The world is changing faster than ever. Your child will have to survive and continue to grow in this ever-changing world for the rest of their life. No one can predict what it will be like in 2030, much less 2040, but one thing is certain: the time to prepare your child for the future is now.

To help every student achieve his or her individual goals and prepare for the future, we provide each one with a tailored individual program.

The Road to Success: The Individual Student Program

Each student is given an individual study program tailored to his or her unique needs. The program keeps the core curriculum at its center while adapting to each student’s strengths, challenges, talents, and interests.

The individual program works like this:

• We assess the student’s strengths, weaknesses, talents, interests, and goals through test scores, observation, and interviews.
• We write the individual program based on this assessment.
• We monitor the students’ progress daily and regularly send reports to parents.
• Students are neither held back nor arbitrarily pushed by a grade level. The student’s success in each subject is the determining factor. For example, a child working on fourth-grade math might be working on fifth or sixth-grade history or literature (and getting lots of help in math— our students usually catch up very quickly.)
• Success is measured by demonstrated proficiency, not by the amount of time spent on a subject or grade level, and not by tests alone. The standard is: can the student confidently apply what he or she is learning?
• We constantly encourage students to learn how to do independent study and research.

Individual Attention to Each Student with a Unique Hands-on/Hands-off Approach

Every student has individual needs and deserves personal attention.

Hands-on and hands-off. The teacher shifts back and forth between two roles: A hands-off supervisory role and a one-on-one teaching role. When a student is doing well on independent study, a hands-off approach lets the student get on with it. When the student runs into difficulty, the teacher intervenes and provides one-on-one assistance.

Uncompromising standards. When a student turns in work that is not fully correct, they restudy and
revise it under close supervision until it is accurate and complete. Only then can the student move on
with confidence.

Balance of freedom and discipline. Students are encouraged to research and study areas of individual interest and are given the freedom to do so within his or her individual program.

This gives students the chance to develop the personal discipline necessary to succeed in study and in life. The key is finding the right balance of freedom and discipline for each individual.

• We have a low student-to-teacher ratio: one teacher for every five to ten students.
• The teacher is trained to spot early signs of a student needing help and to provide assistance before the student runs into trouble. At the same time, students are encouraged to ask for help when needed and are never made to feel wrong for doing so.
• Students are taught to be alert to the first signs of difficulty and to take steps to remedy the difficulty on their own. This is vital: as they grow older, they won’t always have a teacher available to help them.
• When students are doing well on independent study, they are simply allowed to carry on without interference.
• Students are encouraged to work together and help each other with projects and activities.