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Courage to Grow: How Acton Academy Turns Learning Upside Down
Courage to Grow tells how a small school in Austin, Texas sparked a worldwide awakening of families, who believe every child deserves to find a calling that will change the world.
In an age where Google shares information, Uber shares cars, and Airbnb shares rooms, Acton Academy turns learning upside down by equipping children to share learning with each other, in a close-knit community with extremely high standards of excellence.
Word of Acton's transformative impact is spreading, family by family. Over 50 Acton Academy affiliates span the globe, with applications pending from more than 6,300 entrepreneurial parents who want to start a learner-driven community.
Courage to Grow is not a "how to" book, but a fast-paced story of courageous families who found more compelling ways to learn and grow. Along the way, parents and children discovered the questions, tools and frameworks we all need to forge a stronger character and supercharge human potential.
Like all good tales, Courage to Grow has a surprise ending, a final lesson you won't want to miss about parenting, and the courage required to live life to its fullest.
In an age where Google shares information, Uber shares cars, and Airbnb shares rooms, Acton Academy turns learning upside down by equipping children to share learning with each other, in a close-knit community with extremely high standards of excellence.
Word of Acton's transformative impact is spreading, family by family. Over 50 Acton Academy affiliates span the globe, with applications pending from more than 6,300 entrepreneurial parents who want to start a learner-driven community.
Courage to Grow is not a "how to" book, but a fast-paced story of courageous families who found more compelling ways to learn and grow. Along the way, parents and children discovered the questions, tools and frameworks we all need to forge a stronger character and supercharge human potential.
Like all good tales, Courage to Grow has a surprise ending, a final lesson you won't want to miss about parenting, and the courage required to live life to its fullest.
208 pages, Paperback
Published November 15, 2017
290 people are currently reading
701 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
March 27, 2020
Read with Caution. Because you might just..
I've discovered Acton Academy in the final days of 2015. And I devoured the few blogs, and there were stories. It took almost one full month, full time, to digest everything. There were just too much insights and writings, accumulated over 7+ years.
With Courage to Grow, you get the entire experience in a packed and condensed format, without sacrificing any highlights or the intentions of Acton Academy's mission.
Laura has pen her heart out. You will discover the stories of a unique place for Children. You will discover the true struggles of trust and faith. You will be delighted by the vision and most importantly, the love that binds all action.
Warning. Read with curiosity. Read with courage. Read with caution. Because you might just start an Acton Academy in your community.
I've discovered Acton Academy in the final days of 2015. And I devoured the few blogs, and there were stories. It took almost one full month, full time, to digest everything. There were just too much insights and writings, accumulated over 7+ years.
With Courage to Grow, you get the entire experience in a packed and condensed format, without sacrificing any highlights or the intentions of Acton Academy's mission.
Laura has pen her heart out. You will discover the stories of a unique place for Children. You will discover the true struggles of trust and faith. You will be delighted by the vision and most importantly, the love that binds all action.
Warning. Read with curiosity. Read with courage. Read with caution. Because you might just start an Acton Academy in your community.
June 22, 2019
How grateful I am that Gen-X and Millenial parents are promoting the ideas of self-directed learning, natural child growth, and solutions outside of the mainstream one-size-fits-all paradigm of education. However, where this book fell short is that it neither focused wholly on Acton Academy nor child-led education nor the Sandefer's family experiences. It felt like a scattered, rushed write and there are areas where substantially more detail would have been better. What happens to the children who do not do well with prescribed learning times for math? What happens when children do not want to participate in group activities and can't be bribed with Acton dollars? What happens when learning differences are considered? What happens when state regulations force numerous weeks of standardized testing? It would have been beneficial to understand how children reacted more to forced choices within the school. Even though the original Acton Academy gave children freedom to choose their work, timeframes and force were established. If children truly should be making their own guided choices, utilizing only what is convenient, that is online learning, doesn't necessarily work for each child. Have children fallen short and not found places within the school? Given the different learning styles children have, providing options for learning math outside of a computer to me would have been more supportive of the Academy's pedagogy. Perhaps, I'm too nitpicky. Yet as a homeschooling parent, I have had to deal with these issues on a much smaller scale and they are salient to any parent with children who do not learn in traditional ways.
December 20, 2017
This book is relevant because I'm part of the story. Laura Sandefer shares her experience along her husband, Jeff, in founding and moving Acton Academy from an idea to an international success. As she clearly discloses the book is not a how-to or a treatise of Educational theory. It is a beautiful personal story full of challenges, successes, discoveries and hard moments, but overall it is an inspiring story for those willing to do something to change how kids are educated and raise these days.
Laura shares how they decided not to sign their kids in a traditional school after attending a Montessori school. The Sandefer's dilemma echoes with our own of not accepting the fact that the only option was putting our kids in a traditional school.
In opposition of the traditional approach of Education where results, grades, titles and degrees are what matter, the Sandefer's wondered "Can a vision of school rationally encounter the power of love and claim it?" and they didn't stop at the question and moved forward and made Acton Academy a reality.
Acton Academy was quickly recognized as an alternative to the traditional system. It's differentiation is "Our biggest point of separation is the upside-down power structure that pushes control and decision making to the children." Indeed what I value the most about Acton Academy is that children became responsible of their own Education and life.
"A month after their visit, Juan had already found families (we were one of them) who would enroll their children. And with that Acton Academy Guatemala City began to take shape.
Acton Academy is an evolving community that has extended world-wide. It is not a simple franchise system but a sharing of values and principles that anchor a joined effort to improve the education of our kids.
Thanks to Jeff and Laura, Juanma and Analu for trusting the children and taking the lead.
Laura shares how they decided not to sign their kids in a traditional school after attending a Montessori school. The Sandefer's dilemma echoes with our own of not accepting the fact that the only option was putting our kids in a traditional school.
In opposition of the traditional approach of Education where results, grades, titles and degrees are what matter, the Sandefer's wondered "Can a vision of school rationally encounter the power of love and claim it?" and they didn't stop at the question and moved forward and made Acton Academy a reality.
Acton Academy was quickly recognized as an alternative to the traditional system. It's differentiation is "Our biggest point of separation is the upside-down power structure that pushes control and decision making to the children." Indeed what I value the most about Acton Academy is that children became responsible of their own Education and life.
"A month after their visit, Juan had already found families (we were one of them) who would enroll their children. And with that Acton Academy Guatemala City began to take shape.
Acton Academy is an evolving community that has extended world-wide. It is not a simple franchise system but a sharing of values and principles that anchor a joined effort to improve the education of our kids.
Thanks to Jeff and Laura, Juanma and Analu for trusting the children and taking the lead.
December 6, 2017
I have been following Laura Sandefer's blog (www.actonacademyparents.com) and I loved reading her insights and wisdom into education and parenting so I was really excited to read her book. It took me longer than I expected to finish the book (even though it's a short read) because each chapter really made me pause and reflect on my approach to education and parenting. When my kids were born, I recall the nurse holding our twins and saying, "You don't scare me..." and I was thinking to myself, "why would she say that to a newborn"? But soon I realized how parenting would be filled with fear and doubt at every stage of our kids' lives. And how so often it's our fears that hold our kids back. In this book, Laura challenges and encourages us through her own experience of letting go and embracing the hero's journey- for herself, her children, and the children of Acton Academy. I reflected, repented, and rejoiced as I read her book. I have heard of the many success stories about Acton Academy but it was also encouraging to hear of struggles and challenges not only in the beginning but throughout the journey. They have not chosen to take the easy road- not for themselves or for their children.
May 29, 2018
I started out loving this book which seemed almost to good to be true.
Them I hit the chapter about the experiment to raise awareness of discrimination, in which the school staff lied to their pupils, letting them spend a day in the belief that science had proved them to be inferior because of their eye-colour.
I feel this is outrageous.
However beneficial the consequences in terms of raising awareness of discrimination, this will have left the pupils with some very negative lessons. One is that the people they most trust will lie to them if they think it serves their purpose.
Given that the author believes that lying is justified to further a good cause, why should any of us believe a word she says?
Them I hit the chapter about the experiment to raise awareness of discrimination, in which the school staff lied to their pupils, letting them spend a day in the belief that science had proved them to be inferior because of their eye-colour.
I feel this is outrageous.
However beneficial the consequences in terms of raising awareness of discrimination, this will have left the pupils with some very negative lessons. One is that the people they most trust will lie to them if they think it serves their purpose.
Given that the author believes that lying is justified to further a good cause, why should any of us believe a word she says?
October 17, 2021
Every school district should be set up this way. I know in reality that is not practical right now but I love the movement of turning education upside down on its head. I would have thrived in this environment. I go back to this book again and again and try to implement as much as I can into my own classroom.
April 3, 2025
5 stars. Feeling emotional after reading this thinking about my oldest daughter and how traditional school doesn’t work well for her neurodivergent mind, but I can absolutely see her flourishing at Acton (with healthy doses of frustration and failure of course)
The Acton model emphasizes growth through failure; independence, entrepreneurship, approaching life with curiosity, appreciating each individuals personal learning journey, etc. It does not focus on test taking, sitting in a desk all day and fitting a specific mold and reaching certain numbers and guidelines.
The Acton model truly is one to look at and model for our education system.
The Acton model emphasizes growth through failure; independence, entrepreneurship, approaching life with curiosity, appreciating each individuals personal learning journey, etc. It does not focus on test taking, sitting in a desk all day and fitting a specific mold and reaching certain numbers and guidelines.
The Acton model truly is one to look at and model for our education system.
May 21, 2018
Each day the world is getting complex with information flowing from every corner. Thus it is imperative for the next generation to develop the quality to think clearly. The book describes an alternate form of school system started as an experiment by the author and now been adopted as a franchise globally. The new process emphasizes importance of problem solving, creative freedom and peer to peer learning against the traditional way of getting good grades, following a strict curriculum, etc.
Quite informative read for someone interested in education system.
Quite informative read for someone interested in education system.
May 8, 2018
It is very hard not to be excited while reading this book. Learning, in the author’s telling, is a “hero’s journey” inspired by Joseph Cambell’s formulation of it, Montessori schooling, the one-room schoolhouse, apprenticeships, and Socratic teaching. Children should be allowed to struggle in order to learn how to learn.
More formally, the Action Academy style of teaching is a form of blended learning, in that it combines online coursework with a classroom; that’s a fairly wide definition, including as it does traditional classrooms guided by teachers and self-directed classrooms such as Acton that practically don’t have teachers. If we’d had online in the seventies, my Catholic grade school would have been classified as blended learning, incorporating, as it did, self-directed timed reading machines and such for that third of the day when the nuns taught the other side of the room.
The tools nowadays are a lot more fun, however, such as Duolingo and Civilization, Khan Academy and Coursera, partly because they’re more fun on their own and partly because they join the student into a much wider community of learners and gamers.
Teachers in Acton Academy are guides, and in fact do not do much of anything that a traditional teacher does. They are specifically trained, for example, to not answer questions, but only to ask questions about how to solve the question the student asks—and to let the students struggle at their own pace.
Now, it’s pretty likely that when she was told she was bad at math she was also told she’d have to work hard at it (although you never know in public schools today). But there is a huge difference between being told you have to work hard, and discovering the rewards of working hard.
This book itself describes a hero’s journey, the Sandefer’s just-in-time exploration of how to start a completely different kind of school, starting with elementary school and then adding a middle school when the students were older (Action also includes a high school now, and it is mentioned in the book but not detailed as much as the elementary and middle school).
The just-in-time storytelling has its flaws, as when a “course” on revolution and risk-taking ended up coming down to the roll of a die. What if the roll had come out differently? She doesn’t tell us, because she doesn’t know.
This is a fascinating, and exciting, alternative method of learning.
More formally, the Action Academy style of teaching is a form of blended learning, in that it combines online coursework with a classroom; that’s a fairly wide definition, including as it does traditional classrooms guided by teachers and self-directed classrooms such as Acton that practically don’t have teachers. If we’d had online in the seventies, my Catholic grade school would have been classified as blended learning, incorporating, as it did, self-directed timed reading machines and such for that third of the day when the nuns taught the other side of the room.
The tools nowadays are a lot more fun, however, such as Duolingo and Civilization, Khan Academy and Coursera, partly because they’re more fun on their own and partly because they join the student into a much wider community of learners and gamers.
Teachers in Acton Academy are guides, and in fact do not do much of anything that a traditional teacher does. They are specifically trained, for example, to not answer questions, but only to ask questions about how to solve the question the student asks—and to let the students struggle at their own pace.
We used Khan Academy to deliver math skills with no guide interaction and to allow each Eagle [the Acton mascot and nickname for students] to move at his or her own pace. For example, one of our middle school Eagles pushed through pre-algebra in only three weeks, while another struggled with an early traditional school math deficits but soon found a new stride and began to love math, moving five grade levels in ten months. “I was told I was bad at math,” she said to me one day. “I’m not! I just have to work hard at it.”
Now, it’s pretty likely that when she was told she was bad at math she was also told she’d have to work hard at it (although you never know in public schools today). But there is a huge difference between being told you have to work hard, and discovering the rewards of working hard.
This book itself describes a hero’s journey, the Sandefer’s just-in-time exploration of how to start a completely different kind of school, starting with elementary school and then adding a middle school when the students were older (Action also includes a high school now, and it is mentioned in the book but not detailed as much as the elementary and middle school).
The just-in-time storytelling has its flaws, as when a “course” on revolution and risk-taking ended up coming down to the roll of a die. What if the roll had come out differently? She doesn’t tell us, because she doesn’t know.
This is a fascinating, and exciting, alternative method of learning.
July 28, 2022
Education is in need of reform and the Laura Sandefer's story of how their personal quest for creating a school for their sons led to the creation of Acton Academy is an inspirational tribute to how entrepreneurship can provide educational alternatives to the status quo.
The Sandefers were unhappy with the local educational options for their sons after Montessori preschool. Their solution was to embrace and modernize some of the ideas that they especially appreciated from Montessori, including muti-age studios and student-centered, mastery learning. Acton Academy seems to have worked well as an educational solution for the Sandefer boys and has become a profoundly popular model well beyond its humble Austin, Texas origins.
The resulting school model might be roughly described as a mixture of democratic school and computerized Montessori. The Acton model is student-driven, individually-paced learning that heavily employs electronic systems such as NoRedInk and Khan Academy for core academic skills, combined with elaborate, guide-planned quests for much of the learning outside of core skills. It also involves student-led field trips and annual apprenticeships every year from 6th grade on.
If readers find this book and the Acton model compelling for their children, they should visit a few Acton Academies while they are in session to witness the program in action. Each Acton has its own distinct culture that is a combination of the model, the guides and the enrolled students.
The Sandefers were unhappy with the local educational options for their sons after Montessori preschool. Their solution was to embrace and modernize some of the ideas that they especially appreciated from Montessori, including muti-age studios and student-centered, mastery learning. Acton Academy seems to have worked well as an educational solution for the Sandefer boys and has become a profoundly popular model well beyond its humble Austin, Texas origins.
The resulting school model might be roughly described as a mixture of democratic school and computerized Montessori. The Acton model is student-driven, individually-paced learning that heavily employs electronic systems such as NoRedInk and Khan Academy for core academic skills, combined with elaborate, guide-planned quests for much of the learning outside of core skills. It also involves student-led field trips and annual apprenticeships every year from 6th grade on.
If readers find this book and the Acton model compelling for their children, they should visit a few Acton Academies while they are in session to witness the program in action. Each Acton has its own distinct culture that is a combination of the model, the guides and the enrolled students.
March 10, 2021
Courage to Grow is a book about how a normal couple grew dissatisfied with how their children were being taught in public schools. They could have ignored this feeling and kept on this journey of public schools but this couple, Laura Sandefer and her husband Jeff Sandefer decided to completely turn their kid's idea of school upside down. Through the pages of this book, it details the journey of their new school Acton Acadamy from a small house-like school with about 9 kids to an absurd amount of schools all over the world.
This book changed me in a major way by giving me some background on the school I go to, like their struggles and how the school was made to what it is today. It also reminded me of the high excellence that the original Acton had and has made me more determined to be like them. I would recommend Courage to Grow to everyone at our school because I hope that they will feel encouraged to be more excellent to their standards. It's a rather short and enjoyable book that won't be too difficult for a middle schooler to get through in a few weeks.
The history of Courage to Grow is a pretty short one. The owner of Acton Acadamy, Ms.Sandafer, published it in late 2017, which is about when our Acton Acadamy started. This isn't a coincidence because Ms. Jen and Mr. Phil read Courage to Grow they decided to make an acton academy. That is the impact of Courage to Grow on our school and many others.
The major questions raised by Courage to Grow are 1. Does this weird and odd kind of schooling work? 2. How do you adapt to this way after being in public school? And 3. What the heck happens here? Courage to Grow answers these questions with personal stories, analytics, and quotes from Acton Parents. The book makes our wacky school more understandable with pictures and exhibits at the end of the book.
Ms. Sandafer's writing was enjoyable and easy to read. She made sure to use a good balance of good word choice and simple terms to help new readers understand her book. There were personal stories from her family that made the reader feel connected to them while also giving the reader much to think about. I believe she had a very simple style of writing that could connect with even the most skeptical readers.
This book changed me in a major way by giving me some background on the school I go to, like their struggles and how the school was made to what it is today. It also reminded me of the high excellence that the original Acton had and has made me more determined to be like them. I would recommend Courage to Grow to everyone at our school because I hope that they will feel encouraged to be more excellent to their standards. It's a rather short and enjoyable book that won't be too difficult for a middle schooler to get through in a few weeks.
The history of Courage to Grow is a pretty short one. The owner of Acton Acadamy, Ms.Sandafer, published it in late 2017, which is about when our Acton Acadamy started. This isn't a coincidence because Ms. Jen and Mr. Phil read Courage to Grow they decided to make an acton academy. That is the impact of Courage to Grow on our school and many others.
The major questions raised by Courage to Grow are 1. Does this weird and odd kind of schooling work? 2. How do you adapt to this way after being in public school? And 3. What the heck happens here? Courage to Grow answers these questions with personal stories, analytics, and quotes from Acton Parents. The book makes our wacky school more understandable with pictures and exhibits at the end of the book.
Ms. Sandafer's writing was enjoyable and easy to read. She made sure to use a good balance of good word choice and simple terms to help new readers understand her book. There were personal stories from her family that made the reader feel connected to them while also giving the reader much to think about. I believe she had a very simple style of writing that could connect with even the most skeptical readers.
January 15, 2020
Have you ever wondered how to start a school? Well, the people that invented “Acton Academy” had no clue about starting a school. But they knew they could start one because the one thing that drove them was love for their kids! So off they go. They didn't want to compete with a public or private school; they wanted to compete against themselves. They pretty much have the same schedule as every Acton even now that it is 2020. I like the fact that Acton is about being very creative and imaginative. My favorite sentence goes something like this: “On most days at Acton, it works like a well run sacred place is student-governed. But on some days, leaders don't rise up and they get very distracted. My favorite person is Laura. She is more hands on but I feel like Jeff is more backstage letting Laura Sandefer do more front stage.
February 11, 2022
I’m so fascinated with this approach to education. There’s a lot of overlap with principals of homeschooling like mastery, student-driven work, freedom, and critical thinking. A truly inspiring look at what education can be.
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June 26, 2019It was interesting to read about the journey of the family who created Acton Academy. We're developing a very similar model at Prenda, so it was interesting to learn about their core principles, practices and challenges along the way.
July 25, 2022
Loved the story. An inspiring entrepreneurial and pedagogical journey.
September 3, 2018
What a great way to share the rich and complex journey of Acton Academy - blooming from an idea to a courageous reality that I truly hope will sweep the world. Very interesting insights, with vulnerability and honesty throughout. Definitely recommended for anyone passionate about education and wanting change for the better.
February 17, 2021
I chose to read The Courage to Grow by Laura A Sandefer because it applies to my everyday life, and I had heard quite a few reviews from other people saying that it was a phenomenal book.
Chapter 1: Is them describing acting Academy in its second year. I think this is an interesting way to open a book because the book is of the full process from beginning to end. But they opened the book in the second year which I think draws the reader in more than starting the book in the beginning. Because the reader gets a slight taste of what the book's going to be like, and you kind of leave them on a cliffhanger before really starting the book. So, I think they did a really good job hooking the reader by using an interesting approach.
Chapter 2: As I mentioned before is them going back to the beginning of how they realized that the public school system was not working for them and that it could be improved upon, after all the system is over 100 years old so they began to brainstorm and ponder the idea of alternative schools something that was in between unschooling and public school where children could learn the things that they needed like people skills, life skills, and learning to learn.
Chapter 3: This is where they came up with the children's business fair.
When their son set up a lemonade stand, making money and learning important math and marketing skills. They decided to branch out to invite more and more children to start their own businesses and create stands in their backyard. They did this until they had a full-fledged children's business fair running the very first of its kind.
Chapter 4: This is when they decide to start their school. After doing lots of research, which they mentioned in chapters two and three. They came up with a series of processes and systems to create the best possible learner-driven environment for children where they could learn everything that they needed along with forming their community and the ability to hold each other accountable. One of the ways that they were able to make this school possible was using a family vision board to help themselves stay on the same page and accomplish the end goal along with the little steps it takes to get there like a map.
Chapter 5: This is when they're learning to work with the kids and the parents too. In this chapter they did it cool experiment with the kids where they said, in the beginning, all of the kids with green eyes will get a bunch of fun things like extra snacks brakes and less work, basically whatever they wanted they could have. But the kids with the blue eyes got less they had to sit in one area had a very short lunch break and they were told what to do, unlike the green-eyed kids they weren't given the freedom to choose. At the beginning of the experiment, they say that the kids with the green eyes laughed at the kids with the blue eyes for not having the same freedom. Until the tables were turned, and the children with the green eyes were laughed at. I think that it was a cool way to teach young children about equality and racism, so that was my favorite part of this chapter of the book.
Chapter 6: This was when everything was going well, however parents were wanting a way to track their child's progress to see how much their children were getting out of the school and if the curriculum was working. Was it hitting all the bases like reading writing, and math so they started asking the children to do Iowa testing but this doesn't have anything to do with anything aside from just seeing where you're at for your knowledge?
Chapter 7: Middle school monsters is what they called it this is when they're introducing the next level of Action Academy which was middle school. This chapter addresses the difference between middle school and elementary school and pulling them from the public school system because the middle school students had already been in the public school system for a while it was harder to find the right ones and it took even longer for them to get used to the new system and they needed help from the elementary schoolers to get going.
Chapter 8: Was when one of their sons Charlie, decided that he wanted to go and try public school, I feel like one of the main reasons that they addressed this in the book is to help parents understand that they need to let their children choose their path, with guidance of course. But letting children decide can also be pretty painful after they had created the school for their children.
Chapter 9: More people start to show interest in Action Academy and the business starts to boom. People are opening up Action Academies all over the world. Their business grows so much that they have to hire someone to put together a packet and detailed process to make sure that the right people are opening up schools.
Chapter 10: Their son Charlie comes back from public school and continues out the rest of his education at Acton Academy. According to the book, Charlie had a lot to do with getting Action Academy up and running. Like helping the middle school studio get their feet on the ground and setting a great example for other students. So, I think the author did a really good job of expressing the right amount of emotion and excitement during this part of the book.
Chapter 11: They have a large gathering with all of the Action Academy entrepreneurs. Where each one describes their experience, challenges, and struggles. The whole purpose of this chapter is to celebrate how far they've come and that their dream was accomplished.
Reading the story of how Acton Academy first got started the thoughts and actions that went into it, why they chose to do the things the way they did ensure that every little piece had its purpose and that each piece fit together is enlightening at least that's how I would put it to me because not only do I now understand my school better, but there are things in this book that as a school we can use to help us with our education so in that sense I think it's really good for all Action Academy students to read to have a better understanding of why we do everything we do and not to mention what went into it. However, I don't only think it would be good for Action Academy student, I also think it would be good for everyone young or old to read to help them understand that there are more options when it comes to education and for people who think that public school is the very best form of education it can help them to branch out and explore new options. Even if you have nothing to do with the school system, at the moment it could help you in other aspects of your life to branch out things and pursue your dreams.
Overall, my consensus is that the author did a great job with this book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone willing to read it.
Chapter 1: Is them describing acting Academy in its second year. I think this is an interesting way to open a book because the book is of the full process from beginning to end. But they opened the book in the second year which I think draws the reader in more than starting the book in the beginning. Because the reader gets a slight taste of what the book's going to be like, and you kind of leave them on a cliffhanger before really starting the book. So, I think they did a really good job hooking the reader by using an interesting approach.
Chapter 2: As I mentioned before is them going back to the beginning of how they realized that the public school system was not working for them and that it could be improved upon, after all the system is over 100 years old so they began to brainstorm and ponder the idea of alternative schools something that was in between unschooling and public school where children could learn the things that they needed like people skills, life skills, and learning to learn.
Chapter 3: This is where they came up with the children's business fair.
When their son set up a lemonade stand, making money and learning important math and marketing skills. They decided to branch out to invite more and more children to start their own businesses and create stands in their backyard. They did this until they had a full-fledged children's business fair running the very first of its kind.
Chapter 4: This is when they decide to start their school. After doing lots of research, which they mentioned in chapters two and three. They came up with a series of processes and systems to create the best possible learner-driven environment for children where they could learn everything that they needed along with forming their community and the ability to hold each other accountable. One of the ways that they were able to make this school possible was using a family vision board to help themselves stay on the same page and accomplish the end goal along with the little steps it takes to get there like a map.
Chapter 5: This is when they're learning to work with the kids and the parents too. In this chapter they did it cool experiment with the kids where they said, in the beginning, all of the kids with green eyes will get a bunch of fun things like extra snacks brakes and less work, basically whatever they wanted they could have. But the kids with the blue eyes got less they had to sit in one area had a very short lunch break and they were told what to do, unlike the green-eyed kids they weren't given the freedom to choose. At the beginning of the experiment, they say that the kids with the green eyes laughed at the kids with the blue eyes for not having the same freedom. Until the tables were turned, and the children with the green eyes were laughed at. I think that it was a cool way to teach young children about equality and racism, so that was my favorite part of this chapter of the book.
Chapter 6: This was when everything was going well, however parents were wanting a way to track their child's progress to see how much their children were getting out of the school and if the curriculum was working. Was it hitting all the bases like reading writing, and math so they started asking the children to do Iowa testing but this doesn't have anything to do with anything aside from just seeing where you're at for your knowledge?
Chapter 7: Middle school monsters is what they called it this is when they're introducing the next level of Action Academy which was middle school. This chapter addresses the difference between middle school and elementary school and pulling them from the public school system because the middle school students had already been in the public school system for a while it was harder to find the right ones and it took even longer for them to get used to the new system and they needed help from the elementary schoolers to get going.
Chapter 8: Was when one of their sons Charlie, decided that he wanted to go and try public school, I feel like one of the main reasons that they addressed this in the book is to help parents understand that they need to let their children choose their path, with guidance of course. But letting children decide can also be pretty painful after they had created the school for their children.
Chapter 9: More people start to show interest in Action Academy and the business starts to boom. People are opening up Action Academies all over the world. Their business grows so much that they have to hire someone to put together a packet and detailed process to make sure that the right people are opening up schools.
Chapter 10: Their son Charlie comes back from public school and continues out the rest of his education at Acton Academy. According to the book, Charlie had a lot to do with getting Action Academy up and running. Like helping the middle school studio get their feet on the ground and setting a great example for other students. So, I think the author did a really good job of expressing the right amount of emotion and excitement during this part of the book.
Chapter 11: They have a large gathering with all of the Action Academy entrepreneurs. Where each one describes their experience, challenges, and struggles. The whole purpose of this chapter is to celebrate how far they've come and that their dream was accomplished.
Reading the story of how Acton Academy first got started the thoughts and actions that went into it, why they chose to do the things the way they did ensure that every little piece had its purpose and that each piece fit together is enlightening at least that's how I would put it to me because not only do I now understand my school better, but there are things in this book that as a school we can use to help us with our education so in that sense I think it's really good for all Action Academy students to read to have a better understanding of why we do everything we do and not to mention what went into it. However, I don't only think it would be good for Action Academy student, I also think it would be good for everyone young or old to read to help them understand that there are more options when it comes to education and for people who think that public school is the very best form of education it can help them to branch out and explore new options. Even if you have nothing to do with the school system, at the moment it could help you in other aspects of your life to branch out things and pursue your dreams.
Overall, my consensus is that the author did a great job with this book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone willing to read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2018
An exceptional book - informative, succinct, warm, and above all, inspiring. Sandefer's book shares an intimate glimpse of their Hero's Journey in creating, refining, and now sharing the power behind the remarkable Acton Academy. Any parent or family member that wants to help their child realize their potential and launch into *their* personal Hero's Journey–read this book.
Some of the founding principles:
1. Trust the children and believe they can handle big responsibilities. The ultimate goal of education/parenting, right?
2. Let them struggle - struggle is key to real learning and growth
3. Seize the adventure - questions, curiosity, trust, struggle - ultimate traits of a real adventure.
4. No one should be a teacher unless s/he believes every child is a genius
Bold, exciting ideas - with evidence of effectiveness and support to transplant them. Highly recommended.
Some of the founding principles:
1. Trust the children and believe they can handle big responsibilities. The ultimate goal of education/parenting, right?
2. Let them struggle - struggle is key to real learning and growth
3. Seize the adventure - questions, curiosity, trust, struggle - ultimate traits of a real adventure.
4. No one should be a teacher unless s/he believes every child is a genius
Bold, exciting ideas - with evidence of effectiveness and support to transplant them. Highly recommended.
December 30, 2018
There is another way
I did well in traditional school and I love the ideas of acton. I hope one exists when my children are attending schools. Or maybe I will start my own.
I did well in traditional school and I love the ideas of acton. I hope one exists when my children are attending schools. Or maybe I will start my own.
October 4, 2021
I would give 4 stars to this book because I think it will help you a lot in your life and continuing doing what you want, being different and learning in a good way.
This all started when this family decided to open a different school, where kids could be more responsible and learn in their own time and in their own method. And that was how they just started their journey. After putting a lot of effort and hard work they decided to look for how their and other kids could be free and while learning. Jeff had 2 kids Sam and Charli, after they opened their school "Acton Academy" which was the name they both entered to Acton and started to go to school there the first studio they opened was for small kids from 5 up to 8 they started to give to people the number and information to the kids to start they gave a lot of meeting and after a while many more people started contributing on putting their kids in Acton Academy. The First day of school they had many things to do and found a guide that will guide the eagles to fly to get out of their comfort zone.
Many things they did and something I found very interesting is that they made an experiment. The experiment consist on putting the kids in 2 different groups the "blue eyed kids'' and the "brown eyed kids, after putting them in different groups they wanted the kids to learn why Acton is different and better, the blue eyed kids they made them more privileged they got more free time they got to use their computers and they even got to choose what to do in the classes. When the other group has less things. They felt like this was very unfair and they switched to the brown eyes that had more privileges. After all, they learned that every kid should be treated equally, and that was a very good lesson even though I think that it was a little too much for the kids.
After a while they were increasing things they did for example, business fairs and different activities but they didn't just grow in that also in studios, the kids grew older and they needed to get into an environment more advanced, bigger.
They started an agora studio and after years launchpad studio. They also talked about how many people from different countries and lands came to them and asked them for permission to start an Acton and one of them was where I go now. Which I am very grateful for. They also got a lot of new students and because, e a bigger community.
After years of being there they got an issue one of their kids Charli didn't want to go there anymore he wanted to go to a normal school but a private one, after their parents one of the reason they started this school was because of them and because of Charli. They told him that they were not going to pay for a private school because they latterly made a school for him that rarely he didn't like we'll then he saw the options in the neighbourhood and he liked some of them, thriving parents agreed that he was going to change school even though they didn't t like the idea. One of his options was a private school and after a long discretion they finally said that they were going to pay for him to be happy. Not more than 3 months after, a long time passed and he decided that he didn't want to go there anymore and at the end of the book he goes to Acton Academy aging because he realises that it is much better.
They have also found out something they never expected the ones from middle school were learning very fast and so do the other they were learning a lot more than normal schools did so the ones from middle schools had a brain from high school and the other classes too they were much advanced that normal kids and that was something very interesting to learn about.
I think that their story was very interesting and it gives a good message of how they started all and all their difficulties they needed to pass though to get to have a nice and beautiful community of Acton Academy.
This all started when this family decided to open a different school, where kids could be more responsible and learn in their own time and in their own method. And that was how they just started their journey. After putting a lot of effort and hard work they decided to look for how their and other kids could be free and while learning. Jeff had 2 kids Sam and Charli, after they opened their school "Acton Academy" which was the name they both entered to Acton and started to go to school there the first studio they opened was for small kids from 5 up to 8 they started to give to people the number and information to the kids to start they gave a lot of meeting and after a while many more people started contributing on putting their kids in Acton Academy. The First day of school they had many things to do and found a guide that will guide the eagles to fly to get out of their comfort zone.
Many things they did and something I found very interesting is that they made an experiment. The experiment consist on putting the kids in 2 different groups the "blue eyed kids'' and the "brown eyed kids, after putting them in different groups they wanted the kids to learn why Acton is different and better, the blue eyed kids they made them more privileged they got more free time they got to use their computers and they even got to choose what to do in the classes. When the other group has less things. They felt like this was very unfair and they switched to the brown eyes that had more privileges. After all, they learned that every kid should be treated equally, and that was a very good lesson even though I think that it was a little too much for the kids.
After a while they were increasing things they did for example, business fairs and different activities but they didn't just grow in that also in studios, the kids grew older and they needed to get into an environment more advanced, bigger.
They started an agora studio and after years launchpad studio. They also talked about how many people from different countries and lands came to them and asked them for permission to start an Acton and one of them was where I go now. Which I am very grateful for. They also got a lot of new students and because, e a bigger community.
After years of being there they got an issue one of their kids Charli didn't want to go there anymore he wanted to go to a normal school but a private one, after their parents one of the reason they started this school was because of them and because of Charli. They told him that they were not going to pay for a private school because they latterly made a school for him that rarely he didn't like we'll then he saw the options in the neighbourhood and he liked some of them, thriving parents agreed that he was going to change school even though they didn't t like the idea. One of his options was a private school and after a long discretion they finally said that they were going to pay for him to be happy. Not more than 3 months after, a long time passed and he decided that he didn't want to go there anymore and at the end of the book he goes to Acton Academy aging because he realises that it is much better.
They have also found out something they never expected the ones from middle school were learning very fast and so do the other they were learning a lot more than normal schools did so the ones from middle schools had a brain from high school and the other classes too they were much advanced that normal kids and that was something very interesting to learn about.
I think that their story was very interesting and it gives a good message of how they started all and all their difficulties they needed to pass though to get to have a nice and beautiful community of Acton Academy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2022
The Origin Story of an Intriguing School: I Look Forward to Seeing Acton in Action
I read this book for, I imagine, the most common reason: my family is deciding whether to enroll our child in an Acton Academy, and this book is required reading for all potential Acton parents!
Brief Synopsis: This book is the origin story of the first-ever Acton Academy (2009) as told from the first-person perspective of Acton co-founder Laura Anderson Sandefer. Sandefer describes her family's disillusionment with traditional schooling options and their decision to start a private Montessori/Jeffersonian/Socratic/online-learning school for their two young children. Embracing various radical shifts to traditional teaching paradigms ("trust the children", "all children are geniuses", etc.), the Acton model succeeds in Austin, garners academic praise, and inspires the creation of other Acton Academies around the world. The book details the story of Acton's founding, outlines Acton's core values, and conveys the Sandefer family's experiences along the way.
*Did Its Job: Ultimately, this book convinced me that I want to give Acton Academy a very serious look. I kind of feel like I need to see it to believe it, but I would love for my child to be in a classroom that lives up to the stories and values outlined in the book. I particularly enjoyed the vignettes about teachers ("guides") manufacturing the emotion and experience of American Independence and systemic racism for elementary schoolers, student-led Socratic discussions (and the commitment to Socratic teaching in general), and the introduction to the Acton apprenticeship model for upper grades. My number one favorite story was when the Elementary Schoolers, fed-up with the Middle Schoolers' lax adherence to Acton policy, "signed a petition asking the middle school Eagles to leave. 'We've elected an ambassador and a commission to deliver the petition.'" How COOL and REAL-WORLD is that?!? It all sounds really exciting! Also, it's made me want to take a closer look at my parenting methods at home--I'd like to model a little more of the "trust the child" paradigm and love them enough to let them fail, learn, and figure out another path forward. I'd like to more fully embrace the title "guide" for myself.
In my opinion, much of the book's language is rather self-righteous with a strong dose of purple prose. The most obvious offending phrase is, "It's quite possible that the fate of a free society--and your children's future--depends on your answer to the question: Will you join us?" That's a little too heady for me but I guess, like I said above, I'll believe it when I see it!
*Notable Quotes:
-"No one should be a teacher unless he or she believes that each child is a genius."
-"We must involve the children in decision making about their learning experiences."
-"The power (of the Socratic method) lies in a commitment not to answer questions at all."
-"I want to be courageous enough to let them fall into chaos until one of the other children steps up to lead."
-"Don't ever make an administrative announcement. Inspire the parents each time you call them together with a commitment to the ideals..."
-(To the children) "No need to ask permission. You are in charge. ... You can call on each other rather than raising your hand to speak."
-"(Children) become infantilized by the testing process."
-"Freedom is ennobling."
-(A question facing all Acton students) "How will I use my gifts and passion to solve a deep, burning need in the world?"
I look forward to applying some of these perspectives and skills in my home, and I'll approach my child's first day of school with open eyes and a hope that the school delivers on these promises.
I read this book for, I imagine, the most common reason: my family is deciding whether to enroll our child in an Acton Academy, and this book is required reading for all potential Acton parents!
Brief Synopsis: This book is the origin story of the first-ever Acton Academy (2009) as told from the first-person perspective of Acton co-founder Laura Anderson Sandefer. Sandefer describes her family's disillusionment with traditional schooling options and their decision to start a private Montessori/Jeffersonian/Socratic/online-learning school for their two young children. Embracing various radical shifts to traditional teaching paradigms ("trust the children", "all children are geniuses", etc.), the Acton model succeeds in Austin, garners academic praise, and inspires the creation of other Acton Academies around the world. The book details the story of Acton's founding, outlines Acton's core values, and conveys the Sandefer family's experiences along the way.
*Did Its Job: Ultimately, this book convinced me that I want to give Acton Academy a very serious look. I kind of feel like I need to see it to believe it, but I would love for my child to be in a classroom that lives up to the stories and values outlined in the book. I particularly enjoyed the vignettes about teachers ("guides") manufacturing the emotion and experience of American Independence and systemic racism for elementary schoolers, student-led Socratic discussions (and the commitment to Socratic teaching in general), and the introduction to the Acton apprenticeship model for upper grades. My number one favorite story was when the Elementary Schoolers, fed-up with the Middle Schoolers' lax adherence to Acton policy, "signed a petition asking the middle school Eagles to leave. 'We've elected an ambassador and a commission to deliver the petition.'" How COOL and REAL-WORLD is that?!? It all sounds really exciting! Also, it's made me want to take a closer look at my parenting methods at home--I'd like to model a little more of the "trust the child" paradigm and love them enough to let them fail, learn, and figure out another path forward. I'd like to more fully embrace the title "guide" for myself.
In my opinion, much of the book's language is rather self-righteous with a strong dose of purple prose. The most obvious offending phrase is, "It's quite possible that the fate of a free society--and your children's future--depends on your answer to the question: Will you join us?" That's a little too heady for me but I guess, like I said above, I'll believe it when I see it!
*Notable Quotes:
-"No one should be a teacher unless he or she believes that each child is a genius."
-"We must involve the children in decision making about their learning experiences."
-"The power (of the Socratic method) lies in a commitment not to answer questions at all."
-"I want to be courageous enough to let them fall into chaos until one of the other children steps up to lead."
-"Don't ever make an administrative announcement. Inspire the parents each time you call them together with a commitment to the ideals..."
-(To the children) "No need to ask permission. You are in charge. ... You can call on each other rather than raising your hand to speak."
-"(Children) become infantilized by the testing process."
-"Freedom is ennobling."
-(A question facing all Acton students) "How will I use my gifts and passion to solve a deep, burning need in the world?"
I look forward to applying some of these perspectives and skills in my home, and I'll approach my child's first day of school with open eyes and a hope that the school delivers on these promises.
May 27, 2021
Book: courage to grow
Author: laura Sandefer
pages: 165
Lexile level: no Lexile level
How it was life-changing for me: it was life-changing for me in a way I didn't know back then. Back then I didn't understand why my parents made an acton academy for me. Now that I read about how the Sanders and how they made a school for their children just like my parents made a school for me. I now realize what stress it took on my parents to just make a school that was right for me and how I could learn at my own pace.
Why Laura Sandfer made this book: She made this book to give an example to the kids, parents, and even other actions in the action academy community.And how an action academy should be. She made this book to prove to everyone that acton academy works even though it's a tough process.
Plot: Charlie and sam were being picked up from their traditional school. Jeff Sandefer was picking them up he met up with his teacher and made a meeting they were graduating from their traditional school. And the teacher was telling jeff that he should get ready for his kids to get used to being glued to a desk all day. When I read this I personally thought of my situation back then.so Jeff went to Laura Sandfer and said we cannot send them to a traditional school where they have no hope nor excitement “they should be leaders,s not mindless children. Then they all sat down at the dinner table eating dinner and started thinking of ways they could make a fun thing for their children then they thought of the children's business fair. They were thinking of different names and charlie thought up the name “the children's business fair” and that proved to laura and jeff that children can think by themselves. Sam made lemonade, charlie made brownies and the homeschoolers made other things. After the children's business fair laura researched more and more about children's learning and eventually came upon lord acton's point of view. There she thought what is a way I can make a school that teaches my kids to become leaders? Then she came up with her school name acton academy. While making acton academy they had stressful times making acton academy even their son leaving their school. but in the end, it was still worth it. And their son charlie realized traditional school is not worth it. but in the end, it was worth it. Now there are over 200 schools around the world using the acton academy ways.
Why I recommend this book:
I recommend this book because it teaches you the right school education, not some public school that brainwashes your kids. And maybe after you read this book you can treat your kids like heroes instead of ignoring them because kids are smart in their own way. Plus it is very influential and overall amazing so I highly recommend this book.
Author: laura Sandefer
pages: 165
Lexile level: no Lexile level
How it was life-changing for me: it was life-changing for me in a way I didn't know back then. Back then I didn't understand why my parents made an acton academy for me. Now that I read about how the Sanders and how they made a school for their children just like my parents made a school for me. I now realize what stress it took on my parents to just make a school that was right for me and how I could learn at my own pace.
Why Laura Sandfer made this book: She made this book to give an example to the kids, parents, and even other actions in the action academy community.And how an action academy should be. She made this book to prove to everyone that acton academy works even though it's a tough process.
Plot: Charlie and sam were being picked up from their traditional school. Jeff Sandefer was picking them up he met up with his teacher and made a meeting they were graduating from their traditional school. And the teacher was telling jeff that he should get ready for his kids to get used to being glued to a desk all day. When I read this I personally thought of my situation back then.so Jeff went to Laura Sandfer and said we cannot send them to a traditional school where they have no hope nor excitement “they should be leaders,s not mindless children. Then they all sat down at the dinner table eating dinner and started thinking of ways they could make a fun thing for their children then they thought of the children's business fair. They were thinking of different names and charlie thought up the name “the children's business fair” and that proved to laura and jeff that children can think by themselves. Sam made lemonade, charlie made brownies and the homeschoolers made other things. After the children's business fair laura researched more and more about children's learning and eventually came upon lord acton's point of view. There she thought what is a way I can make a school that teaches my kids to become leaders? Then she came up with her school name acton academy. While making acton academy they had stressful times making acton academy even their son leaving their school. but in the end, it was still worth it. And their son charlie realized traditional school is not worth it. but in the end, it was worth it. Now there are over 200 schools around the world using the acton academy ways.
Why I recommend this book:
I recommend this book because it teaches you the right school education, not some public school that brainwashes your kids. And maybe after you read this book you can treat your kids like heroes instead of ignoring them because kids are smart in their own way. Plus it is very influential and overall amazing so I highly recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2021
I am rating this book 5 stars out of 5 because I loved reading it, especially learning about how Acton Academy was initiated.
Everything started when Laura and Jeff Sandefer were thinking about what school their children should go to. But they did not like the idea of them being in a traditional school. And there is where Jeff told Laura, “ Laura, I’m done. Charlie and Sam can’t learn without being trapped at a desk all day. We have to find another alternative.”
So that is how they came up with the idea of creating their own school. And they did it, and some parents decided to take the risk with their children as well.
Then they started to think of how to make sure the students are actually learning, so they got the Business Fair idea. And then some more ideas came to like what mascot to use for the school, the eagle bucks, etc.
One of the ideas that interested me a lot is that “The best learning came through being free to explore the world, holding real jobs at an early age, and asking deep questions of mentors.” Acton Academy trusts children because they give us freedom with responsibility and that is their secret ingredient and the reason why we are happy learners and being the heroes of our own Hero's Journey.
Acton started to grow very fast, with many more people applying to get in and Laura was nervous because she didn't know if the school would work with more people because Acton felt like it was a family, but it was working very well and more things were implemented at schools like exhibitions, portfolios, the Awe and many others.
I really liked the story about Charlie’s journey because he didn't want to keep studying on Acton because he felt a lot of pressure of being the leader of High School, and he told her parents that he wanted to go to a traditional school and Laura and Jeff felt sad and frustrated with his decision because it was his journey. Months later Charlie had enough with that system and decided to come back home.
This book changed me as a reader because now I love to hear stories about how new projects came up and I think I want to read biographies about how other businesses formed.
I would recommend this book to all my fellow travelers because I think they all would like to learn about how our school was formed because there is a part in the book because there was a part of book that talked about Guatemala’s Acton Academy.
Everything started when Laura and Jeff Sandefer were thinking about what school their children should go to. But they did not like the idea of them being in a traditional school. And there is where Jeff told Laura, “ Laura, I’m done. Charlie and Sam can’t learn without being trapped at a desk all day. We have to find another alternative.”
So that is how they came up with the idea of creating their own school. And they did it, and some parents decided to take the risk with their children as well.
Then they started to think of how to make sure the students are actually learning, so they got the Business Fair idea. And then some more ideas came to like what mascot to use for the school, the eagle bucks, etc.
One of the ideas that interested me a lot is that “The best learning came through being free to explore the world, holding real jobs at an early age, and asking deep questions of mentors.” Acton Academy trusts children because they give us freedom with responsibility and that is their secret ingredient and the reason why we are happy learners and being the heroes of our own Hero's Journey.
Acton started to grow very fast, with many more people applying to get in and Laura was nervous because she didn't know if the school would work with more people because Acton felt like it was a family, but it was working very well and more things were implemented at schools like exhibitions, portfolios, the Awe and many others.
I really liked the story about Charlie’s journey because he didn't want to keep studying on Acton because he felt a lot of pressure of being the leader of High School, and he told her parents that he wanted to go to a traditional school and Laura and Jeff felt sad and frustrated with his decision because it was his journey. Months later Charlie had enough with that system and decided to come back home.
This book changed me as a reader because now I love to hear stories about how new projects came up and I think I want to read biographies about how other businesses formed.
I would recommend this book to all my fellow travelers because I think they all would like to learn about how our school was formed because there is a part in the book because there was a part of book that talked about Guatemala’s Acton Academy.
April 8, 2021
Courage to grow in an in-depth book about how Acton Academy started and grew to what it is now with schools all across the world. The book began by explaining a husband and wife's struggle to find a schooling system that would best suit their children and family, starting small with less than 10 kids the small group opened a school with the kids in charge of their own learning. The school gives children the opportunity to take their education into their own hands, set guidelines for their fellow classmates, and learn and grow with no teachers, only guides whose job is to watch the kids take responsibility for their education. The age group per studio, which is comparable to classrooms made by the kids, is a broad range as the eagles learn and grow individually. Unlike a traditional school, there are no tests or quizzes giving the students a letter grade of their worth. Instead, there are exhibitions where the kids can show their family and community what they learned first hand. All of the work they do throughout the years is there to prepare the eagles for real life. The book takes place throughout the years showing how not only the kids but the guides learned and changed. By the end of the book, the author explains how they are getting ready for their first graduating class and how big the school has gotten with thousands of applications and others asking to start their own Acton Academy, courage to grow explains how a small family looking for an alternative learning plan took education and flipped it upside down and believed in the children and their families enough to succeed past what they have ever imagined Acton Academy would be. I would recommend this book to everyone in an Acton Academy to learn more about what kind of education they get to experience. Also, I would recommend this book to parents who are hesitant to put their children in traditional school. And lastly, I would recommend courage to grow all teachers in any school system to see other ways children are learning. I think this book could benefit a lot of people on their own hero's journey, it's inspiring to read about the journey in detail of all the ups and downs they encountered and overcame. In the end, courage to grow is definitely worth the read.
April 15, 2021
For my 10th deep book badge, I read Courage to grow. This book is a biography about the obstacles faced with starting a brand new school that goes against the normality of public schools, but not competing against it. It shows the good, and the bad of the start of the school we go to. This helped me gain a deeper understanding of what this school is, and how it has benefited many people my age and younger. The book goes through exactly how Acton started and some experiences they have gone through that have benefited the school as a whole. An example of one of the experiences they talked about in the book is the “Brown/Blues Eyes Experiment.” This experiment was meant to teach the children about racism and segregation by telling the children that a study was released that brown eyes are better than blue eyes. They spent half the day treating the blue eye differently than the brown eyes(which was upsetting to the blue eyes) and then switched and did the same thing to the brown eyes. It was a great way to show the kids how people back then and now would feel about being treated differently. This is a Learner lead experiment that drove the kids to break down and learn from each other. It may sound hard, and it is, but it was an amazing way to learn. Another experience they talked about in the book was when they noticed there was no only for the Eagles to hold each other accountable, they invented a currency system for the Eagles to use. They would take the Eagle bucks people worked hard to get if they were not following the contracts that the studios put in place. Many Eagle bucks were taken very quickly at first, only to have it slow down when others started realizing how important lion bucks were. Lastly, one experience they talked about in the book that stuck with me was the original action owner’s son leaving their school. Their son had gone to the school they built since the beginning, but he was struggling to be happy in his studio. He made the brave and bold decision to leave the school and go to another private school. He left for a couple of months and he was feeling great at the beginning. However, over time the school began to drag him down. He realized he needed to go back to Acton academy if he wanted to truly take control of his journey.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2021
Courage to grow is a very interesting book. The book goes into great detail about how the action academy started and from a standpoint from a guide and a parent. The book is an overall great book and if you are starting or in an action academy I would recommend you read this. My favorite part of the book is when they are starting an action academy because it shows how much they went through and how everything happened. The book goes shows how it is being the owner and a parent and how much you will fail before you will succeed. It also shows that failing is good because you learn from it and how important failing is because when you are an adult you will not have everyone there to help you through everything. It is very good because it shows how different an action academy is from the rest of the schools and just what the school stands for failing before you succeed. Currently, I am a student at an acton academy and just reading this book shows me why I am here and just a better understanding about acton academy. Throughout the entire book, it is very good and you just want to keep reading it. More towards the end of the book it starts to get to where everything starts falling into place. In acton academy, they stand for the students having leadership and the students running the studio. So more towards the end of the book when everything is falling into place it shows how much the guides are not there because they are not there most of the time and know already that the class is going to start like normal and nothing is going to go wrong, that is how much leadership the class has to make everything run smoothly. So this is a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in going to an action academy or who just wants to start their own or anything like that. It was an amazing book and I did not want to stop reading it. Also about the book is that it shows a lot about the school so the school stands for failing and succeeding and learning at your own pace and in the book it tells a lot on how it affected students in different ways than other students.
July 7, 2021
I read The Courage to Grow by Laura A. Sandefer. I would recommend this book to anyone who is just even the tiniest bit interested in Acton schools. I really helped my hero's journey already, helping me have a better understanding of the school I'm attending.
So basically this book tells the roller coaster of a story of the owners of action making the schools. The first half is more about the struggle of getting the school together, but the second half is a lot more focused on the owner's children and their own personal journey. Whether it be with or without acton, the kids are more of the focus through the book more than anything. With short and easy-to-read "chapters" the courage to grow is a very educational book that for me, a fourteen-year-old boy, was a bit hard to read. I found myself dragging my feet when I was trying to get myself to read more and more pages. In the end, I was happy that I read it though. The book starts with a short introduction to the Sandefers the founding family of acton. It was an average family, mom, dad, and two sons. Worried about their son's education, dad has an Idea. He wanted a way of learning that was extremely hands-on. Something that made learning exciting. Something that was ruled by the children. So he created acton. His children, throughout the course of the book, would continuously join and leave acton academy. The book is truly a heartwarming story about life and growth in these young boys. The book gets emotional at the end. It is a book that some might say you can cry to, only because it is so real. It feels like a documentary because of how much it talks about and explains their personal life. All the while going in-depth about the school. Overall I would recommend this, it's a great educational read for people pursuing the action academy lifestyle. through, I would recommend it to anyone who reads casually, because all of the information would be irrelevant to them, making the book a really boring read.
So basically this book tells the roller coaster of a story of the owners of action making the schools. The first half is more about the struggle of getting the school together, but the second half is a lot more focused on the owner's children and their own personal journey. Whether it be with or without acton, the kids are more of the focus through the book more than anything. With short and easy-to-read "chapters" the courage to grow is a very educational book that for me, a fourteen-year-old boy, was a bit hard to read. I found myself dragging my feet when I was trying to get myself to read more and more pages. In the end, I was happy that I read it though. The book starts with a short introduction to the Sandefers the founding family of acton. It was an average family, mom, dad, and two sons. Worried about their son's education, dad has an Idea. He wanted a way of learning that was extremely hands-on. Something that made learning exciting. Something that was ruled by the children. So he created acton. His children, throughout the course of the book, would continuously join and leave acton academy. The book is truly a heartwarming story about life and growth in these young boys. The book gets emotional at the end. It is a book that some might say you can cry to, only because it is so real. It feels like a documentary because of how much it talks about and explains their personal life. All the while going in-depth about the school. Overall I would recommend this, it's a great educational read for people pursuing the action academy lifestyle. through, I would recommend it to anyone who reads casually, because all of the information would be irrelevant to them, making the book a really boring read.
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April 12, 2021Courage to grow review:
The book I read was courage to grow. It's a life changing book that could possibly change the way you view the world, I would say that it would be considered really good deep if you are invested into reading it, but I think that stands for all deep books anyway. I enjoyed the book which is very rare for me because I don't read much and even when I do I hate the book. Courage to grow, just by listening to the way they speak and the way things work in the school is interesting. All the students gather around for their discussion making every point precise their all on their hero's journey. I definitely recommend this book to anyone that reads my review. It's a very well written book and it's interspersed with passion and you can just hear the emotion in the narrator's voice. The only other book I've enjoyed was a book called ashfall, it's about a super volcano erupting but that's a whole different story although in my interests in books it could be compared with courage to grow. I don't know what other people's reaction would be to this book but mine was just a thought. I was thinking about how the book and how the people in the book were living it sounded interesting in the beginning so I just kept reading until it was finished. If you're ever looking for a life changing book to read try out courage to grow. It's just about a school that isn't like other schools it offers more freedom than you might even think. Read courage to grow, and to sum it up it's a life changing book that could interest almost anyone if you look at it with passion. Read it.
The book I read was courage to grow. It's a life changing book that could possibly change the way you view the world, I would say that it would be considered really good deep if you are invested into reading it, but I think that stands for all deep books anyway. I enjoyed the book which is very rare for me because I don't read much and even when I do I hate the book. Courage to grow, just by listening to the way they speak and the way things work in the school is interesting. All the students gather around for their discussion making every point precise their all on their hero's journey. I definitely recommend this book to anyone that reads my review. It's a very well written book and it's interspersed with passion and you can just hear the emotion in the narrator's voice. The only other book I've enjoyed was a book called ashfall, it's about a super volcano erupting but that's a whole different story although in my interests in books it could be compared with courage to grow. I don't know what other people's reaction would be to this book but mine was just a thought. I was thinking about how the book and how the people in the book were living it sounded interesting in the beginning so I just kept reading until it was finished. If you're ever looking for a life changing book to read try out courage to grow. It's just about a school that isn't like other schools it offers more freedom than you might even think. Read courage to grow, and to sum it up it's a life changing book that could interest almost anyone if you look at it with passion. Read it.
September 17, 2024
An eye-opening inspiration on what a one room schoolhouse of the 21st century can be. Laura Sandefer's passion for learning and mentoring pours out of these pages, carrying this reader along for a thrilling journey through the history and tenets of Acton Academy.
Something I'm holding onto from this book: "We believe in learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be."
The most important thing I've taken away from this book is that education is a story. The teacher is the guide, the mentor to the Hero (student), and it is only through the facilitation of the Hero's own development of critical reasoning and a sense of self that the guide is successful - thus, Acton emphasizes rigorous student-directed study, and does not have lectures at all but begins and ends every day with Socratic teaching. That is, hard questions which dignify the student's responsibility to wrestle with them, and to discuss and disagree among themselves.
There are many great stories of giving the students a sense of agency in this book. There are also some examples of the hardships this countercultural form of education meets. Most importantly, this book gets to the thrilling purpose of education: learning to become. For Acton Academy, it began with the first phrase of the Contract these students were led to write and learn by: "I am on a Hero's Journey."
Highly recommended. Life changing book, this one.
Something I'm holding onto from this book: "We believe in learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be."
The most important thing I've taken away from this book is that education is a story. The teacher is the guide, the mentor to the Hero (student), and it is only through the facilitation of the Hero's own development of critical reasoning and a sense of self that the guide is successful - thus, Acton emphasizes rigorous student-directed study, and does not have lectures at all but begins and ends every day with Socratic teaching. That is, hard questions which dignify the student's responsibility to wrestle with them, and to discuss and disagree among themselves.
There are many great stories of giving the students a sense of agency in this book. There are also some examples of the hardships this countercultural form of education meets. Most importantly, this book gets to the thrilling purpose of education: learning to become. For Acton Academy, it began with the first phrase of the Contract these students were led to write and learn by: "I am on a Hero's Journey."
Highly recommended. Life changing book, this one.
November 9, 2023
I think that this book changed me because I learned about how Acton started and what motivated my Mom and Dad to start an Acton, it also changed me because it made me think about new things that we can add/do to make our studio better. I would recommend this book to Irie because I think that she would really enjoy it and it would help her really get motivated about her work and Acton (more than she already is). Laura Sandefer is the first person to ever open an Acton Academy and was the one to come up with Acton Academy. The impact of this book is, it motivated so many people to start an Acton or go to an Acton. My major questions about the book would be how is the original Acton doing now and also how did she get all of the information about everything all the people said. This book is nonfiction. The main characters are Charlie, Sam, Jeff, and Laura Sandefer. The plot is how Acton Academy started. My observations about the book and the style is was a book with a lot of things people said, mentors and stuff like that. Also it was written in the first person.
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