Eclipse Academy is an online school for grades 3 - 12 where teachers craft custom curricula and engaging learning experiences for gifted, profoundly gifted, and twice-exceptional (2e) students.

Accredited full-time and part-time programs are delivered live online over Zoom, 1-to-1 and in small groups, on a schedule you choose. Beyond accredited coursework, students also enroll in enrichment, tutoring, academic coaching, executive functioning support, homeschooling and unschooling, test prep and college counseling, and more.

Across all our programs, we offer student-centered, discovery-based approaches, amidst a supportive community of teachers, mentors, and peers — to help students eclipse their potential.

Learn more about our school’s mission and learner goals.

Meet our Founder / Head of School and our Director of Education.

Yes, Eclipse Academy is entirely online. Our students attend live online Zoom sessions, and access their coursework in the cloud, anytime from anywhere in the world.

Students supplement live online Zoom sessions with individualized projects and homework assignments, and are supported asynchronously by teachers, in between class sessions, via ongoing emails and within Google Doc comments. While instruction happens online, teachers prompt students to engage in hands-on, experiential learning through real-world projects and local field trips.

For those seeking IRL community, we host (optional) annual in-person retreats for our students, their families, and our teachers and staff. This past summer we dovetailed with the Profoundly Gifted Retreat, and met for three lovely days in the Hocking Hills of Ohio: hiking through canyons and caves, learning about the science of nature, playing games, making art, sharing meals, and taking silly group photos.

Full-time students take most or all of their classes at Eclipse Academy, although they may dual-enroll at Eclipse and other schools or colleges. In the case of dual-enrollment, Eclipse Academy, as the “school of record”, maintains the student’s official transcript.

Part-time students take one or a few classes at Eclipse Academy, yet complete most other courses at another school or homeschool. Upon completing Eclipse coursework, we send an official transcript to the student’s school of record, so that credits earned at Eclipse can count towards graduation and college admission. Students may enroll at Eclipse part-time to accelerate and deepen their learning, or take a specialty elective course not offered elsewhere, or remediate learning (credit recovery).

Tuition is assessed per hour of instruction, at the same rate for full-time or part-time enrollment. Rates vary based on region, and volume of sessions.

Students can start attending classes online anytime, year-round, in any time zone worldwide. Teachers live throughout all U.S. time zones, with availability seven days a week.

We work with each family to craft a custom academic schedule, honoring each family’s preferred start date, vacations, and holidays. Our flexible 24-hour cancelation policy accounts for the unexpected. During the enrollment process, an admissions counselor will ask about the student’s availability, in order to propose a custom class schedule of 1-to-1 and/or small-group sessions live over Zoom.

Our Head of School gets to know each family in order to truly understand a student’s strengths, interests, academic goals, personality and sense of humor, any learning challenges, and learning preferences. Based on these conversations with the student and parents, our Head of School matches each student with the teachers who are right for them.

We work collaboratively with each family to develop a custom educational program that’s right for their needs, academically and financially.

Tuition is assessed per hour of instruction, and is paid monthly, with rates adjusted regionally for cost of living, at a sliding-scale range of $25 - $40 for small-group classes, and $80 - $120 per hour of 1-to-1 instruction live over Zoom.

We were inspired to create Eclipse Academy in order to make an elite education accessible to more families. As such, we offer volume-based discounts, so that families with more weekly sessions pay less. Also ask us about merit- and need-based scholarships.

As our approach is one of “mastery learning” there is no minimum “seat time” requirement; we skip the busywork, keeping a laser focus on meaningful learning. A student’s mastery of learning goals — not time logged, nor tasks completed — determines course completion, allowing students to accelerate (and also deepen) their learning, sometimes skipping ahead several grade levels.

Some families keep tuition low with an independent-study approach, and/or by incorporating free or low-cost third-party programs into their custom Eclipse Academy curriculum. For instance, a student might earn credit for an Eclipse Academy course in which they learn mostly independently by following our individualized curriculum, and then meet just once or twice-weekly with Eclipse teachers, who monitor progress and assign independent homework for in-between sessions. Or, in another example, an advanced student might enroll in an ASU online independent-study college course, utilizing Eclipse Academy teachers in a tutorial-and-academic coaching capacity, scheduling lessons infrequently or only as needed.

To determine the tuition rate for your family, schedule a complimentary Zoom consultation with our Head of School who, based on your family’s needs and goals, can offer a custom tuition quote.

Yes, Eclipse Academy is fully accredited for grades 3 -12 by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the gold standard of school accreditation globally. WASC accreditation extends to students living anywhere in the world, and is accepted by all colleges and universities.

For our high school students living in California, our courses are approved by the University of California. See our UC Doorways course list: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist/institution/5920

In addition to accredited coursework, our school offers enrichment, tutoring, test prep and college counseling, homeschooling, unschooling, and totally custom mentorship programs exploring niche subjects.

Eclipse Academy offers a range of courses for gifted, profoundly gifted, and 2e learners in grades 3 - 12, across all core academic subjects (English, math, science, and social studies) as well as electives such as art, music, world languages, chess, robotics, mindfulness, culinary arts, mechanical engineering, creative writing, and dozens more. New custom coursework can be developed from scratch for a student, upon request.

Coursework is tailored for each individual student, drawing upon a range of resources — from our own original curricula developed in-house, to third-party resources like accredited online college coursework for older students seeking dual-enrollment or, for our younger students, play-based resources like Beast Academy or TED Ed.

For our high school students living in California, our courses are approved by the University of California. See our UC Doorways course list: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist/institution/5920

All courses are guided by our “mastery learning” approach, in which we determine course completion, and award final grades, based on a student’s demonstrated mastery of learning goals, rather than on “seat time” or other arbitrary measures. Each student progresses at their own ideal pace, as our teachers meet each student exactly where they’re at, and chart a course ahead together.

To see examples of our curricula, contact info@eclipseacademy.com.

Our coursework — individualized for each student — is aligned with nationally respected learning standards, such as those by the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC), Common Core, and Next Generation Science Standards. Students need not access coursework in a linear way, but instead can jump from topic to topic, curated by our teachers for maximum engagement and novelty. Students are presented with a menu of choices of engaging learning activities while, behind the scenes, our teachers carefully track mastery of learning goals.

Alternatively, some families choose to take more of an “unschooling” approach, abstaining from standards, or preferring to define their own goals. We tune in to each family’s values to guide our approach to learning outcomes.

It’s up to you! We work with each family to craft a custom approach to assessing learning and grading student work. While most families opt-in to letter grades, other families prefer narrative progress reports only — the choice is yours.

Regardless of whether or not letter grades are issued, we take a “mastery based” approach, meaning that students are encouraged to keep refining and attempting assignments without penalty, until mastery is achieved.

Yes, upon meeting the requirements for course completion, Eclipse Academy issues an academic transcript with credit awarded, along with (optional) letter grades and/or narrative progress summaries. Eclipse Academy does not charge transcript fees, and can provide an official copy anytime, digitally or by post-mail, upon request.

As our school is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), our transcript is accepted by all schools and colleges worldwide.

At Eclipse Academy, we craft an individualized education plan for every student — honoring any prior IEPs and 504 plans, incorporating all recommendations and accommodations. During the enrollment process, our Head of School gets to know a student's unique strengths and challenges — and their personality, interests, and goals — and crafts a custom learning plan for teachers to follow and expand upon.

Having often felt like outsiders, gifted and 2e students (and their families) report that at Eclipse Academy, they’ve finally found their tribe — people who really get them.

In our 1-to-1 classroom format, students connect with teachers as mentors, who are guiding and rooting for them each step of the way. In our small-group classes, students are grouped by ability instead of age, fostering real connections with peers who share niche interests and abilities.

Our teachers understand the social-emotional needs of gifted, profoundly gifted, and 2e kids — we are growing a respectful and inclusive global learning community. Using the Michelle Garcia Winner social-thinking framework, we foster a sense of belonging and encourage meaningful connection, transcending geography.

For those seeking IRL community, we host (optional) annual retreats in-person for our students, their families, and our teachers and staff. This past summer we met for three lovely days in the Hocking Hills of Ohio: hiking through canyons and caves, learning about the science of nature, playing games, making art, sharing meals, and taking silly group photos.

We say that a student has achieved mastery when they can complete a task independently, or apply knowledge in new contexts. We do not measure seat time, busywork, number of attempts, nor time logged — only meaningful learning outcomes, agreed upon by student and teacher.

Eclipse offers a self-paced learning environment, where students progress at a pace, and achieve a level of mastery, that aligns with their unique goals.

While our program is best described as “self-paced” that’s somewhat of a misnomer — our program moves at the appropriate pace for each student, with clear homework prompts and due dates, ample scaffolding and teacher supervision, and positive mentorships.

Discovery learning involves a range of teaching strategies including inquiry, Socratic dialogue (conversation), and project-based learning. While class sessions happen live online, students also engage in the physical world, for instance by collecting life-science specimens from their backyards, and bringing them to Zoom sessions to share and analyze together.

Depending on the learning experiences we craft for a particular student, Eclipse Academy sends relevant learning materials to the student’s home, such as robotics kits, kitchen-safe science experiments, print copies of books, math manipulatives, microscopes, document cameras, and more.

Gifted learners demonstrate exceptional intellectual abilities and a high potential for learning and achievement. They often excel in their areas of interest, yet may struggle with non-preferred tasks, anxiety, and perfectionism.

Twice-exceptional (2e) learners are gifted individuals who also experience challenges in learning and/or social-emotional regulation. They may excel in certain areas while facing difficulty in others, especially when executive functioning tasks are complex. Twice-exceptional students may experience ADHD, Autism, processing challenges, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, and challenges with engagement and motivation.

Profoundly gifted learners share much in common with gifted and 2e learners, yet may seek even greater course individualization, acceleration, and/or depth.

With all of our students, we take a strengths-based, dual-differentiation approach to supporting their unique needs. We help students address their challenges, while emphasizing and nurturing their strengths and interests.

Absolutely! While most of our students identify in some way as gifted or 2e, other students eschew labels, and we respect that. Our enrollment process ensures a good mutual fit, as we are committed to providing an appropriate learning environment for every student we enroll.

Ongoing communication between school and home is key to our successful outcomes. Teachers email parents a progress summary after every class session, and invite insights, questions, and feedback from home. Our teachers are adept at refining a custom school program, as learning needs and goals evolve.

Further, our Head of School and Director of Education oversee all learning and teaching at Eclipse, across subjects, coaching and mentoring teachers as relevant.

Yes! We understand the importance of making an informed decision, and to avoid financial risk. We seek to enroll only those students for whom we’re a good mutual fit.

Try any Eclipse Academy session, an hour live 1-to-1 over Zoom with a teacher in any subject, and pay after only if you decide to enroll.

Contact us to schedule one or a few free trial sessions, at your family’s convenience.

Choosing the right school for your child is a momentous decision. We recommend scheduling a free consultation with our Head of School to determine if Eclipse Academy aligns with your family’s values and vision. We can offer a transparent look at our approach, share examples of student work and learning activities, and recommend a customized learning plan, along with wrap-around support services like executive-functioning coaching.