But that is where the similarities end.
All the students have normal or above normal IQs but have some type of learning disability and learn just a little slower, but are every bit as talented as other kids, Sharon said.
"These students were in regular school but even with things like the Americans with Disabilities Act in place, they get to the place where they can no longer keep up, they just might mature a little later," Sharon said. "I like to say that they are apples instead of cherries. They both produce wonderful fruit, but cherries produce fruit first. Apples still produce delicious fruit, it just takes them a little longer."
With Sharon's help, the students learn to deal with their disability and find out a lot about themselves in the process.
"I do a lot of therapy, occupational therapy, working with motor control, cognitive therapy at the point of contact and that type of thing," Sharon said. "We are trying to help them understand themselves in view of their disability. They are all very talented and gifted and we want them to know that it is OK to be different."
Sharon knows first-hand what it is like to deal with a learning disability because both her children were diagnosed with ADHD, and while researching the disorder, realized she also had grown up with the disorder.
"When my oldest son was diagnosed, I realized what had been going on with me all my life. ADHD is hereditary and rarely ever skips a generation," she said.
The research she did on learning disorders and the realization that public schools were not in a position to do what was needed for the children that made her open her school 14 years ago in Hardin County where she had worked as district food service coordinator for eight years. After moving to Nicholasville from Hardin County she opened the school in her home.
"To be able to help these children requires a different approach to parenting and disciplining. You have to structure things differently, they need lots of consistency, and everything must be as calm and low-key as possible," Sharon said. "I work at creating a sense of family. The kids are coached and trained to interact like a family with the older students taught to model their behavior for the younger students."
That approach seems to be popular with both parents and the students alike.
Seventeen-year old student, Nick Carrol said the students learn more than just the normal school subjects.
"You learn so much more than math and social studies. You learn about self control and how to be a family and relate with others," Carrol said. " Mrs. Sharon tries to help us to understand how our attitudes affect everything we do and we learn other things that we wouldn't normally do, like dancing."
Sharon said she was always looking for things to let the students get out of their comfort zone and experience things they wouldn't normally try to do, and when one of the families told her about taking dance lessons at the Fred Astaire Studio in Lexington, she thought it would be good for the students, even though at first they didn't think so.
"At first the kids said 'Oh no, not me,' but now they just love it," Sharon said. "These guys would have never done anything like this before."
The students performed a dance recital at the studio Wednesday night. They were in charge of the entire performance and also made all the refreshments for the event, using cooking skills they learned in food and nutrition classes.
Seeing them step out and do things like that have left the families amazed, Virginia Trueblood, a grandmother to one of the students, Auburn Bailey, said.
"Auburn has made a complete turnaround since gong to Mrs. Helen's school," she said. "It is the most unbelievable place. I don't know what would have happened to her without it."
"We're just so thankful that the lord led us to the Sharon School," she added.
Other students echoed that sentiment.
"I like the school. It's been really, really good for me and I would recommend it to any kid who has a learning problem. This is the place to come," Justin Burdine, said.
Alston Nash said the school had helped him learn to deal with and understand his learning problem and it helped having other students around him who struggled with some of the same things.
Watching her students expressing themselves to a reporter, a smiling Sharon said her vision was to teach her model of teaching to others to carry on after her, perhaps even in a public school system.
"This is an easy an inexpensive model to do. I would love for a superintendent or school official to come up to me and say 'Can you show us how to do this?'' Sharon said. "It would be easy to implement and I know that there are some teachers who would love to do it."
She said the success of her program comes from her relationship with the parents.
"This is a shift in how to do school and how to relate to parents. I'm trying to build bridges with the parents and build a trust with them. Without that it will never work," she said.
