Jessica Graham

Share your military spouse story:
I am a military spouse of 8 years, a mother to three beautiful children, and the president/founder of our homeschool co-op Homeschool Operation Military Explorers (HOME) at Fort Moore . I have a previous career in Social Work, but when my husband changed careers we quickly transitioned into the military life and with the birth of our second born I became a stay at home mom. My husband of twelve years and I have been together since the ninth grade making our time together a total of twenty two years. Our time as a military family has been one of great adventures, pride for our country, and gratitude for all that we have received during his service. I have always been a social person who enjoys getting to know others. Since my husband joined the Army I have volunteered in some form at each post we’ve moved to. I’ve always had a visionary mindset and desire to do more and be my best self. With the transition of being a stay at home mom, it was important for me to do something meaningful with my military spouse community that supported positive growth for myself and others. Most people who know me well might describe me as energetic, driven, outgoing, compassionate, and adventurous. In my free time I enjoy crafting, hiking, travel, and reading. I never miss an opportunity to try something new and push myself outside of my comfort zone. I’ve always taken in each military move as a new opportunity to have new adventures and make new friends. I have created some form of hiking/outdoor nature group at every duty station we’ve been to nurturing my love for the outdoors. As my children have grown each new group has become larger and offered more in depth opportunities for military families. It is my hope we can continue to help homeschool families in the military create a place where they feel welcomed and connected.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
Since being stationed at Fort Moore, I have had a nature play meet up group called “Wild & Free" from 2022-2023 and in 2024, we became a co-op called “Homeschool Operation Military Explorers” (HOME) that now serves over 100 students and 50 families with the addition of more families who attend forest school once a month which I helped facilitate this last year along with field trips. I have also hosted meet ups once a month for book club and field trips. I also oversee a board of eight active members who help our co-op run and meet the needs of our community by speaking with them almost daily, leading board meetings, overseeing changes/improvements we may need, helping with resolutions, creating policies for the group, and ensure safety measures are in place. I also encourage others to take on leadership roles of their own, recruit and coordinate outside teachers and/or other opportunities for members.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
As the current president of Homeschool Operation Military Explorers I am always working to provide our community with the best support we can offer by constantly evaluating there needs and seeing what can be improved on. I currently manage many posts and communication via various means of networking. I send out newsletters monthly to our community to inform them of upcoming dates and opportunities. I also inquire what supplies are needed for our co-op, organize volunteer meet ups and opportunities, answer frequently asked questions, created a mothers workshop program to encourage connection with other moms, and created a workout group within our co-op to help support each others goals for the new year. I also help manage the Fort Moore Homeschoolers page along with approvals, and share important homeschool events with the community, answer questions, and create helpful posts for newcomers.

Describe how you support your community:
I am always taking note of how the co-op and meet ups are going and making changes where they are needed. I have created a survey to ask our community how we are doing and what they would like to see from us in the future to support their families. I recently calculated my involvement in field trip organization alone and found that I have contributed 206 hours of volunteer time. Through field trips we have been able to engage more with our military community by visiting military jobs on post. I always make it a point to share our group with new incoming families on our homeschool Facebook page that I am admin of. I strongly believe that welcoming each new family and making them feel accepted has been the reason we have grown so much which I always I make this my number one priority. I also speak regularly with the public school liaison who always shares our group with families who no longer wish to keep their kids in public schools so we can connect with them.

What do you advocate for? Why?
The goal of HOME is to provide a space where all homeschool military families would feel welcomed. When I first brought up the idea of a co-op I was asked by a friend what my mission statement would be and my response was, “I just want to create a place where everyone feels welcomed.” Most complaints you hear from homeschool families are, “I didn’t feel welcomed.” “I felted judged.” “It just wasn’t a good fit for us” or “It’s too expensive.” If you look at any local military homeschool community pages you’ll see so many families asking the same question. "What’s available in the area? We need friends." I am hoping to start the process of making HOME into a non-profit organization and I would love to see all of the families who are PCSing soon to take this name with them and create a HOME for other military families and see them on all installations so that each military family knows they will have a HOME to go to when they arrive. A place of welcoming, understanding, and support.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
Our members are always spotted on social media giving us praise but also I regularly communicate with the public school liaison on Fort Moore who was a previous homeschool mom herself spreading the word to families who have chosen to withdraw their children from school or perhaps looking for an alternative option of schooling. Our relationship with her has not only opened doors to families who didn’t know our co-op was an option but she has also shared our photos and story with her organization. She has arranged field trips for us both on and off of Fort Moore. I have also been networking with a few different homeschool organizations off post that are in there new stages curious and asking questions about HOME and what it is we do for our community. Recently my spouse was approached because my name came up at a military event where active soldiers were sharing about how they knew who he was because of our organization and shared that their own children currently attending our co-op.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
With this title my goal would to be to continue to help support military families at all military installations. I would love to keep our organization free and available to all military families but there have been a few things that have proven to be difficult. With a nonprofit certification and the AFI military spouse title I hope we can spread the word, help others get started at other installations, and reach more of our growing military homeschool families. With recognition by military installations we may have an easier time securing a building, fundraising, and receiving support from each post. With possible funding in the future we hope to facilitate background checks, and create an easier sign up process for those hoping to offer classes. I would love to take HOME where ever I go and share this experience with all military homeschool families who need it.