Academe of the Oaks

My son is currently a freshman at Academe. We could not be happier with the transition that he has made from the Waldorf grade school to Academe. The support he is getting from the beginning of school social activities (where the whole student body participate together), his assigned teacher advisor (that will follow him through to 12th grade) , and the caring attention of the teachers and staff have made the difference for him. But the engaging curriculum is the real star, and I am glad that it is being presented to him in a way that makes it easier for him to receive.

My two sons attended Academe; one graduated from there and the other attended his first two years of high school there. In brief, I highly recommend Academe.

Academe is Atlanta's Waldorf high school, and as such, it’s strengths lie in the Waldorf approach as articulated by Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner. There is way too much in his thinking to even start talking about here, but from a parent's practical perspective, my sense of the approach's overall effect is this: if you wish to raise renaissance children, Waldorf is probably your best partner.

In terms of Academe particulars, I really like these attributes:

1) The curriculum really is designed to promote thinking for oneself. Also, it is balanced – arts and physical activities have their place – and includes practical arts as well, doing things with one's hands. This is missing from almost every other school.

2) The teachers are very good, by and large well-trained and committed to the Waldorf approach. They engage, challenge and care. And because of the favorable student-teacher ratio, they really know their students and can approach each one where they are.

3) The size of the school, which is very small, is ideal, in my mind. Whatever might be gained in scale is often lost at the personal level, which is simply not worth it when it comes to educating your children. Both my boys played varsity basketball, and they would not have been able to do so at almost any other school. But the benefits of a competitive and team experience, not to mention the inherent benefits in self esteem upon increasing one's skill level in any endeavor, should not be confined to the few, which is how athletics works everywhere else. It is also worth noting that the faculty and staff really try hard to support any extracurricular activities that students may dream up.

I could go on, but check it out for yourself!

My son graduated from Academe of the Oaks in 2014. One of the things he most liked about the school is the lack of a "social food chain". As a parent I appreciate how each child is encouraged to be fully expressed in their individual way. The teachers are committed, they love the kids and enjoy working with them. The school has a beautiful garden with goats, bees, chickens, veggies and a pond. Every kid has to sing in the choir and play an instrument. The arts flourish there.

Academe of the Oaks teaches kids how to think. The curriculum is academically challenging and unlike public high schools, the kids are required to write lots of essays. Writing essays for college entrance was much easier for my son than his friends who attended public high school.

Teachers at Academe are very engaged in each student journey. The personal bond they develop for their students combined with original and dynamic teaching approaches are engaging and interesting for the students who become much more involved in their education. The students receive a thorough training in the design and writing of essays in various disciplines, a skill that is of utmost importance for College education. They are also extremely well trained in science, not through learning from textbooks, but in designing, performing and presenting their own experiments, and in developing critical thinking in the interpretation of their results. This is all balance by a great Art and Music program. For our family, Academe of the Oaks is a dream come true as to what we were looking for our son's education. The teachers are fostering his personal creative thinking, and he feels empowered by the care and respect he receives at the Academe of the Oaks.

My family and I was very concerned about where my nephew would attend high school. My nephew is now a senior, at Academe, and has attended since 9th grade. This was our first experience in a Waldorf school and we weren't disappointed.

Being the new kid, my nephew felt nervous and alone until Academe sent all their students on a trip before school started. Once they arrived, the students split into their class groups and became acquainted with each other. There is where my nephew connected and everything changed for him.

The teachers are more than qualified and want their students to succeed. Before school starts, parents and students receive all of the teachers contact information. Whenever my nephew struggled, in a class, his teacher notified me immediately.

Academe is so unique, because all children are different and they are allowed to be themselves without having to fit in. Academe does not have a disciplinary problem, nor do they tolerate any form of violence. We have never experienced any bullying. The male teachers have been excellent role models for my nephew.

My nephew has been accepted to SCAD, this Fall, and is receiving $32,000 in scholarships and counting.

Academe is one of the best kept secrets in Decatur, GA.

Both of my daughters are AO graduates! Each arrived at Academe with public school and homeschool experience but with no prior Waldorf education training. Each exhibited her own unique learning style, talents, and interests. Both thrived at the school!

As I reflect on our seven years at the school, what remains most dear are our ties to the teachers, who made the time to really know, love and respect our girls and our family.

I will let the education speak for itself - my 21 year daughter, an Academe graduate and lifelong Waldorf student, graduated with excellent grades, full academic scholarship to a prestigious "college that changes lives" and is now studying at a top university in China for the year. She is resilient, resolute and extremely capable of being in the "real world". My younger daughter is mid-way through her senior year at Academe, she too has excellent grades and has been accepted into her top choice school. She has a vision to travel and, like her sister, the qualities of character and the educational foundation, both of which have been nourished and honed at Academe, to take on the challenges of college and real life. The education is rigorous, the encouragement and support to set your sites high is indefatigable and the development of character and sense of self of the students is highly compelling. Am I satisfied? Yes!

My son and we as parents LOVE this school. It is a Waldorf school so immersion, learning from of-the-moment events and coverage, service and a small class size has led to my son's overall personal growth into a caring and thoughtful young man (and ultimate frisbee player!). If there's trouble on a test or any concern, we and the teachers collectively work with him to solve the challenge while nudging him to his best effort. My favorite thing is the diversity and international quality/flavor of the school, and their 10th grade exchange program. We couldn't be happier here.

A great education.

I was a student her for my sophomore year and going to this school is one of my biggest regrets! My mother and I were both extremely disappointed as we were told that this school could accommodate me and that I would be provided with caring teachers and a strong support system. This was far from the truth. The communication between staff members is horrendous! Mrs. Handschin, the principle always offered to have a meeting when my mom called to tell her that yet again, I was being refused my accommodations or a teacher was unaware of my learning disabilities. This meeting would pull me from class and waste my time as somehow after four or five useless meetings, still some teachers did not even know that I had the learning disability. before that year, I had never had anything under a B on my report card and a high GPA. Within the first month at Academe, due to unqualified teachers and zero support, my GPA dropped to a 1.3 and I had multiple C's and D's. We were also not told about the block scheduling which does not work for me since I suffer from Slow processing. I simply could not keep up and my grades were reflecting the lack of support I had. That year made me severely depressed and I considered dropping out just to escape. during a play rehearsal, my English teacher (who later went on to be my math teacher despite him not being qualified to teach math) got frustrated, cussed out the students for "not trying" and threw a pair of glasses at the wall, which on impact broke resulting in a fragment hitting a student who was sitting nearby. The teacher didn't even notice that he had just injured a student. Dr. Aggio would scream at us and tell the class that pour grades were horrible and it seemed like we weren't trying, we don't study, we don't listen, etc. He made it a toxic environment and I could not learn with him screaming all the time and shaming us for "never studying" when I was studying five hours a day and STILL failing classes because of the poor teaching and lack of support. i don't necessarily think this is a BAD school, I just am very disappointed that it was advertised to be supportive and would accommodate me. Any diligent, quick learning kid should do fine here but be ready for teachers making it as hard as possible to "challenge you" and you WILL be on your own. Don't expect faculty to listen to you at all unless of course you're one of mrs. Handschin's favorites, then it will all be easy. Also it is worth mentioning that one girl said to a shadowing student " this school is terrible" and was threatened with expulsion. I find this disgusting as she was answering the shadow honestly when asked of her opinion. 11 people from my class are leaving the school and about three are staying. That shows how poorly run this "school" is. I would not recommend this for any average student. This is for someone who is willing to do anything for a good college application and give up their life for studying and pleasing teachers. It is all about reputation and not your child's success.