Kimber Academy

Kimber Academy is a network of LDS-oriented private schools and at-home programs built around a "God, Family, Country" curriculum, drawing heavily from the writings of Latter-day Saint author W. Cleon Skousen and teaching the original U.S. Constitution as a principled framework rather than a document to be interpreted against current constitutional jurisprudence.

Last updated: 2026-10-03 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Classical / literature-based / family-centered hybrid
Worldview	LDS (Latter-day Saint, with Skousen-derived constitutional framing)
Grades	K-12
Formats	Hybrid brick-and-mortar campuses, live online classes via Zoom, at-home self-paced
Cost tier	Standard
Parent intensity	3
ESA-common	No
Accredited	No
Established	Precursor Benjamin Franklin Academy, 1991
Website	kimberacademy.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Strong in American history and civics; thinner in math and sciences above middle school
Ease of teaching	4	Three-day school week with parent-guide model reduces daily parent teaching load
Content quality	3	In-house materials are coherent; Skousen-derived history and civics are the distinctive content
Flexibility	3	Three delivery modes work, but the curriculum is designed as an integrated whole
Value for money	3	Competitive against Latter-day Saint classical hybrids but not the cheapest path
Worldview scope	1	Explicitly LDS with constitutional-studies emphasis; narrow fit outside that audience
Visual/design	3	Functional rather than polished; classroom-materials feel
Support resources	3	Direct instructor contact and parent coaching in the at-home program

Who the publisher is

The school has gone through several iterations. In 1991, per the Kimber Academy founding history, the school's organizers were invited by parents in Mesa, Arizona to put a seminar called "Tools and Techniques of Effective Teaching" into practice with sixty-three students, traveling weekly from Cedar City to Mesa. They named the effort Benjamin Franklin Academy and structured it deliberately against the public school model: only two age-based classes rather than grade levels, families welcome in the classroom, no homework, roughly twelve hours of instruction per week. The network expanded to multiple Utah locations and now includes a Kimber@Home distance program that brings the same curriculum into the home via live and recorded instruction.

Theologically and politically, Kimber Academy is explicit. The curriculum is Latter-day Saint in worldview, the Book of Mormon is a core text in the religious studies sequence, and constitutional-conservative in its civics framing, drawing on the scholarly writings of W. Cleon Skousen and the work of the National Center for Constitutional Studies. The academy's three-part "God-Family-Country" branding reflects those commitments directly. In our assessment, families outside the LDS tradition or the Skousen constitutional-studies tradition may find the fit uncomfortable, while inside those traditions Kimber is one of the more developed curricular options.

The core pedagogy

The Kimber method rests on a handful of structural commitments that reappear across every grade. School runs three days a week, roughly four hours a day. There is no homework. Parents attend class alongside their children where practical and receive instructor-provided reading assignments to guide at-home work on non-class days.

The curriculum is organized around five content areas: history (primarily American, using Skousen's The Making of America and related texts), math (traditional arithmetic and algebra), language arts (grammar and composition built around classical literature and American documents), science (broad rather than specialized), and religious studies (centered on the Book of Mormon but also covering Old and New Testament). American history and civics is the signature strength.

Signature mechanics: (1) Three-day school week, instruction concentrated Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday or similar pattern; (2) Family attendance model, parents welcome in class in the brick-and-mortar campuses, and in the Kimber@Home model parents function as the on-site coach between live classes; (3) Book of Mormon as a core text, not optional, not bracketed; woven throughout the religious studies sequence; (4) Skousen-derived history and civics, The Making of America, The 5,000 Year Leap, and related texts form the spine of the American history and constitutional-studies coursework; (5) Parent coaching in Kimber@Home, at-home families receive support from academy staff in building an ongoing education plan, not just delivery of materials.

What they do exceptionally well

The compressed week. In our assessment, three days a week, four hours a day, no homework is a bold structural choice. The trade-off is less total instructional time in some subjects, and Kimber's bet is that the trade is worth it.

American history and civics. Whatever one makes of Skousen's historiography, the Kimber curriculum handles American founding documents, constitutional structure, and civic virtue with sustained attention. A student who completes the Kimber sequence has read the Federalist Papers, studied the Constitution in detail, and memorized a significant portion of American founding rhetoric. In our assessment, this is the academy's distinctive academic contribution.

Family integration. Kimber's commitment that parents belong in class, that school should not colonize the family's week, and that instruction should reinforce rather than compete with family life is pedagogically serious and organizationally backed. The parent coaching offered through Kimber@Home is not cosmetic; it is a core feature of the program.

What they do poorly

Math and science depth above middle school. Kimber's curriculum is strong at the elementary level in arithmetic and in survey-level science, but the high school sequence in both subjects is thinner than what families will find at Abeka, Memoria Press, or a program designed around a dedicated math publisher like Saxon or Math-U-See. Kimber does not pretend otherwise, but the gap is real.

Narrow worldview fit. Kimber is designed for Latter-day Saint families who are also sympathetic to the Skousen constitutional-studies tradition. The curriculum does not offer a "secular track" or a "non-Skousen history track."

Accreditation gap. Kimber Academy is not accredited, which matters less for elementary and middle-grade families than it does for high school. A Kimber Academy diploma is accepted by some universities (notably BYU and similar Latter-day Saint institutions) but families aiming at broadly selective secular colleges would need to bridge the gap with dual enrollment, AP exams, or third-party transcript-mapping work.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Kimber Academy if: you are a Latter-day Saint family and want the Book of Mormon as a core text rather than an add-on; you want a three-day school week with substantial family time built into the schedule; you value American history and constitutional studies as a curricular priority and are sympathetic to the Skousen historiographic tradition; you have a brick-and-mortar campus within driving distance or are comfortable with live online delivery; you want parent coaching rather than a ship-and-forget curriculum.

• Skip Kimber Academy if: you are not LDS and want your religious studies content to come from a different tradition; you are looking for college-prep depth in upper-level math and science; you want accreditation for transcript purposes at selective secular universities; you disagree with Skousen's historiography and want American history from a different scholarly frame; you prefer a conventional five-day week with a conventional grade structure.

Cost honest assessment

Kimber Academy's Apply page lists a non-refundable application and onboarding fee of $50 for each enrolling family, with a 50 percent discount for returning families. It says accepted families choose a tuition option, that paying for the full academic year in advance earns discounted annual pricing, and that other options may include monthly payment plans at regular tuition pricing, a 12-month Flex Pay option for an additional administrative fee, a la carte classes and enrichment, and semester-based extracurricular and elective fees. The page does not post tuition rates, so families should request them from the academy before comparing it with other programs.

ESA eligibility notes

Kimber Academy is not a standard presence on state ESA marketplaces. The academy operates as a private school and at-home program under Utah state jurisdiction; families outside Utah generally enroll through the online program. In Utah, the Utah Fits All Scholarship allows some private school tuition expenditures and some curriculum purchases, though program-by-program eligibility shifts and families should verify with both the scholarship administrator and Kimber directly. Outside Utah, Arizona's ESA program occasionally approves individual tuition payments to accredited or approved private distance-learning academies; Kimber's non-accredited status affects eligibility. ESA-funded families should request a current eligibility statement from Kimber before enrolling.

Alternatives

• American Heritage School, a family would choose American Heritage over Kimber for a Latter-day Saint classical program with full accreditation, a larger student body, and a more conventional five-day school week.
• Ron Paul Curriculum, a family would choose Ron Paul over Kimber for a constitutional-conservative home curriculum that is not LDS-specific and is delivered entirely as self-paced video.
• The Well-Trained Mind Academy, a family would choose WTMA over Kimber for a classical program that is explicitly non-sectarian, accredited, and runs on a conventional high school transcript model.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Kimber Academy's home page and Apply page in October 2026, and the archived Our Story historical narrative captured in October 2025. Application and enrollment details verified October 2026.