August 2, 2024 • 44 mins
Watch this 15-minute Acton Academy Documentary on YouTube. It provides a strong foundation for our discussion in this episode. After watching, return here to dive into the details.
Are you familiar with Disruptive Education? Join me today as Nick and Jessica Bahr introduce a revolutionary approach to learning with Acton Academy and their new affiliate school opening this fall in the Topsail area, Acton Academy Topsail.
Imagine a school without traditional teachers. Instead, they have guides who answer students’ questions with more questions, encouraging critical thinking and self-discovery. No letter grades here—instead, students earn points and badges. Learners set their own pace, pursue their passions, and embark on their own Hero’s Journey alongside their peers in a collaborative studio environment.
If you’re looking for an innovative school option in Topsail, tune in to today’s episode. And be sure to share it with anyone interested in new educational opportunities.
Website: https://www.actontopsail.com/
Phone: 385-210-7404
Email: nick@actontopsail.com
Address: Coming Soon!
Follow Acton Academy Topsail on Facebook and Instagram!
Order “Courage to Grow” on Amazaon
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all
about the businesses and eventsin the beautiful coastal towns
in the greater Topsail area ofNorth Carolina Coming up.
Have you heard of disruptiveeducation?
I hadn't until just recently.
Today, nick Barr and his wifeJessica will be joining us to
(00:22):
discuss Acton Academy Topsail.
That's A-C-T-O-N.
Acton Academy Topsail a brandnew school, completely different
from the public, private andcharter schools we're all used
to.
I'm going to do something alittle different today and
recommend you pause this episodeand click the top link in my
show notes.
It will take you to a 15-minuteActon Academy documentary on
(00:44):
YouTube.
Check it out, then resumelistening here.
It will provide a solidfoundation for today's
discussion.
Today, nick and Jessica willshare insights about Acton's
learner-driven community, thehero's journey, socratic guides
instead of traditional teachers,and how kids collaborate on
real-world projects withself-management and
(01:04):
self-governance.
This new school opens this fall.
Stay tuned everyone.
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Hello everyone and welcome toTopsail Insider.
My name is Krista and I am yourhost.
Today we are talking to Nickand Jessica Barr that's B-A-H-R
(03:26):
Barr.
They are the co-founders of anaffiliate, acton Academy Acton
Academy Topsal.
Welcome, nick and Jessica.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
Thank you yeah thanks for havingus.
I did talk to some mothersbefore bringing you guys in here
and there was some excitementabout having another option here
for us in Hampstead.
And we do have one charterschool, but only one, and one of
(03:50):
the moms was saying where shecame from, which was Charlotte
she goes.
There were charter schoolseverywhere.
We had plenty to choose from.
So we are limited.
We are a bunch of transplantshere and a lot of us, including
myself, moved here specificallybecause the Topsail School
District was so great.
I just want to start out bysaying that this episode isn't
about whether or not the Topsailschools are good.
(04:10):
They are good.
This is about exploring adisruption to the way kids have
been taught for over a century,which is the standardized
curriculum and the standardizedtesting.
The one size fits all in thisage group teaching.
So, this is a disruption.
It has some Montessori touchesto it.
I think I don't have experiencewith Montessori, so you guys
will have to tell me thesimilarities there as we go
(04:31):
through this.
I am going to give you sometime here to explain this, the
concept of the Acton Academy.
I'm just going to let you gowith it and tell us how it's so
different from traditionalschools.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Great, oh, thank you, and thank you again for having
us.
Yeah, we agree with you Also.
First of all, people care abouteducation, and there's a lot of
individuals doing their verybest, putting their best efforts
to work, and, like you, we'renot here to say that anybody's
doing a bad job, but we are gladto be able to offer an
alternative, something a littledifferent, and so that's what we
found with Acting Academy, andI guess, to set this up for us
(05:08):
and for the original founders ofActing Academy, good
decision-making for our childrenis crucial.
We want them to be able to makegood decisions, so it is
different than traditionalschools we use.
We call them guides rather thanteachers, which is, I think, a
term borrowed from MariaMontessori, and Socratic
discussions are a big part ofwhat we're doing, and that's
where that kind ofdecision-making process comes in
(05:29):
.
It's a very much learner-drivenenvironment.
I'm sure we'll get into that alittle bit more too.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Oh, we will.
This was a whole new languagefor me, actually.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
For us too, but it just with like sparks of delight
and joy, almost common sense tome as well, as I've learned
about it.
It just it makes a lot of senseto me.
So our young learners will haverunning partners and their
peers will help critique theirwork and they'll hold each other
accountable.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So a running partner is someone in their age group
their age range yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yep.
So a running partner will besomebody that they can look to,
first to say hey, can you lookover this, or did I do well
enough here?
And that kind of thing I guessI should say first every
individual that walks throughour doors at Acton Academy, we
believe, is a genius.
And it sounds cliche, but it'strue, it's just.
It's not just a sweet littlephrase, it's something we
(06:20):
actually believe and that eachof those geniuses deserves to
find a calling to be able tochange the world in a profound
way, and for that we use thehero's journey as a method or
analogy for what we're doing.
So our hope is that people thatwalk through our doors will be
able to find their calling, findthat thing that really makes
them tick, find a passion, andI'm struggling with that with my
own kids.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
When they come in, are you looking and trying to
recognize what their passionmight be?
Are you truly just giving it tothem and letting them explore
and figure that out themselves?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Good question, jess can answer if you have thoughts.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I was just going to say it, the great thing about
Acton is they will be introducedto lots of different interests
and activities and projects andhopefully along the way they
will find that passion becausethey will have plenty of
opportunities to explore lots ofdifferent avenues.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I was wondering about the different things that they
might be exposed to, becauseright now it's math, science,
social studies, reading andthose we have to have.
I get that Core skills.
Yeah, what else are youproviding them that would lead
them to that passion?
I did see in the video therewas gardening, for instance,
horticulture.
What else are you having atyour school to give them
(07:27):
something outside of the basics?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, so I guess a typical day would start with a
launch and we can talk aboutthat.
But to answer your question,we'll start with a launch and
then, generally speaking, thefirst half of the day is
dedicated to core skills, whichour heroes or young learners
will go and essentially on theirown and with electronic device
devices maybe it's Khan Academyfor math or Lexia mastery based
(07:50):
software that they will be using, and the great thing about that
is they master it and then theymove on, so really they can
move as quickly as they want.
They're not held back byeverybody else in the class so
that's the first part of the daywhich maybe is a little more
individual, but still somecollaboration goes on.
And then the second part of theday is what we call quest and
that's where there's moreintegrating everything they're
(08:11):
learning all together.
So it could be like youmentioned gardening maybe
there's somebody interested inhorticulture, but we also have.
This is part of what I thinkmakes the guide different than
just a teacher.
They can set up optionalproject ideas, or would call
them launches, for the younglearners to be able to pick and
choose their project to work onand focus on throughout the year
(08:33):
or the six-week session.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I think the key differences, if I'm
understanding everythingcorrectly, is traditional school
.
You're in the classroom from7.30 to 2.30.
You go with your same age group.
You do the same things.
There's a path that you followthroughout the year.
You get tested on it and hereit's learner driven, it's
passion driven.
They're self-learning, they'reself-governing.
(08:56):
There is a lot of peer to peerstuff.
Here's another key differencethat I feel like we should
mention the guides are notallowed to give answers.
What is a guide allowed to do?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Good question.
Really, it comes back to theSocratic method.
They're not allowed toessentially give a declarative
statement in response to aquestion a young learner might
ask.
They are allowed, though, ifsomebody or one of the heroes
comes up and says I don't knowwhat I want to do today, what
should I do today?
A guide might say what do youthink would be a good thing for
you to do with your time today?
And they'd say I don't know.
And the guy would say let'sthink of some options.
What did you do yesterday, howdid that work out, and what
(09:32):
would be something you could dotoday?
And that's, I think, a maybesilly example.
But they're guiding rather thansaying by asking questions.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
They are not giving you the answer.
They're returning your questionwith another question to make
you figure out what you want todo, and that is the Socratic
method that we're talking about.
I will take a moment here.
Let's just touch on theSocratic discussions.
I want to go ahead and get thatout of the way before we move
forward.
So anyone who's confused aboutSocratic teaching methods it
refers to Socrates, who that washis way of teaching.
(10:01):
He would ask questions and thenmore difficult questions until
people came up with their ownanswers.
That's the Socratic method andthat's what you're employing at
Acton Academy.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And I love that.
And the reasoning and the rootof that is because we want to
push power back to these younglearners, to the kids.
We want to empower them fortheir own education, and asking
a guide or an authority figure,a specific question and getting
a non-specific question inreturn leads them to seek
different avenues of findinganswers to their questions and
(10:33):
really it helps them tounderstand that what we believe
is learning to ask the rightquestions is far more important
than being able to regurgitatecorrect answers.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
We're going to go ahead and start diving in a
little deeper Before we do.
Who were the original ActonAcademy founders and how long
has this academy been in place?
When did they?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
get started with this academy.
So, jeff and Laura Sandifer,they are from Austin, texas, and
they opened up the first actingacademy back in 2009.
2009.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Do you know what prompted them to start it?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yes, I love that story.
Tell me it's in the book andI'm sure if anyone does any
research they'll happen upon it.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
But let's just mention the book here too, so
people can look it up.
It's called Courage to Grow,and Nick and Jessica were nice
enough to bring me a coffeetoday so thank you very much,
but go ahead and look at Courageto Grow when you get a chance.
Go ahead and give us thenutshell version.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, sure.
So Courage to Grow was writtenby Laura Sandifer and I guess
the nutshell version is thatthey had their two young boys in
a non-traditional preschool, atMontessori School.
And they went to their, I guess, the head teacher at their
private school where they wereplanning to send their boys, and
sat down and visited with themand said hey, at what point do
(11:50):
you think we should transitionour boys to this school?
And he said, well, as soon aspossible.
And he said oh, that'sinteresting, why?
And he said, after they've hadall that freedom, they're not
going to want to sit chained toa desk all day and have somebody
talk at him for eight hours.
And Jeff Sandifer looked at thathead teacher and said I can't
blame him, kind of almost justsnapped back.
And then that head teacherlooked down for the longest time
.
In Jeff's recounting of thestory he says he thought he
(12:12):
offended him.
But then that teacher looked upwith tears in his eyes and just
said I can't blame him, Iwouldn't want to be talked at
for eight hours a day either.
So at that point I'm done,we're going to we're doing
something else.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
We're going to homeschool, we're going to open
a school I don't know what it is, but we're going to do
something else and from thatthey did end up starting Acton
Academy.
Now there's over 300 around theworld, right?
So 300 Acton Academy affiliatesaround the world.
Are they measurable advantagesto having your kids go through a
program like this?
What benefits have you seen orwhat successes can you mention
here that these schools haveseen with their students?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I think to me one of the most telling.
I guess it's still anecdotal inthis sense, but it's very
broadly been proven as well.
But one of the most commonpieces of feedback that they'll
get from individuals that havegone to acting academy and gone
on to get jobs and say is thatthey are teachable, they are
willing to learn, acceptfeedback and ask questions so
(13:08):
they're teachable.
I think that's to me a greatindicator of some of the success
of Acton Academy.
Probably what a lot of peoplewould be looking for would be an
answer Like.
I know that the studies anddata have shown that on average,
an Acton Academy learner willprogress two and a half grade
levels in the span of ninemonths.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Oh, wow, and so that's significant yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, I think that's.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
That's on average, on average.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And that's I think it's a side note, it's not the
goal, but it's a telling pointas well that when we allow these
individuals to make choices forthemselves and choose what
they're going to do, dosomething they're passionate
about, and really engage, theprogress increases.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You mentioned the hero's journey and when we were
talking about it earlier, thekids are on a hero's journey.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
The guides are on a hero journey, but even the
parents are also on a hero'sjourney.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So talk to me a little bit about what that is.
It's a new concept here, sotell me about the hero's journey
.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
And it's new in the sense that we don't associate it
with school typically but it isas old as time.
So Joseph Campbell did a lot ofwork that focused on the hero's
journey, or just the monomythof.
Think about your Frodo Bagginsor your Luke Skywalker oh yeah,
you're speaking to people rightnow.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
journey, or just the monomyth of think about your
Frodo Baggins or your LukeSkywalker, oh yeah you're
speaking to people right now.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Just an ordinary person gets this call to venture
and they answer the call.
They have a decision.
Often there's a mentor thathelps get them to make this
choice, to accept that call, andthen they set out on this
journey for discovering truetreasure.
And the treasure often ends upbeing within them.
And along the way, they'refighting monsters monsters in
our sense, and it acts in oftenour distraction.
Victimhood or resistance mightbe one as well, and so this hero
(14:54):
is setting out.
They're setting out to changethe world, they're setting out
to do something, and it's oftena service based for other people
, and they return with thistreasure to share with someone.
Like we said along the way,like a lot of the learning that
takes place is that asking thoseright questions is much more
important.
So I think a little bit aboutmy dad.
He was an educator and taughtin public schools.
My mom also, and I'm a productof public schools, but one of
(15:17):
the things that I think my daddid really was and often
frustratingly was to return ourquestions with more questions
and invite us to find theanswers ourselves.
And yeah, and so I think that,along with the hero's journey,
is really important.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You are opening an affiliate Acton school here this
fall.
It's called Acton AcademyTopsail.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
The age group for this first year is yeah, it's
going to be ages 6 through 12.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Okay, and how many students do you expect to have
this first year?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I think we want to start small and do it the right
way and get a good tribe andcommunity built.
So our goal is 10 to 15students the first year.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Is that about average for Acton schools?
Do you think?
I think so.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And the first Acton started with.
I think seven was what they had.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, so it's not huge and that was just very
organic growth from there.
They started in just arepurposed home in Austin Texas.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
The traditional classrooms.
They're separated by ages andgrade levels and often even
different wings of the school.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
This is not it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
This is a studio.
Everyone's in the same roomtogether.
I can see how that's beneficialfor the younger students.
You've got the younger ones whoare asking the questions to the
older kids.
But, like my son is 12, so hewould be at the top of your age
range that you're starting offwith.
I'm worried about him beingchallenged in the classroom.
(16:51):
How is it going to challenge my12 year old when he's maybe the
only 12 year old?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
in the whole classroom.
I think that's a great concern.
The great and beautiful thingabout the ACTED model is that it
is learner driven.
These 12 year olds can stilllearn at their own pace.
They can set their own goalsand challenges and can reach
them as quickly as they puttheir mind to.
And it also gives these12-year-olds a great tool of
learning to be a leader in theclassroom.
As they are mentors for theyounger students and help make
(17:17):
sure that the balances andchecks are all in order, they
learn a great, invaluable skillabout being a leader that they
might not get in the traditionalclassroom.
That is important.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You're right.
If he's doing his own selflearning prior to the project
based stuff that they're goingto be doing together, then he
would already be doing his ownthing over here and learning and
progressing and then still getthe leadership experience as
well.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I think just one other thing about having mixed
age group is just that anybodywho's tried to teach something
to someone else, I think, hasseen the benefit of you learn
yourself much more as you tryand impart some understanding to
somebody else, and so goingboth ways both for those who are
younger, those who are older.
There's all sorts of benefitsand just learning to work with
(18:02):
different age levels anddifferent groups.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Does Acton follow a traditional school year or is it
year round?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We'll start with our first year on September 3rd and
we'll generally follow thePender County calendar.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Okay, and how long are the school days?
They're your pretty typicalschool day.
We plan to start at eight andend by three, monday through
Friday, and you said yourparents were.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Both of them were school teachers in the public
school system, and you're aproduct of the public school
system as I am, I am as well.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Okay, and have any of your kids attended an Acton
school at this point, no not yetand, to be a hundred percent
honest, that's a big part of whywe're starting an Acton Academy
, because we want our kids to beable to go there and we have
four.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
How old are your kids and what grades are they going
to be in?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So we have four kids.
We have a 13-year-old She'll gointo eighth grade 12-year-old
who will start this fall atActon Academy, otherwise would
go into sixth grade Then we havean eight-year-old and a
five-year-old who will both join.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
We talked about the Courage to Grow book.
Who gave you that book?
Speaker 3 (19:05):
How did you get turned on to that in this
academy?
So Nick, for years probablyover 10 years has just really
felt like he has wanted andhonestly felt called to start a
school.
He came home and just I feellike I need to start a school
and for a long time years wedidn't really know what that
would look like.
We talk about it but nothingreally fell into place.
Five years ago we were livingin St George, utah, where we
just moved from, and on FacebookI was scrolling one day and
came across an ad for an actingacademy offering the Courage to
(19:27):
Grow book.
So I requested the book, got itin the mail and gave it to Nick
and said I think you shouldread this.
This seems like something Ithink you would like.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah, and I did.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
You mentioned that you are from Utah, so what
brought you to this areaspecifically?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
We were just I always tell people just chasing a
dream.
We wanted to live on the coastof similar to the school thing
I'd say to Jess, let's try NorthCarolina.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
It sounds so nice.
We had never been here, nevervisited no family, like nothing
really was jumping out at usabout North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Other than yeah, just a pull, an inexplicable pull.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Did you come out to visit North Carolina before you
made the move?
Did you come just test thewaters a little bit?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
We did.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
We did, but it was like after we had made up our
mind we were moving, it was likewe're going to move, but we
better check it out Just to besure, did you target Topsail
area right off the bat?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, we did?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
We looked at Wilmington and our gaze shifted
north, as many of us did.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
When did?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
you move here.
We arrived in April of 2023.
So we've been here for just alittle over a year.
We love it.
We love the beach.
Nick is living his dreambecause he gets to surf every
day.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Oh, nice.
Well, we met in Hawaii in theocean of all places, and so I
did a little bit there, but I'mrelearning here, so it's been
fun.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Where did y'all grow up?
Where were you born?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
and raised.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I grew up in Utah.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
And I'm from Wyoming, so we had to cross the ocean
and go to Hawaii before weactually met each other.
But we just love the ocean, welove the beach, we love the
water.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
As mentioned earlier, acton uses the term guides
instead of teachers, and willthe two of you be guides?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So I will continue working external to our Acton
Academy top soul, but Jess willstart out.
We're very selective, and Ithink understandably so, about
who will be a guide, and a guidethat is, on a hero's journey
themselves.
Jess is going to be the firstguide, as we continue to look
for an assistant guide and thenmove on from there.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
How many guides will you have in the classroom?
Let's say you have 15 studentsto start out with this year.
How many guides will you havein there for the duration of the
school year.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
We will have two guides.
I think we could have one guide, really, but unless they get
sick, we would need anotherguide, a backup, so an assistant
guide, just one that knows thekids and what they're going
through every day.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
They can be there when the other one can't,
because this is a new conceptand they're not allowed to just
answer the questions or givethem too much instruction.
They have to answer thequestion with another question.
I assume there's going to besome training involved with your
guides.
How, where are they going?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
to get this training?
Good question They'll be vettedthrough a process similar to
what we went through as weauditioned to become an Acton
Academy affiliate.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
You two auditioned with the original founders.
Yeah, that difficult.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
It was yeah, we had to.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Was it really we had to make a video of ourselves and
submit it and answer?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
questions.
Oh, so you weren't in personwhen this was done online.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
We were able to do it virtually yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
How do you go about training the guides?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yes, the guides will be trained.
First of all, they'll gothrough an audition process
similar to the one we wentthrough as we auditioned to
become an Acton affiliate, andthey will also because we're
part of the Acton Academynetwork.
They have access to trainingtools and I think the software
is called my Journey Trackerthat they'll use.
But they will do challenges andlearn the Socratic method that
(22:43):
way and through interaction withus and with other guides in the
network.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I'm assuming, then, that the guides don't have to
have teaching degrees Correct,because I'm a helicopter mom.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
As many of us are.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Will there be background checks of these
guides?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Okay, I just had to ask.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
That's a good question that I'm sure lots of
parents wonder about.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Let's talk about the learning tools.
You mentioned, the electronicdevices, and where they're using
Khan Academy, which we do.
Have experience with KhanAcademy at North Topsail
Elementary, which is where mykids went, so I know a little
bit about that and how theyprogress through those levels.
What other materials Are there?
Workbooks, what about supplies,and do you issue electronic
devices, or are we going tobring our own from home?
(23:22):
What about science supplies andwhat about art and music and
all of those things?
What are you going to havethere for them to get them
excited about learning?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So learners will engage with mastery-based
software to develop their coreskills in math, science, reading
, writing, and that way studentscan progress at their own pace.
They get badges or maybe pointsas they master each skill, and
the use of gamification helpskeep these kids excited and
motivated to learn.
And we also combine aMontessori blended approach and
(23:52):
then, of course, project-basedlearning that we talked about,
in a cohesive model to provide arich entrepreneurial
environment for students.
And so it's experiential, it'shands-on, it's fun.
In other words, learning ismeant to be fun.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
The gamification is going to appeal to my boys
anyway, and in the video that Iwatched they had the
entrepreneurial.
It was like a fair where theycreated their own products and
they had this fair where theyset up their booths.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yes, it's called the Children's Business Fair.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Acton Foundation will facilitate really anyone that
wants to set up a children'sbusiness fair in their area, and
we did a children's businessfair.
I actually listened to apodcast that you had with the
Shaka Taco founders, and so ourbusiness fair was at Shaka Taco
in Hampstead.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I was thinking of that business fair, because I
saw that and I didn't know aboutit ahead of time.
I saw it too late.
That would have been so fun togo to, and the video reminded me
very much of that, so y'allwere at that or that was.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
That was us.
We hosted that, we put that onfor the community and we're
excited to do it.
It was a success and the kidsloved it and learned a lot from
it, so we plan to continue to dothat.
I hope so.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
It got my attention.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
We should say, too, that we're not promising any
kind of, like you know, apanacea or utopia.
It's it's we're learning aswell.
Everybody's learning along theway, and I'm sure we'll make
mistakes, but I think we arededicated to, first of all, that
belief that every child is agenius.
And we want to empower them andgive the power back to these
young learners.
(25:21):
So that they can find their owncalling.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I love it.
My boys would be so mad if Idon't ask you are you going to
send them home with homework?
Because that is just the baneof my 12-year-old's existence.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
We believe that family is in charge of their
time after school, so we willnot assign homework.
Is in charge of their timeafter school, so we will not
assign homework.
We have heard from other Actonsthat lots of times children
will bring their work home towork on it because they are
engaged, they're having fun andthey enjoy the learning process.
So they will continue to workon their projects at home.
But we will not send worksheets, workbooks He'll be thrilled.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Will they receive any outdoor activities?
Or, like a recess, becausethat's my nine-year-old's
favorite subject?
Mine too.
What are you going to have forthem as far as outdoor physical
activities?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
The typical makeup of each day is there's an hour
break for lunch in the middleand slash recess, free time to
do what they like.
But a lot of learning will leadthese young learners outside
anyway, but a lot of learningwill lead these young learners
outside anyway.
And I mean, if it's a nice dayand somebody wants to go read on
the porch or out in the yard,there's no reason why they
(26:26):
wouldn't be able to go outside.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
A lot can be learned from a game of kickball and just
lots of play and exercise.
There's a lot to be learned.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
And so we plan to incorporate that into every day.
It's really hard for me to turnoff one paradigm in my head and
adopt another one, and evenwith myself growing up, grades
were so important to me.
And so where's the testing?
Like I got to know.
Like, how do acting studentsget tested the same way they get
tested in a regular school?
How are you?
I think North Carolina requiressome testing, right.
(26:58):
And then how do you know thatthey've mastered a skill and can
now move forward without thattesting in place?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I, as a parent, also would love to know what is my
child doing at school and whatare they accomplishing, and how
can I know if they are masteringthis?
So to answer that question, themastery-based software can show
you how much they are mastering, along as they go, and
additionally, we would havepublic exhibitions where parents
can come in and the childrenwill show off their work.
They'll show them theirprojects that they've been
(27:27):
working on and it's a great wayfor parents to see all the work
that they're doing at Acton.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, the first thought that comes to my mind is
you mentioned mindset and CarolDweck did a lot of research and
wrote a book called Mindset.
But we're big on growth,mindset and like the idea of
praising effort and progress andnot necessarily just the result
.
We won't issue ABC grades.
Like we said, there are badges,there are points, there's a
(27:53):
system of incentive andmotivation that's in place, but
it's not an authoritative figurethat is assigning any kind of a
grade or judgment on their work.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Some kids are like I'm not going to get graded.
This is awesome, I don't haveto work that hard here.
So how do you combat someone isI don't have to worry about
bringing home a, D or C or F.
How do you get them to bemotivated to work hard in the
classroom?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I think the key there is finding the right incentive,
but everyone will work if youfind out what they want to work
for as a guide.
You just put in place the rightincentives.
Can you give me an example?
Fun Friday we're going to go tothe beach on Friday and if you
have this badge passed off, youget to join us.
We might even also have a snowcone while we're there and if
they have that badge passed off,they're probably going to work
(28:42):
for that so that they can jointheir friends at the beach
Friday.
But if they decided to skiptheir work all week, didn't get
the badge, they're going to bestuck in the building on Friday
working on that instead.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Let's say that it doesn't work out.
For whatever reason, I pull mykid out of public schools, I
send them to Acton.
We give it a year, maybe two,and we're like this is just not
for my kid, it's not working out.
I guess, first of all, when yousee a kid struggling in that
environment, what do you have inplace to nurture that kid
through the remainder of theschool year?
(29:13):
What do you do when a kid isreally struggling in that
environment?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
And do you mean struggling?
Speaker 1 (29:19):
I could see my nine-year-old.
He loves structure.
He wants to know what he'sfacing for the day.
My 12-year-old is probablygoing to love this environment a
whole lot because he doesn'tlike the structure.
He wants to go in and determinehis own path.
Nothing would suit him betterthan that environment.
My 9-year-old is much different, so he may like I don't know
(29:41):
what to do with the chaos.
I would imagine that some kidsdon't do well in that
environment for any number ofreasons, but what?
do you do when you see a kidwho's like in the corner, just
not participating?
I don't know what to do here.
I can't find my passion.
I'm frustrated.
How do you deal with that?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah, I would say, first and foremost, one of the
things that we tell people, aswe're describing Acton Academy,
is that our ideal day is lookslike no adult interaction.
If the adult didn't even enterthe room, it would be a
beautiful thing and nothingwould change and these young
learners would continue and goabout and things would work out
smoothly.
And if that's a scary thing tosome people, we understand and
(30:18):
we get it and that's okay.
It may not be the right place,and so I think, just
understanding that at the outset, that's what our hope and goal
is.
So that, first of all.
Second, though, I think,especially when you mentioned
somebody like your son whoappreciates some structure, I
think the beautiful thing isthat he can learn to create his
own structure and provide thatfor himself.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Oh, that's a good answer, Nick.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
That's really good, but it's so true.
That is the whole point ofacting is they create the answer
to whatever they need.
That was.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
That is exactly what I needed to hear.
No, he, he does need to learnhow to create his own structure.
You're a hundred percent right.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
It's a beautiful and amazing thought, and we will do
everything we can to put it inplace.
Me as a parent, it is so hard.
It's hard to watch themstruggle, and so that's one of
the things that we're overcomingand working on.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
But yeah, I think again just trying to give the
power back to these younglearners With the other
affiliate schools.
Has there ever been an instancewhere the student returned to
public schools?
And if so, did they test thatkid to see like did you, are you
up with us now?
Did you cover the samecurriculum?
Now we've got to test you.
We might hold you back for ayear.
That's another one of my fearsthat I'm trying to wrap my head
around.
What happens if it doesn't workout and we have to go back into
the public school system?
Is it going to be behind?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
State law does require that we do testing like
the state mandated standardizedtest, and so we will do that as
just a normal part of the day.
We'll hand it out and move on.
We'll do that because it'srequired.
So I guess schools will havethat piece of information if
somebody ever did have to goback to the school, and there
have certainly been instanceswhere a young learner didn't fit
(31:54):
or didn't find what they werehoping to find at.
Acton and went back, but eachsituation is so different.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I guess that leads to the next question Then are
Acton schools accredited and ifso, by whom?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
We're accredited by the International Association
for Learner Driven Schools, andthere is a society of micro
schools that we're also a partof, but so, yes, we are
accredited.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So if it didn't work out and we went back into the
public schools, this would helpus with regard to getting them
back into the school system atthe proper grade level.
Yeah, this feels.
In some ways.
There's some similarities tohomeschooling, and here in
Hampstead we have a very largehomeschooling population.
I love that, Outside of theobvious, you have an away from
(32:37):
home location.
What would you say are thebenefits to attending Acton over
?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
homeschooling?
Good question.
I think what draws a lot ofpeople to choose homeschooling
is just the freedom, and ActonAcademy also offers a lot of
freedom.
Our goal, though, is to build acommunity of lifelong learners,
and, as children come andinteract with each other and set
goals and play together, theyare building a community.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yeah, it really emphasizes collaboration, real
challenges, and it holds them toa high standard of character.
And we've explored homeschooland I, I just we have to honor
those who are willing and ableto make that kind of a change
and take that, take thatchallenge on.
But I think there's there is somuch to be said for humans
(33:22):
bumping into each other andtrying to figure out how to work
together in a setting that'snot, that's outside the home as
well.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Does Acton offer special needs programs?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So we're not trained to serve children with serious
learning disabilities, but wehave been able to serve we as
the network has been able toserve young heroes with dyslexia
if they receive specialtraining.
And I think too, it's importantto point out that we believe,
believe often some minorlearning disabilities are
potentially misdiagnosed, and sowe're not in the business of
labeling people.
We'll take a look at the fit ofthe family and see how things
(33:57):
go, but we don't have trainingfor those with particular
special needs.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Okay, so if you don't want to label things, you're
not going to like my nextquestion.
But so they have the AIGclasses in the traditional
schools.
How do you feel thatacademically gifted children how
they would do in the actingenvironment?
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We honestly really do believe that every single young
person is gifted so they canprogress in any subject, to any
level.
A gifted individual has thepower and ability and the tools
to be able to excel far beyondwhat they may otherwise be able
to find, whether it's in publicschool or elsewhere, because the
(34:38):
sky's the limit.
It's what do they know and whatcan they understand, and so
they can keep going.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Sometimes kids in the classroom may not have grasped
the full concept, but becausethe rest of the class is moving
on, they have to move on withthe rest of the class and I was
wondering if you could speak tothat.
So no, no kids getting pushedforward.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
My own personal experience.
I studied it.
It's called ESADE, it's abusiness school in Spain,
business school in Spain.
But even in a master's degreeprogram I felt just a huge
pressure for me myself to justfit it fit in, even with this
small cohort of about 10 otherindividuals.
I did not understand thisANCOVA statistical method very
(35:21):
well, but I didn't feel like Icould say I don't get it because
we're in a master's program andwe're supposed to get it.
And so I kept on going and hadto then go back and just a huge
mess to try and figure thingsout later on.
But I get that 100% and I thinkthat type of pressure and just
expectation is eliminated atActon Academy.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
I think too, if a child is experiencing that and
they get a bad grade, that'svery discouraging, then you just
want to like I must not be agreat student, I'm just going to
give up and then acting up inclass just because they're hurt.
And so I felt it helps both thefull range of kids.
Whether you're academicallygifted in a traditional sense or
you're being forced to movealong at a pace that you can't
(36:02):
keep up with and get superdiscouraged, I feel like the
Acton Academy method is going toserve a broad range of kids who
are dealing with differentproblems.
Whether you're at this end orthat end the learning spectrum.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Absolutely, and one thing that I did want to be sure
and point out was just thatit's just brings us back to that
focus of encouraging younglearners to participate in their
hero's journey and find acalling that that will change
the world in a profound way.
And so if that means for aparticular young hero that
developing a math equation thatallows them to travel through a
black hole, we would bedelighted and support them in
(36:37):
that and that would be anamazing and great calling.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
How involved are the parents in your school?
Jessica, you did mention thatyou will have events where we
come and see their projects.
Yeah, public exhibitions Publicexhibitions.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
How else would we get involved?
Right, I think when a learnerjoins Acton, you become an Acton
family.
Parents agree to also be ontheir own hero's journey.
They will also sign a contractto adhere to the standard of
Acton.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
I think that's one of the difficult things for
parents, and us as well, is toessentially respect that young
learners experience and respecttheir studio and the studio
space as sacred.
Parents are encouraged to readtheir hero's badge plan and
support them in their goals, butwe actually ask that parents
don't email guides or ownerswithout first having asked
(37:27):
permission from their child todo that, and we're not going to
have a meeting about a childwithout that child sitting there
.
Because we don't want to become, we don't want to come between
you and your child, that's you,that's between you and your
child, and we're trying torespect the learning experience
of the child and push the powerback to the young people.
There are journey meetingswhere parents are invited to sit
with their young learnerspresent, and, like she mentioned
(37:47):
, learning exhibitions whereparents and community members
are invited to come and see whatthese young learners have been
working on.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
But I do want to say that we would love like parent
involvement.
If there is something a parentis good at or passionate about,
whether that be like Nicksurfing, then we would love for
them to come take the kidssurfing and introduce them to
all sorts of different things.
We would love parents to beinvolved in that aspect.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
We're not closing doors, no yeah, but we do want
there to be a clear boundarybetween where we're willing to
step in and not we don't want to.
We don't want to step in andfix problems for parents or
children.
The idea is that they'll learnto do it on their own.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I'm not going to lie, that's another paradigm shift.
Oh for sure it's hard.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
It is hard to oh, for sure it's hard.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
It is hard to yes, to see your child struggle and not
want to solve the problem forthem.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Or just give them so much freedom.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Yeah, that age I'm not used to that yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Okay.
So let's talk about the pricing.
This is a private school, okay.
What is the planned annualtuition?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
For year one, the tuition will be $9,200 with a
$500 registration fee.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
And are there any costs in addition to that
registration fee and the annualtuition that parents would need
to know about, like buyingsupplies and surfing lessons or
snow cones?
Is there anything else weshould expect throughout the
year?
Speaker 2 (39:05):
No, we don't plan to have any other fees.
We'll provide like Chromebooks,for example.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Oh, y'all do provide the Chromebooks, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah and no, those are the only costs associated
with it.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
So 9,200 the first year.
You feel like that may changeas time goes by, or just an
adjustment like every privateschool does.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Exactly Okay.
I can't predict inflation,unfortunately I wish you could.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
You mentioned this to me and so I did a little bit of
research to figure it outbecause I wasn't completely
clear on it.
North Carolina did just passthat universal school choice
bill last year.
I would say that you could goand apply for that, but there's
a very short window, february1st to March 1st.
That's the window you get toapply for the next school year.
That's gone.
But you could, on February 1st,go apply for the 25-26 school
(39:50):
year and use that money fromthat bill.
But I would also like to saytoo that that is still based on
an annual income.
It's a sliding scale about howmuch you would be awarded in
that scholarship program.
But are there any otherscholarships or financial aid
opportunities that you couldtell us about?
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Yes, we will definitely have some scholarship
opportunities.
If it was up to me, this wouldbe free.
I believe that every childreally should have this as an
option.
It is amazing, and this is oneof the biggest questions.
Nick and I have gone back andforth on what should the tuition
be?
But unfortunately we do have topay for building and guides and
lots of different things, sothere has to be some kind of.
There has to be some kind oftuition.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Yeah, it's completely understandable.
I get why you have to do that,but again, when you're used to
going to public schools and nowyou've got to figure out a way
to afford a private school.
It's something that we all haveto think about and consider, so
I just wanted to put thosequestions out there for you so
that the listeners can be aware.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, and I think, too, it's worth noting that as
we grow, we our plan is to beable to provide scholarships,
and if somebody's got a creativeidea, we're open to it.
We don't want to, we're not.
We're not trying to excludeanybody for any particular
reason.
This is just where we're atright now.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
So let's talk about your future plans.
Where do you see Acton AcademyTopsail in five years?
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Great yeah, we're starting now with an elementary
school studio and then we'll adda spark or preschool and then
middle school after that as soonas possible, followed by
Launchpad, which is our term forhigh school.
So in five years we plan to beable to facilitate up through
Launchpad high school and even,sometime in the future, open up
additional campuses to where.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Neighboring cities.
Is that what you mean?
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, and even just depending on demand we could
have, I don't know how.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
There's a handful in Austin.
Yeah, there's five.
Really, there's an academy inAustin.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
And part of that is because and I think, again
borrowed from Montessori is thatthe ideal kind of
learner-to-guide ratio issomewhere around 30,.
I believe young learners, andso we don't want to overfill.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
So it must be really popular then in Austin, if so
many people are going there thatthey need multiple campuses, I
would imagine.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
That's great.
It's good to hear.
Yeah, there are lots of othercampuses popping up.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
You have a website, actintopsilcom.
People can go there and learn alot of information that we may
not have covered here today.
In particular, there's afrequently asked questions tab.
If I missed any questions thatyou didn't get answered,
certainly go there.
One of the questions I noticedon there which caught me off
guard I didn't even think to askit Is this a religious based
(42:22):
school?
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Good question.
So we are open to believers,searchers and non-believers
alike, as it points out in ourFAQs, but we expose children to
the importance of mindfulspirituality and stress the
historical importance ofChristianity in the development
of Western culture.
So we're not promoting anyparticular religion, but we
ourselves are religious andwe're not hiding that either.
(42:43):
So, that's just the way weapproach the religious question.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
It is time to wrap things up.
Would you like to give out thecontact information?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Okay, yeah, phone number 385-210-7404.
And the website iswwwactintopsilcom.
You can email nick atactintopsilcom.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
I will have those links.
They will be in my show notes,so I'll have all of your contact
information listed there.
I'll have your website, yourFacebook and your Instagram
accounts.
I will have those hot and soall they have to do is click on
that and go straight to yourpage.
So if you missed any of thisinformation, you know where to
go and get all you need there.
Just want to say thank you tomy listeners who joined us today
(43:31):
.
We had a lot to cover andbecause this is so different
from regular schools, I justfelt like we needed to dive in
on a little bit more seriousnote and if I didn't ask the
questions that you wanted tohear, then reach out to Nick and
Jessica, call email, check outtheir website.
Please go, look at that YouTubevideo.
I really encourage that as well.
So thank you.
Thank you again, nick andJessica.
(43:53):
Thank you so much, kristen.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I appreciate you guys coming in here and just being
subjected to someone who's likeI don't trust, I don't know what
am I going to do with my kid,believe it or not, it's been fun
for us, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Okay, good.
Thank you so much, both of you.
Hey, if you enjoyed today'sepisode of Top Soul Insider,
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(44:28):
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Thank you for listening andsupporting Topsail Insider and
(44:49):
our local businesses andnonprofits.
These are our neighbors and ourfriends, and together we build
a mighty and a beautifulcommunity I'm super proud to be
a part of.
I'll see you around, topsail.
Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all
about the businesses and eventsin the beautiful coastal towns
in the greater Topsail area ofNorth Carolina Coming up.
Have you heard of disruptiveeducation?
I hadn't until just recently.
Today, nick Barr and his wifeJessica will be joining us to
(00:22):
discuss Acton Academy Topsail.
That's A-C-T-O-N.
Acton Academy Topsail a brandnew school, completely different
from the public, private andcharter schools we're all used
to.
I'm going to do something alittle different today and
recommend you pause this episodeand click the top link in my
show notes.
It will take you to a 15-minuteActon Academy documentary on
(00:44):
YouTube.
Check it out, then resumelistening here.
It will provide a solidfoundation for today's
discussion.
Today, nick and Jessica willshare insights about Acton's
learner-driven community, thehero's journey, socratic guides
instead of traditional teachers,and how kids collaborate on
real-world projects withself-management and
(01:04):
self-governance.
This new school opens this fall.
Stay tuned everyone.
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Hello everyone and welcome toTopsail Insider.
My name is Krista and I am yourhost.
Today we are talking to Nickand Jessica Barr that's B-A-H-R
(03:26):
Barr.
They are the co-founders of anaffiliate, acton Academy Acton
Academy Topsal.
Welcome, nick and Jessica.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
Thank you yeah thanks for havingus.
I did talk to some mothersbefore bringing you guys in here
and there was some excitementabout having another option here
for us in Hampstead.
And we do have one charterschool, but only one, and one of
(03:50):
the moms was saying where shecame from, which was Charlotte
she goes.
There were charter schoolseverywhere.
We had plenty to choose from.
So we are limited.
We are a bunch of transplantshere and a lot of us, including
myself, moved here specificallybecause the Topsail School
District was so great.
I just want to start out bysaying that this episode isn't
about whether or not the Topsailschools are good.
(04:10):
They are good.
This is about exploring adisruption to the way kids have
been taught for over a century,which is the standardized
curriculum and the standardizedtesting.
The one size fits all in thisage group teaching.
So, this is a disruption.
It has some Montessori touchesto it.
I think I don't have experiencewith Montessori, so you guys
will have to tell me thesimilarities there as we go
(04:31):
through this.
I am going to give you sometime here to explain this, the
concept of the Acton Academy.
I'm just going to let you gowith it and tell us how it's so
different from traditionalschools.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Great, oh, thank you, and thank you again for having
us.
Yeah, we agree with you Also.
First of all, people care abouteducation, and there's a lot of
individuals doing their verybest, putting their best efforts
to work, and, like you, we'renot here to say that anybody's
doing a bad job, but we are gladto be able to offer an
alternative, something a littledifferent, and so that's what we
found with Acting Academy, andI guess, to set this up for us
(05:08):
and for the original founders ofActing Academy, good
decision-making for our childrenis crucial.
We want them to be able to makegood decisions, so it is
different than traditionalschools we use.
We call them guides rather thanteachers, which is, I think, a
term borrowed from MariaMontessori, and Socratic
discussions are a big part ofwhat we're doing, and that's
where that kind ofdecision-making process comes in
(05:29):
.
It's a very much learner-drivenenvironment.
I'm sure we'll get into that alittle bit more too.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Oh, we will.
This was a whole new languagefor me, actually.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
For us too, but it just with like sparks of delight
and joy, almost common sense tome as well, as I've learned
about it.
It just it makes a lot of senseto me.
So our young learners will haverunning partners and their
peers will help critique theirwork and they'll hold each other
accountable.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So a running partner is someone in their age group
their age range yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yep.
So a running partner will besomebody that they can look to,
first to say hey, can you lookover this, or did I do well
enough here?
And that kind of thing I guessI should say first every
individual that walks throughour doors at Acton Academy, we
believe, is a genius.
And it sounds cliche, but it'strue, it's just.
It's not just a sweet littlephrase, it's something we
(06:20):
actually believe and that eachof those geniuses deserves to
find a calling to be able tochange the world in a profound
way, and for that we use thehero's journey as a method or
analogy for what we're doing.
So our hope is that people thatwalk through our doors will be
able to find their calling, findthat thing that really makes
them tick, find a passion, andI'm struggling with that with my
own kids.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
When they come in, are you looking and trying to
recognize what their passionmight be?
Are you truly just giving it tothem and letting them explore
and figure that out themselves?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Good question, jess can answer if you have thoughts.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I was just going to say it, the great thing about
Acton is they will be introducedto lots of different interests
and activities and projects andhopefully along the way they
will find that passion becausethey will have plenty of
opportunities to explore lots ofdifferent avenues.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I was wondering about the different things that they
might be exposed to, becauseright now it's math, science,
social studies, reading andthose we have to have.
I get that Core skills.
Yeah, what else are youproviding them that would lead
them to that passion?
I did see in the video therewas gardening, for instance,
horticulture.
What else are you having atyour school to give them
(07:27):
something outside of the basics?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, so I guess a typical day would start with a
launch and we can talk aboutthat.
But to answer your question,we'll start with a launch and
then, generally speaking, thefirst half of the day is
dedicated to core skills, whichour heroes or young learners
will go and essentially on theirown and with electronic device
devices maybe it's Khan Academyfor math or Lexia mastery based
(07:50):
software that they will be using, and the great thing about that
is they master it and then theymove on, so really they can
move as quickly as they want.
They're not held back byeverybody else in the class so
that's the first part of the daywhich maybe is a little more
individual, but still somecollaboration goes on.
And then the second part of theday is what we call quest and
that's where there's moreintegrating everything they're
(08:11):
learning all together.
So it could be like youmentioned gardening maybe
there's somebody interested inhorticulture, but we also have.
This is part of what I thinkmakes the guide different than
just a teacher.
They can set up optionalproject ideas, or would call
them launches, for the younglearners to be able to pick and
choose their project to work onand focus on throughout the year
(08:33):
or the six-week session.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I think the key differences, if I'm
understanding everythingcorrectly, is traditional school
.
You're in the classroom from7.30 to 2.30.
You go with your same age group.
You do the same things.
There's a path that you followthroughout the year.
You get tested on it and hereit's learner driven, it's
passion driven.
They're self-learning, they'reself-governing.
(08:56):
There is a lot of peer to peerstuff.
Here's another key differencethat I feel like we should
mention the guides are notallowed to give answers.
What is a guide allowed to do?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Good question.
Really, it comes back to theSocratic method.
They're not allowed toessentially give a declarative
statement in response to aquestion a young learner might
ask.
They are allowed, though, ifsomebody or one of the heroes
comes up and says I don't knowwhat I want to do today, what
should I do today?
A guide might say what do youthink would be a good thing for
you to do with your time today?
And they'd say I don't know.
And the guy would say let'sthink of some options.
What did you do yesterday, howdid that work out, and what
(09:32):
would be something you could dotoday?
And that's, I think, a maybesilly example.
But they're guiding rather thansaying by asking questions.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
They are not giving you the answer.
They're returning your questionwith another question to make
you figure out what you want todo, and that is the Socratic
method that we're talking about.
I will take a moment here.
Let's just touch on theSocratic discussions.
I want to go ahead and get thatout of the way before we move
forward.
So anyone who's confused aboutSocratic teaching methods it
refers to Socrates, who that washis way of teaching.
(10:01):
He would ask questions and thenmore difficult questions until
people came up with their ownanswers.
That's the Socratic method andthat's what you're employing at
Acton Academy.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And I love that.
And the reasoning and the rootof that is because we want to
push power back to these younglearners, to the kids.
We want to empower them fortheir own education, and asking
a guide or an authority figure,a specific question and getting
a non-specific question inreturn leads them to seek
different avenues of findinganswers to their questions and
(10:33):
really it helps them tounderstand that what we believe
is learning to ask the rightquestions is far more important
than being able to regurgitatecorrect answers.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
We're going to go ahead and start diving in a
little deeper Before we do.
Who were the original ActonAcademy founders and how long
has this academy been in place?
When did they?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
get started with this academy.
So, jeff and Laura Sandifer,they are from Austin, texas, and
they opened up the first actingacademy back in 2009.
2009.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Do you know what prompted them to start it?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yes, I love that story.
Tell me it's in the book andI'm sure if anyone does any
research they'll happen upon it.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
But let's just mention the book here too, so
people can look it up.
It's called Courage to Grow,and Nick and Jessica were nice
enough to bring me a coffeetoday so thank you very much,
but go ahead and look at Courageto Grow when you get a chance.
Go ahead and give us thenutshell version.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, sure.
So Courage to Grow was writtenby Laura Sandifer and I guess
the nutshell version is thatthey had their two young boys in
a non-traditional preschool, atMontessori School.
And they went to their, I guess, the head teacher at their
private school where they wereplanning to send their boys, and
sat down and visited with themand said hey, at what point do
(11:50):
you think we should transitionour boys to this school?
And he said, well, as soon aspossible.
And he said oh, that'sinteresting, why?
And he said, after they've hadall that freedom, they're not
going to want to sit chained toa desk all day and have somebody
talk at him for eight hours.
And Jeff Sandifer looked at thathead teacher and said I can't
blame him, kind of almost justsnapped back.
And then that head teacherlooked down for the longest time
.
In Jeff's recounting of thestory he says he thought he
(12:12):
offended him.
But then that teacher looked upwith tears in his eyes and just
said I can't blame him, Iwouldn't want to be talked at
for eight hours a day either.
So at that point I'm done,we're going to we're doing
something else.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
We're going to homeschool, we're going to open
a school I don't know what it is, but we're going to do
something else and from thatthey did end up starting Acton
Academy.
Now there's over 300 around theworld, right?
So 300 Acton Academy affiliatesaround the world.
Are they measurable advantagesto having your kids go through a
program like this?
What benefits have you seen orwhat successes can you mention
here that these schools haveseen with their students?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I think to me one of the most telling.
I guess it's still anecdotal inthis sense, but it's very
broadly been proven as well.
But one of the most commonpieces of feedback that they'll
get from individuals that havegone to acting academy and gone
on to get jobs and say is thatthey are teachable, they are
willing to learn, acceptfeedback and ask questions so
(13:08):
they're teachable.
I think that's to me a greatindicator of some of the success
of Acton Academy.
Probably what a lot of peoplewould be looking for would be an
answer Like.
I know that the studies anddata have shown that on average,
an Acton Academy learner willprogress two and a half grade
levels in the span of ninemonths.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Oh, wow, and so that's significant yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, I think that's.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
That's on average, on average.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And that's I think it's a side note, it's not the
goal, but it's a telling pointas well that when we allow these
individuals to make choices forthemselves and choose what
they're going to do, dosomething they're passionate
about, and really engage, theprogress increases.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You mentioned the hero's journey and when we were
talking about it earlier, thekids are on a hero's journey.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
The guides are on a hero journey, but even the
parents are also on a hero'sjourney.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So talk to me a little bit about what that is.
It's a new concept here, sotell me about the hero's journey
.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
And it's new in the sense that we don't associate it
with school typically but it isas old as time.
So Joseph Campbell did a lot ofwork that focused on the hero's
journey, or just the monomythof.
Think about your Frodo Bagginsor your Luke Skywalker oh yeah,
you're speaking to people rightnow.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
journey, or just the monomyth of think about your
Frodo Baggins or your LukeSkywalker, oh yeah you're
speaking to people right now.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Just an ordinary person gets this call to venture
and they answer the call.
They have a decision.
Often there's a mentor thathelps get them to make this
choice, to accept that call, andthen they set out on this
journey for discovering truetreasure.
And the treasure often ends upbeing within them.
And along the way, they'refighting monsters monsters in
our sense, and it acts in oftenour distraction.
Victimhood or resistance mightbe one as well, and so this hero
(14:54):
is setting out.
They're setting out to changethe world, they're setting out
to do something, and it's oftena service based for other people
, and they return with thistreasure to share with someone.
Like we said along the way,like a lot of the learning that
takes place is that asking thoseright questions is much more
important.
So I think a little bit aboutmy dad.
He was an educator and taughtin public schools.
My mom also, and I'm a productof public schools, but one of
(15:17):
the things that I think my daddid really was and often
frustratingly was to return ourquestions with more questions
and invite us to find theanswers ourselves.
And yeah, and so I think that,along with the hero's journey,
is really important.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You are opening an affiliate Acton school here this
fall.
It's called Acton AcademyTopsail.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
The age group for this first year is yeah, it's
going to be ages 6 through 12.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Okay, and how many students do you expect to have
this first year?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I think we want to start small and do it the right
way and get a good tribe andcommunity built.
So our goal is 10 to 15students the first year.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Is that about average for Acton schools?
Do you think?
I think so.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And the first Acton started with.
I think seven was what they had.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, so it's not huge and that was just very
organic growth from there.
They started in just arepurposed home in Austin Texas.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
The traditional classrooms.
They're separated by ages andgrade levels and often even
different wings of the school.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
This is not it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
This is a studio.
Everyone's in the same roomtogether.
I can see how that's beneficialfor the younger students.
You've got the younger ones whoare asking the questions to the
older kids.
But, like my son is 12, so hewould be at the top of your age
range that you're starting offwith.
I'm worried about him beingchallenged in the classroom.
(16:51):
How is it going to challenge my12 year old when he's maybe the
only 12 year old?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
in the whole classroom.
I think that's a great concern.
The great and beautiful thingabout the ACTED model is that it
is learner driven.
These 12 year olds can stilllearn at their own pace.
They can set their own goalsand challenges and can reach
them as quickly as they puttheir mind to.
And it also gives these12-year-olds a great tool of
learning to be a leader in theclassroom.
As they are mentors for theyounger students and help make
(17:17):
sure that the balances andchecks are all in order, they
learn a great, invaluable skillabout being a leader that they
might not get in the traditionalclassroom.
That is important.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You're right.
If he's doing his own selflearning prior to the project
based stuff that they're goingto be doing together, then he
would already be doing his ownthing over here and learning and
progressing and then still getthe leadership experience as
well.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I think just one other thing about having mixed
age group is just that anybodywho's tried to teach something
to someone else, I think, hasseen the benefit of you learn
yourself much more as you tryand impart some understanding to
somebody else, and so goingboth ways both for those who are
younger, those who are older.
There's all sorts of benefitsand just learning to work with
(18:02):
different age levels anddifferent groups.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Does Acton follow a traditional school year or is it
year round?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We'll start with our first year on September 3rd and
we'll generally follow thePender County calendar.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Okay, and how long are the school days?
They're your pretty typicalschool day.
We plan to start at eight andend by three, monday through
Friday, and you said yourparents were.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Both of them were school teachers in the public
school system, and you're aproduct of the public school
system as I am, I am as well.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Okay, and have any of your kids attended an Acton
school at this point, no not yetand, to be a hundred percent
honest, that's a big part of whywe're starting an Acton Academy
, because we want our kids to beable to go there and we have
four.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
How old are your kids and what grades are they going
to be in?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So we have four kids.
We have a 13-year-old She'll gointo eighth grade 12-year-old
who will start this fall atActon Academy, otherwise would
go into sixth grade Then we havean eight-year-old and a
five-year-old who will both join.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
We talked about the Courage to Grow book.
Who gave you that book?
Speaker 3 (19:05):
How did you get turned on to that in this
academy?
So Nick, for years probablyover 10 years has just really
felt like he has wanted andhonestly felt called to start a
school.
He came home and just I feellike I need to start a school
and for a long time years wedidn't really know what that
would look like.
We talk about it but nothingreally fell into place.
Five years ago we were livingin St George, utah, where we
just moved from, and on FacebookI was scrolling one day and
came across an ad for an actingacademy offering the Courage to
(19:27):
Grow book.
So I requested the book, got itin the mail and gave it to Nick
and said I think you shouldread this.
This seems like something Ithink you would like.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah, and I did.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
You mentioned that you are from Utah, so what
brought you to this areaspecifically?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
We were just I always tell people just chasing a
dream.
We wanted to live on the coastof similar to the school thing
I'd say to Jess, let's try NorthCarolina.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
It sounds so nice.
We had never been here, nevervisited no family, like nothing
really was jumping out at usabout North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Other than yeah, just a pull, an inexplicable pull.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Did you come out to visit North Carolina before you
made the move?
Did you come just test thewaters a little bit?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
We did.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
We did, but it was like after we had made up our
mind we were moving, it was likewe're going to move, but we
better check it out Just to besure, did you target Topsail
area right off the bat?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, we did?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
We looked at Wilmington and our gaze shifted
north, as many of us did.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
When did?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
you move here.
We arrived in April of 2023.
So we've been here for just alittle over a year.
We love it.
We love the beach.
Nick is living his dreambecause he gets to surf every
day.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Oh, nice.
Well, we met in Hawaii in theocean of all places, and so I
did a little bit there, but I'mrelearning here, so it's been
fun.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Where did y'all grow up?
Where were you born?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
and raised.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I grew up in Utah.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
And I'm from Wyoming, so we had to cross the ocean
and go to Hawaii before weactually met each other.
But we just love the ocean, welove the beach, we love the
water.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
As mentioned earlier, acton uses the term guides
instead of teachers, and willthe two of you be guides?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So I will continue working external to our Acton
Academy top soul, but Jess willstart out.
We're very selective, and Ithink understandably so, about
who will be a guide, and a guidethat is, on a hero's journey
themselves.
Jess is going to be the firstguide, as we continue to look
for an assistant guide and thenmove on from there.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
How many guides will you have in the classroom?
Let's say you have 15 studentsto start out with this year.
How many guides will you havein there for the duration of the
school year.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
We will have two guides.
I think we could have one guide, really, but unless they get
sick, we would need anotherguide, a backup, so an assistant
guide, just one that knows thekids and what they're going
through every day.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
They can be there when the other one can't,
because this is a new conceptand they're not allowed to just
answer the questions or givethem too much instruction.
They have to answer thequestion with another question.
I assume there's going to besome training involved with your
guides.
How, where are they going?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
to get this training?
Good question They'll be vettedthrough a process similar to
what we went through as weauditioned to become an Acton
Academy affiliate.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
You two auditioned with the original founders.
Yeah, that difficult.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
It was yeah, we had to.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Was it really we had to make a video of ourselves and
submit it and answer?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
questions.
Oh, so you weren't in personwhen this was done online.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
We were able to do it virtually yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
How do you go about training the guides?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yes, the guides will be trained.
First of all, they'll gothrough an audition process
similar to the one we wentthrough as we auditioned to
become an Acton affiliate, andthey will also because we're
part of the Acton Academynetwork.
They have access to trainingtools and I think the software
is called my Journey Trackerthat they'll use.
But they will do challenges andlearn the Socratic method that
(22:43):
way and through interaction withus and with other guides in the
network.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I'm assuming, then, that the guides don't have to
have teaching degrees Correct,because I'm a helicopter mom.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
As many of us are.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Will there be background checks of these
guides?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Okay, I just had to ask.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
That's a good question that I'm sure lots of
parents wonder about.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Let's talk about the learning tools.
You mentioned, the electronicdevices, and where they're using
Khan Academy, which we do.
Have experience with KhanAcademy at North Topsail
Elementary, which is where mykids went, so I know a little
bit about that and how theyprogress through those levels.
What other materials Are there?
Workbooks, what about supplies,and do you issue electronic
devices, or are we going tobring our own from home?
(23:22):
What about science supplies andwhat about art and music and
all of those things?
What are you going to havethere for them to get them
excited about learning?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So learners will engage with mastery-based
software to develop their coreskills in math, science, reading
, writing, and that way studentscan progress at their own pace.
They get badges or maybe pointsas they master each skill, and
the use of gamification helpskeep these kids excited and
motivated to learn.
And we also combine aMontessori blended approach and
(23:52):
then, of course, project-basedlearning that we talked about,
in a cohesive model to provide arich entrepreneurial
environment for students.
And so it's experiential, it'shands-on, it's fun.
In other words, learning ismeant to be fun.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
The gamification is going to appeal to my boys
anyway, and in the video that Iwatched they had the
entrepreneurial.
It was like a fair where theycreated their own products and
they had this fair where theyset up their booths.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yes, it's called the Children's Business Fair.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Acton Foundation will facilitate really anyone that
wants to set up a children'sbusiness fair in their area, and
we did a children's businessfair.
I actually listened to apodcast that you had with the
Shaka Taco founders, and so ourbusiness fair was at Shaka Taco
in Hampstead.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I was thinking of that business fair, because I
saw that and I didn't know aboutit ahead of time.
I saw it too late.
That would have been so fun togo to, and the video reminded me
very much of that, so y'allwere at that or that was.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
That was us.
We hosted that, we put that onfor the community and we're
excited to do it.
It was a success and the kidsloved it and learned a lot from
it, so we plan to continue to dothat.
I hope so.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
It got my attention.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
We should say, too, that we're not promising any
kind of, like you know, apanacea or utopia.
It's it's we're learning aswell.
Everybody's learning along theway, and I'm sure we'll make
mistakes, but I think we arededicated to, first of all, that
belief that every child is agenius.
And we want to empower them andgive the power back to these
young learners.
(25:21):
So that they can find their owncalling.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I love it.
My boys would be so mad if Idon't ask you are you going to
send them home with homework?
Because that is just the baneof my 12-year-old's existence.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
We believe that family is in charge of their
time after school, so we willnot assign homework.
Is in charge of their timeafter school, so we will not
assign homework.
We have heard from other Actonsthat lots of times children
will bring their work home towork on it because they are
engaged, they're having fun andthey enjoy the learning process.
So they will continue to workon their projects at home.
But we will not send worksheets, workbooks He'll be thrilled.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Will they receive any outdoor activities?
Or, like a recess, becausethat's my nine-year-old's
favorite subject?
Mine too.
What are you going to have forthem as far as outdoor physical
activities?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
The typical makeup of each day is there's an hour
break for lunch in the middleand slash recess, free time to
do what they like.
But a lot of learning will leadthese young learners outside
anyway, but a lot of learningwill lead these young learners
outside anyway.
And I mean, if it's a nice dayand somebody wants to go read on
the porch or out in the yard,there's no reason why they
(26:26):
wouldn't be able to go outside.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
A lot can be learned from a game of kickball and just
lots of play and exercise.
There's a lot to be learned.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
And so we plan to incorporate that into every day.
It's really hard for me to turnoff one paradigm in my head and
adopt another one, and evenwith myself growing up, grades
were so important to me.
And so where's the testing?
Like I got to know.
Like, how do acting studentsget tested the same way they get
tested in a regular school?
How are you?
I think North Carolina requiressome testing, right.
(26:58):
And then how do you know thatthey've mastered a skill and can
now move forward without thattesting in place?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I, as a parent, also would love to know what is my
child doing at school and whatare they accomplishing, and how
can I know if they are masteringthis?
So to answer that question, themastery-based software can show
you how much they are mastering, along as they go, and
additionally, we would havepublic exhibitions where parents
can come in and the childrenwill show off their work.
They'll show them theirprojects that they've been
(27:27):
working on and it's a great wayfor parents to see all the work
that they're doing at Acton.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, the first thought that comes to my mind is
you mentioned mindset and CarolDweck did a lot of research and
wrote a book called Mindset.
But we're big on growth,mindset and like the idea of
praising effort and progress andnot necessarily just the result
.
We won't issue ABC grades.
Like we said, there are badges,there are points, there's a
(27:53):
system of incentive andmotivation that's in place, but
it's not an authoritative figurethat is assigning any kind of a
grade or judgment on their work.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Some kids are like I'm not going to get graded.
This is awesome, I don't haveto work that hard here.
So how do you combat someone isI don't have to worry about
bringing home a, D or C or F.
How do you get them to bemotivated to work hard in the
classroom?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I think the key there is finding the right incentive,
but everyone will work if youfind out what they want to work
for as a guide.
You just put in place the rightincentives.
Can you give me an example?
Fun Friday we're going to go tothe beach on Friday and if you
have this badge passed off, youget to join us.
We might even also have a snowcone while we're there and if
they have that badge passed off,they're probably going to work
(28:42):
for that so that they can jointheir friends at the beach
Friday.
But if they decided to skiptheir work all week, didn't get
the badge, they're going to bestuck in the building on Friday
working on that instead.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Let's say that it doesn't work out.
For whatever reason, I pull mykid out of public schools, I
send them to Acton.
We give it a year, maybe two,and we're like this is just not
for my kid, it's not working out.
I guess, first of all, when yousee a kid struggling in that
environment, what do you have inplace to nurture that kid
through the remainder of theschool year?
(29:13):
What do you do when a kid isreally struggling in that
environment?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
And do you mean struggling?
Speaker 1 (29:19):
I could see my nine-year-old.
He loves structure.
He wants to know what he'sfacing for the day.
My 12-year-old is probablygoing to love this environment a
whole lot because he doesn'tlike the structure.
He wants to go in and determinehis own path.
Nothing would suit him betterthan that environment.
My 9-year-old is much different, so he may like I don't know
(29:41):
what to do with the chaos.
I would imagine that some kidsdon't do well in that
environment for any number ofreasons, but what?
do you do when you see a kidwho's like in the corner, just
not participating?
I don't know what to do here.
I can't find my passion.
I'm frustrated.
How do you deal with that?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah, I would say, first and foremost, one of the
things that we tell people, aswe're describing Acton Academy,
is that our ideal day is lookslike no adult interaction.
If the adult didn't even enterthe room, it would be a
beautiful thing and nothingwould change and these young
learners would continue and goabout and things would work out
smoothly.
And if that's a scary thing tosome people, we understand and
(30:18):
we get it and that's okay.
It may not be the right place,and so I think, just
understanding that at the outset, that's what our hope and goal
is.
So that, first of all.
Second, though, I think,especially when you mentioned
somebody like your son whoappreciates some structure, I
think the beautiful thing isthat he can learn to create his
own structure and provide thatfor himself.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Oh, that's a good answer, Nick.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
That's really good, but it's so true.
That is the whole point ofacting is they create the answer
to whatever they need.
That was.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
That is exactly what I needed to hear.
No, he, he does need to learnhow to create his own structure.
You're a hundred percent right.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
It's a beautiful and amazing thought, and we will do
everything we can to put it inplace.
Me as a parent, it is so hard.
It's hard to watch themstruggle, and so that's one of
the things that we're overcomingand working on.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
But yeah, I think again just trying to give the
power back to these younglearners With the other
affiliate schools.
Has there ever been an instancewhere the student returned to
public schools?
And if so, did they test thatkid to see like did you, are you
up with us now?
Did you cover the samecurriculum?
Now we've got to test you.
We might hold you back for ayear.
That's another one of my fearsthat I'm trying to wrap my head
around.
What happens if it doesn't workout and we have to go back into
the public school system?
Is it going to be behind?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
State law does require that we do testing like
the state mandated standardizedtest, and so we will do that as
just a normal part of the day.
We'll hand it out and move on.
We'll do that because it'srequired.
So I guess schools will havethat piece of information if
somebody ever did have to goback to the school, and there
have certainly been instanceswhere a young learner didn't fit
(31:54):
or didn't find what they werehoping to find at.
Acton and went back, but eachsituation is so different.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I guess that leads to the next question Then are
Acton schools accredited and ifso, by whom?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
We're accredited by the International Association
for Learner Driven Schools, andthere is a society of micro
schools that we're also a partof, but so, yes, we are
accredited.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So if it didn't work out and we went back into the
public schools, this would helpus with regard to getting them
back into the school system atthe proper grade level.
Yeah, this feels.
In some ways.
There's some similarities tohomeschooling, and here in
Hampstead we have a very largehomeschooling population.
I love that, Outside of theobvious, you have an away from
(32:37):
home location.
What would you say are thebenefits to attending Acton over
?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
homeschooling?
Good question.
I think what draws a lot ofpeople to choose homeschooling
is just the freedom, and ActonAcademy also offers a lot of
freedom.
Our goal, though, is to build acommunity of lifelong learners,
and, as children come andinteract with each other and set
goals and play together, theyare building a community.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yeah, it really emphasizes collaboration, real
challenges, and it holds them toa high standard of character.
And we've explored homeschooland I, I just we have to honor
those who are willing and ableto make that kind of a change
and take that, take thatchallenge on.
But I think there's there is somuch to be said for humans
(33:22):
bumping into each other andtrying to figure out how to work
together in a setting that'snot, that's outside the home as
well.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Does Acton offer special needs programs?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So we're not trained to serve children with serious
learning disabilities, but wehave been able to serve we as
the network has been able toserve young heroes with dyslexia
if they receive specialtraining.
And I think too, it's importantto point out that we believe,
believe often some minorlearning disabilities are
potentially misdiagnosed, and sowe're not in the business of
labeling people.
We'll take a look at the fit ofthe family and see how things
(33:57):
go, but we don't have trainingfor those with particular
special needs.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Okay, so if you don't want to label things, you're
not going to like my nextquestion.
But so they have the AIGclasses in the traditional
schools.
How do you feel thatacademically gifted children how
they would do in the actingenvironment?
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We honestly really do believe that every single young
person is gifted so they canprogress in any subject, to any
level.
A gifted individual has thepower and ability and the tools
to be able to excel far beyondwhat they may otherwise be able
to find, whether it's in publicschool or elsewhere, because the
(34:38):
sky's the limit.
It's what do they know and whatcan they understand, and so
they can keep going.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Sometimes kids in the classroom may not have grasped
the full concept, but becausethe rest of the class is moving
on, they have to move on withthe rest of the class and I was
wondering if you could speak tothat.
So no, no kids getting pushedforward.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
My own personal experience.
I studied it.
It's called ESADE, it's abusiness school in Spain,
business school in Spain.
But even in a master's degreeprogram I felt just a huge
pressure for me myself to justfit it fit in, even with this
small cohort of about 10 otherindividuals.
I did not understand thisANCOVA statistical method very
(35:21):
well, but I didn't feel like Icould say I don't get it because
we're in a master's program andwe're supposed to get it.
And so I kept on going and hadto then go back and just a huge
mess to try and figure thingsout later on.
But I get that 100% and I thinkthat type of pressure and just
expectation is eliminated atActon Academy.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
I think too, if a child is experiencing that and
they get a bad grade, that'svery discouraging, then you just
want to like I must not be agreat student, I'm just going to
give up and then acting up inclass just because they're hurt.
And so I felt it helps both thefull range of kids.
Whether you're academicallygifted in a traditional sense or
you're being forced to movealong at a pace that you can't
(36:02):
keep up with and get superdiscouraged, I feel like the
Acton Academy method is going toserve a broad range of kids who
are dealing with differentproblems.
Whether you're at this end orthat end the learning spectrum.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Absolutely, and one thing that I did want to be sure
and point out was just thatit's just brings us back to that
focus of encouraging younglearners to participate in their
hero's journey and find acalling that that will change
the world in a profound way.
And so if that means for aparticular young hero that
developing a math equation thatallows them to travel through a
black hole, we would bedelighted and support them in
(36:37):
that and that would be anamazing and great calling.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
How involved are the parents in your school?
Jessica, you did mention thatyou will have events where we
come and see their projects.
Yeah, public exhibitions Publicexhibitions.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
How else would we get involved?
Right, I think when a learnerjoins Acton, you become an Acton
family.
Parents agree to also be ontheir own hero's journey.
They will also sign a contractto adhere to the standard of
Acton.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
I think that's one of the difficult things for
parents, and us as well, is toessentially respect that young
learners experience and respecttheir studio and the studio
space as sacred.
Parents are encouraged to readtheir hero's badge plan and
support them in their goals, butwe actually ask that parents
don't email guides or ownerswithout first having asked
(37:27):
permission from their child todo that, and we're not going to
have a meeting about a childwithout that child sitting there
.
Because we don't want to become, we don't want to come between
you and your child, that's you,that's between you and your
child, and we're trying torespect the learning experience
of the child and push the powerback to the young people.
There are journey meetingswhere parents are invited to sit
with their young learnerspresent, and, like she mentioned
(37:47):
, learning exhibitions whereparents and community members
are invited to come and see whatthese young learners have been
working on.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
But I do want to say that we would love like parent
involvement.
If there is something a parentis good at or passionate about,
whether that be like Nicksurfing, then we would love for
them to come take the kidssurfing and introduce them to
all sorts of different things.
We would love parents to beinvolved in that aspect.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
We're not closing doors, no yeah, but we do want
there to be a clear boundarybetween where we're willing to
step in and not we don't want to.
We don't want to step in andfix problems for parents or
children.
The idea is that they'll learnto do it on their own.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I'm not going to lie, that's another paradigm shift.
Oh for sure it's hard.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
It is hard to oh, for sure it's hard.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
It is hard to yes, to see your child struggle and not
want to solve the problem forthem.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Or just give them so much freedom.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Yeah, that age I'm not used to that yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Okay.
So let's talk about the pricing.
This is a private school, okay.
What is the planned annualtuition?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
For year one, the tuition will be $9,200 with a
$500 registration fee.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
And are there any costs in addition to that
registration fee and the annualtuition that parents would need
to know about, like buyingsupplies and surfing lessons or
snow cones?
Is there anything else weshould expect throughout the
year?
Speaker 2 (39:05):
No, we don't plan to have any other fees.
We'll provide like Chromebooks,for example.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Oh, y'all do provide the Chromebooks, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah and no, those are the only costs associated
with it.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
So 9,200 the first year.
You feel like that may changeas time goes by, or just an
adjustment like every privateschool does.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Exactly Okay.
I can't predict inflation,unfortunately I wish you could.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
You mentioned this to me and so I did a little bit of
research to figure it outbecause I wasn't completely
clear on it.
North Carolina did just passthat universal school choice
bill last year.
I would say that you could goand apply for that, but there's
a very short window, february1st to March 1st.
That's the window you get toapply for the next school year.
That's gone.
But you could, on February 1st,go apply for the 25-26 school
(39:50):
year and use that money fromthat bill.
But I would also like to saytoo that that is still based on
an annual income.
It's a sliding scale about howmuch you would be awarded in
that scholarship program.
But are there any otherscholarships or financial aid
opportunities that you couldtell us about?
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Yes, we will definitely have some scholarship
opportunities.
If it was up to me, this wouldbe free.
I believe that every childreally should have this as an
option.
It is amazing, and this is oneof the biggest questions.
Nick and I have gone back andforth on what should the tuition
be?
But unfortunately we do have topay for building and guides and
lots of different things, sothere has to be some kind of.
There has to be some kind oftuition.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Yeah, it's completely understandable.
I get why you have to do that,but again, when you're used to
going to public schools and nowyou've got to figure out a way
to afford a private school.
It's something that we all haveto think about and consider, so
I just wanted to put thosequestions out there for you so
that the listeners can be aware.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, and I think, too, it's worth noting that as
we grow, we our plan is to beable to provide scholarships,
and if somebody's got a creativeidea, we're open to it.
We don't want to, we're not.
We're not trying to excludeanybody for any particular
reason.
This is just where we're atright now.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
So let's talk about your future plans.
Where do you see Acton AcademyTopsail in five years?
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Great yeah, we're starting now with an elementary
school studio and then we'll adda spark or preschool and then
middle school after that as soonas possible, followed by
Launchpad, which is our term forhigh school.
So in five years we plan to beable to facilitate up through
Launchpad high school and even,sometime in the future, open up
additional campuses to where.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Neighboring cities.
Is that what you mean?
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, and even just depending on demand we could
have, I don't know how.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
There's a handful in Austin.
Yeah, there's five.
Really, there's an academy inAustin.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
And part of that is because and I think, again
borrowed from Montessori is thatthe ideal kind of
learner-to-guide ratio issomewhere around 30,.
I believe young learners, andso we don't want to overfill.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
So it must be really popular then in Austin, if so
many people are going there thatthey need multiple campuses, I
would imagine.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
That's great.
It's good to hear.
Yeah, there are lots of othercampuses popping up.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
You have a website, actintopsilcom.
People can go there and learn alot of information that we may
not have covered here today.
In particular, there's afrequently asked questions tab.
If I missed any questions thatyou didn't get answered,
certainly go there.
One of the questions I noticedon there which caught me off
guard I didn't even think to askit Is this a religious based
(42:22):
school?
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Good question.
So we are open to believers,searchers and non-believers
alike, as it points out in ourFAQs, but we expose children to
the importance of mindfulspirituality and stress the
historical importance ofChristianity in the development
of Western culture.
So we're not promoting anyparticular religion, but we
ourselves are religious andwe're not hiding that either.
(42:43):
So, that's just the way weapproach the religious question.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
It is time to wrap things up.
Would you like to give out thecontact information?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Okay, yeah, phone number 385-210-7404.
And the website iswwwactintopsilcom.
You can email nick atactintopsilcom.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
I will have those links.
They will be in my show notes,so I'll have all of your contact
information listed there.
I'll have your website, yourFacebook and your Instagram
accounts.
I will have those hot and soall they have to do is click on
that and go straight to yourpage.
So if you missed any of thisinformation, you know where to
go and get all you need there.
Just want to say thank you tomy listeners who joined us today
(43:31):
.
We had a lot to cover andbecause this is so different
from regular schools, I justfelt like we needed to dive in
on a little bit more seriousnote and if I didn't ask the
questions that you wanted tohear, then reach out to Nick and
Jessica, call email, check outtheir website.
Please go, look at that YouTubevideo.
I really encourage that as well.
So thank you.
Thank you again, nick andJessica.
(43:53):
Thank you so much, kristen.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I appreciate you guys coming in here and just being
subjected to someone who's likeI don't trust, I don't know what
am I going to do with my kid,believe it or not, it's been fun
for us, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Okay, good.
Thank you so much, both of you.
Hey, if you enjoyed today'sepisode of Top Soul Insider,
please show your support byclicking the follow or subscribe
button on your favorite podcastlistening platform.
You can also follow us onFacebook, instagram, twitter and
YouTube.
Please also go totopsoulinsidercom and join our
mailing list by clicking on theMake Me a Topsail Insider button
(44:28):
.
While you're there, you canclick the Send Me a Voicemail
button and let me know exactlywhat you're thinking your
message just might be on anepisode of Topsail Insider.
You can email me at Krista atTopsailInsidercom, or call or
text me at 910-800-0111.
Thank you for listening andsupporting Topsail Insider and
(44:49):
our local businesses andnonprofits.
These are our neighbors and ourfriends, and together we build
a mighty and a beautifulcommunity I'm super proud to be
a part of.
I'll see you around, topsail.
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