For Becky Elder, education entrepreneurship is nothing new. In 1963, her parents founded a private school in Wichita, Kansas. Becky then homeschooled her own children even before the practice was legally recognized. In 1993, she helped to launch Northfield School of the Liberal Arts as a small, classically-oriented school for approximately 50 middle and high school students in Wichita.

Dalena Wallace is a next-generation education entrepreneur, following in Becky’s footsteps. She is a homeschool mom of 6 children ages 8-15 who lives in a small rural community about an hour outside of Wichita. Dalena has been running a popular homeschool co-op for several years and received a microgrant from the VELA Education Fund which helped to connect her to other local education entrepreneurs in the greater Wichita area, including Becky. Dalena and Becky, along with some of the other Wichita education entrepreneurs I have had on the podcast, created the group WISE - Wichita Innovative Schools and Educators— to support the growth and success of more microschools, low-cost private schools, learning pods, homeschool collaboratives, and other innovative K-12 education models.

Check out my case study of education entrepreneurship in Wichita!

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"The Fringe Is Becoming the Cloth": Becky Elder and Dalena Wallace on homeschooling and microschooling