Hello!
You've intrigued me with your project description. I'm a college student studying software development student, and I, too, have encountered this issue with certain instructors. I think it's very wrong to punish a student for solving a problem using a method different from what's covered in the course, as long as that method isn't demonstrably wrong or inefficient in some way. In programming of all all fields, this is a completely wrong way to approach things.
I'd be very happy to help you out with this project. I look forward to hearing from you!