By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
For 15 years, one central Alabama homeschooling co-op service has found firm footing across the local educational landscape.
The name of the co-op? Academy Days.
Started back in the Fall of 2006, Academy Days is a parent-taught homeschool community that operates on a 14-week Fall and Spring schedule with two, two-weeks breaks per semester. Student ages vary, as the co-op goes from Pre-Kindergarten all the way until 12th grade.
“We want to create an environment where well-educated, driven individuals help teach our classes,” said Academy Days founder, Carren Joye. “We have nurses that help teach sciences, writers that teach journalism, and artists that teach art classes”.
The community has a myriad of subjects that are taught, ranging from literature and creative writing, to foreign languages and P.E. classes.
The system for the co-op is simple.
Each semester, parents have the opportunity to sign their children up for a maximum of four classes. Each day, students of all ages will have either homework or reading based on the classes that they are enrolled in. Then every Tuesday, students meet with teachers at Coosada Baptist Church to apply what they learned from the pervious week in an academic setting.
This past year was an exception, as Academy Days did not hold any in-person meetings due to COVID restrictions.
“It’s been a tough year for all involved, but we’ve been blessed to still have a lot of families that want to be a part of this community,” Joye said.
Since it’s inception in 2006, the academy has grown exponentially.
“We had 17 families back in 2006, and in the Fall of 2019 we had 45 families,” Joye said.
She went on to explain that the most the co-op has ever had in a single semester was 55 families. Even in a year as difficult as this, Academy Days still had 35 families and 70 students.
“We have a lower number of students than other educational institutions in the area, which ultimately means that we’re going to have smaller classes,” Joye said.
Those classes, which consist of roughly 10-12 students each, are in high demand.
“Each semester there is a long waiting list for parents to enroll their children because the demand is so high. There’s only so many spots that we can fill,” Joye explained.
But the academy always seems to get the most out of each and every student, even if the enrollment isn’t as high as brick-and-mortar schools. In fact, over 75 percent of their graduates have gone on to post-secondary education.
“77.7 percent of our graduates have progressed to college or university. We are very proud of our industrious students and dedicated team teachers. Of course, college is not a prerequisite for success in life, and we also applaud those graduating students over the years who have successfully pursued employment, entrepreneurship, missions, or the military instead of college,” Joye said.
Those looking to enroll their child in academy days will need to know that there is a $75 charge per semester, which covers all of the materials that each student must have for class. However, additional discounts can be applied.
For other information about Academy Days, check out their Facebook page or look at their website http://academydays.com/
