Packing up the family, packing up school.

One week after 9/11, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Abbott of the Georgia Army National Guard kissed Tammy, his wife of 15 years, and their two young children goodbye, and boarded a flight to Egypt. During their three months in Egypt, Lieutenant Colonel Abbott and his unit found out that their next stop would be up to eight weeks of training in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Military Mobility Made Possible

The Abbotts knew that, were they to spend any time together over the next 11 months, their one chance would be to move together to Atlanta. Had the Abbott kids, Brittany (then 7) and Taylor (then 5) attended a traditional brick-and-mortar school, uprooting them and moving to Atlanta for eight weeks would have been impossible.

Thanks to a decision that the couple had made years before—to homeschool their children—packing up the family and moving to a hotel room in Atlanta (school supplies and all) is exactly what they did. Taking control also allows this military family to make short- to long-term moves within the U.S.—without sacrificing their children's education.

"I look back on those few hours a night we had with Anthony [in Atlanta] as some of the most precious times we've had as a family. I am tremendously grateful that homeschooling allowed us that flexibility," says Tammy.

The Right Curriculum

Choosing to take responsibility for their children's education was simple, but the road to finding the right curriculum to do it was bumpy. Anthony and Tammy are certainly qualified to evaluate curriculum options for their children—Anthony is a former science teacher and Tammy has both a master's degree in math education and experience teaching math at the college level. However, when Tammy first began homeschooling Brittany, she had trouble finding a curriculum. Some programs required flipping through endless teacher manuals and trying to determine what exactly was to be taught, and how. Others set learning standards too low. Still others failed to engage Brittany and Taylor in their lessons, suffocating their love of learning. When Tammy discovered K¹² through a friend's recommendation, her search for the best curriculum was over.

"The K¹² curriculum is the Cadillac of homeschool curriculum programs," says Tammy. "When I found K¹², I knew hands down that it was the best choice."

And she didn't need an advanced degree or classroom teaching experience to make that decision. K¹² was the right choice because of the breadth and depth of engaging content, the ease of use, and the fact that both Tammy and the kids enjoy using the curriculum. The Abbotts can access K¹² from anywhere an Internet connection can be found—from a hotel room in Atlanta to their temporary home in Virginia Beach.

K¹² Allows for Family Stability in an Unstable Life

For this military family, learning with K¹² fits their lifestyle perfectly. Lieutenant Colonel Abbott has spent the past year in Virginia Beach completing his resident coursework for a U.S. Army War College Senior Service College Fellowship at Old Dominion University. Rather than living apart for a full year, the Abbotts moved as a family—only this time as a family of five: mom, dad, Brittany (12), Tyler (10), and Caden, an active toddler. And, once again, school and the K¹²  curriculum moved with them. As Tammy explains, "The K¹² curriculum provides stability in our lives."

As the Abbotts know, being a military family comes with sacrifices—from long periods of time with a parent overseas to frequently uprooting and starting anew. While the Abbott family has had to make sacrifices to live the military life, they have never needed to worry about sacrificing their children's education—they have that covered with K¹².