Does anyone teach homeschool classes out of their home?

[Michelle My Bell]

Since I am in nursing school, I was thinking about teaching homeschooled kids out of my home in subjects like science or history. I used to teach art but it wasn't as in demand as I had hoped and the art supplies and the time it took to prepare project ideas made it not work as well as I had hoped. I have the classroom space in my home so that isn't a problem. If you do this, could you give me an idea of how you do it and how much you charge? I'd really like to put something like this together. Also, would it be too late to do it for Jan-May do you think? NEED ADVICE!!

 

 

[Dmmetler]

Here, the biggest demand is for middle school and up lab science, especially secular science (there are multiple routes if you want biology with evolution left out).

 

I do homeschool clubs that meet monthly, but they're not a money making enterprise-they are set up to (hopefully) give my DD kids who share her interests.

[Dmmetler]

Another possibility, which wouldn't be too late for this year, would be SAT or ACT prep, or focused prep for an SAT2 or review for an AP exam. A lot of kids take those in the Spring.

[FaithManor]

We teach an aerospace engineering class through an educational group that provides money for non core coursework for privately schooled and homeschooled students. Actually ps students could access the class but in order to meet the requirement their school has to sign them up officially as an elective and then give them an hour a day in school to attend or work on coursework. Most ps's aren't willing so currently we have no ps students.

 

We get reimbursed for expenses including mileage if we want, but currently are not paid to teach. Next year I am going to teach an environmental science/Michigan Ecology course and dh a mechanical engineering course. The organization is offering to pay us for those. This aerospace course was a "try out" for us and the organization to see if we were compatible.

 

Were I to do it independently, I would if teaching two 1.5 hr sessions per week for say 12 weeks charge enough to earn $25.00 an hour from the group. So it would be $5 a class period per student which is an absolute bargain to say the least and does not cover my time for class prep and grading. I would charge for books and materials on top of that. The amount I would be earning would be very low. But the economy is depressed here so most families will not pay very much for homeschool classes.

[Reefgazer]

I have taught science out of my home in the past.  I do not think it is too late for the spring semester, but it soon will be, so get on it.  You will need to advertise somehow or get the word out, and how you do that depends on your area and the contacts you have.  Once I have a class put together, I send out a bunch of potential meeting times/dates and get feedback on what would work for people.  I have taught 12 kids per semester here at home, and it is usually better if I divide a group of that size into 2 lab sessions.  That way, I can give each student individual attention and accommodate scheduling conflicts.  Generally, I've found that homeschoolers don't want to meet on weeknights or weekends; they want day classes during the week.  Once I have the class set, I send out a syllabus with class meeting dates/times, class expectations, books required, required readings, and lab exercises (if applicable).  I have been using Schoology as a platform recently, based on recommendations from people on here; it is a terrific platform and works well.

 

I teach biology and will be teaching chemistry next year, both lab sciences.  I have found that most homeschool parents do not want to touch a lab science at the high school level (particularly chemistry), so I actually make some money doing this.  The initial investment for science is higher than other subjects (for lab equipment and supplies), but once I have that, I can re-use it from semester to semester, and I do lower the cost some if I have most of the supplies already on hand.  I charge $250-$300 per semester per student, depending on the class, but science at the high school level is high demand, and I don't think art would pull in that kind of money.  But if you have already taken A+P, microbiology, and chemistry for your nursing degree and done well, I would think you could set up a science lab class easily enough in your home.

[catz]

I've helped run a number of homeschool groups and a co-op.  I would say, if you're going to do it out of your home, talk to your insurance company about liability.  I would also consider asking parents to take turns staying just so you have 2 adults present at all times for liability too unless it's a group of families you know really well.  I think it's hard to run stuff out of your house but if you ran a 12 week session or something like that you could try it and see how it affects your days.

 

Our co-op runs classes at about $10-$16 for a 75 minute class with a possible supply fee.

 

The most popular classes are hands on, open ended things that can work for a variety of kids at a variety of levels.  Science focusing on labs/hands on.  Grade level stuff using a in the box curriculum doesn't work nearly as well.