Clonlara School

As a family that transitioned from Clonlara's homeschool program to its campus-based day school, we could not be more pleased with our experience. Unlike some other recent reviews, our engagement with the administration and teaching staff has been open and cooperative. While our son does have a learning disability, he is gifted in several areas, and both the administration and teachers could not have worked harder to address his academic strengths and weaknesses. That said, the prior criticisms that this is a "special needs school" are unfair and unfounded, as the school does not purport to provide special services: it does not advertise itself as having a child pyschologist or speech pathologist on staff, but it does provide the flexibility for outside professionals to visit the school and work with individual students. Instead, it emphasizes unique and customized programs, which are not necessarily remedial, but often complements the gifted children's interests and talents.

When we went on a recent field trip, we were delighted by how courteous and well-behaved the Clonlara students were to those inside and outside the school community. We were able to see this in comparison to other school groups at the same site, where mutual respect and care clearly were not valued as they are by the Clonlara community.

On several occasions, we have seen other families welcomed and warmly received, with parents and grandparents coming to participate and celebrate children's achievements and special events. This is indicative of the transparency that we have experienced from our first meeting with the head of school when we were considering our options for where our son would attend after several years of homeschooling. There has been an honest and ongoing conversation. Potential disciplinary scenarios were discussed with the teacher ahead of time, which allowed us as the parents to have a say in what would constitute a just and appropriate response if our son were to misbehave.

There is an active and intentional mentoring program at the school, in which the older students take on and nurture the younger students. This already has been very beneficial to our son. For us, Clonlara has been all we could have asked for in a warm, caring and academically engaging context. In many ways, Clonlara has exceeded our expectations.

This year my son is starting his third year of High School at Clon Lara. We both love it! At Clon Lara my son is able to study his passion and incorporate his passion into his studies. My son came from a public school background. We tried a computer based home school for one year. Due to my busy schedule at work I found the computer based home school to be very difficult for me to supervise and my son seemed to be uninterested and falling behind in class. When we found Clon Lara, I loved the concept, but the school was 45 mins away from where we lived. We do not regret trying this school and eventually we even relocated to live closer to the school because I could see that my son was excelling in his academic and extra circular activities.

My son went from homeschooling to Clonlara Campus School to university, where he excels in his studies in pharmacy. His interest in pharmacy was first nurtured at Clonlara. He started studying medicinal plants and then studied psychology, where he became familiar with the medications available for mental illness. At Clonlara he learned to be passionate about what he was studying and to study what he was passionate about. He is a lifelong learner, thanks to homeschooling and Clonlara Campus School.

Service has vanished. Phone calls are not returned. Misinformation is the mainstay. Families are no longer valued. Filling out of forms reigns supreme. Unschooling is given lip-service. And integrity, alas, appears to be no more. Clonlara has lost its vision.