Not Perfect, But Definitely Purposeful

It’s been a minute since I’ve blogged—mostly because I’ve been stepping back, squinting at this whole “running a microschool” thing, and trying to decide if I’m making progress… or just making chaos with confidence. Honestly? Some days it feels like both. But every day I inch a little closer to figuring it out. And realistically, I’ll probably keep pivoting forever, because I’m here to serve the students—and their needs change faster than my lesson plans can pivot. Nothing stays the same—especially kids.

We’ve finally fallen into a rhythm: mornings are for schoolwork, afternoons are for life and leadership skills, and somewhere in between there’s intentional time to “be bored.” (Shocking discovery: when kids have space to be bored, they get creative. Wild, I know.) They’ve been exploring different forms of art, music, and random rabbit holes of curiosity that would’ve been impossible in a traditional setting.

This whole experience has been… wild. I’ve always loved teaching, but I was used to being the ringmaster of 20+ kids, megaphone in hand, juggling curriculum pacing guides with fire in my eyes. PivotED is different. It’s more personal, more flexible, and—let’s be honest—a bigger emotional rollercoaster for me and for the kids who grew up in the traditional system.

There are days when I worry I'm not doing right by them simply because I’m not doing what I always believed was “the right way.” But then I step back and actually look at them. They’re happy. They’re engaged. They’re thriving. And we’re growing.

We’ve gained more kiddos this year, and families are already reaching out about next year. That absolutely humbles me. The trust these parents place in me is not something I’ll ever take lightly. My hope is to hire another teacher soon and continue growing—not to take over the education world—but to make a meaningful difference for families who need something different.

Here’s the craziest part: stepping away from public school has freed up so much mental space that I can finally chase the ideas that used to die in my brain because I didn’t know when or where to start. Now? I’ve published the book Moral Pickles, I designed an app to use with our Life & Leadership Skills. I’m writing another book and I’m working on creating two curriculums—one for Life and Leadership Skills, and one that retells U.S. history from a more engaging point of view. And I’m still in bed by 9! Not because I am Super Woman but because I am not constantly obsessing over deadlines and data as I was before. None of these projects are perfect, but they’re moving, and that’s something I couldn’t do before.

And yes, a huge chunk of this progress is thanks to AI—aka “the chatterbox.” What I ever did before having this tool, I truly don’t know. Probably cried more.

Anywho, all in all this school year is going swimmingly and I’m excited to see where it takes us next. Wherever it is, I’m sure we’ll pivot when we get there.