Year 1: A Vulnerable Lesson in Adult Failure and Student Success
- Angela Fairbanks
- Jun 24
- 9 min read
This is a bittersweet time for our family. The last day of school is rapidly approaching and there are feelings, lots of feelings. One of my kids is proud of me. She told me, so it must be so. She wasn't sure that her parents could start a school without meddling too much and making her embarrassed. So she is proud of me for only embarrassing her a little. I guess I should feel proud, too? I am feeling a sense of relief. When I contemplated getting on this ride last spring, I did not have confidence that I would get to this point.
Late Spring 2024 : The Start
I never planned to open a school. The universe blew up my plans and set me on this path. But in for a penny, in for a pound, I gave it my full attention and drive. (On the daily I second-guessed every decision.) In August, I panicked while interviewing teachers, terrified that I wouldn't find that person to be the heart and soul. The backup plan to have me fill in was a TERRIBLE plan, but there weren't a whole lot of other options. I have Cindy B. to thank for sending us Ms. Lea. Everything started to look not so scary after our first conversation. After a full round of interviews, including with our teen representatives, there was a unanimous decision to offer Lea the Lead Teacher role.
Our two younger children, that we did this for, were cautiously optimistic. They loved the idea of being able to continue attending a microschool and even better that it was close to home. They didn't love that starting a new business is time consuming and has strange moments. Like the day I picked them up having just come from picking up some furniture from an office closing in Boston. While I had managed to load the furniture myself while double-parked and only 5 months out from major surgery, I did it by just shoving it into the minivan (thank goodness for fold-flat seats!). The comments and eyerolls at school pick-up when they saw there was no where for them to sit were a little blistering. But they rallied and in a nearby parking lot, they helped me reorganize. I'm sure it was a sight to see me and both of them lifting massive tabletops onto the roof rack.
That wouldn't be their only contribution. All 3 of my kids helped to clean, paint, paint some more, assemble furniture, and more. Whether they see it or not, their opinions were stamped into the design and plans every step of the way. When everyone else reports what they did over the summer, mine will respond honestly, that they helped build a school.
September 2024 : We Open!
When the kids started the year in September on time, with a safe and fun place to learn, I was thrilled. Two wins in a row. This was the reason I started this journey. Our year started with 2 enthusiastic kids and 2 other kids hoping their Mom didn't blow it. (Which ones do you think are mine?) I knew I didn't have their vote of confidence then, but I hoped it would soon arrive. Everyone sailed through start of year MAP testing and academic routines started to take shape.
October 2024 : Month 2 Momentum?
When I opened our doors for a Family Halloween Celebration and no one came, all the air left my bubble. We decorated to within an inch of our lives. We had snacks, drinks, and creepy, scary music. We had games and crafts. I thought I advertised so much that everyone was sick of hearing or seeing about it. But the lack of attendees left us frustrated. The kids loved the snacks and games, but they saw failure starting to appear on the wall. And yet, life still comes at you the next day and I didn't let that first "failure" derail me.
I got right back at it pouring new content into our website and social media accounts. Lea does an amazing job posting to our Instagram and I had to work hard to keep the Facebook as interesting and lively. I started taking more courses with the SBA and talking with different mentors in areas that I knew were weaknesses for me (marketing, pricing, web design, ...). We fielded phone calls and emails. Our "sales pipeline" was still very much broken, though. No one was coming to our Open House events and the one tour we gave did not result in a new family joining.
November - December 2024 : The Highs and the Lows
The holidays brought new opportunities to engage and I embraced them. I coordinated with a local photographer to offer family photo sessions at the pod. As part of our general decorating, we added multiple scenes and backdrops to provide choices for families. The kids wrapped "gifts" and humored us with a few test photos. The word went out as far as I could send it. Turns out it wasn't far enough. Turnout was smaller than we hoped with zero participants.
In the background of my failures, four kids were thriving as Kalexedy's first students. They
were showcasing their individual interests during Enrichment time, chewing through academic work, and challenging our librarian to keep them in books. Their work was showcased on the bulletin boards and their learning spaces were starting to be recognizable to their personalities.
Ms. Lea was demonstrating how right we were to entrust her with arguably our most important role. She was bringing them together to find commonalities and celebrating their individual wins. She was creating job functions and duties from scratch, having never before attempted or seen a similar role. And she was helping to maintain the positive energy that I needed to keep going when it got hard.
If you are the person that manages summer camp, then you know the registration season starts (ridiculously) early. Whomever had the bright idea that parents would be ready to think about summer as soon as the New Year fireworks faded is crazy. But I have been filling that function in our house for a decade, so I knew our Summer Camp plans had to be ready as soon as the sun rose in January. This was a team collaboration and our college interns both contributed to help Lea and I develop interesting, hands-on, fun summer camp plans. Summer camps where kids will likely learn something, but hopefully not even realize that is happening. We researched and tested ideas. We cut things that are fantastic simply because the summer is only so long. We refined and we asked our current students to weigh in. (I like asking our Kalexedy kids for their opinions as I think we get really valuable feedback, but they held back nothing. If something was even remotely boring or uninteresting we heard about it.)
January - February 2025 : A New Year
On a cold day in January, while my family was just starting to show the first symptoms of what would become the kids first case of Covid, Summer Camp Registration went live. This was a win - so much work was put into this and it felt great to have it launch on time with what I think is great content.
There is no rest for the weary though. While Covid may have slowed us down as it swept through our house in January, February was on the horizon. We packed away the holiday decorations and sniffled forward. The students set New Year goals, celebrated Lunar New Year, sent Valentines Cards to other students all over the globe and to the other businesses in our building. They helped splash the space in Valentine's decorations in anticipation of our Valentine's Night Out event for teens.
One of my best memories is them testing some of the minute-to-win-it challenges. Oh man do Hershey kisses fly under the right conditions. I'll let you in on a secret not many people know... no one came. My daughter had a friend come that was a good sport and played all the games with her, but I again missed the mark.
Three strikes and you're out. Turns out my marketing skills are subpar. I let it get to spring with the same 4 kids we started with and multiple failed opportunities to make ourselves known and attract families. I should thank our extended families because they tried to fill the gap. They showed up to multiple events, shared our social media posts, and listened to my ideas. Our Summer Camp enrollment is not taking off and I am having nightmares about our April Vacation Camp. I know that it is time to bring in a professional.
March - April 2025: Spring without A Spring in my Step
I wish this were where I would get to say that I found someone to wave a magic wand and
make it all better. Finding a marketing company/firm/person doesn't happen overnight. Many don't want to work with a microschool or have no experience with private schools.
Spring was not just failures and missteps. The kids were still doing fabulously. They embarked on our chick-hatching project with unbridled enthusiasm. Watching them candle eggs and track growth was amazing. Seeing them hold day old chicks and just melt in love was why we did it. But they did so much more too. The only accurate word is unstoppable. They haven't been negatively impacted by my failures and missteps. They have been conquering their world one day at a time.
During April Vacation week, we took a departure from our regularly scheduled programming to host a special April Vacation Week Camp. While our students took a break, we used it as an opportunity to spend a whole week doing Enrichments that are bigger, messier, and more time consuming than a regular school day generally allows. We hired an amazing teacher to lead our April Vacation Camp and she brought 110%. But, April Vacation Camp did not draw in families so it may be a minute before we add that second teacher full-time.
I've already had more sleepless nights than anyone can handle. While I'm not immune to these failures, they can only take me down if I let them. And I can't let them because all eyes are watching even if they don't want me to know they are watching.
May 2025 : They should be so proud!
As students, they are reaching the end of their curriculum, subject by subject, almost on the daily. They are planning for next year's classes and subjects as these are shelved as done. It was actually the youngest that finished a full subject end-to-end first. The joy on her face handing in her math book fully complete was amazing. Watching them all hit end of year milestones was daily happiness.
They took their end of year MAP assessments towards the end of May and blew us all away. I wish I could share their results.(Learn more about MAP here, here, and here) We have 4 years of MAP data for our two and it consistently shows them doing amazing. There is something in this approach that resonates so successfully, especially among neurodivergent learners. (We have 2 & 3 years of data from their public school years that was consistently the opposite.) They are planning their Enchanted Forest themed prom and counting down to the last day.
June 2025 : It's NOT THE END
And that takes us to now. We are implementing marketing changes based on professional
recommendations. (Tell us what you think of the new signs! (feather flags)) Our website has a totally redesigned homepage and there are new videos coming. That last one has been the hardest because while I can do hard things, putting myself out there as the face is scary.
That last day of school in June will likely be my saddest day in June. Not as a business owner, but as their Mom. Since switching to microschooling 4 years ago, the last day of school has been filled with hugs, tears, and pleading requests for it not to end. From the youngest to the oldest, the last day is usually gut-wrenching. I'll have some favorite snacks and reminders that we will stay in touch, but it won't help in the moment.
So knowing this is what I have to look forward to, I am feeling proud. If we hadn't pulled it off. If we hadn't given them an experience as good or better than what they had, there would be a different outcome.
So Year 1 is in the books along with some highs and some lows. Overall, I'm calling it a success. A success great enough that we are still expecting to be here in the fall. I know four great kids and one college intern that will also be back.
If you're still reading, chances are you're looking for something different too. We’d love to meet you. Join us at the Framingham Farmers Market, follow us on Instagram/Facebook, or schedule a visit to see what makes Kalexedy so special. Let’s reimagine learning — together.
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