With a major military assignment, to say that there are several moving parts is a huge understatement. Moving overseas to a “remote” location with very little US military presence and absolutely no military base complicates things ever so slightly more. This assignment came with several warnings that life certainly wouldn’t be what we were used to and we welcomed that idea. We actually looked forward to the lack of accessibility of items and services that we’d become accustomed to. To rewind life a bit and get back in touch with our core beings was definitely on our hearts.
However, a move so far away where travel to and from would be uber expensive for our family and friends, meant that we needed to try to fit in as many “see ya laters” as possible, but also save money and use time wisely in the midst of said permanent change of orders. So a lot of planning needed to happen. A glimpse into how these moves work would show that in order for the Soldier to be put on orders that authorize the family to accompany, the entire family needs to pass certain screenings. Those screenings happen before the orders even get finalized and handed to the Soldier, usually. So, with orders in hand, plans were set in motion.
I submitted my letter of intent to homeschool my boys and pulled them at the end of January. In the first week of February, the boys and I traveled nine hours to say some “see ya laters” to family and were meeting my husband half-way back where we would drop off our vehicle to be shipped overseas; Except, I got a phone call that seemed to be changing our plans. I was told that our screening was actually processed for the wrong location and that we were approved for somewhere else that didn’t need to be screened as thoroughly as our actual duty station. That call was only days before we were dropping our vehicle off! So my husband and I worked very diligently in different states talking to people located all over the world to expedite the screening so that the “all clear” would be made in time to still meet the strict timelines we had scheduled. Luckily, there were some very understanding and dedicated personnel on the other end of those phone lines and our personal schedule was only thrown off a day.
The timeline we gave ourselves was a pretty intense (say goodbyes, drop off car, pack and send unaccompanied goods, visit with mom, pack and ship household goods, clear housing, clear post, fly to in-process location) three weeks with very little wiggle room. We were able to ship our vehicle when we expected and it only required a slight adjustment to our moving plans (I had one day instead of two to gather our unaccompanied goods shipment). Then my husband’s mom was able to come visit for a few days and our household goods were to be packed and shipped the following day.
However, the day that we were driving her to the airport, there was an awful snowstorm and our post announced a post closure and the state declared a state of emergency! We were just sure that there was no way the movers could come, but they did and all went as well as it could. But then… we sold our other car just one day before my husband had his final out and there were all sorts of complications with weather delays and early office closures. This move certainly felt as if it were not going to happen several times. February was a very stressful month to be an adult in our family. The boys on the other hand, were proving daily that homeschool could be a great fit.
While visiting family, I knew we would have limited internet access so they read independently, completed daily writing journals, completed grade level worksheets covering language arts, math, and science, and of course lots of play time. That plan stuck with us through the moving process and it seemed to be a good fit as computers were being taken from our house, and internet was intermittent with travel. The traveling alone was actually providing so many learning opportunities that I really feel like their knowledge base was growing so much in such a short amount of time. But I still couldn’t wait to be settled and start my real homeschooling plan. We finally made it to our actual destination, after in-processing in Hawaii for five days, very late on February 28th or March 1 depending on which side of the date line you are on. That’s where we traded our snow boots for flip flops and our real adventure was to begin!
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