Milspouse Matters Episode 51: Homeschooling and Military Life with Jen McDonald
This episode’s sponsor is The Magical Order of Brave Knights. They’ve created a product to help children cope with separation anxiety, fears from moving, stress over deployments, nightmares, or trouble sleeping alone. This company is veteran and military spouse owned and gives a portion of all sales to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to help military families out when they need it the most. You can purchase a Brave Knights Kit for your little Prince of Princess at their website: Magical Order of Brave Knights or on Amazon.
On this episode, I’m sharing about my family’s homeschooling journey, and how it fits in with military life!
Let’s talk about some of the common fears and misconceptions, and some of my favorite resources and tips from over 20 years as a homeschooling mom. We homeschooled our four now grown children, who’ve all gone on to college and careers. I embraced a hands-on and literature-based method of learning and education, and combining kids in studies where possible. It was also important to us to set our kids up for success and independence.
Some of our best memories involve reading a book aloud together or taking a vacation in the off-season because we could. I hope that, if you’re considering homeschooling, you’ll be encouraged to give it a try. We’ve never regretted our decision!
With all the changes and challenges of military life, our children’s education was one of their few constants! Our oldest moved 3 times during his high school years, and our youngest moved so often that staying in one place for 2 years seemed like a long time. One benefit that came out of our decision to homeschool was the flexibility to PCS at any time without disrupting their education.
With all the changes and challenges of military life, our children’s education was one of their few constants.
Jen McDonald
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Episode 47: Back to School for Military Kids During COVID-19
- Episode 36: Temporary Homeschooling During the Coronavirus Quarantine
- Why Homeschool High School?
- Homeschooling and Military Life: a Natural Fit
- Homeschooling Around the World
- Homeschooling Through a Move
- Article for Good Housekeeping: The Benefits of Homeschooling
- Dr. Jay Wile’s Effectiveness of Homeschooling Articles
- Homeschool Legal Defense Association
Some of my favorite homeschooling resources/companies:
- Timberdoodle
- Sonlight
- Five In a Row
- Hewitt Homeschooling
- Calvert School
- A Beka Books
- Teaching Textbooks Math
- Diana Waring’s books:
More resources for your military life:
- Connect with Milspouse Matters on Instagram
- Christian Military Spouse Facebook Group
- Find the complete Milspouse Matters show archive and listen to every episode
Get Jen’s book, You Are Not Alone: Encouragement for the Heart of a Military Spouse.
Have a topic idea for the Milspouse Matters podcast or know someone who’d be a great guest? Send me a note or fill out our guest application.
