Frequently Asked Questions
Is there homework every night?
No. Families are already stressed enough, your evenings are for family time. Go enjoy your kiddos! (Now if your child wants to continue working on something once he or she gets home…it’s up to your family how you handle that.)
How many children do you need to start this school?
We’ll need a minimum of 20 learners committed to begin for the 2025 - 2026 school year. Being part of the founding families has a lot of great perks as you’ll be the ones helping set the tone and culture of the school! Plus our smaller size will allow for many more field trips!
Is this a religious school or will it include DEI or CRT?
Nope, to both.
We believe in freedom of religion and respect all faiths. We’ll focus on finding your purpose, forgiveness, gratitude, conflict resolution, the Golden Rule (Treat your neighbor as you’d treat yourself.), and the Silver Rule (Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.). Children will be free to pursue their own religious studies as part of their core work if they want to. Within history, we’ll cover world religions and how that has shaped various countries and cultures, but that will be it.
DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), CRT (Critical Race Theory), and Gender Studies are concepts that we don’t plan on including in our school. We may discuss their origins just like how we’ll discuss Carl Marx vs Free Market Capitalism, but that will be it.
We’re focused on children having closer to a normal childhood, knowing themselves, setting goals for themselves, becoming amazing critical thinkers, and loving school!
Can you take special needs children?
The Hero’s Journey your children will embark on in our school will require them to have the ability to self-direct much of their education. Unfortunately, we have no professional training or expertise in the special needs area. We do believe that children with dyslexia can excel with special training their parents provide them. We also know that many children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD will probably do very well with our learning design. Unfortunately, children who need a great deal of individualized attention would not thrive here.
What about grades?
Mastery > Grades. Our badge system will encourage children to actually master their work before moving on. What we would consider mastery is what public schools would grade at a 95% (A) or better. We can translate our badges into subjects and grades for learners who move away and need to attend another school and high school aged teens who are preparing for college.
What will the school year look like?
We’ll begin in the middle of August and run in five to six week Quests. At the end of every Quest, students will present their work in a school wide forum that Wednesday evening. The next day (Thursday) they’ll debrief in the morning and have a fun afternoon. Most quests will be aligned just before breaks so they get a week off after. We’ll be back after that for another Quest with the school year ending late May.
You’ll enjoy the flexibility for family time that homeschoolers have with the structure of a school supporting your child’s learning journey.
Will our children be on screens all day?
Our short answer is no.
The long answer is that our founder’s background is in technology and she hates what has happened to children who have been given smart phones, tablets, and social media way too soon. TechED also seems to have a huge grip over many public and micro schools giving children at least another two solid hours of screen time per day.
While we will have some computers available for children to maybe look up a math concept they’re struggling with in their book, our goal will always be to have our children using paper, pencils, books, and their workshop peers first as ways to learn before turning to computers.
Once teenagers have reached the Summit workshop, they will need to use computers for certain subjects (like AP Physics via Khan Academy) but we will still have awesome books always available if they’d prefer to learn regular physics or calculus that way.
We also recognize that we’ll be encouraging learners to start learning languages at 6-7 years old…so everyone might be on DuoLingo for 20 minutes to knock that out. It’s a balance and we’ll be aiming for more face-to-face connections and outdoor time over constant (dopamine filled) screen time.
What is the “American Experiment”?
We believe the founders of our country had a great idea for liberty that would bring more happiness and freedom to all of its citizens. We will be examining those historical documents and experimenting with what life would be like if we had more or less freedoms.
What is a self-driven or self-directed learner?
This is a child who can research things for himself, ask for clarification when she realizes she doesn’t understand things, follow instructions, participate in Socratic Circles, and search for other solutions when he realizes he has an obstacle in front of his path that leads to his goal.
What is the “Hero’s Journey”?
We believe that every person has a passion and a calling. Deciding to follow that calling comes with difficulties, barriers, and other problems that must be solved in order to reach that goal in life. We will be working with your child as they experience multiple rounds of this journey as children so they’ll be ready for the big version of this once they’re adults.
What about cell phones?
Starting 5 minutes before the day starts, we’ll ask learners to put their phones in their bags and leave them there until pick up time. A mentor will always have a phone on him or her and you’ll be able to call them in an emergency.
Is your school liberal or conservative
We’re neither and both. We believe in political freedom. We’ll be using simulations, case based studies, and Socratic discussions/circles to help our learners feel placed in the shoes of political leaders during historical decisions.