Help us raise money for Naio’s education

Hello beloved family and friends. Would you be interested in making a contribution to help our son Naio have an amazing educational opportunity during his formative teenage years?

The school:

Naio wanted to start high school this year after several awesome years of following his own educational path via “unschooling”. We looked long and hard at all the options in our area and fell in love with one school that is perfect for him. It is a small private school with exceptionally high quality academics and an emphasis on creativity, which is a great fit for Naio and his passions. The student body is bright and vibrant, full of fun and creative individuals each following their own unique path in life. And, most exciting to us as parents, the school prioritizes the emotional wellbeing of its students equally alongside the academics, which is such a rare treasure in education. When we first visited the school we were struck by the fact that everyone - from students to faculty to staff - seemed genuinely excited to be there.

The financial situation:

The only challenge…is that it costs $42,500 for one year, wow! Although we (Tani and Leslie) are super blessed to do work we love and be able to make a living from it, at the end of the day we are small business entrepreneurs and it is a huge stretch for us to add an expense like this on top of our usual business and living costs. We applied for financial aid and the school told us that in a normal year, we would have qualified for a very substantial financial aid package. But in this post-pandemic year they had a far higher level of requests for financial aid than they’ve ever had before, and they had to prioritize their pre-existing students. So in the end they were unable to offer us any financial aid at all.

This left us with two choices - either Naio couldn’t go to this amazing school, or we had to get seriously creative!! We sat with the decision for a long time and explored all possibilities, and we just kept coming back over and over to the clear knowing that Naio was meant to be at this school. So we decided to take the leap, and dedicated ourselves to getting creative on raising the funds.

Our ask:

We have used this big leap to seriously up-level our own financial game and boost our income generation over the last several months, and we have succeeded in paying the first half of the tuition! But the second half is coming due soon, and it’s beyond our available means at the moment. So at this point we are broadening our scope by creating this fundraiser to invite support from friends and family who might be inspired to contribute to Naio’s education.

Would you be interested in making a contribution, to help us ensure that Naio can continue to attend this amazing school that is such a great fit for him?

One thing we want to say here, is that we ONLY want you to contribute to Naio’s education if it feels good to you to do so. We will love you, and know that you love us, whether you choose to donate or not. Please know that there is no pressure around this whatsoever. There is also no obligation around the amount you give should you choose to do so.

With that being said, if in your love for Naio and/or your love for us, you feel excited about being able to contribute and support his educational path in life by helping him to attend this amazing school, then we would be SO grateful to receive a gift of whatever amount feels right to you! You will be helping our beloved son to not only live his best life in the here and now, but also helping to set him up for a bright and thriving future, and we will be so touched and grateful to receive your support!!

One important note:

This is a one-time ask. Since we have now joined the school, we count as a pre-existing family for next year and will get priority consideration for financial aid moving forward. It’s just this current year that required this big leap and has us asking for support.

In conclusion:

We are so grateful to you, our beloved friends and family. We love and are grateful for each one of you, regardless of whether you choose to donate or not. And, for those who do feel inspired to donate to help us give our son the best possible opportunity in this formative chapter of his life, we say a huge huge THANK YOU. We are blessed to have such amazing family, friends, and community. Thank you so much for your support. We are grateful for you all.