Acton Imagine Academy for Free Thinking

Let the Survival Quest… BEGIN! ⛺️🌤️🔥🪾

We can’t wait to welcome everyone back at school tomorrow morning! It’s going to be a WILD session!

Hey Texas friends!

Can I get your help?

Our special little school is now officially registered with the state for the TEFA (Texas Education Freedom Account).

Will you share this so that the right family may see this?

Here’s what’s happening:

You can apply on February 4th to receive tuition for the approved school of your choice for children.

You don’t have to have them at a government-run school, and can now use your own tax dollars to decide which school is best for your child—

The funding follows the child, and not the institution anymore.

If you’d like to know more, or want your child to try out our school…

LET ME KNOW.

I’m biased but feel like we’re light years ahead of the sit in a chair and memorize facts for a test system.

We are a Socratic school.

Children work at their own pace instead of the speed of the class, going as fast as they want to go, or as slow as they need to go to master their lessons.

We also do real world projects like running their own REAL businesses, creating their own board games, learning survival skills, and running their own “Exhibitions of Learning” where they show off what they’ve learned to the public.

There is too much to write about now—but they do their own Town Halls, apprenticeships, solve disagreements with peace tables, and get “Scholar’s Choice” time to follow their Hero’s Journey with what they want to do in life.

It’s awesome, and the children love to learn, and LEARN TO LEARN at Imagine Academy.

The children actually LOVE coming to school!

I’m running a free tour of my school this Friday at 2pm for folks who are interested in something better for their children.

Let me know if you or someone you know may be interested—

Especially now as it’s possible that the tuition will be paid by the State from your tax dollars.

You can tell me here, and I’ll message you, or you can message me directly at 254-535-3227.

Thank you for your help!

Solar Studio is diving into their new quest: Colonial Acton! Today, they got to discover some jobs that kids their age might’ve had back in the day. 🕯️

One quote overheard while working…
“I HATE child labor!”

🤣

📚 How Learning Works at Imagine Academy
(For Solar & Galaxy Studios✨)

At Imagine Academy, our Heroes are on a unique learning journey designed to help them love learning and learn how to learn.

⭐ Core Skills:
We use IXL, a personalized online platform for math, language arts, and science. It adapts to each learner’s level, tracks progress, and keeps parents and guides connected through easy-to-read analytics.

🌟 Star Lessons:
Each week, Heroes complete targeted lessons (2 math, 2 language arts, 1 science) to ensure steady progress at their own pace. If they need extra help or are ready to advance, guides tailor support to match.

⚡ Focused Learning:
Heroes spend about 40–60 minutes daily on Core Skills—equal to nearly double that in traditional classrooms thanks to IXL’s focused, efficient design. IXL only counts time focused on answering questions and active learning. Idle time or distractions from the work at hand are not counted towards focus time. The required time may take just that 40-60 minutes…or it might take them several hours depending on their ability and willingness to focus on the assignment. This time requirement frees up time for hands-on, project-based learning.

🌍 Beyond the Screen:
Through Civilization, Quests, and creative writing, Heroes explore history, science, entrepreneurship, and more—building critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership skills.

💛 At Imagine Academy, growth, curiosity, and confidence matter more than grades. Every child’s journey is unique—and every milestone is worth celebrating.

✨ Want to learn more about our academic system? Message us here or email [email protected] to get our full “Understanding Your Hero’s Learning Journey” letter!

Do you remember when you went to school, and there was usually someone who you just didn’t get along with—

Or…

They were a downright bully?

If you had a disagreement, you had to fear for your safety and figure it out yourself.

I remember that.

Here at Imagine Academy, we have tools to deal with that:

Town Hall and Peace Tables among them.

Town Halls are where the CHILDREN make up the rules that determine a lot of what happens at school—

Such as punishment for doing certain things they know are wrong. Or how children treat each other.

ln case that this doesn’t work, any child can call a Peace Table with anyone at the school—even Guides or the Owner (ME!).

The other person must attend the Peace Table.

And they do something remarkable:

They stay until they work it out—

Even if that means they agree to stay apart and not interact much.

We give them the tools of conflict management, and they use words like,

“When you do THIS, it makes me feel ______.”

But the thing is—

And this is one of the things that make us so different—

The CHILDREN LEARN HOW TO DO THINGS ON THEIR OWN.

We literally want them not to need us as adults.

We want them to LEARN TO LEARN.

And that includes handling themselves through adversity.

In fact, that’s one of the very best lessons they will ever learn in their amazing lives.

*Can you help me by sharing this so the right family can see this?

It’s been a really, really good morning.

And the really special little school I’ve helped make has been a huge part of it.

These. Children. Are. Happy.

They are thriving.
They are learning to learn.
They’re running things so much on their own.

This is like homeschooling on steroids.

But with the structure, the format, the socialization, and the ability for the children to go as far and as fast as they’d like—without waiting on the speed of the class.

We have several children who are YEARS ahead of their age/grade level, and some children on the spectrum who are caught up with their peers now.

The children literally write their own goals,

manage their own time,

they run their own “Town Halls” to change things that aren’t working.

They journal and read books for 30-45 minutes a day.

One young man told me as I walked by this morning that he was journaling that he was grateful for ME for building this school!

This session the children are all creating their own REAL businesses for Belton Market Days.

The older ones will get to make an online component to the business and do two apprenticeships with real businesses this year.

They were designing the obstacle course they are building this session when I left for lunch.

I told Guide Daniel today—

“I so wish there was something like this when I was growing up.”

And he agreed.

This kind of place literally creates a better human being.

And it’s an honor to be a part of this, and to affect more families every month.

***And next year, the State of Texas will probably pay the tuition for your family, if you’d like your child at our school!***

We also have a daily shuttle from and back to Harker Heights to our campus in Belton.

I feel so good about the children going here. I truly think what we allow them to do here changes the trajectory of their lives.

Contact me if you’d like a tour of the school—and we give a free week’s trial to see if the children like what we do.

I really think this is so much better than the status quo that we’ve had for the last 135 years of factory schooling.

Anyways—I had to gush. Thanks for coming to my TED talk 😂

We NEVER indoctrinate children. Ever.

Something we believe VERY strongly is that the children attending our school are not “ours.”

They are without a doubt YOUR children and we are just entrusted as stewards for them.

We don’t discuss things that are better left at home, and match your family’s values.

I see what happens in some schools, and it’s shocking to think that teachers often try to instill their beliefs in other people’s children.

I’m not saying that all do that—

But we know that it does happen.

Not at Imagine Academy.

We take this obligation very seriously.

If you’d like to know more, please check with us at 254-535-3227.

Traditional education is flat-out broken.

The people trying to improve it, who have good hearts and great intentions—

Are spending time trying to optimize a horribly outdated and obsolete system.

I’ve researched this, and our system was founded by someone who studied the Prussian (German) system after World War I.

The Germans realized that they got beat in war partially because the soldiers didn’t do as they were told, and all had varying levels of knowledge and competency.

So—

They set out to standardize their children.

They wanted obedience, and no questioning of authority.

They replaced one room school houses with big schools based on a factory system.

Bells determined what students should do. Sit down, stand up, move classes. Go on our schedule.

They paired students of the same manufacture date and made them all learn the same things at the same time.

They moved them from one class to another, with each teaching a separate subject rather than a wholistic approach.

A committee decided what children should know at certain ages—no matter what their natural abilities were.

They moved at the speed of the class, whether that was faster or slower than they’d like. They still moved on even if a student didn’t grasp the concept, and they kept plodding along even if a child was capable of going much faster.

The emphasis was on the memorization of facts, instead of critical thinking skills.

They are taught to cram for tests. A recent Harvard study showed that even grad students who had “aced” a class forgot over 80% by the time the next semester started.

How much trigonometry do you remember?

They aren’t allowed to work with others.

The mantra of “sit down and be quiet” reigned in classes of 30+ prisoners and one jail keeper.

Our children are preparing for a world of decision making and communicating—

In a system that doesn’t allow them to make decisions and communicate.

They will be asked to produce a good or a service that others need—

Coming from a system that has never asked them to make a good or service.

If you look at the WHOLE of the current school system, it is literally children going into an artificial environment that bears no resemblance to the real world...

To prepare for the real world.

If we saw this being created, we’d realize how absurd the entire concept is.

Instead, the system is going on 126 years now.

It’s the “way things always have been,”

And we’re so used to it that we don’t realize how inadequate it is for our children.

But I see that changing, and it’s an honor to be on the forefront of that.

This morning, I led a Socratic discussion on freedom in our studio (classroom).

I asked the children if they would prefer to have maximum freedom that they could lose,

Or if they’d rather earn higher freedom levels through their own work.

And the discussion was magnificent.

A nine year-old boy reasoned through it and said that he would appreciate his freedom more if he earned it...

And said that if he was just handed a meal every time, that he wouldn’t learn to cook for himself and wouldn’t value his food as much.

A nine year-old.

Now, we cheated a bit because he’s been homeschooled up until Imagine Academy.

But this is the kind of reasoning and thought that our children are capable of having—

When they’re not shackled by an outdated system that seeks to standardize thought and action for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

I’m an evangelist over this.

I’ve seen the better way, and I’m not going to get off of this soap box.

I’ll be beating the drum for a better way for our children forever.

And I’m encouraged as I saw that a bill has been introduced in Texas that will find the STUDENT and not the SYSTEM.

We can do so much better for our children, and this will help.

Changing the World?

Last week we took a moment to reflect on the first half of our mission: finding a calling. Let’s turn our attention this week to the second half: changing the world.

When first hearing those words, it’s easy to dismiss them as fanciful rhetoric that shouldn’t be taken seriously, a cute phrase for a school brochure or maybe a children’s storybook but obviously made with a wink. Changing the world…isn’t that a little grandiose?

Let me assure you that these words are far from hyperbole. In fact, I would argue that only such a grand vision is appropriate for the vast potential that comes bounding into the studio each morning. And it is within this grandiose vision that our young heroes are presented with a narrative that serves as the antidote to the malady of purposeless living that afflicts so many:

Your life matters.

What you do matters.

You were made for a purpose.

And the only things that can limit your impact are the confines of your imagination and your courage.

Tragically, my experience has been that precious few live into this narrative. I’ve come to believe that many settle for mediocrity not because of their actual capabilities, but because they’ve never been dared to dream bigger dreams.

But Acton Imagine will always be a place where dreamers are welcomed and big dreams taken seriously.

Yes, this is grandiose. Unapologetically so. And, no, it’s not the fantasy of a child’s tale. It’s a measured and level-headed assessment of a well-lived life.

For the people who will change the world are those who believe it’s possible.

While our school is off for the next five weeks, we are having SUMMER CAMP, arranged and run by the extraordinary Guide Olivia Badgett.

This is a text our Guide group received from her, about the character of a Hero at the camp.

Our school helps to cultivate character, as it’s very important to us (because it’s so key to having a great life)—

AND we are very LEARNER-DRIVEN, meaning that the children have a lot of say in what they do.

Our goals include the Heroes LOVING TO LEARN, and LEARNING TO LEARN.

This is so much more engaging for the children, and even more importantly—

It helps to create proactive, sharp, gritty, and unusually kind humans.

And let’s face it: the world needs more of these types of people!

*If you’re interested in Summer Camp, we have weekly and daily plans available. Just mention it here and Guide Liv will follow up with you!