ANDREWS AFB, Md. –
It's back to school time and yet, for some Andrews families, going back to school means staying home.
"Andrews Home Educators is a base chapel-sponsored group for active duty, retired military and DOD home schooling families on base," said Ellen Grissom, Andrews Home Educators Support Group director, wife of Col. Del Grissom, Senior Legal Advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council, and mother to Claire, 13, and Ethan, 10. "We support home schooling families with information, activities, and friendship. The base chapel has been great to help us with meeting places, support, and costs."
Mrs. Grissom explained there is a large home schooling community at Andrews. In fact, approximately 16 percent of school-aged children on Andrews are home-schooled and, many of these families find home schooling advantageous. "Home schooling tailors the learning experience to the needs, strengths, weaknesses, and schedule of the child," said Mrs. Grissom.
There are several different methods for home schooling used by families on base. Mrs. Grissom notes that parents most commonly use a traditional subject-by-subject curriculum used in a public or private school. "Most parents also have their children take annual standardized tests like the Iowa or Stanford tests."
One of the many benefits of home schooling include -- that on average -- students in grades 1 through 4 perform one-grade level higher than their public and private school counterparts and overall have higher ACT and SAT scores. Mrs. Grissom adds, "The best benefit of home schooling is that parents know what the child is being taught and whether or not a child is truly grasping the material and working to the best of his ability. Sometimes a change in material is necessary for a child -- be it a different approach, easier material or even more challenging material. Home schooling makes that flexibility possible."
Subjects for home-schooled students on Andrews include more than just the "3 Rs." "The Airman and Family Readiness Center kindly organized computer classes for our older students, and we all gave many service hours to center. We're looking into making that happen again this year," said Mrs. Grissom. Home schooling moms also coordinated several learning clubs for the students that met on a monthly basis. "It was a full, fun and interesting year," said Mrs. Grissom.
The 2008 AHE school year starts with a Back-to-School Kickoff Party at Chapel 3 Tuesday at 6 p.m. Membership forms, handouts, the AHE calendar, and chapel information will also be available. Upcoming activities for the AHE support group include a science and art fair, a talent show, and several service projects on base. AHE also hosts workshops, guest speakers, field trips, and Mom's Night Out events.
For more information about AHE, contact Dana Edmondson, AHE Welcome Committee chair, at
ddedmondson@msn.com.