Approximately 1.5 million students were home schooled in 2007, according to a study compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics.  A growing number of these students are from military families.

Although the family dynamics are similar, with frequent PCS moves and deployments to deal with, parents home school for different reasons and have distinct opinions as to what and how they want their children to learn.

With this in mind, there are 100s of local programs that target home school children.  Some local parents offered some insight into what they are looking for in programs offered outside their home.

Tiffany Dickinson who has homeschooled her children -Aaron, 16, Ana, 13, and Ava 10-for nine years, has certain criteria that she uses to evaluate whether or not a program is suitable for her children.

First, she looks for challenging programs in which her children can do things that she would not do at home, Dickinson said.  One example is a science co-operative program wherein her children dissected a cow's eyeball, a frog, and a worm, she said.

"I think that dissections are great for anatomy classes," she said. "Some people do dissections in their house, but I don't.  It's great to be able to go to someone else's house to dissect things."

On a recent afternoon, a group of about 20 home schooled children attended a class at YMCA Camp Seymour in Gig Harbor, during which they dissected a wild squid.  The class was part of Home School Fridays, a monthly program that is taught by naturalists, that is designed to give children an opportunity to socialize with their peers, experience hands-on environmental education, and learn outdoor and educational skills.

On this particular day, the kids were wound up and ready to learn.

The class began with a short lesson and then distribution of the slimy cephalopods.

James Van Eddy plopped a slimy squid down onto a table in front of Adelaide Krafsky.

"Ewwwwwwwww, "  the five-year-old squealed.

In no time the youngster got over her initial squeamishness.

After she pealed back the top layer of the squid's skin like a banana, she took a pair of tweezers and pulled out the brain.

"Awesome," she giggled.

Next she sliced down the center of the cephalopod to determine its sex.

"It's a girl," Adelaide said proudly.

What's mine?" asked her brother Truman, age 7.

Their mother, Aimee Krafsky took a look at his squid and said, "It's a boy."

By this time Adelaide had developed an attachment to the slimy creature.

"Can I take it home with me?" Adelaide asked smiling at her squid.

"No!" her mother Aimee Krafsky replied without hesitation.  "No, you may not."

Her mother's hasty decision didn't put a damper on the fun though.  Adelaide sliced and handled the squid like a pro.  During the squid dissection class, the attendees learned about cephalopods through a hands-on investigation.

Although Dickinson thought the squid dissection class had merit, it is too far away for her children to attend, she said.

"I think YMCA programs like a squid dissection class sound wonderful," Dickinson, the wife of LTC Paul Dickinson who works at Madigan Army Medical Center, said. "But for me to take my children to a program as far away as Gig Harbor it would have to be a really big deal."

She mentioned the Home School Physical Education Program held at the Briggs YMCA.  To participate, children must pay a small fee, and meet twice a week for one hour of swimming pool activities and one hour of sporting activities in the gym.

"My kids have other interests such as soccer, basketball and gymnastics, so I don't see any reason for them to have more physical education," she said. "I think the program is great for kids who aren't active in sports."

Secondly, she scouts out programs that are attended by kids her children can socialize with, she said.

"Socialization is so important whether you home school or not," she said.

In nearby Olympia, Kathy Potts, the wife of a retired Air Force captain, began home schooling for religious reasons and because the moving around was disruptive for continuing education, she said.

She chose a curriculum in which she could do most anything right in her home, she said.  So when it came time to dissect, or do chemistry, they created a lab in their home.

"My husband is an engineer and he covers most of the upper level of math and science," she said. "The specimens for dissections were available to me.  I did not feel like I needed someone with a greater knowledge than me to do it.  The younger children enjoyed watching the older children doing it."

With 26 years of home schooling seven children age 12 to 30, she teaches her children at home and supplements the lessons with field trips, she said.  She limits other outside activities, she said.  However, her son Daniel, 15, a sophomore, plays football for the nearby high school, and her son Wilson, 12, a seventh grader, plays basketball, she said.

However, she does supplement her home school program with field trips that are coordinated by mothers who are members of  Christian Homeschoolers of South Sound (CHOSS), a group of families who have joined together to support one another according to Christian principles.

For more information on home school programs and co-ops visit the following Web sites:  www.washhomeschool.org
www.home-school.com/groups/WA.html
www.actshomeschool.com