Superstars Program
Cultivating consciousness, creativity, and success.
Who are you?
…a family with a teen between the ages of 14 and 19.
…rejecting standardized education as destructive to your child’s creativity and natural intelligence.
…yet realizing that rigor and intellectual mentorship are key to your student’s development and success.
How can we help?
Education That Inspires (ETI) believes in what we call holistic rigor. We believe in truly humanistic education that builds students into genuine thinkers with deep and growing knowledge of the world.
We work with individuals and learning pods outside of the mainstream institutions to create superior outcomes.
Our work is based on the learning approaches of Dr. Julian D. Michels, holistic psychologist and creative educator.
Learn to Think, Learn to Learn
Our philosophy is rooted in classical education and the humanities. These are the ancient traditions by which future thinkers and leaders have learned to build their humanity and train their minds.
We are concerned about the pervasive invasion of the digital world into every corner of youths’ lives today. While technology has its uses, its omnipresent power requires that we build stronger human presence than ever before.
Standardization will never be the answer to this, because it follows the same logic as the machine to which humanity is increasingly addicted.
Our approach is to build organic genius, creative consciousness, and human rigor in every student through holistic humanities education.
Reading, Writing, Speaking
We believe in building up students’ natural love of learning and communicating. This requires the intersection of two seemingly different ideals: holism and rigor. Holism, here, means that we treat every student as a unique organism whose interests and passions hold the seeds of genius. Rigor, here, means that it is necessary to create space for that genius to grow by deliberatly combating the forces of distraction and laziness.
Every student who enters our program begins with an in-depth personal assessment of interests and capabilities. Based on this assessment we begin building both their skills and their passions. Students should develop literary capability by falling in love with reading. Students should develop speaking skills by having good conversations. We push students to apply themselves, to develop discipline, to seize each day and master these skills in pursuit of their own creative urges and vision.
History and Literature
Beyond skills development, we believe that becoming an empowered citizen-creator of the world is also based on what we call world knowledge. World knowledge is the domain of the humanities. Where do we come from? What forces and events have shaped the world we have inherited? Why do we see things the way that we see things, and what determines how different people see things differently? How can we live together in this world? How should society be structured? What part will each of us choose to take in this grand play?
For the development of world knowledge, we have found two domains to emerge as rich beyond others. These are the deep study of history and of literature, which are classical pillars of the humanities. We pursue a student-centered and inquiry-based approach into these domains with our students. At the advanced levels, this study can include preparation for the AP Exams in these two subject areas.
Projects and Portfolios
We believe in making every student a visionary architect of their own future. Our students come from various backgrounds and hold diverse goals. Many intend to continue to university studies, while others may not. Many have altogether renounced high school accreditation, others are earning homeschool diplomas, and others are still enrolled in high schools but wish to supplement with deeper studies.
Regardless of the circumstances, we believe that creative projects and portfolio development are a powerful tools for the future. Whether portfolios will be used for college applications, job applications, or entrepreneurial launches, our students receive mentorship in becoming creators and completing projects based on their interest and learning.
Projects can span a huge range of possibility, from podcasts and blogs to playwriting, business proposals, or event organizing. In whatever domain, we will mentor the creative expression of your student and assist in their development toward ingenuity and professionalism in their endeavors. We will also support the ongoing integration of our humanities-based studies into their creative projects to enrich the depth and rigor of what they create.
Close Personal Mentorship
This is not an “online course.” This is not a standardized curriculum. This is a journey we take together. Currently, given its small start-up size, parents who get involved with ETI will benefit from the close personal attention of Dr. Julian with every student. In the future, other mentors may be developed to expand our circle - but for now, even when other educators are sometimes involved, Dr. Julian will be mentoring and supervising in every case.
Scheduling Options
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
“It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
— Squarespace