Private Elementary Teacher

Thrive Education Partners is seeking an experienced elementary educator to work with a small family managing the transition to home-centered learning in Brentwood, Tennessee. This is a part-time position, three days per week from 8:00am to 12:00pm, tailored to support two young children with distinct learning needs and interests.

Teaching in a home setting calls for flexibility, responsiveness, and genuine intellectual engagement with your students. You'll design and deliver instruction that meets each child where they are—accelerating for the older student who thinks quickly and moves fast, grounding the younger learner in confidence and joy. It means teaching without a textbook or standardized curriculum, building from the children's interests and capacities rather than from a predetermined scope. It requires close collaboration with a family that is thoughtful and involved, and a willingness to adapt, reflect, and explain your reasoning.

The ideal candidate brings classroom teaching experience, comfort with multi-grade instruction, and a genuine belief that challenge and joy go together in learning. You'll be someone who reads a child's readiness, who knows how to ask questions that push thinking without overwhelming, and who can move fluidly between the work of an older child needing intellectual depth and a younger child building foundational confidence.

Student Profiles

Older child (age 7, 2nd grader)
This child is a bright, capable, intellectually-driven learner who thinks quickly and makes sophisticated connections. They are curious, take pride in understanding how things work, and love ideas. They benefit from meaningful intellectual challenge and get bored without it—the work here is to provide depth and complexity in every subject, to ask questions that push their thinking even further, and to structure learning around concepts and big ideas rather than worksheets or reviews of what they already know. They learn well through exploration, discovery, and being trusted with real responsibility for their own learning.

Younger child (age 5, kindergarter)
This child is building foundational skills with a light touch and strong encouragement. They learn best through play, movement, stories, and plenty of hands-on exploration. They respond well to warmth, clear structure, and celebration of effort. The goal is to build genuine confidence and a sense of themselves as capable learners while keeping the experience joyful and free from pressure.

Family direction
The family is building a home-centered learning environment and wants an educator who will design thoughtful instruction for both children, communicate clearly about what's working and what isn't, and partner with them on the shape of the learning experience. This year is a transition year focused on establishing strong learning with these two. If the fit is right, the family anticipates this role expanding to full-time in the following year to include a third, younger child. Success this year looks like both children engaged and progressing—the older one intellectually stretched and satisfied, the younger one confident and eager to learn.

What You'll Do

• Design and deliver focused, responsive instruction that honors each child's readiness and pace while providing genuine intellectual challenge for the older learner
• Build curriculum from the children's interests and capacities rather than from a predetermined scope
• Teach both children in the same space, managing attention and instruction for two different learning levels
• Create an environment where play, exploration, and discovery are the primary teaching tools, especially for the younger child
• Ask questions that push thinking rather than providing answers; leave room for the child's own discovery and reasoning
• Communicate clearly and promptly with the family about progress, observations, what's working well, and any concerns
• Collaborate with the family on the direction of learning and adapt based on ongoing feedback
• Maintain organized records of what the children are learning, their progress, and your observations

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in education or a related field
• Three or more years of classroom teaching experience, ideally elementary
• Experience teaching in multi-grade settings or small groups
• Comfort designing and delivering instruction without a standardized curriculum or textbook
• Experience supporting gifted or advanced learners, or demonstrated ability to provide meaningful intellectual challenge
• US work authorization
• Valid driver's license
• Comfort working in a family's home and maintaining professional, collaborative relationships with parents

Preferred Qualifications

• Elementary education certification (any state)
• Experience in Montessori, Waldorf, or other child-directed, exploratory learning approaches
• Private or homeschool teaching experience
• Experience with mixed-age or mixed-ability instruction
• Knowledge of how young children develop and learn
• Comfort with open-ended, play-based learning for kindergarten-age children
• Experience supporting twice-exceptional (2e) learners or children with atypical learning profiles

Professional Standards

• Current background check required; Thrive facilitates this process
• Verifiable references from prior teaching roles, including at least one direct supervisor or administrator
• Strong professionalism, discretion, and adaptability when working within a family's home
• Comfort maintaining strict confidentiality and signing an NDA as a condition of employment

Compensation

• $50–$90/hour, commensurate with experience, credentials, and subject-matter expertise
• Planning and preparation time is paid at the same rate as instructional time
• Consistent recurring weekly schedule with guaranteed hours

Logistics

• Location: Brentwood, Tennessee (in-home)
• Schedule: 3 days per week, 8:00am–12:00pm; exact days and times flexible and to be determined by family and educator preference
• Hours: 12 hours per week instructional time; approximately 4-6 hours per week planning and preparation (15-18 guaranteed hours per week total)
• Start: Mid-September 2026
• Employment: Part-time W-2 employee of Thrive Education Partners
• Placement duration: Ongoing through the school year, with potential to expand to full-time in year two if the fit is right

Support from Thrive

• Dedicated Thrive support throughout the recruitment, interview, and placement process
• Professional development and instructional support as needs evolve
• Access to Thrive's broader network of educators and educational resources
• Ongoing partnership to support a strong, sustainable educator-family relationship

Why This Role

Home-centered learning asks for something different from classroom teaching: the freedom to follow each child's actual development and interests, the chance to teach without scripted materials or standardized timelines, and genuine autonomy in how you structure the learning. It can feel riskier because there's no curriculum to hide behind—but for an experienced teacher, it's also more satisfying. You have room to do thoughtful, responsive work.

Teaching across ages demands flexibility and real skill, but it also means you're not managing a roster of thirty students at different developmental levels. You're working with two children you know deeply, where you can see progress directly and adjust on the fly. The older child's need for intellectual challenge is genuinely interesting work; the younger child's delight in learning is its own reward.

This family takes education seriously and wants a genuine partner—someone who will think through hard questions about what their children need, who values transparency, and who brings professional judgment and confidence. The role is structured as a three-day transition year, with potential to expand to full-time in year two if the placement is successful. If you love elementary teaching and want depth over breadth, autonomy without isolation, and a client who trusts you as an expert, this is the role.

About Thrive

Thrive Education Partners connects exceptional educators with families seeking highly personalized, values-driven education.

Our placements go beyond traditional tutoring and classroom teaching. We thoughtfully match educators and families to create individualized learning experiences built on strong relationships and instruction that responds to how each student learns. Students strengthen academic skills, build confidence, and make meaningful progress toward their goals.

Thrive supports educators and families throughout the placement process and provides ongoing Educational Management to help create cohesive, high-quality learning experiences.

Thrive Education Partners is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and make hiring decisions based on experience, skills, and business needs, without regard to any status protected by applicable law.