FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Our students wear uniforms on campus, and we love it, for a number of reasons! First, the children look amazing! They wear khaki, grey or navy chino pants or shorts along with designated spirit wear t-shirts or light blue, navy or white polo tops. Collared shirts are required on chapel days. Girls may also wear navy, white or light blue dresses or grey, khaki or navy skirts. Sweaters or cardigans can be light blue, white, khaki, navy or grey. Winter gear to be worn outside can be any color - we want your students warm when they play in the snow during the colder months! Another reason we believe in uniforms is that it erases comparison, competition or distraction in appearance. You'll find on our playground that no one student looks or feels "cooler" than another and that the entire group seems to be playing all together! It is a unique and profound thing to witness. Uniforms also create a feeling of professionalism, enhance campus safety, and make it so easy to get ready in the morning!

We love that you are making family memories. We uphold your parental authority to make decisions for your family. You will have the lesson plans at your fingertips, and the ability to mirror everything we do on campus from wherever you are. You don't have to do every math problem, or every writing assignment, but we do ask that your student returns to campus having had the concepts covered with them during their time away so they are ready to transition back to learning with their peers without feeling behind.

Choosing curriculum is of critical importance to the success of our program, to the educational outcome for our students, and the joy of our families. It is a collaborative effort with many parties weighing in - our advisory team, every teacher on campus, parents, local charter mentor teachers, and curriculum advisors from Christian online vendors all have spoken into our selection process. We did not simply select one curriculum publisher for all subjects, but instead, we thoroughly investigated each publisher individually in each subject to find what, we believe, is truly the absolute best total combination. 

Although many of our teachers on campus are credentialed, it is not a requirement. We do require, however, a strong Christian faith, high moral standards, a love for children, passion for home education, and experience teaching and managing a classroom. 

We are always open to receiving applications for the ongoing academic year. Applications for future academic years open on November 1st of the previous year. For example, if interested in applying for the 2025-2026 academic year, please check our website to apply November 1st, 2024. Re-enrollment for the current student body opens February 8th and closes February 22nd, with new students beginning interviews and receiving offers after February 26th for the coming academic year.

While we are run separately both financially and logistically, our academy is a branch of Capital Church, and we are so blessed by that partnership. Our campus staff and families have access to pastoral care and the spiritual covering and blessing of our Capital Church staff. We know that brothers and sisters in Christ come from many denominations and may practice their faith differently, and that is seen in our campus body. We remain united in the unchanging salvific truths of the Bible, while leaving room for freedom and debate on the secondary and tertiary issues.

In the interest of campus safety and to avoid distracting from the learning environment, we do not offer tours while students are present. We do, however, hold monthly information meetings where you can come and learn more about our program and receive a tour of our campus. You are also always welcome to join us for church on a Sunday at our 9am or 11am services! If you're looking for someone to sit with, please send us an email at director@capitalchristian.academy. We will happily greet you in the lobby, show you around and make sure you feel so welcomed!

Since we are not a school, we do not hold records for students. In Idaho, it is perfectly legal to homeschool without submitting anything to the state. If you choose to partner with a local charter to receive state funding (which is totally compatible with our program!), the charter will hold records and produce report cards for you. While some assignments completed on campus will be graded by our teachers, we do not offer report cards or progress reports for our PreK through 5th Grade students. We have found that since you are actively teaching at home, you know where your child is at. We respect your authority and judgement as the parent to determine the grade your child receives at the end of each semester. Instead, our teachers write a letter to be given to each student praying over them, blessing them, encouraging them, and pointing out ways they can sharpen their skills.

To properly prepare our middle school students for the rigor of high school and the reality of testing that occurs even into adulthood, we begin to introduce report cards in middle school. These grades are a reflection of your student's demonstration of comprehension and mastery of the subject matter and of effort and completion of assigned coursework. Work done at home, projects, writing samples, and tests will all contribute to their overall grade. 

Our teachers craft monthly lesson plans that are delivered to you via our private parent portal, along with a video they create walking you through the curriculum and sharing their strategies for how to best teach it. If you can follow a recipe, you can absolutely follow these lesson plans. We will support you every step of the way. 

This is a tough question to answer, because there are so many variables to consider. In general, a pre-K or Kindergarten student should spend about an hour, a 1st through 3rd grader should spend about an hour and a half, 4th-5th graders should spend around two hours, and middle schoolers should spend around three hours. Some families like to get their work done in one shot, others like to break it up and take lots of breaks. The best piece of advice we can give here is this: No one learning day can make or break your child's education, but it can damage your relationship. Keep the heart the priority, make sure you get outside, get messy, snuggle and play!

Because we do not hold records for students, and we are not technically a "school", families are eligible to be enrolled with a charter program (like Tech Trep, Harmony or Overture, to name a few) and receive state funding. These programs do not approve any religious curriculums or services for reimbursement, so our tuition and much of our curriculum would be ineligible. You can still use that funding to offset the cost in a multitude of other ways. Some examples include: tutoring, literature books, math curriculum, sports registration, music lessons, etc. We have also had great success with our students' work being approved when submitted for work samples. Please reach out to your charter for more details on their expectations of families.

We are always accepting applications for both teachers and aides to join our amazing team. Please send an email, with your resume, to director@capitalchristian.academy. We look forward to getting to know you!