Non-traditional school = Non-traditional schedule
A few benefits we think you'll appreciate about our unique schedule:
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Allows children to unwind after working fervently in their learning process.
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Allows families to travel or spend more quality time together.
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Coincides with many of the break periods given to the Twin Falls School District.
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Reduces the approximate 3 months of learning-gain that is lost over an extended summer break.
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Reduced burnout for both students and guides (teachers).
2024-2025 Calendar
Exhibitions are VERY important! This is when your hero(es) get to show their families and community what they have been working so hard on over the last session. Students plan and execute the evening from the schedule and roles to refreshments and activities. The heroes look forward to this day from the first day of the session. Knowing that families are coming to inspect their work also helps them try their best in their endeavors.
Please plan on attending!
2025-2026 Calendar
Green means GO. School is back in session.
Yellow = Slow down and come to Exhibition Night.
Stop and enjoy a break
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Session Quest Topics
2025-2026
Spark: Ages 3 - 6 (typically pre-k), Ignite: Ages 7 - 11 (typically elementary), Nova: 12 - 14 (typically middle school), Heroes = students
Ages are an average but flexible based on the child's readiness.
#1 - Build the Tribe & Friendship
Sparks, Ignites & Novas
The Build the Tribe Quest is the first quest each year. It is repeated every year because each group of learners is different, and they will need to share these foundational experiences with each “tribe” they are in. It is important to establish a tight-knit community from the beginning because, as a learner-driven studio, the learners will be relying on each other for support, constructive feedback and accountability throughout the year together.
Novas also dive into:
An often overlooked but essential skill needed in the real world; how to make friends. While some take the passive approach of making friendships as they come, a Hero makes conscious choices. By the end of the Quest, Acton learners will have taken a deep and honest assessment of their current relationships, created a personal strategy for cultivating the type and quantity of friendships they want in their lives and explored how to be a friend to others.
#2 - Physics: Newton's Toy Shop,
Travel & Historical Speech
Sparks & Ignites
On this quest, heroes use physics to design toys. They take on the title of “scientist” as they explore concepts in physics such as gravity, thrust, momentum, displacement, elasticity and mechanical advantage. As toy designers, they tackle different challenges each week that provide a tactile understanding of physics.
Novas
This session challenges the heroes to write and present the speech of a hero standing in a significant location where they have planned a trip to visit.
Goal of Historical Speech Genre: Practice calling an audience to action, an important skill for all Heroes.
#3 Entrepreneurship,
Art/Creativity
Sparks & Ignites
The purpose of the E-Ship Quest is to equip heroes with skills, tools, and frameworks needed to start a business. The quest has three main goals for Heroes:
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To learn more about themselves and what they love
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To learn as much about entrepreneurship as possible
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To create a business to operate at the Mini-Market Exhibition
Novas
Are artists discovered or created? What is art? Is art valuable? Heroes are on a journey to answer these questions through deliberate practice of art and careful studying of artistic heroes and their works.
Goals: Study the foundations of drawing and technique and make an educated decision about a specialty or niche to study further and make a deliberate practice of as you work towards a public showcase and gallery art sale of your own works.
#4 - The same topics continue from session #3
After Thanksgiving break, heroes return to complete their topics of study for a final Christmas exhibition showcase.
#5 - Myths, Greeks & Athons
Sparks
Heroes embark on a mystical adventure learning famous fables, myths and legends.
Ignites
Heroes become citizens living in Ancient Greece. Using their imaginations, they enter into Acton Athens as their chosen avatars (Greek mythological characters) and explore the city by completing challenges in different areas.
Novas
During this session Heroes explore ancient Athens – looking at the foundations of democracy, evolution of philosophy, the ethics of the trial of Socrates and the heritage of Greek mythology.
Heroes will become prosecutors, defendants, jury members and Socratic question Olympians tackling questions like: Will you remain true to your convictions even unto death? Are all ideals worth dying for or only some of them? Where does authority come from? Is it created, given or taken? Is Socrates a guilty traitor or an innocent old philosopher?
Beyond the courtroom, Heroes write a Greek myth patterned after those of ancient Greece.
#6 - Robots, Humans & Biology
Sparks
What makes humans different than robots.
Ignites
Heroes embark on a journey to learn the basics of coding, a journey that culminates in a real-life exploration of the world of robotics.
Novas
Heroes are exposed to challenges and games concerning a different part of Biology – from the tiniest of organisms to systems that affect our entire planet and from the dawn of time to the latest scientific breakthroughs. In addition, they will research and explore the lives of Biology heroes, the process of discovery and paradigm shifts.
#7 - Gardening and Plant Science & Medical and Research Funding
Spark & Ignite
Eagles become gardeners, and they take on the title of “scientist” as they explore plant science, including cellular biology, photosynthesis, decomposition, capillary action, germination, and pollination. As gardeners, they take on the responsibilities of planning, building, and raising a garden, then observing it and maintaining it with diligence.
Nova
Heroes will work both as a medical researcher and as a practicing physician diagnosing real cases.
As a medical researcher, heroes will write and present a 500-750 word speech asking for more funding to cure a particular disease. In this speech, heroes will use: Pathos by invoking the story of a real person who has the disease; Logos by arguing logically why more funding per case is needed; and Ethos by standing in the shoes of a real researcher explaining scientifically how a cure might be possible.
Separately, heroes will also work as part of a team constructing a video, drawing, or model of one of the systems of the human body.
Finally, heroes will assume the role of Gregory House, MD, a famous diagnostician TV character modeled after Sherlock Holmes. As Dr. House, heroes will study how medicine is practiced and eventually work in a team of “doctors” learning to query patients and diagnose cases.
#8 - Etymology & Embracing Life and Facing Death
Sparks
Heroes become entomologists and take on the title of “scientist” as they explore life in the undergrowth, the critical relationships between insects and humans, the harsh truths and beauty of life cycles and the complex classification of life.
Novas
Heroes will dive deep into what it means to die, biologically, spiritually, how death is taken into account in the medical field and how we can truly embrace life, and when the time comes, face death. The grand finale to the 3-part exploration of biology.
Session Quest Topics
2024-2025
#1 - Prediction
On this first quest of the year, Heroes explore tools and processes that may help them in the year ahead. They are on a quest to prepare themselves as best they can for their Hero’s Journey.
The questions Heroes grapple with on this quest include:
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Does the past determine the future?
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Do you believe in fate or self-determination?
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Which of the following things best describes success?
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Happiness
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The amount you know/learn
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Strength
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Health
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Accomplishments
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Something else
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Which of the following skills is most important for determining your own success?
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Knowing yourself
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Knowing how to work with others
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Knowing how to strategize
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Knowing how to analyze
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Knowing how to measure
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#2 - Photography
This quest is meant to:
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Teach a life-long, versatile, skill that can be used every day of one's life.
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Teach the power of perspective.
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More fully enjoy and appreciate one's journey through life through memories caught "on film."
#3 -Growing Curiosity
Growing Curiosity is a learner-led quest in which the oldest learners, called “Quest Leaders,” take turns leading a week of hands-on challenges focused on a specific topic of their choice in order to “grow” the curiosity of others. Then, after growing their curiosity about several different topics, Heroes in the studio get to dive deeply into one topic of their choice during the last weeks of the Growing Curiosity quest.
#4 - Chess
The goal of this quest is to allow the Heroes to experience the benefits of playing Chess firsthand, and to apply those skills to other parts of their lives as well.
The benefits of regularly playing chess are plentiful and include: increase in strategic thinking, creativity, foresight & planning, memory, reading skills, and communication
#5 - Wars in our History
This quest is meant to:
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Equip Heroes with tools and confidence that will help them throughout the year and on their Hero’s Journey.
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Equip Heroes with a deeper understanding of self and others.
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Instill a deeper understanding of working on a team and the the value of collaboration.
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Inspire an appreciation for process and intentionality.
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Inspire a deep curiosity of the Hero’s Journey through heroes’ stories.
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Create laws and guidelines to govern their studio.
#6 - Agriculture
In this study of agriculture, Heroes will increase their knowledge of crop and livestock production, aquaculture and fisheries in order to reduce the divide between farm and table.
Heroes will become more self sustaining by growing their own food and animals on campus while studying science through cell models, butterfly habitats, plant mazes and more.
#7 - Cartography
On this quest, Heroes become modern-day Magellans: cartographers and explorers attempting to circumnavigate the globe. Along the way, Heroes collect clues that lead them on a trip to their final destination, a trip outside of the U.S.A. to serve a less fortunate community.
Although the location will not be revealed to the Heroes until they figure out the clues, Heroes will be able to communicate with local leaders, asses needs and plan a service project to complete during the break following the session.
(May 19-25-ish; exact dates to be set.)
#8 - Mechanics
Through an introductory course on auto mechanics, Heroes will learn:
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The basic parts of an engine while assembling their own movable engine
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Car maintenance and problems
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How to analyze and solve real-world problems
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Tool names and how to use them
2023-2024
#1 - Team Building
This quest is meant to:
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Equip Heroes with tools and confidence that will help them throughout the year and on their Hero’s Journey.
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Equip Heroes with a deeper understanding of self and others.
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Instill a deeper understanding of working on a team and the the value of collaboration.
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Inspire an appreciation for process and intentionality.
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Inspire a deep curiosity of the Hero’s Journey through heroes’ stories.
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Create laws and guidelines to govern their studio.
#2 A. - Safety in the World
This quest is meant to educate heroes about the dangers they're faced with today and how to protect themselves and others around them.
Topics to be explored are:
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CPR
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Internet safety
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Self defense
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Fire
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Water
#2 B.- Food Preservation (Ignite studio)
A mini morning quest will be added to Quest 2.
Just in time for harvest, the food preservation quest will allow heroes to explore the health and satisfaction of preserving their own food, a life skill that brings peace of mind.
# 3 - History
This quest takes the Acton Academy Twin Falls (AATF) heroes through John Campbell's Hero's Journey framework in a way that is hard to surpass. AATF Heroes dive into the lives of ordinary men who, through struggles, triumphs, collaboration with others and what some might consider divine inspiration, become heroes in their own life's story and heroes to the lives of many in the country they shaped.
The lives to be learned from include:
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
Benjamin Franklin
# 4 - Art
This quest will expose Heroes to different types of art such as:
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Jewelry
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Sewing
#5 - Dance
In this quest we will explore the history and culture of dance around the world. The students will also learn the following dances:
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Ballroom
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Country Swing
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Line Dances
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Hip hop
#6 - Detective
The goals of this quest are:
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Scientific thinking: To practice experimental design, asking great questions, paying attention to detail, developing theories, coming up with and testing hypotheses, and thinking critically.
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Biology and genetics: To introduce themselves to basic biology and genetics used in a real-life context.
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Collaboration: To practice communicating and working productively as a team.
# 7 - Edison's Lab
This quest will transform the school into a mini science lab where each child will become a scientist. They will conduct experiments, write patents, and consider the cost of their
experiments.
The goals of this quest include:
● Discovering the joy of experimentation
● Developing a tolerance for ambiguity and problem-solving skills
● Understanding the difference between invention and innovation, and understanding what
traits are necessary to be an innovator
● Inspiring an appreciation for scientific breakthroughs and how we got to now
● Developing organizational and documentation skills
● Facing and overcoming failure
#8 - Business
In this Quest will help Heroes seek to find and create a business that is right for them.
The purpose of this Quest is to equip the Heroes with skills, tools, and
frameworks needed to start a business. The quest has three main goals for Heroes:
● To learn more about themselves and what they love
● To learn as much about entrepreneurship as possible
● To create a business to present at the Trade Show (Quest Exhibition) or (if applicable) to
launch and sell at a Children’s Business Fair.
2022-2023
Prediction & Team Building
This quest is meant to help:
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Equip Heroes with tools and confidence that will help them throughout the year and on their Hero’s Journey
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Equip Heroes with a deeper understanding of self and others
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Instill a deeper understanding of working on a team and the the value of collaboration
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Inspire an appreciation for process and intentionality
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Inspire a deep curiosity of the Hero’s Journey through heroes’ stories
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Create laws and guidelines to govern their studio by
Music Journey
On this quest, Heroes will unlock their inner musicians as they discover beats and rhythm, the piano, and the ukulele. At the end of this journey Heroes will create their own solo master piece or join as a band to showcase their new discovered skills.
Colonial Acton
Heroes imagine that Acton Academy is a British colony. They must pay taxes to King George and are subject to royal proclamations and taxes. To end Colonial Acton, Heroes must draft a Declaration of Independence.
Not to include the preschool/kindergarten studio.
Putting themselves in the shoes of frustrated British colonists being ruled by King George gives Heroes an opportunity to:
• Feel the resentment and frustration of having to obey a distant and seemingly unfair ruler who knows little about their way of life;
• Understand the need to compromise and join together as one in order to have any hope for winning a war against a larger power; and
• Weigh the possible outcomes of two choices and make a decision with real-life consequences.
The Human Body
Take a trip through the human body and discover the wonders of the following systems:
Cardiovascular
Digestion
Endocrine
Immune
Nervous
Respiratory
Life in Athens
In this quest, students become heroes living in Ancient Greece. Using their imaginations, they enter into life in Athens and explore the city by completing challenges in different areas.
The goals of this quest:
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To ignite a curiosity about the world and civilizations that came before us
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To inspire real debate about philosophical concepts
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To explore the roots of Western civilization
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To find joy in combining artistic creativity with core skills
Geography & Culture
This quest is meant to expose Heroes to geography and diverse cultures, helping them become more informed citizens of the world.
They will create a National Geographic-type magazine about locations and cultures they explore.
Architecture
In this quest, Heroes play the role of architects designing ideal school buildings. Challenges take Heroes through the process of: research, design (drafting/sketching), and construction (model building). Heroes will learn about architecture as a calling, scaling and applied mathematics, precision and attention to detail, and working within creative constraints.
Animal Keeper
This quest places Heroes in the shoes of an animal keeper. During the quest, Heroes will assess the enrichment needs of animals in a local shelter. After creating an accepted proposal, Heroes will build enrichment activities for the animals. They will also create “information” cards for visitors or families who might be adopting the animals.
Game Design
Heroes will have the opportunity to learn about game design, experimental vs. theoretical probability, calculating probability, elements of game design, attention to detail, and working with customer feedback.
The goals of this quest include:
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Introducing the Heroes to game design as a calling and the heroes who chose it
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Inspiring a love of design and creation
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Inspiring a curiosity about probability in the real world
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Instilling a deeper understanding of the iteration process and the importance of taking a deliberate path towards excellence
Survivor
Heroes will explore the basic needs of human survival, water cycle, fire, navigation, knot-tying, first aid and plant identification. They'll explore and understand the differences between a “want” and a “need” and put themselves into new, challenging situations that push them to the edge of their challenge zones. In the exploration of self identity and self-knowledge as a basic human need, Heroes will learn their Love Language, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the traits they love most about themselves.
2021-2022
Team Building & Communication
Heroes become acquainted with each other, learning each other's strengths; as well as how to communicate and work together to build a strong community. They begin to create laws and guidelines that govern their studios.
Experiencing History:
US Citizenship
In this quest, Heroes immerse themselves in the history of immigration in the United States and experience what it’s like to be someone seeking to become a naturalized citizen. Through a series of challenges, they assume the role of immigrant and prepare for a naturalization test as well as learn about America's government and laws.
Laws of Physics: Newton’s Toy Workshop
On this quest, Eagles use physics to become toy designers. They take on the title of “scientist” as they explore concepts in physics such as gravity, thrust, momentum, displacement, elasticity, and mechanical advantage. As toy designers, they take on the different challenges each week that provide a tactile understanding of physics.
Jacques Cousteau Marine Science
Eagles take on the title of NASA Earth Explorer as they examine the following questions: What is life like in the ocean and how is it interconnected? Is it more important to explore or to invent? What problems are facing our oceans, and what are the possible solutions? As scientists, they learn to observe with intentionality and embrace their curiosity. Using their imaginations, they are challenged to bring the marine ecosystems into their studio, curating an environment of wonder about the natural world.
STEM
On this quest, Eagles embark on a journey to learn the basics of coding, a journey that culminates in a real-life exploration of the world of robotics.
Goals of this quest include:
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Gaining a basic understanding of programming concepts and how they apply to the real world in non-coding scenarios (concepts include algorithms, loops, conditionals, variables, and events)
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Honing and developing problem-solving skills through “debugging”
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Developing an awareness and curiosity about the role technology currently plays and will play in their lives
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Learning about innovators and disruptors throughout history in various technology-related fields.
Chess Quest
Heroes get to experience the benefits of playing chess firsthand and to apply those skills to other parts of their lives as well. The benefits of regularly playing chess are plentiful and include: increase in strategic thinking, creativity, foresight & planning, memory, reading skills, and communication.
Loving Mother Earth
Is decreased self-sufficiency a good or bad sign for humanity?
In this quest, Heroes become gardeners, and they take on the title of “scientist” as they explore plant science, including cellular biology, photosynthesis, decomposition, capillary action, germination, and pollination. As gardeners, they take on the responsibilities of planning, building, and raising a garden, then observing it and maintaining it with diligence.
Entrepreneurialism
Heroes will actually start a business (create, market and sell a product), run a checkbook and create financial statements (P&L and balance sheet).