This post has been sponsored by Fusion Academy. All opinions are 100% our own!
Parents are often able to see that their child has unmet potential, and a traditional schooling model which focuses on production rather than relationship in some cases hinders students instead of allowing them to blossom. Performance/rewarded and failure/consequence work for some students but are not a breeding ground for either creativity or success in others. It is rather a place for children who are wired to be good at school to continue to excel at school, and other kids to become increasingly bored with their assignments — or to fall ever more behind.
Students with backgrounds including: ADHD, accelerated/gifted learning, dyslexia, mild learning differences, social challenges or school anxiety may have potential that is stunted by the requirements of a traditional school system.
Thankfully, now DFW residents have a new option thanks to a groundbreaking path being forged by Fusion Academy.
This private middle and high school allows DFW parents a non-traditional community of learning for their student. This model is founded in research and built on relationships rather than requirements.
Fusion Academy is tailor made for each individual, and uses relationships to unlock the potential of every child in four ways:
- relationships at home
- student/teacher relationships
- relationship to the material and relationship during the last part of the day
- homework time
The value Fusion Academy puts on relationships is made manifest first through the flexible scheduling. Personalized schedules help fit an entire family’s needs – whether those needs be daily or annually (work, travel, sleep, or athletics are some reasons certain families appreciate Fusion Academy’s schedule). If your family takes a two week vacation together in January, at Fusion you receive help instead of a letter to appear at truancy court. If your winter schedule is crazy but the summer load is light, your student can work through the summer to have a lighter load or break in December.
Relationships also are the basis of Fusion Academy’s 1:1 student to teacher ratio. Many children do not flourish when being pressured to perform, but the standard answer for those kids has been “just make it through school” in the past. Students often shut down when they believe they can’t keep up, or if they perceive themselves to be unsafe for some reason in a classroom. The 1:1 student to teacher ratio creates a safe space for students to learn without comparing themselves to the system which may move on before they’ve mastered a topic. This has been the experience of Chevie, one Fusion Academy parent, who says:
I’m so grateful for Fusion and what it has done for my son. He suffers from anxiety and some learning differences… [The staff has] done an amazing job of getting to know him and teaching him in a way that engages him. The entire staff welcomes him and he finally feels like he fits in. He loves the one on one with the teachers and is able to learn at his pace. Fusion has saved his life and brought happiness back into his school world.
A student’s relationship to his material is also a consideration at Fusion Academy. Instead of utilizing material that may not connect, at Fusion Academy a customized curriculum molds to each student’s strengths, interests, and learning style. Interest, passion, and emotion are scientifically proven to foster learning: a student with, for instance, a music interest may find great success with a music heavy curriculum or by learning in Fusion’s state-of-the-art recording studio.
And finally, it is through relationships and not disconnection that even the last of student assignments are completed each day: homework. Fusion Academy offers students connection, help, and supervision from a teacher each day in their Homework Café®, where students complete all work for the day.
If traditional school keeps feeling like a beating, maybe it’s time to change something. The entire Fusion Academy environment provides a safe space for students to flourish emotionally, socially, and academically. If you and your student need a different option, check out Fusion Academy in Dallas, Plano, or Southlake for a different opportunity.
To learn more about Fusion Academy or to take your own private tour of the campus, contact 214-363-4615.
