If you had told me 15 years ago that I would one day start my own school, I would have laughed.
Teaching was all I had ever wanted to do.
Over the course of 12 years, I taught in almost every educational setting imaginable. I spent the early years of my career helping to launch a startup charter school, then taught in a Catholic school before eventually finding myself in the public school system. Each school was unique, but no matter where I went, I kept seeing the same challenges. It wasn’t the schools that were failing our children.
It was the system.
I watched passionate teachers, myself included, pour everything they had into their classrooms while trying to meet the needs of students who all learned differently. At the same time, they were expected to keep every child moving through the same curriculum at the same pace. Some children were pushed ahead before they were ready. Others sat waiting after they had already mastered the material. Somewhere along the way, it began to feel like we were asking children to fit the system instead of building a system that fit children.
I never stopped loving teaching. I never stopped believing in education. But I found myself wondering if there was a better way.
Then I became a mom.
As my daughter approached school age, those questions suddenly became personal. I wasn’t just thinking as a teacher anymore; I was thinking as a parent. I wanted my daughter to be truly known by her teachers. I wanted her to be challenged when she was ready, supported when she struggled, and surrounded by people who cared about who she was becoming, not just how she performed on a test. I wanted her to build relationships with children of all ages, spend time exploring nature, develop a genuine love of learning, and actually look forward to going to school each day.
That dream started with one simple question:
What if school looked different?
What if children learned at their ability level instead of simply by their age? What if relationships were just as important as academics? What if we measured success by growth instead of comparison? What if we gave children the time they needed to master a concept before asking them to move on?
Those questions are what fueled me to step out of the traditional setting and create a system I truly believe in. That leap of faith turned into Riverside Academy.
Today, we serve students in kindergarten through sixth grade in a one-room schoolhouse in Brookline, Indiana, where every child is known by name. Our mixed-age learning environment looks a lot like real life.
Younger students naturally look to older students for guidance, while older students develop leadership, patience, and confidence by helping those around them. Seeing the relationships they build and the community we’ve created is one of the greatest privileges of my job.
Academically, we take a mastery-based approach. Our students aren’t limited by traditional grade levels. Instead, they’re taught at their individual readiness level, allowing them to build a strong foundation before moving forward. Every child learns differently, and we believe that their education should reflect that. They each have a tailored learning plan that meets them at their ability level.
What began as a dream for my daughter has grown into something so much bigger. Riverside has become a community of families who believe, just as I do, that children deserve to be seen as individuals, not numbers. They deserve an education that nurtures both their minds and their hearts. They deserve a place where they are challenged, encouraged, loved, and given the freedom to discover who God created them to be. Starting Riverside wasn’t about proving that education can look different. It was about creating another choice for families in my community.
A place where children are known.
A place where learning is personal.
A place where curiosity is protected.
A place where relationships come first.
And a place where kids are free to be kids.
Leaving the traditional classroom was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. It was also the best one. Every day, I have the privilege of watching children learn, grow, play, pray, come together as a family, and discover what they are capable of. That’s the kind of education I hoped existed. And now it’s the one we get to build together.
