Where this started
She dreamed of a school of her own.
After 17 years in elementary classrooms, Courtney Thompson started picturing her own school. Small. Outdoors. Play-based. A place where children "aren't just memorizing… they're experiencing, creating, and understanding."
Long before there was a building or a roster, there was the idea of Tuckahoe Learning Grove.
The choice that made it hard
She turned down the easy path.
One of the respected microschool networks offered Courtney a place inside their model: curriculum, brand, back-office, all in the box. The problem was that they wanted a commitment with no guarantee of success. It's a huge leap of faith that many can't afford to entertain.
Ultimately, Courtney decided she wanted a school that was hers, top to bottom: her philosophy, her families, her decisions. She wasn't willing to trade ownership for ease. So she opened TLG alone. No network behind her, no template, no support, but there was freedom of choice. To us, that's the true spirit of MicroSchools, and why The MicroSchool Lab was founded.
We're here to help bridge the gap between dreams and the work it's going to take to make your school a reality.
The year before opening day
You've never started a school year without a plan and you shouldn't start a microschool without one either.
- What type of microschool am I?
- How will I support myself while building enrollment?
- What tuition will actually work in my zip code?
- What are the requirements and how do I meet them?
- What's my school's philosophy?
The MicroSchool Lab is the place to test and develop your plans.
Why we built this
We here at The MicroSchool Lab believe that families deserve school choice and support educators.
I'm Nicholas Nowlin, founder of The MicroSchool Lab. I had the privilege of watching Courtney take Tuckahoe Learning Grove from a dream to a thriving co-op. I clearly remember her talking passionately about a place where kids could interact with their environment, avoid hours of desk time and those dreaded worksheets that kill a kid's love for education. A place where children could simply learn in a way that fit their style. The goal was education that was meaningful, interactive, and enjoyable.
What surprised me was that the only roadmap to opening the doors was locked behind a revenue share gate. As you know, she declined to open that gate, and off she went through the maze of Facebook groups, attorneys, small business consultants, and old-fashioned trial and error. She managed it, but the opportunity cost of doing all that research almost cost her the dream she was so passionate about.
Once Courtney got her co-op up and running, she reflected on the tools and resources that would have eased the transition from public school teacher to microschool founder. We didn't know it at the time, but that conversation was the beginning of our mission to provide founders with an affordable solution to plan and run a microschool.
We hope that you will take advantage of the state-specific research we've compiled and made available for free. If you decide that you want personalized market analysis, tailored checklists, and tools that help you start building enrollment within days and manage the entire school, we would love to have you in the community.
What MicroSchoolLab is
A lab. And when the doors open, the platform stays.
A place to put the idea in front of you, try it on, change your mind, and try again, until the school you imagined is the school you can actually open.
And when it opens, the same platform stays with you. The website, the parent portal, the student portal, and the operations work that keeps a school alive don't go away on day one. They start there.
