I have no idea where to place this so here it is....

[happycc]

I have the space and ability to help single homeschooling parents out by providing their kids a place to do their schoolwork while their parent are at work part time and/or in school. This is not babysitting and the children must be of school age and able to sit at a table and do their work for a period of time. I will provide prompts to stay focus and move on the the next item on the to do list that the parents have set forth and planned and try and help if the child is stuck. I will provide needed breaks such as Lego/MInecraft play, drawing or jumping on the trampoline. We do have a piano and guitar here so kids can practice their music in between school work. Parents would need to provide snacks for the kids. There is a fee which I haven't decided on yet. I think based on ages of kids and amount of kids. Ideally upper elementary, middle school and high school. Fees perhaps between $10-$20 a hour. Thoughts about fees?

Again I will not homeschool the child or plan or develop curriculum as that will still remain the parents responsibility but just provide a safe place for the child to do the work with someone experienced and understanding of homeschooling while the single parent has the ability to work and/or go to school. Child can provide a laptop or we have plenty here but would need to bring their own textbooks, school supplies. At this point, I do not provide transportation. I can provide suggestions of curriculum or ideas. 

 

What are people's thought about this? If you know anyone, send them my way. I live in Northern California -East Bay California near Oakland, CA. So some cities near me are San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Oakland, Alameda, Hayward, Castro Valley, Union City, Newark, Fremont, Berkeley, Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon

 

I do have other kids here of my own homeschooling and we also have dogs, cat, chinchilla, chickens, ducks, snake and deaf renters who uses ASL (we also use ASL and English). 

 

 

[Guest]

Would the students only be at your house for the time it takes them to do their schoolwork (you said no babysitting)? So the parents would need to provide additional daycare and transportation to and from that?

I know you said you live in NorCal, but I wouldn't market that kind of plan to single parents. If I took your middle rate of $15 and four hours of schoolwork a day, that would be $1290 a month...actually the exact amount of my old one-bed condo mortgage in SoCal. That's not including any other childcare they'd need. If the parent works only part time, I can't imagine them being able to afford that.

It sounds nice, and I could totally be missing something about your region/circumstances, but I don't see how that would work for the demographic you're thinking of.

[HomeAgain]

I think if you charge a fee equal to or near a parent's takehome pay, it would limit the interest severely.

 

 

[Arcadia]

I pay $8 for my first child and $5 for my second child if I want to drop off my kids at Kidspark San Jose. An ad-hoc babysitter for both my kids would cost me $15/hr but my neighbor's 9th grader charge $10/hr with homework help if I drop them off at her place.

 

My kids get to use my city's youth activity center/teen center for free. Same for the Palo Alto area and they have staff there to supervise the kids.

 

Oakland's minimum wage is $12.55/hr. The state is $10/hr. It would be hard to afford your rates on minimum wage.

[raptor_dad]

What do nanny rates look like near you? For $20/hr you could start looking for a good part time nanny or a nanny share. If I needed 4 hrs a day, everyday I can't see paying that much for a shared service. 

[Janeway]

Since the parent still has to write the lesson plans and provide all the books and everything else, the rate you should charge should be more of what you would charge for child care than what you would charge for tutoring. If a single parent needs to work, I doubt she could afford $10/20 per hour per child. 

[...................]

If a single parent is working full time she is likely going to have her kid in school. If she is working part time she won't be able to afford that much.

It makes more sense to me if you offer this to all the other homeschool moms that *have* money, and if you get four paying kids, take one scholarship kid up to 5 hours per week from single parent families. On the e- flyer you can say "some scholarships available to single homeschool moms, apply via email." Lots of moms have their own gig going such as tutoring where they make 50.00 an hour but need a place for the kids. Or they need a few hours to run errands in peace every week. Or they want to attend a daytime bible study.

Just some
Thoughts

 

Just edited to add:

 

As a mom considering your services:

 

The renters would make it an absolute no-go

The dogs wouldn't work b/c of allergies

the Trampoline would make me so nervous that would be a no-go too

If you already have four kids I would be really worried that the situation would get a little chaotic- my concern for my kids' safety would be an issue

 

And yes, legal issues are big too...especially in CA...

 

 

Edited March 25, 2016 by Calming Tea

[Haiku]

I think that finding a kid who is going to sit at someone else's house and just work diligently on their schoolwork is going to be hard. And although you are not babysitting, just providing a place to sit and do schoolwork, you want to charge babysitting rates. And what will happen if the child needs help with the schoolwork? Or finishes early? Since you aren't babysitting or educating the child, how will you respond to this?

 

I think you will be hard-pressed to make this work.

[Jackie]

Those rates are what I paid for an experienced nanny. If I were still working, that nanny would have provided child care, cooked lunch, taught education as chosen by me, and driven to/from activities as chosen by me.

[Sahamamama]

The first thing I would consider is the legality of it.

 

Yes, I hate to say it, but you should consider both the legality and the liability of it, in particular the use of the trampoline. Say a child falls off the trampoline or is otherwise injured while on it -- you were the supervising adult, it's your trampoline, on your property. Who pays for the medical bills? Who pays for new glasses or to fix the broken arm or the broken tooth?

 

Also, what is your ultimate goal? Is it to provide a ministry to single parents? In that case, I would offer it for free or nearly free (so they don't flake out if it doesn't cost them anything), and I'm not sure I'd offer it at my own home. But if your goal is to make money while keeping your own kids home, I think there might be another, better way. Perhaps you could run an in-home day care for younger kids, coming in with no school work, for either a full or half day? But I'm sure that in California, an in-home day care would have all sorts of hoops to jump through!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[prairiewindmomma]

$20/hr is $40K a year--the going rate of a college aged nanny who also tutors.  Typically she would be fluent in at least one foreign language, and have had a number of child development classes.  She would come to me, drive my kids to activities, and provide light housekeeping and prepare meals.

 

I could see a drop-in service working ok on the model that you have, but I personally wouldn't send my kids to a very busy household (with all of the chaos of other kids) or a place with animals because of allergies.  Quite gently, if you already have two autistic kids in your mix of five kids at home, I'm guessing that your house is quite busy already. (I say this as a mother of four with two close to the spectrum.)

[FO4UR]

I have to agree.  Single moms are not going to be able to afford your rates.  If you are taking a child for a whole day, you need to be a combo babysitter/tutor and feed the child.

 

I used to do childcare.  It is not a great way to get rich.  It is a great way to make a little extra $ if you enjoy working with kids and it fits into your family structure right now.

 

 

I like the idea of charging a few moms a reasonable rate, and then scholarshipping in one or two kids who truly need the help.

 

Then...I can't imagine taking on an extra HSing kiddo without feeling a strong attachment to the family, and at that point I couldn't charge $ for that.

[Lecka]

I have a huge issue with the fact that there are renters. 

 

Are the renters going to be in the same area as the child? 

 

This would just not be okay with me.  How do I know the renters are appropriate for my child to be around? 

 

That makes it not fit with what I would look for in in home daycare type of situation, just for basics of "who is my child around and what is the supervision level." 

 

I personally would also be looking for a license for a home daycare type of situation.

 

I don't think your situation is the type where you would be able to get a license, unless you changed things around such that you would meet requirements for a license. 

 

Then if you are unlicensed, I think you are looking at charging a fraction of the price you have mentioned.

 

Edited March 25, 2016 by Lecka

[Carol in Cal.]

I'd start by talking to your homeowners insurance agent about what you are and aren't covered for.

[Arcadia]

Legally, you could easily get into trouble if the drop off kids at any one time aren't siblings unless you get a license.

 

"ARE YOU PROVIDING CHILD CARE WITHOUT A LICENSE?

You must be licensed if you care for children from more than one family and who are not related to you.

You don't need a license if you care for your children (or those of a relative), and children from only one other family."

 

http://ccld.ca.gov/PG487.htm

[RoundAbout]

I'm not sure how it's not babysitting unless you're talking about older kids.  Also I know that my DS, who is responsible and pretty focused at home, would have a hard time sitting at the table to do work in a house with a bunch of other kids, pets, etc.  He would want to socialize and play.   I think a child's personality would have to be just the right fit for this to work.  

 

Also not sure about pricing.  For $15/hr last year in a major city (Seattle) I easily got a responsible college graduate babysitter who came to my apartment, played with my kid, took him for walks in the neighborhood, prepared snacks, and would have supervised lessons if I had asked.  I know a few single mom professionals (lawyer, PhDs) who could afford that price full time but they would be more inclined to just get a nanny if they wanted to homeschool.  

[ReadingMama1214]

I personally wouldn't pay that much for a place for my kid to sit and do schoolwork. I agree with the others that that is the rate of a private nanny. I used to nanny and made between 15-20 an hour (20 If overtime) and I did light cleaning, transportation, cooked lunch and helped with dinner if needed, and cared for the child. When I get a nanny, we will most likely pay $15/20 an hour and Expect similar leve of help.

[Lecka]

I just looked it up in my state, and it is illegal here to provide care for more than a total of 20 hours/week for more than 2 non-relative children, in your own home, without a license. 

 

I had no idea! 

 

I thought you just paid extra for a license and can know everybody has gotten a background check and the person is taking their job seriously..... or paid a lot less for unlicensed, and expected a lot less.

 

Well, that is new information for me. I was surprised to see a license required for California. 

[Reefgazer]

Hmmm....If I were in a position to need that service, I don't think I would pay more than a nanny/private sitter rate.  Not trying to be harsh or anything, it's just my honest opinion. 

Edited March 26, 2016 by reefgazer

[happycc]

In our area Nannys start at $17/hour  and can go all the way up to to $30hour. Our deaf nanny who had no child care experience was paid $17. 

 

Regular child care is about $1000-$2000/mo sadly in our area. 

 

So I guess go way lower to maybe $5 an hour or $8 an hour

 

My point of this was for a single mom who was in school and just need a couple hours here and there for someone to watch their kids that was supportive and understood homeschooling. Of course I would have no problems answer questions and such and help with tutoring but that would raise the fee if you advertise tutoring..tutoring is like $20 an hour in this next of woods.

 

Anyways this was something I totally needed while homeschooling and in school as a single mom about 12 years ago and I paid way more while on campus. Yes some kids may want to socialize but if they see other kids doing work they may do their work.