There is no cost to you as a guide to use Prenda's curriculum or microschool management platform.

ESA or Direct Pay Fees and Compensation‍

Families pay a flat rate per student, per year. This rate is comprised of two parts.

1. The Prenda Fee
2. The Guide Fee

The Prenda fee for the 2023-2024 school year is $2,199.

The guide fee is set by you as the guide and will vary from microschool to microschool.

Example scenario: you choose to fund your microschool using the ESA or Direct Pay approach. You decide to set your guide fee at $3,500 per student and you have 10 students. Families would be charged a total of $5,699 ($2,199 + $3,500) per student per year and you would earn $35,000 for running your microschool approximately 20 hours per week.

In some cases, Prenda will handle all invoicing for you while in other situations Prenda will invoice families for the Prenda fee only and you will need to collect payment for your guide fee independently.

Public Partnership Fees and Compensation

Families pay no fees.

If you choose to fund your microschool through one of our public partnerships, compensation rates and contract details will vary. Interested guides should contact the respective partner to inquire about compensation.

Contact us at community@prenda.com with any funding questions!

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Direct Pay means that parents pay for their child to utilize Prenda's learning model and attend your microschool out of pocket. Prenda will invoice parents for the $2,199 Prenda fee plus whatever you decide to charge. You'll set your guide fee as you set up your microschool profile. Click Start My Microschool to create your account and get started! 

Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) are programs that allow families to access the state funds that would have otherwise been spent on their child if they were enrolled in the public school system. Each state has a unique name for this process but the most common term is "ESA." Availability and details of these programs vary by state.

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In some states, Prenda has partnered with charter schools or other educational institutions that allow families to participate in the Prenda program tuition free. In this case, families pay nothing and guides are compensated by Prenda or by the partner. Details vary by state and partnership.

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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 as you set up your microschool. Click Start My Microschol to create an account and get started.

In order to launch your microschool, you’ll need

1. a comfortable, safe learning space for students with access to the internet. 
2. a minimum of two students from two different families. 
3. background checks for yourself and for any other adult that will be at your location. 

After you click Start My Microschool, you'll be able to initiate your background check (Prenda facilitates and pays for this) and access branded marketing tools that can help you spread the word about your microschool and invite students to enroll with you.

Public Partnership funded guides should contact the respective partner to inquire about additional requirements and safety protocols.

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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 that 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, your job is to help students set goals, monitor their progress, and support them as they learn how to learn. Academic coaches and math tutoring is available to provide expert support to students when needed.

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 you aren’t compensated for educating your own children unless you expand to serving students beyond your family.

Check out the learning experience page or download the Curriculum Overview documentation for curriculum details! 

We offer a range of options that each parent/student can choose from when it comes to mastery-based skill development so there is a lot of flexibility and choice built in for everyone. Students and guides accessing Prenda through Direct Pay or ESA funding have complete flexibility in their programming and can feel free to use or add or amend Prenda's curriculum in any way. If students are enrolled with one of our partner schools they will need to adhere to Prenda-provided resources for most of their learning time and may be required to use additional curriculum not included in Prenda's offerings.

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In our experience, 5-10 learners in a microschool is ideal, however, we only require that you have 2 students (from two different families) to get started. 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.

A microschool is a small learning environment that typically serves a blended-age group of students. Unlike traditional schools, microschools are usually designed to be highly flexible and individualized. Microschools often have a strong emphasis on project-based learning, student-led inquiry, and social-emotional development. There are thousands of microschools in the United States and approximately 15% of parents report that their child is attending some kind of microschool.

On-demand, self-paced training. We’ll walk you through everything you need to know to create an empowering and effective learning experience for your students!

Dedicated support team. You’ll have access to our amazing support staff - they can answer your questions, resolve issues, and help your microschool run smoothly. 

Extensive knowledge base. With access to our searchable database of help articles, you can get help 24/7. 

Supportive community. You’ll have access to our guide community to make friends, get support, share ideas, and grow together. 

Academic coaching. Our team of experienced academic coaches can help you implement the Prenda learning model effectively, monitor student progress, and respond to student needs. We’ve got your back! 

Math tutoring. Your students will have quick access to online math tutoring around the clock.

Prenda does not offer any direct-to-student intervention or special education services. If students are enrolled with one of our partner schools, they may have access to these supports through the partner. 

You are the primary point of contact and support for your families. If you need help providing this support, our support staff, academic coaches, and the guide community are available to you but most of the support we provide is for you, the guide, not to your students or parents/families directly.

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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 the facilitation of your microschool profile page to help you spread the word about your school. We also provide sharable resources that you can use to help your community understand what a microschool is and why they might be interested in attending with you. You only need two students from two different families to get started.

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.

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 guarantee the safety and security of students in the microschool, and 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 that will be at the location during school hours. 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 your students are safe on the internet.

Depending on how your contract is set up, a site safety inspection may be required.

Prenda provides a structured K-8 core curriculum for math, reading, language, writing, science, and social studies, our learning model is student-led and focused on fostering growth and development, both academically and socially. While we hope all of our students will strive for academic excellence, what excellence looks like for each student should be defined by the parent. We do not guarantee specific academic outcomes for students in a microschool. Every learner will set their own goals and progress along the path that they pursue, supported by their guide and their family.

As a guide, you have a few options for how you want to set up your contract and compensation. Your options depend on what state you are in. This choice will affect what students you serve, the educational requirements that may affect your students, and how your contract is set up. To find out what options are available in your state

More information can be found in the above State-Specific downloadable PDF.

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Instead of grouping students by age, Prenda was designed to facilitate mixed-age learning. This means that in a microschool, you’ll see students from a range of grade levels working alongside each other. Younger students have the benefit of interacting with more mature students and older students have an opportunity to mentor and assist younger students. Everyone works at their own level and pace for core academic skill development; everyone works together for collaborative inquiry-based learning. 

Prenda offers two related learning experiences that differ by grade level: one for learners in kindergarten through second grade, and another for learners in third through eighth grade. 

You can choose which grades you choose to serve, but Prenda recommends setting a grade range of no more than 3 years. The most common grade ranges are: K-2nd, 3rd-5th, or 6th-8th. Prenda does not currently offer a high school program.

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Prenda microschools are run out of a variety of locations - homes, churches, dance studios, and other rented spaces. Within the guide community, there are hundreds of experienced guides who can share their experience in finding a location.

Device provisioning is determined by your student’s enrollment details. Students utilizing a direct-pay or ESA program will need to provide their own devices. Prenda provides device recommendations and will occasionally run device provisioning promotions.

Some of our partners provide devices, others do not. 

Every Prenda student will be assigned a Prenda email address which will give them access to their learning tools, Google Suite, and single-sign-on privileges.

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