What if your child discovered and developed their unique genius?

Introducing Expanse

Expanse offers a full middle school program for children 10-14.

We immerse your child in exceptional peer learning experiences that lead to high-level academics and skill development. Our program is personalized to support your child’s pursuit of their distinctive genius.

We are warm, purpose-driven, and effective. Our students are intellectual, creative, and entrepreneurial.

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Purpose-Driven Experience

World-class skill development

Students develop passions and confidence

Diverse forms of talent nurtured and accelerated

Focused development on key 21st century skills

More of the same

Content “covered” rather than learned

Disengaged students

Unrecognized talent

Skills not relevant to success in life

A Day at Expanse

10 - 10:30 am

Community

 

We begin the day with vibrant, guided community activities. Students discuss shared experiences, present ideas clearly and persuasively, authentically express emotions, resolve conflicts, give and receive useful feedback, and discuss world events. Improv and theatre as skill development exercises provide fun while guiding skill development. We customize an approach to “Designing Your Life.”

10:40 - 11:20 am

Socratic

 

Students spend 40 minutes together analyzing issues they care about, drawn from closely reading complex texts. They engage with peers as listeners, speakers, thinkers, and leaders. This collaborative learning starts with deep, thoughtful primary texts, both classic and contemporary, that span world history, literature, poetry, and philosophy.

11:30 - 12:00 pm

Writing

 

Students learn to express in writing the opinions and observations they’ve already verbalized in Socratic, developing their written voice in both creative and discursive ways. We supplement assignments with exercises on the nuts and bolts of grammar and punctuation. As a result, students leave middle school with exceptionally strong essay-writing skills.

1:00 - 1:50 pm

Mathematics

 

Students follow the Quantum Camp curricula, which develops problem-solving skills and is aligned with standard middle school STEM content. Advanced students are given more challenging problems; those with gaps receive personalized practice. All are coached on effectively learning mathematics using principles of Barbara Oakley, author of the highly -regarded ​Learning How to Learn.​

2:00 - 2:50 pm

Science

 

The Quantum Camp curricula structures middle school learning through a series of inquiry-based experiments inspired by the actual history of science. Families receive kits in the mail, which students then use to conduct the experiments. The program combines rigor and experiential discovery to provide a rich middle school science experience.

3:00 - 3:30 pm

Mentorship

 

With mentorship, students are guided through the intentional design of their lives in compelling ways. It is also a space for them to articulate personal setbacks and successes with a mentor who can help them develop a strategy to constructively address whatever is going on in their lives.

3:30 pm & beyond

Personal Project

 

Mentors provide guidance in determining the optimal personal project for your child each step of the way. Weekly check-ins ensure that your child is moving forward in a constructive manner. Projects in history, science, technology, and media, among others, enhance awareness of the world’s options.

Weekends

International Project-Based Learning

 

Nobel Explorers, a global STEAM bootcamp, engages your child in project-based learning options with talented students from around the globe. For the full international experience, students meet on Saturday mornings so they can work with peers in Kenya, France, the Ukraine, and elsewhere.

Our Founder

Michael Strong is an experienced school creator whose projects include Moreno Valley High School, a charter school in New Mexico ranked the 36th best public school in the U.S. by Newsweek; Winston Academy, a school for highly gifted students in Florida who successfully completed AP exams; and The Academy of Thought and Industry, the high school model for the largest U.S. Montessori network. He is the author of The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice and Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems.

Our Team

Michael Strong
Founder + Chief Empowerment Officer

Robert Malka
Chief Operations Officer

Nina Berler
Chief Communications Officer and Head of College Counseling

Our Secret Sauce

What if peer culture actually supported deeper learning, rather than being ambivalent towards it? Expanse is the result of decades of teamwork experience developing adolescent programs. We are experts at creating a peer culture that supports intellectual development and purpose-driven achievement. Each program component nurtures a high-performance, supportive peer culture, with adult guides carefully selected and trained to encourage a positive learning environment.

Rolling
Admissions

We accept students on a rolling basis. Our program is personalized such that we can accept students at any time. We integrate students into our community and chart out their personal development path together.

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FAQ

Expanse is for students who want to own their own education!

We are looking for students with a passion, either for learning, creating, building a business, creating a game, or some other form of excellence.  They don’t need to know exactly what they want, but they need to love learning or doing in some form.

You will receive written feedback quarterly on your student’s performance in Socratic, writing, math, science, and project-based units. In addition to rich narrative feedback, your child will be evaluated against typical grade-level skill levels. Students who elect to take practice SSAT exams three times per year will also have those scores as a measure of academic progress.

In addition to recognizing federal U.S. holidays, our calendar consists of:

School starts:  Aug. 31st, 2020.
Thanksgiving break:  Nov. 23-27, 2020.
Winter holiday:  Dec. 21, 2020 through Jan. 1, 2021.
End of school:  May 28, 2021.

Parents may take their students out for an optional spring break whenever they choose.

Tuition is $9,400 for the standard track if paid on an annual basis, which covers the entire academic year, or $2,350 if paid on a quarterly basis. Need-based financial assistance is available. Tuition is prorated based on enrollment date.

Specialized tracks with specialized mentors, most appropriate for mature, focused 8th grade students, are available for an additional fee.

Expanse is focused on developing high level skills for all students with respect to reading, writing, thinking, listening, leadership, collaboration, project management, and other key 21st century skills. Our diverse group activities feature personalized assignments and coaching.

We offer group activities covering middle school math and science curricula. Personalized assignments and coaching are provided for students who are either more advanced or who need extra practice covering earlier mathematics.

Our students will be exposed to an extraordinary range of learning opportunities across many topics both through our core and enrichment programming. Pedagogically, our focus is on high-level skill development in reading, writing, mathematics, leadership, and collaboration skills along with broad exposure across other disciplines. Our Socratic and project-based learning will include historical context and scientific principles.

The maximum size is fifteen.

Students will be able to continue with an existing cohort or select a new option each semester (subject to availability of slots).

For now, we’re 100% virtual.

We look forward to supporting local student communities in the future.

Nothing more than a reliable internet connection, and a computer or other device with camera and microphone. For essay writing it is best to have a conventional keyboard.

Expanse students enrolling in public and most private high schools will typically have higher reading, writing, mathematics, thinking, and professional skills than will most of their high school peers. Those enrolling in the most competitive private high schools will be academically prepared and will receive SSAT support.

Later this year, we will announce our plans for high school students, beginning with supplemental programs. We know you’ll be excited to hear about them!

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