The Scribbled Path: Unfiltered Stories from the Path to Play, Permits, and Purpose
Episode One:
The Scribbled Path: Why I Left the Classroom to Bring Play Back to Childhood
Unfiltered Stories from the Path to Play, Permit, and Purpose
After twenty years in education - teaching kindergarten, special education, and ESL - I walked away from the classroom.
It wasn't an easy decision. Teaching has been my passion, my identity, and my second home for most of my adult life.
But education... it's not the same anymore.
Somewhere along the way, the focus shifted.
We stopped seeing children as whole people and started seeing them as data points - test scores, progress charts, and standardized results. The laughter, curiosity, and imagination that used to fill classrooms were slowly replaced with pacing guides and assessment rubrics.
And I couldn't ignore it any longer.
The Moment Everything Changed
I remember sitting at my desk one afternoon, surrounded by piles of data reports, and realizing I hadn't spent any time that day talking to my students about how they were feeling - what made them happy, curious, or proud. I had entered numbers all day, but not one meaningful connection.
That was my breaking point.
Education should never lose sight of the child in childhood.
It should be about curiosity, creativity, confidence, and compassion - the things that truly shape a person's lifelong love of learning.
From Doodles to a Dream
Even before I left the classroom, I had been dreaming of something different - a space that celebrated children for who they are, not just what they could produce.
It started small: doodles on sticky notes, sketches in the margins of my planner, and pages of ideas for a place where play came first.
A place that would honor early childhood for what it truly is - a sacred, joyful, messy, and magical time in a child's life.
The name Scribbles Learning Center came from those doodles. Because every great idea, every masterpiece, every innovation... starts with a scribble.
Taking the Leap
The idea lived in my mind and my heart for years before I finally found the courage to make it real.
Opening a childcare center isn't simple - there are permits, licensing, inspections, and a thousand tiny details that can make you second-guess everything.
But the moment I decided to stop saying "someday" and start saying "now," everything changed.
I wasn't just dreaming anymore.
I was building.
And that's where The Scribbled Path began - the path from the classroom to creation, from burnout to purpose, from compliance to connection.
What The Scribbled Path Stands For
This isn't just my story.
It's a story for every educator who has felt the weight of the system and wondered if there's another way.
It's for every parent who believes play matters.
It's for every child who deserves a space to learn through laughter, movement, and imagination.
At Scribbles, play isn't an "extra" - it's the foundation.
Because everything starts with play.
The Journey Ahead
This blog (and our new YouTube series, The Scribbled Path) will share the real journey - the honest, sometimes chaotic, always heartfelt process of building Scribbles Learning Center from the ground up.
It's about the permits and paperwork, yes, but also about the passion that drives it. It's about community, creativity, and the courage to believe that childhood still matters.
If you've ever felt like the world has forgotten what learning should look like - you're not alone.
Let's find our way back, one scribble at a time.
Follow the Journey
Next Episode: And that was just the beginning of the Scribbled Path.
Because next... well, let's just say the dream building wasn't such a dream after all.
In Episode 2: "Leases, Letdowns, and Lessons Learned," I'll share how I navigated the rollercoaster of commercial real estate - from endless lease drafts and unreturned emails to the moment I finally said, "Enough."
There were tears, frustration, and a lot of self-doubt. But in the end, walking away led me right back to where I was meant to be - the perfect home for Scribbles Learning Center.
Trust me, you won't want to miss this one.