Citizens Academy

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1st-8th Grade Private Microschool | We believe that everyone who enters our doors deserves to find a calling and change the world | Affordable, world-class, alternative education | Serving South King County | Adventure is calling!

Families don’t switch to Acton for surface-level reasons. They switch because they want to change the way learning works...
10/21/2026

Families don’t switch to Acton for surface-level reasons. They switch because they want to change the way learning works. What draws people in is the shift: their child becomes more engaged, more responsible, and more confident in their ability to learn.

That’s something you can’t fully explain on an Instagram post. You just have to see it. If you’ve been curious about why so many families are making this move, a tour is where it starts to make sense.

10/20/2026

People who believe that they have control over the circumstances in their life have a high internal locus of control, according to psychologists. And here's what really counts - these people will also believe that they have the power to change their life. Because it's within their control.

This is such an important mindset to build in our children, yet, most schools don't even foster it one bit. This is why it's essential to build ownership during childhood.

At Acton, we are constantly asking children to figure out how they will handle a situation, and what they can do to fix problems. This builds a strong internal locus of control and a sense of empowerment that gets carried into the rest of their life.

10/20/2026

Every single year without fail, our youngest students end up bonding with our oldest ones. And everything in between. It just happens naturally here and it never gets old to watch.
What makes it so special is what each child gets out of it.

Our older students get to stay children a little longer. The playfulness and innocence of their younger schoolmates brings something out of them that a traditional middle/high school environment would have squeezed out by now. And our youngest learners get something equally beautiful. A big brother or big sister who genuinely looks out for them, includes them, and makes them feel taken care of.

That is how community actually forms: through real relationships that develop naturally across studios and age groups every single day.

This is one of our favorite things about Acton. And once you see it in person, it will be one of yours too.

10/19/2026

What if school actually made your child love learning? That’s what our day is designed to do - maintain love of learning, find each student’s calling and purpose, build real world skills like problem solving and critical thinking and more.

If your gut tells you that something is off with traditional schools… you’re not alone. Children weren’t meant to sit still for hours, memorize facts, and follow rigid rules that kill creativity.

There’s another way. A better way.

A microschool where:
~ Students learn at their own pace
~ No homework, no meaningless tests
~ Real-world skills matter more than grades
~ Play, curiosity, and independence come first

Your child deserves a school that works for them, not the other way around. This video from a fellow Acton Academy perfectly shows how our school day is designed with students’ needs in mind.

Rethinking education? Give us a follow to see if we are the right fit for your family!

10/16/2026

As Dr. Gordon Neufeld explains, play is much needed but is unfortunately on the decline! Unlike many schools, we are NOT taking away play! In fact, it's an essential part of our model! Because we know that play is not only essential to healthy development, but also improves learning and focus!

And for some kids, movement truly enhances their ability to engage in learning and improve retention.

If you believe that school should be a joyful place that takes healthy development into consideration, you might just love our model!

10/15/2026

We let our students choose how they work. On the floor, at a standing desk, tucked into a cozy corner, or sometimes even under a desk. And honestly, we stopped questioning it a long time ago (even though it makes no sense to us!) because the results speak for themselves. That freedom breeds focus.

When you give a child the freedom to figure out what works for their brain and their body, something really amazing happens. They actually focus! And that's because they found a way that genuinely works for them.

That kind of trust helps build a positive relationship with a student. It tells them that their instincts matter, that they know themselves, and that learning is something they get to own. And that adults don't always know best!

And when a child feels trusted, they show up with more enthusiasm and sincerety. They are more engaged, more motivated, and more connected to what they are learning.
Freedom, within reason, is not chaos. It is respect. And children rise to it every single time.

10/15/2026

One of the things that surprises parents most about Acton is how much our students actually run the show. They plan activities, organize events, and make real decisions about how their day takes shape. And in doing so, they are building executive functioning skills that most children do not develop until much later, if ever.

Planning. Prioritizing. Problem solving. Communicating. Following through. These are not skills you can teach through a worksheet. They are skills that develop when you give a child real responsibility and then trust them to handle it.

We are not hands off about it. There are guardrails. The learning environment stays safe, focused, and productive. But within that structure, our students consistently rise to the challenge because children genuinely want to create something good. They want joy and meaning. They want to feel like they matter and they have a voice. You just have to let them.

10/14/2026

We love our mixed age model for so many reasons but this one is especially close to our hearts. When an older student sits down with a younger one, we see something very special unfold. The younger student gets a patient, relatable guide. This is usually someone who just figured out the exact same thing and still remembers what it felt like to not understand it yet.

And the older student gets to build skills that will serve them for life. Skills like:
- The ability to articulate their thinking clearly and confidently
- A deeper understanding of concepts they learned
- Empathy for where someone else is in their journey
- Patience, as the younger student struggles to understand
- Mentorship skills that most adults are still working on

This is one of the reasons we love our model so much. Mixed age learning is not just good for the little ones. It is good for everyone in the room.

10/14/2026

There's a reason you remember the science experiment from 3rd grade, but forget everything that was on the test two weeks later. Hands-on learning leads to better long term retention. When a child is actively doing something, touching it, building it, figuring it out in real time, their brain encodes it completely differently than when they are sitting quietly and listening to someone explain it.
It's not just our philosophy; it's how learning actually works.

At Acton, experiments, projects, and real world challenges are not the fun reward you get after the real learning is done. They are the most important part of learning. Students are engaged, curious, and genuinely having fun, and that is exactly the point.

A child who is having fun does not even notice they are learning. They just know they want to keep going. That is the kind of school we built. Come see it for yourself. Send us a DM if you want to know more!

Children don’t start out hating learning. As every toddler parent knows, they start out curious.They ask questions...inc...
10/14/2026

Children don’t start out hating learning. As every toddler parent knows, they start out curious.

They ask questions...incessantly. They explore. They want to understand everything.

So when that disappears, it's usually for a reason. For many students, learning slowly becomes about performance: getting the right answer, avoiding mistakes, and keeping up.

And over time, curiosity gets replaced with pressure. But it doesn’t have to go that way.

When children feel safe to try, fail, and figure things out, learning becomes exciting again. When you stop making learning a chore and make it fun, that's when retention and engagement really changes. Follow along if you want to protect your child’s love of learning.

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10421 SE 192nd Street
Renton, WA
98055

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