Kindergartner Molly Vagt finishes molding her slab of fruit-scented Play-Doh and cleans up, getting ready for lunch.

A few minutes later she is in the family / lunch room, along with six siblings and her mother, Lynne Vagt, who is doling out handfuls of microwave popcorn. Molly’s little brother Brett, still too young for school, hangs on his mother’s dress.

The Vagt children are students in Oak Harbor School District’s Home Connection, a parent partnership program that provides an alternative to full-time public school.

“It’s worked really well for my family,” Vagt said. “It gives them a balance between homeschool and public school.”

Typical of many of the older students, three of the Vagt children attend middle and high school part time, and HomeConnection part time. The other four attend HomeConnection to supplement home-based instruction.

Housed in a warren of rooms in the ground floor of the district office, HomeConnection is a busy place. Students in a woodworking class busily sand or paint projects, art students complete collages, while the computer room provides a quiet oasis.

Principal Sherry Fakkema said HomeConnection is based on the principle that parents are a child’s primary teacher, and that they have the ultimate responsibility for their child’s education.

While 114 students are enrolled at the Oak Harbor program, with close to 100 in five branch programs, Fakkema said HomeConnection is not for every student or family.

“Home-based instruction is hard work,” she said. Parents and students must take more responsibility to see that assignments are completed and that the student stays on task. That means no sleeping in or breaks to watch Sponge Bob, although working in pajamas is an option.

While some families have turned to HomeConnection after becoming unhappy with their public school experience, Fakkema said parents shouldn’t transfer their students just because they are mad that day.

In fact, students coming from public school have to undergo a 90-day trial period to see if the program is a good fit for the whole family.

Parents must agree to teach and document 25 hours per week of supervised instruction for grades 4 and up, 20 hours for grades 1 to 3, and 10 hours for kindergarten, as well as complete a Student Learning Plan, meet with an advisor and create lesson plans.

Parents and students meet with advisors regularly to monitor their progress according to the Student Learning Plan developed by the families. Classes are not necessarily taught by certificated instructors, but by “highly qualified experts in their particular field.”

No grades are given for work done in class, but classes needed for high school graduation credit are given a pass/fail grade.

Fakkema said HomeConnection students often choose to bypass the last two years of high school and go right into Running Start at Skagit Valley College, receiving an Associate of Arts degree in the same amount of time.

The statistics for the number of HomeConnection students going on to college is impressive. Last year 100 percent of the HomeConnection class of 2003 went on to a university. Of course there were only two students, but Fakkema expects that number to swell as the program matures.

It has only been in existence for six years, and the number of older students has grown as they move through the program.

Close to 50 classes were offered fall semester, based on parent preference. Classes included Japanese, sign language, Science Olympiad and algebra.

One of the advantages of the program is that students and parents also have access to school district resources and co-curricular activities. Parents are given an educational stipend, a credit which can be used for activities such as a pool pass for P.E. classes, private music lessons or books.

A computer lab with 16 computers can be used by students and parents, and the program offers three distance learning programs, NovaNet, Compass and Rosetta Stone. Through Rosetta Stone students can choose from a wide variety of languages to learn.

HomeConnection appears to be a success story, so much so that other districts have asked Oak Harbor to start branches of the program for their students.

So far it has started branches in Whatcom, Jefferson and Clallam counties, but the program doesn’t have to advertise.

“It’s been spreading word of mouth,” Fakkema said.

HomeConnection is not without its challenges. Fakkema said it has been an educational process to get parents to understand that their children in grades 4, 7 and 10 must take the Washington Assessment of Learning, like all public school students. HomeConnection WASL scores are included in the district average, and any student opting out registers as a zero score for the district, which drags down the average.

With federal No Child Left Behind regulations tightening the educational assessment requirements, every score counts.

Fakkema said she has talked with parents about their children taking the WASL.

“Homeschool parents are not used to the WASL,”she said, “but we’ve talked about HomeConnection’s contribution to the district as a whole. I don’t want to give up HomeConnection’s ability to exist as a school.”

You can reach News-Times reporter Marcie Miller at mmiller@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611