come into the middle school and they are a year or 2 behind all the other students on expected skills. I believe with the opportunity of virtual schools, home schooling in the future will be able to be a much more balanced procedure. Great article, thanks for sharing! - Chris
ReplyDeleteGreat article Ken, I too am military. Although I have never home schooled my kids and so far they have adjusted very well to every school they have been in. It can be rough on parents and children alike when moving all the time. If home schooling is what makes things workable for the family then good on them. I also agree with Chris that with the advent of Virtual Schooling a students opportunities may be greater in the future. The only part of these I do not like are that kids miss interaction, diversity and day to day problem solving with other kids. Technology is making people smarter about the world, but making them less aware of human interaction, and how important that is in life. Marty
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