Hi Deborah,

You have a marvelous idea, of course.  A good starting place might be the
local bookstore in the business section.  Essentially you are talking about
starting a business, and there should be something in that section that will
address the process and legal requirements in your area for starting and
maintaining a school.  In fact, the next time I'm in the bookstore near my
home, I will look too.  If I find anything that appears useful, I'll note
title and author and get back to you.  I don't use Amazon.com so I don't know
how to search there, but that may be a helpful resource too.  This can't be
the "be all and end all" resource for your knowledge base, but it will give
you a starting point to learn about the business end of what you want to do
(the unfun part, to be sure).

You didn't mention where you live.  In the US, there is federal grant money
to be had.  I will be going to local sources for fundraising, but my
organization doesn't need the kind of money you will need.  My annual budget
for the next three years probably won't exceed $8,000 each year.  I don't
think you'll be able to operate on such a small budget.  You might want to
look at the overall requirements for starting a school before you get into
information about obtaining grants though.  But if you're ready, I can send
you information about grants.

I don't know how to comment on your quest for educators.  My organization is
volunteer based.  We're going to sneak in environmental education, but we
didn't incorporate to do that.  We incorporated to take children with
disabilities on nature hikes.

The only other piece of advice I would offer is this: Be careful who you
share your idea with.  For some reason, people are more highly motivated to
tell others why they can't do something than how they can.  Don't share your
poetry with someone who isn't a poet.

I'd love to hear how your plan progresses Deborah.  Feel free to communicate
with me about this.

Good luck,
Betty Alfred