Some teenagers don't need a better school.
They need a completely different kind of education.
Rise Out is a nonprofit organization offering virtual high school classes for homeschoolers, as well as expert college consulting
Classes and Community
Classes designed for 21st-century students
Rise Out offers virtual academic classes for teenagers who learn better outside traditional school. Our instructors are college professors and subject-matter experts. Our courses are organized around themes — The Holocaust and Human Behavior, The Cold War, Climate Change and Climate Justice, Science Fiction and Social Issues — not boring textbook titles.
Students don't memorize facts for tests. They read, discuss, form opinions, and demonstrate their knowledge through creative projects. By the time they reach college, they already know how to think.
All classes are secular, high input/low output, and open to English-speaking students ages 13+ anywhere in the world
College Consulting
Expert guidance for what comes next
Rise Out's founder, Laura, is a certified Independent Educational Consultant with a Ph.D. in Education, a master's degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and over 25 years of experience supporting students and families in their educational journeys. She works with families navigating undergraduate admissions, including a specialty most American advisors don't offer: European universities.
If you've wondered whether your student could get a college degree in one of the 4,000+ English-language programs offered in Europe for a fraction of U.S. tuition costs, this is a conversation worth having.
SOCIAL PROOF
What we know after more than a decade of doing this work:
We've watched burned-out, miserable teenagers become genuinely curious learners within weeks of leaving school. We've seen students who were failing or chronically absent go on to strong college acceptances. We've supported families who had no idea homeschooling was legal, let alone possible, and watched them build educational lives that fit their actual kids.
We have also seen life-long homeschooling students take their education to the next level.
We don't have a wall of trophies. We have hundreds of students who found a path that suited them, and kept coming back.
"Rise Out classes helped my daughters understand the world they're living in." — A parent from Minnesota
What makes Rise Out classes different?
Taught by college professors and subject experts. Our core instructors have graduate degrees in their subjects and experience teaching at the university level. We prepare high schoolers to succeed in college because we know what college classrooms look like… not a generation ago, but right now. This isn't tutoring. It's not canned curriculum. It’s highly-qualified instructors teaching courses to high schoolers as a passion project. Why? Because they love working with teenagers and because they know exactly what teens need to succeed after graduation.
Organized thematically, not by textbook. A class called 1492 earns World History credit. Immigration in America earns U.S. History credit. Introduction to Linguistics takes what is normally considered a college-level subject and makes it fun and accessible to 14-year-olds. Students taking Rise Out courses cover the traditional high school curriculum, but in a highly-engaging format organized around ideas and questions, not memorize-to-take-the-test survey classes.
Designed for how teenagers actually learn. No performance anxiety. No punitive grading. No one-size-fits-all pacing. Rise Out classes are built to work for neurodivergent, twice-exceptional, and anxious learners — not as an accommodation, but as the default. Our instructors love what they teach and are genuinely interested in what you have to say on the material presented; they’re less concerned if you got the assignment in before 5:00 last Tuesday. And if a particular assignment doesn’t work for you? Feel free to suggest an alternative, and we’ll discuss it. (We might say no! But if your proposed alternative is a good one, we will likely welcome it… and either way, we will at least hear you out. This is good preparation both for college and the workplace, where negotiating with authority from a place of confidence is a valued trait.)
A real community. Members get access to study halls, Discord, student-created classes, and 1:1 accountability partnerships. For homeschoolers who worry about isolation, this matters.
→ Browse classes | Learn about membership
College consulting for families who want more options
Most college advisors know U.S. schools. A smaller number know international universities. Very few know both, and even fewer understand the specific challenges that come with a homeschool transcript.
Laura does.
As the founder of Rise Out, as an IECA-credentialed consultant, and as a dual US/EU citizen who divides her time between the United States and Germany, she brings together expertise that's genuinely rare: deep knowledge of how colleges evaluate homeschool applicants, combined with firsthand familiarity with European universities.
For those who elect to stay closer to home, Laura draws on her upbringing in the Midwest, her 20+ years living and working in New England, as well as her personal experience attending a small liberal arts college, a large public university, and an Ivy League school.
In addition to working with Laura, select students can receive 1:1 counseling with Michael, a Lecturer at Oxford University and the president of Rise Out’s Board of Directors. Both Michael and Laura are Harvard alums.
Who we work with:
Rise Out families preparing for college applications
Outside families seeking admissions guidance for students with unique educational stories
Families exploring international universities as an affordable alternative to U.S. tuition
Any family who wants thoughtful, ethical, individualized college advising
What we offer:
Comprehensive college consulting packages
Standalone services for specific needs
College readiness courses (coming soon!)
A free initial consultation to find out if it's a good fit
→ See consulting services | Book a free consultation
WHAT RISE OUT IS NOT:
Not a diploma mill. We don't sell credentials. We deliver education.
Not a religious program. All Rise Out courses are secular.
Not a business. We are not trying to maximize profit, so we don’t under-pay our teachers or over-enroll our classes. As a nonprofit organization, our students’ needs come first. That means prioritizing small classes with highly-qualified instructors.
Not just for struggling students. Many of our students were high-performers who loved learning but hated school. Both kinds of students thrive here.
Not a school. We receive no government funding and follow no government curriculum mandates: we teach what we believe students actually need to know. And because we are not a school, we have none of the cliques and social hierarchies so common in school environments. In nearly 15 years of doing this work, we’ve never had a complaint of bullying — or, for that matter, any other “behavior problem” from students. Our instructors treat students respectfully and in return our students form a supportive community that is welcoming to newcomers. In fact a number of our long-term students have remained friends with each other into their college years, well after they’ve aged out of their Rise Out classes.
Ready to explore?
For families considering homeschooling: Browse our current classes or book a free 30-minute consultation with Laura to talk through your options.
→ See current classes | Book a free consultation
For families thinking about college: Find out what's possible, including options you may not have considered.
→ Learn about college consulting | Book a free college consultation