This is the #1 School for Special Needs Kids
Embracing the lifestyles side of the show, Deborah calls on Rachel Widgren. Rachel is the owner and teacher at the Kishami Academy. This is a specialized, 1-on-1 K-12 school focused on helping special needs children and those kids who need tutoring to complete a hard to manage course. Listen and Learn!
School has started!
Have you noticed how many types of schools are available these days? Military, charter, magnet, online and more schools are popping up each day. Even with all these options that are open to us, there are still kids that are falling through the cracks and not able to be successful in a mainstream classroom. Especially if they have special needs.
If a traditional school, or even a charter school isn’t helping your child reach their potential, you might want to consider a school where your child might get more one-on-one attention. Let me introduce Rachel Windgren, owner and Teacher of Kishami Academy.
How did Kishami Academy get started?
Rachel always wanted to be a teacher since she was a little girl. She LOVES teaching! It is her life and has been for the past 15 years as a teacher, tutor, and a substitute. Having a son that is autistic and a daughter with ADD, she learned first hand about some of the challenges that arise with special needs children.
As a public school teacher, she quickly discovered that the rules she was required to follow were not allowing for the quality of education she felt she could provide. She wanted to be able to meet the child exactly at their level of need, not what a piece of paper told her to do, and it was frustrating, in the least.
She decided that if she could remove the restrictions of the administration, perhaps she could reach the kids at their own level, then she could really help them grow. This is how Kishami Academy began.
Welcoming new students
She starts with testing that is geared to find where the gaps are in the education and the exact grade level for each skill. She teaches exactly where they are. In contrast to mainstream education, where students are segregated by age and pushed forward, in the Kishami Academy, children are advanced with an individual curriculum based on their needs. Students of every level are invited to apply where one-on-one teaching can benefit their educational goals. Families with special needs, learning disabilities, autistic, and ADHD children are encouraged to learn more about what Kishami Academy can do for them.
What can you find in the Kishami Academy?
It is comfy, real, and the kids get to sit wherever they want to and it feels like home. They have differentiated seating, yoga balls, a treadmill, a trampoline, and an elliptical machine. The students are allowed to go and do what their bodies need them to do. It is a multi-age classroom where they help and learn from each other. From preschool for 2 hours a day to K-12 from 9 am to 2 pm for instruction then they have homework time and hope to offer rehabilitation and other specialties on-site in the near future.
It is not special education, so children are not pulled out of a class and they get all the information they need. She is currently teaching at a 1 to 4 ratio and will never be larger than 1 to ten sized classroom. She helps individuals in all facets and ages of life, even if there is just a desire to learn to read. In addition to daily classes, she provides tutoring at an hourly rate for those who need an extra boost. She also invited parents to attend any class and to be involved in their child’s learning. Parents can receive daily feedback about their child and his or her progress instead of waiting for the occasional parent/teacher conference.
Reaching out to Kishami Academy
Recycling and donations are welcome to the academy. They love to take recycled paper! They can use the backside of single-sided paper, so you are welcome to drop off any you might be thinking of throwing away.
For more information about Kishami Academy, you can contact Rachel Windgren at any of the following:
Facebook @ KishamiAcademy
661-236-6116 Text only or leave a message
Email at kishamiacademy@gmail.com