What is a Micro-School?

Hi there, it’s Mara Linaberger from the Micro-school Builder’s Guide to building the school of your dreams in less than a year without sacrificing your salary or your sanity, and The Micro-school builder’s handbook.

Well I get so many questions from you about micro -schools. So many in fact that I’ve decided to do a series of videos to tackle them all. Today I’d like to start at the very beginning in with one of the most frequent questions I get.  And that is:

What is a micro school anyway and why would I want to build one of my own?

Well, at its essence, a micro-school is precisely what the name implies – it’s a small school. And while every micro-school has a different look and feel there are three common things that all micro schools have in common. 

Number one: as I already said they’re much smaller than your typical public or private school. Usually they have less than 150 kids. And what I’m seeing with most of my clients is that they’re even smaller than that, starting out was just a handful of kids in the very beginning as a proof-of-concept school and working their way up to maybe 40 or 50 kids maximum.

Number two: most micro- schools are usually privately owned. Sometimes they are an approved private school, but very often they’re just an LLC that serves as a learning or tutoring center. And the main reason for this kind of a stance is that teachers who own a micro- school very often wants to get away from the big national standards and big assessments that come with being a public or charter school.

And the third thing that micro schools tend to have in common is that they provide a much more personalized and self-directed learning experience for their students. If you did some research on small schools you’d likely find as many varieties of micro-schools as you do something like coffee houses, yoga studios, or non chain restaurants.

And as to the why – of why you might want to open your own micro-school?

Well the number one reason teachers are taking this kind of bold step is because they’re frustrated and they’re ready to quit their jobs. But somehow deep down inside they know that there has to be a better way and they suspect that by opening a school of their own that they may be able to help make education better for a lot of kids.

So now that you have an idea about what a micro-school is, you might be excited to find out more – to see if you would actually be a good fit, a good candidate, to build a micro-school of your own.

And you’re in luck! If you click here you can grab a free copy of that 9 step guide that I’ve mentioned – the one that I created to illustrate those steps that micro school builders all around the world use to get their schools open quickly and efficiently.

And if you follow that link you’ll also get a PDF copy of my second book on building the micro-school of your dreams. I hope that this video has helped to clarify your questions about what a micro-school is and about why you might want to get involved in building one.

I hope that you’ll choose to become heart of this movement to remake education through the creation of micro schools around the globe. And until next time I hope you have a great day!