CLINTON, ONT. -- A pair of Huron County moms feel it’s time to try a “different style” of learning.
Liz Walsh and Molly Groves are the co-founders of the Cornerstone Schoolhouse, which is set to open this September in downtown Clinton.
The private school for kids aged 4-12, has no curriculum, no summer holidays, and no more than 15 kids to a class.
“It’s unique in that it’s completely child led. So we focus on each child, what they want to learn and how they want to learn it,” says Walsh, a Vanastra, Ont. native.
Groves and Walsh say they had the idea for Cornerstone well before the rotating teachers strikes began in Ontario.
They say they aren’t “dissatisfied” with the education their children are getting in the public school system, they just think there is a better way.
“There’s definitely a need for talking with other parents. There’s a need for a different style. Even growing up ourselves, a lot of us struggled with the traditional curriculum, sitting in a classroom all the time. So we just wanted to offer our kids another way to learn," says Groves, a mother of two.
Walsh, who will be the school’s teacher or guide says, “There’s no definitive curriculum. The kids do learn core skills and they do that through mastery. When they’ve completely mastered an idea, they move onto the next idea. We use a lot of online programs to prove that mastery.”
Tuition is $11,000. The Cornerstone Schoolhouse schedule is year-round, consisting of seven, six-week sessions.
Walsh and Groves hope to have 12 to 15 kids for September, and will add more staff as enrollment dictates.
