Our Method
Education for us is about going back to go forward. We return to proven methods from the past that have shaped scholars for centuries through a classical approach while moving forward with creative and innovative methods that make learning come alive.
At Innovate Academy, we partner with families who are actively raising children to be Jesus followers, rooted and grounded in the Word of God. In partnership with parents, we focus on three distinct ways that children retain education — by learning with their head, understanding with their heart, and experiencing with their hands.
Head
"We believe children are contemplative and creative beings, uniquely wired and equipped for a good purpose and that exposure to the classical approach will fuel their growth mindset."
- Innovate Academy
The end goal of Classical education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue. Our classical approach seeks to develop scholars who learn how to think critically (contemplating the true, the good, and the beautiful), gaining wisdom and virtue in the process. Our Trivium model considers how the brain naturally develops through three stages of learning: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Using an integrated approach to curriculum, we combine time-period history with literature, art, music, theology, and more. As questions emerge, we implement Socratic Teaching in order to develop effective communicators who can contemplate a variety of complex ideas. This prepares scholars well for civil discourse in the marketplace.
Heart
"We believe children learn best when hearts are fueled with a healthy lifestyle of emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness, empowering lifelong habits of the virtue." - Innovate Academy
Rather than focusing on the intellect alone, we nurture the whole child — spiritually, physically, and emotionally — which creates passionate, whole-hearted learners. Spiritual formation through scripture meditation, study, and prayer will help renew minds and transform hearts to shape each scholar's identity and purpose. The Schole-method, also known as restful learning, allows scholars to enjoy learning through a sense of wonder and contemplation, as stories of heroes, saints, and villains, both fact and fiction, are creatively connected to their own stories. Wellness classes include social and emotional skills, a growth mindset, nutrition and gardening, and all of these are integrated into the schedule in order to form life-long habits of virtue.
Hands
"We believe that children learn best through experience and are capable of serving their community at a young age as innovative culture makers." - Innovate Academy
We inspire scholars to discover their spiritual gifts and strengths and live them out through service learning projects. We teach character and competency skills as they grow in entrepreneurial leadership, working together on service projects connected to their studies. We believe that hands-on learning and STEAM-based education is important, not only for developing virtue, but in order for learning to have an impact and be remembered. As our local Philadelphian hero, Benjamin Franklin, once stated: “Tell me and I'll forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand.”