IN 1983, several parents, inspired by the books Better Late than Early by Raymond and Dorothy Moore and For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, began to consider homeschooling. As they planned, a Westerly Road Church couple, Dr. Douglas and Laura Megill realized that a Christian enrichment program, which brought students together for group activities, would unite the best of homeschooling with the best of community educational experience. By 1984, this group received ministry status from Westerly Road Church, enabling it to create the Westerly Road Church Learning Center (WLC). The center opened its doors in September of 1985. The first class included eight junior aged students (K-2nd grade) and met three mornings a week with a Judith Raines, a woman who had worked as a teacher with Susan Schaeffer Macaulay in England. 

​

By 1989, enrollment had increased to over thirty students, and a middler (upper elementary) class was added. Multiple afternoon classes were now offered which covered subjects from art to history, science to composition. At this juncture as well, the Megills moved away from Princeton. The Westerly Road Church elder board, recognizing the unique opportunity that WLC offered, continued to help to steer this vital ministry to homeschooling families. To aid in this process, WLC hired as its director/administrator then teacher Karen Ristuccia. Mrs. Ristuccia continued in this capacity for the next 17 years. In 2006 the director baton was passed to, then Assistant Director, Kim Torquato. Kim served faithfully as Program Director for the next 17 years, before the baton was again passed to current director, Terry Gilleland.

​

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

In 2014, Westerly Road Church became Stone Hill Church when they relocated to a beautiful new facility on Bunn Drive in Princeton. With that transition, Learning Center began meeting in a new location as well and changed their name to Stone Hill Learning Center. The state-of-the-art building and meeting space has provided many opportunities and adventures for our students that would have otherwise been impossible! Now located in the middle of a lush forest, students often get to make use of the property's nature and hiking trails. Throughout the program's long history, Learning Center has maintained its vision of supplying a university-model education, getting students ready for life after school, and enriching the lives of homeschoolers and their families!

​

​

PLEASE SCROLL TO SEE THE LEARNING CENTER PHOTO ARCHIVES