Michael Brunner began tutoring French, German, and Spanish while attending college at Rosary College (now Dominican University) in River Forest, Illinois, where he earned his B.A. in Modern Foreign Languages (French, German, Spanish, Italian).
When he and wife, Sandi, decided to homeschool their two children, who were then in the seventh and fourth grades, they began their association with Hallstrom Home School Workshops in Rockford, Illinois. The Hallstrom group met each Tuesday during the academic year.
The Brunners continued to homeschool their children through high school. From that experience came the realization that Rockford's huge homeschool community needed more options for parents teaching high-school-aged children at home, especially with foreign languages, the upper maths and sciences, and classical history and literature.
It seemed sensible to create a center where homeschoolers could have access to additional resources for tutoring, curriculum ideas, a summer program, achievement testing, and so forth.
Michael had already been tutoring privately, teaching classes at Hallstrom, and substitute teaching in the area, so the two decided to step out in faith and open a center that would give homeschooling families more options.
In 1997 seven Catholic homeschooling families got together to decide what to do about their children’s academic future. Most of them had students approaching grades 6, 7, or 8. Some had younger children.
Shortly after they met, other Catholic homeschooling families were contacted to see if there was interest in establishing a three-day per week instructional program. It would be grounded in a traditional, classical format and would allow much input by the parents of their homeschooled children.
An organizational meeting was held in St. Joseph’s Hall at St. Mary’s Shrine (now Oratory) in Rockford, and it was discovered that quite a few families were intrigued by this idea.
Gradually, other meetings were held, and soon it developed that beginning in the fall of 1998, the younger children (K through grade 3) would meet five days per week; grades 6, 7, and 8 would meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Locating sites for the two groups posed a problem.
Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Chambers offered their home for the younger students, and the quest was on for a suitable place for the older classes.
After searching fruitlessly throughout the Rockford area, Mrs. Celeste DalPra suggested the parents contact Provena Cor Mariae which is a nursing home in North Rockford.
Within a month Sacred Heart Classical Center (then known as Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Center for Classical Studies) was nestled in a former storage room in the lower level of Provena Cor Mariae.
It would be home for SHCC for 10 years.
During those years enrollment began with 18 students and rose and fell and rose and fell and rose again as SHCC added a full high school program for homeschoolers. Currently, SHCC limits enrollment to 50 full-time students.
SHCC continues to offer a unique traditional, classical program which often enables students to complete high school within 2 or 3 years after entering the full-time curriculum.
Over the years additional academic programs have been offered on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Former students associated with SHCC have received full scholarships not only to Rock Valley College but also to Oberlin College and Stanford University, just to name three.
One student is now studying at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
SHCC students learn how to study and how to use their time wisely. Imbued with a strong sense of ethics and personal integrity, they are welcomed at colleges and universities throughout the United States.
In 2009 SHCC left the Provena Mariae campus when the nursing home expanded its home healthcare program and required all the space in the lower level.
Today, SHCC operates at 1840 Windsor Road, Loves Park, IL 61111.