Private Elementary Educator

A family in Austin is seeking a warm, creative, and capable educator to lead a highly personalized home education program for their seven-year-old son. This is an opportunity to give one child the time, attention, and thoughtful instruction that can be difficult to provide in a traditional classroom.

The student is bright, kind, energetic, and curious. He has a strong visual memory and enjoys trains, drawing, books, music, and being outdoors. Autism, ADHD, language differences, and sensory needs influence how he engages with instruction and demonstrates understanding. He benefits from a teacher who presumes competence, makes directions concrete, and can find another way to explain a concept when the first approach does not connect.

The family’s highest academic priority is foundational reading. They also want an education that builds confidence, communication, practical independence, and a love of learning. Success will come from combining explicit teaching and predictable routines with movement, creativity, warmth, and flexible problem-solving.

Instruction will take place primarily in a dedicated learning room in the family’s private home, with outdoor learning and community outings incorporated into the program. The family is seeking a faith-based educational approach and an educator who can deliver an agreed upon curriculum while maintaining a respectful, professional partnership with the parents.

Student Profile

The initial assignment is one student at an early elementary stage, with instruction adapted to his actual readiness across subjects. He is developing decoding and early reading skills and currently uses All About Reading Level 1. His memory is a strength; the teacher will help him build reading skills that transfer to unfamiliar text. Handwriting, task initiation, organization, and sustained attention also need intentional support.

Visual schedules, modeling, repetition, concrete choices, and manageable task sequences are helpful. Expressive language can make an open-ended question harder than the underlying concept. He needs an educator who can offer accessible ways to respond and recognize progress beyond a worksheet or spoken answer. His interests, sense of humor, and enjoyment of success provide strong starting points for engagement.

What You’ll Do

• Design and lead an individualized early elementary program, with a strong emphasis on explicit, systematic foundational reading instruction.
• Establish starting points in reading, writing, math, and related skills, then use ongoing observations and work samples to guide teaching.
• Select, adapt, and deliver agreed curriculum, including faith-based resources aligned with the family’s educational goals.
• Teach through clear explanations, visual supports, demonstration, hands-on practice, and appropriate response formats.
• Build a predictable daily rhythm with clear expectations, movement, sensory breaks, outdoor learning, and a purposeful return to instruction.
• Incorporate art, music, stories, science, and the student’s interests into meaningful learning experiences.
• Support practical independence through materials management, task completion, cleanup, games, and age-appropriate daily routines.
• Plan and lead community learning experiences, such as library visits and practicing everyday interactions; provide occasional student transportation.
• Maintain active supervision and follow agreed safety procedures during instruction, transitions, outdoor activities, and outings.
• Document learning and communicate concise, useful updates about progress, strategies, challenges, and next steps.
• Learn effective routines from the student’s established provider and collaborate with parents, household caregivers, and therapists as authorized.
• Organize the learning environment and use dedicated planning time to prepare instruction and materials.

What Makes Someone Successful in This Role

You enjoy teaching children as individuals and can build trust through warmth, humor, curiosity, and consistent follow-through.

You can teach beginning reading well and identify whether a student is applying a skill independently.

You recognize that a communication or motor difficulty may affect how a child shows knowledge, and you adapt without automatically lowering the learning goal.

You provide structure without becoming rigid and can adjust an explanation, activity, pace, or setting while keeping instruction purposeful.

You are observant, calm, and proactive when attention shifts or a child needs a break.

You can lead a program independently while welcoming parent insight and learning from other professionals.

You understand the discretion, boundaries, and reliability required when working inside a private family home.

Requirements

• Credentials
• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Degree in Elementary Education, Special Education, or a related field valued.
• Current or prior state teaching license preferred.
• Training in structured literacy, differentiated instruction, or related areas preferred.
• Experience
• At least three years of highly relevant teaching or educational experience; five or more years preferred.
• Candidates with three to four years will be considered when their experience is closely aligned with foundational literacy, individualized teaching, and ASD students
• Demonstrated success teaching early reading and adapting instruction for different learning and communication needs.
• Experience planning lessons, monitoring progress, and partnering directly with parents.
• Experience with autism, ADHD, language differences, or sensory needs strongly valued. Formal autism or ABA credentials are not required when the candidate demonstrates relevant teaching skill, sound judgment, and readiness to learn the student’s established supports.
• Skills
• Explicit foundational reading instruction and practical assessment of emerging skills.
• Curriculum adaptation, visual modeling, task scaffolding, and accessible ways for students to demonstrate learning.
• Positive, consistent behavior support and the ability to maintain clear expectations with warmth.
• Organization, initiative, professional communication, and sound judgment.
• Comfort using digital tools for planning, documentation, and communication.
• Professional Standards
• Successful completion of Thrive’s background-check and reference process.
• Current CPR and First Aid certification, or willingness to obtain before beginning.
• Valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, and ability to meet Thrive’s student-transportation requirements.
• Ability to supervise an active child and respond promptly to safety needs during indoor, outdoor, and community activities, with reasonable accommodation as appropriate.
• Professionalism, confidentiality, discretion, and respect for the family’s home and agreed educational program.

Logistics

Location: Austin, Texas; instruction primarily in the family’s private home.

Initial student assignment: one seven-year-old learner.

Schedule: approximately 25 hours per week, Monday–Friday.

Working allocation: approximately 20 instructional hours and 5 planning hours per week; exact daily times to be finalized.

Calendar: school-year schedule loosely following Eanes ISD.

Target start: January 2027, with flexibility to secure the right match.

Community outings and occasional student transportation are part of the role.

Work Environment

Dedicated home learning room with opportunities to teach outdoors and in the community.

An involved family and household caregivers who know the student well.

Freedom to adapt instruction and build a purposeful program around one student’s needs.

A role that values academic growth, practical independence, confidence, and the quality of the learning relationship.

Support

Thrive Education Partners facilitates candidate matching, interviews, and placement.

Thrive serves as the employer and point of contact for employment matters.

The teacher will collaborate with the family and the student’s existing support team during the transition and ongoing instruction.