The 2014-2015 school year will be Legacy Christian Academy’s 21st, and its first year as a high school.

Legacy Christian Academy / Photo by Roger Starkey

The school on 2nd Street in Caseyville will have only a freshman class this school year, with another grade level added each of the next three years, Principal Anita Gajewski said. The school that started with four 4 year olds and now offers preschool through 9th grade, has grown one grade level at a time throughout its history.

‘We like to get a handle on the grades before we move on,” Gajewski said. “Our experience has been that it is best to build a program as you go rather than attempt to implement it all at one time.”

Freshman students attending this academic year will have classroom instruction for English, Spanish, geography and bible. Math and science will be online, through the Bob Jones University program. Students will attend physical education at Collinsville Christian Academy for the first semester, while taking art and yearbook photography instruction during the second semester.

A future goal of Legacy is to have as many high school students qualify for the Southwestern Illinois College Running Start program as possible. Running Start allows students to earn an associate’s degree while simultaneously earning their high school diploma. Gajewski said the school would like those who do not qualify for Running Start to set a goal of graduating in three years.

The ability to accelerate grade levels, in a particular subject or to skip a grade level entirely, is a program already in place in Legacy’s elementary school. The school’s use of combined grades makes the process easier, Gajewski said.

With about 10 students enrolled in each elementary school grade level, it is cost prohibitive to hire a teacher for each grade. Therefore, 1st and 2nd are combined, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th as well as 7th and 8th.

The teacher in each classroom provides instruction to one grade level while the other level works quietly, before switching to teach the other grade level. That the children hear similar instruction multiple times helps to reinforce the lessons, Gajewski said.

“For example, 4th grade is just 3rd grade with a few more concepts added,” Gajewski said. “It helps the children to hear the instruction multiple times.”

The arrangement also makes it easy for a child in a lower grade level to receive instruction in the higher grade level. Some children can be advanced a grade level in a particular subject without leaving their seats.

The combined grade levels appear to be working. The last six valedictorians from Collinsville Christian Academy have come from Legacy, Gajewski said.

Providing an excellent, well-rounded, Christian education in a loving environment is the purpose of Legacy Christian Academy, Gajewski said. The principle carries throughout the school and down to the pre-school level.

“Everything we do is with a purpose,” Gajewski said. “It’s not just busy work, it’s to challenge and advance them.”

The school, which uses the A Beka curriculum, is not directly affiliated with any one church, which allows them to benefit from the resources of many churches in the area, Gajewski said.

“We can draw more Christian teachers and have more resources if we aren’t tied to one particular church,” Gajewski said. “More churches see us as a viable option to public school.”

Although the bible is taught and Legacy provides a Christian education, a child does not have to be a Christian to enroll.

Legacy is currently accepting enrollments for high school freshman and every grade below. Qualified applicants may pay a lower tuition bill. The goal, Gajewski said, is for the each family to make up the difference between the amount paid and the $5,000 per student education cost.

Tuition rates for the 2014/2015 school year, which begins Aug. 25, are:

PreK-Kindergarten $3,735.00 yearly

1st – 8th grade $3,600.00 yearly

High School $4,000.00 yearly