The Foreign Service Journal, December 2012

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2012 65 outside local school holidays, which is often both cheaper and more convenient for the working parent trying to get leave approved. And as a bonus, working late nights might be offset by seeing the family at lunchtime or by enjoying a leisurely breakfast, since no one has to run out the door to catch a school bus. How to Homeschool? There are as many different ways to homeschool as there are families doing it—no one option will meet every fam- ily’s needs. You may hear about certain “musts,” but what works for other children might not be successful with yours. So it is a good idea to experiment with different curricula or structures to find a style that works for you. For some families, homeschooling is purely a situational decision. They decide to try it for a limited time because a child is struggling in the classroom or with other students; the school cannot offer the support a child needs; or the family has other commitments, such as partici- pation in a sports program, that cannot be accommodated within the school sched- ule. In such cases, many families will choose to create a homeschool curricu- lum similar to what their child might have in an American or international school, to facilitate the student’s later re-entry to traditional school. There are as many different ways to homeschool as there are families doing it—no one way will meet every family’s needs. EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT