Military Family Support
Committed to serving military-connected students and Families.
Welcome, Military Families!
We're grateful for the sacrifice of all military personnel, and we're honored to serve numerous military-connected students and their families. As one of only two Purple Star Designated Schools in the state of Michigan, we're proud to offer a menu of curated resources that may prove useful in making the transition into our school community easier. Whether your family is moving permanently to the school district or living here for a short time, we want your time at Michigan International Prep School to be enjoyable and enriching.
As one of the approximately two million military-connected children in America, we recognize that your student faces a unique set of challenges, and we are eager to help make their time with us as smooth and rewarding as possible!
What is a Purple Star School?
A Purple Star School is a school that has committed to supporting the unique educational and social-emotional needs of military-connected children. These schools recognize that military-connected students must move whenever their active-duty parent receives a relocation order (called a Permanent Change of Station) and will uproot and change schools far more often than their civilian peers. In fact, a military-connected child can expect to move six to nine times from kindergarten through their high school graduation, with approximately 200,000 students transitioning to a new school in any given year.
Military-connected students deal with a host of unique challenges:
- Separations from a parent or caregiver due to deployments.
- High mobility rates – active duty families move every two to three years (This is approximately three times more often than the civilian population. Students often experience six to nine moves during their TK-12 school education).
- Academic and social challenges attributed to frequent school changes, deployment of a parent(s), return of a deployed parent, injury to or death of a parent, etc.
- Understanding and interpreting new school regulations and policies.
- Elevated stress from finding a new peer group in a new school and adjusting to a new community.
The Purple Star Program was designed to help mitigate the challenges of high mobility by setting standards for publicly designating military-friendly schools.
Resolution in Support of Military Families
As a way of expressing our commitment to military-connected students and their families, the Michigan International Prep School Board of Education has signed a Resolution in Support of Military Families.
MIPS Military Family Point of Contact
Jaimie Barksdale
Lead School Counselor
810.243.4427
barksdale@miprepschool.org
We’re so excited to have you at our school! We look forward to serving your family.
You can complete your application here.
If you have any questions along the way, please don’t hesitate to call us: 248-289-5521
Internal Resources
External Resources
Webinars - Military Child Education Coalition
MCEC Parent workshops are available via webinar to support parents who are remote or not located near a major military installation. Webinars are presented live on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Noon EST. Participants must register in advance for the live webinar presentation or to watch webinars on-demand.
Michigan National Guard - Family Programs
The Michigan National Guard Family Programs Office provides the best support and care for all Service Members, Families, Veterans and Retirees in recognition of their service to our great state and nation. We are committed to enhancing the readiness and well being of all military families through information, education, programs, and resources.
Michigan National Guard - Child and Youth Programs
The Michigan National Guard Child and Youth Programs exists to promote and sustain the quality of life and resiliency of National Guard children and youth by providing resources, programming and support services.
Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency - Benefits for Family Members
Spouses and dependent children of service members and veterans may be eligible for educational support programs. Service members who have Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits may transfer the benefit to eligible family members if they meet the transfer criteria. The transfer must be completed while the service member is still on active duty. To learn more about who qualifies and how to transfer benefits, visit the Transfer of Entitlement section of the GI Bill website.
Our Military Kids
Our Military Kids® is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit offering extracurricular activity grants to children, ages 3-18, of deployed National Guard, deployed ...
Tutor.com - For U.S. Military and Their Families
Gives free academic tutoring to military members and their families.
Military Parenting
Parenting for Service Members and Veterans was built by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Mental Health Services in partnership with the Department of Defense National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) as part of a coordinated public health initiative to help Veterans and Service Members who are having difficulties. This free online course provides military and veteran parents with information and strategies to improve their parenting skills.
MI National Guard Child and Youth Program Facebook Group
The official Facebook page for the Michigan National Guard Child & Youth Program.
Michigan National Guard State Youth Council
The official Facebook group for members of the Michigan National Guard State Youth Council and those National Guard Youth who would like to talk to us.
Folds of Honor
Folds of Honor supports the education of spouses and children of our disabled or deceased service members. This support includes private schools, approved tutoring services for school-aged children, and post-secondary scholarships for spouses or college-aged dependent children.
Children of Fallen Patriots
The Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation provides college scholarships and educational counseling to military children who have lost a parent in the line of duty.
Fisher House Heroes Legacy Scholarship
The Fisher House Heroes' Legacy Scholarships program honors all who have died or have become disabled through their active military service since September 11, 2001. The program is open to children of deceased or permanently disabled veterans with specific application criteria.
Transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits to Dependents
The transferability option under the Post 9/11 GI Bill® allows service members to transfer unused benefits to their spouses or dependent children.
Dependents Educational Assistance
DEA provides education and training opportunities to eligible dependents of certain veterans. The program offers up to 45 months of education benefits. These benefits may be used for degree and certificate programs, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and even correspondence courses. If you are a spouse, you may take a correspondence course. Remedial, deficiency and refresher courses may be approved under certain circumstances.
Children of Veterans Tuition Grant
The Children of Veterans Tuition Grant provides undergraduate tuition assistance to students older than 16 and less than 26 years of age who are the natural or adopted child of a Michigan veteran. The veteran must have died or become totally and permanently disabled as a result of military service.
Michigan Alliance for Families
Michigan Alliance for Families is a statewide resource to connect families of children with disabilities to resources to help improve their children’s education. We help facilitate parent involvement as a means of improving educational services and outcomes for students with disabilities.
Military One Source: Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP)
Managing the care and services for a family member with special needs — whether it’s a spouse, child or dependent adult — is a lot easier with the right support. The best place to start is to enroll them in the Exceptional Family Member Program.
United States Coast Guard: Special Needs Program (SNP)
A program for Coast Guard members who need help with special needs programs for a family member.
Military Installations
Military installations can help you find information about duty stations and local resources like installation overviews, contacts for programs and services, check-in procedures, and community information for installations worldwide. Search by military installation, state resources, or programs and services to find everything you need. This resource is one of many that Military OneSource offers at no cost to service members and their families.
Military Installations: The State of Michigan
National Guard state Family Programs establish ongoing communication, involvement, support and recognition of service members and families within the state.
Thrive
The Thrive Initiative is a suite of evidence-informed parenting programs that are designed to empower parents and caregivers as they nurture children from birth until 18 years of age. The Initiative includes a series of face-to-face and online parenting programs and a range of online resources and interactive learning modules to meet the families where they are. The Thrive Initiative is divided into developmentally age-appropriate areas and consists of four universal parenting programs and two targeted parenting programs. The four universal Thrive Initiative programs are available in online formats and immediate access to programming is granted to parents and caregivers. The universal face-to-face and targeted programs are delivered by professionals in an in-person format. The programs are owned by the Federal Government, and the online universal programs are available at no cost to military and civilian families.
Center for Parent Information and Resources
A bank of curated resources for military-connected families of children with disabilities.
Department of Defense Education Activity
DoDEA's special education programs and services are provided in accordance with the Department of Defense (DoD) Manual 1342.12, "Provision of Early Intervention and Special Education Services to Eligible DoD Dependents," dated June 17, 2015.
Courage to Care, Courage to Talk
The Courage to Care Courage to Talk campaign focuses on the importance of injury communication between healthcare providers and the family of the injured service member, as well as within the family itself, especially communicating with children. Find helpful tipsheets here to guide conversations with family, veterans, and children. Available in English and Spanish.
Military Child Education Coalition
Helps military children cope with being transferred from school to school around the world.
Child Care Aware of America
Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) works with a national network of more than 500 child care resource and referral (CCR&Rs) agencies and other partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. CCAoA leads projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, conducts research, and advocates for child care policies that positively impact the lives of children and families. CCAoA also provides child care assistance for military families through Fee Assistance and Respite Child Care Programs that have served more than 150,000 families and worked with more than 60,000 child care providers over nearly two decades.
ZERO to THREE
ZERO TO THREE has developed resources specially designed for military and veteran families and the professionals who serve them. This includes tools for parents to use as they navigate the many transitions that are a part of military-connected life.
Surviving Deployment
Your child’s moodiness and behavior during the deployment may be a sign of stress or anxiety. Here’s what you can do to help your children handle deployment.
Health.mil
From Real Warriors: Children respond differently to a parent’s deployment depending on their age and maturity level. These materials will help families negotiate the stages of deployment with tips on helping children cope while Mom or Dad is deployed. Families can also use these materials to organize pre-deployment family meetings and review age-leveled activities, books, and videos.
Sittercity Military Program
Army, Marine and Air Force families, including active duty, Reserve and Guard, can access the website for connecting families with high-quality local caregivers including babysitters, nannies, senior care, pet care, housekeeping and tutors.
The White House: Joining Forces
The mission of Joining Forces is to support those who also serve: military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors.
VFW National Home
The VFW National Home assists military, veterans, and their families with children, by creating a foundation of services and resources to achieve their personal and family goals in order to move forward in a positive, safe and healthy environment.
Michigan International Prep School is proud to serve military-connected students and their families.
