Homeschool Families Meet-up brings parents, resources together

If you ask a parent what they want for their kids, a quality education is likely to be on that list. Any parent strives to give their children the chance to succeed in school and in life.

One of the ways parents do this is by choosing to take on the task of education themselves through homeschooling. Homeschooling has certain challenges, such as potentially becoming isolated from a network of other parents and peers for your children.

To assist home-schooling families, the Lejeune-New River school liaisons hosted the Home-school Family Meet-up at Bldg. 780 Brewster Blvd. on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Oct. 15.

“We want to connect the homeschooling families with each other,” said Julie Fulton, K through 12 school liaison. “When these families undergo a permanent change of station, they often lose any connections they had. This is an opportunity to share resources and give them face-to-face time with other families.”

Fulton said the school liaisons aim to host the event at least once a year. Families in attendance were able to ask school liaisons questions and learn about available services such as tutoring, scholarship opportunities and exam preparation.

“The meet-up was beneficial for me because I am new to homeschooling my son,” said Brittany Ausar, homeschooling parent. “He’s 10 years old and had difficulties in other school settings. My husband and I decided to have me teach him for the fifth grade school year. So far, the process has not been too difficult, but resources were limited. I was relieved and excited for both of us to meet other homeschool families. My experience is that I’m not alone in this and there are various ways to teach our children. I learned that it is not unique in that we can change the curriculum to the standards of our family. Listening to other mothers helped me to understand that my schedule is based off what we are comfortable with.”

For Fulton and the other school liaisons, providing support to all military families is their primary objective.

“There is a myth that we only help families in Department of Defense schools,” said Fulton. “We work with all military families, including those who are homeschooling their kids.”

“It was very insightful to learn about all the resources the military has available for homeschool families,” said parent Anne Frana. “Throughout the whole event I felt respected for my choice to homeschool my children. I left planning to utilize many of the support options provided.”