FAQs
Acton Academy East Mountains currently offers Kindergarten through 8th grade.
We operate on an eleven month calendar, but our flexible program allows families to travel together during the year, without significant disruption. We have also attempted, when possible, to align our academic calendar with APS breaks to make things easier for those with students at multiple schools.
For the 2024-2025 school year, the year will start on Aug 20th and end on June 19th. The schedule is 7 sessions with a week long break in between each session.
You can download our full calendar by clicking one of the links below.
Our tuition is based on a sliding scale. Details are in the infographic below.
A typical day at Acton can be as varied as an internship at a local software company or an afternoon spent studying wildlife in the Sandias. But most days have a rhythm that includes 60 to 90 minutes of self-paced work on core skills like reading, writing, and math; “quest” times during which learners engage in game-based projects; and lots and lots of time outside (2 to 4 hours daily).
In the younger studios, a good part of our time is also spent practicing social and emotional skills like the art of the peace table, breathing and meditation practices, and how to build a healthy community.
We do occasionally enroll students mid-year depending upon available space and whether we determine the student is capable of thriving.
We respect and incorporate Maria Montessori’s philosophy, but we are not a Montessori school. In addition to Montessori methods, we use the latest interactive technologies, hands on projects and the Socratic Method for discussions.
We believe that each of us has a special calling in life, and a series of trials and tests that must be faced with integrity and purpose in order to live a satisfying and fulfilled life. Our mission is to prepare your child for his or her special journey.
Someone who can research questions, follow instructions, solve problems—admit that they don’t know something and figure out a solution when they hit a roadblock without asking an adult for help — participate in discussions, and strive for mastery.
Acton can be a difficult environment for children with learning disabilities. The intentionally small staff and emphasis on removing the adult as the focus of attention means that we are not able to give students needing focused one-on-one assistance, tutoring or coaching by an adult what they need.
Students with ADHD or mild dyslexia have shown themselves able to thrive at Acton with appropriate support at home. It should be noted that, especially at younger ages, the Acton environment can prove triggering or overwhelming for students on the autism spectrum or for highly sensitive children.
We believe each of our students will find a passion — something they love and have a gift to do. They will use this gift to serve others and fulfill a need they are passionate about in the world. This may be by becoming a shoe-shiner who tells stories and makes people’s day just by doing his job with love and vigor; it may be by becoming a coach who sees the light in a child’s eyes and guides her to pursue a dream; it may be by becoming a father or mother who leads a family on a Hero’s Journey; it may be becoming an entrepreneur or business leader guided by compassion and integrity; or it may be by becoming an artist or writer who brings beauty to people’s lives.
We believe that children learn best when working with those younger and older than themselves rather than split up into groups based solely on age. In addition to individualized curriculum, all ages of students work together in multi-age groups within each studio.
At Acton East Mountains, the students run the Studio (classroom) by agreeing together what their rules are for behavior and treatment of one another. These are called their “Studio Covenants” and “Rules of Engagement”. These rules and covenants are prominently displayed in the studio and revisited. Often, these are revised by the students as they work through challenges and discover better ways of interacting with one another.
Students also budget their time and choose their areas of focus for certain portions of the day and adjust these based on their performance. We believe strongly that students achieve more when they have control of their learning.
At Acton East Mountains we believe in learning to be and learning to do and an important part of this is encouraging kids to take responsibility for their own behavior and hold those around them to a high standard. When something isn’t working, we want our students to work together to solve the problem, not look for an adult to solve it for them. This creates a sense of independence and confidence that will serve them well in all areas of life.
At Acton East Mountains, we believe in the power of balance. Using the incredible, self-paced eLearning tools now available, we are able to provide the rigor needed for learning math, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar in about 60-90 minutes each day. This efficiency frees up the rest of the day for engaging, project-based learning through play.
Our younger studios use hands-on, Montessori- and Reggio-inspired materials, and learners do not use individual technology until working on upper-level badge plans.
