March 25, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Public home-schooling in the Valley is popular and growing fast. Roughly 1,100 kids are enrolled this year in the Mat-Su Borough School District's home-based education programs and at least 200 more are expected to join when the new Twindly Bridge Charter School opens in the fall. In an effort to accommodate families that want to home school, Twindly Bridge Charter School and the district's Correspondence Study School are hosting the first-ever Home Based Education Curriculum Conference on April 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and April 10 from 1-5 p.m., at Wasilla High School.

Conference coordinator and home-school parent Terina Lochner said home-schooling is more popular and easier for parents than it was when she first started home schooling her kids.

"It has proven to be a very viable choice," she said. "Twelve to 13 years ago we were in a wasteland. Now there are a lot more resources available."

Lochner said many parents choose to home school because their kids don't do well in a standard public school environment, in which students often receive less individual attention than they do at home school.

"A lot of people come because their child is having trouble in school and they need to take their kid out of that environment and re-ignite the love of learning," Lochner said. "Public school is geared for a certain type of learner and many do just fine there. Others, however, don't do well in the public school but are equally successful when they do home school."

Parents who opt to home school through the MSB School District receive assistance from certified teachers to develop curriculum and track student progress. Unlike independent home school, which is also very popular in the Valley, public home-school parents receive government funding at 80 percent of the cost it takes to educate a standard public school student.

Public home-school kids are legally public school students and are required to take state-certified tests to demonstrate academic progress. Independent home-schooling, however, is largely religion-based, Lochner said, and parents are free to teach whatever they want, with no state regulations.

The upcoming conference targets those who welcome a little help from the state, both financially and educationally. The conference aims to help parent-teachers and certified teachers refine curriculum and teaching methods.

The conference also seeks to expose families and teachers to learning theories and techniques through seminars and presentations throughout the two days. Dozens of speakers from across the country are scheduled to deliver talks on subjects ranging from problem-based and service-based learning to intelligence theories and special education.

Families attending the conference can browse vendor tables displaying textbooks, instructional kits and software, as well as tables providing information on workshops, classes, tutors, mentor programs and field trips.

Lochner said she expects between 30 and 50 vendors to be on hand. Interested vendors may still contact Lochner for tables, through April 1. Nonprofit tables are free and all others are $25 each, which covers both days of the conference.

Lochner said she welcomes nontraditional vendors like museums, historical societies and youth clubs, which also provide educational opportunities.

"This is not just for people who sell stuff," she said.

For more information on how to register for a table or present a workshop at the conference, people may call Lochner at (907) 373-0196. Further information can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/twindlybridgecharterschool/.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.