Our School
Mission
To help every child enrolled reach his or her greatest potential with confidence and joy.
Preschool to eighth grade students realize this mission in a small school that provides a supportive community atmosphere with a rigorous academic program based in the Montessori philosophy of education and supported by student exposure to a variety of enrichment classes and extracurricular experiences.
Educational Philosophy
Renaissance Academy Charter School incorporates hands-on, abstract, traditional, and cutting-edge techniques to create each child’s work plan focused on the ways that he or she best learns. Renaissance Academy Charter School offers families of the area a school with an academically focused Montessori philosophy of education.
Why Montessori?
Because it has an unsurpassed record of success. Montessori schools enable children to learn more with greater ease and joy. This system focuses on educating the whole child—intellectually, socially, and emotionally. It helps children gain confidence and skill while each learns to his or her greatest potential.
Curriculum
Field Trips
Field Trips are an integral part of the Renaissance Academy education. At Renaissance Academy Charter School, we believe in expanding each child’s world by enriching his or her life with diverse experiences, knowledge, and skills. Educational experiences outside of school are one important way we do this. In our great location on the edge of Michigan City and LaPorte, only about an hour from Chicago and forty minutes from St. Joseph and South Bend, there are many enriching opportunities available to us.
Attached you can see our field trip plan for the next several years showing a full Renaissance elementary experience. The trip schedule rotates in a three-year cycle, just like our classes, so children continuously enrolled are able to attend every one. The schedule in regularly adjusted to coordinate with our classroom learning and allow for opportunities that may come up, but generally one Chicago trip is included each year along with several closer trips. Beginning in 4th Grade, children enjoy a full camp like experience with 3-day sleepover trips at places like Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center or Camp Tecumseh. These trips are tied to our three year science and history curriculum cycle.
Fees are kept to a minimum and spread out over the year to keep manageable, with fundraisers used to help with the rest of the expenses. Some special events may require additional fees and further donations are always greatly appreciated.
Field Trip fees are due the first school day of each month August – May
Kindergarteners
1st–2nd Graders
3rd–5th graders
6th–8th graders
* Field Trip fees are pooled and required from every student regardless of attendance, and all students in the class are expected to participate in all class trips. If finances are a serious concern, assistance may be arranged through our TAP program in which family work in fundraisers can be applied to their own expenses.
**This field trip fund covers all basic field trips but some special trips require additional payment by families. Each year the school works to plan a grand finale trip for graduating 8th graders; the field trip fund and designated fundraisers are used to offset the cost of this trip but each student/family must pay the balance in order for the student to attend.
***Participation in school activities is a privilege extended to all students displaying good citizenship and appropriate behavior. Poor conduct may result in the loss of privileges including field trip attendance, or in extreme cases suspension or expulsion from school.