STANFILL ACADEMY

Where curiosity meets the real world.

Welcome to Stanfill Academy, a North Texas family rooted in hands-on learning, family involvement, and the belief that children thrive when they are trusted with real work and real questions. We are a homeschooling family first, and we run two distinct private programs at our residence: our private family homeschool, and our weekly private homeschool co-op. We also share what we have learned along the way with other parents walking the same road.

• Visit the Co-op

OUR HOMESCHOOL

A private family homeschool on a North Texas homestead

Stanfill Academy began at home. Before there was ever a co-op, there was a family with children who needed a different way to learn, and a homestead full of animals, projects, and questions waiting to be asked. Today, our family homeschool continues to be the heart of everything we do.WHO LEARNS HEREOur private homeschool serves our own children, kindergarten through high school. It is not a co-op or an enrollment program; it is the daily learning life of our family.HOW WE LEARNOur children follow a structured, bona fide curriculum across all core subjects, ensuring a strong academic foundation in reading, spelling, grammer, good citizenship, history, writing, math, and science. Around that core, we layer hands-on, real-world experiences and passion projects that turn learning into life. Lessons happen wherever the day takes us, at the kitchen table, on the couch, outside on the picnic table, or at a store, and are reinforced in the kitchen, the barn, the garden, and the workshop, where children see how academics actually work in the real world. The result is a well-rounded education that builds academic rigor and life skills in equal measure. Curriculum is led by our lead educator, Dr. Stanfill, BS, MHA, PharmD, and overseen by our principal, Dr. Asad, MD, ensuring every subject meets rigorous academic standards alongside its hands-on delivery.THE TRANSFORMATIONHomeschooling has been transformational for our family. Children who once struggled in a traditional classroom, including students with special needs, are now excelling well beyond their grade and age levels. Their academics flourished, and so did something even more important: their mental health, their confidence, and their sense of who they are. We watched kids who used to dread school transform to ones that enjoy learning. We watched children who had been told what they could not do show us, every day, what they could. This is the experience we wanted to share with others, and the reason Stanfill Academy exists.THE RESULTSThe proof of our approach lives in our own children. Three of our teenagers, who once struggled on 504 plans in public school and felt like something was wrong with them, are now thriving in college-level dual-credit courses and surpassing their peers academically. Our seven-year-old is working a full year ahead of his grade level, on academics tailored to who he is, not a one-size-fits-all classroom. If he needs to bounce, climb, or ride his horse to release energy mid-lesson, we let him. Then we return to the work and master the concept together.Equally important, our children are intentionally well-rounded. They participate in a range of social and extracurricular activities so that learning is never just about school. The combination of one-to-one instruction, true flexibility, and a life filled with animals, peers, projects, and movement has produced outcomes that a traditional classroom could never match.

THE CO-OP

Project-based, hands-on learning with farm animals

Educator-led, mother-supported, and overseen by two dedicated parents with doctoral-level degrees.Stanfill Academy Co-op is the private community program of Stanfill Academy. While our family homeschool serves our own children, the co-op opens our homestead and our approach to a circle of homeschool mothers and their children across North Texas. We host between 30 and 65 attendees each week. Curriculum is designed and overseen by two dedicated parents holding doctoral-level degrees, ensuring every session meets rigorous academic standards alongside its hands-on, real-world delivery.ABOUT THE PROGRAMThe Stanfill Academy Co-op is:
Free for participating families, private and not open to the public, invitation based, a community of homeschool mothers and their children, held on private property, and independent of any public funding.WHO THE CO-OP IS FORWe host homeschool mothers across North Texas with K–12 children who are looking for a vibrant, hands-on community to complement their home learning. Families who thrive here value real work, real outcomes, and meaningful peer relationships. Membership is offered to families whose values align with our educational mission. We do not accept open enrollment. We are currently full and not accepting new attendees.WHAT A SESSION LOOKS LIKECo-op children learn alongside a working homestead that includes horses, goats, alpacas, chickens, emus, and livestock guardian dogs. Animal husbandry becomes a lesson in biology, nutrition, anatomy, and responsibility. Farm chores become studies in math, weights and measures, scheduling, and systems thinking. STEM projects round out the experience, from engineering and design challenges to environmental science.HOW MOTHERS PARTICIPATESessions are led by our lead educator and supported by attending mothers, who participate in the day's activities and help guide their own children's learning. The result is a co-op where instruction, mentorship, and family involvement happen all at once.TED-Ed STUDENT TALKSStanfill Academy Co-op has applied to become a participating site in the TED-Ed Student Talks program, an initiative of TED that helps young people develop and share their own ideas in the format of a TED Talk. Once approved, our students will work through a structured curriculum guided by TED-Ed mentors and our lead educator, Dr. Stanfill, PharmD, learning to identify the ideas they care most about, research and refine them, and deliver them to a real audience. Along the way, they build skills that matter far beyond the stage: public speaking, critical thinking, research, confidence, and collaboration.For the children of our co-op, including those who came to us hesitant, anxious, or quiet, this is a powerful next step. It tells them their ideas matter, equips them with tools to share those ideas, and connects them to a global community of young thinkers doing the same work. We believe every child has something worth saying. The TED-Ed Student Talks program is one of the ways we plan to prove it.A SECOND FAMILYThe most unexpected gift of the co-op has been community. Children who once felt alone in their differences now have close friends who get it. Mothers who once felt isolated in their homeschool journey now have a circle who shows up every week. The co-op has become a second family and we are honored to be part of it.

OUR STORY

From struggle to thriving, then to a community

WHY WE STARTEDHomeschooling did not begin as a plan. It began as a response to children who were struggling in traditional classrooms, including neurodivergent learners who rarely thrive in a one-size-fits-all environment. We believed learning could meet rigorous academic standards and also be grounded in real life, that the two are not at odds, but stronger together. What started as a leap of faith became one of the most transformational decisions our family has ever made.WHY WE BUILT A CO-OPOnce we saw what hands-on, project-based learning could do for our own children, we wanted other families to have it too. The Stanfill Academy Co-op grew from there. Today, more than thirty students gather each week on our homestead to learn alongside animals, projects, and one another.MEET YOUR LEAD EDUCATORStanfill Academy is led by Dr. Stanfill, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology, a Master of Health Administration, and a Doctor of Pharmacy. Dr. Stanfill leads day-to-day instruction in both the family homeschool and the co-op, and brings both academic depth and lived experience to every session.MEET OUR PRINCIPALCurriculum at Stanfill Academy is overseen by Dr. Asad, MD, our principal and academic director. Dr. Asad ensures every program element meets the standards of rigorous education while remaining grounded in real-world, hands-on learning.Dr. Asad received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Texas at Dallas, his Doctor of Medicine from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and completed his dermatology residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He has published in several scientific journals and contributed to textbook chapters throughout medical school and residency.Selected honors and recognition:Top Dermatologist, Best in Texas Magazine: Doctor Edition American Academy of Dermatology Gross and Micro Symposium, Abstract Finalist Helen Hodges Educational Charitable Trust Scholarship Award, TTUHSC School of MedicineTogether, our lead educator and principal bring a rare combination of pharmacy, public health, biology, and medicine to the everyday work of teaching children

FOR HOMESCHOOL PARENTS

If you are wondering whether you can do this, you can.

If you are a parent standing at the edge of a homeschool decision, this part of the site is for you. We are not credentialed teachers turned bloggers. We are a family that took the leap, watched our children thrive, and want you to know what is possible.A NOTE BEFORE YOU STARTHomeschooling is not about perfection. It is about presence. It is not about replicating school at the kitchen table. It is about building a life where learning happens naturally, in the rhythm of your family and the strengths of your children.Whatever brought you here, frustration, hope, curiosity, exhaustion, or all of the above, you are welcome.RESOURCESNew posts will be added here over time. If there is a topic you would like to see covered, please reach out using our contact form below.
How We Got Started (coming soon)
What I Wish I'd Known in Year One (coming soon)
Homeschooling a Child with Special Needs (coming soon)
Building a Homeschool Co-op from Scratch (coming soon)
When Your Kids Don't Want to Try (coming soon)

CONTACT

We would love to hear from you

Whether you are a North Texas family curious about the co-op, a homeschool parent looking for support, an educator interested in collaboration, or an organization wanting to connect, we welcome your message. Use the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can.