LiberatED Podcast

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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Sharon Masinelli is the founder and head of school at St. John the Baptist Hybrid School in Kennesaw, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. Students attend the drop-off program two to three days a week, learning from an assortment of 30 educators, while homeschooling on the remaining days. Sharon launched her hybrid school in 2019 with 47 students. Today, her program has 120 students in kindergarten through 12 grade.

In the summer of 2021, Sharon's program was threatened to be shut down by the county fire marshal. After the Institute for Justice sent a letter citing Georgia's new Learning Pod Protection Act, the fire marshal backed down and Sharon's program was able to operate.

All of this leads us to grapple with the question of regulation, particularly for unconventional learning models like hybrid schools. Do we really need regulation, even if it seems to help founders? What are the benefits and drawbacks of such policies?

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Jack Johnson Pannell is the Head of School and Founder of Trinity Arch Preparatory School for Boys in Phoenix, Arizona, a microschool that launched this fall to serve boys ages 7 to 14. Prior to launching this new school, Jack was the founder of an all-boys public charter school in Baltimore, Maryland called Baltimore Collegiate.

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Happy Thanksgiving! A special note of gratitude to all the entrepreneurs out there. You are the true engines of human progress.

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