Reviews

I have truly enjoyed all the years I have spent with this school. I still think it hasn’t quite dawned on me that I will be graduating next month. It’s a very bittersweet feeling to think that this is my last year with the school, so when my mother had talked to me yesterday about composing an email to you about the differences of working in PACE’s and online courses and what I had liked and disliked about each of them I was more than happy to do this for you. As you know, I had started working with PACE’s when I first joined the school. I really enjoyed the format of the PACE’s especially as a kid with the characters in them such as Ace and Sandy to help teach me the different subjects. Repetition was a big factor in PACE’s and although this could get boring, it had helped instill the material so that it wasn’t just learning by memory but instead was learning by comprehension. While working with both PACE’s and online schooling, I enjoyed the freedom of scheduling things how I wanted so that if I wanted a day off I could work ahead and have that day open to do other things. I also liked the fact of how portable the PACE’s were, if I ever needed to go somewhere else and do my school work. This could still be possible with online but it was a bit limited with the need for an internet connection to do the work; otherwise, the online schooling was very portable as well. I also really liked how overall the school would teach more life practical things such as helping you pick an occupation or how to balance a checkbook that often you could not find in a public school setting. Something I really found beneficial with the online courses was that there was no need to mail the books back making it more convenient for my parents during their busy work schedules and I would get immediate results from test scores. I also felt that with online courses the workload was not as heavy as the PACE’s making things go smoother and left me not feeling as burned out as I had previously felt with working with the PACE’s. In addition, I feel the format of the online schooling was more in-depth and interactive than the PACE’s. Overall, I feel I have enjoyed the online courses more due to me being around technology all my life and feeling more comfortable around it.

Our three boys all graduated from Zion Academy! The first to graduate was our nephew whom we raised as one of our own. Due to major trauma in his life, the education through Zion Academy gave him the personal attention he needed to thrive. Our other two sons were in a very expensive, private school in which we were not impressed with the level of education and material taught there. As a family, we prayerfully made the decision to educate our sons, our way, through Zion Academy. We appreciated how simple assessments and options helped us to understand the needs of our sons; especially since they all had completely different learning styles. All three boys thrived, their grade-point averages increased, and their self-confidence soared. We made certain they were involved socially in music lessons, the local youth group, and sports. Because of the flexibility Zion Academy offered us as a family, we were able to use our time wisely and create opportunities for our boys they wouldn’t have had in a traditional-classroom setting. We were also able to take field trips on our own time and learn about history, geography, politics, literature, and science as a family. Transition into colleges was smooth, and today, those boys are now men with bright careers. Our nephew has an outstanding position in the transportation industry. Our first bio son completed a degree in Business Management and recently received a promotion as one of the youngest branch managers in a prestigious, national company. After completing a two-year degree in Applied Science, our second bio son is now an Airman in the US Air Force with an amazing career! While we all had to put forth the effort, it is true that hard work DOES pay off. We honestly believe that Zion Academy played a crucial part in the success of our sons. Thank you, Zion Academy leaders and staff for truly caring about families and for providing a solid educational plan for our students!

Zion Academy of America was the perfect fit. I have home schooled all my children. My last one is special needs being a cross between high functioning Autistic and Asperger’s. she also suffered a brain tumor when she was an infant which left her ability to retain information at close to impossible. Public schools were no help and the teachers wrote nasty notes on her papers. I then decided to homeschool her. We spent years going over the same basic information and was getting nowhere. We tried K-12 that was worse than public school! I tried my own stuff. It worked a little but with little progress. with many tantrums and hours of crying and melt downs. We then tried Zion Academy. Amazingly she tested high enough she could start high school. Some classes she was not at grade level but they assured me it was OK. Our first year was difficult to get her used to the new system of doing things but she kept at it. The fact she was in high school like all the “normal” kids was a big confidence booster. Through hard work she got mostly A’s in her classes. The PACES just clicked with her and the way they have her doing things she was able to understand and retain the information. She cried when we got her final report card because she thought it wasn’t good enough. We explained she couldn’t do any better than an A and she had done amazing. She didn’t believe us. 10th grade she was determined. She works slowly so she started at 8 am and worked until sometimes 5-6 pm, but she did it all and she was able to get straight A’s. Through the year she started to believe us that A’s were a good grade and she worked so hard to keep them. She is apprehensive this year because the books changed–and if you have an autistic child, you know change does not go over well. But I have told her it will be the same even though the books look different and she’s finally willing to try them. Zion academy is amazing. They are always willing to help and explain things when something comes up. Response times are very fast. I am so grateful to this program for helping my daughter and giving her the confidence she needs. She has focused her whole life on graduating; whereas before, she hated school. All summer she has asked when are my books coming, worried she is going to be late. The difference this program has made is amazing. If you are wondering if it is a good fit for you I highly recommend that you try this program. The system takes some getting used to, but if you give it a chance it really works.

Our son had attended eight schools by the time his ninth grade year came around. Some of those experiences we would like to not recall, but others are as bad, they just weren’t the right fit. With him having several learning differences, even the best of intentions from these schools weren’t hitting the mark. He either felt isolated in classes separated from his peers trying to “get help” with his studies. Or, he couldn’t keep up with the rest of the class if he were to stay in the group for all subjects. We started with Zion academy his ninth grade year and never looked back until he graduated. I saw more improvement in his reading writing and comprehension in the first six month than in all of his other schooling. We are forever grateful for Zion Academy! This was our saving grace! He is now a high school graduate! Something we once thought was out of our grasp.

Thank you all so much for an absolutely wonderful year at Zion Academy. I can’t tell you enough how much you are all appreciated, and how much better my daughter is doing since enrolling with Zion. You have worked with me and my child, and I just can’t tell you Thank You enough! Zion Academy has been such a Godsend for us. After going thru the special services circuit for a few years, and literally watching my child being swept under the carpet, my husband and I inquired to Zion Academy and enrolled our daughter in December 2009. Since enrolling my child, she is more socially active, (which is amazing, since the school termed her as ASD and said she needed that socialization because she wasn’t social enough. The socialization she got was being picked on because she couldn’t speak right, and had trouble understanding things, emotions of other people, etc.) Before, my 1st grader would come home and cry. We would drive to school and cry. Now, everyday, my daughter asks, “We going to do school work now?” She loves it!!! Since just December (now March), we have seen a 120% improvement in her attitude, behavior, desire to learn, and everything! And the best part of all is she gets the one-on-one learning that she desperately needed with out the added distraction of other students. surprises, etc. of a public school.

We would like to take a moment to express our appreciation for the wonderful journey that it has been having our daughter enrolled in Zion Academy from 2nd grade until graduation. Our involvement has been nothing short of a wonderful bonding experience that has brought us closer together as a family and has allowed us to be personally involved in our daughter’s education. Because of the Bible-based format, she has grown into a young lady with great moral character and sound ethics. It’s hard to believe she has already graduated and we will not be an active part of the Zion family next year. We will forever be grateful for the guidance everyone there at Zion has provided and the educational memories gained as we watched our daughter progress year-after-year. Thank you for the memories.

My daughter graduated this year from your school and I wanted to say THANK YOU so much for all that you did for us. I never imagined that it would be 100 times better than public school. She was so discouraged and had very little self-confidence in public school. When she started at Zion Academy she became so much more confident! I think your school is absolutely amazing and my husband and I wish that we could have enrolled her sooner. I have recommended Zion Academy to several people we know and will keep recommending it! Again, THANK YOU all so much! I could say it again and again and it still would not be enough to express our gratitude! God bless each and every one of you!