Oct 10
30
More military families are home schooling
Jennifer Nuntavong is out in the rain with her two young boys, jumping in puddles at Fort Belvoir, Va. The family of a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, they’re on their way home to make lunch and then head to the bowling alley for the afternoon.
On the opposite coast, Army Lt. Col. James Rexford is home early from his job as a logistics officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. It’s a beautiful day, so he and his wife, Ame, take their four kids to a nearby beach, where they collect shells and then gather on a blanket as Ame reads “Island of the Blue Dolphins” aloud.
For both families, it’s just another day in the fastest-growing classroom in the U.S. — the one at home.
Experts estimate there are 2 million home-schoolers, with their numbers growing as much as 12 percent annually in recent years. And there is data to indicate that military families are home schooling at perhaps twice the national average.
That doesn’t surprise the Rexfords, who have been home schooling for 10 years. “Home schooling fits the military lifestyle very well,” James Rexford says. “When you move, the school goes with you. When you have time off, the kids can take time off with you.”
Gone are the occasional sideways looks they sometimes got when their decision to home-school came up in conversation, he says. “Now, the response is usually, ‘Oh, that’s awesome. We’re thinking about doing that, too.’ Or, they already are.”