In their own words
Below is the full transcript of the film — unscripted words from the parents, teachers, and students who make up our community.
Thrive has been such an amazing impact in the community. We'll never go back to a traditional school schedule and it's truly like a new world has happened here. Thrive is just this rad homeschool community. Kids are going to feel comfortable and wanted and cherished with these teachers that are just beyond what you could find just in the traditional sense. I love Thrive. So good.
How Thrive works is we are an a la carte education. So each family can personally craft an educational plan for their individual kids. I've had several administrators and teachers from around the country honestly come to see what we're doing here because they've heard of it. I've not had one not say, this is how education should be everywhere. And I honestly say, I agree. I feel like this model could change the face of education.
So Thrive is a 501 nonprofit Christian ministry. So the beauty of that is, is that we are not a school. We don't have to follow any of the school mandates or any of the regulations that a traditional school, public or private, have to follow. All of our instructors are private vendors. So our parents that want to have their students here, they pay each vendor directly. We are like a mall. But instead of me renting to J.Crew and Gap and Banana Republic, I rent to math instructor, drama instructor, PE instructor.
The Thrive model enables the teacher to be compensated incredibly well, which means I can recruit and retain the best teachers in the country. The teachers are happy, and because of that, the kids are happy, and because the kids are happy, everyone knows, then mom and dad are happy.
I'm a mom of three kids. They all are very different learning styles. I can put my overachiever in classes where she can be challenged. I can put my one that needs a little extra help in classes where she doesn't feel like she has learning disabilities all day long. Because no one knows a kid better than their mom and dad, the mom and dad get to pick classes that they know their kid is going to excel in, love.
So in terms of choice in California, you can go the traditional route. You can go to private school, rather, if you have the money. That is not for everybody. Sometimes it's hard to work two jobs, but you put kids through school, and that shouldn't have to be a choice. We found that Thrive had a heart. Thrive was a family. Thrive gave to people that didn't have money. And that transcended to the vendors as well. The vendors have that same heart, and they also want to give. And I think that is what sets Thrive apart from other schools.
Thrive is alive, and Thrive imparts in kids more than just textbooks. Thrive imparts life, imparts God, and imparts values that they take for the rest of their life. That's a win in my book.
We have seen the community really yearning for something new, something different. What else is out there that could really serve our family? And there just wasn't anything like this that has extreme value on high education, but also the flexibility to have homeschool values and a homeschool culture. And it's been so great to see these people feel at home, feel safe, feel comfortable, feel loved, and get to express their education in the way that they have designed it for them.
People tell us all the time when they walk on campus, they immediately feel something different. They see kids that are happy, kids are loved, they feel welcomed. Parents say, can you please tell my kid that they don't have to go to school when they're sick because they don't want to miss anything. My own daughter didn't want to go to Disneyland on a surprise day because she didn't want to miss her crazy chemistry class.
Then there's classes like chess and archery and PE that has fencing, things that I would have never thought of putting in my curriculum that my kids are so excited about and so jazzed to come to school about. We've done science, gymnastics, chess, we've done golf too, Bible class, Taekwondo also. Entrepreneurship. A history class.
What's your favorite class? Gymnastics. Why? Because we exercise a lot. How many friends do you have? A lot. Do you have friends that try to sign with you? Yeah. I go to signing class, to ASL. And what do you do in signing class? What do you do? I help the kids. Why are they taking sign? So they can sign with me.
I have found that one of the biggest complaints from parents is that they have too many options and they don't know how to narrow it down because their kids want to take so many different classes and they can only take up to five a day.
We really are so blessed to have an environment and a community where our people are thriving. And it's evident to everyone, there's usually not a dry eye on a tour because people are so desperate for alternative choices. And we're thankfully able to provide one. Because all of our parents are so involved, and a lot of them are here even when they're not doing their volunteer hours, there's just this incredible sense of love and safety and community on the campus.
The good, the bad, the indifferent times to be able to have a community like this is really a true miracle. And I've seen my kids' faith grow as I've grown from being here. To be able to have your hand on their education so much is, especially in this world, is Christmas. It's been a huge impact.
We just see so much more margin in our lives. We were running from this school to drop off to sports to pickups to sports or homework and then crash. We were just getting burn out on it and this is not, this isn't how it needs to be and we all of a sudden have family and quality of life back and our kids are learning more than they ever would have in a traditional school schedule.
I feel like Thrive brings out the best of all of it. You know, you kind of get the private school education with margin for our family, with Jesus being poured in, being able to do chapels, and have that flexibility to see our kids grow.
We want to raise up a generation where our kids can think. We want kids to fall in love with learning and fall in love with education. Thank you.
Explore more
Ready to go deeper? These are the pages prospective families reach for most: