Our Mission

At Beyond the Books, we have faith in educating the whole child, and tailoring instruction to meet the needs of each individual child. It is through creativity, imagination, social skills, self-interests, and problem solving that discovery is ignited.

We strive to develop the whole human being in order to help each child reach his/her intellectual, emotional, social, creative and inquisitive potential. We have firm belief that each child learns differently, and when children are kinesthetically engaged, their learning is more profound.

Meet Our Staff and Educators

Nicole Gries . Founder . Trustee . Pre-K and Kindergarten educator

How it all began...

Hi! I am Nicole Gries, the founder of Beyond the Books. I became an educator even before I was licensed by working as an aid in preschool and kindergarten classes for 6 years throughout high school and college. Immediately after graduating from Monmouth University with degrees in Elementary education, special education, English as a second language and anthropology, I obtained a job as a second grade teacher in the Keyport School District. I then taught there as a first grade and ESL teacher for 7 years. I landed my dream job as a kindergarten teacher in the Manalapan school I went to as a child right before the pandemic and followed my class to first grade the next year.

My motto had always been "shut the door and teach how you know you need to teach." I followed the curriculum but knew so many elements were missing to meet the needs of each child and bridge certain gaps. I created majority of my own materials, games, and tweaked my schedule where I could to assure I was helping my students meet their full potential in all aspects of life. After I had my two children, i decided to homeschool them because I was seeing first hand how education was being handled in the public realm and I did not want that for my children.

When requirements and curriculum changes began happening in public school, I made the decision to resign and start my own learning pod of first and second graders in my father's basement. I began teaching with the flexibility and freedom that public school doesn't offer and was able to tailor learning to meet the needs of every diverse learner. I was able to modify curriculum and make learning into a hands on discovery from beginning to end. I had the time to get to know my students academically, socially and emotionally. I had always taught with the intent to educate the whole child, but now without the constraints or distractions from public school, I was able to do that and I saw the change in my students as a whole. I decided to join the public and homeschool forces together to create a program where learning is organic, happens naturally, and is focused on the child, their needs and growing and learning. I decided this was going to be my new path and that my mission would be to educate as many other children as I could "Beyond the Books."