Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Residents of Northern Kentucky! Based in Union, KY....The Good Neighbor Podcast helps the residents of Northern Kentucky get to know local business owners as people. We allow the business owners and influencers in NKY to tell the stories of how they started their business and why. We hear about their families, their personal interests and why they love living in and serving resident of Northern Kentucky!
Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
Beyond Standardized Learning: How One Mother's Journey Created Educational Options for Local Families
What happens when standardized education doesn't fit your child's unique learning style? For Lauri Muse, watching her son struggle in traditional school settings despite wonderful teachers sparked a journey that would ultimately benefit many Northern Kentucky families.
Muse shares the heartbreaking moment that catalyzed her educational revolution: hearing her young son declare "I'm really dumb" and "I'm not smart." After years of successfully homeschooling six of her seven children, she knew her active, group-oriented son needed something different—but full-time public or private schooling wasn't the answer either. Her research into micro-schooling led to the creation of World of Wonder, a hybrid educational program that combines the flexibility of homeschooling with structured, hands-on learning experiences.
World of Wonder operates three days weekly (Tuesday-Thursday, 8:30-3:00 pm), with students officially registered as homeschoolers. The program emphasizes outdoor learning, with children spending 90 minutes outside daily across different segments. Small class sizes—approximately one teacher to 8-12 students—allow educators to truly know each child and customize learning to their interests and needs. This arrangement proves particularly valuable for working parents who want homeschooling benefits without managing full-time home education.
The micro-schooling movement represents a significant shift in educational approaches. Rather than working within standardized systems where teachers face mounting mandates and restrictions, micro-schools like World of Wonder create environments where educators can fully utilize their training and creativity. Many experienced teachers are leaving traditional systems for these settings where they can differentiate instruction and truly connect with students as individuals.
Located at Union Presbyterian Church near Ryle High School in Union, Kentucky, World of Wonder is currently accepting new students (especially ages 8-12) for their program. Muse invites interested parents to reach out through their website (worldofwondernky.com) or email (lauri@worldofwondernky.com) to learn how this educational alternative might help "keep the wonder in your child's eyes" or recultivate that natural spark of curiosity that makes learning joyful and meaningful.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy.
Speaker 2:Thanks, charlie. I am Mike Murphy, host of the Good Neighbor Podcast, and our podcast is intended to help the local residents of Northern Kentucky get to know local business owners and influencers and, in this case, members of the educational community at large, to help you get to know them as people and not just a logo on a business card. So today with me is somebody that I'm meeting for the first time with you most of you anyways Lori Mews, and Lori is with World of Wonder, nky, is that correct?
Speaker 3:Sure, that's part of our website.
Speaker 2:Yes, Okay, yeah, because, yeah, the website I went to is worldofwondernkycom. We'll get to that, but the name of the business is officially is it World of Wonder? Yes, sir, okay. So, lori, please let the residents listening in on the conversation know who you are and what World of Wonder is.
Speaker 3:Well, sure, I'm Laurie Mews. I started as a homeschool mother of seven many years ago. Our children range from 33 down to nine years old, and a few years ago we realized our son was not going to be a good fit for homeschooling. He was very busy, very active, he thrived in groups, and so we knew he needed something else, and we didn't know what that was going to be. But we tried local preschool and that was super successful. He enjoyed that.
Speaker 3:But obviously after preschool, which is part-time, the only alternative you have is full-time public schooling or private schooling, which is still full-time. And so we opted to try the public school experience for him. And that was while our teachers were wonderful and just bright and encouraging and loving teachers, the program itself, the standardization, just was not fitting his learning needs, and so I started to study a movement in the education world called micro-schooling, and so it took me a few years of studying this to actually get courage to say I'm going to start one, which is a big undertaking. But we knew that when my son started to make comments like I'm really dumb, I'm not really smart, when we knew that this was not going to be an educational experience that we wanted for him. So I jumped in and we started interviewing teachers and we began what we have now called World of Wonder Microschool for ages 5 through 12.
Speaker 3:And we're a hybrid program, which means we're a part-time program. All of our students are registered homeschooling students, registered with the state as a homeschooling family, and then we partner with families and help them educate their children. So we have a three day program Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, not 830 to 3 pm, and then we also this year are starting a new one-day experience because many public or, I'm sorry, many homeschool students approached us and they wanted to be a part of World of Wonder, but they just wanted one day. So now we're going to offer another day. So that's kind of how I got started with this.
Speaker 2:Okay, so… it's been about a year since you, since you, started the program.
Speaker 3:Fall last year.
Speaker 2:Okay. So I liked the fact that you know, when you recognize that your son just kind of had different needs in terms of how he learned and how he would thrive, I liked that you rescued him in that moment. So good on you for that. You know, kudos, every child is unique and different, certainly so I think you know a case could be made for just about any kid to be in any sort of program. Potentially, who, what other types of children are part of the program thus far?
Speaker 3:Oh yes, so we're a hands-on program and we have flexible seating, we move around and we spend. Another key part of our program is we spend 90 minutes outdoors every day in a few different sections of the day. That was another part that he needed. He needed to be outdoors.
Speaker 3:Children really thrive when they have access to the outdoors and we knew we wanted that to be a part of our program. So I would say we have children whose families want more time with them than maybe the traditional five day a week school because they get those extra days at home. We have children who definitely thrive in group settings. So, as traditional independent homeschooling is where it might be, mom usually and the children at home out in the community, maybe one day a week or more, but as traditional homeschooling is mother doing all of the educational part, even if she pulls in resources, she does that, but what we do is we partner with parents and we provide those days of education. So a lot of our parents work, so they maybe cannot do full-time homeschooling, but they still want the homeschooling life for their child. So those would be some of the other types of parents that reach us.
Speaker 2:Okay, so what are the age ranges or grade ranges that you serve?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we serve five to 12 years old right now and we look to move up as our students move up, and I don't have a timeframe on. That Could be next year and it could be an additional one more year, but we will grow.
Speaker 2:Okay, so there's an evolution, a development that's just going to kind of come as you grow and as you gain traction. I wonder, like in situations like this you know you mentioned that this was something that you did out of necessity for your child, and so you started looking into starting this program, this school. What sort of training did you have to go through? Or is there credentialing? Is there certifications? What did you have to do?
Speaker 3:Oh well, that's a great question. So, as a homeschool mother of many years, I have studied and studied educational philosophies and techniques for dozens of years. When you have seven different children, you have many different ways they learn. Plus, I've taught in co-ops I'm not sure if you're familiar. Your guest mates it's a term that people use a lot. Your guest mates it's a term that people use a lot. Homeschool co-ops are generally once a week and they're on many, many different topics art, science and so forth. So I've taught in those realms.
Speaker 3:But in Kentucky we have a lot of freedom and we can start homeschooling co-ops or micro schools, hybrid micro schools just with who you are, you know, as a parent in charge of your child's education. And while what? But I do hire teachers with excellent experience and credentials. So our teachers are either certified or experienced in, maybe, art education and STEM education, or they have many years of experience homeschooling themselves or, you know, their children. So there is the you know, intense interview process and trying to get the right teachers who really have a heart for flexible and personal education.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're building the village. That's kind of raising the children from the educational perspective at least yes. So at the top of that particular food chain, as it relates to World of Wonder and micro school, you're at the top. I mean, are you running the well?
Speaker 3:I guess, yeah, I'm the director.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right. So there are going to be people that are listening to this for the first time and maybe they're saying to themselves oh my gosh, I need to know more. I think this is something that my child needs to be a part of. How do they reach out to you? What's the best next step for them?
Speaker 3:First off, definitely our website, worldofwondernkycom. We have a professional Facebook page. Probably if you Google World of Wonder, if you're on Facebook and look World of Wonder Microschool, hopefully you would find it world of wonder micro school, hopefully you would find it. And then I give my email out. Pretty laurie at world of wonder nkycom people can reach me there.
Speaker 3:Um, I don't hesitate to talk to anyone. We do have a parent uh info session coming up. I think it's the 28th. It's an event in facebook. You could probably find it there, but I would love to talk with parents.
Speaker 3:I love to parents to know they have options, whether they choose traditional homeschooling, which is great for many families, or that these micro schools are actually popping up quite often. In Indiana, in fact I have friends there it has risen 6,000% in 18 months. It's just there's individuals who care. Most of them are started by teachers, public school teachers who know how to teach children, but are stopped or prevented because of the standardization and the mandates from the top down that pile up on a teacher's desk or in a teacher's life and they can't reach the individual needs of the child and so they start micro-schooling in these very small environments, which we will have like one to 12 or one to 10, we'll have one teacher to like 10 or eight children, depending what our enrollment looks like. So you can meet those individual needs of what the child, their interest and then also their skill set.
Speaker 2:Okay, you mentioned earlier or at least alluded to the fact that Kentucky is wasn't your word, but I guess it's my word homeschool friendly, you know in terms of you know. I just wonder, like about Indiana and Ohio, those particular you know, since we're, so we're 10 minutes from each of those states, you know. So how does Kentucky rank compared to Indiana and Ohio in terms of being homeschool friendly?
Speaker 3:Well, I would say pretty equal. I mean all 50 states are. It is free and easy to homeschool. It's I don't know the exact date but around 1993 or 94, we'd have to research that that's when it became legal in all 50 states to homeschool your children. So it's pretty easy to to use in alternative education spaces. So the EdChoice movement is a little bit larger in those states and obviously in Kentucky it's not grown that movement for dollars to follow students and parents to get to choose where their educational dollars go. We don't really have that here.
Speaker 2:But as far as homeschooling it's probably similar in all of those three states of homeschooling as it relates to, say, maybe children that are on the spectrum, is that a whole different ballgame in terms of what states will or will not allow or is it up to the parents?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, actually, one of my children we have special needs my 19 year old daughter. There's many, many special needs children do really well with homeschooling because of the less pressured environment and it's less stimulating. Maybe they can move at their own pace. But at the same time, parents really could use resources like specialized tutoring for these children or other things like that. So in Indiana, for example, there are state funds that go to families who need special tutoring for it, like dyslexia or autism. They need different environments for their child to learn in. So they do have funding for parents to use for those services, which is wonderful for those families.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, you mentioned seven children before. So let's transition, let's pivot to talk about your family. You've got a husband, you've got children. What does that hectic life look like with seven kids and also trying to run this program? Do you guys have time to just decompress and get away and go do fun things?
Speaker 3:To breathe? No, we do not. No, I don't. My friend posted a book that she said she's a fellow micro school founder and she said I'm going to read this book before summer. And I posted and said you have time to read? How do you read? I do not have time to read. Good question, I just personally I do try to have an hour of devotional time personally for myself and I try to at least exercise one hour a day, taking walks out in nature, walking our dog. So, yes, it is challenging. Any business owner out there I'm sure would say, especially startup, which is where we are. We're in the startup phase. Yes, it's challenging, we are busy. We have two boys that play baseball. One just got finished with travel ball. So any travel ball play moms out there know that that is hectic. So I'm doing we have to get there an hour early. I'm doing business while I'm waiting for the ball game to start. So, yes, that it is. And we have 11 grandchildren actually too, and most of seven of them live close. So we are busy.
Speaker 2:Yes, All right. Well, yeah, I mean, just when you say travel ball, just you know, knowing what goes into that, that alone leaves you very little time. It's true leaves you very little time. So it's true, and I always think too, you know, if you've got children being homeschooled by mom, I've always wondered, like how blurry that line can be between mom and teacher. Do you ever turn one fully off versus the other? That's got to be tough to do.
Speaker 3:I think when you first became a new homeschooling parent, you do feel really odd about it and you, you, you're developing your relationship with your young children and I think over time it just becomes more blended where you are an educating parent. So, just as like dad might teach, come out to the car and let's learn to, you know, change the oil or the tires. Or just a mother saying, come to the kitchen, let's learn to bake bread or cook cookies or something, so I think that you just become a teaching parent.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's a great explanation.
Speaker 3:Yes, I think that you just become a teaching parent. Okay, that's a great explanation yes, I think you do. And then you're always mentoring your children. You're always guiding them as far as what their interests are, what books they're interested in, what classes, so you just become more comfortable at it, okay.
Speaker 2:I was always amazed when I was in my young adult years how many of my friends didn't know how to iron a shirt, certainly, or change a tire or whatever. So that's a you know a teaching parent, you know an educating parent. That's a great. That's a great way to look at it, because in traditional schools you're doing your studies and then you come home and I don't know, maybe you just play an Xbox or whatever. But if you're kind of immersed in the homeschool type of mindset, I love that, that you're actually being able to build into this non-traditional curriculum some of the things that not enough kids today know how to do, whatever that might be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and that is that is what most homeschooling families do, and that is actually what the, the micro school movement, is about too, is looking at that child holistically and building in a lot of the practical skills, soft skills, that people need in business. A lot of those skills are built into the program, especially because many micro-schooling centers are following a project-based learning mode and model now, mode model now. So the children or the students are doing projects that incorporate collaboration, building, planning, presentations and then a research all in one.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you've been at this for a year-ish, you know like you're kind of in the startup phase, as you mentioned. Is there anything, since you know we're here right now and this podcast is going to go out and you know we'll put it out there as best we can to get as many ears on it as possible, is there anything that you want the community to know or any help that you would like? Or just in terms of building awareness? What is your message to the community that's listening to this?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a great question. So well, that's a lot. So I would say the message is that we are in Union, Kentucky, we are open, this very special childhood for your child that incorporates the core subjects of math and reading that we all want our children to progress in, but also so much more. We say that we want to keep the wonder in your child's eyes and we also consider ourselves a love of learning center. So we want children to come to us with the spark that all children have and we either want to keep that spark of curiosity or recultivate that spark in those children who have lost it. So we have spots available. We will have two teachers. We're especially looking for ages eight to 12, but we still are accepting all ages and we would just be excited to talk to parents and share more of our vision of what we do offer the community and then what other people offer, if those families are looking for other educational environments for their family.
Speaker 2:So you said there are chairs available in the program in the classroom. How many, like I guess? Where I'm going is, can a program max out, or do you just keep accommodating you just kind of? You know, grow as necessary.
Speaker 3:Well, micro-school schooling is very organic. It's very interesting because cart before the forest type of thing we can go find really awesome teachers. But we need students because we are private pay. We are not government funded, we are not church funded. We, we are paid. It's like the parents come together and the parents, all of us together, pay these teachers to do this service for us.
Speaker 3:So what if I go find a bunch of students with no teacher? That couldn't work. And if I go find several teachers but no students? That couldn't work. So we're just gently going back and forth with finding the teachers, finding the students. So, yeah, we would max out because we want to keep the student-teacher ratio. We want it to be small, so it's intimate and cozy and the teachers really get to know the students and they can do projects and topics based on those students' interests. So we are keeping right now like a 12 student to one teacher max. We do actually have classroom space though. So it's exciting to know that when more families find us and know that this is an option, we do have some extra space to start more classes, or some people call them pods for those families. So it's kind of exciting to know that we can expand.
Speaker 2:There are, say, former educators out there, or current or just parents that can appreciate what you're trying to do with this program. They may not have kids that they're wanting to place in the program, but are there ways that they can help? I mean, do you need supplies? What type of things? Yes, since you asked.
Speaker 3:We are starting a fundraiser right now because last year we were so blessed to have a few nice donations that really outfitted one of our classrooms with, like some shelving and some rugs just the basic things you need to open a classroom space. Like I said, we're just parents who are funding this for our children, so we would love donations. We are not a nonprofit at this time, so that just to clarify that, but we do love donations. We are not a nonprofit at this time.
Speaker 3:So just to clarify that. But we do love donations. People can donate items. We have wishlists. They can certainly donate cash. That will be every dollar spent.
Speaker 3:We have these new classrooms that we're just opening up, this space, this new space, and we definitely need to outfit them so that we can have delightful spaces for the children. So, yes, we would love donations and, as far as other teachers, I do also teach teachers about micro schooling. In fact, one of our new teachers that is new to us just left a local school system of 22 years and she never knew about micro schooling until she found us and she's super excited because she can individualize instruction like she wants and differentiate instruction like she's trained in. So she's really excited to be with us Other teachers in the future. I do have a few more teachers that would love to be with us Other teachers in the future. I do have a few more teachers that would love to teach with us.
Speaker 3:I'm sure that more and more teachers, when they know that we have freedom, they get to use their creativity. They get to do all the training, all the fun things that they're trained to do as teachers. They get to use that in a micro school setting, there's very few restrictions. The world is their limit. They can teach anything.
Speaker 2:Well, you're very full of knowledge, full of passion on the subject. I want to make sure that people know when you say we're in Union, where is that specifically?
Speaker 3:Certainly, I don't even have the address memorized, which I should, but we meet at Union Presbyterian Church. We rent space there. They had an old preschool that's unused right now, so we are going to be moving into that space. We're excited about that. That's where we are, across from St Tim's Catholic Church, next to Ryle High School people know exactly where that is.
Speaker 2:You don't need the address. Yeah, we'll make sure they know. Oh oh, you mentioned your email address earlier and you know laureat worldofwonderingnkycom.
Speaker 3:yes.
Speaker 2:I want to make sure people know how to spell your name your first name.
Speaker 3:Okay, L-A-U-R-I.
Speaker 2:L-A-U-R-I.
Speaker 3:That's a good question. People do get that wrong. It's no big deal, but yes, that's a good question and I'd love to talk with anyone interested in learning about micro-schooling whether they want to start one or be a part of ours.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, that's a great message to end on. I mean people. You've given them a lot of food for thought, a lot of knowledge. I'm sure a lot of people are going to be chomping at the bit to reach out to you.
Speaker 2:You've given them many ways to do that, and so let's see if the community can't get more involved and help you grow, grow, grow and help those out. Cool, all right. Well, that's the end of it. We've talked for about a half hour now, and I know it doesn't seem like it, but when you're as passionate as you are, time flies.
Speaker 3:It does. Yes, and you can have me back if people want to know more. I would love to come back, so it'd be so fun.
Speaker 2:Anytime you want to come back, you just give me a call and we'll do it again.
Speaker 3:All right, thank you.
Speaker 2:So that does it for this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'll always tell you be good to your neighbor Until next time. See you soon, everybody. Bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Union. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpunioncom. That's gnpunioncom, or call us at 859-651-8330.