• Absolutely not! This is why the home days are so important. Students are taught new instructional concepts by their CGA teachers, and parents help to reinforce the content at home by carrying out home assignments given by teachers. Students are expected to complete all home assignments and come to school with completed work, ready to participate and discuss what they are learning. 

You can read this helpful article by ACCS to learn more about the differences 

• Yes! We are adding on a grade each year until we serve grades K-12.

• CGA wants to create a learning environment that provides the most avenues for success for each of its students. At the same time, it is important to be wise stewards of our limited resources as a small start-up school and to confirm that our standards are meaningful and that our grades are accurate. In seeking to balance these goals, we can offer a small number of meaningful accommodations for students with learning differences. Examples include audio books alongside written text, special seating arrangements, extra time on assessments, and spelling and handwriting accommodations. In order to be eligible for accommodations, students should have a diagnosis by a qualified professional on file with the school.

• As a new start-up school with no athletic facilities, we have limited abilities to offer sports. We do have a growing Cross Country team that is functioning as a running club this year, with plans to run competitively in the 2022-23 school year. Our students are well-rounded, and on the hybrid schedule, have time to devote to many extracurricular activities, sports included, through club teams and by participating as homeschoolers on school teams. 

• No, we are not. Our teachers and families come from a variety of church backgrounds. Our unifying characteristic is that we are an unapologetically Gospel-teaching, Christ-centered school. 

• No, we are an “open enrollment” school, which means that families do not have to be professing Christians to enroll their children at CGA. However, Cypress Grove Academy teaches and upholds traditional Christian morality and the Bible as the divinely inspired word of God. It is who we are. We warmly welcome families of other faiths, while asking that all students and their families respect our distinctive Christian identity and historical Christian moral values. In all our instructions we are respectful of other faiths, while humbly maintaining the truths of our Christian faith. By applying for enrollment parents are stating that they understand that we are a Christian school and agree to respect our faith and Christian identity. Students will not be accepted for enrollment at CGA until parents have signed that they have read our statement of faith, understand that the way we teach is deeply informed by this statement of faith, and agree to not be antagonistic concerning the historical Christian identity of the school. 

• While we do not require enrolling families to be Gospel-believing Christians, in order to carry out the mission and vision of this school, our staff and teachers must be Christians who espouse the historical, broadly evangelical beliefs as stated in our statement of faith and must be active participants of the Body of Christ through a local church or seeking to become a part of a local church. 

Partnering in authority. The atmosphere at Cypress Grove Academy is loving and structured. We believe all children are created in the image of God, and we deeply respect the uniqueness of their personalities. All children are prone to misbehavior on occasion, so we don’t expect anyone to be perfect. We do expect parents to support our teachers and administration as we lovingly but firmly discipline children who choose to violate school rules, just as you discipline your children when they violate your rules at home. If you value a partnership with a school that will uphold high standards of decorum and godliness, that will call students to repentance rather than stopping at behavior modification, CGA may be a great fit. 

Partnering in academics. In addition, CGA, like other classical schools, is recognized for the academic standards we uphold. Our curriculum is robust and requires intentional, focused diligence from both students and their parents. Parents should be committed to their own lifelong learning. For the collaborative model to work, parents are called upon to be actively involved with their children as they do their home assignments, especially at the younger grade levels. We believe that this individualized attention is a critical investment in your child’s future and prepares them for a lifetime of learning. If you are serious about finding an educational partner with you in preparing your children for the life God has for them and are a willing learner yourself, CGA may be a good fit for your family. This quote from Christopher Perrin sums up the role of the parent in classical Christian Education: “Parents at classical schools do not assume that education is the school’s responsibility. They understand that the school is assisting them to fulfill their responsibility. Many parents choose to classically educate their children at home; these parents are certainly taking their education responsibility to heart. However, most parents have themselves not been classically educated. We are, after all, recovering something that has been neglected for at least two generations. So parents are learning along with their children. Many a parent at our school is studying Latin along with his or her third grader; many parents are finally learning English grammar, or studying logic. As you can imagine, this kind of collaboration and commitment among parents, teachers and students involves a good bit of hard work. Parents in our schools think this labor is worth the prize, not only for their children but for themselves. To varying degrees, we are all trying to get the education we were not given.”

Partnering in cultivating a love of learning. Our culture often sends the message that the primary purpose of education is to prepare future workers for the marketplace. Classical Christian educators, however, understand that God has designed human beings, His image bearers, to be curious and to want to understand and impact the world around them. Through the classical model, students don’t just memorize facts for tests, but they learn to understand and think logically about the world around them and to express their thoughts creatively and persuasively. With the classical approach, students are not simply prepared to pursue a successful career, but the whole person is educated to pursue a deeply satisfying life. As Neil Postman writes, “Schooling can be about how to make a life, which is quite different from how to make a living.” If you are interested in an education that reaches beyond training to enrich the minds and the spirits of students as they learn to love learning, then you should consider CGA.