• A Hero's Journey

    A Hero’s Journey starts in a place where children are awarded freedom, responsibility, camaraderie, and adventure. A hero’s journey develops integrity, ownership, grit, and joy as one discovers his or her most precious gifts.

  • Mission

    JSA’s mission is to empower young people to find a calling that changes the world.

  • Vision

    JSA is for a generation of virtuous leaders, critical-thinking mavericks, and curious change-makers.

Our Promises

We promise through Socratic guiding and experiential learning to encourage each member of our community to:

  • Begin a Hero’s Journey;

  • Discover his or her most precious gifts and a commitment to mastery;

  • Become a curious, independent, life-long learner;

  • Embrace the forging of a strong character;

  • Cherish the arts, wonders of the physical world, and the mysteries of life; and

  • Treasure and respect economic, political, and religious freedom.

Why Joyful Scholars Academy?

We want to create an environment where our children experience:

  • Laughter and joy;

  • Critical thinking and independence;

  • A love for learning;

  • Freedom from politics and propaganda;

  • A home away from home where every learner smiles at the thought of exploring, discovering, doing, being;

  • Camaraderie;

  • Failure. And the courage to forge ahead and try again;

  • Resilience to persevere through difficult learning times;

  • The confidence to try new things;

  • Enjoyment in problem-solving;

  • Ownership over their learning, their tribe, and the studio;

  • Meaning and the ability to discover and pursue their passions.

  • To use their imagination and curiosity to do amazing things.

  • “We believe clear thinking leads to good decisions, good decisions lead to the right habits, the right habits forge character, and character determines destiny.”

  • “We believe self-directed, peer-to-peer learner-driven communities built by our young Heroes will deliver transformational learning at a cost parents can afford.”

  • "We believe offering self-paced work in an environment where all types of gifts are celebrated, and improvement is praised rather than held to artifical adult standards, leads to an appreciation of excellence from within.

What Makes JSA Different?

  • Learners are on a Hero’s Journey, with challenges, adventures, fellow travelers and guides.

  • Learner-driven.

  • Young people doing challenging work at their own pace.

  • Trained guides who are skilled in Socratic Method to empower students.

  • Earning points for effort and badges for mastery.

  • Heroes set and ahieve daily, weekly, and session learning goals.

  • Collaborative studio environment that is self managed and governed.

  • Sharing learning in a tightly bound community.

  • Daily learning quests both indoors and outdoors.

  • Real world skills developed throughdiscussions, project based learning (Quests), and apprenticeships.

  • Multi-age studios allow for heroes to progress at their own pace.

  • A lot of talking and problem-solving individually and in groups.

  • Less than 90 minutes of computer use/technology per day.

  • Using the latest technology to master reading, writing and math.

  • No homework.

  • No bureaucracy.

  • Learning based in recent research and evolves to ensure 21st century success.

Founders Story

Our role as parents is to inspire and equip our children toward a Hero's Journey to develop passion, grit, and leadership to accomplish all they choose. After research, a school with a learner-driven design provides an environment that sparks goal-setting, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. A learner-driven school is where a child experiences freedom and practices responsibility and agency over their life and learning. It's a place where interpersonal skills and communication are practiced every day. Children should have opportunities to fail - early and cheaply. We do not believe grades or tests are any measuring stick for learning. A true master in any field - tries, tries again, and hones their skill over repetition, study, and time - a true master of anything understands each learning step is critical to the next. Mastery is essential because doing is more important than memorization. School should be filled with challenges, failures, real-life projects, opportunities to develop as a person, and a place to discover passions. We want our daughters to develop agency, enabling them to dream and do big at any age. We founded JSA as a place for families who wish to provide a different educational experience for their children than they had for themselves.

We invite you to explore Joyful Scholars Academy and to reach out as your family decides to change your child's educational experience and trajectory.

Sincerely,

Laura and Alex McNealley