FAQs

Let’s be honest – most of the children we work with simply memorize the list for the week. The week after, those words are totally forgotten and a new list is memorized. At MindWare Academy spelling is taught through the Orton Gillingham program and will be ongoing. We will put an end to the weekly test.

At MindWare Academy the Arts are very important. Many of our children excel in areas of creativity, giving them an incredible sense of pride and accomplishment; something we want to foster. Our Arts program includes painting, sculpting, knitting, sewing and woodworking. We will also give children an opportunity to explore self expression through yoga, Pilates, tae-kwon do and dance.

Field trips are kept to a minimum, but special guests will be a regular part of our curriculum. We look forward to learning more through guests such as Ray’s Reptiles, Dr. Bones, Mad Science and many local artists. If you have a talent that you would like to share or know of someone we should speak with please let us know.

As described in our program detail page, homework will not be assigned on a regular basis. Children will be encouraged to work on projects at home with their families and reading will be an important part of the homework, but homework will not be assigned for the sake of assigning it. If however students do not complete the work in class it might be sent home for completion. Children with learning disabilities work too hard during the day to be saddled with hours of homework at night.

Any homework that is assigned is done so to teach students time management, organizational skills as well as a healthy work ethic in order to prepare them for high school. Our goal is to empowering students with skills needed to be proactive and hard working.

Should homework be given, it will be announced in class.

We are asked this question often and our first response is: “How did your child feel when he/she was in the regular system?” Often times children with learning disabilities are bullied or isolated because of the learning disability. We have found the opposite occurs in a school that is designed for their specifics needs. No one is different! The emphasis is on strengths – not on difficulties. For many children it is the first time they feel like they belong.

Again, we need to ask, “Did your child learn only positive behaviours in the regular school system?” Yes, some of our children do struggle with social difficulties, but not all, and that is true of any school. In fact, we find that because the children are not dealing with the same level of stress and frustration at our school the negative behaviours often disappear.

We will not be including French as part of our main curriculum. Most of the children we work with struggle with language and French is often quite difficult. In fact, many of the children are exempt from French in the regular school program. We will however offer conversational French as part of our electives program so that the children will be exposed to a second language in a fun and interactive way.