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by Michael Leppert
Mr. John Lackey, founder of Alger Learning Center and Independence High School, is one of the true pioneers in visionary education. John began Alger in 1981 as a student-led learning program that encouraged students’ imagination and offered an alternative to the stifling, cookie-cutter approach of mainstream schooling.
After many years of classroom teaching via alternative methods in public schools in Washington State in the 1970s, Mr. Lackey made his own alternative dream school a reality when he opened Alger in 1981. The thinkers and writers who contributed to his teaching consciousness include a pantheon of names who thought about pedagogy and conducted hands-on experiments, such as John Taylor Gatto’s Guerrilla Curriculum and A.S. Neil’s Summerhill School in England.
Over the four-plus decades of Alger’s existence, John has added many important elements and services to his original school. Alger offers a homeschool extension program for locals; distance learning programs that feature regular teacher-student contact and satellite schools. The satellite program allows teachers to adopt Alger’s methods and provides guidance in creating their own Alger-based schools, anywhere, so that students and families can enjoy the visionary education developed by John Lackey.
Among the regular school services that Alger and Independence offer are: Annual assessments, tutoring, diagnostic testing, transcript and credit analysis. Since Independence is a Washington State-approved private school, it can work with public schools and enroll dual-schoolers. Official state transcripts and diplomas are issued through Independence after meeting the state graduation requirements.
Mr. Lackey and his highly skilled staff keep Alger and Independence at the cutting edge of homeschooling and educational developments worldwide. Their goal is to retain the flexible, creative approach they have used since 1981 and to instill in their students the love of this type of knowledge-gathering throughout their lives. Alger and Independence are continuous enrollment and self-paced, so that students are not chained to Time or bells!
If you are interested in a solid homeschooling program that will light your child’s learning fire, visit John Lackey’s website http://www.independent-learning.com/ and consider how Alger and Independence can improve your lives. Ω
