Mat-Su Day School

Twindly Bridge Charter School is a K-12 program that provides support, resources, and opportunities for homeschooling families in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. With the help of a certified teacher advisor, parents design and manage their student's education through an Individualized Learning Plan. Students may work entirely at home or come to the school building for supplemental instruction. On-site sessions include K-12 biology, chemistry, and physics science labs, along with music, art, pottery, robotics, archery, physical education, geography, foreign languages, business classes, and beginning construction trades. Families also have access to field trips, educational summer camps, parent and student workshops, a homeschool parent mentor program, and Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District schools, sports, and activities. Graduates earn a Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District high school diploma. Special education is family-supported and coordinated by a K-12 certified special education teacher and advisor. Services follow an IEP developed by the team through evaluation and data. Speech and language services are delivered by a district-contracted speech-language pathologist through teletherapy in the home, and allotment funds may be used to buy the equipment needed to access sessions. Other related services such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, adapted PE, and counseling are provided at the neighborhood school. Families with reading concerns work with their advisor on an Individual Reading Improvement Plan under the Alaska Reads Act, and Special Olympics participation is available.

Fairbanks Montessori School opened its doors in 1965 and is operated by the nonprofit Fairbanks Montessori Association, a 501(c)(3). It offers a fully implemented Montessori primary curriculum for children ages 3 to 6, taught by certified Montessori Lead Teachers. Classrooms are mixed-age, with 3, 4, 5, and 6 year olds learning together across the five Montessori areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, and Cultural. The school has been licensed as a child care center by the State of Alaska since 2008 and maintains a staff-to-student ratio of 1 to 10. Third-year students complete the primary cycle as kindergarteners, and families can choose a 10-month program (August to May) or a 12-month program (August to July). Enrollment begins with a no-fee waiting pool application, and admission depends on availability rather than strict first-come order. Fairbanks Montessori is a member of the International Montessori Council and a candidate for IMC accreditation. It accepts several tuition assistance programs, including the State of Alaska Child Care Assistance Program, Child Care Aware of America, Tanana Chiefs Conference, and the National Park Service, and offers a 5% sibling discount.

The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School (ANCCS) was founded in 2007 by members of the Anchorage community with a mission to build student excellence through traditional cultural learning. It is a Title 1 public charter school within the Anchorage School District serving Pre-K through 8th grade, and it is governed by an Academic Policy Committee elected by parents and school staff alongside the principal. The academic day is built on at least two hours of Common Core language arts instruction and at least one hour of Common Core math, plus Anchorage School District social studies, health, and science curriculum. Layered on top is a cultural continuum that gives every grade level its own focus, moving from Alaska Native art, dance, and storytelling in preschool through Yup'ik and Cup'ik, Unangax and Sugpiaq, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian and Eyak, Athabascan, Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik, and on to Alaska Native government, issues, and literature in the middle grades. Coursework is organized around four quarterly themes: Living in Place, Language and Communication, Culture and Expression, and Tribe and Community. Enrollment is open to all students in the Anchorage School District through the district lottery, which provides equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, learning ability, or economic status, and no student is denied participation because of a learning disability or special need. There are no tuition or enrollment fees. Families should note that the school does not provide transportation, so parents arrange their own rides or join the carpool group.