Alphabet cards showing uppercase “B” and lowercase “b” beside classroom materials for a hands-on letter learning activity.

Why We’ve Chosen Homeschool as a Military Family

Written By Sydney Smith

As we approach fall, I have been spending these hot late summer afternoons eagerly going through our homeschool cabinet, replacing old crayons and markers with new, sorting bins and flipping through the new curriculums I hope will engage my rising second grader in new and fun ways. This will be year two of our homeschooling journey, and while I don’t know if this will be a forever thing, or something that works for all four of our children long term, or at all – I do know it is right for our family right now.

I want to start by saying, I am not one of those super opinionated ‘shove it down your throat’ people when it comes to homeschool and what I believe to be right or wrong for kids. I wholeheartedly believe every parent and family has their own distinct calling when it comes to the school decisions. I also believe each child is unique and comes with his or her own set of needs, interests and preferences and therefore – I truly don’t believe there to be a singular school approach that will work perfectly for every child.

However, for our family, and our military lifestyle, it has been quite a good fit, and I will share those reasons below:

  1. Creating Stability in an Unpredictable Military Life. This is probably the most common reason you will get from military moms as to why they choose to homeschool. The stability that homeschooling provide kids in a life of so much instability is hard to pass up. Not only does it relieve military families of being limited to optimal school districts when house hunting, but also eliminates the chore of researching and enrolling, disenrolling and anticipating good or bad teachers, friend groups, etc. It simplifies life so much. Kids already must adapt to so much when moving around. The art of “building resiliency” in military brats does not need to include the acclimation to school after school. Kids already have to adapt to so many things besides school, such as new homes, new churches, new friend groups, new climates. Why also have them adapt to a new school when it might not be essential? Some kids will be more adaptable by nature, and changing schools might not be a big deal. But for others, it could be a very hard transition — and ultimately be the right choice for them to have the stability of the homeschool environment.
  2. Flexibility When Military Life Isn’t. This is another big one. Homeschool provides unique flexibility to military families which can be very helpful in certain seasons such as middle of the year PCSing, block leave windows and deployments. Homeschooling gives parents the ability to schedule school when it works best for the family and allows for making family time when military life allows for it. Just as homeschool provides stability amidst an unstable lifestyle, it also provides flexibility in an often inflexible lifestyle.
  3. Turning Every Duty Station Into a Classroom. Being a military family usually entails moving every few years, and each time you move to a new place, you have so many unique learning experiences at your fingertips. These might include state parks, museums, new cultures, ecosystems, and historical sites. ‘Field trip’ opportunities become endless and will truly create some of the best memories at each duty station. In Washington, some of our favorite field trips have included tide pooling, berry picking, the annual Skagit valley tulip festival, and a family trip to the Washington Coast where we visited the Tree of Life and some iconic beaches.
  4. Strengthening Family Bonds Through Homeschooling: When you move often, it can naturally bring you closer with your immediate family members. Sibling bonds are strengthened by the perpetual turnover of friendships and the reality that family is one of the only constants. Homeschool life only makes those bonds stronger as you spend your mornings and days together learning, visiting new places, and making the best of wherever you are together as a family unit.
  5. A Personalized Education That Fits Your Child: This is a major perk for our family, specifically. My son doesn’t actually enjoy learning as much as I hoped he would. He didn’t enjoy public school during the year we sent him, and he doesn’t always appreciate homeschool learning either. I look at it from the perspective of being grateful he is only required to spend an hour or so per day learning at home with me, versus six hours in the school setting. I also like that I can cater to his unique interests outdoors and make math fun and engaging with food, interactive activities and games. I can choose books I know he will enjoy and be motivated to read.

Homeschool was never our plan as a family… but it’s where we have landed for now. Just like living in Washington State, it’s been a beautiful (sometimes scary) and unexpected adventure that has grown and shaped our family in ways we never could have imagined.

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness, and connection. Explore a range of parenting resources and tools tailored to your needs

Lauren and her friend with their families posing in front of a military aircraft.

Do You Want to be My Friend?

Written By Lauren Hagee Glintz

Long before I was a military spouse, a lawyer mentor I deeply respected gave me a piece of advice before I left for law school. It wasn’t “move into the library” or “study your brains out.” He said, “Go to everything. Make friends. This will be your community, and you need them.” It felt surprising given the notoriously competitive nature of law school, but I took it to heart. I put on a brave face and went to most everything. My mentor was right: I did need friends to survive those three years, and, following his advice, I made the best of friends. I call them my LawFam, and twelve years later, with all of us scattered around the country, we still meet up one weekend a year to just be together.

Lauren's group of friends smiling together outdoors.

Now, as a military spouse, I find myself regularly in a position of needing new friends. Either we moved to a new duty station, or my friends have PCSed away. Of course, I can call and text old friends, but it’s really isolating not to have a village where you physically live. I particularly feel it in this season of my life managing the family and home fulltime. I don’t even have coworkers to gossip with!

It’s been fifteen years since my mentor gave me that advice, but I still use it because, unfortunately for my comfort zone, I haven’t found anything better for making friends. Of course, “go to everything” is not actually realistic for my current phase of life, so I amend the advice to “go to some things.” If you don’t show up, a village can’t show up for you.

To be fair, it’s not easy advice. It’s extremely uncomfortable to go to things when you’re new and alone. But it can be worth it.

Lauren, her friend and their military spouses, pose together at an event.

Five years ago, we had our first official PCS as a family. My husband-of-one-year and our new baby moved across the country. Almost immediately, my husband told me his squadron was having a family day at a local water park. Do you know what I did not want to do two months postpartum? Put on a bathing suit and go meet my husband’s coworkers and their spouses.

My husband gently encouraged me to attend with him, saying another family had just moved in who also had a baby boy. I did ultimately go, but I was not excited about it and deeply self-conscious. When we arrived, my husband introduced me to the family he had mentioned. Was it kismet or best-friendship-at-first-sight or two women who both desperately needed a friend? I guess it doesn’t matter, but that’s how Mandy and I found each other: feeling awkward, squished into bathing suits, holding tiny babies at a waterpark we didn’t really want to be at.

Mandy and I both credit each other for our mutual survival over the next three years at that duty station. While we had a lot of fun together, it was also an intense time. We were navigating new motherhood, frequently without our spouses, and both experienced loss and grief. We needed each other to weather it.

Lauren and her friend pushing strollers.

Now, five years later, we’re at our second duty station together. Our little boys are best friends and act more like brothers. We basically coparent them. I am so grateful for Mandy. Maybe the two of us would have connected eventually, but I needed her immediately—and that wouldn’t have happened if I had stayed home.

Lauren and her friend with their two young children taking a selfie.

I continue to go to squadron spouse events. It is a challenge, both practically (do I have childcare?) and emotionally (what if no one is interested in talking to me and I stand there silently alone?), but I remind myself it matters, that I need friends here. I don’t always find a Mandy, but there’s still value in meeting people. Sometimes it’s just an acquaintance to reach out to with questions about our spouse’s squadron or to chat with at holiday parties or the Marine Corps ball. But sometimes, it happens—the kismet of best-friendship-at-first-sight.

It is a strange thing, being an adult and still wondering, do you want to be my friend? But I remind myself it’s the question a lot of us are silently asking each other.

Lauren and her friend at an indoor event.

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness and connection. Explore a range of resources and tools tailored to your needs.

Sydney’s child holding a large starfish while standing in shallow water.

Summer Days Stationed at JBLM

Written By Sydney Smith

It’s funny how perspective can change so drastically from one duty station to the next.

At both Fort Hood and Fort Bragg, we dreaded the long summers — endless humidity, relentless heat waves and bugs of every imaginable kind. But now, far from the South and stationed in the Pacific Northwest at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, we don’t just enjoy the summer months; we live for them.

As I sit down to write this piece, the windows are wide open, the air cool and bug-free. A faint trace of sunblock still lingers from our afternoon at the lake, where we snacked on cold grapes and chips and I watched my three children swim the day away. As we begin our third summer here at JBLM, I’ve realized something: this is the season when I come back to life.

It’s not that I disappear during the other half of the year, but some part of me goes dormant through the long, dark, gloomy months that seem to stretch endlessly on. It’s as if I lost a bit of color, just as the world seems to fade around me. Of course, we make it through — helped along by the cheer and warmth of the holidays and the community that endures the gray skies beside us — but it isn’t always easy.

And yet, what they say about Pacific Northwest summers is absolutely true: they cannot be beat. They are glorious.

I still remember how quickly I fell in love after moving here — the towering, crooked evergreens; flowers bursting with color in every direction, and water seemingly everywhere you turn. Lakes perfect for swimming, beaches made for tide pooling, and endless opportunities to spot wildlife somehow make the region feel both adventurous and peaceful all at once.

After three summers here, I’ve learned something else: if you’re stationed at JBLM, summer is not the time to stay inside. Whether you’re brand new to the area or counting down the days until PCS season, there are certain experiences that simply make summer in the Pacific Northwest unforgettable.

Here are my must-do summer activities at or near JBLM:

  1. Lake days at American Lake. This is by far our favorite thing to do in the summer. Our house is on post, located in North Lewis, and we are just five minutes from the lake. We love to swim at Summer Cove, a family-friendly swimming access point with a sandy beach looking out onto the lake with views of Mount Rainier and an almost guaranteed spotting of at least one bald eagle every time we visit. We bring floaties, towels, snacks and sand toys, and my kids can easily stay here for the entire day. There are also a splash pad and playground in the same vicinity, which can be a fun alternative on the not-so-hot days.
  2. Tide pooling at local beaches. There are several local beaches — many are state parks — off the Puget Sound, which are just a short 20-40 minutes from base. We like to explore during low tide, when my kids can hunt for sand dollars, crabs and clams. The warm, shallow tide pools are perfect for young children on those hot summer days and offer endless exploration. A favorite of ours is Tolmie State Park, located in Lacey, WA.
  3. Wildflower hikes. Late spring and early summer are prime time for wildflower hikes. Many of these hikes are located on Mount Rainier or throughout the Olympic Peninsula, but if you are willing to go even farther — there are more in the Cascades and all over the state of Oregon. There is something special about hiking in wildflowers. It’s as though you’re walking through a fairy tale. I hope our kids remember these hikes in the same magical way that we will.
  4. Pick berries and flowers. Strawberries in June. Blueberries in July. Blackberries in August. We pick berries all summer long. There are also many flower fields where you can pick fresh tulips, sunflowers, lavender and others. There are many places right around JBLM (in fact, blackberries can be found all over post!), but we also love to drive down to Hood River, Oregon, and make stops along the Fruit Loop, a scenic 35-mile drive that includes a collection of on-the-farm fruit stands, wineries, breweries, cideries and fields of flowers.
  5. Camping. The camping simply cannot be beat here. From the misty beaches of the Olympic Peninsula to mountain views near Mount Rainier and quiet lakes tucked into the forest, summer in Washington feels made for sleeping under the stars. Most would agree, as it is the unfortunate reality that campsites must be booked six months ahead if you want any hope of securing a spot — especially at popular state parks. Some of our fondest memories leaving here will certainly include those weekends of tent sleeping, sticky s’more fingers and exploring nature together as a family.
  6. Whale watching or observing wildlife. There is something magical about the wildlife in the Pacific Northwest, and whale watching feels like one of those “you have to do it at least once” experiences while living here. We got lucky and saw a pod of orcas once while beachcombing at a nearby beach park. You can also book tours from ferries or coastal overlooks — spotting orcas, gray whales, seals and bald eagles. It’s the kind of experience that reminds you JBLM isn’t just another duty station — it’s access to something truly special.

The truth is, JBLM summers have a way of sneaking up on you. After months of gray skies and spitting rain, suddenly the mountains are out, the lakes are blue and everyone seems to come alive again. Whether your summer here is filled with simple days picnicking and swimming at the lake, picking berries, or more adventurous outings like camping trips, ferry rides or hikes deep in the mountains, don’t let it pass you by. PCS orders eventually come and seasons change — but summer in the Pacific Northwest is one of those things you’ll be missing long after you leave.

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness, and connection. Explore a range of Morale, Welfare and Recreation resources and tools tailored to your needs.

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