Mon 8 Sep 2008
Gotta love this….
Posted by Susan under Life at Home , Good Things about Homeschooling , Homeschool NewsI’d understood that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin planned on using the Alaskan public school program IDEA to educate her kids on the road.
I didn’t know that she was already familiar with homeschooling because she married a homeschooler. See! Homeschoolers get out and about and do not inbreed.
This election is fascinating and I love what I see with the Republican VP candidate. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately, as I don’t know much about her), she’s not the presidential candidate.
From the MA Sun Chronicle: D’ARCONTE: The little stuff about Ms. Palin
They were high school sweethearts, but not at the same school. Why? Answer: Because he was home schooled. They eloped when she was 24 and her public pet name for him, at least since she’s been governor, is "First Dude."
Looks like he’s going to be the home educator.
Palin was born in the western Alaska town of Dillingham to Jim Palin and Blanche Kallstrom, who is a quarter Yu’pik Eskimo. He met Sarah Heath at a high school basketball game and they eloped in 1988, six years after graduation, to avoid having to pay for a wedding.
"We had a bad fishing year that year, so we didn’t have any money," Todd Palin said. "So we decided to spend 35 bucks and go down to the courthouse."
A bad harvest year…our family can relate.
At home, Palin takes care of the cooking, the bills and other domestic paperwork, in addition to driving the kids to extracurricular activities like basketball and soccer, according to his wife. He divides much of his time between Wasilla, where Track is recovering from shoulder surgery, and the capital in Juneau, where the Palin daughters are in school.
Update Looks like he has a picture in the high school yearbook, so I would say that his high school years were spent In The Building. I assume he was homeschooled in the earlier years and I’ll keep looking. That’s what I get for using one source. Did find this from a LA Times article:
Todd and Sarah Palin are a classic small-town couple. They met at Wasilla High School shortly after he moved here. As the story goes, the then-Sarah Heath was smitten with the basketball star, as he was with her.
What a mystery and I’m wondering if I should have even posted this, let alone sent it along to the Carnival of Homeschooling, 
I’m also thinking I now don’t particularly care too much, but it would be cool enough if he had been homeschooled in Alaska in his earlier years.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:54 am
It gets confusing, doesn’t it?
Everything I’ve read has stated that Governor Palin supports publicly funded homeschooling.
Perhaps Mr. Palin used IDEA or another publicly funded homeschool program that included him in the enrollment and allowed him to play basketball?
September 9th, 2008 at 8:53 am
That could be, Mary. I don’t know enough about how involved IDEA is with the traditional school activities.
I just read that Governor Palin was supported by the NEA (somewhat) because according to the NEA prez: she is opposed to sending public money to support private schools through political schemes like vouchers
Definitely a tangly web.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:46 am
It’s so hard to separate truth from fiction due to everything that’s out there, so don’t feel bad about the post!
I am very excited about this candidate, and I too wondered, if she wouldn’t have been a great candidate for the presidency, but I’m getting ahead of myself, lol.
The NEA may be supporting her in order to play up her lack of support for vouchers and create confusion about her stance on educational choice. There are quite a few people who don’t want public money going to private schools and homeschools via vouchers - with money comes control. I don’t want the government money, and thus interference, in my home school.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
To me, whether or not a candidate supports vouchers does not really indicate whether or not they support school choice, depending on the reason. Like Carletta said, some fear what the government money will do to private schools.
I am leery of tax credits for homeschoolers although respected institutions such as CATO and the Heritage Foundation support them. I don’t think they are seeking governmental control through them. But the same arguments I use against tax credits for homeschoolers are valid in public funding for private schools.
I know Bristol’s boyfriend is homeschooled. Perhaps the writer of your article was confused?
September 9th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
There sure is a whole lot of home education going on in Alaska, it appears! Whoever is doing it.
I agree that orgs like CATO and the Heritage Foundation and also the IL Policy Institute are not seeking more oversight or governmental control in supporting vouchers or tax credits. But I’d be much more comfortable with a clear shot across the board tax cut for all with a little less spending on the frills (like Fannie and Freddie perks).
IL homeschoolers are considered private schools. Illinois has an educational tax credit. Our family has decided, in looking at the documents, that the information that must be provided to receive that tax credit is not worth the money. Here’s the website
What is a qualifying school?
A qualifying school is a public or private educational facility in Illinois that meets the requirements of Section 26-1 of the School Code. Qualifying schools include both public and private
* elementary schools,
* middle schools, junior high schools, high schools, and
* home schools that meet the requirements under Section 26-1 of the School Code.
That would seem to be so far, so good.
But Illinois homeschools are private schools. Presumably considered the same as any other private school; brick and mortar or otherwise. But the document above and the informational publication Publication 119 (R-07/07) Education Expense Credit - General Rules and Requirements for Home Schools both separate private schools from IL homeschools. In the IL Dept of Revenue, the private school umbrella has disappeared with this IL Ed tax credit. In language anyway. I wonder what precedents that sets as time goes by.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Carletta, I want to say, that Sarah Palin is very intriguing to me, as well. I’ve wondered about her being president and then thought I shouldn’t be having those thoughts that involve John McCain’s well being. I just can’t help it. :-}
September 10th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
[…] With all the interest in Sarah Palin’s selection for VP, I couldn’t help but notice Susan’s entry over on Corn and Oil. It would appear that her husband, Todd Palin is not only considering “homeschooling” daughter Bristol through Alaska’s IDEA program but was homeschooled himself. She noticed an interesting little comment in his column “The little things about Ms. Palin.” They were high school sweethearts, but not at the same school. Why? Answer: Because he was home schooled. […]
September 10th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I forgot about trackbacks. But I emailed the author of the column and he actually did write back. It appears he may have misread the information, or at least couldn’t find where he got it back, so he is going to offer a correction in his next column.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I live in Wasilla, the Palin’s home town. I taught their childbirth class when they were expecting Track. I know my cousin knew Todd first (she worked at the local postal station) and then got to know Sarah.
I however, don’t know about Todd’s education or what school he graduated from. The Idea program was not around when Todd was a youngster. The Idea program is a state wide homeschool program based out of McGrath. It is not in our Borough’s school district. If you child homeschools - through our local correspondence program, or our homeschool charter school - Twindly Bridge, then the child can participate in sports and some classes at one of the regular brick and mortar schools. The IDEA program is very popular and I have several friends using it and my child was enrolled for a year there. We are currently using the charter school. Many families do their own homeschool programs and do not use one certified by the State. As homeschoolers through a State program, we receive around 2,000 a year for high schoolers and they have tightened the allowances and how they are used.
I haven’t seen any evidence that Gov. Palin is in support of vouchers.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Tammy, your information here is appreciated. Your Twindley Bridge reference sounded familiar and I took a look at the Nat’l Charter Watch blog and found some articles in this post: Alaska: Twindly-Bridge Charter School & Homeschooling
Wasilla’s small town is much more exciting than our little farm town status here in central Illinois, Tammy. I’m kind of jealous.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Thanks for sharing the link to Annette’s NCSW blog Susan. She has really great info.
I know I’ve been told that the majority of AK homeschoolers prefer to educate at home with the school district, but I’m hoping we can still help the media, new folks and others understand that independent homeschooling remains an option there.