Home school and PCSing; Considerations for your ‘wish list’
Home schooling is not just a growing alternative education movement among civilians. It is also a fast growing education movement among military families. Some families home school only for a short time, for example, when a PCS happens close to the end of a school year. The family may choose to home school instead of trying to start a new school so late in the year. Other families turn to home school for a variety of reasons; religious, personal, or otherwise. I know my husband and I chose to home school for a few reasons — one being that we would like our daughter to have a classical education and home school is the only way to do that in our area.
If you are a military family and are considering home schooling your child there are some good resources out there for your use. There are a lot of online support sites and you can easily continue your child’s home education for both CONUS and OCONUS stations. These sites offer practical support to the brand new home educator to the experienced and seasoned one.
When we were leaving Tennessee to our first PCS to Ft. Sill OK, I had already started thinking ahead regarding home school. One thing you must consider is that you must comply with state laws and regulations around home education. You may want to consider picking installations for your “wish list” in states with fewer regulations. Particularly you are going to want to know ahead of the game if you have been homeschooling in a low regulation state .
The following information and lists are from The Military Homeschooler:
No notice required
Alaska
Connecticut
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Missouri
Oklahoma
New Jersey
Texas
Low regulation
Alabama
Arizona
California
Delaware
District of Columbia
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Mississippi
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Moderate regulation
Arkansas
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Iowa
Louisiana
Maryland
New Hampshire
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington state
High regulation
Minnesota
Massachusetts
New York
North Dakota
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Utah
Vermont
West Virginia
Here is a list of states and their home school laws.
And finally from The Military Homeschooler regarding OCONUS installations:
Foreign OCONUS Command sponsored military personnel overseas are in their host nation under the auspices of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) negotiated by the United States government with that host nation. Provision of education for dependent children of the US forces is left to US custom and host nation compulsory attendance laws are usually not applied to US dependent military children. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) has no compulsory school attendance ages. The DoDEA policy memorandum on homeschooling can be read at the DoDEA website.
There is never a lack of things to consider for home school families. I hope this information and the information you find on the referenced websites helps you out in your military and home school journey!
