From Teachers to Business Owners: Educators Launching Microschools Learn the Ins and Outs of Entrepreneurship
According to an analysis by the National Microschooling Center more than 70% of today’s microschool operators are current or former licensed educators

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Giselle McClymont knew from second grade that she wanted to be a teacher. She went on to earn an education degree in college and taught in Florida’s Broward County public elementary schools for six years before leaving the system in frustration in 2022. “I just personally felt like I couldn’t help each child,” said McClymont, noting that third grade testing demands and the pressure to teach to the test created frustration and stress for students and teachers alike.
“It took the joy out of teaching and learning.”
McClymont became a stay-at-home mom and planned to homeschool her daughter, but she missed the classroom. In the fall of 2023, she began leading a learning pod with three children in her neighborhood. That was when she heard about microschools, or the intentionally small, low cost, often mixed-age learning communities that have gained widespread popularity in recent years. She was immediately attracted to microschooling’s focus on flexibility and personalized learning, and knew for certain that she wanted to launch her own microschool. But where should she begin?
Most microschool founders are teachers like McClymont who previously worked in conventional schools. According to a 2024 analysis by the National Microschooling Center, more than 70 percent of today’s microschool operators are current or former licensed educators. These founders have deep knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy and a passion for teaching and learning, but most of them have never run a small business.
They are looking for ways to bridge the gap between being an educator and an entrepreneur, and new microschool accelerator programs are helping them to do just that.
“Put me in a classroom anywhere and I can teach all day. I got that. I was looking for all those business tips and tricks,” said Tonya Kipe, founder of Kipe Academy in Polk City, Florida. A public elementary school teacher for more than a decade, Kipe grew her microschool from one student in January 2024 to 26 students today, including those with special learning needs. Participating in Launch Your Kind, a Florida-based nonprofit microschool accelerator, was a key part of Kipe Academy’s growth.
Created by former public school teacher Iman Alleyne in 2022, Launch Your Kind supports the development of new microschools — especially those that celebrate diversity, inclusivity, and joyful learning.

After launching her own microschool, Kind Academy, in 2016, Alleyne wished she had an affordable, model-agnostic school accelerator program available to her to provide the business skills, entrepreneurial insights, and community support that she lacked. She wanted to streamline the startup process for new founders, enabling them to avoid common pitfalls and build sustainable small businesses. “I teach them to take care of their teacher hat, but their business owner hat needs to come on too,” she said.
The 10-week program provides online, cohort-style coaching for about a dozen new or aspiring microschool founders, and continued support thereafter. Through weekly check-ins and expert presentations, they learn the business of running a school, ranging from establishing policies and procedures and finding a suitable school location to setting tuition prices, exploring various revenue streams, and being fiscally responsible. Alleyne’s goal is to help microschools flourish and grow, and she helps founders to merge their love of teaching with a keen sense of what it takes to run a successful enterprise. Most Launch Your Kind founders launch or expand their microschools within six months of participating in the program, with each cohort community remaining in close contact long after the program ends — including through an annual in-person retreat. Launch Your Kind’s winter cohort begins later this month.
For Kipe, participating in Launch Your Kind helped her to see that entrepreneurship can be a win-win for herself and the students she serves. “We want to serve the community, but we’re also a business,” Kipe realized.
Like most of the Florida microschools that have participated in Launch Your Kind, Kipe Academy’s students attend at reduced tuition rates thanks to the state’s robust school choice programs that enable education dollars to follow students to their desired learning setting — including microschools and homeschooling centers. Family financial accessibility is an important priority for the microschool founders with whom Alleyne works. It’s also Alleyne’s priority with Launch Your Kind. “I really wanted to put together an accelerator that would be at a price point that people could afford,” said Alleyne, who has received philanthropic support from organizations such as Stand Together Trust, Getting Smart, VELA, and the Yass Prize, which has helped to defray participant costs.

After discovering microschooling in 2023 while running her learning pod, McClymont saw a post on social media by Kipe mentioning Launch Your Kind. She connected with Alleyne and joined the next accelerator cohort in 2024, growing her program, Tree Stars Learning, from three students to 13. She serves both neurodiverse and neurotypical students in her current microschool location in West Sunrise, Florida, and is in the process of opening a second location in Coral Springs. She credits the accelerator program as a primary reason for her early success and continued growth. “To be a teacher is one thing; to be an entrepreneur and run a successful microschool is another. There were a lot of things that I didn’t know, like certain legalities, marketing, and just the logistics of how to run the company,” said McClymont, adding that the connection to a small community of founders within the Launch Your Kind cohort was also invaluable.
One piece of entrepreneurial input was particularly helpful. “I was grossly undercharging myself and Iman had to have a conversation with me,” recalled McClymont. “She told me, ‘you are undercharging for what you have to offer and you need to raise your prices. Yes, you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart but you’re running a business now.’” For McClymont, that type of candid feedback was exactly what she needed to take her business to the next level to serve even more students throughout South Florida. Adopting a solid business mindset was how McClymont would be able to do the most good for the most students. “I think that’s something that a lot of educators probably struggle with,” she added.
McClymont has observed significant academic and social-emotional gains in her students, and plans to continue to open new microschools as parent demand grows. She is also considering the possibility of creating a franchise model to help other educators launch their own Tree Stars Learning locations without having to start from scratch.
She said she thinks the microschooling movement is just beginning: “I feel like we are the Uber of taxis: I believe that microschools are going to take over. Especially in South Florida, parents are looking for other options because they see how the public school is not serving their child. It’s getting to a point where they have to close down some public schools here. Parents are seeking other options, and I just want to be a positive light.”
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