courtesy of Shutterstock

Legacy Christian Academy's Middle School
"Practical Life Skills" Course is Today's "Shop Class"
The once-standard "Shop Class," where middle and high school students learned essential basics and life skills, has all but disappeared from our current public educational system's curriculum. At Legacy Christian Academy, however, the "Practical Life Skills" course offered to middle schoolers provides students with the opportunity to master basic principles of electricity and aerodynamics; bridge building; car care; general construction and carpentry; house maintenance and safety; and much more.
Instructor Steve Killian, a retired owner and operator of a well-respected construction and plumbing company, has crafted a hands-on course where Legacy learners are able to problem solve in real time. Whether they are involved in a hands-on lab creating parallel and series electrical circuits or testing the weight-bearing capacity of a bridge they drafted and engineered themselves, Legacy middle schoolers are learning how to use tools safely while completing wood constructions, plumbing, car maintenance and more.
"Legacy is committed to preparing students for the realities of tomorrow," says Legacy's Head of School for Middle and High School Matt Millett. "Our accelerated academic curriculum pairs perfectly with hands-on elective classes that help Legacy learners directly apply abstract concepts to real-world problems."
Customized tours of Legacy Christian Academy's elementary, middle and high school programs are available. Legacy Christian Academy 257-7377

There's a Tuition-free Transformational Education Model for Every Child
For 15 years, iLEAD Schools' tuition-free, public charter schools have designed and implemented a transformational education model focused on personalized, project-based and social-emotional learning with two seat-based options to choose from in the Santa Clarita Valley.
SCVi, iLEAD's founding school on the west side of Santa Clarita, offers Dual-Language Immersion, award-winning arts education, International Baccalaureate and aerospace-focused learning. iLEAD Agua Dulce, on the east side of Santa Clarita, offers the International Baccalaureate career programme (IBCP), a state-of-the-art exploratorium, outdoor classrooms and a farm-to-table garden program.
iLEAD Exploration Hybrid provides homeschool families with a credentialed teacher (facilitator) who assigns and creates a customized, individualized learning plan each year based on grade-level standards and the learner's passions. Instructional funds are used to support and enhance each learner's education.
All three schools are proudly accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). At iLEAD Schools, they are passionate about project-based learning because it goes to the very heart of how students learn. They want their learners to think for themselves.
For more information on iLEAD Schools, log on. ileadschools.org

That's so Cool!
SCVi, iLEAD Agua Dulce & iLEAD Exploration Biology Experiments Launched to Space
After this month, the study of plants will never be the same for young minds at SCVi, iLEAD Agua Dulce and iLEAD Exploration, all part of the iLEAD Public Charter School Network. On November 5, their experiments to determine whether certain plants can grow in space were included as part of a SpaceX mission bound for the International Space Station.
"It was a remarkable and memorable experience to support the learner teams, led by their amazing facilitators, as they prepared the experiments that will be launched to the International Space Station," says Kathleen Fredette, director of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) Initiatives for iLEAD Schools. "This represents learners working together for over a year to accomplish this goal - to actually send something to space!"