Imagine a classroom where young children greet each other in Spanish. They compose music after listening to Mozart and express artistic creativity after studying the Masters.

They show courtesy and respect for each other -- and for their teacher.

Angel Menefee can imagine it. She's working to transform that vision into a reality.

The door to her office -- once the kitchen of her Wiltondale home -- keeps her lives separate. When Menefee is on one side of the door, she's the wife of Ashton Menefee and the mother of their three children ages 13, 10 and 7.

When she's on the other side of the door, she's the president and founder of Trampoline Learning Products for Young Minds, a company that, despite the name, has little to do with gymnastics.

A former teacher, Menefee designs lesson plans that, she says, allows teachers to enrich the core learning experience for children ages 2 to 9. She sells the program to schools, preschools, day care centers and summer camps.

She started the business in August 2004, and incorporated in 2005.

"The first year I made twice as much as I ever did teaching," she said. "That was enlightening to me.

"I've doubled my business every year since then. This year may be a plateau, but the year is not yet over.

"I'm surprised. It never even crossed my mind that I would be an entrepreneur," she said. "I was always more of a follower than a leader."

Her plan doesn't replace core curriculum lessons that teach science, math and language arts skills to young children, but they do work to enrich these skills by incorporating subjects such as art, music, foreign language, sports -- and even etiquette -- into the lesson plans.

"When a teacher looks at every lesson as an opportunity to bring the world into her classroom, the possibilities are infinite," Menefee said.

She offers the study of Italy as an example. Gliding past basics -- location, population and history -- she suggests children practice fractions, multiplication and measuring by cooking an authentic Italian dish.

They can also pick up aspects of Italian language while exploring Italian etiquette and culture.

They practice vocabulary as they create their own menus for the pretend restaurant they might run, and math by converting dollars into euros.

They can explore religion and history through books by Italian authors or studying da Vinci's Last Supper, listen to the music of Italian composers and make their own music on hand-crafted instruments, and study the lives of Italian athletes ... and learn to play bocce ball.

The learning process is different for each child, Menefee said. But an interdisciplinary approach offers many ways to captivate a child -- and engage them in higher level reasoning.

Game, songs and activities are a big part of Trampoline's lesson plans.

Michele Miller, who has used Trampoline teaching Spanish at Ascension Lutheran Church Nursery & Kindergarten in Wiltondale, can attest to that.

Young children are full of energy, she said. Trampoline addresses that through games and activities that physically engage them.

"Fun is a big part of it," Miller said. "It's so much more interesting for them than just sitting there, looking bored to death while we talk."

For instance, they learn the Spanish names for body parts by lying on a huge piece of paper and drawing an outline of their bodies, then they label each of their body parts in Spanish and give the figure they have created a Spanish name.

"I tell them to take them home and introduce them to their families," Miller said.

Menefee offers curricula in foreign language and world cultures, art, classical music, etiquette and sports. Her programs range from $495 to $1,795.

When the phone call came that led Menefee to start her own business, she had already been in the education field for 15 years after graduating from Dickinson College -- she spent her junior year in Spain -- with a bachelor's degree in Spanish language and culture.

She had taught preschool in Owings Mills, middle school Spanish, after-school classes for preschool and elementary school children and had been head of the county school system's foreign language team.

Then she got the call from a preschool that wanted her to implement a foreign language program. Menefee saw an opportunity to offer a program that would be "fun, meaningful and long lasting."

She started that summer.

"I held free Spanish classes in my basement for 3- to 7-year-olds," she said. "My 2-year-old was sitting on my lap repeating things, and we'd play games."

Now, 450 schools are using her products, including Apple Tree Early Learning Center in Cockeysville, Step By Step Children's Learning Center in Sparks, St. Paul's Plus in Brooklandville and Trinity Church Day School in Long Green.

The list also includes Goddard schools in 15 Maryland locations.

"Trampoline has worked very well for us," said Janelle Glasser, who has used the program since she and her husband, Mike, opened Goddard School in Sparks four years ago.

"It's very user-friendly for both the teachers and the kids," Glasser said.

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