Homeschool program expands to accommodate growing demand

WASILLA — If you spend any time downtown on the south side of the Parks Highway, you might have noticed a lot of lumber going up atop Mat-Su Central School.

“We’re approximately tripling our square footage, which means we get to get rid of both our connexes,” said John Brown, principal of Mat-Su Central School.

Those shipping containers currently contain curriculum materials that the school is planning to put into a library parents can check them out of. Mat-Su Central School is a unique operation among borough schools in that it is, at heart, a collection of homeschool students rather than a traditional school. Brown would say that the school is also unique among homeschool operations as well because the operation is completely parent-driven.

“I think that’s what really makes us unique is that we’ve now written board policies that give parents the control and the direction of where the program goes,” he said. “Basically, the program is having us stay out of their way unless they need our help.”

In addition to that new library, the expansion will give the school much more room. Right now, Brown said, the operation is crammed into space it outgrew a long time ago. He’d wager Mat-Su Central is the most cramped school in the district.

“The program has grown so fast,” Brown said. “We’ve tripled our enrollment since the early 2000s.”

The new space will also have a small auditorium where homeschool students can stage recitals.

“Music is something that’s highly valued among homeschool families,” Brown said.

There will also be a parent’s room, which Brown said will be for parents to do with what they like. But it’s not exactly a throw-away room either. He said it will be the most scenic in the building, with views of the mountains on one side and a lake on the other.

He said he’s started to feel some excitement in the community. Mat-Su Central hasn’t done any big announcements or anything, but the expansion is hard to miss.

“It’s like, ‘wow when did that go up?’” said of the feedback he’s gotten from the community. “I think there’s a buzz. People are checking it out.”

But is he personally excited? Brown said he is.

“What’s exciting for me is to see how excited the kids are and the parents,” he said.

The target is to have the school opened in August. He said that the school’s neighbor, the Legislative Information Office on the building’s east side, will also expand to accommodate new legislators likely coming to the Valley as a result of redistricting after the 2010 U.S. Census.

In the broadest terms, Brown said, he sees the school transforming into a kind of a hub for homeschool parents, a “21st-century learning center” as he puts it.

He mentions the century because technology is something he thinks Mat-Su Central does very well. All the kids have access to laptops and the Internet. They’re incorporating gadgets like iPads into the learning process.

“I think the facility is going to reflect that too,” he said, adding that he thinks the building will be state-of-the-art.

Brown said that his school wouldn’t be expanding if it weren’t for the support homeschool families are getting now from the school board and district administration. That support wasn’t always so easy to find.

“I’ve been in the district 25 years I haven’t seen this kind of support for homeschooling in 25 years from our school board and our superintendent,” Brown said. “There’s definitely a positive relationship.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.