Many parents in Guantanamo Bay homeschool their children, some by choice and others due to the high tuition rates if they do not qualify for tuition-free attendance at the installation's only school.

W.T. Sampson School is a Department of Defense Educational Authority school. Students who are dependents of active duty military stationed on Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB) or DOD civilians can attend the school tuition-free, but many others, such as children of contractors or non-DOD civilians, must pay tuition fees which currently range between $23, 296.00 and $26,532.00 annually per child based on the grade of the student and whether the parent is a federally connected employee.

When faced with the cost of these rates, many families still choose to call the base home, but homeschool their children instead of sending them to a traditional brick-and-mortar school.

Parents work with the School Liaison Officer, Bill Mittenzwey, and have the option to use the Home School Library set up at Room 4A in the Chapel Annex to meet up and/or conduct STEM or STEAM experiments.

"He always goes above and beyond to help our families," said Rebecca Yost, a mother currently homeschooling her two children on NSGB.

Yost noted that there is not a homeschool group, per say, and that each family uses a different curriculum and mainly does school activities in their own home. With the exception of the Home School Library at the Chapel Annex, each family purchases their own curriculum by either ordering full sets online, buying book by book at a thrift store or book store, or even just using situations in everyday life to teach their children.

"However, we do have a wonderful group of families that stays connected via a Facebook group so that each are able to visit each other, go on field trips, and allow our children to play together," said Yost. "One of our moms started a STEM/STEAM session every Tuesday that offers many hands-on activities for our younger students. This has been a huge hit with that age group."

The homeschool group also has many events throughout the year including field trips and activities. The group just went to the airfield at the end of October and took a field trip to the post office, Nov. 15. Their next event will be a field trip to the veterinary clinic, Nov. 30. Some of the activities they partake in together include K-2nd STEM/STEAM Activities on Tuesdays at 1100, 3rd-6th grade STEM activities at 1300 on the 2nd and last Wednesday of each month, and Lego Club at the library at 1200 on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 1200.

"LCDR Josh Mattingly went well above our expectations of the air field terminal trip," said Yost. "All of the children had a terrific time and were still talking about it a week later. The children loved visiting the two planes and enjoyed spraying water from the crash trucks with the firefighters."

If anyone is interested in homeschooling here in Guantanamo Bay, whether new to the island or just new to homeschooling, please contact your School Liaison Officer, Bill Mittenzwey, at 2172 or (636) 359-3747, or email him at karl.w.mittenzwey.naf@mail.mil, to inform him of your plan to homeschool your children even if they are dual-enrolled or part-time at the school. After that, if you'd like to be added to the Facebook page that all homeschool parents here on NSGB are welcome to join, please add Rebecca Yost as a friend on Facebook so that she may add you to the page. Once you are granted access, you can see the link for the calendar and all upcoming events.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, visit www.navy.mil/.