The Moore Academy is a branch of Moore Foundation, the homeschooling organization begun by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore as a result of their research on education done in the late 1960's and early 70's. Major universities widely approve the resulting "Moore Formula" educational concept; Dr. Moore has been personally invited to share authorship on more than 35 university textbooks. Dorothy and Dr. Moore have authored many books of their own related to homeschooling.
The Moore Academy is dedicated to assisting parents who wish to educate their children at home. For the past 20 years thousands of families have been guided in developing their children's learning skills-children who have gone out to excel in colleges across the nation. Now most colleges value homeschooled students for their exemplary character and high achievement. Others have found a place in the work place who could have become part of the "throw-away" generation of children, those whose achievement rate of learning was not equal to the social expectations in their early primary years.
Moore's contribution to education is best known for their emphasis on the philosophy that children, especially boys, need individualized attention, chiefly between the ages of 5 and 10. Even those with high intelligence have many times not reached IML (Integrated Maturity Level) at the same rate as their age mates. The Moore Academy does not advocate that they should have no education while they are in this early maturing stage; however, a no-stress approach is urged, with much emphasis on social studies and science, arts and crafts, and music appreciation. We believe phonics can be taught, but without pressure to perform, and with an easy, fun approach that uses learning activities, followed by phonetic readers. Writing is another "pressure-point" that deserves care in instruction. Writing in cornmeal, or sand, sky writing, and lots of dictating to Mom helps to bridge the gap between ability and performance. Math is also taught with lots of hands-on manipulatives, and real-life applications.
To summarize the success of the Moore Formula approach to education: High success comes when close individual attention is paid to the needs of the student, following their interests and allowing them to mature at their own rate, with emphasis on work (for pay), and service (in the home and in the community) with these non-academic learning opportunities receiving equal time to book learning. As the children learn to be diligent in their work application, it has been demonstrated that this diligence caries over into their academic performance as well as they mature.
