September 24, 2024 • 40 mins
Are you ready to reimagine education? Join us on this transformative episode of the Kindled podcast as we sit down with Candi Lehenbauer, Prenda guide and the driving force behind Tapestry Academy in Florida. Discover how Candi’s passion for microschooling led her to create a thriving educational environment that has evolved over the past five years. From handling fluctuating student numbers to shifting from a homeschool mindset to a tuition-based model, Candi’s journey is one of resilience and adaptation, especially during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, her work with Microschool Florida highlights the importance of community and innovation in microschooling.
Candi overcame her initial fears about starting something new in her community as well as the steep learning curve of starting a business. Hear about the excitement, the hurdles, and the triumphs of transitioning from a homeschool co-op to running a microschool. Learn about the unique strategies Candi employs to manage her microschool environment, emphasizing the importance of social activities, flexible curriculums, and interest-based learning.
Got a story to share or question you want us to answer? Send us a message!
About the podcast
The KindlED Podcast explores the science of nurturing children's potential and creating empowering learning environments.
Powered by Prenda Microschools, each episode offers actionable insights to help you ignite your child's love of learning. We'll dive into evidence-based tools and techniques that kindle young learners' curiosity, motivation, and well-being.
Got a burning question?
We're all ears! If you have a question or topic you'd love our hosts to tackle, please send it to podcast@prenda.com. Let's dive into the conversation together!
Important links:
• Connect with us on social
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Interested in starting a microschool?
Prenda provides all the tools and support you need to start and run an amazing microschool. Create a free Prenda World account to start designing your future microschool today. More info at ➡️ Prenda.com or if you're ready to get going ➡️ Start My Microschool
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi and welcome to the Kindled podcast where we dig
into the art and science behindkindling, the motivation,
curiosity and mental well-beingof the young humans in our lives
.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Together, we'll discover practical tools and
strategies you can use to helpkids unlock their full potential
and become the strongestversion of their future selves.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Welcome to the Kindle podcast everybody.
Today we are in the middle ofour three-part series where we
are talking to micro schoolguides who run programs based on
the Prenda model and based onall of the ideas that we talk
about here on the Kindle podcast.
So you can get kind of a behindthe scenes look at what
educating a group of kids likethis actually looks like the
struggles, the wins, all of it.
(00:53):
So today, who are we talking to?
Adrian.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We are talking to Candy Landbauer of Tapestry
Academy and she is out ofFlorida and what I love about
her, she has had so muchresilience and grit and has kept
up her micro school.
For this.
She's going into her fifth yearbecause Prenda predominantly
started in Arizona, so she'skind of been this.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
you know just like a Florida pioneer.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, totally yeah, she's a Florida pioneer and
we'll hear from her today aboutall the growth in Florida.
Florida pioneer and we'll hearfrom her today about all the
growth in Florida and we can'twait for this school year
because we have a lot of Prendasopening up in.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Florida.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Super exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Super exciting.
Let's go talk to Candy Candy.
Welcome to the Kindle podcast.
We're super excited to have you.
Thanks, glad to be here.
All right, so tell us a bitabout your background and who
you are.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, I am a Prenda guide, yay, so anyway I have.
I've used Prenda for four years.
I'll be starting it in my fifthyear this fall and I actually
ran a micro school for two yearsbefore that and it's called
Tapestry Academy and anyway, Ibecame obsessed about micro
(02:04):
schooling schooling like thesecond I heard about it, so
that's kind of an exciting thingthat I'm still doing it years
later.
I also run a directory calledMicroschool Florida where I help
parents and educators findmicro schools and homeschool
programs, and I'm a homeschoolmom of 20 years at least and I
(02:24):
have six kids, and I thinkthat's about it.
That's me.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Love it.
Okay, so can you describe yourmicro school and how is it
different from traditional?
And also, how is it differentfrom homeschooling?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So my micro school is .
It's kind of changed over theyears.
I ran across some papers when Ivery first started my
microschool of.
This is my vision.
This is what it's going to looklike, and it is so different
from that I didn't want to throwaway those papers because it
was like a fun.
It is part of history.
I had all of these plans ofwhat it was going to be like,
(03:01):
but it's changed and I thinkthat's okay.
It's just morphed every yearinto something different, and I
think it was.
It was well the year that COVIDhappened.
That was the year of my veryfirst year that I used Prenda
and I did it out of my house andmy neighbor's house and we had
13 kids and I hired anotherguide so that we had like two of
(03:24):
us doing stuff in TAN and wedid a lot of field trips and
things together.
That was a fun and excitingyear.
It was, you know, my first yearof ever getting started and
knowing how to do it.
And then the next year wassuper small because I also moved
at the same time.
So I had thought, oh, everyonewill just come back after COVID,
(03:44):
but most of them went back intopublic school.
That was at least my experienceand so it was a really small
small group and I hadn't reallyadvertised because I was so busy
with we need to remodelbathrooms and let's get the tile
in downstairs and all of thosethings, and so it ended up being
a really small group.
And so it ended up being areally small group.
We had five kids that next yearand I hired an assistant to
(04:09):
just kind of help out here andthere.
But she ended up being like oneof my prenatal kids, if that
makes sense, because I stillcovered kindergarten through
grade eight in my micro schooland sometimes the older students
just really felt like theyneeded a buddy or somebody there
, and so the assistant that Ihad coming at times was just
(04:32):
like another kid that I washiring to be there for those
older students.
But anyway, it's changed alittle bit over the years.
Then the next year we actuallywent up to like the full 10 kids
and it just has changed everyyear.
We always have like a couplethat kind of stay the same core
group of kids and then there'salways a few that change in or
(04:54):
out.
We've we the year that I had sofew students.
I thought, well, what am Idoing wrong?
Why can't I get people to joinmy micro school?
And I wasn't able to acceptscholarships at that time, so
everyone was having to paytuition out of pocket and I
found that really challenging,coming from homeschool world
where I did everything for free.
Everything that I did was free,free, free, free, run the
(05:17):
community center for free.
All my classes were free,everything was free, but the
parents would pay with theirtime and energy to come and help
do stuff, and that actually iskind of expensive if you think
about it, because you're payingwith your time.
But I was changing the mindsetfrom you needed to pay tuition
so then I could hire people whowere dedicated to doing those
(05:37):
roles, and that was a trickytransition for me.
But my husband said you need tostop thinking about school as
school.
You're trying to recreate ittoo much, even though I was
using Prenda and I lovedeverything Prenda.
He says look around and findthose things that you would love
you like.
You see other micro schools.
We're in South Florida, sothere's lots of micro school
(05:58):
programs down here.
It says look around and findthings that you think are
exciting and fun, that you wouldwant to send your kids to and
then incorporate those itemsinto your micro school.
And so I ended up um hiring anart teacher and then I hired a
surfing.
We went to a surfing class likeonce or twice a month and
(06:19):
that's became kind of part ofour what would call it Our DNA
for our micro school.
And then I also found a farmlady.
She was a homeschool mom thatwe had done lots of science
projects together with the yearbefore, but I ended up hiring
her as being our, our farm ladyand we would go visit her on
(06:40):
like just organized field tripsthat we would do regularly so
that the kids would learn.
I live in Boca Raton andsometimes our city is just known
for being posh and ladies highheel flip-flops with their dog
that they push in the stroller,and I'm like that is my city and
I get it.
But I don't want my kids tofeel like that's life and our
(07:05):
family is like really normal,like no gated communities.
Just, you know, go and talk toanybody at any time for your
neighbors.
And so I just wanted to find aspot where the kids could get
dirty.
They could, you know, holdworms and chase chickens and you
know those kinds of littlethings that you get in different
(07:25):
types of experiences and wethere's even like an
old-fashioned lawnmower, youknow the ones from like the 50s.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah we literally bought one of those for our kids
so that they were like thismodern life is too easy, like,
so we bought one of those sothat they would learn some hard
work that's actually one of thefavorite things that all the
kids get to do out of farm dayis to mow the weeds.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
But yeah, we really like it.
I actually really like it too,and sometimes I'll go.
I'm just too stressed.
Why do we have farm daytomorrow?
And then I'll go.
Oh, we have farm day tomorrow.
I get to walk around for an hourand a half and just be in
nature and get to, you know, doall of those things that are
just not my typical life.
So by changing up kind of theway that we did things just a
(08:13):
little bit, it wasn't like itwas an everyday thing, but it
was just enough planned outingsthat it kind of defined who we
were a little bit.
And then all of a sudden thephone started ringing and I got
a lot more people interested inmy programs.
I know Prenda does a lot ofthose virtual field trips.
Those didn't work out so greatfor me because I'm a couple
hours ahead.
So every time there wassomething cool I was saying bye
(08:34):
to all of my students, we'll seeyou tomorrow.
So it didn't really line up andso I just thought, well, how
can I create some of those funexperiences?
How can I create some of?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
those fun experiences , Cool.
That's awesome.
It sounds like a completemashup of like traditional
school.
So there's so structure and itstill looks like school, but
then you have like thehomeschool of the experience,
experiential learning andgetting out and getting your
hands dirty.
So you have like a a prettygood mashup between the two.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
It sounds like Well, and I'm also thinking too for
all of the homeschooling thatI've done for years and years
it's just using the communityaround you to do stuff.
So, and before, when I was inhomeschool world, my community
were stay at home moms that Iknew all of their tricks and
things that they knew how to do.
But now I'm utilizing, um,micro school programs and, um, I
(09:20):
guess you would call them likeprogram vendors.
You know they're making abusiness off of providing these
really cool experiences and thenI am paying them for that.
So, anyway, it's kind of thesame thing, but I've just
changed the market for all doingthings.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
So what originally inspired you to start a micro
school?
And then, how did you findPrenda?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I talk about this all the time.
I feel like it's part of mymakeup story.
It is kind of funny.
So I went through homeschoolburnout.
So I'd been homeschooling about10 years and I have six kids,
so 10 years didn't covereverybody in their education.
I was like, wow, I am reallywishing to do something else.
(10:04):
And a lot of times when I wouldrun the homeschool co-ops, I
loved all of the families thatcame and I felt like it was
really great.
But sometimes the familiesdidn't show up and they wouldn't
take it as seriously as I did.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So I was providing it was free too, yeah it was free.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So they were just like oh, and then I'd see on
Facebook hashtag best homeschoollife ever, we skipped school
today and we went to the beach.
And that they skipped my thingto go to the beach.
Man, that just really hurts myfeelings and it just happened a
lot and I I thought how can Icreate something meaningful
without you know, being like themad person all the time?
(10:45):
Please just come to my program.
I'm not going anywhere.
I planned all of my vacationsaround the homeschool co op, so
you should do the same.
But I thought I don't like thateither.
I just want people to feel asinvested in it as I was.
And so during my homeschoolburnout phase I said, fine, I'm
not doing anybody, I'm notrunning anything this year, and
(11:11):
I actually put a couple of kidsin school which you know
micro-schooling wasn't a thingso much.
And so I I didn't even knowabout micro-schooling, and so I
put my 10th grader and my fourthgrader into public school, like
10th grade, first time to evergo to school.
You can handle this.
And then the rest of them.
Um, I just finishedhomeschooling them, but it was
probably three months into it.
I just discovered, uh, thislittle private school that was
(11:34):
an hour away from where I was.
They had came and sing at achoir that I was helping.
It was like a big concert, anativity concert thing.
They had performed at it andthey hired the opera lady that
came to sing at the concert, andI was the opera lady was a
friend of mine and she said youhave to come and see this school
, it's so cool.
And I said, all right.
So I drove up there thinking,well, maybe we'll move and we'll
(11:57):
send our kids to this school.
And as I walked in I was likethis is amazing.
It was not really anything tosee from the outside.
It was like an old shoppingmall and it was like an old
sheriff's department part of theshopping mall and it didn't
look like much from the outside.
But then when I walked insideit felt like a homeschool co-op
(12:19):
but everyone had kind of likematching outfits on and it was
peaceful, and it was thirdthrough eighth grade and I
thought this is what I'm lookingfor, Like smaller environments,
everybody knows each other, weall know each other's birthdays
and anyway.
But then they were chargingtuition and I thought maybe this
is what I need to do, is I needto start my own little private
school, or well, first I wasgoing to move there and then my
(12:41):
husband said we can't move Lifethings.
He'd been asked to do somethingnearby here that he couldn't
move for, and so I was like,okay, great, Now what do I do?
And I just couldn't leave theidea alone, and so that's kind
of what I call the beginningphase of the water spigot being
turned on high and every singlenight when I would go to bed I
(13:04):
would have bazillions of ideason how to start my school and I
would just fill my notebookpages after page after page of
page, and then I'd researchonline.
I would find an article thatwould talk about this kind of
schooling.
I discovered the word microschool.
I pretty much became obsessed.
Every single conversation I hadwith any person ever was about
(13:26):
that's how I was, too as soon asI found out about it.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I was just like oh my gosh.
Everyone needs to know aboutthis.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
This is amazing, this is what needs to happen.
And anyway, I just I said thisis what's going to happen and I,
I started my business like thatMarch.
I still remember where I wassitting when I sent in this like
sunbizorg or something whereyou have to send in and say I am
now starting a business.
And I was terrified, like therehas to be something more to
(13:56):
this.
Like you just pay like a fewdollars and you say here's my
business.
So, anyway, it was kind ofscary and exciting all at the
same time.
And then I was like I just didit, I just started a business.
So, anyway, it made me a lotmore excited.
I feel like it was still all ofthe same things that I'd always
been doing with homeschoolco-ops, but it added the
(14:17):
interesting part to me withmarketing, with having to do
your financial statements, withjust talking to people and
convincing them to use yourprogram, figuring out how to do
like the little stripe card totake somebody's credit card
payment, I don't know.
All of that was just reallyexciting to me.
It felt like I was playingstore, you know, like when you
(14:39):
go to like the kids museum inyour town and you're like this
is so fun.
I kind of felt like that's howI was.
And the lady I took her creditcard, I kind of she gave me the
look like you have no idea whatyou're doing right now, do you?
So, anyway, what can you say?
I had no idea, but, um, yeah, Ijust.
I kind of just got started andI looked into all these
(15:01):
different models, you know, likeActon Academy or different
things, and I'm like, oh, thoselook all so cool but I don't
have enough money to to like paytheir fee upfront.
At least that's what I thought.
And then my first year actually, when we counted up how much
money I spent, I was like, oh,that actually is expensive and
(15:22):
maybe I should have paidwhatever fee to start somebody
else's program.
But it was like the school ofhard knocks, just figuring out
things as I went along andanyway.
So I did it for two years kindof on my own.
I felt like I had a really hardtime attracting people who are
not from the homeschoolcommunity because I was like the
rogue homeschool educator thatI didn't have to like appease
(15:48):
anybody.
I kind of felt like peopleperceived me that way from like
traditional school and so Ithought there just needs to be
some way that I can attractpeople better.
And then also one of myteachers gave me feedback.
They said you're not going tosurvive unless you partner with
another organization.
Because you know it's reallyhard to like do wear all of the
(16:08):
hats.
And I was like I'm paying rent,I'm paying teachers, and at
that time I had like a mathteacher and an English teacher
and a science teacher and theywould come in for little bits of
time and anyway it wascomplicated and expensive.
But I went home after she gaveme her her feedback and I was
(16:29):
like rude but thank you.
You know, whenever people giveyou really great advice, you're
like dang it.
But I went home and I Googledmicro school organization.
I hit enter and Prenda poppedup and this was pre COVID.
So I, um, that night I watchedlike an info meeting there
(16:50):
happened to be one on Facebookthat night and so I went online
and I was kind of hearing thespiel Kelly was telling about
how it got started and I waslike oh, that sounds pretty
similar to kind of what I'mdoing.
I was doing like 22 hours aweek, so I was like just two
hours over and I thought I couldtotally morph that and I was
already doing four hour, fourdays a week, and so I was like
(17:11):
figuring out how it could alignand I thought I feel like this
is very similar to what I wasthinking, that I was doing and I
thought I don't know, let'sjust find out more about it.
And at the time, with COVID,you guys released this really
cool deal of TriPrenda for ahundred dollars.
I don't know if you rememberthat.
I was there.
I was right through the end ofthe school year.
(17:32):
I was there.
So I tried that with one of mykids and that was my first
experimental let's just see howit goes and I did it with my
third grader and I just kind ofwatched her.
I didn't really help or doanything, I just said, hey, try
out this project.
And her first one that she didwas build a coral reef.
She did it all by herself, yeahit was so good.
(17:55):
She did all of the steps.
She took the picture with hercomputer, which I did not even
know that she knew how to do atthe time.
She uploaded it and did all ofthat stuff and I was like I
can't believe you knew how to dothat.
And the software was really funand friendly.
I had piloted another programthat was like a project-based
learning thing and it was sogross.
(18:15):
It felt like somebody's 1970sExcel spreadsheet.
It felt like that was likebrown and really tiny words and
I was like I would rather diethan get in there and find out
the projects.
But this was not like that.
It was really fun feeling andlike big words and very
understandable for the kids toread and I did not have to help.
(18:37):
It was.
That was like a reallyimportant part of it.
So I really enjoyed that and Ithought, okay, we're going to do
Prenda this fall.
And I was going to do it, doPranda this fall.
And I was gonna do it just withmy own kids because I was kind
of scared of COVID, how that wasgonna all work.
But my next door neighbor wasthe one who said, seriously, you
can't just start a micro school.
And then the time when weactually need you to run a micro
school.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
oh no just kidding, I was scared so I ended up doing
it.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
We had those 13 kids and had a lot of middle school
boys that year, which was funall by itself yeah, lots of
middle school boy jokes, but Isurvived, and if anyone can do a
bunch of middle school boys,anybody can.
So anyway, that's kind of how Igot started, and I can't say
(19:22):
that I went into it thinkingthat I was going to do Pranda
all the way, because I didn'tfit in Pranda's model at the
time.
So you guys were, hey, we're inArizona.
I was in Florida, I'm like, buthey, I'm over here.
So I kept being like justoutside the box.
But now I'm in the box.
That's awesome.
It only took like five years.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
We're so excited.
Pranda is not meant to be a box.
It's meant to be like afoundation that you can and we
want people to add and you know,tweak and things like that,
because there's no one right wayto do it and there's not a
one-size-fits-all like.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
We don't want to create a one-size-fits-all we
already tried that last 100years and it didn't work, so you
know, so you're doing it.
I found it kind of reassuringthat I never really fit the
model and yet here I still am.
So I think that's kind of likefor parents to her trying to
figure it out.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
We don't want a bunch of little cookie cutters Like.
We want, you know, unique,creative guides and parents and
real kids making the educationthat works for them.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So that's awesome.
Yes, yeah, and I love that.
Now, with you know being ableto expand in Florida because of
the scholarship program,there'll be more of a community
for you, which is reallyexciting.
No-transcript.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I try to be.
Well, I guess I'm overlyexcited about structure, which
can be a problem sometimes.
Not everybody is that way I did.
I find that when I do usePrenda I don't have to be as
planned as I used to have to be,and so I really appreciate that
.
So things that I plan now arethe fun things um, like the
(21:14):
field trips or the like.
Who are we going to invite toour micro school?
Like once we've invitedsomebody to come and do like a
cooking demonstration ordifferent things like that.
So I like planning those typesof fun things with the kids and
with like the other people.
I have like an assistant thathelps me as well, and I also
have a reading specialist that Ihired last year.
(21:34):
So that's been kind of fun tojust have an additional adult
around to ask questions with.
But, um, keeping it structured,I can have like my old school
planner that's in pencil where Ijust kind of like jot down
ideas, but it's not like, uh,one of the teachers that I hired
years ago she had like the fullon written.
(21:56):
You know, here's what we'redoing, blah, blah, blah.
Here's all of the standards inthe curriculum and all of that
stuff that need to be met and Iwas like you don't have to do
that.
I don't think that's just kindof wasting your time, because
the software right here alreadyhas all that written down in it
and we can just utilize thatsoftware instead.
So it's easier to not have todo the technical type things.
(22:20):
Focus on the fun things, focuson the relationships that I have
with the kids and the families.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Talk about that a little bit.
How do you create like aculture of like connection in
your micro school?
How do you build thoserelationships both between you
and the kids and like from kidto kid?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
It's a constant effort and there are sometimes
clashing personalities, which Iwish didn't happen.
Like every time that happens,I'm like oh, come on, there's
part of the human experience.
There's 10, there's 10K.
How could it be that some ofyou are not getting along with
each other?
One of the things that I'vetried to do is I always try to
(23:01):
have like an outside like wemesh with bigger groups of kids
a couple times for differentthings.
So I have like a scienceOlympiad team that I do it's
with the homeschool communityand we just meet at a park and I
bring my little micro schoolkids and then other homeschool
kids come and then we plan likethese little tiny science
(23:23):
lessons it's nothing big, it'smostly kids playing at a park
and then we like blast waterrockets, like that's kind of the
idea, right, but by doing thatit gives the kids more of a pool
, so that we're not likeconstantly focused on on each
other.
Like, oh, I don't like havinggriefed on me.
You know that can happen, justlike in a family it happens in a
(23:46):
micro school too, and so evenwith my own kids like by I
always had six kids, so I'vealways had kind of a micro
school.
The kids really love seeingother people and so if you plan
those things to look forward toand adventures and other people,
then it kind of breaks down theneed to want to have all of
(24:06):
your needs met by like those twolittle people that are in the
class with you.
I always try to match grades toour ages and temperaments,
cause I served kindergartenthrough eighth grade.
I don't ever want there to belike 10 eighth graders and like
this one little kindergartner.
I always try to be like there'sat least somebody for everybody
(24:27):
.
And that has backfired a fewtimes.
Like the two people that Ithought, hey, they'll get along
great together, they don't.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Like the two people that I thought, hey, they'll get
along great together, theydon't but that's when I have,
like my outside friend grouptype things, that kind of help.
How do you tap into thestudent's interests and cause
you we talked about, you allowlike the software to do its
thing and then you createexperiences.
So how do you help the kidsreally tap into what they're
interested in and you know, intheir learning?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yeah, we have.
I kind of follow like thisthree-year cycle.
It's something I learnedthrough classical conversations.
I don't know if any of you arefamiliar with that curriculum.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, Charlotte Mason does like a three or four-year
cycle as well.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, three or four-year.
And you know the SusanWeisbauer she did the four-year,
susan Weisbauer, she did thefour year.
So with with figuring that out,I I kind of follow the cycle of
the three-year plan.
So this year we're doing likeancient times, like ancient
Egypt, ancient China that's whatI'm doing this year, too, with
my kid yes, we should.
(25:28):
We did America and those typesof things in Florida history and
then the year before that wedid like the middle ages and
Renaissance time period.
But anyway, I have like mythree year time cycle that we go
through all the time and then Ido like a three year cycle of
the sciences so that we're allkind of covering main things,
(25:49):
but then after that those arekind of like our whole group big
picture type things.
But if the kids want to do likea print, a world project, we
try to make print a worldproject time frequently.
So the kid who is obsessedabout World War II that happens
like every single year can makesome really cool project about
World War II, even if we'restudying the ancient
(26:10):
civilizations.
I'm fine with that.
At first, when the very firstyear I did print, I was like no,
you can't do that.
We're all focused on this onething.
And I was like that's notreally fun for anybody.
You have to be able to let themreally get into that project
that they really want to getinto.
So, giving them free time to dothose things the younger kids
they don't really care as much.
(26:30):
They're happy to do bugs orwhatever it is that you're all
doing as a group.
But once they hit like fourthor fifth grade they really want
to do their thing, whatever thatthing is.
So giving them lots of free timefor Prenda World projects is
good, although as a guide thatcan be like really stressful
when you've got like hot glueguns you know, like every
(26:53):
quarter, and it's like, overhere, here, I'm sewing, over
here I'm like building, you know, I'm like, ah, that's a lot
well, we heard you say that youreally like structure, so I can
see it's helping you grow.
As I say, one hour is friendworld projects and then we clean
up.
So at least I know it's alimited amount of time
Controlled chaos.
Controlled chaos.
(27:15):
Yeah, and I don't have glitteraround, so maybe that's one way.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I love that.
That's a good boundary.
That's a good boundary to have.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I love that One time though just before warrant I
ordered this was early days,prendo and we were vetting like
recommended supplies, and so I'dordered this kit of like 30
whiteboards or 10 whiteboards orsomething, and they came in
this box and I was so excitedand I opened it and at the
whiteboard factory they'd justtaken a bottle of glitter and
dumped loose glitter into thisbox just to add a little sparkle
(27:48):
to my whiteboard order.
I'm like why there's purple?
It's my worst nightmare.
I just wanted some whiteboards.
Why did you ruin them anyways?
Oh, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah, glitter is terrible.
I don't know who invented that.
Glitter glue is okay.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I can do that happy medium okay.
So how do you encourage yourstudents to take ownership over
their learning?
Speaker 3 (28:14):
that was a tricky one , because my main go-to is to
just say this is what you'redoing and go do it.
And I actually had some reallyhuge aha moments when I was
reading the self-directed.
Is it self-directed?
Speaker 1 (28:28):
The self-driven child .
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yes, self-driven child.
So I listened to that and I waslike, oh my gosh, I should have
done so many things differentlyin raising some of my kids.
So after reading that I feellike it totally changed night
and day.
Even as a micro school ownerlike I was like I cannot tell
them.
I need to inspire them and youknow, you guys have always had
(28:51):
podcasts and this, that and theother, but I wasn't really I
like would take in the feedback,but for the, the book, I was
just like I plowed right throughit.
You know I would.
I think I listened to it likein a couple of weeks.
So it was like during breakfasttime, lunchtime, driving.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I devoured that book too.
It was right before we foundPrenda.
I had read it and it was like,allow your kids to leave school.
And so I someone told me aboutPrenda and I was like, okay,
we're going to do this.
So they left school and neverwent back.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, I know, I just thought, it really just helped
me think about it more deeplythan I had before.
And, um, there are somestudents who come and they've
really been scarred, I guess youwould say Like they think that
they aren't good at school orthey think they're not good at
all kinds of things, and so theyjust come and they're like
these little fragile beings, Iguess you would say.
(29:45):
And then after a couple ofweeks they see that we're happy
to have them there andparticipating and doing stuff,
and then they start emerging andit feels to me like it's always
like a three or four monthprocess.
So they'll come in August,around January, I finally have a
kid who's able and willing todo the things that we're talking
(30:06):
about.
But we've been doing this sameconcept every single day for the
entire school year up untilthat point, but they don't get
it.
And then, when the light clickson, they're like, oh, you mean
I could actually do this on myown.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Like, yeah, even when we're doing projects here at
school, I could say no, thanks,I would rather do one of my
other like it takes them a longtime to like find their voice
and their like self-advocacymuscle right when it's been like
bred out of them, essentially.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Exactly and they start thinking I could do that
or I could.
You know, we had a student lastyear was like no, I don't read.
And you know they were a fewyears behind, I guess, in the
reading thing and then all of asudden they were like hey, I
just read that.
That was actually kind of cool,you know.
So just, I love the fact thatyou also take them back to where
(31:01):
they are not where they'reexpected to be and then let them
grow from there.
I think that's huge and I wishevery kid in school knew that
you could do that, and everyparent who is stressing about
all the homework that their kidis really behind in.
I wish I could give them.
In fact, that's kind of what Ido in my directory, the
Microschool Florida directory.
I try to give them little sneakpeeks of here's a family who
(31:25):
stepped off that conveyor beltand they're okay.
And you can be okay too.
And you don't have to be takingyour kid to a psychiatrist to
deal with anxiety and depressionwhen you can be okay too.
And you don't have to be takingyour kid to a psychiatrist to
deal with anxiety and depressionwhen you can just get rid of
that and go?
Where are you at right now andwhere are we going?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
to change the environment instead of change
the kid and give them a pathtowards hope, right, like their
kids are constantly inundated inthis feeling of this, this
message that, like you should behere and you're not.
So you're insufficient, you'relacking.
And then it's like, not only doyou have to continue to keep up
with the ever ongoing March of,like that curriculum schedule
(32:02):
because you're nine or whateverit's like, and then you also
have to keep up.
So it's like an, it's literallyand you have to do that in
every subject.
You know it's, it's animpossible ask, it's so anxiety
inducing and you just kids justthrow their hands up and give up
and then they become behaviorissues and all sorts of you know
thinking about changing thetrajectory of a child's life
here, right, and to be able tobe like the impetus and like the
(32:23):
mover in their life, to saylike hey, different train tracks
, like you can control this, itdoesn't have to just be like a
straight line, like we couldtake a boat, we could take a
Vespa, like we can go to thisother location, and you'd, like
we, there's this whole creativeworld out there that you can
really explore and define foryourself and I just love that.
Um, you're just doing that forkids on repeat.
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
It is awesome.
Not all of the kids love itLike I wish they all did, but
they don't and that's okay.
I feel like we fill the needsfor that time period and help
them see that something was apossibility, and I always think
they'll look back on it too andgo actually was really cool when
(33:07):
we did that.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah and it challenges them right.
Like you don't, you're notgoing to.
If it's a very challenging timein a micro school where it's
like, yeah, this isuncomfortable for me to be able
to like make my, instead of justsit, do this worksheet and win,
get the points, Like, it's alot more uncomfortable sometimes
in a micro school to to bedoing self-directed learning, so
they're not going to quote,unquote, like it all the time.
(33:30):
But we are pushing them and weare.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I think you're right, it will in the long run
especially because we're in aculture like in general I mean,
I I know probably a fraction offriends with kids in an
environment like this and so,still, our culture is very that,
like you said, that conveyorbelt education.
So I think that that probablyinfluences some of these kids to
(33:52):
not love it either.
But, like you said, they maylook back and be like you know
what I can think and I can dothese skills, that, even though
I didn't think I liked it at thetime, it has really helped me
shape the person that I am.
So I think that's reallyimportant to keep that in front
of mind if you're a parent or aneducator doing this kind of
education, because it's justdifferent.
(34:13):
It's very different than whatthe masses are still doing for
education.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I just looked this up .
If you want to listen to ourother episodes about the
self-directed or the self-drivenchild, it's episode three and
episode 42 where we talk to thecoauthors.
So just a side note.
Okay, yeah, so next, and then Iwas actually on the self-driven
child podcast the other day, soyou can, we can link that too.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
How tell us some stories like tell us some wins.
How has being able to providean inquiry driven, curiosity
driven, mastery based programeducation to kids Like?
What wins have you seen?
Speaker 3 (34:52):
I've seen a lot I like to share.
Um, there was one.
Uh, we had a student come to usin eighth grade, like in
November, and they said thatthey had tons of anxiety and
they would hide in the bathroomevery day at lunch because they
were just, they couldn't handlethe pressure of eating with
(35:15):
friends and that was just toomuch for them.
And so they said we werefriends.
And they said they'd actuallycome to a bunch of my parent
nights over the years Cause theyknew that I did this little
program, but they were kind ofjust watching from afar.
But they finally said this iswhat we're dealing with right
now.
Can we have her try the program?
And so they did, and it waswithin like two weeks.
(35:39):
It was a huge difference and mydaughter was friends with her.
And they said what did you do?
They're so different.
Like they're running around,they're playing and happy, and I
just thought that was.
It was such a short period oftime too, like two weeks.
That's shocking to see thatthey could be their regular
(36:01):
selves and I can't say every daywas like lovely, no problems
ever, like they still had to getover a lot of anxiety and
different things, but we wereable to show them a safe space
to just learn and grow and theyended up transferring out of my
program the next year becausethey had out phased the age and
we found a different microschool program for them that
(36:24):
worked really great for them andI was super excited to.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah, she was stuck in a chronic state of stress and
then all that stress wasreleased and our brain was safe
again.
Because we've seen that withone of my kids too.
We he was in traditional schoolfor three months in
kindergarten.
We we both only made it threemonths, and I'm not saying it
was, it just wasn't a good fitfor him.
I'm not, like you know,downplaying traditional school,
but I was attuning to where hewas and where his brain was, and
(36:50):
his brain just was not safe.
Um, you know, being forced tosit still and put his head down
once he was done with work andthose kinds of things, and so he
wasn't talking at all.
And then we brought him home,de-schooled him for a couple of
months and then he went rightback to.
So it's, it's justcommunicating.
Like they might not have thewords to communicate, but their
brains are just trying to keepthem safe.
(37:13):
So next question what advicewould you give to educators or
parents looking to create moreempowering learning environments
?
Speaker 3 (37:22):
For educators to create more or for parents.
Or both, yeah, or someone who ismaybe thinking about like
starting a micro school, or youknow about like starting a micro
school, or you know I'm alwaysa huge advocate for that.
I feel, yeah, everything that Ido on my directory is all about
people starting more programs.
(37:42):
Because if you think about ifanother micro school starts,
it's just like a classroom nextdoor to you opening or you can
pop over and go hey, do you haveany extra glue?
So that's kind of the feelingof a it doesn't need to be
competitive.
Although at the beginning, whenI first started my micro school,
I felt very protective ofanybody who called me or asked
(38:05):
about my program.
And then I it kind of changedmy mindset and I said this is
kind of dumb.
When they live literally anhour away from where I do, I
can't serve them as well as thatother micro school that's
literally right down the streetfrom them.
And so I started just sharingwhere those locations were with
(38:27):
the families.
And I feel like that was whenmy brain shift happened and it's
also when I started to have alot more success in my own
program, because those microschools would refer people to me
as well.
So we can't be everything foreveryone Although I'm a people
pleaser and I really wish Icould be everybody's cup of tea.
(38:47):
But I know that when I, when Igive freely without expecting
anything in return, that's whenI feel the happiest.
And people do that the same forme as well.
I love that.
So, just yeah, giving referralsand parents, parents, if they
call and they're like, hey, thisis the kid that I've got and
(39:10):
I'll say here's three ideas ofsomebody that you could go to
Just being helpful, keeping thekid at the center serving
families Beautiful Candy.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Thank you so much for coming on the Kindle podcast
today.
We've really enjoyed thisconversation.
Hey, it was awesome.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Thank you.
All right, we'll talk later.
That's it for today.
We really hope you enjoyed thisepisode of the Kindle podcast,
getting to hear from anotherPrenda guide and, as if you
listen to part one with Julia,you'll hear some different
things.
You'll hear some similar thingsand even though they're across
(39:44):
the country from each other.
So super exciting.
And if this episode was helpfulto you, please like, subscribe
and follow us on social media atPrenda Learn.
If you have a question youwould like for us to address,
please email us at podcast atPrendacom.
You can also subscribe to ourweekly newsletter, the Sunday
Spark, by going to Prendacom.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
The Kindle podcast is brought to you by Prenda.
Prenda makes it easy for you tostart and run an amazing micro
school based on all the ideasthat we talk about here on the
Kindle podcast.
If you want more informationabout becoming a Prenda guide,
just go to Prendacom.
Thanks for listening andremember to keep kindling.
Hi and welcome to the Kindled podcast where we dig
into the art and science behindkindling, the motivation,
curiosity and mental well-beingof the young humans in our lives
.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Together, we'll discover practical tools and
strategies you can use to helpkids unlock their full potential
and become the strongestversion of their future selves.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Welcome to the Kindle podcast everybody.
Today we are in the middle ofour three-part series where we
are talking to micro schoolguides who run programs based on
the Prenda model and based onall of the ideas that we talk
about here on the Kindle podcast.
So you can get kind of a behindthe scenes look at what
educating a group of kids likethis actually looks like the
struggles, the wins, all of it.
(00:53):
So today, who are we talking to?
Adrian.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We are talking to Candy Landbauer of Tapestry
Academy and she is out ofFlorida and what I love about
her, she has had so muchresilience and grit and has kept
up her micro school.
For this.
She's going into her fifth yearbecause Prenda predominantly
started in Arizona, so she'skind of been this.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
you know just like a Florida pioneer.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, totally yeah, she's a Florida pioneer and
we'll hear from her today aboutall the growth in Florida.
Florida pioneer and we'll hearfrom her today about all the
growth in Florida and we can'twait for this school year
because we have a lot of Prendasopening up in.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Florida.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Super exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Super exciting.
Let's go talk to Candy Candy.
Welcome to the Kindle podcast.
We're super excited to have you.
Thanks, glad to be here.
All right, so tell us a bitabout your background and who
you are.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, I am a Prenda guide, yay, so anyway I have.
I've used Prenda for four years.
I'll be starting it in my fifthyear this fall and I actually
ran a micro school for two yearsbefore that and it's called
Tapestry Academy and anyway, Ibecame obsessed about micro
(02:04):
schooling schooling like thesecond I heard about it, so
that's kind of an exciting thingthat I'm still doing it years
later.
I also run a directory calledMicroschool Florida where I help
parents and educators findmicro schools and homeschool
programs, and I'm a homeschoolmom of 20 years at least and I
(02:24):
have six kids, and I thinkthat's about it.
That's me.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Love it.
Okay, so can you describe yourmicro school and how is it
different from traditional?
And also, how is it differentfrom homeschooling?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So my micro school is .
It's kind of changed over theyears.
I ran across some papers when Ivery first started my
microschool of.
This is my vision.
This is what it's going to looklike, and it is so different
from that I didn't want to throwaway those papers because it
was like a fun.
It is part of history.
I had all of these plans ofwhat it was going to be like,
(03:01):
but it's changed and I thinkthat's okay.
It's just morphed every yearinto something different, and I
think it was.
It was well the year that COVIDhappened.
That was the year of my veryfirst year that I used Prenda
and I did it out of my house andmy neighbor's house and we had
13 kids and I hired anotherguide so that we had like two of
(03:24):
us doing stuff in TAN and wedid a lot of field trips and
things together.
That was a fun and excitingyear.
It was, you know, my first yearof ever getting started and
knowing how to do it.
And then the next year wassuper small because I also moved
at the same time.
So I had thought, oh, everyonewill just come back after COVID,
(03:44):
but most of them went back intopublic school.
That was at least my experienceand so it was a really small
small group and I hadn't reallyadvertised because I was so busy
with we need to remodelbathrooms and let's get the tile
in downstairs and all of thosethings, and so it ended up being
a really small group.
And so it ended up being areally small group.
We had five kids that next yearand I hired an assistant to
(04:09):
just kind of help out here andthere.
But she ended up being like oneof my prenatal kids, if that
makes sense, because I stillcovered kindergarten through
grade eight in my micro schooland sometimes the older students
just really felt like theyneeded a buddy or somebody there
, and so the assistant that Ihad coming at times was just
(04:32):
like another kid that I washiring to be there for those
older students.
But anyway, it's changed alittle bit over the years.
Then the next year we actuallywent up to like the full 10 kids
and it just has changed everyyear.
We always have like a couplethat kind of stay the same core
group of kids and then there'salways a few that change in or
(04:54):
out.
We've we the year that I had sofew students.
I thought, well, what am Idoing wrong?
Why can't I get people to joinmy micro school?
And I wasn't able to acceptscholarships at that time, so
everyone was having to paytuition out of pocket and I
found that really challenging,coming from homeschool world
where I did everything for free.
Everything that I did was free,free, free, free, run the
(05:17):
community center for free.
All my classes were free,everything was free, but the
parents would pay with theirtime and energy to come and help
do stuff, and that actually iskind of expensive if you think
about it, because you're payingwith your time.
But I was changing the mindsetfrom you needed to pay tuition
so then I could hire people whowere dedicated to doing those
(05:37):
roles, and that was a trickytransition for me.
But my husband said you need tostop thinking about school as
school.
You're trying to recreate ittoo much, even though I was
using Prenda and I lovedeverything Prenda.
He says look around and findthose things that you would love
you like.
You see other micro schools.
We're in South Florida, sothere's lots of micro school
(05:58):
programs down here.
It says look around and findthings that you think are
exciting and fun, that you wouldwant to send your kids to and
then incorporate those itemsinto your micro school.
And so I ended up um hiring anart teacher and then I hired a
surfing.
We went to a surfing class likeonce or twice a month and
(06:19):
that's became kind of part ofour what would call it Our DNA
for our micro school.
And then I also found a farmlady.
She was a homeschool mom thatwe had done lots of science
projects together with the yearbefore, but I ended up hiring
her as being our, our farm ladyand we would go visit her on
(06:40):
like just organized field tripsthat we would do regularly so
that the kids would learn.
I live in Boca Raton andsometimes our city is just known
for being posh and ladies highheel flip-flops with their dog
that they push in the stroller,and I'm like that is my city and
I get it.
But I don't want my kids tofeel like that's life and our
(07:05):
family is like really normal,like no gated communities.
Just, you know, go and talk toanybody at any time for your
neighbors.
And so I just wanted to find aspot where the kids could get
dirty.
They could, you know, holdworms and chase chickens and you
know those kinds of littlethings that you get in different
(07:25):
types of experiences and wethere's even like an
old-fashioned lawnmower, youknow the ones from like the 50s.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah we literally bought one of those for our kids
so that they were like thismodern life is too easy, like,
so we bought one of those sothat they would learn some hard
work that's actually one of thefavorite things that all the
kids get to do out of farm dayis to mow the weeds.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
But yeah, we really like it.
I actually really like it too,and sometimes I'll go.
I'm just too stressed.
Why do we have farm daytomorrow?
And then I'll go.
Oh, we have farm day tomorrow.
I get to walk around for an hourand a half and just be in
nature and get to, you know, doall of those things that are
just not my typical life.
So by changing up kind of theway that we did things just a
(08:13):
little bit, it wasn't like itwas an everyday thing, but it
was just enough planned outingsthat it kind of defined who we
were a little bit.
And then all of a sudden thephone started ringing and I got
a lot more people interested inmy programs.
I know Prenda does a lot ofthose virtual field trips.
Those didn't work out so greatfor me because I'm a couple
hours ahead.
So every time there wassomething cool I was saying bye
(08:34):
to all of my students, we'll seeyou tomorrow.
So it didn't really line up andso I just thought, well, how
can I create some of those funexperiences?
How can I create some of?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
those fun experiences , Cool.
That's awesome.
It sounds like a completemashup of like traditional
school.
So there's so structure and itstill looks like school, but
then you have like thehomeschool of the experience,
experiential learning andgetting out and getting your
hands dirty.
So you have like a a prettygood mashup between the two.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
It sounds like Well, and I'm also thinking too for
all of the homeschooling thatI've done for years and years
it's just using the communityaround you to do stuff.
So, and before, when I was inhomeschool world, my community
were stay at home moms that Iknew all of their tricks and
things that they knew how to do.
But now I'm utilizing, um,micro school programs and, um, I
(09:20):
guess you would call them likeprogram vendors.
You know they're making abusiness off of providing these
really cool experiences and thenI am paying them for that.
So, anyway, it's kind of thesame thing, but I've just
changed the market for all doingthings.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
So what originally inspired you to start a micro
school?
And then, how did you findPrenda?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I talk about this all the time.
I feel like it's part of mymakeup story.
It is kind of funny.
So I went through homeschoolburnout.
So I'd been homeschooling about10 years and I have six kids,
so 10 years didn't covereverybody in their education.
I was like, wow, I am reallywishing to do something else.
(10:04):
And a lot of times when I wouldrun the homeschool co-ops, I
loved all of the families thatcame and I felt like it was
really great.
But sometimes the familiesdidn't show up and they wouldn't
take it as seriously as I did.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So I was providing it was free too, yeah it was free.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So they were just like oh, and then I'd see on
Facebook hashtag best homeschoollife ever, we skipped school
today and we went to the beach.
And that they skipped my thingto go to the beach.
Man, that just really hurts myfeelings and it just happened a
lot and I I thought how can Icreate something meaningful
without you know, being like themad person all the time?
(10:45):
Please just come to my program.
I'm not going anywhere.
I planned all of my vacationsaround the homeschool co op, so
you should do the same.
But I thought I don't like thateither.
I just want people to feel asinvested in it as I was.
And so during my homeschoolburnout phase I said, fine, I'm
not doing anybody, I'm notrunning anything this year, and
(11:11):
I actually put a couple of kidsin school which you know
micro-schooling wasn't a thingso much.
And so I I didn't even knowabout micro-schooling, and so I
put my 10th grader and my fourthgrader into public school, like
10th grade, first time to evergo to school.
You can handle this.
And then the rest of them.
Um, I just finishedhomeschooling them, but it was
probably three months into it.
I just discovered, uh, thislittle private school that was
(11:34):
an hour away from where I was.
They had came and sing at achoir that I was helping.
It was like a big concert, anativity concert thing.
They had performed at it andthey hired the opera lady that
came to sing at the concert, andI was the opera lady was a
friend of mine and she said youhave to come and see this school
, it's so cool.
And I said, all right.
So I drove up there thinking,well, maybe we'll move and we'll
(11:57):
send our kids to this school.
And as I walked in I was likethis is amazing.
It was not really anything tosee from the outside.
It was like an old shoppingmall and it was like an old
sheriff's department part of theshopping mall and it didn't
look like much from the outside.
But then when I walked insideit felt like a homeschool co-op
(12:19):
but everyone had kind of likematching outfits on and it was
peaceful, and it was thirdthrough eighth grade and I
thought this is what I'm lookingfor, Like smaller environments,
everybody knows each other, weall know each other's birthdays
and anyway.
But then they were chargingtuition and I thought maybe this
is what I need to do, is I needto start my own little private
school, or well, first I wasgoing to move there and then my
(12:41):
husband said we can't move Lifethings.
He'd been asked to do somethingnearby here that he couldn't
move for, and so I was like,okay, great, Now what do I do?
And I just couldn't leave theidea alone, and so that's kind
of what I call the beginningphase of the water spigot being
turned on high and every singlenight when I would go to bed I
(13:04):
would have bazillions of ideason how to start my school and I
would just fill my notebookpages after page after page of
page, and then I'd researchonline.
I would find an article thatwould talk about this kind of
schooling.
I discovered the word microschool.
I pretty much became obsessed.
Every single conversation I hadwith any person ever was about
(13:26):
that's how I was, too as soon asI found out about it.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I was just like oh my gosh.
Everyone needs to know aboutthis.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
This is amazing, this is what needs to happen.
And anyway, I just I said thisis what's going to happen and I,
I started my business like thatMarch.
I still remember where I wassitting when I sent in this like
sunbizorg or something whereyou have to send in and say I am
now starting a business.
And I was terrified, like therehas to be something more to
(13:56):
this.
Like you just pay like a fewdollars and you say here's my
business.
So, anyway, it was kind ofscary and exciting all at the
same time.
And then I was like I just didit, I just started a business.
So, anyway, it made me a lotmore excited.
I feel like it was still all ofthe same things that I'd always
been doing with homeschoolco-ops, but it added the
(14:17):
interesting part to me withmarketing, with having to do
your financial statements, withjust talking to people and
convincing them to use yourprogram, figuring out how to do
like the little stripe card totake somebody's credit card
payment, I don't know.
All of that was just reallyexciting to me.
It felt like I was playingstore, you know, like when you
(14:39):
go to like the kids museum inyour town and you're like this
is so fun.
I kind of felt like that's howI was.
And the lady I took her creditcard, I kind of she gave me the
look like you have no idea whatyou're doing right now, do you?
So, anyway, what can you say?
I had no idea, but, um, yeah, Ijust.
I kind of just got started andI looked into all these
(15:01):
different models, you know, likeActon Academy or different
things, and I'm like, oh, thoselook all so cool but I don't
have enough money to to like paytheir fee upfront.
At least that's what I thought.
And then my first year actually, when we counted up how much
money I spent, I was like, oh,that actually is expensive and
(15:22):
maybe I should have paidwhatever fee to start somebody
else's program.
But it was like the school ofhard knocks, just figuring out
things as I went along andanyway.
So I did it for two years kindof on my own.
I felt like I had a really hardtime attracting people who are
not from the homeschoolcommunity because I was like the
rogue homeschool educator thatI didn't have to like appease
(15:48):
anybody.
I kind of felt like peopleperceived me that way from like
traditional school and so Ithought there just needs to be
some way that I can attractpeople better.
And then also one of myteachers gave me feedback.
They said you're not going tosurvive unless you partner with
another organization.
Because you know it's reallyhard to like do wear all of the
(16:08):
hats.
And I was like I'm paying rent,I'm paying teachers, and at
that time I had like a mathteacher and an English teacher
and a science teacher and theywould come in for little bits of
time and anyway it wascomplicated and expensive.
But I went home after she gaveme her her feedback and I was
(16:29):
like rude but thank you.
You know, whenever people giveyou really great advice, you're
like dang it.
But I went home and I Googledmicro school organization.
I hit enter and Prenda poppedup and this was pre COVID.
So I, um, that night I watchedlike an info meeting there
(16:50):
happened to be one on Facebookthat night and so I went online
and I was kind of hearing thespiel Kelly was telling about
how it got started and I waslike oh, that sounds pretty
similar to kind of what I'mdoing.
I was doing like 22 hours aweek, so I was like just two
hours over and I thought I couldtotally morph that and I was
already doing four hour, fourdays a week, and so I was like
(17:11):
figuring out how it could alignand I thought I feel like this
is very similar to what I wasthinking, that I was doing and I
thought I don't know, let'sjust find out more about it.
And at the time, with COVID,you guys released this really
cool deal of TriPrenda for ahundred dollars.
I don't know if you rememberthat.
I was there.
I was right through the end ofthe school year.
(17:32):
I was there.
So I tried that with one of mykids and that was my first
experimental let's just see howit goes and I did it with my
third grader and I just kind ofwatched her.
I didn't really help or doanything, I just said, hey, try
out this project.
And her first one that she didwas build a coral reef.
She did it all by herself, yeahit was so good.
(17:55):
She did all of the steps.
She took the picture with hercomputer, which I did not even
know that she knew how to do atthe time.
She uploaded it and did all ofthat stuff and I was like I
can't believe you knew how to dothat.
And the software was really funand friendly.
I had piloted another programthat was like a project-based
learning thing and it was sogross.
(18:15):
It felt like somebody's 1970sExcel spreadsheet.
It felt like that was likebrown and really tiny words and
I was like I would rather diethan get in there and find out
the projects.
But this was not like that.
It was really fun feeling andlike big words and very
understandable for the kids toread and I did not have to help.
(18:37):
It was.
That was like a reallyimportant part of it.
So I really enjoyed that and Ithought, okay, we're going to do
Prenda this fall.
And I was going to do it, doPranda this fall.
And I was gonna do it just withmy own kids because I was kind
of scared of COVID, how that wasgonna all work.
But my next door neighbor wasthe one who said, seriously, you
can't just start a micro school.
And then the time when weactually need you to run a micro
school.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
oh no just kidding, I was scared so I ended up doing
it.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
We had those 13 kids and had a lot of middle school
boys that year, which was funall by itself yeah, lots of
middle school boy jokes, but Isurvived, and if anyone can do a
bunch of middle school boys,anybody can.
So anyway, that's kind of how Igot started, and I can't say
(19:22):
that I went into it thinkingthat I was going to do Pranda
all the way, because I didn'tfit in Pranda's model at the
time.
So you guys were, hey, we're inArizona.
I was in Florida, I'm like, buthey, I'm over here.
So I kept being like justoutside the box.
But now I'm in the box.
That's awesome.
It only took like five years.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
We're so excited.
Pranda is not meant to be a box.
It's meant to be like afoundation that you can and we
want people to add and you know,tweak and things like that,
because there's no one right wayto do it and there's not a
one-size-fits-all like.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
We don't want to create a one-size-fits-all we
already tried that last 100years and it didn't work, so you
know, so you're doing it.
I found it kind of reassuringthat I never really fit the
model and yet here I still am.
So I think that's kind of likefor parents to her trying to
figure it out.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
We don't want a bunch of little cookie cutters Like.
We want, you know, unique,creative guides and parents and
real kids making the educationthat works for them.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So that's awesome.
Yes, yeah, and I love that.
Now, with you know being ableto expand in Florida because of
the scholarship program,there'll be more of a community
for you, which is reallyexciting.
No-transcript.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I try to be.
Well, I guess I'm overlyexcited about structure, which
can be a problem sometimes.
Not everybody is that way I did.
I find that when I do usePrenda I don't have to be as
planned as I used to have to be,and so I really appreciate that
.
So things that I plan now arethe fun things um, like the
(21:14):
field trips or the like.
Who are we going to invite toour micro school?
Like once we've invitedsomebody to come and do like a
cooking demonstration ordifferent things like that.
So I like planning those typesof fun things with the kids and
with like the other people.
I have like an assistant thathelps me as well, and I also
have a reading specialist that Ihired last year.
(21:34):
So that's been kind of fun tojust have an additional adult
around to ask questions with.
But, um, keeping it structured,I can have like my old school
planner that's in pencil where Ijust kind of like jot down
ideas, but it's not like, uh,one of the teachers that I hired
years ago she had like the fullon written.
(21:56):
You know, here's what we'redoing, blah, blah, blah.
Here's all of the standards inthe curriculum and all of that
stuff that need to be met and Iwas like you don't have to do
that.
I don't think that's just kindof wasting your time, because
the software right here alreadyhas all that written down in it
and we can just utilize thatsoftware instead.
So it's easier to not have todo the technical type things.
(22:20):
Focus on the fun things, focuson the relationships that I have
with the kids and the families.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Talk about that a little bit.
How do you create like aculture of like connection in
your micro school?
How do you build thoserelationships both between you
and the kids and like from kidto kid?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
It's a constant effort and there are sometimes
clashing personalities, which Iwish didn't happen.
Like every time that happens,I'm like oh, come on, there's
part of the human experience.
There's 10, there's 10K.
How could it be that some ofyou are not getting along with
each other?
One of the things that I'vetried to do is I always try to
(23:01):
have like an outside like wemesh with bigger groups of kids
a couple times for differentthings.
So I have like a scienceOlympiad team that I do it's
with the homeschool communityand we just meet at a park and I
bring my little micro schoolkids and then other homeschool
kids come and then we plan likethese little tiny science
(23:23):
lessons it's nothing big, it'smostly kids playing at a park
and then we like blast waterrockets, like that's kind of the
idea, right, but by doing thatit gives the kids more of a pool
, so that we're not likeconstantly focused on on each
other.
Like, oh, I don't like havinggriefed on me.
You know that can happen, justlike in a family it happens in a
(23:46):
micro school too, and so evenwith my own kids like by I
always had six kids, so I'vealways had kind of a micro
school.
The kids really love seeingother people and so if you plan
those things to look forward toand adventures and other people,
then it kind of breaks down theneed to want to have all of
(24:06):
your needs met by like those twolittle people that are in the
class with you.
I always try to match grades toour ages and temperaments,
cause I served kindergartenthrough eighth grade.
I don't ever want there to belike 10 eighth graders and like
this one little kindergartner.
I always try to be like there'sat least somebody for everybody
(24:27):
.
And that has backfired a fewtimes.
Like the two people that Ithought, hey, they'll get along
great together, they don't.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Like the two people that I thought, hey, they'll get
along great together, theydon't but that's when I have,
like my outside friend grouptype things, that kind of help.
How do you tap into thestudent's interests and cause
you we talked about, you allowlike the software to do its
thing and then you createexperiences.
So how do you help the kidsreally tap into what they're
interested in and you know, intheir learning?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yeah, we have.
I kind of follow like thisthree-year cycle.
It's something I learnedthrough classical conversations.
I don't know if any of you arefamiliar with that curriculum.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, Charlotte Mason does like a three or four-year
cycle as well.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, three or four-year.
And you know the SusanWeisbauer she did the four-year,
susan Weisbauer, she did thefour year.
So with with figuring that out,I I kind of follow the cycle of
the three-year plan.
So this year we're doing likeancient times, like ancient
Egypt, ancient China that's whatI'm doing this year, too, with
my kid yes, we should.
(25:28):
We did America and those typesof things in Florida history and
then the year before that wedid like the middle ages and
Renaissance time period.
But anyway, I have like mythree year time cycle that we go
through all the time and then Ido like a three year cycle of
the sciences so that we're allkind of covering main things,
(25:49):
but then after that those arekind of like our whole group big
picture type things.
But if the kids want to do likea print, a world project, we
try to make print a worldproject time frequently.
So the kid who is obsessedabout World War II that happens
like every single year can makesome really cool project about
World War II, even if we'restudying the ancient
(26:10):
civilizations.
I'm fine with that.
At first, when the very firstyear I did print, I was like no,
you can't do that.
We're all focused on this onething.
And I was like that's notreally fun for anybody.
You have to be able to let themreally get into that project
that they really want to getinto.
So, giving them free time to dothose things the younger kids
they don't really care as much.
(26:30):
They're happy to do bugs orwhatever it is that you're all
doing as a group.
But once they hit like fourthor fifth grade they really want
to do their thing, whatever thatthing is.
So giving them lots of free timefor Prenda World projects is
good, although as a guide thatcan be like really stressful
when you've got like hot glueguns you know, like every
(26:53):
quarter, and it's like, overhere, here, I'm sewing, over
here I'm like building, you know, I'm like, ah, that's a lot
well, we heard you say that youreally like structure, so I can
see it's helping you grow.
As I say, one hour is friendworld projects and then we clean
up.
So at least I know it's alimited amount of time
Controlled chaos.
Controlled chaos.
(27:15):
Yeah, and I don't have glitteraround, so maybe that's one way.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I love that.
That's a good boundary.
That's a good boundary to have.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I love that One time though just before warrant I
ordered this was early days,prendo and we were vetting like
recommended supplies, and so I'dordered this kit of like 30
whiteboards or 10 whiteboards orsomething, and they came in
this box and I was so excitedand I opened it and at the
whiteboard factory they'd justtaken a bottle of glitter and
dumped loose glitter into thisbox just to add a little sparkle
(27:48):
to my whiteboard order.
I'm like why there's purple?
It's my worst nightmare.
I just wanted some whiteboards.
Why did you ruin them anyways?
Oh, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah, glitter is terrible.
I don't know who invented that.
Glitter glue is okay.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I can do that happy medium okay.
So how do you encourage yourstudents to take ownership over
their learning?
Speaker 3 (28:14):
that was a tricky one , because my main go-to is to
just say this is what you'redoing and go do it.
And I actually had some reallyhuge aha moments when I was
reading the self-directed.
Is it self-directed?
Speaker 1 (28:28):
The self-driven child .
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yes, self-driven child.
So I listened to that and I waslike, oh my gosh, I should have
done so many things differentlyin raising some of my kids.
So after reading that I feellike it totally changed night
and day.
Even as a micro school ownerlike I was like I cannot tell
them.
I need to inspire them and youknow, you guys have always had
(28:51):
podcasts and this, that and theother, but I wasn't really I
like would take in the feedback,but for the, the book, I was
just like I plowed right throughit.
You know I would.
I think I listened to it likein a couple of weeks.
So it was like during breakfasttime, lunchtime, driving.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I devoured that book too.
It was right before we foundPrenda.
I had read it and it was like,allow your kids to leave school.
And so I someone told me aboutPrenda and I was like, okay,
we're going to do this.
So they left school and neverwent back.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, I know, I just thought, it really just helped
me think about it more deeplythan I had before.
And, um, there are somestudents who come and they've
really been scarred, I guess youwould say Like they think that
they aren't good at school orthey think they're not good at
all kinds of things, and so theyjust come and they're like
these little fragile beings, Iguess you would say.
(29:45):
And then after a couple ofweeks they see that we're happy
to have them there andparticipating and doing stuff,
and then they start emerging andit feels to me like it's always
like a three or four monthprocess.
So they'll come in August,around January, I finally have a
kid who's able and willing todo the things that we're talking
(30:06):
about.
But we've been doing this sameconcept every single day for the
entire school year up untilthat point, but they don't get
it.
And then, when the light clickson, they're like, oh, you mean
I could actually do this on myown.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Like, yeah, even when we're doing projects here at
school, I could say no, thanks,I would rather do one of my
other like it takes them a longtime to like find their voice
and their like self-advocacymuscle right when it's been like
bred out of them, essentially.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Exactly and they start thinking I could do that
or I could.
You know, we had a student lastyear was like no, I don't read.
And you know they were a fewyears behind, I guess, in the
reading thing and then all of asudden they were like hey, I
just read that.
That was actually kind of cool,you know.
So just, I love the fact thatyou also take them back to where
(31:01):
they are not where they'reexpected to be and then let them
grow from there.
I think that's huge and I wishevery kid in school knew that
you could do that, and everyparent who is stressing about
all the homework that their kidis really behind in.
I wish I could give them.
In fact, that's kind of what Ido in my directory, the
Microschool Florida directory.
I try to give them little sneakpeeks of here's a family who
(31:25):
stepped off that conveyor beltand they're okay.
And you can be okay too.
And you don't have to be takingyour kid to a psychiatrist to
deal with anxiety and depressionwhen you can be okay too.
And you don't have to be takingyour kid to a psychiatrist to
deal with anxiety and depressionwhen you can just get rid of
that and go?
Where are you at right now andwhere are we going?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
to change the environment instead of change
the kid and give them a pathtowards hope, right, like their
kids are constantly inundated inthis feeling of this, this
message that, like you should behere and you're not.
So you're insufficient, you'relacking.
And then it's like, not only doyou have to continue to keep up
with the ever ongoing March of,like that curriculum schedule
(32:02):
because you're nine or whateverit's like, and then you also
have to keep up.
So it's like an, it's literallyand you have to do that in
every subject.
You know it's, it's animpossible ask, it's so anxiety
inducing and you just kids justthrow their hands up and give up
and then they become behaviorissues and all sorts of you know
thinking about changing thetrajectory of a child's life
here, right, and to be able tobe like the impetus and like the
(32:23):
mover in their life, to saylike hey, different train tracks
, like you can control this, itdoesn't have to just be like a
straight line, like we couldtake a boat, we could take a
Vespa, like we can go to thisother location, and you'd, like
we, there's this whole creativeworld out there that you can
really explore and define foryourself and I just love that.
Um, you're just doing that forkids on repeat.
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
It is awesome.
Not all of the kids love itLike I wish they all did, but
they don't and that's okay.
I feel like we fill the needsfor that time period and help
them see that something was apossibility, and I always think
they'll look back on it too andgo actually was really cool when
(33:07):
we did that.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah and it challenges them right.
Like you don't, you're notgoing to.
If it's a very challenging timein a micro school where it's
like, yeah, this isuncomfortable for me to be able
to like make my, instead of justsit, do this worksheet and win,
get the points, Like, it's alot more uncomfortable sometimes
in a micro school to to bedoing self-directed learning, so
they're not going to quote,unquote, like it all the time.
(33:30):
But we are pushing them and weare.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I think you're right, it will in the long run
especially because we're in aculture like in general I mean,
I I know probably a fraction offriends with kids in an
environment like this and so,still, our culture is very that,
like you said, that conveyorbelt education.
So I think that that probablyinfluences some of these kids to
(33:52):
not love it either.
But, like you said, they maylook back and be like you know
what I can think and I can dothese skills, that, even though
I didn't think I liked it at thetime, it has really helped me
shape the person that I am.
So I think that's reallyimportant to keep that in front
of mind if you're a parent or aneducator doing this kind of
education, because it's justdifferent.
(34:13):
It's very different than whatthe masses are still doing for
education.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I just looked this up .
If you want to listen to ourother episodes about the
self-directed or the self-drivenchild, it's episode three and
episode 42 where we talk to thecoauthors.
So just a side note.
Okay, yeah, so next, and then Iwas actually on the self-driven
child podcast the other day, soyou can, we can link that too.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
How tell us some stories like tell us some wins.
How has being able to providean inquiry driven, curiosity
driven, mastery based programeducation to kids Like?
What wins have you seen?
Speaker 3 (34:52):
I've seen a lot I like to share.
Um, there was one.
Uh, we had a student come to usin eighth grade, like in
November, and they said thatthey had tons of anxiety and
they would hide in the bathroomevery day at lunch because they
were just, they couldn't handlethe pressure of eating with
(35:15):
friends and that was just toomuch for them.
And so they said we werefriends.
And they said they'd actuallycome to a bunch of my parent
nights over the years Cause theyknew that I did this little
program, but they were kind ofjust watching from afar.
But they finally said this iswhat we're dealing with right
now.
Can we have her try the program?
And so they did, and it waswithin like two weeks.
(35:39):
It was a huge difference and mydaughter was friends with her.
And they said what did you do?
They're so different.
Like they're running around,they're playing and happy, and I
just thought that was.
It was such a short period oftime too, like two weeks.
That's shocking to see thatthey could be their regular
(36:01):
selves and I can't say every daywas like lovely, no problems
ever, like they still had to getover a lot of anxiety and
different things, but we wereable to show them a safe space
to just learn and grow and theyended up transferring out of my
program the next year becausethey had out phased the age and
we found a different microschool program for them that
(36:24):
worked really great for them andI was super excited to.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah, she was stuck in a chronic state of stress and
then all that stress wasreleased and our brain was safe
again.
Because we've seen that withone of my kids too.
We he was in traditional schoolfor three months in
kindergarten.
We we both only made it threemonths, and I'm not saying it
was, it just wasn't a good fitfor him.
I'm not, like you know,downplaying traditional school,
but I was attuning to where hewas and where his brain was, and
(36:50):
his brain just was not safe.
Um, you know, being forced tosit still and put his head down
once he was done with work andthose kinds of things, and so he
wasn't talking at all.
And then we brought him home,de-schooled him for a couple of
months and then he went rightback to.
So it's, it's justcommunicating.
Like they might not have thewords to communicate, but their
brains are just trying to keepthem safe.
(37:13):
So next question what advicewould you give to educators or
parents looking to create moreempowering learning environments
?
Speaker 3 (37:22):
For educators to create more or for parents.
Or both, yeah, or someone who ismaybe thinking about like
starting a micro school, or youknow about like starting a micro
school, or you know I'm alwaysa huge advocate for that.
I feel, yeah, everything that Ido on my directory is all about
people starting more programs.
(37:42):
Because if you think about ifanother micro school starts,
it's just like a classroom nextdoor to you opening or you can
pop over and go hey, do you haveany extra glue?
So that's kind of the feelingof a it doesn't need to be
competitive.
Although at the beginning, whenI first started my micro school,
I felt very protective ofanybody who called me or asked
(38:05):
about my program.
And then I it kind of changedmy mindset and I said this is
kind of dumb.
When they live literally anhour away from where I do, I
can't serve them as well as thatother micro school that's
literally right down the streetfrom them.
And so I started just sharingwhere those locations were with
(38:27):
the families.
And I feel like that was whenmy brain shift happened and it's
also when I started to have alot more success in my own
program, because those microschools would refer people to me
as well.
So we can't be everything foreveryone Although I'm a people
pleaser and I really wish Icould be everybody's cup of tea.
(38:47):
But I know that when I, when Igive freely without expecting
anything in return, that's whenI feel the happiest.
And people do that the same forme as well.
I love that.
So, just yeah, giving referralsand parents, parents, if they
call and they're like, hey, thisis the kid that I've got and
(39:10):
I'll say here's three ideas ofsomebody that you could go to
Just being helpful, keeping thekid at the center serving
families Beautiful Candy.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Thank you so much for coming on the Kindle podcast
today.
We've really enjoyed thisconversation.
Hey, it was awesome.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Thank you.
All right, we'll talk later.
That's it for today.
We really hope you enjoyed thisepisode of the Kindle podcast,
getting to hear from anotherPrenda guide and, as if you
listen to part one with Julia,you'll hear some different
things.
You'll hear some similar thingsand even though they're across
(39:44):
the country from each other.
So super exciting.
And if this episode was helpfulto you, please like, subscribe
and follow us on social media atPrenda Learn.
If you have a question youwould like for us to address,
please email us at podcast atPrendacom.
You can also subscribe to ourweekly newsletter, the Sunday
Spark, by going to Prendacom.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
The Kindle podcast is brought to you by Prenda.
Prenda makes it easy for you tostart and run an amazing micro
school based on all the ideasthat we talk about here on the
Kindle podcast.
If you want more informationabout becoming a Prenda guide,
just go to Prendacom.
Thanks for listening andremember to keep kindling.
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