The wonder of the Hero’s Journey is that it honors each individual while holding up the importance of the community surrounding that individual. For families, this brings up the interesting challenge of raising siblings – each on a unique journey; each within the same family. When my boys were very young, I gained wisdom from … Read More Sibling Relationships for the Hero’s Journey

At Acton Academy, we believe that each child is a genius who has the potential to change the world. We use the framework of heroes to describe this journey. Here are three concepts you can use in your family to help your child embrace their hero’s journey to find a calling that will change the … Read More Three Ways To Help Your Child find their life calling

Khan Academy (KA) is a website with short videos and adaptive game-based exercises in a wide variety of subjects, most notably math, where it covers from “1+1=2” to advanced Calculus. We’ve been fans of Sal Khan from the start, personally, as philanthropic investors and professionally, and were delighted to play a small part when he … Read More Khan Academy Math Works guest post Jeff Sandefer

Every once in a while you meet someone who is truly inspiring.  Today I had the privilege of meeting Elizabeth Sullivan who recently moved to Rockford.  Elizabeth, known as GaGa by her family, is 106.  She is a retired math teacher, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and wife for 65 years until widowed.  She has lived through … Read More 106 year old Elizabeth Sullivan shares her hero’s journey

It’s the beginning of the year and the Eagles are learning the processes and systems that will help them soar for the long haul. For parents, these early days can feel baffling and stressful. But hold tight. With each day that passes, your child is learning the ropes and will be able to teach you … Read More Three Traps and a Preventive Posture for Parents Guest post by Laura Sandefer

What is appropriate parental authority? This is something we’ll explore more deeply with the Eagles in the fall as we circle back around to one of the most powerful Overarching Questions of all: When does a hero submit to authority? To prime your pump for the coming months, I wanted to share information on parenting … Read More What Authority Do Parents Have at Acton Academy? Guest post Laura Sandefer

What are the Main Differences Between the Montessori and Acton Academy Programs? A question we commonly hear at our London, ON, Canada Acton Academy is this: “How is your school different from a Montessori school?” We relied on the experience of having both of our children attend a wonderful Montessori program as toddlers and pre-schoolers, … Read More What are the Main Differences Between Montessori and Acton Academy Programs? Guest Blog Post Dr. Vineet Nair & Andrea Nair, M.A., CCC

On the recommendation of the podcast Entrepreneur on Fire, I bought the book Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. This is a very fascinating book written in 1937 on the heels of the great depression. This book has continued to be a best seller. There are a few quotes I wanted to share that … Read More What qualities lead to life success?

If you are a parent of a child or teen at an Acton Academy school, chances are good that you have heard one of these types of comments from your children: “Mom, you really shouldn’t say ‘never’ because that’s not actually true, is it?” “Dad, you do know ‘That’s impossible – it’s not going to … Read More Parenting an Acton Academy Child — Be Prepared for an Interesting Journey! Guest Post by Andrea Nair

How do you teach science in the 21st century? If you want to inspire young heroes to change the world through discoveries, inventions and innovations, our belief is that you don’t “teach” science at all. Why not? Because when you study the lives of world changing scientists, you realize that these heroes weren’t “taught” science … Read More Preparing Scientific Heroes in the 21st Century – Guest Blog Post by Jeff Sandefer