3J4 Academy

3J4 Academy is a private Christian umbrella school begun as an effort to assist families concerned with the high cost of correspondence courses for homeschoolers, Our families have chosen to homeschool for a myriad of reasons, from poor academic performance in the traditional school setting, to religious conviction to provide education in the home.  Under the guidance of their parents, many of our students are achieving academic goals once thought impossible for them, and are overcoming labels attached in their previous school experience.  Children who have started homeschooling in the very early grades are out-pacing their peers in traditional and government schools.  

We feel that God has led us into establishing 3J4 Academy to minister to the hearts of parents, who in turn minister to the hearts of their children. Our parents are seeing Christ nurtured in the lives of their children as they strive to reconcile the hearts and minds of their children to God in every aspect of their lives, including academics.  Our children are walking in TRUTH!

Records Maintenance

Transcript Preparation

Academic Counseling 

Curriculum Advice

High school course counseling

Graduation ceremony

Diplomas  

NOTE:  Accreditation

The definition of accreditation as pertains to education is:  "official certification that a school or course has met standards set by external regulators." In other words, to be accredited a school must require that all students are taught using the same materials and teaching methods, as prescribed by a third-party advisory board. 

For 3J4 Academy to become accredited I would first need to choose an accrediting agency. The signs you see on public schools declaring they have been accredited again, means the school and school district have been evaluated by a regional board and have met the criteria established by that board. They do not allow private schools to participate, since we do not use their materials.  When a school is accredited by such an association it usually means all teaching is done to the average student.  Those who are able to pursue higher goals may be tethered to the average work, and those who are slower are often left behind because they simply cannot keep in step with the average work requirements. I could require everyone to use one specific curriculum and invite the publisher of that curriculum to review our records to make sure their materials are being used.  Once they are satisfied they would issue a certificate for me to hang on the wall declaring that we are accredited by them.  But who would care? I am contacted occasionally by entities that ask if we are accredited.  After giving them this explanation I ask why they are concerned.  They don't know.  They are simply looking for  accreditation.  I then advise them that it does not matter how or when a child learns to read, and if they have a concern, simply have the person write something and read it to them!   Without fail, they have waived the accreditation requirement and hired the person.  

Our graduates are wildly successful upon entering the workplace, college or university, military or vocational/technical schools.  We offer the opportunity to parents to choose curriculum that meets the learning styles of their children, often allowing a student to study courses on different grade levels within the school year (i.e. 5th grade language arts, 6th grade math).  By working within the parameters of the students' abilities, we are able to teach for mastery, whatever the abilities of the students.  In my 20 years of homeschool administration we have never graduated a student that cannot read or do math.  As teaching parents we will not allow our students to drift from grade to grade.  We make sure the concepts are mastered before moving on to the next concept.  

Over the years or currently we have had graduates in: local community colleges, ETSU, Concord College, Bluefield College, Bluefield State, Virginia Tech, UVA, UVA at Wise, William and Mary, Florida State, Michigan Tech, Montcalm Community College in MI, just to name a few.  Our grads have attended and graduated from the Police Academy, and are in all branches of the military.  Diesel mechanic schools in PA and TN have readily accepted our graduates, and workplaces all over have accepted them.   

  I am extremely proud of our teaching parents and our students, who become graduates.  They are setting the pace for others wherever they go. 

   Accreditation is a word that has been drummed into us, just like SOL.  It means little to nothing to everyone outside that school.  Colleges have never asked me about accreditation.  The proof a good education is in the application of learned skills  .    It does not matter what materials were used, when the student learned to read, or if he uses his fingers to count.  If the graduate can perform the job well, can read and write and do arithmetic, the teacher has done a good job using the materials deemed best suited for that student.  No one needs to look over our shoulder to determine how we educate our children.