Prodigy Leadership Academy to offer program for home-school students

Prodigy Leadership Academy in Cape Girardeau will offer supplemental educational support to home-schooled students through its Prodigy Bridge program, beginning Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Russell Grammer, Prodigy's director, said the new program is designed so Prodigy's teachers can come alongside parents who home-school their children and provide enhancement and supplemental support. He said they will have close communication with the parents and include their perspectives on what goals and objectives they want to accomplish with their children.

"We let the parents know that they are still the primary educator," Grammer said. "We're not trying to replace anything that home-school parents are already doing because they're doing a lot of great things."

Grammer said Prodigy Bridge will initially be geared toward kindergarten through second grade students, and classes will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the main Prodigy Leadership Academy campus at 232 Sierra Ridge Lane in Cape Girardeau.

Grammer said home-school students will experience similar "unique and creative learning approaches" offered at Prodigy Leadership Academy, with special attention to project-based learning. He said Prodigy's goal is to match the learning to each student so "it's the right fit for each child and they can function according to his or her top capability level."

"We also encourage student-led inquiry, which means that when the students are showing strong interest in something, we want to give them the opportunity to keep going deeper in their investigation," Grammer said.

Grammer said more families are going into a home-school arrangement, but many of them desire to have an opportunity for the children to do "hands-on projects that are engaging and that are rich with integrated learning opportunities." He said parents who home-school also want their children to have opportunities to practice good communication skills with others, and that will be an emphasis in the Prodigy Bridge program.

Grammer said they will operate within national and state standards and recognize benchmarks in terms of the type of materials the teachers are using with their classes. He said they will provide progress reports and achievement updates to parents so they can keep track in their home-school records.

"This will be a soft start to the program," Grammer said. "We are limited on space at our campus right now, but eventually want to grow the program to include prekindergarten through eighth grade."

The deadline for enrollment is Monday, May 15, and Grammer said the school will need at least 12 students for the program to move forward.

For more information on Prodigy Leadership Academy and the Prodigy Bridge program, contact Grammer at (573) 803-1338 or visit www.goprodigy.org.