Happy St. Patrick's Day

Leprechaun Trap

It is a 2nd grade tradition at West End for the kids to build Leprechaun Traps.

I'm not sure who had more fun Marcus or Nathan and I.

Valentine's Day

Where Have We Been?!?!

As many people have pointed out it has been almost a year since my last post.  So, here is the story...  Over a year ago my sister Melissa and I decided that we needed to take a much more active role in our children's education, and by more active I mean we decided to open a charter school.  After over a year of WORK (Nathan likes to point out that I was not working full time, I was volunteering full time) by many people Oasis Academy opened last Monday.  And can I just boast a little and say it is awesome.

The school filled to capacity within 3 hours of our open enrollment back in April (people started camping out Tuesday and enrollment didn't take place until Saturday.)  We hired the most AMAZING teachers and limited the class size to 20.  The school is 180 students K-8.  We have the hardest working Board of Directors and the most dedicated parents (who volunteer a ton!).  Because we have so many people willing to volunteer their time we have be able to do some pretty awesome stuff on or limited budget.  Including leasing google chromebooks (one to one for 5-8 grades and two to one for 3&4 grades and several in K-2).

There is a lot of learning happening inside those doors.

 One of our parents is an amazing artist.  He painted this awesome tree right inside the front door.

 Flag up!

 We went with uniforms and I love them!

 The Board hired Melissa as the administrator.  

She is really the one who made this whole thing possible.

She pulled of a miracle with a lot of faith and hard work.

 Mike is on the Board and our go to guy for everything.  He does accounting for his "paying" job which has really benefited the school and saved us a ton of money.  He is also very technically savvy which came in handy the first day when the internet went down! 

 Eager learners and parents!

This has been an amazing adventure and I am confident that Marcus and Maleen will have the best education our community has to offer.  Which makes all the hours worth it. 
Now that school is open I am hoping to have more time to catch everyone up and keep it that way.