For Education Leaders
For the people building small schools that work
Practical resources for founders, directors, and teachers opening or running a microschool — the people turning a good idea into a real school.
An introduction
A small school is still a school
A microschool keeps the best parts of homeschooling — small, flexible, personal — and takes on most of the hard parts of a school: staffing, space, policies, money, and a room full of parents with opinions.
I came to this from the co-op side. I spent six years directing a homeschool co-op of about 150 students and 50 families, and a lot of what I learned there — the handbooks, the schedules, the teacher who quits in October, the conversation nobody wants to have — carries straight over to anyone running a small school. Since then I have been talking with microschool founders on Beyond the Schoolhouse.
So this corner of the Indie Education Network is for you. It is early, and I would rather hand you something useful now than a finished library next year. Start with whatever is keeping you up this week.
Sarah McCubbin
Founder, Indie Education Network
Start here
Six ways in, depending on what you need right now
The first three are for learning the job. The second three are for building the thing.
Learn the job
Inside a Real Learning Pod
One educator’s story of building an academic learning pod, and what makes a small, flexible school actually work.
Read the story →Beyond the Schoolhouse
Conversations with microschool founders, co-op directors, and curriculum makers — including episodes for anyone building a school from the ground up.
Listen now →Articles & Guides
Longer pieces on learning pods, farm and nature schools, and the practical side of running a school that is small on purpose.
Browse articles →Build the thing
Custom Curriculum for Your School
Curriculum built around your students, your schedule, and your teachers. Start with a short inquiry and we will talk through what your school needs.
Start an inquiry →Curriculum for Small Classrooms
Open-and-go curriculum written for multi-age rooms and small teaching teams, from Indie Education Press.
Shop curriculum →Cultivate: The Online Summit
Three days of talks from co-op and microschool leaders, with daily live Q&A. February 9–11, 2027, from wherever you are.
See the summit →Where this is going
This is just the start
The Indie Education Network is young, and the microschool side of it is younger still — I am starting with what I know best and building out from what founders tell me they need.
If you are opening a microschool or already running one, you are exactly who this is being built for, and the questions you send me shape what gets made next.
Coming next
- Cultivate, the online summit for co-op and microschool leaders — February 9–11, 2027
- More conversations with microschool founders on Beyond the Schoolhouse
- Founder guides and templates for the parts that are hard to search for
- Custom curriculum built for your school — already underway
Tell me what you are building
Opening a microschool, running one, or still deciding whether to? Send a short note about where you are and what you wish you could find. It shapes what gets made next.
Send me a noteA few lines is plenty.
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