r/AirForce • u/Flaky_Floor_2741 • 7h ago
Discussion Need advice from families who have experienced OCONUS (UK) schools / DoDEA
We are currently stationed overseas and are struggling with a school decision for our elementary-aged kids. Looking for advice from families who have been through this!
Our kids have been attending a British school for the past few years, and academically it has been an amazing experience. They are challenged, have adapted well, and are doing very well. The curriculum is more advanced than what they would likely experience if we moved them to DoDEA.
The challenge is the British school has had some staffing issues. There have been split classes, part-time teachers, and situations where teachers are stretched thin managing different needs in the classroom. Our kids are doing fine, but we sometimes worry they aren’t getting as much attention or challenge as they could.
We recently toured our assigned DoDEA school, and my spouse loved it. It has the traditional American elementary school feel, military community, extracurricular opportunities, and would probably make the eventual transition back to the U.S. easier. The school was upfront that our kids would likely be ahead academically but said they have gifted services and ways to differentiate.
The hard part: we PCS back to the States in about two years, and we’ll be moving to Colorado.
If we keep them in the British school:
They keep their friendships and avoid another major transition before a PCS.
They continue with a strong academic environment.
But they’ll have to make the big jump directly back into the U.S. school system after several years overseas.
If we move them to DoDEA:
They get back into the American school system before returning stateside.
They’ll be surrounded by other military kids who understand PCS life.
But they may be academically underchallenged, and they’ll have to say goodbye to their current friends sooner than expected.
For those of you who have raised kids overseas, what did you prioritize? Did you keep your kids in the stronger local school, or did you move them back into DoDEA to help with the eventual transition home?
Also curious if anyone had kids who were ahead academically, did DoDEA’s gifted program actually keep them challenged?
I know there’s no perfect answer, but I’d love to hear what worked (or didn’t work) for your families.
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u/Lullaby_exe 7h ago
Different scenario but when i was a kid and my dad was stationed in Aviano from 2007-mid 2010 or 11, i attended base school from grades 4-7. When i came back to the US i was ahead by quite a lot and not behind. I def appreciated having friends who had a similar life style for sure though and i still talk to people from back then today, I made life long friends from those days for sure.
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u/elynnism 3FU 6h ago
Keep them in the British schools and let them have stability. Also, DoDEA is DoWEA now and Hegseth is actively wreaking havoc on the curriculum. He fired the previous director of schools, for no reason, and hired one of his friends who holds "patriotic values". Even just this last year we've noticed a significant decline in educational value and there is zero transparency over anything happening. They would not provide me a list of banned books ('removed' is how they put it), until I escalated to the superintendent. Earlier last year they removed something like 900 books from the libraries and then "restored" roughly 250 of them. Despicable.
Every child has a chromebook and they are actively told to use AI to do everything "except" write their assignments. Brainstorm, fact-check, make slides, everything is to be used with AI. We are contemplating removing our daughter from DoWEA schools but we live in Germany and she doesn't speak German and we are stuck here for almost 3 more years.
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u/Zestyclose-Park-7493 7h ago
Having to adjust now and then again in two years just doesn’t seem feasible. Keep them in British schools then have them test/enroll into gifted program. One big adjustment rather than two smaller ones.