Deciding to run a POD Kindergarten meant we needed a place to actually hold school. Somewhere "outside" of the house so it would be a level playing field for all of the kids. At "real" school there is no "mine" and I wanted to replicate that same idea here. I wanted a place that was only available during school hours and that the kids would see as "their space," not just "Stella's house."

Our original idea was to turn the shed on the back of the property into a schoolhouse, but upon further inspection and logistics, that just wouldn't work. Then Elise suggested the potting shed, which was an open space loosely connected to the house. It didn't have four walls, it didn't have doors, the ceiling was questionable, but it had POTENTIAL. Potential that I didn't see right away, but gratefully members of my tribe did.

It was closer to the house - ideal for potty breaks, easy access from the driveway (and no one had to walk through the house), and because we were just closing in an already existing space we didn't have to get a permit. (HUGE BONUS) *Don't get me started about permits in Santa Cruz County.”

After some assessment and measuring, I thought, "ok, we can make this work. We have a month to make this happen."

Then came the fires. This summer, fires ripped through Santa Cruz County and came so close to the house that we were evacuated for 12 days. I had just ordered all of the curricula and as we were packing our cars, I made room for all of it. With this year, being what it was, I thought, "if we can salvage one thing from this darn year, it's going to be their education." It felt overly optimistic at the moment, but it was one thing I was determined to make work.

We came back from our evacuation and before we could start on the schoolhouse, we had to clean up the actual house from debris.

10 days until we were supposed to start school and we haven't even started on the potting shed. But, I was determined. I've built full sets in less time... seems practical, right? BTW: It was a LONG 10 days.

I have some building skills. However, I knew that there were some things that were out of my league. I called some friends (who were also out of work) and one of the dads (who happens to be a contractor) and together with them and the tribe, this storage, seemingly unusable space became a classroom. Just big enough for four students with desks and chairs, cubbies, an activity table, and a whiteboard.

This became an amazing space for a classroom and I almost missed it. I was so caught up on this other space that if Elise hadn't said anything, I would have. The space I had planned would have never worked.

Lesson 1 of many: Continue to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Together, we had a vision and made a wonderful thing happen. If I had done it by myself, I would have missed the potential for something far greater.