Book One — The Founding
Aim Academy opened its doors in September 2020 — in the middle of a pandemic — with ten brave eagles, a rented building, and a conviction that school could be something else entirely: not a factory for widgets, but a launching point for heroes.
Book One is the longest book on this shelf, because a departure takes time. In these four years you will watch the first Exhibition of Learning, the first quests (game design, marine science, economics, survival), the first pirate-themed Odyssey, the first contract fiercely debated into existence, and a one-room schoolhouse growing into a tribe of studios. Nearly every post began as a real letter home to Aim families, written while it was all happening.
The book closes in June 2024 with something no one thought possible so soon: Aim's first graduation. The final post ends with five words that named everything that came after — "So...Book 2 begins right now."
The chapters below are grouped by school year. Read them in order, and you can watch a school grow up in real time.
Year One
2020–2021 · 34 posts
Year 1 Session 1 (9/11/20)
Hello Aim Families, We plan on sending out these weekly roundup emails every Friday to keep you in the loop with all things going...
Year 1 Session 1 (9/18/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, Yet another week of growth, laughter and learning. On Monday, Lance and Erica had their new baby—...
Year 1 Session 1 (9/25/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, One week till the Eagles’ first-ever Exhibition of Learning! They have already begun preparations...
Year 1 Session 1 (10/02/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, Wow! What a week. Session 1 officially in the books! Thank you to everyone who came to the Exhibition...
Year 1 Session 2 (10/16/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, Happy Session 2! We hope everyone had a rejuvenating Fall Break, but the Eagles sure seemed glad to...
Year 1 Session 2 (10/23/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, This week went quite fast. Committees, Chess, Poetry. The Eagles at flight. Can you guess what type...
Year 1 Session 2 (10/30/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, A ninja, girl Robin Hood, Spiderman, snow leopard, Harry Potter, Goku, witch, pirate and a randomly...
Year 1 Session 2 (11/6/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, This week the Eagles took the “training wheels” off. From Civilizations to Writer’s Workshop to the...
Year 1 Session 2 (11/20/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, And just like that— Session 2 is in the books! Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to the...
Year 1 Session 3 (12/11/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, We are feeling the Christmas spirit here at Aim Academy! We just got back from our Cookies and Carols...
Year 1 Session 3 (12/4/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, What a jam-packed start to Session 3! Given that this is our shortest session of the year, there was...
Year 1 Session 3 (12/18/20)
Hello Aim Academy Families, What a delicious (and exciting) end to Session 3! The Eagles challenged themselves to cook their most...
Year 1 Session 4 (1/8/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families, What a week. We are grateful for the joy that the Eagles bring to school every day, especially at...
Year 1 Session 4 (1/15/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families, With responsibility being our Aim Academy Attribute for Session 4— it served as an overarching theme...
Year 1 Session 4 (1/22/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families, Today marks the halfway point of Session 4! Golly— it has gone by in a flash. The Eagles are in full...
Year 1 Session 4 (1/29/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families, 4 weeks in and we are rolling! The Eagles are focused. Focused on maximizing their Core Skills time....
Year 1 Session 4 (2/6/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families, Five weeks down, one to go. Which means that the Exhibition is next week! Please join us for the...
Year 1 Session 4 (2/12/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families, Another Session in the books! From creating tag games to board games to video games to card games and...
Year 1 Session 5 (2/26/21)
Welcome To Session 5, Aim Academy Families!! Eagles returned with excitement and vigor! The start of this session brought many...
Year 1 Session 5 (3/8/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families - A full two weeks into Session 5 and a new rhythm is settling in with the areas and houses. All of...
Year 1 Session 5 (3/12/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families - Our Jacques Cousteau Marine Science Quest was off to another good beginning of the week with the...
Year 1 Session 5 (3/19/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families What a week! It started with Ms. Serena being out for a couple of days and Ms. Stacey stepping in. I...
Year 1 Session 5 (3/26/21)
Hello Aim Academy Families - The Food Web "stomach" dissections were an exciting beginning of the week in the Marine Science...
Year 1 Session 5 (4/2/21)
Hello Aim Families! I am excited to be the one personally writing our round up today. I have usually let Daniel and Serena take...
Year 1 Session 6 (4/25/21)
Hello Aim Families! This last week was a blur of activity. Each learner is settling into the rhythm of a new session and finding...
Year 1 Session 6 (4/30/21)
Hello Aim Families! Week 2 of Session 6 down in the books. During Core Skills, we had a "Khan Power Hour". It is a half an hour...
Year 1 Session 6 (5/8/21)
Hello Aim Families! This week has been another one full of learning opportunities. Some are seeing the rewards of several months...
Year 1 Session 6 (5/14/21)
Hi Aim Families :) Another week has come and gone! Only two weeks left of this session. Time certainly flies by when you're...
Year 1 Session 6 (5/22/21)
Hello Aim Families - It's been quite the adventure this week. (And really this whole session!) This Economics Quest included a...
Year 1 Session 6 (5/30/21)
Hello Aim families - For me, this last week has been like finishing a 1000-piece puzzle. It started with an idea of what the...
Year 1 Session 7 (6/11/21)
Aim Academy Parents - What a whirlwind of a week! The story of survival is the story of the human species, and is a Hero's...
Year 1 Session 7 (6/16/21)
Hey everyone, Happy Wednesday! I am reaching out with a few mid-week updates :) I wanted to let everyone know how amazing your...
Year Two
2021–2022 · 18 posts
Year 2 Session 1 (8/23/21)
Ok...so I suppose this is technically a 'Daily Round-up', but with how much learning we packed into a short six hours, I think...
Year 2 Session 1 (8/27/21)
Hi Aim Families, "If this challenge is not complete by the assigned deadline, somebody is going home. And if the challenge next...
Year 2 Session 1 (9/11/21)
Hi everyone, Wow, we are already halfway through Session 1! Hard to believe. Time certainly flies when you're growing and having...
Year 2 Session 1 (9/18/21)
Hey everyone, Another great week comes and goes at Aim! The Studio is really getting into an impressive flow. Core Skills time...
Year 2 Session 1 (9/25/21)
Hey Aim Families! "Does the past determine the future?" - This is our question of the year and has been playing in my mind as...
Year 2 Session 2 (10/23/21)
Welcome to Session 2 at Aim Academy! The studio stepped into the new session at warp speed, and the guides could not wait to...
Year 2 Session 2 (11/5/21)
Hi everyone, It's great to be writing to you today! I haven't written in some time and there's so many exciting things to share....
Year 2 Session 3 (12/5/21)
Hi everyone :) It was sure fun being back with your children this week! Session 3 is off to an amazing start. The week started...
Year 2 Session 3 (12/16/21)
Hi Aim Families, What? Writing the weekly roundup a day early?? It must be a Christmas miracle!! I actually just had a lot of...
Year 2 Session 4 (1/22/22)
Hey everyone, Yesterday marked the official halfway point of this year! Can you believe it?? Some of you may have noticed the...
The Price of Freedom (3/1/22)
Well last time I wrote, I said that the Weekly Roundups were going to become a thing of the past--to be replaced by stories of...
The Story Continues...(3/3/22)
Well if in my last email my writing inadequacies combined with the shortcomings of the English language made me feel like I was...
Experiencing history is not easy…..is it worth it? (3/26/22)
It's been pretty amazing how our school has taken on a life of its own this session as it evolves in its feel and energy to match...
A word of gratitude (4/23/22)
Hi MS/LP parents :) I just wanted to share a quick note today about the experience of watching 1917 with your learners yesterday....
Session Roundup (5/20/22)
Hi everyone, It's been a while! Someone informed me today that apparently there's less than a week until the Exhibition?? Not...
Spark Studio Session 6 Update! (5/23/22)
Hello Spark Parents! I will never do these updates the justice that Lance does, but know that the Spark studio has made such...
Year Three
2022–2023 · 16 posts
"Well....here we go!"
Hi everyone, In the beloved classic To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, wise Atticus Finch said, "You never really understand a...
Expanding your mind is exhausting work
And it's relentlessly occurring every day during town hall as the eagles continue to build their tribe and write what are to be...
Change is hard when it involves the ones we love
Hello Spark parents! Welcome to Session 2! I had a good reminder this week that I am extremely blessed to be at Aim every day,...
Any astrophysicists out there? Someone help me out...
Because I'm pretty sure Aim exists in a time vortex...or black/worm hole? Time passes in the strangest fashion at a school where...
How well do you know your eagles?
Well enough to pick them out by their feet? Now that just may be the most peculiar way I have ever started an email. Which is...
My sincerest apologies...
For those of you who have LP students and have already gotten the LP update for the week and now have to get email novels--I mean...
The symphony of Flow and the hardships of the road.
Sitting on the floor of the Exploring Eagles studio room, I listened to a symphony of FLOW. The tapping of feet against a desk in...
Exhibition Pep Talk
Hi Aim families, We are excited to host everyone for Session 2's Exhibitions tomorrow. I wanted to highlight an important note...
Thanks for being on this journey with me
Well... 2022 is coming to an end. And roughly the first half of Aim Academy's third book has now been written. Whenever I am able...
Two and a half hours of gut-wrenching soul testing later...
Hi LP parents, The afternoon launch began at 1pm...and two and a half hours of gut-wrenching soul testing later, your heroes...
My biggest takeaway from this morning?
We are on to something BIG. Did the rest of you feel that too? This movement of ours goes beyond schooling. We aren't just giving...
Session 4 Aim Academy Roundup - EES & DS
Aim Family - Was this session more about learning to do, learning to be or learning to learn? (A question posed to the Eagles on...
The Importance of Change
Hello Spark Parents! At Aim Academy, we encourage the Eagles to embrace change as a natural and necessary part of their learning...
Would Aim still be your tribe...
If 100% of parents voted for "the other guy"? What about 90%? If 100% of parents thought that adding to the parent contract was a...
Year Four
2023–2024 · 11 posts
Hoist the anchors and unfurl the sails!
Ahoy, Mateys! Avast ye, for a grand adventure awaits our young buccaneers! Set yer spyglasses on the horizon, for it be time to...
Ok two posts in two days? That's just crazy
But I just had to describe some of the magic that is occurring in this Odyssey. For starters, as I'm sure you have heard by...
A Tapestry of Lessons: Chess, Cooking, and Art
As we wind down another extraordinary chapter at Aim Academy, I find myself reflecting on the kaleidoscope of experiences and the...
Work hard, play hard. The new motto for ES.
Hello lovely ES tribe, Well we are not even quite halfway through the session and this little ES tribe is nigh unrecognizable...
The Odyssey is not just a game...
...it is a mirror to our inner selves. It's actually quite astonishing how well the profound lessons and emotional journeys...
A few words about the School Council...
At Aim, we've observed that peer-given strikes, or consequences, hold a unique and profound advantage over those administered by...
There is a chasm opening under our feet...
...and the distance between Aim Academy and the rest of the world increases by the day. During no time has this truth been more...
Will Aim become Lord of the Flies next year?
A worthy question brought up at the parent meeting last week. Especially given our pirate-themed Odyssey this year . OR......
The power of prayer...
Hi Aim Family, I hope you are all well! Exhausted? Sure. Eyeing the light at the end of the school year tunnel? Maybe. But you...
The Story of Aim
