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New School Welcoming: Student Sponsorship Programs
By Stacy Allsbrook-Huisman Military-connected students adjusting to a new school commonly experience feelings of isolation, confusion, and searching for support. Students switching schools during the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to experience these feelings even more intensely. In an online round table discussion, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona hosted a Zoom call…
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The Other Side of Goodbye: When Friends Move Away
By Terri Barnes In military communities, students who are not moving feel the effects of the Season of Leaving when friends move away. Whether they are leaving or not, students may have to say goodbye to good friends and even best friends. Children whose friends move away experience the same…
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Proactive Communication for Students in Every Season
By Amanda Trimillos In meet-the-teacher sessions at new schools with my children, time and time again I heard teachers use the term “proactive communication.” Teachers offer parents several ways to communicate – email addresses, phone numbers, and notation areas in student agendas. They emphasize the importance of proactive communication with…
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Building Strong Networks of Support
Military Family Life — When navigating and building support networks for military life, personal connections make all the difference. For all the moving pieces—transitions, mental health, school changes, deployment, and more—many avenues of support are available, and a few helping hands can bring those pieces together. Seasons of My Military Student…
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Five Ways Military Kids Clubs Help Students and Schools
A military kids club is a school organization especially for military-connected students. A military kids club helps military kids plug in quickly at a new school and community during the Season of Arriving, providing a venue for meeting other students with similar military-life experiences. “Although they come from different branches…
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New high school: Preparation is key
Stacy Allsbrook-Huisman for Military Spouse magazine — For military-connected students, the transition from middle school to high school can be compounded by a PCS move. Moving to a new community, loss of social support networks and unfamiliar academic expectations will be a heavy burden for budding teens. Planning for the…
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Bringing a Student’s Military Life into Classroom Learning
By Amanda Trimillos As teachers welcome military students into a classroom, they may also welcome the students’ military life into classroom learning with planned and purposeful lessons. A mobile lifestyle gives military-connected students unique knowledge of the world. They may have lived in and visited many locations, experiencing a variety…
