I need input from parents about some classes I am thinking about offering.

[gandpsmommy]

Last night at my dd's gymnastics class some of the other mothers found out that my degree was in Spanish. One of the mothers is on the board of directors for a relatively new children's museum in town. She said that her 5yo daughter has been wanting to take Spanish and that she thinks it would be a great idea to offer classes for young children in town. I said that I would love to do that but had never been able to think of a location for the classes. She thought about several different places in town, and then came up with the idea of using the children's museum on one of the days it is closed to the public but available for groups (field trips, playgroups, parties, etc.) She encouraged me to send my resume and a proposal to her so that she could pass it on to the director of the museum and to stop in and talk to the director about it. I am really excited about this possibility as it would allow me to do something with Spanish again, and it would allow me to make a little money.

 

I was wondering if some of you might give me opinions about some questions that I have?

 

1. Would you prefer shorter sessions (4 to 6 weeks) or longer ones (8 to 10 weeks)? I thought that since it is a new thing, people might like the shorter sessions so that they could try it out without having to commit to too much. Also, it might be easier to pay a smaller amount once a month than to pay a big fee all at once.

 

2. What do you think is a fair price? I need to make enough money for it to be worth the time I will have to spend planning and getting ready for the classes (and the time actually spent teaching), but I don't want to charge too much and make it inaccessible to most families or not end up with enough kids to have the classes. I also assume that the museum would take a percentage of the fee for allowing me to use their facility, but I don't know how much. The board member mom thought that they would probably require me to give museum members a discounted price, as well.

 

3. Would you be willing to pay a one-time materials fee the first time you sign up for the class? This would be approximately $15 and would be used to provide each student with a cd of songs (lyrics book included) to take home for additional practice. Or would you expect this to be included in the fee for the class?

 

Thanks so much for your input!

[Remudamom]

We paid our Spanish teacher $10 an hour, class of four. I wouldn't mind at all paying for the extra materials.

[momofkhm]

But I would want a class to be semester length. Take breaks, sure, but a semester. I wouldn't have an issue with paying for it up front. (Says the person whose dh wants to pay for a year's worth of music lessons in one shot.)

 

The local kindermusik classes are $250 with a $30 registration fee. I want to say that they are 1 hour per week.

 

I found a local place that offers instruction to preschoolers. This page will link you to their information. It looks like it is $12 per class.

 

HTH

 

Cheryl

[Tap]

Are you thinking about offering one or more classes?

 

I am going to assume you are going to only offer classes for one age group and have class once a week.

If you are offering one class I would break it into 4 week chunks and then have class level A, B, C, ... The very first class will be a loss. You will have new kids, you will have to spend most of your time going over rules and what you are going to cover.

 

If you are offering two or more classes, I would then stagger the second group from the first. If you start group one, and have more kids get interested they wouldn't join the class in progress, but instead would join the new class. This way you can be teaching class C from your first group, and then add in class A from your second group. So, you would teach class A,B,C the first semester (if possible add some more class As to pick up new kids who are starting late), class D, E, F and A, B, C the second semester.

 

Parent who want to register for a Semester can (add a little discount for doing so) or month by month. That way you get both groups of people. If you have a helper, you can add in some writing of basic words for the 6 year olds and up, and coloring pictures for the younger kids. I would put together a packet for each theme and have them leave them with you until the class is over. Then it can go home as a "look what I did" at the end of the class. To simplify the packet you may have coloring pages with the words at the bottom so the kids can choose which they want to do. The lyrics to all the songs learned so far will be nice for the parents too.

 

Then you will need to decide if you are going to do levels, or themes for each class. Personally, I would do levels broken down into themes, this will give the kids the chance to move around more freely between classes and not require them to take them in order. It also sets you up from the beginning to grow your classes. You can require the kids take class A (or show profieciency) but from there allow kids to come and go between themes. Even if you are only going to have one class, if you set it up as a LEVEL 1 Class A, it makes the parents more secure that you are going to move forward. Young kids won't retain much between classes so you will need to offer constant review of topics and add in some games like Simon Says and BINGO (games are great for review days). Once you feel like you have ran out of basic nouns, you can see how many kids you have and decide if you are going to move on to a LEVEL 2. You may not get enough repeat kids to move on, you may just rotate between Class A, B, C.

 

An example would be this:

 

LEVEL 1 Class A

 

day 1: rules and what to expect followed by learning a song like the counting song.

day 2: review counting song, followed by learning what the words mean and how to count in Spanish.

day 3: ABC song day and a game

4: review of the ABCs.

 

LEVEL 1 class B

 

day 1: basic commands/statements "what is your name...my name is" " how are you, I am fine" introduce emotions

day 2: review of commands/statements/emotions day- find a song about this topic

day 3: review song, play a game

day 4: review of Counting song, ABC song, Emotions song.

 

LEVEL 1 class C

 

day 1: (pick any theme fruit, animals, colors, family members, school words -pencil, pen, paper..., ) Introduce theme

day 2: learn a song

day 3: review song, play a game

day 4: review from previous classes songs and new song.

 

 

For price... you need to feel out your market. I see classes like this for anywhere from $5 per day to $10 per day. It really depends on how long the class is, if there is a helper (very valuable!) and the quality of materials. Parents really like to see something come home each day so they can ask the kids questions about it so make sure you include that in your supply fee.

 

I would have no problem with a supply fee for each class, or just a dollar or two added to each class to cover it and make sure your advertising material states that

 

"4 weeks = $40 Includes supply fee! Take home CD $10 extra.

"12 weeks= $120 Includes supply fee, and free Take home CD OR a $10 discount!"

[gandpsmommy]

I am thinking about offering three different classes: a preschool class for children ages three to five, and their caregivers; an afternoon homeschool class for children ages five to nine; and an evening class for children ages five to nine. The children's museum is geared toward young kids (ages 6mos. to 7years). The tone of the class is going to be playful and active.

 

The preschool class will be designed for parent/caregiver participation. I will make the activities things that parents and kids can do together. There will be a lot of singing, playing games, etc. And maybe some Spanish picturebooks.

 

In the other classes I might introduce some written things, but we will be focusing on learning to speak and understand spoken Spanish.

 

These classes would be fun extracurricular classes, not really academic ones. They're just to expose the kids to Spanish at an early age in a fun way. If a family were interested in more extensive learning, I would offer private tutoring.

 

Thanks for all the input!

[Jennifer in MI]

What do the other classes at this museum cost? I think I'd try to keep your classes on par with the others.

 

I wouldn't have a problem paying $10 - $15/class, perhaps with a discount for multiple children in the same family.

 

Good luck!

[Pamela H in Texas]

Would you be teaching more than one class? Because the needs of a 5yo differ significantly from those of a 10yo, for example....and then there are middle/high schoolers to consider also.

 

Anyway, I would probably do 4-6 week classes for young children. $40-50 for the class, anything class related included. Additional materials available for cost.

 

For "credit" kids, I would guess semester classes. ($150 plus book?)

 

I'm SO unsure of those middle ages though. I really don't think they should be put with either of these other groups but maybe I'm overthinking it. But generally 10 yos aren't ready for Spanish I in it's entirety and yet I'm not so sure they'd like being with the 5yos either.

 

And yet my kids were part of a group that had 7yos and high schoolers together and it was just fine. So maybe it really depends on the teacher?

[gandpsmommy]

What do the other classes at this museum cost? I think I'd try to keep your classes on par with the others.

 

I wouldn't have a problem paying $10 - $15/class, perhaps with a discount for multiple children in the same family.

 

Good luck!

 

I really wish I had something to compare it with, but this museum just opened a few months ago, and I would be the first to offer classes there. It is an interactive play museum. They are open to the public four days a week. The other three days they rent out space for parties, field trips, playgroups, etc. I'm thinking $10 a class for preschoolers and $15 a class for the older ones will be about right, though. Thanks for the input!