Home based private school/homeschool

[AggieMama]

I'm wondering if it is legal and/or feasible to run a super small, 4 or 5 additional kids to your own. I would like to homeschool my kids, currently a public school teacher afterschooling, but take on other students so I can continue to provide for my family fanancially. I'm thinking I could meet with parents and work with them to decide the best curriculum for their kids and have them pay for the curriculum. I could do this year around or just during the school year depending on parental need. If parents wanted me to only teach certain subjects, or have me oversee online courses I would be okay with that. I would plan field trips and play dates so the kids could play with other kids. I'm trying to decide if this would fall under childcare provider (which would be a lot of regulation), private school (less regulation I guess???, homeschooling, or private tutoring. I doubt it is even feasible for me, but I was wondering what the opinion or want/need is possibly there.

[abba12]

being a qualified teacher yourself helps. I know it's illegal to homeschool other peoples children in a lot of places, but as a teacher yourself it may come under private tutoring.

 

What state are you in? That probably makes a lot of difference. 

[GAPeachie]

This is going to vary widely on state laws of what a private school is or is not.  And if it is not, if anyone other than the parent can be the "homeschooler" of a student.  

 

Also your comfort level with bending and or creatively defining legal terms comes into play.  For example: If you are the parent and choose all the curriculum, but a childcare provider has your child while the work is done, who is homeschooling?  It can become a sticky-wicket. 

[AggieMama]

I am in Texas. I know there are very few homeschooling laws here, but I don't want to run into a situation where the state thinks that I' a childcare provider and have to abide by all those regulations (please don't take that wrong) and I don't necessarily want to be a private school as I don't want a large number of students.

[AggieMama]

I just discovered that homeschooling is considered a private school in the state of Texas.

[73349]

You may find somewhere in the law what constitutes a tipping point as far as whether you have to pass a fire marshall's inspection, etc. In NC, two households may homeschool together (with instruction by one or more adults from either or both households given to one or more children from either or both households), but a third knocks you out of the homeschooling category, and then it's a private school just the same as if you had a thousand kids.

Edited March 1, 2016 by whitehawk

[Ellie]

I'm wondering if it is legal and/or feasible to run a super small, 4 or 5 additional kids to your own. I would like to homeschool my kids, currently a public school teacher afterschooling, but take on other students so I can continue to provide for my family fanancially. I'm thinking I could meet with parents and work with them to decide the best curriculum for their kids and have them pay for the curriculum. I could do this year around or just during the school year depending on parental need. If parents wanted me to only teach certain subjects, or have me oversee online courses I would be okay with that. I would plan field trips and play dates so the kids could play with other kids. I'm trying to decide if this would fall under childcare provider (which would be a lot of regulation), private school (less regulation I guess???, homeschooling, or private tutoring. I doubt it is even feasible for me, but I was wondering what the opinion or want/need is possibly there.

 

It could be, depending on where you live. In California, you would be a private school, which requires almost nothing.

 

IMHO, if you were to do this, you should treat it just like any other private school, e.g., you choose instructional materials and methods, the whole thing. Your school, your decisions. 

 

[Ellie]

I just discovered that homeschooling is considered a private school in the state of Texas.

 

yes, this is true. However, since you would be teaching children other than your own on a full-time basis, I would not consider it a homeschooling situation. It would be a private school. Don't try to qualify it by referring to it any way as homeschooling--there's no reason that you should, after all, but really and truly, the other children can only be homeschooled by their own parents, in their own home. You would have a very small, exclusive private school. You choose a name, have the parents withdraw the children from their schools and enroll them in yours, request the cum files of the other children. You should have an official enrollment process and forms and everything. you should also charge the parents a reasonable amount, and they should pay you by the fifth of each month (or whatever), and if they don't, they cannot bring their children to your home. I promise you that if you don't have requirements like that, you will be sorry. :-(

[Janeway]

I am in Texas. I know there are very few homeschooling laws here, but I don't want to run into a situation where the state thinks that I' a childcare provider and have to abide by all those regulations (please don't take that wrong) and I don't necessarily want to be a private school as I don't want a large number of students.

You do not have to have any sort of license or anything to have a private school in Texas. But you will not be accredited if you go that route, which is fine. The kids will be considered home schoolers. 

 

Thing is, and while everyone is different, most experienced home schoolers do not want public school teachers teaching their children. And most public schoolers only want public school teachers tutoring. The reason for not wanting public school teachers teaching is that it takes time to get out of the public school mindset. And if you are a teacher there, you might try to do things exactly the same. If you wish to make extra money on the side teaching other people's children, you might want to look at a part-time job "teaching" through a virtual school or tutoring. My children go to someone else's house for 1-2 subjects a week. But the person they go to is an experienced home schooler who has graduated most of her kids already and those kids are in college or done with college. You might want to consider going with that angle. Teach one subject from your home. 

[texasmama]

Have you looked into any local homeschool associations? We have one (in SE TX) where rather than a co-op, teachers provide classes and are paid directly by the parents per student. The classes are once a week in most cases and some teachers teach four or five classes on those days. Classes average $45-60 a month per class (extended classes are a bit more), so to me it is WELL worth the cost. We have been very happy with this set up. It might give you the income you are looking for if you can find a place. The classes usually fill up because a lot of parents like myself can't handle the time commitment of an actual co-op. I would also say a majority of these teachers are certified former public or private school teachers who have left that realm to homeschool their own children. I personally don't have an issue with what their background is as long as they are engaging and do a good job of running the class.

There is a similar set-up here, in addition to several places which provide classes to homeschoolers in a large, organized setting with parents paying tuition to the organization, which pays teachers.  

 

I am also in Texas.

 

I teach high school English at a co-op and trade that for free classes for my kids.

[Ellie]

You do not have to have any sort of license or anything to have a private school in Texas. But you will not be accredited if you go that route, which is fine. The kids will be considered home schoolers. 

 

Thing is, and while everyone is different, most experienced home schoolers do not want public school teachers teaching their children. And most public schoolers only want public school teachers tutoring. The reason for not wanting public school teachers teaching is that it takes time to get out of the public school mindset. And if you are a teacher there, you might try to do things exactly the same. If you wish to make extra money on the side teaching other people's children, you might want to look at a part-time job "teaching" through a virtual school or tutoring. My children go to someone else's house for 1-2 subjects a week. But the person they go to is an experienced home schooler who has graduated most of her kids already and those kids are in college or done with college. You might want to consider going with that angle. Teach one subject from your home. 

 

I see no reason for the children to be considered "homeschoolers." If they are taught full time by someone other than their parents, in a building not their own home, why would they be homeschoolers?

 

These children would be private school students, which is, legally, what children taught at home by their parents are.

I am in Texas. I know there are very few homeschooling laws here, but I don't want to run into a situation where the state thinks that I' a childcare provider and have to abide by all those regulations (please don't take that wrong) and I don't necessarily want to be a private school as I don't want a large number of students.

 

No matter what you call it, (private school, tutoring, etc.), you would still be running a small business out of your home, and you'd want to make sure that all your ducks are in a row when it comes to insurance, liability, taxes, and all the other non-schooling relating aspects of running a small business.

[AggieMama]

Thank you for ya'll's advice. I would of course keep everything above the law and pay taxes and follow regulations. At this point it's just a pipe dream, but someday when I get a bigger house perhaps. As for the traditional school mindset, I am always looking outside of the box and can't stand the constraints that public education put on me.

[Ellie]

Thank you for ya'll's advice. I would of course keep everything above the law and pay taxes and follow regulations. At this point it's just a pipe dream, but someday when I get a bigger house perhaps. As for the traditional school mindset, I am always looking outside of the box and can't stand the constraints that public education put on me.

 

People who be willing to pay you to teach their children will not be die-hard homeschoolers, I promise, so you should think inside the box that works for *you*. :-)

[OneStepAtATime]

You might start small.  Maybe just teach a science or a literature class with a small group of other homeschooled kids.  A friend of mine did science classes for 5 other students at a similar level to her youngest son twice a week, with some work sent home in between classes and got paid I think $30 a week per family (there were siblings so maybe 3 families).

 

Also, as was mentioned up thread, you should look into area homeschool groups that might be seeking teachers for specific subjects.  I know in San Antonio FEAST has a brick and mortar school with paid teachers that teach certain classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  There is a homeschooling Mom/certified teacher in Harlingen that teachers 3 classes (science, geography and something else) every Tuesday and Thursday during a normal school year but only for High School students.  That allows parents to outsource certain classes without outsourcing everything.  Classes are only in the morning so afternoons are still free for extracurriculars/electives, work at home, etc.