Would you pay for your child to take a language course...

[MomofSeven]

I'm thinking of offering a French course for homeschoolers next year at my house. The reason is two fold. 1) I'm fluent and love teaching the language to my own kiddos and 2) I'm trying to come up with a creative way to earn some extra cash to pay for dd's ballet classes. This is one thing I'm gifted at and thought "wouldn't it be great to actually use my french degree".

 

But before I go too far into planning, I thought I'd come here for some feedback.

 

So far I'm thinking of offering the class on Friday afternoons for either 60 or 90 minutes at my house ( the extra 30 minutes would probably focus on French culture). I'd probably use the Easy French curriculum since that's what I use now and have been pleased with it. If I have enough students, I'd break the class into two groups, lower and upper (my house is big enough to do this) and do 30 minute lectures with each while they do seat work the other 30 minutes.

 

So, my question is, what would one charge for this class. What would a homeschooling mom pay for this class per semester. I have no idea if this is even marketable and thought I'd start here for my market research.

 

BTW, I live in a pretty central location, within a few miles from shopping, libraries, etc. Since the moms would be expected to drop and go, they'd need some place to go:)

[Claire]

I would, but my expectation would be for mostly small-group conversation and assigned homework. I wouldn't like a 30-minute lecture, especially combined with 30 minutes of unsupervised work. If I were a homeschooling mother looking for this class, I would probably want one hour sessions twice a week.

 

We did Spanish in the small-group setting for awhile, in a rural area, and I think the cost was around $25 per student per hour (but you had to sign up for a whole term and pay in advance, with no refunds for missed classes). We also did a "kiddie camp", but I think the cost was more. This was something on the order of 3 hours every day for a week with lots of activities planned for the younger, lower elementary age crowd. There were two teachers for that one.

 

I know on the old board several people discussed doing this kind of tutoring, but I don't think any came back to say how successful they had been. If you are good at marketing your classes, I would think in your location you could do quite well.

[amy g.]

I pay $45 per month for a once a week, 90 minute class. I also pay for the books and tapes.

 

The teacher expects my daughter to practice vocabulary 30 minutes every morning, and practice pronunciation 30 minutes every evening. If she practices, the teacher expects her to be fluent after 3 years of classes, but she made it very clear that she can't get results with a child who does not work at home.

[PinkInTheBlue]

YES! I have no idea what I'd pay for it though. Since I have no previous experience paying another instructor, I don't have any thing to base it on. I'd like a science teacher too. :)

[Joanne]

Absolutely!

 

My kids take Spanish through the YMCA program - paid for in part by our YMCA membership.

 

I am going to enroll my son and my oldest client-student in a math class at $55 a month next year (2X a week for 1 hour).

[MomofSeven]

YES! I have no idea what I'd pay for it though. Since I have no previous experience paying another instructor, I don't have any thing to base it on. I'd like a science teacher too. :)

 

My dh suggested tacking on a second class and he asked me what other classes parents don't like to teach. Without hesitation I said "SCIENCE" (and yes, I think I yelled it!). Anyway, it would be great to offer the two classes simultaneously (the french and sciecne) seperated into age groups. But I just don't think my house could accomodate a big science class with all it's messes.

 

Still thinking this through as you can see. Thanks for the feedback.

[MomofSeven]

I would, but my expectation would be for mostly small-group conversation and assigned homework. I wouldn't like a 30-minute lecture, especially combined with 30 minutes of unsupervised work. If I were a homeschooling mother looking for this class, I would probably want one hour sessions twice a week.QUOTE]

 

Actually when I said lecture, I really meant small group conversation. In fact, I even picture us sitting around in my family room (like a little coffee clutch), working through the french.

 

The second half hour would be going over the written assignments.

 

Although I think twice a week would be great, I just don't think my schedule could accomodate it. And I honestly don't think the moms would want to do that much driving. But hopefully with a french cd in hand, the students could still get much practicing throughout the week.

Thanks for your suggestion.

[MomofSeven]

I pay $45 per month for a once a week, 90 minute class. I also pay for the books and tapes.

 

The teacher expects my daughter to practice vocabulary 30 minutes every morning, and practice pronunciation 30 minutes every evening. If she practices, the teacher expects her to be fluent after 3 years of classes, but she made it very clear that she can't get results with a child who does not work at home.

 

If so, can you tell me the curriculum that she uses?

 

I can't imagine a 90 minute class using the curriculum that I'm using...unless I combine the lessons. Maybe I need to look at something a little more aggressive.

 

How old is your dd? How many kids are in this class, or is she getting privately tutored.

 

SO many questions, and so much to think through. Thanks for your thoughts!

[Peela]

I go to a friend, a homeschooling lady who speaks French fairly well. She is English, learned French at school, and ended up spending a year at a French highschool which made her fluent. I had heard she taught French to a few kids and I kind of invited myself. Now, all the other kids are gone, and she was going to quit, then she realised that if it weren't for my kids and I coming around every week, she probably wouldn't get around to teaching her own son French. Having a small group is so good. We are informal and I do the class too. She is great with my son, who is, umm, unique, and doesn't always respond well to teachers and classes.

we do an hour, and it can be quite intense. All we do in between classes is go over our next lesson, and some revision. We are using an adult CDRom, rather than a kid's program, but it is just fine.

My goal is for the kids to be able to get a foundation in conversational French, and this is perfect for that. If they really want to take it further, they can, but it feels out of my range to do much more than we are doing.

The one thing I found hard with doing French with my kids, was fluency and pronounciation, even though i have 4 years of highschool French. I never became fluent and i havent used it since. It really is a good thing to have a teacher.

[Harriet Vane]

I'm thinking of offering a French course for homeschoolers next year at my house. The reason is two fold. 1) I'm fluent and love teaching the language to my own kiddos and 2) I'm trying to come up with a creative way to earn some extra cash to pay for dd's ballet classes. This is one thing I'm gifted at and thought "wouldn't it be great to actually use my french degree".

 

But before I go too far into planning, I thought I'd come here for some feedback.

 

So far I'm thinking of offering the class on Friday afternoons for either 60 or 90 minutes at my house ( the extra 30 minutes would probably focus on French culture). I'd probably use the Easy French curriculum since that's what I use now and have been pleased with it. If I have enough students, I'd break the class into two groups, lower and upper (my house is big enough to do this) and do 30 minute lectures with each while they do seat work the other 30 minutes.

 

So, my question is, what would one charge for this class. What would a homeschooling mom pay for this class per semester. I have no idea if this is even marketable and thought I'd start here for my market research.

 

BTW, I live in a pretty central location, within a few miles from shopping, libraries, etc. Since the moms would be expected to drop and go, they'd need some place to go:)

 

I have a friend who offers Spanish classes in her home. The group class is $15 per hour. Moms sit in her living room and chat while she teaches in the dining room.

 

My friend tutors my dd one-on-one for $35 per hour.

 

I consider her rates to be on the low end. A local language-and-music school offers private tutoring at $45 per half hour and the group class at $25 per hour. Most people cannot afford that.

 

The one thing that does bother me about my friend's group class is that she allows other kids to join at random. My son has been with her for 3 years and is taught alongside children who have never learned any Spanish or who have much less Spanish instruction than he has. She says that she is able to work with all levels at once--I don't like it, but I stay with her because I can trust my kids with her (as opposed to a stranger), because she IS a great teacher, and because I cannot beat her rates anywhere else.

 

My friend has had frustrations with kids who do not practice their vocabulary or do homework throughout the week--I think this is her number one pet peeve. Unfortunately I think that this is a problem with most of her clients. It keeps the class at a much slower rate. Another of her frustrations is with people who want her to be extraordinarily flexible--they want to be able to just not come some weeks, and not have to pay. They don't think about the fact that this is a vital part of her income. On the one hand she is happy to accommodate--she does understand that life happens--but there are always those who go too far. You can get around this by making it clear that your clients can purchase (and pay for) a semester or a quarter at a time.

 

One other tip--make sure you start absolutely on time and end on time. If you get in the habit of starting late your clients will learn to expect that and not come on time chronically. Next thing you know, the 60-70 minutes you blocked out of your day for class has morphed into a 2 hour behemoth.

[Janet in Toronto]

This is not a home-based program, but my 13 yo DS takes Japanese classes on Saturday mornings, 9:30-noon. It's in a small class setting, and costs $175 for nine months plus textbooks. [Now that I type that out, I realise what a great deal we're getting.] It's a comprehensive program taught by native speakers, classes split by age group and level (DS is in a teen/beginner class...next year he'll be in a teen/intermediate class.)

 

Janet

[Remudamom]

Yes, yes! We've had a Spanish teacher before and would again if I could find one.

[WTMindy]

I would not want to drop my kids off at your house and leave if I didn't know you, so it might be good to plan an area for parents to hang out if they don't feel comfortable dropping their kids off. Good luck, it sounds like a great idea.

[Heather in Savannah]

We were usuing "The Easy French" on our own at home, and the teacher (she was a Canadian Core French teacher on maternity leave)would work with our little co-op (5 middle school students) re-inforcing the material present in "The Easy French". She focused heavily on conversation and grammar....how to identify m or f based on the endings of words, etc., utilizing the vocab and grammar presented in the lesson we had studied prior to our class. She spoke almost exclusively French to the children, only providing English after she had rephrased her question differently in French and the children still weren't catching on. The difference from the beginning of the year to the end of the year was incredible. By the end of the year the children understood what she was telling them - instructions and all....their comprehensive was amazing. She charged $50 for the hour, and we split the cost 5 ways. Amy, feel free to PM me if you would like any further insight into how the teacher set up the sessions and the material. I think your idea is wonderful, and we would be the first ones to sign up if we lived in your area.

[Elisabeth in IL]

I pay $20 a week for a weekly lesson in Spanish. It is more like a tutoring session as there are only 4 kids / 2 families. She is working mostly on conversational Spanish. The boys do very little reading or writing. All the children are between 8 and 11.

[TravelingChris]

First case, my son starting learning Russian in Ireland with Gifted summer program when we lived in Belgium.

 

I had both of my daughters take French with a dual primary French speaker and soon to be certified teacher in Belgium in a group class. The teacher was originally from Rowanda (sp) and had been speaking French as a official language (for schooling and such) all her life plus she had been living in the French area of Belgium for about ten years.

 

Here in Florida, my middle child takes Spanish as a once a week class for high school credit. She has to do a lot of work outsid of the class. I pay $35 a month for that plu other associated fees dealing with the homeschool group that sponsors this.

[Carol in Cal.]

DD attended a German language school for 3 hours on Saturdays for several years. It was a good program but only met from September through May. So one of her teachers offered a small summer group where she taught 4 children from one of the classes for about 90 minutes every 2 weeks, and also loaned us German books and tapes to read and listen to to keep up the language in between.

 

I avoided a Spanish class that only met once per week for 1 hour, because I didn't feel that that was enough practice to really build retention. I would not sign up for anything like that.

 

We will probably attend Concordia Villages one of these years and do German immersion together for a week or two during the summer. You can actually get high school credit that way if you work it right.

[ShelzNH]

if it was a small group where they could interact with someone fluent in the language

[mcconnellboys]

We have native Spanish speakers teaching a once weekly, 60 minute class for us this year and we're paying $20 a month, or $5 per session, per child.

[tiffanyl]

I would definately pay for a class like that. Especially because you are fluent!

As for cost, I know piano teachers charge by the half hour.

Like $15 for 1/2 hr. maybe that would work for you too?

 

Tiff

[Mom4Jesus]

yes, if we had extra money for such a thing