When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Streamlining School


Military families move between postings on a regular basis.  The average military student faces transition challenges more than twice during high school alone, and most military children will attend six to nine different school systems in their lives from kindergarten to 12th grade. The Military Interstate Children's Compact Commission (MIC3) seeks to make transition easier for the children of military families so that they have the same opportunities for educational success as other children and are not penalized or delayed in achieving their educational goals. Thirty-five states are now part of this compact. Though the website is a little vague about exactly what the compact consists of, presumably this is because the more flexible something is, the harder it is to describe.  
Essentially, the compact assists with enrollment (educational records, immunizations, and kindergarten/first grade entrance age), class placement and attendance issues, and eligibility for extracurricular activities.  The compact is especially helpful for students close to high school graduation, assisting in waiving courses required for graduation if similar course work has been completed elsewhere, promoting flexibility as to how students fulfill graduation testing requirements, and allowing a student to receive a diploma from the sending school instead of the receiving school.

The Compact was developed by The Council of State Governments' National Center for Interstate Compacts, the Department of Defense, national associations, federal and state officials, the Department of Education of each state, school administrators and military families.
The Department of Defense will continue to work with the Commission, Council of State Governments, national organizations, and state leaders to bring the remaining fifteen states on board. 


Posted by About AART at 7:55 AM

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