How it works...

A microschool is a small group of learners led by a caring adult or “guide” that helps kids progress academically while deepening their love of learning and supporting a strong sense of self-efficacy.

There are a few basic prerequisites to run a Prenda microschool:

• a safe and suitable location
• the Internet
• and you–a caring, dependable, willing-to-learn adult!

Each guide is an independent business owner, who is solely responsible for operating their own microschool. You are not a Prenda employee or independent contractor. Prenda is an educational service provider that helps provide you with the resources and support you need to run a successful microschool.

Prenda microschools typically have students from several families in their community. You will be eligible to use Prenda’s guide payment services to receive payments from students by having a minimum of two students in your microschool where at least one of those students is non-custodial. Non-custodial means you are not the parent, step-parent, or legal guardian. 

If your microschool only has your custodial children, you are still welcome to run a microschool with Prenda! You’ll receive access to all the same resources and support except for being able to use Prenda’s guide payment services.

Prenda charges a per-student platform fee of $2,199 per year for state scholarship students or $219.90 per month for direct pay students. 

Guides eligible for payment services charge an additional fee for microschool services provided to students. Each guide determines their own fee during the microschool setup process.

Prenda collects the total microschool fee from students, retains the Prenda platform fee, and transfers the guide fee portion to the guide through a third-party payment processor. The timing of billing and guide payments depends on how students in the microschool are funded.

A state scholarship provides public funding to families to use for their student’s education. Families can use these state scholarship funds to pay for a student’s Prenda microschool experience. The most common term for these scholarships is an "Education Savings Account" or "ESA." Availability and details of these programs vary by state. If available in your state, this funding is typically enough to allow families to participate in a Prenda microschool with little to no out-of-pocket costs.

Direct Pay means that parents pay out of pocket for their child to utilize Prenda's learning model and attend your microschool. Each student signs up for a monthly subscription that includes the $219.90 Prenda fee plus whatever you (the guide) decide to charge as a monthly guide fee. You'll set your guide fee during the microschool setup process.

The Prenda learning experience was designed around a 16-hour week for K-2nd grade students (4, 4-hour days) and a 20-hour week for 3-8th grade students (4, 5-hour days). However, you can choose to adjust this schedule to meet the needs of your community. You may also choose to guide more than one microschool. You'll set your calendar for the year during the microschool setup process.

No. There is no educational requirement to guide a microschool. Interestingly, about half of all guides are certified teachers and the other half are passionate parents or community members who want to make a difference for the students in their lives. We’ve seen successful microschools run by homeschool parents, business leaders, soccer coaches, grandparents, and church leaders.

“Guiding” is different than “teaching.” Our learning experience does not depend on the guide to provide instruction as a teacher would in a classroom setting. Instead, you help students set goals, monitor their progress, and support them as they learn how to learn. Academic coaches provide expert support for guides and live 24-hour math tutoring is available for students when needed.

In our experience, 5-10 learners in a microschool is ideal. You may choose to exceed 10 students, but we have found that when groups get too big the magic of the small group is lost and guiding becomes stressful. Most parents are looking for a small-group experience so if you accept more students, your microschool may become less attractive.

Yes! We call this a "Single-Family Microschool" but we consider you just as much a guide as if you were guiding a Multi-Family Microschool. You still have access to all the tools and support a Multi-Family Microschool gets except payment services, unless you expand to serving students beyond your family.

Prenda does not assign students to microschools. It is up to you as the guide to recruit students and families for your microschool. We provide helpful resources like Facebook pages where guides and families can connect, the microschool map, and a customizable microschool profile page to help you spread the word about your school. Additionally, we provide you with information and shareable resources to help your community understand what a microschool is and why they might be interested in attending with you.

Prenda does not provide locations for microschools. It is up to you as the guide to find and secure a suitable location for your microschool. Most guides operate out of their home, but many use more formal locations like churches, commercial spaces, or community centers. Some guides share a larger location and host several microschools together. If finding a location sounds hard, reach out to us and we can help you think through your options and connect you with a guide coach that can support you.

No. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of students rests with the guide and the families who choose to enroll in the microschool. Prenda does not approve or certify guides or microschool locations and does not guarantee the safety and security of students in the microschool. It is important for parents to conduct due diligence and make sure the guide and microschool environment is a good fit for their child.

Prenda requires a background check for every guide and adult who will be at the location during school hours. Prenda pays for all background checks. Guides should ensure that students are always safe while at their microschool. This includes controlling access to things like drugs, medicine, chemicals, alcohol, or weapons, and any bodies of water as well as ensuring that students are safe on the internet.