We bring first-hand experience in Alaska homeschooling, place-based education, and hands-on innovation to every gathering.
Ember & Oak Institute is a local educational institute serving the Mat-Su Valley homeschool families. We blend timeless wisdom with modern, hands-on, Socratic learning. All programs satisfy both State and Federal requirements.
Richard Garrick and Aimee Loomis started Ember & Oak because they wanted something different for the families they knew — something rooted in the land, honest about the tools we now have, and generous with the next generation.
They bring first-hand experience in Alaska homeschooling, place-based education, and hands-on innovation. The institute is their way of passing that forward in the Mat-Su Valley — secular by design, allotment compatible, and open to families using any homeschool funding mechanism.
Everything we do grows from three simple beliefs that have guided their own lives and work here in Alaska.
A child who knows where they come from can go anywhere without getting lost. We begin with place, story, and the dignity of work — especially here in the Mat-Su Valley, where the land itself teaches patience, resilience, and wonder.
We teach real tools — knives, code, soil, words — because competence creates confidence. Technology is a powerful servant, never the master. In Alaska, where winter nights are long and self-reliance matters, this balance feels especially important.
Most of what matters is learned while listening to someone else across the fire. We protect time for real conversation between generations.