Independent home-schoolers enjoy their freedom

MAT-SU -- Depending on who you talk to, "school choice" takes on very different meanings.

In public education these days, school choice often refers to the option for parents to have their kids bused from a school that did not pass the federal No Child Left Behind requirements to schools that did pass.

For independent home-school parents, however, school choice means being allowed to teach their kids as they see fit -- usually at home -- far from the walls of any public or private schools.

Independent home school is often considered the most alternative home-school choice available and is not to be confused with publicly funded correspondence programs, such as the Mat-Su Borough School District's Track 2 Homeschool Support Program.

While some publicly funded home-schoolers may participate in independent home-school activities, they must also teach the same subjects that are taught in standard public schools.

Unlike public correspondence programs, independent home-schoolers receive no federal or state money for their education. This suits most just fine because with the lack of public money comes private educational freedom.

Independent home-schoolers in Alaska face no requirements for attendance, subject matter, teacher qualifications, record keeping or testing -- a fact that has troubled some lawmakers and educators.

Earlier this year State Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, unsuccessfully sponsored a bill requiring each child in Alaska, including home-school children, to be assigned a 10-digit identification number.

Information about the child's educational progress would have been reported to the Legislature every year. This tracking system was slated to be administered by the Department of Education and Early Development in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Services.

Feeling that the very foundation of their educational philosophy was threatened, Alaska's independent home-school communities lobbied hard against the bill and it eventually died.

Palmer resident Helen Hegener is the publisher of the nationwide Home Education Magazine. According to Hegener, the less government is involved in home schooling, the better.

"Alaska is one of the few states that doesn't place many restrictions on home-schoolers and we in home schooling think that's the way it should be," Hegener said. "It's a foreign concept to a lot of people that kids and parents can get along without government regulations."

Hegener, who home schooled her own son, said the lack of requirements allows kids to study what they are really interested in.

"Kids can focus on one thing for six months, to the exclusion of everything else and that's not a problem," she said. "Public school seeks well-rounded education but the problem is that you become jack of all trades and master of none. Home-school kids can really get into one issue and, in doing so, they end up crossing into all different subjects. My son spent a lot of time studying electricity but he learned math and science along the way and he's a master electrician now."

Independent home school flies in the face of standardized tests and curricula that seek to ensure all children are proficient in reading, writing and math. Heidi Kroeker, treasurer of the Eagle River Chugiak Homeschooling Association, believes independent home school can better address children's needs.

Kroeker has seven children, four at school age, and she home schools them all. For Kroeker, school is an active, involved process but one she is willing to put time into.

"When you take into account getting ready for school, riding the bus, time at school and riding the bus home, you're only spending about three hours of quality time with your kids when they go to school," Kroeker said. "Is that really the American dream, to have kids and then send them away?"

Other home-school parents like Terina Lochner of Wasilla strike a balance between home school and public school. Lochner, a member of the Mat-Su Homeschool Co-op, organizes an independent home-school program called Friday Co-op Day. The program is broken into three parts, each lasting seven weeks.

On Friday, beginning Oct. 1, 125 kids will meet in the Wasilla Multi-use Sports Complex. Their first mission will be to study math, but in a variety of different ways.

During the program students will explore puzzles and patterns, engineer and build mini-towers and combine math, science and cooking. Some high-schoolers will be responsible for running a student newspaper, covering the events and interviewing Valley people who use math in their profession.

In subsequent Friday Co-op Days, Lochner said the home-schoolers will study literature and theater, reading Shakespeare and performing dramas.

Lochner knows her limit though, and when one of her sons wanted to learn Spanish, she enrolled him in a public high school Spanish class.

"I couldn't teach that subject and so my husband and I decided to send him to Wasilla High School," she said.

Many other home-school programs have cropped up across the state, offering different philosophies, curricula and ideas about how to home school. From choir practices to writing groups to Youth Court classes, to volunteer and community service work, independent home-school activities are as varied as the children and parents who participate.

Due to the limited regulations, and lack of government tracking, it is difficult to estimate the number of independent home-school students in Alaska. Based on her experience and contacts, Lochner estimates the number to be around 1,000 but no hard statistics are available.

Lochner is a part of a 175-family-strong home-school network in the Mat-Su and she said that while the number of publicly funded home-schoolers is larger, the independent home-school movement is growing. While it may not set well with educators who are trying to fix the nation's public education through nationwide standards, more and more independent home-schoolers want to be left alone to direct the education of their own children.

"At first my family was reserved about me home schooling my kids," Kroeker said. "I have seven kids but I can still give them more individual time than they would get in a regular classroom situation."

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