National Microschooling Center's Thursday Bulletin
Hello Microschooling Community!
A rural Arkansas microschool. A million-dollar prize. A whole community cheering! We’re kicking off this week’s newsletter by celebrating a terrific microschool’s 2026 Yass Prize win!
We've got lots more this week for microschools too, including: everything microschools need to know about the federal scholarship tax credit program, other 2026 Yass Prize microschool winners, Microschools in the News, new cohort details, events, trainings and opportunities including from a new provider in our Access Point program, Lazarus -- so read on!
What Microschools Need to Know About the New Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Program
Will your microschool be able to qualify for the program? If so, how can you connect with funding contributions to get your scholarships? What other new details matter most? This new article by the NMC team answers these questions and explains many of the most important details that will matter most to the microschooling sector.
The Learning Lounge Wins Million-Dollar Yass Prize
Pine Bluff, Arkansas microschool The Learning Lounge and its relentlessly visionary founder Kanesha Barnes-Adamswon the 2026 Yass Prize million dollar grand prize this week! The award will support them expand to new rural microschools around Arkansas! Congratulations, Kanesha!
The Yass Prize, powered by the Center for Education Reform since 2021, celebrates and rewards new education innovators each year that are dedicated to its principles of being Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless. Congratulations also to other fantastic NMC member microschools receiving big awards including Star Lab in Sarasota, Florida, Creative Minds Microschool in Wendell, North Carolina, Vermont’s Habitat for Aviation and the Indianapolis Microschool (Charter School) Collaborative.
Thinking about joining Center membership? Cohorts are just onebenefit among many our thousands of member microschools enjoy today. These small-group cohorts (typically capped at 15 participants) are topic-focused, last six weeks, and are led by subject-area experts. They take deep dives into key topics that microschool leaders want to learn about.
There are still a few spots left in our upcoming cohort, Instructional Leadership with Tiffany Blassingame! This cohort will will guide microschool founders in exploring and planning the critical components of instructional leadership, strategy innovation, and processes for constructive feedback and coaching teachers. This is a 6-week, members-only cohort meeting virtually on Monday nights beginning on October 19th! Sign up in the member portal!
Questions? Reach out to membership@microschoolingcenter.org!
Institute for Self-Directed Learning Microschool Accelerator
The Institute for Self-Directed Learning is hosting a Microschool Accelerator on November 7-9, 2026 in Fayetteville, Georgia.
Designed for new and existing microschools, this Accelerator brings together The Forest School’s real world experience, the Institute for Self-Directed Learning’s research and expertise, proven business principles and theories, and two courses originally created at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education—all of which have been adapted to provide a hands-on, real-world approach to launching a learner-centered microschool.
In Person Workshops!
Centerville, Georgia, Saturday, October 17th, 9am-2pm
The Center is excited to partner with Middle Georgia to hold a free, full-day how-to microschooling workshop! We are covering all the need-to-knows and Georgia specifics!
Join us for this full-day workshop (lunch is provided!). Location provided after registration.
Nashville, Tennessee, Saturday, November 14th, 9:30am-3:15pm CT
The Center is partnering with Beacon Center of Tennessee for a full-day microschooling workshop! We're covering topics such as Microschooling Trends, Opportunities in Microschooling, Local policy and resources available to founders from Beacon Center of Tennessee, Programming, Teaching & Learning...and so much more!
Join us for this full-day workshop (lunch is provided!). Location provided after registration.
Hot Topic Webinar: The Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Program: What Microschools Need to Know
Join the National Microschooling Center and Andrew Nelms, Student First Technologies Head of Government Affairs & Strategic Partnerships, on November 5th at 4pm PT/7pm ET to learn what microschools need to know about the
upcoming Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Program. There will be a Q&A, so bring your questions! *We do not record our webinars. We highly encourage you to attend to access the content and get your questions answered.
All the Need-to-Know info about Learning Tools and Providers
Considering learning tools, curriculum or other services for your microschool this year? Then you won’t want to miss theAccess Point, the ultimate place for gathering discounts, deals and info!
Provider Spotlight: This week we're welcoming a new provider to the Partnership Provider Program! Lazarus is school management software built for microschools, co-ops, and other small learning communities. It covers enrollment applications, tuition and billing, event registration, family and student records, and a hosted school website — in one place, at a price a small school can carry. Families apply, enroll, register, and pay without creating an account or managing a password. Schools can start free and run a complete enrollment cycle at no platform cost. NMC members receive the premium Lazarus website builder free on the school's own domain. Interested in connecting with Lazarus? Visit theAccess Point Catalog and fill out the form linked at the top of the page so we can introduce you!
Provider Resource Fair, 10/15 at 4pm PT/7pm ET: Join the National Microschooling Center and Partnership Providers Bloomy, Empowered, Insurance Canopy, Miacademy, Prism, Redwood Literacy, and Unlock Math for this one-stop shop opportunity to hear from and interact with NMC Partnership Providers and learn about trusted resources available to microschools!
Georgia Virtual Meetup | Tuesday, Oct 13th | 3pm PT/6pm ET
Join the Center's National Ecosystem Cultivator (and Georgia microschool founder!), Tiffany Blassingame, to meet up with microschool founders and leaders from across Georgia! Interested in joining? Email tiffany@microschoolingcenter.org
Texas Virtual Meetup | Wednesday, Oct 14th | 3pm PT/6pm ET
Join the Center's Outreach Coordinator (and Texas microschool founder!), Dr. Erin Flynn, to meet up with microschool founders and leaders from across Texas! Interested in joining? Email erin@microschoolingcenter.org
Have a question? Want to share an idea or resource? We love hearing from you, reach out any time!
Ashley & Don Soifer
and the team of the National Microschooling Center
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