Editor’s Note: This story is part of a year-long Learning Lab Wichita storytelling project following education founder Darby Breaux-Vickers as she builds and grows her learning model. Through regular conversations and observations, we’re documenting the challenges, decisions and milestones that founders face on the way to building an established education model.
Founder: Darby Breaux-Vickers
Education Model: Sunflower Learning Community
Model description: Sunflower Learning Community is a homeschool enrichment model where kids and adults can follow their curiosity, ask questions and embrace lifelong learning.
Start date: January 2025
The idea for starting a part-time homeschool enrichment model found Darby Breaux-Vickers more than the other way around.
In 2024, Breaux-Vickers was a new mom to a 1-year-old boy, whom she planned to homeschool. She was investigating ways to share knowledge gleaned earning her master’s degree in religious studies at the University of Kansas when she stumbled onto Learning Lab Wichita.
She wanted to teach a World Religions class to kids who homeschool, and Learning Lab was the perfect place to do it. When Breaux-Vickers realized some homeschooling families could use additional academic support, she thought, “Why not me?”
But she wanted her model to serve families the way she believed education should be.
“Conventional education has a lot of pressure, and it’s really focused on, ‘What career am I going to get? How is this going to make my child a lot of money? How is my child going to be successful? How is my child going to change the world?’ … These goals are fine, but knowledge is also valuable for its own sake. The process of learning, the struggle you go through to learn a new thing, is also very valuable.”
Priorities for Breaux-Vickers when designing her hybrid homeschool model included small class sizes and a low student-to-teacher ratio.
“A big part of education is a good relationship,” Breaux-Vickers said. “We want every kid to be seen and known by the adults in the classroom with them.”
Breaux-Vickers hosted her first class at Sunflower Learning Community, inside Learning Lab Wichita, in August 2025. This fall, she hosts three classes: two sections of Roots, a play-based class for 4-to-6-year-olds, and one section of the Sprouts Guild, enrichment learning for ages 6-12.
The Sprouts Guild students will learn a variety of subjects, including history, literature, nature, geography, art and even Indonesian, which she said is an example of a subject it might be difficult for parents to teach on their own.
One of the best parts for Breaux-Vickers? She can bring her son, now age 3, to work with her.
“I can stay in line with our family’s values,” she said. “Every time I’m here, my kid is here. I love that we can be together.”
During fall 2026, enrollment has increased enough for Breaux-Vickers to consider also adding a second class of Sprouts Guild. She has hired four part-time teachers to help her serve her students.
A year ago, Breaux-Vickers would not have believed the demand she is now seeing for her programming. She said families are looking for a different kind of education that fits their values and schedules.
“Stick it out,” she said to other education entrepreneurs. “The demand is definitely there.”