The Basics
What Kind of School is Northern?
Northern Discovery Academy is a private Christian and will be opening enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year starting on July 1st. Northern accepts students of other beliefs, but requires that they respect Northern's Christian foundation.
Continue Below to Discover:
- Where is the School?
- What is Your Educational Model & Philosophy?
- What Does It Cost to Attend?
- How Can I Learn More?
- How Do We Register?
Where Is the School?
Our campus is in Newaygo, a 10-acre wooded campus in the heart of Manistee National Forest, where all our students benefit from the space, access to nature, and the opportunity to investigate God's world in a very hands-on way.
What Is Your Educational Model & Philosophy?
Northern Discovery Academy exists to build a culture of curiosity, where kids love waking up each day to learn more about the world around them. They love it, because they are involved with the learning hands-on, trying new skills, and enjoying educational experiences. We are here to provide those experiences inside a Christian worldview, and in a small-group format with a low ratio of students to teachers.
Who Founded the School?
WinterPromise has been providing interactive, hands-on curriculum to charter schools and homeschoolers for over 15 years (www.winterpromise.com). We desire to offer this educational experience to as many children as we can, and this school is a product of that vision. The model you've learned about here on our website is an extension of what our curriculum facilitates -- an active, engaged educational process.
Are Your Teachers Certified?
As the state of Michigan requires, our teachers have their degree. Each one is passionate about their subject area, and our founding teachers are fluent in the function, priorities, and requirements of our unique model! As we continue to grow and add teachers, they are likely to be a mix of degreed teachers who are and are not certified, teachers who can adapt and adopt our interactive model. This results in a mix of teachers. Why? The path to certification focuses on different objectives and frameworks that align to traditional school priorities, developed to manage large classrooms and demonstrate student success through testing and pre-set outcomes. This type of approach is not how your student is taught at NDA, and therefore, even a certified teacher would have to learn new techniques to master our model. We can teach the model. You can't teach the kind of passion that stirs up a love of learning in a child, and truly educates them. That is what we look for in teachers of excellence!
How do You Measure Success?
Our measurements of success are unique because they flow from the truth that God has made each child uniquely. Therefore, based upon the study of multiple intelligences and our understanding of the variety of learning styles that each of us have, we created a unique blend of assessment tools. We can do this because of our high teacher-to-student ratio in which we can offer individualized feedback and assessment that is based upon where each student started, their areas of strength, their areas of weakness, and the work they put into the variety of learning experiences they are offered. Each student experiences unique challenges and a traditional-listen-memorize-regurgitate-test model rarely offers a true assessment of success for each student.
What Does It Cost to Attend?
It's so affordable! We focus on keeping our costs low and furnishing top-quality learning experiences for your family! Our tuition is much less than that of similar private institutions. You can take a look at our 2020-2021 tuition costs and payment options here.
How Can I Learn More?
First Step - Submit an inquiry using this form. CLICK HERE TO FILL IT OUT. Once you submit the inquiry we will follow up with you within 24 hours to get to know you. Once we get into contact, you can set up a visit, meet with a teacher, and see our facilities.
Attend a Summer Open House, explore our campus, walk our trail, and more, at 6:30 pm on one of the dates that will be posted once enrollment opens.
Read our Handbook here, or Call Us at 231-527-9683. We'll tell you all about us!
This Is Perfect for Our Family. How Do We Register?
FOR NEW STUDENTS:
We can't wait to have you! Here's our registration process:
- Step 1: Easy! Submit an Inquiry using our form (GO TO FORM)
- Step 2: We get in contact with you and get the process started!
That's It!
FOR RETURNING STUDENTS in the 2020-2021 Year:
We are launching a new school portal that will manage everything about NDA! Returning students will use the inquiry form (GO TO FORM) to get their re-enrollment process started.
FOR HOMESCHOOL STUDENTS INTERESTED IN DISCOVERY THURSDAY ELECTIVES:
Homeschool students wishing to enroll in Discovery Thursday classes will also need to fill out the inquiry form to get their process started. (GO TO FORM)