In response to Eric Waltenbaugh’s recent letter, published in the Homer News on March 6:

As a member of the local homeschool community, I feel compelled to respond to some of the points made by Mr. Waltenbaugh. I have lived in Homer and worked with this homeschool community since 2007. Working as a tutor with both the Connections and IDEA programs, I have instructed numerous students from dozens of families. The insinuation that those choosing to homeschool their children are not fit because there is no required training is insulting to most of the parents I have known over the years.

Of the families I have worked with, 77% of the mothers hold at least one college degree. Of these, 14% even currently hold or previously held teaching certificates. Regardless, I don’t believe that is what qualifies someone to teach effectively. Under normal circumstances, parents are the first teachers their children meet. I believe that to be an effective educator, you must genuinely care about your students. Who cares more about their own kids than parents?

For those unfamiliar with the way the funding works for homeschool families, an allotment amount (currently under $3,000 per year, per child), is available for the family to use toward educational expenses. This money is either paid “vendor direct” (the district pays a tutor directly, using the student’s funds) or it is reimbursed to the parent after qualified receipts are submitted. It is NOT a blank check, nor is it a check made out directly to the homeschooling parent to be used for random purchases.

Mr. Waltenbaugh, through his opening analogy, implied that “families are given state funding” and since they have “no curricular requirements … they can spend the money on virtually anything they want.”

This assertion is simply false. Families are reimbursed for tutoring sessions, music lessons, educational supplies, IF the expenditures are approved by the families’ advisors. I know of specific examples where advisors declined requests for reimbursements, believing the expenses were not in line with the goals of the ILP (individualized learning plan).

Speaking of ILPs, each year an advisor with the homeschool program helps parents generate these forms. They list the specific courses to be studied, along with the curriculum to be used. There actually are requirements (for instance, how many “core classes” must be taken). At the end of each quarter, progress is checked with reports listing the chapters and projects completed or the skills gained.

With the IDEA program, actual work samples are submitted for each quarter, for each class, to track progress. Could a parent lie on these reports or fabricate work samples? Yes. But to do so would be to harm one’s own child. We can safely assume that doesn’t happen very often. Although different from the format in the public school, there is an accountability system in place for homeschoolers in Alaska.

Back to the funding issue, it seems like Mr. Waltenbaugh believes that these homeschool families are somewhat motivated by the money they receive in the form of allotments. Again, we are talking about less than $3,000 per year. If they actually received that money in a lump sum, to be spent at their pleasure, that would equal about $15 per day during the school year. Could that possibly be the motivation? Turning down free day care (i.e. sending your child to public school) for a mere $15 per day? Of course not.

Besides, I have already explained that the money must be put toward actual education expenses. Choosing to homeschool is a sacrifice. Moms and dads are giving up job opportunities — they’re giving up their own free time — and often, they’re paying out of their own pockets to educate their children because $3,000 doesn’t go all that far anymore. If these parents’ children aren’t draining resources in the school building or on the school bus, why shouldn’t the state help them with some of the costs they incur to educate them?

With roughly 20% of Alaska’s students enrolled in homeschooling programs, we must ask, why? Why would so many people choose to make this sacrifice, to take on this extra responsibility, when the government is offering to educate these children?

Many reasons come to mind, based on the families I have worked with, and there are certainly other, unique, reasons. At the top of the list is the quality of education. Parents appreciate the ability to choose the curriculum their students will use, to protect their kids from political propaganda and sexualization, and to teach practical, daily skills along with core subjects. For some, physical safety is a motivating factor. For others, it’s a desire to prevent bad influences from corrupting their children at such vulnerable ages.

Generally speaking, these parents choose to homeschool because they genuinely believe it is the best choice for their family. Whatever their motive, I can assure you that it is not the allotment amount!

For Mr. Waltenbaugh’s assessment that “homeschools are in a race to the bottom,” I couldn’t disagree more. Many of the students I have worked with over the years are so advanced by high school that they can successfully take advantage of the Jump Start Program (where high school juniors and seniors earn dual credit at the local community college). Others have graduated early and gone on to start their own businesses. Homeschooling offers great flexibility to meet the educational needs and satisfy the intellectual interests of students.

Are there homeschooling parents who are not taking their responsibility seriously or who are doing their job poorly? No doubt. But in the end, they are hurting their own children if that is the case. I believe this scenario to be very rare.

Mr. Waltenbaugh states that “(he) see(s) the majority of students that enroll in neighborhood schools after homeschool need significant remediation due to a lack of state-provided structure.”

I wonder, how many students are we talking about here? How many students who have been in public education their entire lives, at similar grade levels, still need significant remediation or intervention? It would be interesting to know the details.

Alaska’s school testing results are available online. Many of the public schools are failing. Mr. Waltenbaugh, principal at West Homer Elementary, is proud of his school’s “success,” with a score of 67.8 and a statewide ranking of 51st out of 173 elementary schools. He argues that his score has been brought down by previously homeschooled children who have enrolled in his school.

Is it also possible that some of these children did extremely well on the standardized tests and actually inflated his school’s score? I would be interested to see the school’s score with all former homeschoolers’ results removed from the average. In my years working with children, the only person I’ve ever known to earn a perfect score on the standardized test was a homeschooled girl. And her mother didn’t spend the year coaching her on how to take said test. I encourage the families I work with to take the state’s standardized tests, so we have more statistics to prove the success of homeschooling.

True, Connections students are not forced to take these tests, so participation rates are low. However, of the students that did take the tests in 2024, Connections had an average score of 62 and ranked 66 out of 173. That isn’t far behind West Homer. When you consider how much money we spend to earn that 67.8 at West Homer (at least $15,000 per student) and compare that to how much the homeschooler in Connections is receiving to earn a 62 (less than $3,000), it really doesn’t seem too bad! But I would argue that there is room for improvement in both cases, as I don’t accept any score in the 60s as “passing.”

If Mr. Waltenbaugh and everyone else working to educate our children could focus on doing just that — educating our children — perhaps all of them would benefit.

Emmy Brooks is the owner and instructor at Schoolhouse on the Ridge in Homer.