Q: Our family is new to Academy. How does enrollment work?听

A: Welcome! Enrollment begins with the submission of a New Academy Student Application. The portfolio-style format provides opportunity for you to share information about your child鈥檚 interests, abilities and learning needs. While Academy does not require assessments or a formal gifted identification, we encourage you to share as much detail as is informative and relevant to your child. Especially helpful are responses to sections 鈥淭ell Us About Your Child鈥� and 鈥淪tudent Quick Takes鈥�. We also love to see student work samples, whether a snapshot of your child鈥檚 artwork or Lego build, or video of their best tap dance routine! If submitted during office hours, you should receive a response within a few short hours, after which time, Part II (Medical/Emergency) will need to be submitted prior to making your course selections in Part III (Enrollment).

To begin a New Student Application, you must first create an account through our 优蜜视频 Community Portal by clicking听. Please be sure to use your parent information (not your child鈥檚).听Once logged in, you may create a Student Contact for your child and begin the application. If you have already created an account and wish to return to your application in progress, click听

Q: Do I have to fill out a full-length application again if my child is a returning student?听

A: No. If you have taken classes with us before, you may submit a Returning Student Enrollment Form听.

Q: My child is academically advanced for their age. How do I determine which classes are the best fit?听

A: Academy classes are grouped by suggested age range and are designed for bright inquisitive minds. Your child’s application should provide information that will help us in determining an optimal match, however, we encourage you to reach out to a team member for advisement as each class is unique in both content and instructional approach. Depending on the individual needs of your child, age range may be flexible.

Q: How are Academy classes structured?听

A: Academy classes provide a safe space for positive interactions with peers, deep-dives into topics that students are passionate about, and project-based mastery. While each individual class is different, classes are designed to be engaging, stimulating, hands-on, interdisciplinary, and fun. Classes are taught by skilled educators and content area professionals who embrace the continual pursuit of knowledge and exploration of ideas. While homework assignments are optional, teachers may ask students to complete some work outside of class to enhance their learning experience.

Q: Where can I find the schedule of classes and tuition fees?听

A: Please visit our Academy page听 to find a calendar view of our in person and online course offerings. You may read the full course description by clicking on the course block, then scroll a bit further down the page to see our Spring 2022 tuition fees listed.

Q: Is financial aid available to families in need?听

A: Yes! Please click听听to submit an inquiry and an Academy team member will reply to you directly to assist.

Q: What if my child is interested in a class, but there are no more spots available?听

A: Placement in requested classes is first come, first serve. However, we do maintain a waitlist for classes in case a student withdraws from a class. We will contact families on the waitlist via email or phone if any spaces become available. We also encourage you to let us know if your child would be interested in an alternative placement should their first choice be unavailable.

Q: What are our options if a class is not a good fit?听

A: Every effort is made to ensure that students have a rewarding first day of Academy and our team would be happy to speak with you about any questions or concerns you may have. No payment is due until your child鈥檚 placement is confirmed with the minimum enrollment, at which time, a non-refundable $50 deposit is required per confirmed class. The tuition less paid deposits is due after the first class meeting. We work closely with families and instructors to ensure each child’s needs are met, however, should your child withdraw before the second class meeting, you are responsible for the deposit amount only. No refunds are given for withdrawals after the second class meeting.

Q: What are your COVID safety protocols?听

A:听For information on 优蜜视频’s current听COVID听safety听protocol, please see our landing page at听. Updates to the Academy section will be shared as we adjust to recommendations from the CDC, WHO, and state and local officials.

Q: Can I arrange a tour of your Learning Center and meet with a member of the Academy team?听

A: Absolutely! We would be happy to meet you. Please call us at (626)403-8900 or email听academy@educationaladvancement.org听to schedule a time to visit.

Spring is in the air.听 The days are getting longer, the nights are getting shorter and the weather is starting to warm up across the country.听 Now is the perfect time to repot plants, trim or take cuttings, and watch buds grow on trees.

This feeling of newness is permeating our psyches, as well.听 After a full year of 鈥淪tay at Home鈥� orders being in place, we are finally seeing restrictions loosen up.听 The general public is starting to become vaccinated against the Coronavirus.听 While in some states, in-restaurant dining has been happening for a while, other areas are only now getting back to al fresco dining.听 But what a perfect time to eat outdoors!

Schools are starting to open up to in-person classes in a limited capacity.听 优蜜视频 held our first physically distanced, small class-size, in-person class this Spring and have added several in-person class offerings to the Summer Academy schedule!

I attended a virtual CABI fashion show recently and Personal Wardrobe Stylist, Missy Gibson shared the concept of 鈥淥ptimistic Dressing.鈥� She indicated that the nation is experiencing 鈥淪weatsuit Fatigue鈥� (a term coined by the Wall Street Journal) and that we are wanting comfortable, casual clothing that doesn鈥檛 make us feel stuck, but rather helps us think positively, bursts of color, patterns that excite us, and styles that speak about going places and accomplishing things.

In the financial world, the trend is towards Optimistic Forecasting 鈥� projecting optimistic, yet realistic numbers for 2021.听 What we learned from the past year is that the key to survival and even success is being able to adapt quickly to changing environments, and that pulling on the strengths and data of the whole team is what allows this flexibility.听 With this in mind, we are able to project multiple financial scenarios with positive outcomes and alternative game plans for achieving those goals.

Will people become more confident in their spending as they start to feel safer and more inoculated against illness?听 After a tightening of the purse-strings and an inability to go out, will we rebel and splurge on all the things we felt we were missing out on, like sporting events, concerts, game nights and backyard BBQs?听 Will we dip our toes into learning new subjects, keeping our minds engaged as things 鈥渞eturn to normal?鈥� After a year of being without access to gyms, will people embrace discipline and get back on a routine of fitness classes and workouts, or maybe even begin a new routine of whole body-mind selfcare?

People are choosing to focus on potential, rather than loss.听 The necessary down-time of having to stay at home gave us the time to learn and reset values for ourselves.听 What will we do with this reflection and new horizon?听 Only time will tell.[vc_empty_space height=”22px”]

鈥淭he word 鈥榚ducation鈥� comes from the Latin 鈥榚ducere鈥�= e (out of) + ducere (to draw). Education is not just about putting information in. We have forgotten that it, in fact, begins in the child鈥檚 heart.鈥� -Vince Gowmon

Wonderful things happen when educators employ child-led learning in their classrooms. My own children are not quite school age; Claire is 4, so my personal experience pertains to preschool. While searching for options, I visited a preschool where the teachers take cues from their students and help them navigate their interests, explore their creativity, and critically think about their ideas. One class was particularly interested in writing and storytelling, so the students, ages 2 to 6, contributed to a short story they worked on daily. Each child had a journal, and even though many of them couldn鈥檛 write yet, the teachers were of the mindset that all markings are important. Another class at the same school was interested in 鈥渉ow to get wood to stick together,鈥� and after working through a couple hypotheses 鈥� tape and glue 鈥� one child returned to school after a weekend with a new idea. He informed the class that as his family was driving, he saw houses being built, and his parents told him they used nails to get the wood to stick. In this particular classroom, the teacher created a station with a framed sign that read, 鈥淛ulian鈥檚 theory on how to get wood to stick together.鈥� The station was equipped with wood, hammers, and nails, and even the two-year-old students participated in the project. This preschool had a two-year waitlist.

I also visited a preschool where the teachers insisted that each child participate in a craft project, whether or not they wanted to. The crafts were primarily completed by the teachers, and I watched them coax children (who were immersed in imaginative play) into participation. The crafts felt forced 鈥� they seemed to function as keepsakes for parents rather than as tools to help students unfold. I鈥檓 sure many of you have experienced frustration with teachers and school systems that lacked the training and resources to help your children move beyond the standard subject material.

During the COVID quarantine, I somehow lost sight of my own educational philosophy for a moment. The internet has been brimming with all the creative things everyone is doing with their kids, and I have felt paralyzed and inadequate through it all. When my daughter鈥檚 preschool started sending home packets of worksheets and day-to-day ideas for activities, I clutched those scraps of paper and marched straight to the kitchen table with my child. Finally, I had found the structure I needed to conquer at-home preschool and live up to, well, everyone on the internet. Claire would emerge from her quarantine chrysalis as a polished and refined, well-educated preschool butterfly. I posted the calendar on the wall and announced that we would mark off each activity with a special sticker, and we sat down to conquer preschool. I pulled a worksheet out of the manila envelope. It was packed with bunnies and eggs and flowers and other spring-type shapes, and its instructions said to find six bunnies, nine eggs, eight flowers, and so on. I didn鈥檛 feel any measure of zen looking at it, and Claire didn鈥檛 hesitate before scribbling frantically while I tried to block her pencil, shouting, 鈥淣O! We have to find six bunnies!鈥� She also refused to rhyme three words with 鈥渂ee鈥� or find four objects in the house shaped like rectangles. She wouldn鈥檛 count to 20 three times, either.

I despaired. My Instagram feed was brimming with watercolors of irises and stained-glass mandalas, and I couldn鈥檛 even get my kid to rhyme with 鈥渂ee.鈥�

As I bemoaned my lack of creativity and inability to create structured learning during a phone call with a friend, she pointed out that Claire doesn鈥檛 like activities that are presented to her in a structured way. She might run around the house, singing an original song about unicorns, but the moment you tell her to sit down and rhyme with 鈥渉orn,鈥� she will respond by blowing raspberries and falling off her chair. The activities her preschool sent were probably fun for some of her classmates, but they didn鈥檛 work for Claire鈥檚 style of learning. I only wanted to check them off my list because of my own insecurity.

I want to help Claire dive deeper into her interests, especially now that I鈥檝e scrapped the picture searches and worksheets. In order to move forward, I had to experience an important epiphany: by putting pressure on myself to approach at-home learning with perfectionism, I subjected Claire to undue pressure and perfectionism. We made a few shifts. Instead of following the preschool calendar, we created a new calendar one week 鈥� she picked a subject she wanted to learn about and drew a picture of that subject for each day of the week. One day, we learned about flowers and embarked on a nature walk to find flowers to examine. The next day, we learned about mermaids, which led to many discussions about ocean creatures and life under the sea.

Child-led learning is especially important for gifted kids, whose basic education should include the type of acceleration that nurtures their particular gifts and interests. This is why Academy is so important 鈥� it allows gifted children to go as deep as they want into dynamic subjects that excite them. It places them among experts who encourage their excitement for a subject while helping them cultivate a mastery of it. Academy students have the space to think deeply about their subjects and discuss ideas with their fellow students and teachers. I have been inspired and impressed by my colleagues, who have transformed Academy into an engaging distance-learning platform. They have adapted quickly and efficiently to the needs of our community. Academy has been described as a 鈥渓ifeline鈥� for some 优蜜视频 families, and I imagine that it is even more so now, as families strive to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of their children while balancing their own work.

I hope that 优蜜视频鈥檚 year-round resources 鈥� Academy, LABS, Gifted Support Groups 鈥� are a source of support for you right now. Parents, please have grace for yourselves. We are all doing our best.

鈥淭o take children seriously is to value them for who they are right now rather than adults-in-the-making.鈥� -Alfie Kohn