Curiosity Grove Academy is a private micro school launching Fall 2026 in Seguin, Texas, built for children who deserve more than one-size-fits-all. As an affiliated Apogee Network campus, we're part of a proven national community of learner-driven schools committed to whole-child, whole-family education. Our learners set their own goals, move at their own pace, and grow in a close-knit community on 5 acres of intentional learning space.
At Curiosity Grove, no child moves forward until they've genuinely mastered what's in front of them. In traditional schools, we see it happen too often, a child passes math with a C or D and advances to the next grade, carrying gaps that quietly grow into confusion and lost confidence. We don't let that happen here. Every learner moves at their own pace, and advancement is earned, not assumed.
The real world doesn't sort people by age, and neither do we. Our mixed-age pods create a dynamic where younger learners are inspired and challenged by older ones, while older learners deepen their own understanding through mentorship and leadership. Instead of being constantly compared to peers at the same level, every child grows at their own pace while contributing meaningfully to the community around them. The confidence and empathy that comes from this environment is something a same-age classroom rarely produces.
Our learners don't wait to be told what to do, they learn to own their day. Each morning begins with setting clear intentions across academics, passion projects, and personal growth. Goals get broken into actionable steps, progress is tracked, and our Cultivators walk alongside each child to help them reflect, adjust, and follow through. The discipline, independence, and self-awareness built through this practice extends far beyond our schoolhouse doors.
We believe something remarkable happens when young people are trusted with real responsibility. At Curiosity Grove, learners are regularly placed in situations where they must communicate clearly, solve problems, collaborate with others, and make decisions that impact their community. Over time, they stop seeing themselves as students waiting to grow up, and start seeing themselves as capable, trusted, and influential people right now. The result isn't just confident kids. It's young leaders who know how to step up wherever life takes them.
Our learners master core academics, reading, writing, and math, in a focused two-hour work cycle each day. The rest of their time is spent developing real-life skills, exploring passions, building friendships, and doing the kind of hands-on learning that actually sticks. Childhood is too short for busywork. We don't assign any.
Academics and character aren't separate at Curiosity Grove. They grow together. We invest equally in the mind and the person, because a child who is both knowledgeable and good is unstoppable.
You believe who your child becomes matters just as much as what they learn.
When children have ownership over what and how they learn, curiosity takes over. We're not trying to make learning bearable. We're protecting the love for it that every child is born with.
You want your child to love learning, not just tolerate it.
Passion projects are built into every single week at Curiosity Grove. Whether your child loves building, writing, coding, farming, or something nobody's named yet, there's space for it here.
Your child has passions that a traditional classroom has no room for.
Our Freedom Levels system teaches children that real independence is earned, through showing up, following through, and taking responsibility. Those aren't soft skills. They're life skills.
You value grit, accountability, and self-discipline as much as grades.
No grades. No rankings. No child left feeling behind or held back. At Curiosity Grove, every learner is seen, known, and celebrated for exactly where they are and where they're going.
You want more for your child than a report card.
Through the Apogee Parent Mentorship Program, Curiosity Grove families grow together. Because children rise to meet the example set around them — and we take that seriously.
You believe your family's growth matters too, not just your child's.
We mean this with the warmest intentions, Curiosity Grove isn't the right fit for every family, and that's okay. This model may not be the right home if you're looking for:
✕ A traditional classroom with direct instruction
✕ Grades as the primary measure of success
✕ A structured, sit-down-and-absorb environment
✕ Minimal involvement from home
✕ A child who isn't ready to take ownership of their day
We didn't set out to tweak the traditional school model. We set out to rethink it entirely. From our 5-acre property to our Guidance System to the community we're building around every family, here's what makes Curiosity Grove unlike anything else in the area.
Real Goals. Real Ownership.
Our Guidance System puts every learner in the driver's seat, setting goals across reading, math, fitness, and passion projects they actually care about.
A real schoolhouse, open land, and small livestock, because we believe what a child learns outside is just as important as what they learn inside.
5 Acres Built for Childhood
A School That Grows With You
From founding family enrollment to the Apogee Network for parents, Curiosity Grove is a living, growing community you help shape from day one.
Curiosity Grove Academy was born out of a family experience that changed everything. After watching our four boys come alive inside a learner-driven school in Virginia, genuinely engaged, excited, and thriving. We relocated to the Seguin area and found nothing like it anywhere close to home.
So we stopped searching and started building. Literally. When we discovered the Apogee Network, a national movement of families and schools committed to reseeding freedom through whole-child education. We knew we'd found exactly the framework our community deserved. My husband brings a background in construction, and together we are raising a real schoolhouse on our 5-acre Kingsbury property, a space designed from the ground up with children in mind.
Our mission is simple: to create a self-directed community where every child is known, trusted, and given the freedom to follow their curiosity wherever it leads. Because we've seen firsthand what happens when kids are given that, and we believe every family in this community deserves it too.
Some learners come to the Grove needing to rebuild, confidence, consistency, or a genuine love for learning that got lost somewhere along the way. This is a safe place to start over and grow at their own pace.
Every child who walks through our doors arrives for a different reason. They all leave the same way, more themselves.
Others arrive already capable, and hungry for more challenge, more ownership, more room to lead. The Grove gives them the freedom to go as far as their curiosity will take them.
Join us at our upcoming interest meeting — a relaxed evening to hear our story, ask every question on your mind, and find out if Curiosity Grove is home for your learner. Can't make it? Get on our list and be the first to know when enrollment opens for Fall 2026.
When enrollment opens, families will complete an online application to get the process started. From there, we'll invite you to a Zoom call, think of it less as an interview and more as a real conversation. We want to get to know your family, hear what you value, and share more about what life looks like inside the Grove.
After that call, you'll receive either an acceptance letter or a letter letting you know it isn't the right fit, and we mean that with full sincerity. Curiosity Grove isn't the right home for every learner, and we'd rather take the time upfront to make sure it's a genuine match than have a family or child feel like they're in the wrong place.
We take this process seriously because our community does too. The families inside the Grove share a common belief, that children deserve to be trusted, known, and given the freedom to grow. That starts with finding the right fit from day one.
We don't follow a single boxed curriculum. Instead, we use a blend of high-quality, carefully chosen resources, like DreamBox for math and Handwriting Without Tears for literacy, tailored to where each learner actually is. Learning here is hands-on and exploration-driven, but literacy and math are woven into every single day in a structured way. It just looks very different from a traditional classroom.
Our cultivators are on the floor all day, every day — available for one-on-one support whenever a learner needs it. And one of the beautiful things about mixed-age pods? Older kids naturally step up for younger ones too.
We will have a dedicated schoolhouse, but don't picture traditional classrooms. Our space is designed around how children actually learn best, with purposefully built specialized spaces including an art room, maker space, quiet room, and more. Learners move freely between these spaces based on their goals and what they're working on that day, creating a natural rhythm that no traditional classroom schedule could replicate.
Each pod currently accommodates up to 20 learners per Cultivator, intentionally small so every child is genuinely known and supported. I am on site every single day as head of school, and our layout is purposeful. Cultivators can always see the whole community, kids move freely between resources, and mixed-age mentorship happens naturally throughout the day.
This isn't a classroom. It's a community built for curious minds.
What qualifications do your Cultivators hold?
We call our educators Cultivators, because they don't direct learning, they nurture it. Every Cultivator at Curiosity Grove is background checked, CPR certified, and First Aid certified before they ever step foot in the Grove.
Beyond credentials, we intentionally seek out people with Montessori or entrepreneurship backgrounds rather than those trained in conventional teaching. Years inside a traditional school system can deeply ingrain institutional thinking that's hard to unlearn. Our Cultivators come in already believing in this model, people who follow a child's lead rather than direct it, and who live out these values themselves.
A lot and that's very much by design. We actively encourage learners to take their work outside whenever they feel like it, aptops, books, projects, you name it. Fresh air and nature are part of the learning environment here, and with 5 acres to roam, we want kids taking full advantage of that. Some of the best learning happens outside.
Personal devices are permitted at Curiosity Grove with trust and responsibility in mind. Phones, tablets, and smartwatches may be accessible during the school day, however, we expect learners to use them with the same integrity we expect in everything else they do here.
When technology is used for learning, it's on our school computers, which have comprehensive content filters blocking inappropriate material entirely.
Please note: If a learner is found using a personal device to browse social media or engage in any inappropriate activity during school hours, parents will be notified immediately. That learner will lose the privilege of accessing personal technology during school hours going forward, no exceptions.
We believe childhood is too short and too precious to spend it mindless activity. Our learners have 5 acres to roam, animals to care for, projects to build, and a community to connect with. Personal technology is a privilege here, and we treat it like one.
Safety at Curiosity Grove isn't an afterthought, t's woven into the fabric of how we operate. As part of the Apogee Network, we follow an intentional, multi-layered approach to keeping our community safe. Several things work together here:
Outdoor freedom is earned, not automatic. Our Freedom Levels system means younger learners stay close to Cultivators while older ones gain independence only after consistently proving they can handle it. Trust is built over time, and so is autonomy.
The kids set the rules, and enforce them. Each pod writes their own community contract at the start of every year. Honestly? They're often tougher on each other than we would be. Consequences like revoking Grove Bucks or losing tech lab time are decided by the pod themselves. Watching children hold each other accountable at such a young age is one of our favorite things about this model.
Eyes on the Grove at all times. Our Cultivators are always present and actively engaged, and the property is intentionally designed so that all outdoor spaces are visible and monitored throughout the day.
We are a Christian family and our faith absolutely shapes who we are and how we show up for this community. That said, Curiosity Grove Academy itself is not a Bible-based or religious curriculum program. Because we are fully self-directed, there is no set curriculum at all. Our foundation is values-based and built around good character, integrity, and raising kids who show up well for others. If a student wants to bring their faith into their learning, their passion projects, or their goals, that is completely welcomed here. That is actually one of the most beautiful things about the self-directed model, it belongs to the learner entirely.