Curriculum

Here at Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy, the students will develop in three areas:

  1. Academically, they will be challenged to expand their minds and embrace the desire to become critical thinkers and life-long learners.
  2. Physically, they will be encouraged to develop their bodies and talents through athletics and outdoor activities, so they can lead and be an example for all.
  3. Finally, and most importantly, they will grow spiritually as they build a stronger relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Through discipleship and community service, our students will learn the importance of living and sharing His word. Each student will grow in appreciation of His teachings and learn the need of impacting the world for Jesus Christ.

The faculty and staff of Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy passionately desire to partner with parents in fulfilling the vision of training young disciples for Christ by seizing the vital teaching moments of the early years. The beliefs established in K through 5th grade are often the foundational building blocks upon which a lifetime of knowing and loving God is built. Because of this, our elementary teachers intentionally seek to pour the love of Christ on their students through their interactions and daily instruction. Bible truths are provided each day, and our weekly chapel is a dynamic worship time for teachers, students, and parents.

In grades 6th through 8th, the student experience is an exciting time for growth. DTD builds upon the strong foundation set during the elementary school years and supports students as they mature, explore, and develop during these years of change approaching high school.

And, for our high school students, in cooperation with Richmond Academy, our students are trained to be independent young adults while being fully dependent on our Creator God.

DTD has a strong program built around the core foundational subjects for the academic aspect. We offer the traditional physical education classes with a touch of variety. Each year grades 3rd – 10th can participate in skiing at Wintergreen Ski Resort for additional P.E. credit. In addition, students also have the opportunity to take band or keyboard through American Independent Music Association. As you can see, educating the whole child is of the utmost importance here at Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy.

Our Curriculum

Many people are unaware that the Seventh-day Adventist Educational System is the second largest parochial school system in the world.  This means our school is linked to unlimited resources and follows standards set for thousands of schools nationally and worldwide.

Read more about our world-wide educational system:

http://www.adventist.org/mission-and-service/education.html

At Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy, we follow the guidelines as dictated by the K-12 North American Division of Seventh-day Adventist Educational Curriculum Guides:

http://circle.adventist.org/browse/?browse_node=287

We currently use varied resources to achieve the goals set forth by the NAD Curriculum Guides, some of which include:

Pathways Language Arts (1st-8th Grade)

http://www.nadeducation.org/pathways/

Saxon Math (K-8th Grade)

http://www.hmhco.com/shop/education-curriculum/math/saxon-math

Kwac and Vowac Phonics instruction (K-2nd Grade)

http://vowac.myshopify.com/pages/phonics

A Reason for Handwriting
This guides instruction in school upright manuscript and also cursive, which we introduce in 2nd grade.

https://www.learningthings.com/c-181-a-reason-for-handwriting.aspx

Our Reading and Spelling 1-on-1 Tutoring Program

We give all the credit to the Lord who impressed our staff to learn more about the possibility of providing 1:1 help for some of our students who are struggling readers. A few of our students exhibited signs and symptoms to warrant the use of a research-based program for dyslexia called Barton Reading and Spelling System.

We are currently working with Liberty University’s Special Education Department.  They help us recruit volunteer education students to tutor some of our students during school hours. So far, God has provided exactly the number of volunteer Liberty tutors to meet our needs. We believe this is a program that is continuing to develop under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. You can read more about this tutoring program and dyslexia at: http://www.dys-add.com/

Upcoming Events

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