Established in 1999 as Hawaii e-Charter, Thompson Academy is available to students across the state of Hawaiʻi exclusively through the internet, as an alternative-of-choice to local schools.

In 1994, state Assistant Superintendent Diana Oshiro began writing a white paper discussing the use of the internet as a medium to deliver courses.

Five years later, as the federal grant was concluding, those responsible for E-Schools began investigating the viability and sustainability of a virtual charter school, based on lessons learned from the project.

In that same year, the school began offering elementary education, for students entering kindergarten through grade six.

Thompson Academy provides a small number of extracurricular student activities, including: