Pastor Dennis Villars, senior pastor of Peyton Community Church, and his wife, Melanie, started Sonrise Christian Academy in January 2002 because they believed that all families should have the opportunity to place their children in a Christian school.Parents placing their children at Sonrise must agree with the basic Christian doctrine and Christian values their children will be taught at Sonrise, Villars said. They must also be faithful in attending and supportive financially of whatever church they attend. The school offers prayer time in the mornings and before lunch, and about 70 percent of the students are from families who attend Peyton Community Church.Incoming students are given placement tests to ensure they’re assigned the correct grade level, and students are tested yearly to assess their progress. Villars said most students’ test scores show they are about a year ahead of their grade level. He said that he believes the success rate is due to the individual attention the students get and the emphasis placed on serious academics.Sonrise operates more as a home-school cooperative than a private school. Each family is charged $50 per month per child to attend, and the charge covers utilities and upkeep on the building where Sonrise is housed, which is at the Peyton Community Church at 13697 Manitou Street in Peyton. Families also pay for their children’s books.Sonrise currently schools about 13 kids, with a capacity for 25. The students are in grades one through nine; however, because of the way the school operates, all grades are accepted. Twelfth graders can take some advanced classes that also offer college credits.The school has no paid teachers; instead, one parent from each family is expected to volunteer one full day per week. The volunteer parents teach the children using the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. Villars, who has a master’s degree in arts, is working on a masters of arts and divinity and acts as the school principal. He also teaches physical education about an hour each week.Sonrise operates on the same major schedule as Peyton School District, with classes held Monday through Thursday. The district allows Sonrise students to participate in organized sports and take classes as needed.Sonrise also supports traditional home-schooling families by administering the state-required tests.Christie Givens’ three children attend Sonrise. Givens believes students do well there because of the “personal touch.” Givens, who works in real estate, also enjoys the flexibility of volunteering at the school. Some weeks she said she is there two to three days a week, and other weeks just half a day.She said the program works because of “the flexibility of spending time one-on-one, making sure they get it before you move on.”Villars thinks one of the strengths of the program is the boundless “possibilities of how far a child can go.”For more information on Sonrise Christian Academy, call Peyton Community Church at 749-2053, or Dennis and Melanie Villars at 478-3153, or visit the Web site at www.peytoncommunitychurch.com.
