The Hero's Journey is a concept coined by famed mythologist Joseph Campbell. It involves a Hero (in this case, your young Learner), an Adventure (a new way of learning, and their calling), and faces a metaphorical dragon (a decisive crisis of some sort), and comes home transformed.

When it's applied to our lives--it's all about daring something great. Imagine Academy is committed to equipping each of its Heroes with the tools needed to find their calling so that they can change the world...and we truly take this Mission seriously.

We aren't a religious school. We welcome everyone and may talk about our own beliefs while respecting everyone else's as well. We will be doing a lot of Quests and projects and our Learners can choose to study areas that are important to them. We encourage our Heroes to follow their "Calling," and if that includes religion then they can do that.

We accept Heroes from Age 4 (but they need to be completely 'potty trained' all the way through 18 year-olds in High School (we call it 'Launch Pad').

And...man, oh, man is this great for them!

I'm Chip Franks, author of the book, "Life Lessons from Dad: 101 Ways to Get More From Life (From Someone Who Loves You)," I'm an entrepreneur, having owned two real estate companies, and a podcaster (The ChipChat Podcast, found pretty much everywhere).

More importantly than that, I'm a dad. I have three children, from a 21 year-old daughter medical student, to a 9 year-old precious boy with Down Syndrome. I saw the difference that Acton Academy made in my younger daughter's life. She went from literally crying every day in Middle School to thriving and LOVING learning when she moved from a (highly rated) public school to an Acton Academy. I wanted that kind of transformation for my son, and for other families in the Temple/Belton area.

I applied to open my own Acton Academy, which less than 2% of applicants are actually granted the opportunity. I was approved in April of 2021 and am opening in June of 2021.

Our school calendar is set up in 5- to 6- week sprints that are defined by Quests, or real-world projects. We usually follow those periods of hard work with a week off to recharge and enjoy time as a family.

You can find this year's calendar here.

Attendance at Imagine is never mandatory, and you'll never be asked for a doctor's note. If we do, you have permission to put us in a headlock and give us a noogie.

There will also be about a month and a half off for Summer.

Our school has a "soft" start at 8:30 am where we engage in an optional "Miracle Morning," routine, and our Socratic Circle Discussion for all age groups begin at 9 am sharp.

We end at approximately 3:45 pm each day.

We also have optional early drop-off and late pick-up (currently from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm) available for an additional cost (to pay the Guide who is staying). Talk to us if that's something you're wanting or needing!

We are currently accepting children from four years old to 17- or 18 year-old High Schoolers (we call them Launch Pad).

We're looking for a match with both the Hero and their family with our school. Both the parents and the child need to be "on board," with our rather unique way of cultivating smart, resourceful, unusually kind, gritty, and persistent individuals with character to spare. When you talk with us, you'll know if this is for you--or not.

We absolutely love curious, good-hearted Heroes. They will work hard and play hard with us and will learn a lot about self-motivation and beings in charge of their own learning. If they're active, that's great. They'll know if this is for them when they spend a day or two with us.

When families apply for Imagine Academy, we want to meet the parents and the Hero and we can see if this is a great match.

Well, yes.

There are now over 300+ Acton Academies across the world. Many of the Learners at these schools end up averaging at about 2-3 grade levels above their public school counterparts.

Many of the Learners literally test out of high school by the time they finish Middle School at Acton and spend quite a bit of their school time doing apprenticeships with several businesses and career choices.

This is all part of our promise to help each Hero find a calling to change the world.

More importantly, they will finish our Imagine Academy as being smart, resourceful, unusually kind, and gritty (persistent) people with some spectacular learning experiences. Some Acton Launch Padders (our version of High School) have worked at SpaceX, and gone to Hollywood to follow their Calling of working in the movie industry!

If you'd like to see the type of human being that graduates from an Acton, check out my interview with some of them on our Resources page!

Our tuition for the 2022-2023 school year is $695/month, for 11 months of the year (the months we're in session).

We have multiple children discounts to make it easier on larger families. We really want the right families and Heroes here, as it makes this a better experience for everyone.

Note: there are very few scholarships available, but you are welcome to talk with us about them.