Today we’d like to introduce you to Julianne Kimber.
Julianne, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In the late 1980s, my husband (Glenn Kimber) and I were asked by a group of parents in Mesa, Arizona to put into practice a seminar Glenn was presented throughout the nation called “Tools and Techniques of Effective Teaching.” They wanted us to “experiment” with these tools in an actual classroom situation with their children as the students. We agreed and began with 65 students in Mesa, Arizona. At this time we were both in our late 30s and had six living children (2 babies had passed away due to Agent Orange from Glenn’s tour in Vietnam).
We put a plan together and named our school Benjamin Franklin Academy, and traveled every week from Cedar City, Utah, to Mesa, Arizona (an 8-hour drive) to teach the 65 students.
Our method of teaching was simple:
* 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)
* 4 hours a day
* The curriculum was from the scriptures
* Our theme was a statement from Benjamin Franklin: “Learning to serve God, Family, and Country should be the aim and end of all true learning.”
Soon the parents wished us to add other subjects to the curriculum besides the scriptures, and we began to write manuals for math, science, language arts, and history — simply because we could not find any other curriculum that included God, family, and patriotism. We wanted to utilize Franklin’s statement, and have since written over 100 manuals on a primary and secondary level to include those three tenets of learning in all subjects.
The classes in Mesa turned out to be so successful that after two years we turned Benjamin Franklin Academy over to a friend and moved back to Cedar City. Word had spread, and we were asked to set up an Academy in Salt Lake City.
This was only a 3-hour drive! So we organized an academy there, leasing a building on 21st South off I-215 not too far from California Street.
Eventually, we had so many students we had to offer afternoon classes. In the senior class (ages 12 and older) there were 189 students; the afternoon class had around 150 students. We later organized a Junior class, which grew to 50 students. Word continued to spread until we had 52 schools in 16 states, with 2,600 students, set up with leased buildings, administrators, and teachers of our curriculum at each location.
Because so much of our curriculum and teaching is spiritually oriented, parents were concerned about how their students were progressing academically. So we organized a company called “National Testing Company, LLC” and created 45 exams for ages 5 – 18, a system of diagnostic testing. Students were evaluated on their own achievement, rather than comparing themselves to other students who are graded according to the “C” curve. The Senior-age students were tested in 22 subject areas, rather than the 5 basic subjects, so that parents could see what part of a subject their students were weak in, or excelling in.
By 1991, the logistics of keeping track of so many students, tax laws, different regulations in every state, payroll, as well as evaluating tests and curricula development were obviously overwhelming. A family involved in our Academy offered to take over the legal administration of the schools so we could concentrate on teaching and training with our new methods and system. This we agreed to do; however, due to various circumstances this became the downfall of our Benjamin Franklin Academies and all were closed down except for two local schools.
In 1995 Glenn was diagnosed with and operated on for carcinoid cancer from Agent Orange. This nearly took his life, but he is still, at age 80, teaching our curriculum and system to families across the nation as well as Mexico and Puerto Rico via live zoom classes. His students call him “Grandpa the walking miracle.”
In 1999 we set up our schools again as The Glenn J. Kimber Academy, with board members such as Janeen Brady, Hartman Rector, Jr., Vaughn J. Featherstone, Robert E. Wells, Kevin Walkinhorst, and other prominent supporters of our cause. Our main headquarters was in Murray, Utah, and academies were once again organized in several places, set up like the Benjamin Franklin Academies. By this time we had all the curricula written for the subjects of history, math, language arts, science, and religious studies (mainly Book of Mormon) and used much of our material from the scholarly writings of Glenn’s father-in-law W. Cleon Skousen.
When the internet became a staple in most homes, we tried the experiment of teaching online classes. Zoom made it possible to set up our system of learning much more efficiently than having brick-and-mortar buildings to lease, so we set up only one such Academy in Lehi, Utah, with the Rodrigues family from Brazil. The Lehi Academy is thriving, as well as the online classes, where parents are pleased to have their children in an environment of like-minded students and where fun and learning take place. Students enrolled in online classes can talk to each other, share, do activities with the teacher, ask questions, and interact. It is still held 3 days a week and both Glenn and Julianne teach, along with six other teachers. A well-trained dean works with the parents, and monthly parent meetings are held via Zoom.
And this is our story. In our later years, we are not ready to retire, and probably never will. We now live in a tiny town called Grouse Creek, Utah, where Glenn has his roots. With fiber optics, we are able to hold meetings and school without the stress of travel and costs. We are not sure yet who will continue the system of education that we feel we were inspired to develop, but hopefully, it will perpetuate itself into the future for a long time — so that young people can grow up loving learning, loving God, their family, and America’s Constitutional principles of freedom.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not a smooth road. We encountered fraud, misunderstandings, broken contracts, financial struggles, hostile take-over of our business, health issues, the house burned down. And of course, during those years we had sons on missions, marriages, divorces, grandchildren coming, and now great-grandchildren — but those last are not struggles, just snuggles.
If you ask our children, they will probably admit to you that our businesses were our primary focus, and not theirs.
That’s the roughest road to look back on. But then, we felt that we were doing it all for them and our grandchildren.
A few of them do use our curriculum.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Glenn Jay Kimber Academy?
To summarize what sets us apart:
1. Family-centered learning with parents as the guides; ie, their education is not dictated by us.
2. School only 3 days a week, 4 hours a day.
3. No homework.
4. Diagnostic testing for all ages
5. All curriculum includes service to God, Family, and Country
6. We teach principles of the original U.S. Constitution
7. We have prayer in class, opening, and closing
8. Tuition for online classes is currently $300 per FAMILY, not per student.
9. Parents are encouraged to attend class with their children (but not required).
10. Curriculum is self-learning and graduation requirements are the most difficult in the nation.
11. Our youngest student to graduate was 13 years of age, the average is 15.
12. Colleges and universities recognize our graduate students and they are accepted for admission.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Julianne: I made pretty designs of the dots on the bubble sheet of my ACT test (because I knew very few answers). As a result, I barely passed the test and was able to go to BYU and major in art. I have written and formatted almost all of the curriculum, composed 100 songs for the younger manuals, and illustrated them. I’m also a breast cancer survivor.
Glenn: He is in pain most of the time. People don’t know that because when he’s with people he is happy.
We own the convenience store in Grouse Creek, Utah.
Glenn takes tours to Israel and has been there nearly 100 times through the years, and was involved in the discovery of an ancient city called Beit-Lehi.
Pricing:
- $300 per family per month for tuition
- Enrolled families get a 20% discount on the curriculum.
- Enrolled families get a discount on testing — $30 per test; (original price $50)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kimberacademynational.com
