Life-changing adventure. Freedom from social media. Personal responsibility, autonomy, and new friendships. While the benefits of Discover Term programs are obvious, the logistics of removing a student from their regular school environment for five weeks can seem daunting. 

But rest assured, students from all types of academic backgrounds — from traditional- to non-traditional- to home-schoolers — have attended Powder Term and Surf Term and transitioned seamlessly back into their usual learning environments afterward. Check out this handy FAQ to learn how you, too, can navigate this process with your own teen.

✏️ “What reaction can I expect when I inform the school I’m sending my teen to a Discover Term program for five weeks during the academic school year?”

School administrators and teachers often react very positively and quickly grasp the benefits of our programs. While five weeks sounds like a long time, it’s actually very short in the grand scheme of things — especially considering students continue to complete academic coursework throughout these programs (more on that later). 

That said, you’ll likely experience one of three scenarios:

1. School administrators jump on board and support the student (and you!) in any way they can to help make this adventure happen.

2. The administration isn’t thrilled that the student will be leaving school for five weeks (sometimes school funding is based on attendance), but often there are no formal constraints or policies forbidding it. After all, parents are typically either paying for school through taxes or private tuition.

3. In rare cases, a school may require your teen to unenroll at the start of the program and re-enroll upon their return, at which point the student simply starts back in the same classes they left five weeks prior.

✏️ “What kind of approval do I need to get from my teen’s school?”

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approval process. Every school is different, and while some require approval by an administrator, school owner, or group of teachers, others don’t require any approval at all.

✏️ “Who should I talk to in order to figure out what the approval process will be like for my teen’s school?”

Start by making an appointment to chat with a school administrator, such as the Principal or your teen’s Academic Advisor. Even if they aren’t in charge of the entire process, an admin can usually point you in the right direction. It can also be extremely helpful to schedule time with your teen’s individual teachers — to get their support, ensure they understand the benefits of the program, and know how much you appreciate their role in helping your teen transition between these educational environments.

✏️ “Is there documentation I can bring to my teen’s school to tell them about Discover Term programs?”

Yes! Families often use our Program Guides as resources to help educate themselves further on the programs and facilitate conversations with their teens’ schools. Within the program guides, there is a section called Tips on Discussing Programs with Your School and a printable or digitally shareable Letter to Administrators and Counselors.

✏️ “What kind of academics will students be doing during the program?”

First and foremost, we create cross-discipline, project-based learning experiences that challenge students to grow their skills in:

• Math

• Written communication

• Presentation

• Leadership

• Practical scientific understanding and application

We also use the latest and greatest adaptive learning platforms to provide academic rigor and, again, challenge each individual at the edge of their comfort. By removing constraints on how long students have to learn various subjects, we free individuals to move quickly through areas they find easy to master and take more time on topics they find more difficult. That’s why self-paced learning with platforms like Khan Academy (math), NoRedInk (grammar), and Lexia (writing) have been proven to accelerate individual learning and comprehension.

✏️ “Will my teen fall behind in their traditional school?”

Prior to attending a Discover Term program, students set educational goals and outline what they plan to achieve academically. We highly encourage participants (and parents!) to engage with their current teachers in this exercise. These goals are reported upon daily and fine-tuned weekly to help students maintain a challenging pace that supports the focus areas they planned on, which may include both their home academics and our project-based curriculum.

That said, Discover Term provides once-in-a-lifetime adventures unlike anything else in the world. There’s no way to accurately compare everything a student gains during their experience against what they would have done in their everyday school environment. The concepts of “ahead” and “behind” are very different on the scale of real-world experience than they are on a multiple choice test score.

✏️ “Can students bring their own work to complete?”

Students will have both digital and non-digital study hall time in which they may complete some school work they bring from home. But due to the nature of our programs, students will have less time to focus each day on core academics in the same way they likely would have in their home schools, and so should not be expected to complete all of their home school coursework while here.

Alternatively, students do not have to bring any work from their home school. They can move forward with a path prescribed by Discover Term that includes self-paced, mastery-based, and adaptive learning platforms for core math, grammar, and writing in addition to our project-based learning programs.

✏️ “Are you an accredited school?”

Discover Term holds no formal accreditation, nor do we plan to seek any. As a project-based, non-traditional learning experience provider, our programs do not align with the criteria governing bodies use to accredit traditional schools — and we like it that way! We focus our energy on creating truly life-changing adventures for our students, not on the bureaucracy of earning anyone’s ‘stamp of approval.’

✏️ “What types of schools are best fit for Discover Term?”

Students from all manner of schools thrive in our programs. In fact, what’s more relevant than what type of school a student comes from is whether the student and their family have a growth mindset and place a high value on adventure and life experience as a critical piece of the foundation for a successful life. 

✏️ “Do you provide some sort of certificate that says students completed their work?” 

Discover Term does not provide any formal certificate of completion. But each student will complete their own individual capstone project that encapsulates their experience, including adventures they went on, lessons they learned, goals they accomplished, and perhaps even opportunities missed and/or lessons not yet learned. They’ll be able to share this with you, their community, and their school upon their return.