What is the Alaska Homeschool Allotment?
When you choose to homeschool in the State of Alaska, a fund is set aside for you. This is known as the Alaska Homeschool Allotment. IDEA gives you the freedom to spend this money based on your child’s educational needs.
How much is IDEA’s Alaska homeschool allotment for the 2024/2025 school year?
IDEA’s Alaska homeschool allotment is now $2,700 for all students (K-12) for the 2024/25 school year. In addition to this funding provided to each of our enrolled families, IDEA also offers many value-added enrichment activities and services. Most all IDEA-sponsored events, whether an educational workshop or one of many IDEA teacher-led activities (with the exception of field trips where a vendor requires admission fees) are free to our families. Click here to learn more about the reasons why Alaska families choose to homeschool with IDEA.
Do you offer allotment for preschool siblings?
If you are enrolling older children in IDEA, you may also enroll a child who is age 4 by September 1st of the current school year.
Note: IDEA Homeschool receives no state funding for these students. However, we recognize that 4-year-olds are often learning along with older siblings. Therefore, we absorb this cost to provide the added benefit of a $300 allotment for each preschooler enrolled with us for the 2024/25 school year.
What services and items can be purchased using my Alaska Homeschool Allotment?
You may spend your allotment on a wide range of materials and/or activities as long as they meet your student’s educational needs. Some examples may include the following:
- Books: textbooks, activity workbooks, audio books or e-books, etc.
- General Homeschooling Supplies: notebooks, paper, pens and pencils, rulers, whiteboards and dry-erase markers, etc.
- Literature: classics, novels, dictionaries, thesauruses or poetry, etc.
- Social studies materials: globes, maps, timelines or atlases, etc.
- Art supplies: brushes, various paint/drawing media, canvas, sketchbooks, and clay, etc.
- Math manipulatives: flash cards, base ten blocks, teddy bear counters, protractors and compasses or calculators, etc.
- Science supplies: experiment kits, dissection materials and microscope slides, etc.
- Guided instruction: swimming instruction, piano instruction, tutors or weekly science clubs, etc.
- Field trips: museums, art galleries, theater presentations, science museums, birding festivals or aquarium visits, etc.
- Magazine subscriptions: Nat Geo Kids, Cricket, Ranger Rick or Highlights, etc.
- Software: apps, digital downloads or online courses, etc.
- Internet: MiFi devices and/or home cable internet, and monthly service fees
- Subscription boxes: Raddish Kids, Green Kid Crafts, Kiwi Crate, Groovy Lab in a Box or Little Passports, etc.
- Electronic hardware: computers, tablets, laptops and peripherals such as printers, keyboards, etc.
- Educational toys & brain games: Osmo, Chess sets, Lego education kits, K’nect, playing cards or story dice, etc.
- Other enrichment activities: music instruction, or community school courses, foreign languages or art classes, etc.
- Physical education: sports club memberships, ballet, gymnastics, ski-lift tickets or martial arts, etc.
- Curriculum packages: Timberdoodle, Sonlight, Logic of English or Math U See, etc.
- Online subscription-based programs: IXL, Spelling City, Keyboarding Without Tears, Reading Rainbow Skybrary, or Amazon Rapids, etc.
Additional allotment instructions for IDEA-enrolled families:
When you’re ready to begin spending your allotment, please refer to our family handbook for specific instructions on how funds may be used. Select items (i.e. technology) may have special ordering guidelines. Example: IDEA offers a variety of tech devices, from Apple iPads, to printers, mobile internet, and more. Much of this hardware is volume-purchased with exclusive IDEA pricing in order to provide our families the best value for their allotment dollar. IDEA perks may include extended support and exclusive warranties, such as no-questions-asked accidental coverage for high-school laptops and Apple iPads. If in doubt, please check with us and we will be happy to guide you!