Counting the cost, together.
Geneva Academy has high goals for its students. The purpose of classical Christian education is to cultivate both wisdom and virtue. Yet no course of study, no amount of rigor, no outstanding teaching is as vital to student success as the godliness and intentionality of the parents. Ultimately, it is the parents of students who most shape the outcomes of their sons and daughters.
Geneva Academy was founded by parents who aspired to certain traits.* The original families found other parents who shared those aspirations. This is how the school was built, and this is how it grows today. Do you share these commitments? If so, Geneva may be a good fit for your family. If not, you will find that Geneva is asking of you things you are not prepared for, and the school will not be a good fit for your family.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
Luke 14:28 (ESV)
Before submitting an application, we urge parents to consider what Geneva families are aiming for. Ask yourselves, “Are these our aims, too?”
* To aspire means to direct one’s hopes or ambitions toward achieving something. It does not mean those ends have already been accomplished.
Geneva families aspire…
These are aspirations, not demands or claims. Families, like all families, are works in progress. If your family aspires to these things, you will find a like-minded community here.
Geneva families aspire to have a Christ-centered home.
At least one, and preferably both, parents or guardians are committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and use the Bible as a standard for conduct and belief.
Geneva families aspire to have well-behaved children.
The parents establish clear standards of behavior and enforce them. The children are taught to honor their parents and other adults. Parents, like Geneva teachers, are training their children that obedience must be “right away, all the way, with a cheerful heart.”
Geneva families aspire to make church and church life a priority.
The family is committed to a local church and attends worship service weekly. Parents are members, or attend regularly enough to be under the care and authority of elders or church leadership.
Geneva families aspire to shepherd children carefully.
The parents protect their children’s innocence, and guard them from exposure to ugly, wicked, idle, or useless things. They take a dim view of social media, violent video games, modern teen fiction, device addiction, and pop culture, and parent accordingly. They strive to instill a love of the good and the holy, and an aversion to evil and the unholy.
Geneva families aspire to train children diligently.
The parents work to model and inculcate a good work ethic. They want their children to persevere in new or challenging things and value diligent effort as a means of forming character. They see the need to overcome poor study or work habits.
Geneva families aspire to love learning.
Geneva parents know that education is discipleship, that it is formational to character, and that it requires effort. It may require things uncommon in public education, such as logic, writing, oratory and memorization, Latin, Great Books, science fairs, catechisms and speech meets, the arts, and singing. Many Geneva parents hope the learning of their children will far exceed their own.
Geneva families aspire to think biblically about education.
The parents distrust mainstream educational fads and unbiblical ideologies such as child-centered learning, whole language, Common Core, evolution, secular humanism, critical race theory, and gender ideology, looking instead for instruction and methods that conform with biblical truth.
Geneva families aspire to build Geneva Academy and its community.
The parents want to serve other families and advance the mission of the school. They contribute prayers, time, and resources not as customers under obligation, but as eager partners.
Geneva families aspire to guard against evil.
Geneva parents aspire to act as guardians of our community, preventing the influx of worldliness. They have a willingness to lovingly speak to other parents about things they need to address, and to graciously receive concerns from others about their own children.
Geneva families aspire to honor their commitments.
The parents show firm support for school policies and rules, from dress codes to illnesses. They fulfill their financial, service-hour, and volunteer commitments with a good spirit.
Notice of Non-Discriminatory Policy
Geneva Academy admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available of students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, tuition assistance programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.