Education Outside the Box

At Kingdom Academy, we believe each child is born with purpose and potential.

However, not all children reach their potential due to environmental and social barriers. At Kingdom Academy, we understand each child is unique, and our curriculum embraces these differences. We provide a unique learning environment that challenges each child to compete against themselves while lifting each other up. This kind of environment is especially important for children with learning differences and children who have experienced trauma. While children can be remarkably resilient, research shows that what we have long considered resilience is actually delayed processing. If trauma is not processed, it tends to show up later in life in addictions and self-destructive behaviors.

Kingdom Academy provides a safe place to learn, process trauma, and overcome barriers to learning. Please join us in providing hope to the next generation.

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The Role of Religion

Our one rule is to Be Kind. Religion, according to the Bible, is to take care of orphans and widows and to keep oneself from being contaminated by the world (James 1:27). The Bible further explains that we should look out for each other, recognizing that each person is made like God. We ourselves will find our purpose and satisfaction by looking more and more like our Creator. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Think about what other people need more than thinking about yourself. As our children receive love, they discover the joy of encouraging each other and we notice bullying tendencies diminish and they begin to heal from the effects of trauma, long term fear, broken families, and negative words.

At Kingdom Academy, we believe in the power of prayer to heal physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds. By learning the Word of God and putting it into practice, our children become powerful change agents in our community.

The STREAM Approach

Science + Technology + Reading + Engineering + Arts + Mathematics

Science

Science at it’s basic form is discovering the world. We incorporate the fundamental scientific laws and theories into hands-on projects, story time, and daily discussions. The scientific method becomes our way of interacting with the world around us. We observe something, ask questions about what our senses perceive, propose a reason or hypothesis on why this thing took place, predict what we expect to happen in the future if our hypothesis is correct, test our predictions, and try it all over again to see if we get the same result or if we need to change our hypothesis. This kind of reasoning not only helps us discover more about the world around us, but also helps us make better choices in our own lives because the scientific method is simply acknowledging that our actions in the present have an impact on the future. This knowledge empowers each of us to make positive decisions in the present to create a greater likelihood for positive outcomes in our future.

Technology

Most people consume technology. At Kingdom Academy, we view technology as tools which we can shape to do work for us. This means we are not bound by current technological discoveries. Instead, we are free to create new, innovative solutions. We begin with the building blocks by providing old computers, even typewriters and VHS players for our children to take apart, rebuild, and recreate. We introduce them to open-source programs and environments that encourage innovation over consumerism. Our goal is to introduce children to the joy of creating games, apps and programs rather than simply learning how to use programs currently on the market. This level of thinking not only helps each student design and develop, but also makes adapting to programs in existence today and programs which will be invented in the future a much simpler task.

Reading

Research consistently shows that strong readers have been read to on a regular basis. Strong readers have access to books, and respect for the stories and information they contain. We use Sonlight curriculum to introduce children to the world of books. Sonlight uses biographies and historical fiction to blend reading, history, and social studies into an exciting program which takes the children around the world through the ages. Children discover the differences we all have on the outside cover the same range of emotions we all face. Students are challenged to overcome their own obstacles while reading about children their own age who faced challenges our students have never considered. Presented this way, reading becomes an adventure instead of a class. The grammar, spelling, and mechanics of reading and writing are interwoven with the work of amazing authors to challenge young readers and writers to articulate their own thoughts and experiences in thoughtful, compelling ways.

Engineering

Breaking things comes naturally to most children, but building something creates self-confidence and inspires even greater creativity. Children at Kingdom Academy have free access to a variety of building materials. Engineering is considered a science because mathematics and physics play a key role in developing safe, usable structures. However, the creative aspect also plays a role in developing the engineer’s mind. As their structures collapse or their motors don’t work, children learn valuable lessons in physics, mathematics, and persistence. Teachers are available to guide, but not dictate the outcome of the structure. Using current interests, a teacher may show a video clip or read a story of a similar structure or machine being built and ask questions to help the students problem solve their own creations. Ultimately, engineering for young children sets the foundation of overcoming failures and dreaming big.

Arts

Children are natural artists. With a few suggestions, the class is able to transform their classroom into a fully immersive learning space. Instead of coordinating teams of volunteers to execute the teacher’s vision, the children are given themes and materials to research and design their very own space. By empowering the children in this way, the lesson remains vividly in their memories over the years. With so much time, research, creativity, and passion invested in their learning spaces, the students are quick to protect their work. They do not need to pull apart structures to find what is inside because they built the structures! In this way, each child’s natural curiosity is satisfied while their emotional health strengthens and learning becomes as natural as their heartbeat.

Mathematics

There is a difference between recognizing numbers and understanding how to manipulate them. Kingdom Academy focuses on learning math through manipulatives and modeling. By using real-world examples and objects they can touch, mathematics becomes a way to organize, explain, and predict our world in a simple manner. The order in mathematics helps children create linear thinking patterns, which in turn helps in daily problem solving. We focus on the basics first. All children are introduced to counting and number recognition first. From this foundation, children are shown how adding is fast counting, and multiplication is fast adding. When they understand the concept, it’s time to memorize the facts so they can move quickly through more advanced exercises. Teaching fractions and time works much the same way by starting with objects the student can hold and manipulate, and then transitioning into the abstract symbols representing the concept.

Discover Kingdom Academy

Sewing teaches math and fine motor skills. There is also a sense of satisfaction that comes with completing a large project like these pajama pants.

Learning letters by building them is a great way to become familiar with how they are structured.

The children made and sold blankets and ornaments to raise funds for their families to take a trip to Branson together.

These students planned the color scheme and layout of the flowerbeds at the front of our building. This project helped them learn how plants grow and how different plants affect the environment.

Cooking provides many opportunities to use math. These children are making their own cookies.

The best proof a person knows material is when they can teach it. These children are explaining the differences between forms of government and leading the classroom discussion on the pros and cons of various ways to run a country.

“Building Our World” summer program: these girls are naming our newly founded country.

Your gift makes this learning environment available to children of all backgrounds.

Through your generous donation, we will be able to:

Provide a scholarship to a young man who struggled in the traditional classroom but shines when allowed to creatively lead at Kingdom Academy

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Provide resources and support to a single dad working tirelessly to get his children out of the foster care system.

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Provide additional support to an autistic girl who was mostly non-verbal before attending Kingdom Academy. Now she often uses full sentences.

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Provide specialized training for a teacher who struggled in school due to difficult home life, but is now helping to transform children coming from similar backgrounds.

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Provide behavioral and family therapy for a young man and his family who have faced numerous medical challenges.

Your gift changes lives. Thank you!

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