Learning at Prisma is organized into interdisciplinary themes. Our world-class curriculum team has designed a set of themes that cover all academic subjects—differentiated to match each learner's interests and needs—while growing the skills researchers identify as essential to future success. Each theme contains:
At the end of each 6-week theme, kids celebrate their creations together as a cohort on Expo Day, where they present their projects to their peers and families. Beyond developing key skills, our themes ignite kids' enthusiasm about learning. 96% of our learners agree that Prisma themes are 'hard fun.'
Instead of having multiple teachers who each have hundreds of students, Prisma middle schoolers are matched with a tight-knit cohort of intentionally-matched peers and one mentor coach who they can stay with for multiple years. Coaches meet 1:1 with each learner in their cohort, provide personalized academic feedback, and facilitate engaging live workshops. 97% of Prisma parents are happy with their child's mentor coach. (Of the 200-500 applications we receive for each coach we hire, we handpick the most kind, supportive, and brilliant educators who are exceptionally talented at building beneficial, motivating relationships with kids. 100% of coaches are coming back next year!)
What is your favorite aspect of being a learning coach at Prisma?
"Without question, my favorite part of being a coach at Prisma is the two-way mutual learning I experience with the learners. I can not think of a single day where I have turned my laptop off and haven’t gleaned something from the life, knowledge, or insight of one of our Prismarians—from sailing, to repairing motorcycles, or Irish dancing, or simply a unique perspective on a topic we’re discussing. Our learners have had such diverse experiences. They’re risk-takers, adventurers, technically-capable, empathetic listeners, and respectful debaters. At Prisma, it’s a guarantee that I’ll grow and stretch as a person and coach alongside my learners."
What sets Prisma’s approach to math apart from traditional schools?
"Our math lessons (known as Numbers Labs) are thoughtfully designed to be fun and engaging. We believe that when students enjoy the learning process, they become more motivated and eager to dive deep into different math concepts - which is exactly what we want. Additionally, Prisma puts a strong emphasis on nurturing a growth mindset in our learners. We understand the value of encouraging students to embrace challenges and develop a positive attitude towards math. Understanding the underlying processes and reasoning behind mathematical concepts leads to deeper comprehension and application of math in real-life situations."
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How does the curriculum team collaborate with coaches?
"This is one of my favorite parts of my job! I love that I get to have relationships with the coaches that I design for. The coaching team provides feedback on all curriculum components during the design process, and at the end of a cycle. I meet with all coaches before the cycle to ensure the content meets the needs of their learners. Additionally, throughout the theme, curriculum designers make it a point to attend workshops and check out learner work! This helps us get a sense of each cohort’s vibe and see what is working well for coaches. Our curriculum would not be what it is today without their input!"
You’re well-known for your ability to lead a great live workshop! What are your top strategies for engaging virtual facilitation?
"Honestly, my strategy is to have fun! Kind, positive energy is infectious. When you’re having fun and inviting others to do the same, it makes everyone more comfortable and confident. Kids (and anyone, really) are more likely to engage if they feel heard and welcomed. When you’re more confident, you’re more likely to participate, take risks, and trust yourself and your capabilities. As a coach, it’s also important to read the room and meet kids where they’re at. Let kids be who they are and they’ll open up on their own terms."
What is your approach to supporting learners?
"As a teacher, I’ve always prioritized fostering the social and emotional aspects of student growth. The best coaches support folks as they work towards their own goals while helping them evolve their efforts to align with their best interests. I’m most excited about my role as a learning coach affording me the opportunity to meet each learner where they’re at and helping them get to where they want to be. There is so much value in highly individualized, interdisciplinary, project-based learning with lots of intentional support and communal growth—and that is what Prisma is all about!"
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Tell us a little bit about your background in education prior to joining Prisma.
"I have more than sixteen years of experience as an educator. I have a PhD in mathematics, which allowed me to develop and teach mathematics and computer science courses at the university as well as middle and high school level. I’ve been a middle and high school educator, and was in charge of founding and developing the Innovation Sciences Department at my previous school. I am also a Neuroinclusive Coach and Consultant, which means I support and coach neurodivergent (ADHD, autistic, dyslexic, etc.) kids, adults, and their support systems, and I offer workshops to schools and organizations."
How has your work in your PhD program inspired your approach to design at Prisma?
"Teaching at an IB school, I was both a teacher and a curriculum designer. I started to realize that it didn’t require huge investments in materials to make school more engaging, equitable, and educative: asking better questions doesn’t cost any more than asking rote ones! I spent the five years of my PhD program designing and studying interdisciplinary project-based learning experiences that meaningfully integrated literacy learning with science and engineering: the same approach that we use at Prisma!"
If you had to choose ONE skill that you believe is most important for learners to master to be prepared for the future, what would it be and why?
"I’d say the most important skill is trusting who you are and the unique abilities you bring to the table. In a world that’s constantly changing, the one constant is you. When you are confident in your own voice, strengths, and creativity, you can navigate any situation with resilience and adaptability. It’s not about fitting into a mould, but about embracing what makes you, YOU. That self-trust fuels curiosity, innovation, and problem-solving because you're not afraid to take risks, ask questions, or offer a different perspective."
When considering online learning, the most common concern we hear from parents is that their child will have limited social interactions. We believe how connected kids feel to their peers and mentors impacts how they feel about learning, so we laser focus on building a safe, dynamic community where every learner feels seen and loved. Whether bonding through learner-led Clubs (Art Club, Chess Club, Prisma News), coach-led Enrichments (Songwriting, Cooking, STEM Extravaganza), or simply hanging out together in virtual gaming or social Lounges, we put tremendous emphasis on ensuring that every learner makes at least one close friend and finds an ongoing social experience they enjoy.
Every child and family is different and has unique routines, schedules and priorities. Our schedule allows ample opportunities for learners to interact with and socialize with their peers, while maintaining flexibility.
Some workshops (like Standup) happen every day, and others once per week. What's listed here is a sample of what a day might look like.
Exact times vary by time zone and cohort placement.
From late August through early June, Prisma learners experience three Sessions (Fall, Winter and Spring), with breaks in between. Each session is divided into two 6-week cycles centered around a real-world theme. The first and last cycles of each year are slightly shorter. In the first cycle of the year, learners build a foundation of self-directed learning skills to set them up for success. The last cycle of the year is our annual Change Makers theme, focused on Service Learning.
The annual calendar differs slightly to better align with major Asia and Oceania holidays and breaks while making Prisma globally accessible for worldschooling and nomadic families. 2024-25 Academic Year: September 9th - June 19th
"Prior to enrolling our son, Major at Prisma, we struggled with his behavior at public school. He was getting into fights, was called a "distraction" because he learned at a different pace, and he was struggling with the one-size curriculum. His spirit was broken, because he felt like a failure. He said “Mom, please don’t make me go back to that school.”
Since starting Prisma, Major has matured in his course work and at home. We don’t fight about chores or getting his work done, he is highly motivated to engage with his coach and peers, and he feels understood and supported. Hearing him laugh with his peers as I work in my office makes me smile. His engagement and motivation since joining Prisma is at levels we have NEVER seen when he attended public school. He never wanted to join any extracurricular activities, now he is in the cooking enrichment and taking Japanese!
Prisma has reignited the spark and joy in Major and has brought back the amazing human we knew was there all along."
-Latasha Harris, Prisma Parent
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"Prior to enrolling our son, Major, at Prisma, he was called a "distraction" because he learned at a different pace, and he was struggling with the one-size curriculum.
Since starting Prisma, Major has matured in his course work and at home. His engagement and motivation since joining Prisma is at levels we have NEVER seen when he attended public school. He never wanted to join any extracurricular activities, now he is in the cooking enrichment and taking Japanese!
Prisma has reignited the spark and joy in Major and has brought back the amazing human we knew was there all along."
-Latasha Harris, Prisma Parent
See full story
Parents at Prisma get the best of both worlds: the joy of being involved with their child’s learning without having to tackle teaching and curriculum design by themselves.
You'll get to be involved by seeing your child present at Expo Day, receiving feedback from their coach in biweekly progress updates and Parent-Coach-Learner conferences every 12 weeks, participating in our vibrant parent community, and by providing us with feedback. Our leadership team loves connecting with parents!
Families gather at virtual events, from Theme Previews to Family Game Nights. Many Prisma families choose to organize in-person regional meetups, parties, and even trips. We love helping families connect with one another!
Some experienced homeschool families opt for our Parent-coach program, which included everything our full program offers, except that the parent serves as their child's mentor coach.
Aside from our live workshops (which take up, in total, 2.5 hours on Monday-Thursday), families are free to schedule their days however they wish. Flexibility is one of the great benefits of our program. If families wish to travel during the typical school year, that's no problem. We have many kids who tune into Prisma while traveling with their family (or simply take some time off during the school year). If families wish to fit in extracurriculars during the day or get-togethers with friends, that's also no problem. Having said this, we do provide a suggested schedule for those families that want a clear structure for their child's day and many of our learners do follow this.
There are as many different schedules as there are kids at Prisma! Learners live in different time zones, have a wide range of interests, and engage in varying outside commitments. Prisma allows for substantial flexibility while also prioritizing collaboration and community. You'll get to build your child's schedule collaboratively with your learner's mentor coach when you enroll.
If you are wondering whether Prisma could work with your family's schedule, the answer is likely YES! But if you want to have a sense of how you could build your learner's day, read on.
Sample Schedule:
Chat with us 1-on-1 to look at how your child's current weekly schedule could line up with a well-matched Prisma cohort.
We have learners with a wide range of special needs thriving at Prisma, though we certainly don't claim to be the right fit for all learners with special needs. Our curriculum allows learners to go at their own pace, make choices about how to demonstrate their learning, and connect learning to their interests. Some learners with special needs need fewer supports at Prisma than in a traditional environment due to this flexibility.
Our learning coaches are experienced educators trained in supporting learners of all abilities. They will work with your family to understand what kinds of accommodations have worked and not worked for your learner in the past, any challenges they may face interacting with our curriculum, and what lights them up as a learner. They will collaborate with you to customize the Prisma experience to best suit your learner's needs. We also have a counselor available to work with learners who may need additional support.
Many families of learners with special needs report the Prisma peer community to be the most accepting of any learning environment they've tried. Prisma parents of learners with special needs also connect with each other to share resources, connect, or attend Prisma guest speaker events in topics like executive functioning.
Core learning happens both in live workshops and asynchronous learning journals. If your child needs to miss a day, they won’t miss any key learning outcomes, as those are always strongly represented in the personalized asynchronous journals. Workshops are also recorded, so your child is able to watch the recording and catch up. If you're traveling or otherwise need to miss more than a couple of days, let your child's coach know so they can support your child to proactively stay on track. While consistently joining live workshops is essential for learners to both grow the skills they'll need to excel in their independent learning and to foster a sense of connection with their peer cohort (you wouldn't want your child to miss every Tuesday, for example), Prisma is also designed to be flexible and personalized, so it's totally fine to miss a few days here and there!
A key part of Prisma’s mission is to create a global network of young people who learn and grow together in mutually enriching community. As such, we are expanding the time zones in which we operate as quickly as possible. For now, Prisma learners need to be fluent in English, and our program is available in all geographies aside from UTC+4 to UTC+8 (i.e. We are not yet able to offer our program in countries with time zones like India, Russia or China).
Want Prisma in your time zone? Join our waitlist by filling out this form.
We believe that there are very valuable ways for kids to use screens (e.g. for research, learning about topics of interest and collaborating with kids from other places) and less valuable ways for kids to use screens. We (and a body of academic research) disagree with the idea that screen time is inherently bad.
Prisma learners use screens to participate in engaging live workshops with their cohort (typically 2-2.5 hours per day), and they use screens for some aspects of their projects (e.g. to write responses and read materials, an average of 2 hours per day). We do believe there is great value to off-screen, hands-on learning, and we thus include as many off-screen options into our curriculum as possible. For example, this year's themes included projects where learners could visit a historical landmark in their area, conduct a hands-on science experiment, and choreograph & film a dance performance.
At the beginning of each theme, families & learners are given a detailed guide to all of the academic work for the cycle. Tasks are managed through a custom Prisma start page, task lists, and chat platform with learning coaches. When your learner signs on for the day, they will see their upcoming due dates and be able to access all of their work from their start page. When your child finishes a task, they check it off their task list and submit it to their mentor coach for feedback. Support and reminders for upcoming tasks are given during live workshops, and coaches also send parents regular updates on their learner's progress.
It is our goal that all Prisma learners develop the Initiative & Follow Through to manage this process independently. However, especially when new to Prisma, some learners need more parent support in getting started on tasks each day and planning work time to comfortably meet deadlines. Our mentor coaches are experts in gradually building task management skills and will partner with you in this process!
Prisma is accredited by Cognia, a nonprofit organization that provides quality assurance for schools, school districts, and education service providers around the world.
Cognia, formerly AdvancED, recognizes schools that meet rigorous standards focused on productive learning environments, equitable resource allocation that meets the needs of learners, and effective leadership. Earning accreditation from the Cognia Global Accreditation Commission means that Prisma is accredited, and that Prisma is recognized internationally and in every U.S. state as a school that meets Cognia Standards of Quality, and maintains a commitment to continuous improvement.
Dr. Mark A. Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia, stated, “Cognia Accreditation is a rigorous process that focuses the entire school and its community on the primary goal of preparing lifelong learners in engaging environments where all students can flourish. Prisma is to be commended for demonstrating that it has met high standards, and is making progress on key indicators that impact student learning.”
Cognia is the parent organization of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI).
Kids who attend Prisma will be prepared with all the prerequisite skills to be successful in any rigorous academic program. They will also graduate with a unique portfolio of projects in all subjects, service learning experiences, and authentic writing assignments. Portfolios & projects are becoming increasingly recognized as essential in developing a standout college application.
Learners who have graduated from Prisma Middle School have been accepted to competitive private high schools and accelerated programs such as Cooke Young Scholars. In the words of one parent whose child was accepted to a competitive program after Prisma: "I firmly believe that her time at Prisma made that possible. The application questions were big open-ended things that she knew just how to digest, research, and respond to, and that gave her a real leg up. Plus all the cool hands-on, photo-worthy projects she had completed made her application stand out from the crowd!"
Prisma High School will graduate its first class of learners in Spring 2025. All high schoolers graduate with an official diploma and transcript that meets entrance requirements at major universities. Our innovative LaunchPad program prepares learners for the next stage of their lives through a rigorous college & career exploration process, preparation for tests like the SAT & ACT, and individualized college application support. Mentor coaches provide personalized letters of recommendation and advice. We also support learners in designing a Capstone project, completing an outside internship, and writing a dynamite college essay.
When we surveyed new learners this year, 86% said that they had made friends at Prisma after just 6 weeks. Our program provides considerable opportunities for kids to form friendships, from our standups where kids meet daily with their coach to share their thoughts and have fun, to team challenges, small-group exercises and group projects.
We also have many popular learner-led Clubs and coach-led Enrichments, from Prisma Press to Dungeons & Dragons to Art to Cooking, as well as a highly engaged online learner forum. We also try to incorporate lots of one-off celebrations & extra events, from the annual Talent Show to the Prisma 100th Day Party to monthly Family Game Nights.
Many Prisma families also choose to organize in-person regional meetups, mini microschool-style learning hubs, and even trips. We love this and are happy to support and help publicize!
Yes! Prisma middle schoolers get an updated transcript every twelve weeks when they meet for conferences with their parents and coach. Their transcript contains all the academic badges they've earned, which are understandable by other schools as a list of skills & topics they've covered and their mastery of each. It also contains coach narrative assessments for each cycle, which are an amazing way to look back on your learner's progress and development as an individual.
Prisma high schoolers get a more traditional-looking transcript palatable to college admissions officers with their GPA, grades for each theme, and list of electives and extracurriculars they've completed. You'll be able to see your learner's updated transcript at the end of each theme.
In order to participate in Prisma, learners need a strong internet connection and consistent access to a computer with a camera and a microphone—which can be built-in, like on a laptop. We also strongly recommend that learners have access to a quiet and private learning space that’s free from distraction.
Learners should be able to independently navigate online resources such as live video, learning websites, Google Suite, etc. While we provide each new learner with the tools to navigate the platforms that everyone at Prisma uses, if your child does not yet know how to type or independently navigate online resources, we may ask your child to complete personalized digital literacy training before starting Prisma.