Mission Statement:
The faculty and staff of The Sharon School believe that we all are created by a holy God who loves and cares for us as individuals, and that He has a divine purpose for each life. Therefore, the mission of The Sharon School is to help students become confident, capable learners through an educational program that provides academic, social, and counseling programs in a traditional, homeschool environment in order to assist each student to grow toward our Lord's divine purpose for his/her life.
Goals:
We believe it should be the goal of professional educators to assist parents in equipping students with the educational, emotional, and social skills to succeed in school and life.
1. Students will learn core concepts in math, science, social studies, language arts, physical education, arts and humanities, and practical living skills.
2. Students will work to develop a positive, healthy self-respect and respect for authority.
3. Students will learn to effectively think for themselves, set goals, solve problems, and make decisions.
4. Students will learn to be responsible group members.
5. Students will develop sound habits of physical and mental health.
6. Students will learn to integrate their knowledge across the curriculum.
7. Students will learn effective study skills.
Curriculum:
The Sharon School offers a core curriculum using traditional educational materials and methods combined with real-life experiences and counseling to meet student needs. Emphasis will be placed on development of strong study skills, organizational skills, and self-discipline. Structure of time and course study will be firm and predictable. There will be opportunities for students to pursue special interests in core concepts. The curriculum will have enough flexibility to allow for differences in learning styles, time frames for completion of assignments, and any student's need for individual instruction or counseling. Instruction will be individualized and self-paced in math and language arts. Mastery of subjects, rather than GPA, is required for promotion.
Grading Scale:
A 100-95
B 94-88
C 87-80
D 79-70
F 69 and below
Mastery Requirements:
Students will be required to master each subject at an 80% level. All daily and test grades that fall below 80% will be repeated until mastery is achieved. Students will not proceed to the next lesson until the previous level is mastered. However, in order to maintain a desired pace of instruction, a student may be required to stay after school or take work home to master a particular lesson. Each student will keep an academic planner with lessons and assignments written in daily. Each student will maintain folders of his/her work. Folders are color-coded according to subject. Folders and the academic planner will be kept in a specified order in a binder. The student will carry the binder to and from school each day. In this way, parents will be able to see the work their child is doing and the progress the child is making. Parents, please make of point of checking your child's planner each day. This where his/her daily rewards and/or consequences will be written.
Homework:
It is believed that homework is not practical for the learning disabled child and is an undue hardship on parents. Therefore, in most cases, homework will consist of short (5-15 minutes) practice sessions on basic skills or preparation for tests. Exceptions to homework requirements will occur when a student's mastery level falls below 80%, or when the student or parents desire enrichment activities.