‘Where learners become leaders’ | New private school to open in Acton this fall

A new private school will soon be opening its doors in Acton this fall.

Sage Academy Granbury, located at 2400 Fall Creek Highway, is an independent learner-driven private school for ages six to nine that celebrates personal responsibility, creative freedom, and leadership, according to its website.

While there is no affiliation with the town of Acton itself, Sage Academy is part of the global Acton Academy network of over 300 affiliates worldwide, where every school is classified as being a “one-room schoolhouse for the 21st century.”

“We (at Sage Academy) provide a unique and personalized approach to education that empowers students to become leaders in their own right,” said Sage Academy Granbury co-founder Jamie Alexander.

By placing students of varying ages in one classroom, the hope is that children will benefit academically and socially by working with older and younger peers.

“We're taking very much that same historic approach of the one-room schoolhouse, where kids can really kind of learn from their peers and capture unique experiences from (them as well),” said Sage Academy Founder Tasha Skeen-Richard.

Sage Academy also leverages online learning tools, where students spend up to two hours every day using self-paced adaptive technology to advance in reading, grammar, and mathematics.

“Most students advance more quickly than what they would in a regular school, because a first grader isn't limited to first-grade curriculum,” Alexander explained. “If they meet all the first-grade benchmarks, they can keep going.”

According to the Sage Academy news release, students who attend Acton Academy affiliate schools are advancing on average of two to two-and-a-half grade levels per year.

Skeen-Richard said that as students work at their own pace and try out different ways of learning, they can figure out what works best for them — allowing them to reach their full potential quicker than most students.

“We offer the kids multiple learning tools, and then let them choose what really speaks to them, how they learn, and what is best for them," she said. “With taking that approach, it ignites passion, and there's not anyone telling them what to do. There's expectations, but there's not a teacher in front of the classroom telling them ‘Now do this’ and ‘Now do that.’ We set goals and they try to meet those goals.”

With a unique approach to education, Sage Academy stands out from other private schools.

Instead of writing essays, students will learn how to write business pitches, emails, and “thank-you” cards.

"By connecting it to real-world applications, they have a desire to do it,” Skeen-Richard said. “They've written emails on how to get a job, or how to follow up on an email, and then they put it into a real-world application — that's the ultimate goal is to prepare them for that.”

Sage Academy bases its learning model on the Hero’s Journey, a story pattern common in ancient myths and modern-day adventures. In each journey, an everyday person goes on an adventure, faces challenges, wins a victory, and then comes home transformed — a hero.

"We really embrace the Hero's Journey, but what we really do is kind of transform that in the studio of real-world heroes,” Skeen-Richard said. “We take these real-world heroes and we have these interviews with them. The learner gets to hear their difficulties, (see how they’ve succeeded) and learn how to apply that in their daily life.”

The school follows an 11-month calendar, meaning summer breaks only last six weeks. However, weekly breaks throughout the year allow families dedicated time to travel and attend to personal matters such as doctor’s appointments, according to the Sage Academy website.

Additionally, a policy of no homework provides students with more family time, while hands-on project-based learning allows students to dive deep into big ideas — preparing them for real-world challenges.

Hands-on projects called Quests span four- to six-week periods that challenge students to “learn by doing” in the fields of science, social studies, the arts, and entrepreneurship. Students develop perseverance and learn to work as a team as they explore these high-level academic concepts.

“Over six weeks, they'll do a series of projects that all culminate in one big final exhibition that they put on for their parents, and then the parents can kind of see what they've been learning and a variation of what they can do in the real world," Alexander said.

She explained that a common Quest that other Acton Academy schools have done is a medical biology Quest, where students pretend that they’re doctors.

“They have to learn how to read X-rays and in doing that, they're learning about anatomy and structure,” Alexander said. “They have to learn how and why people get sick, and they're learning about immune systems, germs, and bacteria. The end goal, after six weeks, their parents come in and they're all going to have a card that has a disease or a malady and they have to diagnose and treat it, so they use what they've learned in that way.”

Socratic discussions about heroes, history, and self-governance also hone critical thinking skills and the ability to listen, think, write, and speak clearly.

The school’s nature-based learning and exploration program includes spending at least 90 minutes outdoors in the tree-covered half-acre Adventure Grove, where students can learn, play, and explore the wonders of the natural world.

LAUNCHING SAGE ACADEMY

In fact, the lack of outdoor learning in one Granbury campus is what led Alexander to join Skeen-Richard in starting Sage Academy.

"The administration is great, but some things weren't what I wanted, like (my child’s) recess was 15 minutes; it's depressing,” she explained. “And the school buildings out here are older, so his classroom didn't have windows. The only sunlight he saw every day was his 15 minutes outside; it's like a prison. It's not anyone's fault, it's just how the structures are around here, and he was just not really happy."

Previously, Alexander and Skeen-Richard had met because their children attended Lake Granbury Montessori Academy together — next door to where Sage Academy’s studio will be located.

“I came across Acton Academy six years ago, and I started to learn about them and thought, ‘Wow, this is really what I want for my son,’” Skeen-Richard said. “I just started watching it on social media and digging up podcasts and really just kind of seeing how the school was working globally. I kind of knew in the back of my mind that starting it was going to be the answer, so I started to be more verbal about trying to find parents who kind of shared the same values and were looking for the same things in education for their children. While Jamie has a different story, what we want for our kids are in alignment. Through a conversation we had at a birthday party, we decided that we should talk a little bit more seriously about it, so we did and now we're here.”

DAY IN THE LIFE

A normal school day at Sage Academy consists of:

⦁ 7:45-8 a.m. – drop off

⦁ 8 a.m. – morning duties

⦁ 8:15 – morning launch (Socratic discussion)

⦁ 8:30 – goal setting

⦁ 8:45 – core skills (math, reading, writer’s workshop, typing, spelling, independent study initiatives, and “Brain Breaks” as needed)

⦁ 10:45 – lunch/outdoor time

⦁ 12 p.m. - DEAR (Drop Everything And Read)

⦁ 12:30 – Quest Launch (Socratic discussion)

⦁ 12:45 – Quest/project time (individual and group project work, quests, civilization study, report on goals)

⦁ 2:15 – specials (music, dance, cooking, P.E. skills and group games, yoga, etc.)

⦁ 2:45 – studio maintenance

⦁ 3 p.m. - daily close and reflection

⦁ 3:15 p.m. - pick up

“Our tagline is ‘where learners become leaders,’ so we'll house up to 23 kids in our first studio,” Skeen-Richard said. “We do plan on over the next several years growing into a full campus, where we launch a Threshold (middle school) and Launchpad Studio (high school) in the years to come.”

EVENTS

Sage Academy Granbury has many exciting things happening over the next couple of months, such as a STEAM Nature Camp on July 21, and a Children’s Business Fair set for the fall, while the studio goes through renovations.

“Right now, we're prepping for the STEAM Nature Camp, and our idea behind that is to give kids and parents an experience of what it's like to attend Sage Academy,” Skeen-Richard said. “We're doing eight different stations and putting the kids through Quests. It really offers us that nature piece that we both feel is a very important part of the program as well.”

ENROLLMENT/OPENING

Enrollment for Sage Academy is now open, and the Adventure Studio — as Skeen-Richard and Alexander call it — is scheduled to open its doors on Sept. 5.

“Parents are invited to contact the school to start their child’s application today or download the free info packet to learn more about the innovative and learner-driven approach to education,” Skeen-Richard said.

For more information about Sage Academy Granbury, email info@sageacademygranbury.com, visit sageacademygranbury.com online, or call 682-229-0426.