It was an early Saturday morning in July, and a house on a corner in McElderry Park began to stir.

Floor cushions were cleared and toys stacked as the first lesson began: capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art. As the instructor strummed rhythms on a single-string bow, kids laughed until they cried as he made them sing a short song, one by one.

Technically, this was the second session of The Realia Institute’s academic tutoring and peer mentorship program, run during the summer since 2019. But for many kids and families growing up in the East Baltimore neighborhood, and some coming from across the city, Arrealia Gavins’ house is simply known as “the school.”

As the capoeira class continued, Gavins, 47, sliced watermelon and cucumber in the kitchen. Over the years, she has transformed her rowhouse into a modern one-room schoolhouse to host free tutoring sponsored by her social entrepreneurship company.

During working hours, she’s a director at the early childhood innovation network at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and director of community mental health at Georgetown University.

It started when Gavins moved to Baltimore in 2018 and began putting out a bag of books on her steps. She saw the need in her community and decided her stoop would be for reading.

As the books began to disappear for the wrong reasons, she realized she had to sit with them. Gavins said she lives on the “hottest block” of the neighborhood, where drugs and gun violence are pervasive, as are systemic inequalities.

So she sat, and started listening. Her neighbors’ stories led them into her home, where they helped her clear out furniture and paint the walls, build cubbies and set up the backyard fence.

Between a long art table and a cornered-off science center, shelves are filled with books full of characters that look like her students. Wind chimes and potted plants hang above walls decorated with work by local Black artists.

Gavins credits others with bringing the space to life — the older kids in the neighborhood who help her decorate for Halloween, the man who keeps the yard clean, the woman who brings fresh plums from her tree.

“I really don’t feel like this is my program,” Gavins said. “The Realia Institute is the community’s.”

Later in the morning, her students made fresh juice and shucked corn for lunch, then gathered in the backyard for the first chapter in the book she chose for group reading this summer.

Gavins said that everything she does in her school is backed by science, much of which stems from her research. She believes in home-based settings for kids underserved by institutions, and in using art to help children deal with their grief. Even capoeira is intended to use sounds and symbols to build literacy.

“I couldn’t be sane in the institution of Georgetown if I didn’t do the authentic work here in the community,” Gavins said as she cleaned wooden blocks for a morning class of ABCs.

“ABCs” is a program that focuses on parent-to-child relationships. Through 10 weeks of one-on-one counseling sessions, she coaches parents on how to nurture their children, something they all call “play therapy.”

Last week, it was with Tiffany Strawder and her daughter, Seven. The 35-year-old’s seventh child is now almost 7 months old, and the first she’s raised on her own. Strawder’s battle with addiction meant her mother took in her other children at this stage of their lives.

Strawder and her daughter have lived just a few doors down from the school for about a year, but never knew it was there. This summer, Gavins knocked on her door, then invited her to the sessions after giving them a house tour.

“It feels so comfortable, warm, relaxed, safe, secure,” Strawder said. She’s not exactly sure what will come of it, but wants to bring the skills she’s learned into her home.

These sessions run all year, but the budget only allows for Saturday tutoring in the summer. Gavins’ offerings are not part of a regulated school or childcare service, but rather a tutoring operation similar to what churches and community associations offer, said Laura Weeldreyer, the executive director of the Maryland Family Network, a nonprofit serving young children and families across the state.

Gavins pays for the programs with consulting money from Arrealia Early Care and Education LLC — so more or less, out of her own pocket. She supplies parents and older kids with stipends to show up for her classes each week, all of which are offered free.

It’s a wonder that she ever gets a moment to herself, but she said she’s taking a vacation in September. She uses the upstairs gym when the kids aren’t there, and takes a bubble bath every Sunday.

Her hope is to eventually offer tutoring year-round, and to have morning and afternoon sessions to host more kids.

“This is where I live, work, play,” Gavins said. “I want to be my best self, have a place where we have quality of life. And so, I want the same thing for my neighbor.”