About
Inheritance
Academy
We are called Inheritance Academy because God has made the inheritance of his kingdom available to all in Christ. Inheritance Academy strives to be a place where a robust education shaped by the depths of Christian faith is made available to all children of Lake County, no matter their background.
Christian
Inheritance Academy is unabashedly Christian and provides an education where God is the foundation of all subjects.
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things love.” - Augustine
Inheritance Academy seeks to serve families from many different churches and several different denominations. When discussing a topic over which Christians disagree (e.g.: age of the earth, paedobaptisim, amillennialism/premillennialism, political matters, etc.), we encourage debate and ultimately direct students to their parents and pastors.
We believe:
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The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the Divine and final authority for Christian faith and life.
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In one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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That Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross, a sacrifice for our sins, according to the Scriptures. Further, He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He is now our High Priest and Advocate.
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That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and, during this age, to convict men; regenerate the believing sinner; and indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
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That man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is, therefore, lost; only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.
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That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit and thus become children of God.
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In the personal and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and that this “Blessed Hope” has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer.
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In the bodily resurrection of the dead: the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord; the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.
Classical
Inheritance Academy is Classical - proudly following the time-tested education model of many of the greatest thinkers in history.
“We often succeed in teaching our pupils ‘subjects,’ we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think.” - Dorothy Sayers
What is a Classical Christian Education?
1. God is at the center of all learning and our ultimate source of Truth. Our mission is to help our students to see the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in this world God has created.
2. Classical Christian education seeks to develop a love of wisdom and strong character in our students. Students learn the value of perseverance as they are challenged academically, and they see the beauty that comes through doing hard things. In community they serve others and see godly character modeled through parents and teachers.
3. Classical education is based on the Trivium, an understanding of how a child's brain works at each stage of development. By using particular teaching techniques in the context of specific courses, students are equipped to reach their full God-given potential. The Trivium includes three stages: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.
Academic Challenge
Inheritance Academy is a classical Christian school which by definition is an academically rigorous one. However, it is not a school choice designed only for the gifted student. Expectations are high, but not unreachable by average students. It is important to remember that not every child is a straight “A” student and that your student’s expectations of grades may have to be adjusted. At Inheritance Academy, we strive to help you challenge your child academically and grow his/her character.
We highly recommend that you read Christopher Perrin's book An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents for a complete understanding of the benefits of and methods unique to a classical Christian education.
Our Heart to serve Lake County
Thank you for your interest in Inheritance Academy!
The dream for Inheritance Academy emerged out of the summer of 2020. Questions of ethnicity and poverty were debated in the public square while riots and protests arose in many American cities, Waukegan included. On the one hand, intellectuals argued over the exact nature of our culture’s problem; on the other hand, public servants recommended different solutions. It led me to ask, “Given what seems to be true about our American situation, what solution may bring the most healing and the most glory to God?”
The answer for me was a classical Christian school made available to children of all backgrounds.
As public education suffered during the pandemic, especially among the underprivileged, the time seemed right to present parents with an alternative to institutional schooling. Community leaders were energized by the idea and it soon became apparent that this may be what our county needed. Inheritance Academy came to be.
This school isn’t quite like any other school. Here students of multiple ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds are brought together around the depths of the Christian faith and the greatest of human achievement over the centuries. Students go from chanting Latin to discussing the Great Books to learning advanced mathematics to learning to garden! It is the kind of school I wish I could have attended. It is the kind of education I want for my children. And it is all conducted under the Name of Christ and for His Kingdom.
I hope that the Lord will reveal what your role is in the life of Inheritance, whether as a parent of a student, a donor, a volunteer, or maybe even a staff member. We are grateful for your part in this beautiful work.
“Society is a shared inheritance for the sake of which we learn to circumscribe our demands, to see our own place in things as part of a continuous chain of giving and receiving, and to recognize that the good things we inherit are not ours to spoil.”
-Roger Scruton
Mike Stanczak
Founder
Mission & Values
Our mission is to prepare the next generation in Lake County to inherit and steward our culture in the Name of Christ.
Our values are summed up in three ideals:
Doxology
We believe that Christ is the beginning and the end. All things were made through him, and all things will ultimately be summed up under his feet. This means that Christ makes sense of the world. All things find their purpose in him, and our teachers are committed to honoring Christ in everything from mathematics and science to the arts and the humanities.
Dignity
Humans bear the image of God, which means we are made to reflect God’s character and glory on his behalf. We guide students to see that the heritage of human achievement is theirs to inherit, love, critique, steward, and pass on, all in service to Christ. God hasn’t called educators just to form future citizens and workers, but to form free humans.
Diversity
God’s world is alive with difference. This is not a bug of Creation, but a feature. At Inheritance we desire to be skillful in honoring and celebrating difference, knowing that ours is a diverse community of many ethnicities and cultures and backgrounds. The Gospel instructs us that every culture is made to be completed in Christ. We believe that all peoples, nations, tribes, and tongues will be represented at the throne of Christ, and our community is a glimpse of what that will be like.
Inheritance Academy is poised
to respond to the crises of...
...identity
In our time there is incredible confusion about identity. We picture meaning as coming from the inside out, when in actuality it comes to us from the outside in: through the sovereignty of God and the givens of our lives. In no area is this more evident than with gender. Some of this confusion comes from teaching all students as though there was no difference between boys and girls and how they learn. Equipped with the research of Dan MacKinney and others, we educate boys and girls in ways that best meet their unique needs. At Inheritance we know we are partnering with parents not just to raise faith-filled people, but faith-filled men and women.
...distraction
Philosopher Josef Pieper believed that the basis of culture was found in having the margin to contemplate. Without space in the day to enjoy unhurried time with the Scriptures and the best of human achievement, he maintained that we cannot become deep people. He referred to this contemplative margin as leisure. The ancients called it schole. At Inheritance, we implement times of unhurried, focused contemplation, away from phones and other tech, so our students can recover the practice of not just thinking, but thinking deeply.
...rootlessness
At Inheritance, we believe that a Christian education means more than just praying at the start of class. It involves bequeathing to children all the depths of the faith. Foundationally, this means a deep exposure to the authority and truth of the Scriptures, and from there all the richness of Christian reflection over the years, so that no student will leave Inheritance without being rooted in the depths of the faith.
...alienation
If education refers to the formation of a human being, then it must involve far more than just career preparation or head knowledge. It must be truly holistic. Humans are stewards of the donation of the world, and therefore students at Inheritance learn to garden, work with their hands, enjoy nature, and care for the Creation over which God has set us.