CAD—California Adventure Academy

A New Way To School

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE ACADEMY

WHAT DO YOU DO when you feel the public school system may not be the best choice for your child in this new age? What if you want to take back some control of what your children are learning, and have a say in the matter of how your kids are being taught?

And what if you happen to live in a part of California that has incredible outdoor recreation in all directions? You start your own adventure school, of course.

Being surrounded by some of the best outdoor adventures in the United States, Redding locals Ryan Spitz and Nigel Skeet decided to blend homeschooling with outdoor adventures and pursue the possibility of the adventure activities merging with curriculum, so kids are in school but might not realize it.

They did a little community outreach to see if there would be any interest from other parents and lo and behold, there were many. At the same time, they sought out expert advice from former school superintendent Bryan Caples, the leadership at Simpson University and Providence International. All input was positive, and within a few weeks, California Adventure Academy was born.

They partnered with Kevin Crye of Ninja Coalition in Redding and turned the top floor of the Ninja Coalition gym into the California Adventure Academy headquarters and learning center. To have the “school” be inside the Ninja gym lends itself to the notion of the kids being in school but not knowing it.4 continued on page 64

As the basic foundation of California Adventure Academy began to take shape, a bigger question arose: What if we started completely from scratch with regards to education? What do we want our children to learn, and, more importantly, how do we want them to face the world when they are done with high school?

“The end goal is for our kids to be forever curious, play well with others and be great problem solvers in the world, not test takers,” Skeet says. “If we can get them to figure out how to climb a mountain all the way to the top, by themselves and with a team, then we can get them to climb and conquer all the other mountains in their life.”

Spitz and Skeet set out to build the Adventure curriculum, identified Oakmeadow as their preferred homeschool curriculum and partnered with Aaron Hayes of Catalyst Mentors to help develop a life-skills track for students.

The California Adventure Academy is now live and parents have two choices in signing their kids up, Adventure Only or All-In Homeschool + Adventure.

The adventure track consists of team building, wilderness survival, orienteering and navigation, ecofarming, how to build a shelter, fishing, rock climbing, kayaking, archery, equestrian and more. The adventure track also includes Ninja training at Ninja Coalition.

Adding the homeschool component gets the kids tutor days at the learning center, where they brush up on their curriculum and learn life skills like financial wellness and critical thinking, with tutors and adventure guides who can help create understanding of subjects by using realworld examples that the kids are exposed to at the Academy. For example, learning how to kayak also means students are learning about math, science and biology.

The transition into becoming a full-fledged private school is underway, and if local schools are required to shut down, a fallback model has been created to minimize life interruptions for students. A Humboldt County group is slated to begin in 2021. •

www.CaliforniaAdventureAcademy.com

Nigel Skeet is originally from England. He moved to Redding 11 years ago after living in Los Angeles for 25 years. As a creative partner with the firm U! Creative and with an extensive background in photography and marketing, he is committed to elevating the global presence of Northern California.

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