Today’s episode is special in that I am joined by both a school founder and a parent so we’ll hear two interesting perspectives on the draw toward alternative education options.

Sarah Max is a former public school teacher who cofounded Acton Invictus in 2021 in Leander, Texas, just outside of Austin. Acton Invictus is part of the global Acton Academy microschool network that was founded in 2009 and now includes over 300 schools serving thousands of learners.

Tim Tran is an entrepreneur and one of Acton Invictus’s original founding parents. He moved to Texas specifically so that his children could attend an Acton Academy.

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Tobin Slaven is the founder of Acton Academy Fort Lauderdale who was previously on the podcast in fall 2022 (episode #46) to talk about the launch of his microschool. I'm delighted to have Tobin back on the podcast today to kick off 2024 with a conversation about artificial intelligence, technology, techno-optimism, and the future of learning. In addition to leading his microschool, Tobin is also the founder of vPAL Labs, working at the forefront of developing AI companions that combine the roles of a personal tutor, life coach, and mentor. 

More School Districts Ban ChatGPT. Here's Why That's A Bad Idea

Why Youth Social Media Bans Are A Bad Idea 

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Kyle Gamba is a former public school teacher and principal who in 2021 launched La Luz, a learner-centered lab school focusing on experiential learning for Latino students in Denver, Colorado.

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When Katelyn Shore opened the first Wildflower Montessori microschool in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2014, she hoped it would be the start of something big. The vision, introduced by Sep Kamvar at the MIT Media Lab, was to create an open-source network of intentionally small, storefront, neighborhood Montessori microschools that would offer the tools and technology to enable teacher-entrepreneurs across the country to launch their own microschools. Katelyn’s school would be the prototype.

Today, the Wildflower Montessori network consists of more than 60 microschools across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, including public charter microschools in Minneapolis, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Most of the network’s microschools focus on early childhood education, but some serve elementary and secondary school children.

Wildflower Montessori supports entrepreneurial, Montessori-trained teachers who want to open their own affiliated microschools. The non-profit Wildflower Foundation offers grants and low-interest loans to these startup founders, and connects them with the vast network of Wildflower Montessori educators who share resources, offer encouragement and provide advice and insights. Katelyn continues to run a Wildflower microschool in Cambridge, while serving as an inspiring mentor for current and aspiring Wildflower microschool leaders across the country. 

"How Microschool Networks Are Activating Education Entrepreneurs" (Forbes.com)

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My guest today is Christina Poole, a homeschooling mom of 7 children ages 18 months to 12 years, and cofounder of City Schoolhouse, a low-cost private school in the heart of Louisville, Kentucky. Christina opened City Schoolhouse in early 2017 with 9 students, plus her own 5 children at the time. Today, City Schoolhouse has 45 full-time students, with afterschool programs and vacation camps for local public school students. More than two-thirds of Christina's microschool students receive 100% financial aid assistance.

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What a pleasure to have Lenore Skenazy on the podcast today to talk about a variety of topics but mostly how to give our children the freedom and responsibility that many of us enjoyed as children, before structure and surveillance came to dominate American childhood. Lenore is the author of the popular book, Free-Range Kids, now in its second edition, and is the co-founder and president of Let Grow, a non-profit organization promoting childhood independence. 

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Originally from Venezuela, Gaby Narvaez and Andrea Hantman met in the U.S. and launched P.L.A.Y. School Academy (Passion Learning Approach Year-Round), a K-12 microschool in South Florida.

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Tom Bogle is a former public high school teacher turned microschool guide and now cofounder of Microschool Solutions, an organization that helps to activate new microschools across the US and support new founders.

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 My guest today is Becky McNichols, founder of Rooted Life Academy, a home-based microschool/homeschool enrichment program in the Kansas City area. Becky taught in public schools for 15 years, including most recently in a Title I public school that served predominantly low-income and migrant students. She grew increasingly drained by her public school teaching job and resigned in the spring of 2022 to launch Rooted Life. Becky opened her pod that fall with eight students ranging in age from kindergarteners to fourth graders. Today, her pod is at capacity with about a dozen students and a waiting list. 

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Nathan Fellman was a public middle school teacher and administrator in New Hampshire for nearly 20 years before leaving his job to launch a middle school microschool program in fall 2022. Nate and two of his colleagues from the public school system opened The Harkness House in Nashua, New Hampshire that emphasizes personalized learning for 6th thru 9th graders. Harkness House also offers hybrid homeschool programs for local young people ages 10 to 18 who want to access Harkness House classes. 

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