Smith Preparatory Academy, Casselberry | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I’ll start with Smith’s philosophy. Smith Prep recognizes that the goal of education should not be merely creating good problem solvers and productive workers. (Though, those will certainly be byproducts of a good education.) Education is about human formation. Smith Prep aims to produce “virtuous scholars,” meaning those who have a breadth and depth of understanding of history, philosophy, the sciences, mathematics, language, literature, the arts, theology, and the Bible; those who think critically and logically, and can communicate those thoughts clearly and persuasively in speech and writing; those who acknowledge the reality of God, of right and wrong, of truth, and even beauty, and who seek to conform themselves to these realities rather than conform the world to themselves. Virtuous scholars seek the glory of God and the good of others, not only economic prosperity. This may all sound very high-minded. But the fact is that our children will be educated according to someone’s educational philosophy and someone’s idea of morality (whether these are explicitly stated or not). The only question is, whose will it be? Education never is and never can be be worldview-neutral.
Now I’ll get a little more practical. My wife and I believe in the classical approach. There are other Christian classical education options in this area, but Smith is unique in what it offers. Five-day-a-week private school is out of the question for us financially. There are also many very affordable Christian classical homeschool co-op groups around, but much or all of the burden of teaching, curriculum selection, and lesson plan development falls on the parents. And the class time with other students is limited to one optional day a week, at which the parents must be present. There are many families perfectly happy with these co-op groups, and I’m glad they exist. But we were looking for certain things which only Smith offers: teachers to partner with, more traditional classroom time for our kids’ social development (Smith’s hybrid structure is two full days a week at school, three at home), a full curriculum that we don’t have to supplement, and a much lower price than five-day-a-week private school. Smith satisfies all these for us.
One other significant advantage with Smith: it will push you and your student! This is a blessing that will sometimes feel like a curse to both parent and student! It is worth it, though. As much as I believe in homeschool, I think my wife and I would be tempted to slack off a bit if we were going it alone or with a co-op. Smith Prep provides the accountability we need to set high expectations for our daughters.
We thank God for Smith Prep!

My wife’s review covered most of the primary benefits of a Smith Prep education. But I thought of a couple things you might want to know if interested in the School. One is every other year the students have an opportunity to travel overseas, one year my wife and daughter went to Italy(Rome, Florence, Sorrento, and Pompeii) and last year she took our two older kids to France, Germany and Switzerland with the headmaster, Michael Phillips, as the prime tour guide. The school also has a “house system” which groups kids of multiple age groups together to support each other and compete in various competitions throughout the year, this promotes team work and fellowship. For the adventurous students Smith offers a high adventure leadership camp in North Carolina. Any review would be lacking if it didn’t mention the excellent instruction of Michael Sacasas the Dean of Academics and Literature professor. I’m highly impressed with this professor’s approach to writing and education. He recognizes the impact technology is having on the attention spans of our kids(and us) and works hard to instill the value of traditional forms of learning to combat it. I’m so impressed that my kids are happily memorizing poetry, scripture and reading the classics.