Prisma is the world’s most engaging virtual school that combines a fun, real-world curriculum with powerful mentorship from experienced coaches and a supportive peer community

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"I am so grateful for the support and accountability that Prisma provides. It gives us the flexibility of homeschooling, but my husband and I don’t have to be the primary educators"

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What type of education was your child in before Prisma, what was that learning experience like for your child, and why did you choose to leave it?

Cora had been in a private school before attending Prisma. We decided to travel the world the summer after Cora finished third grade. The plan was to homeschool her (or “worldschool” her, as it’s known now) but the last week before we left the States, we saw an ad on Facebook, interviewed with Kristen, enrolled that day and bought her a laptop the week before school started and we flew to Mexico.

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Why did you decide to try worldschooling?

During the pandemic, when we were all working and educating the kids from home, we realized that we could do this from anywhere! We had always wanted to travel and decided that July 2021 was our "Go Date." We sold most of our belongings and put the rest into storage, renting out our home, and hitting the road.

We had only planned on being abroad for two years, because we thought we needed to get back to the States for Cora to experience "junior high", but now that we've found Prisma, we have no intention of ever returning to a traditional school model. Prisma gave us the freedom to turn a pipedream into a sustainable lifestyle.

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How did these changes affect you and your family?

I am so grateful for the support and accountability that Prisma provides. It gives us the flexibility of homeschooling, but my husband and I don’t have to be the primary educators. Knowing that trained experts are developing Cora’s curriculum in alignment with our family’s values, gives us incredible peace of mind! Cora has taken personal responsibility for her work; she shows up as a leader and exhibits a confidence she didn’t have before.

We had really high expectations for Prisma, and didn’t think any school would give us the quality education we wanted for her, while allowing us the flexibility to be Nomads. It felt like Prisma was designed with Worldschooling Families in mind.

"I never expected to find a family within my child’s school, but the leadership, teachers, parents and kids have become friends for life."

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Why did you decide to join Prisma?

We decided to join Prisma because of their Core Values, which aligned with our family’s manifesto. We agree that the future is uncertain and wholeheartedly believe that Prisma’s approach to education will set our children up for success, no matter what they want to do later in life. We loved that it was founded by entrepreneurs who “got” our lifestyle and believed that the purpose of education is to kindle curiosity, creativity and courage, rather than memorize and regurgitate facts and figures.

"Cora is so much more self-motivated and technologically-savvy since joining Prisma. She gets herself up and manages her calendar; she attends and leads their “stand-up” calls."

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What were your expectations before joining Prisma?

I expected that we would have to follow a pre-formulated curriculum with assigned lessons and a teacher would give her grades. Instead, Cora gets to really design her own learning path based on what interests her and she works closely with her coach to make sure that she’s staying on track and preparing adequately for her “Expo Days” when she presents her project to the school. She has so much autonomy, which has allowed her natural creativity to blossom into confident leadership and self-expression.

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What was your biggest unexpected surprise after joining Prisma?

I never expected to find a family within my child’s school, but the leadership, teachers, parents and kids have become friends for life. We all share the same passion and values -- Prisma is more like a home for the Outliers than a school.

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How has your child grown since joining Prisma?

Cora is so much more self-motivated and technologically-savvy since joining Prisma. She gets herself up and manages her calendar; she attends and leads their “stand-up” calls. I regularly find her making art on Canva or recording videos with her friends to upload onto their YouTube channels. Prisma really encourages creative self-expression and pulls in all kinds of fun digital tools to help the kids harness that power into productive craftsmanship.

She’s more sure of herself and is willing to speak up in group settings more now. Prisma is such a positive culture that everyone is safe and every idea is heard and that encourages everyone to be more open.

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"Knowing that we have a loving community and access to world-class education, no matter what timezone we happen to be in, has been a dream come true."

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How has your/your family’s life changed since joining Prisma?

Well, we joined Prisma as we were undertaking the biggest journey of our lives, so pretty much everything has changed since we joined Prisma! :) But specifically, Prisma supports our world-schooling lifestyle such that we no longer feel the need to “come home and put Cora in a real school”. No matter where we live, Cora will attend Prisma (and our boys will join her once they’re old enough). Knowing that we have a loving community and access to world-class education, no matter what timezone we happen to be in, has been a dream come true.

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