Current Classes
2025-2026 Enrollment is open!
NOTE: Rise Out operates on a trimester system, with 12 weeks per trimester. (Some classes are only six weeks, e.g. half a trimester.) To obtain a year of credit in a single subject, a student should take three trimesters in that subject.
full year: SEPT. 2025 - June 2026:
SELFIE: Social and Emotional Learning for Independent Education - Wednesdays 4:30-5:30 and Thursdays 11:30-1:30 EST
(36 weeks = 1 year health credit)
The Oxford Comma - Tuesdays 11:00-12:00 EST
(36 weeks = 1 year English/Language Arts credit)Nerd Herd Books - free online book club, meets asynchronously on Discord
summer term: Aug. 2025:
Wilderness Philosophies - Tuesdays and Fridays 11:00-12:00 EST
(3 week intensive = 1/2 trimester lab science credit)
TERMS 1 & 2: Sept. 2025 - Dec. 2025:
The Transatlantic Slave Trade - Fridays 11:00-12:00 EST
(12 weeks = 1 trimester U.S. History credit)Labor, Inequality, and the Industrial Revolution - Fridays 12:30-1:30 EST
(12 weeks = 1/2 trimester World History credit + 1/2 trimester U.S. History credit)Immigration in America - Fridays 1:30-2:30 EST
(12 weeks = 1/2 trimester U.S. History credit + 1/2 trimester English/Language Arts credit)
TERMS 3 & 4: Jan. 2026 - Mar. 2026:
Reconstruction - Fridays 11:00-12:00 EST (Term 3, Jan 9 - Feb. 13)
(6 weeks = 1/2 trimester U.S. History credit)Segregation and Jim Crow - Fridays 11:00-12:00 EST (Term 4, Feb. 20 - March 27)
(6 weeks = 1/2 trimester U.S. History credit)The Holocaust and Human Behavior - Fridays 12:30 - 1:30 EST
(12 weeks = 1 trimester World History credit)Colonialism and Independence in Africa and Asia - Fridays 1:30-2:30 EST
(12 weeks = 1/2 trimester World History credit + 1/2 trimester English/Language Arts credit)
Terms 5 & 6: April 2026 - June 2026:
Civil Rights Movements - Fridays 11:00-12:00 EST
(12 weeks = 1 trimester U.S. History credit)The Cold War - Fridays 12:30 - 1:30 EST
(12 weeks = 1/2 trimester U.S. History credit + 1/2 trimester World History credit)Dystopian Literature - Fridays 1:30-2:30 EST
(12 weeks = 1 trimester English/Language Arts credit)
Summer 2025:
ALASKA trip for SELFIE participants
Self-Paced, Online-Only Electives
You may enroll in these classes at any time, and complete them on your own timetable.
No teacher; no Zoom sessions.
Big History 1: The Big Bang to the Creation of the Earth
(12 weeks = 1 trimester science credit [Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Geology - no lab])Big History 2: Life on Earth
(12 weeks = 1 trimester science credit [Biology and Ecology - no lab])Beginning Yoga
(9 weeks = 1 trimester P.E. credit)Colonial America
(6 weeks = 1/2 trimester U.S. History credit)
Writing Mentorships!
Are you an aspiring writer who would like to get personalized feedback from a published author? Rise Out has partnered with an author/editor who is eager to work with young people.
Use our Contact form to express interest!
Unfortunately we cannot offer waivers for students seeking 1:1 mentoring.
Electives By Request
The following classes are ones we’ve taught in the past, and might be able to offer again to small groups with a minimum of 5 students. If you are affiliated with a homeschool co-op or other organization and have an interest in one of these classes, contact us! If a teacher is available we will try to work with your schedule.
Queer Literatures
Worldbuilding
Quick FAQ
Our classes meet once a week on Zoom with additional weekly homework. Rise Out classes are secular, academically rigorous, and interdisciplinary, with graded and ungraded options. They are open to students throughout the United States and to English-speaking students around the world. Our instructors have extensive experience working with ND and 2e students, with students who have recently left traditional high school, with students who began homeschooling during the pandemic, as well as with life-long homeschoolers. Our virtual classrooms are a safe space where all students are welcome and accepted; we believe shame and anxiety kill curiosity and we are committed to creating a learning environment where students are open to be themselves.
All of our courses are grounded in the principles of social justice. You can see that most clearly in our social studies offerings, but it is also a bedrock belief in our science classes — where we prioritize our role as environmental stewards — as well as our English classes, where we encourage every student to find their voice and use it to become an effective agent of change.
Q. I’m in 9th grade. Should I only take the classes for 9th-graders?
A. No! Before enrolling, though, please note the prerequisites. In the past, our classes had no prerequisites and were open to all. This made classes egalitarian, but over time they resulted in too much repetition for veteran students, as we had to repeat information to “catch up” the younger/newer students. Adding prerequisite requirements is not meant to be arbitrary gatekeeping! It’s simply a way of reducing redundancies in the curriculum. If a student feels prepared to take a class based on its description, they should feel free to enroll. We’re happy to answer questions as they go along.
Q. I was unschooled. Does that mean I’m locked out of every class that has a prerequisite “class”?
A. Not at all. Our use of terms like “1 year of high school English with a focus on composition” does not mean you need to have taken such a course! It only means that you should be comfortable with the mechanics of writing at a high school level. The same goes for other subjects — we don’t care if you’ve never taken an “official” class in any subject; we just want you to know what will be expected of you in THIS course. Most unschooling families are good at gauging this kind of language, but contact us if you have questions.
Q. My son is 17 and I’d like to know how many other 17-year-olds are in this class before I enroll him.
A. All classes are multi-age. For example, a 16-year-old is welcome to take classes listed under “First Year,” and a 14-year-old may take higher-level classes if they meet the prerequisites. Both situations are very common in Rise Out classes. The average age of all our classes is 15-16, but we’ve had students as young as 12 and as old as 19+ and this has never been a problem, so long as the class as a whole exists across the age spectrum. In rare cases we’ve had one “outlier” student enroll in a class where all the other students are much older or younger; in these cases we’ll contact the parent of the “outlier,” explain the situation, and ask if they wish to continue.
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