Our Story

Our Start

Inside a classroom at Vine Academy

Education is our passion, and providing the best in education is our obsession. Before 2012, Amanda Vogel, our founder and director, was part of running a highly successful tutoring company that provided 1:1 in-home tutoring to thousands of students in the Chicagoland area.

But, something was missing.  It felt so rewarding to help a student with one tough class or test.  Other times though, tutoring felt like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.  Realizing that what some of these students needed wasn’t tutoring but a different approach to learning, our dream to start our own school was born.  We began obsessively researching and designing. We took the best of everything we could find in traditional and alternative education formats.  We addressed every major weakness we saw in traditional schools.  We designed our school for students whose amazing potential was not being actualized.

From there, our customized education school in Burr Ridge, IL began. Originally, we started as an off-shoot of that tutoring company. We rented just a few classrooms in an old school building in Hinsdale. Over time, Ms. Amanda was supported to grow Vine into an independent company. Now, over ten years later, we have grown from just a couple classrooms with just a couple teachers to a staff of over 30 people teaching in over 20 classrooms. We have greatly expanded our space and taken on over 13,000 square feet in a custom-designed facility in Burr Ridge.

Our student body continues to grow little-by-little, each year. Currently, we serve 120-150 students in grades K-12. Our school day lasts from 8:00-3:20, and our students still do not take home written homework. Vine remains an independent LLC, owned by Amanda Vogel. We are a fully accredited K-12 school, with accreditations from both NIPSA and Cognia since June of 2018.

Vine’s Mission:
“Inspiring students to embrace challenges, pursue passions, and develop an active mind through customized learning.” 
 

Could your child be getting more out of school? 

Now is a great time to contact us to schedule an information session!