Philosophy

Our goal is to facilitate a love for reading within each child.  We do not assign books or readings but allow children to start by reading anything they enjoy – even comic books or hockey magazines.   Over time, children naturally begin to read more and more challenging books – if they care about the subject.  

Lexia Core 5 provides literacy instruction and is designed for independent learning. Lexia adheres to all common core standards.

Communicating via the written word is of the utmost importance and learning the skills to write well takes practice, so we write a lot. We use No Red Ink for grammar rules and group editing to learn peer critique.

Our primary communication focus is on writing, but children will experiment with film, photography, speech-making, apprenticeship sales pitches and many other forms of communication.

Whenever possible, we use the six trait process for critiquing writing and other forms of communication, with a heavy emphasis on peer critiques.  A Guide may layout a process and criteria or ask the class to develop its own.

We use IXL or Khan Academy to deliver basic math skills. Khan Academy is used to assess proficiency and Mastery. Khan also adheres to Common Core standards.

Civilization encompasses history, geography and economics, and moves over a four year period from pre-civilization to the modern day.

The overarching question for Civilization is: “Why do some civilizations rise and others fall?;” using Mann’s four “sources of power” (military; economic; political and ideological) to explore the reasons behind turning points in history and the hero’s that made difficult decisions.

As often as possible, children will stand in the shoes of historical figures, as they debate and make difficult decisions.  Individual reports and questions about heroes and events will be posted on a timeline, complete with important trends.

Depending on the week, children will work on Civilization twice each week, for 45 minutes a session. Often, key issues from the time period being studied will become part of a Quest, as with our American Declaration of Independence and US Constitution challenges, where children are placed in the shoes of a Founding Father, facing difficult decisions with real world consequences.

At LAKE Academy we offer over 20 acres of outdoor adventure space. Children have between two and three sessions a day of free time outside each being 30-60 minutes long. At LAKE Academy we believe physical movement is essential to the health and well being of our children.

It allows them to get fresh air, release their energy and reset their mental state.  You’ll often find children riding mountain bikes, skating on the hockey rink, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, golfing, climbing trees and hiking along the trails.

Art is built into the daily lives of the children at LAKE Academy. Nearly every Quest or project includes some type of artistic creativity. You’ll find LAKE Academy children in the art studio painting, drawing, print making, sewing, and creating constantly!