Alan & Brenda Leonard

> Military dependents rarely (do they ever?) HAVE to live on base, but if you
> choose to live voluntarily in a military fortress which has a commander, to
> then say they should have no say over your children's lives does not follow
> logically.

This isn't about unschooling, but I'm going to respond anyhow to Sandra's
comment.

We have to live in military housing here. It's cruddy, tiny, and
inconvienent, at 25+ minutes from post. But because so many military bases
in this area have closed, there's more housing than needed. So the army
refuses to pay our housing allowance. We could, concievably, live off post.
But we'd have to pay it out of my husband's salary. Not a chance.

If there's not enough housing and everybody wants it, then you wait to get
on post. Last post, we chose not to live on post because we didn't feel
like moving again. However, if you live off post, your housing allowance
generally covers about 80% of the housing & utilities costs. On post, it's
all free. Housing may not be great here, but we have an extra $300 a month
to work with because we are on post. That's why most people want to live on
post if they can (and if the quarters are at least halfway decent).

Commanders aren't *supposed* to have much control over dependents (beyond
requiring that they follow laws), but they do. They can make the military
member's life miserable about how their dependents behave. If the commnader
of USArmy Europe ruled that my child HAD to go to school, we'd contest it.
But you can bet that my husband would be updating his resume, too. Fighting
back can cost you your career.

brenda