Emily Harber Williams began her career in education in 2001, serving as a coach and teacher at a small private school before becoming a special education teacher in the public school system. Working with students with special needs became incredibly important to her. “All my life, I’ve been one of those social justice kind of people,” she explains. “So working with a special population became dear to my heart.”
While she loved her work, it was very time-consuming. One weekend, Emily and her husband, a teacher and coach, were working at home when their fourth-grade son said something that was like a knife to her heart. “I get that y’all gotta do work,” he said. “But I mean, when are y’all gonna spend a little time with us? It’s the weekend.”
Soon afterward, a Lenten message at church challenged the couple to think not about what they should give up but about what they should add to their lives. They took the message to heart and began to ponder what they should do. To top it all off, during Emily’s PhD work, she researched different educational options, including charter and homeschool.
Each of these experiences helped plant the seed for Micah’s Mission School, now in its tenth year. The school started with seven students and now serves around 80 students in K‑12. It offers online, hybrid, and full-time private-school options. According to Emily, roughly 83 percent of its students are neurodivergent, and 76 percent of that group is on the autism spectrum.
Flexibility is central to the Micah’s model. Hybrid students can attend one or two days a week—or even every other week—and Fridays are devoted to socialization. The learning environment is also adaptable. “We have classrooms, but we don’t have desks,” Emily says. Students can use couches, beanbags, tables, and other seating. Mornings begin with time to socialize or move around to “get their wiggles out” before academics start.
Around 9:00 a.m., students participate in “mindful moments” focused on spiritual, social, and emotional development before moving into classes. They rotate through “ELA, math, science, and social studies, all intertwined with a pre-work skills setting. So they’re working on different project-based pieces that are themed,” Emily says. For example, elementary students “are going from creation, the Nile, to the Mississippi. And so they’re learning about rivers, they’re learning about weather, they’re learning about rocks, all the things.”
Students sometimes work across grade levels, with high schoolers developing lessons and teaching younger students. They can also receive one-on-one or small group support in phonics, math, or whatever skills they’re missing.
Micah’s emphasizes learning through multiple approaches. “If we problem solve, we’ve got to see it, we’ve got to hear it, and then we’ve got to build it,” Emily explains. Teachers collaborate when one approach isn’t reaching a student, a practice designed both to give students the benefit of each teacher’s strengths and to reduce teacher burnout.
That individualized approach extends to students who arrive after struggling elsewhere. Emily says 17 percent of her students come through the youth court system, and some have been expelled from other schools. Micah’s Mission School focuses first on behavior and relationships because, she says, “If those are not where they need to be, then the learning will not happen.”
Micah’s also participates in Mississippi’s education savings account program for students with special needs who have Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). But Emily says many who should qualify for it haven’t participated yet because they’ve been out of the public school system for several years, so their IEPs aren’t current.
People often tell her it’s weird that she’s taken this path since her husband has always been in public schools. But Emily doesn’t see it as a competition. Some Micah’s students eventually return to their previous schools, and she considers that a win too. “Other places of school choice shouldn’t be a threat,” she says. “They should be a teammate where we should help each other.”
The school’s name comes from the biblical Micah 6:8 and its call to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” Another guiding image came from a lesson Emily’s father taught her about the apostle Peter walking on water: when called, be willing to step out of the boat.
Her advice to prospective education entrepreneurs reflects that philosophy. “Do it,” she says. “Step out of the boat.” And reach out when it’s hard, especially to people who have already traveled the same road. In addition to learning from others’ mistakes, those connections can help founders feel less alone. “They’ll have somebody that understands,” she adds, “because the hardest part is people don’t get it when you step out.”