If you tutor, may I ask you a few questions?

[Kidlit]

I have considered starting a tutoring business.   I have ten years of homeschooling under my belt, plus I'm certified to teach 7-12 English and history, 4-8 math, and library media for all ages.  I'd want to focus on upper elementary math.  Here are my questions:

1.  What does your week looks like in terms of scheduling?  
2. Do you only do one-on-one sessions or do you offer small groups?3. Do you offer specific skill-based lessons or just try to be a homework helper? 
My dh has 25 years in curriculum and administration and he has envisioned a small-group kind of situation based on skills, and I am wondering specifically  if anyone has ever done that.  
 

Really, any insight is appreciated. 

[catz]

I will say we have tried to offer it through a few settings live.  And people tend to sign up for 1-1 more than this and a lot of times we had to cancel the group classes.  I do have a bs math & comp sci and have taught/tutored both these.

In general over the years homeschooling 2 kids through and working with 2 co-ops directly and a few more indirectly, the direct "grade level" core classes tend not to do well.  I think because that tends to be the best and easiest stuff to do at home and it is nice to self pace.  But this may just depend where you are and what your market might be.  This has come up over and over here.  I thought this latest cohort of homeschoolers that seemed more anxious to outsource might like stuff like this more but not really thus far.

That said, I have wondered if doing something more like a problem solving "team" group at a particular level would be more fun, interesting, productive and go wide instead of grade level lockstep.  There are a few orgs that do stuff with this - mathcounts comes to mind.  Math masters is geared to younger students.

ETA - I am not currently teaching/tutoring.  One thing I mention when setting up 1-1 tutoring is doing follow up emails after every session with a parent copied so parents know what is expected at home between sessions.  And I would archive the communications.  For math, I always assign problem sets.  So when a kid isn't following up and you are stepping back, you can call that out in the next email.  Can just save headaches later.

Edited June 10, 2023 by catz

[Kidlit]

1 minute ago, catz said:

I will say we have tried to offer it through a few settings live.  And people tend to sign up for 1-1 more than this and a lot of times we had to cancel the group classes.  I do have a bs math & comp sci and have taught/tutored both these.

In general over the years homeschooling 2 kids through and working with 2 co-ops directly and a few more indirectly, the direct "grade level" core classes tend not to do well.  I think because that tends to be the best and easiest stuff to do at home and it is nice to self pace.  But this may just depend where you are and what your market might be.  This has come up over and over here.  I thought this latest cohort of homeschoolers that seemed more anxious to outsource might like stuff like this more but not really thus far.

That said, I have wondered if doing something more like a problem solving "team" group at a particular level would be more fun, interesting, productive and go wide instead of grade level lockstep.  There are a few orgs that do stuff with this - mathcounts comes to mind.  Math masters is geared to younger students.

I guess I'm not really thinking about homeschoolers at all at this point, so I might be asking in the wrong place.  Locally we have a large community but my experience in it (around 5 years ago now) is that no one really was willing or able to pay much for outsourced classes. I'm thinking more of my experience teaching sixth grade in public school and how "behind" the kids were and lacking in basic numeracy and foundational skills/understanding, fluency.  Based on that and our experience homeschooling, I have ideas about what it takes to build that up and also what is lacking.  Also, my state has passed literacy and numeracy acts that will **purportedly** result in retention at certain grade levels if students are not on grade level.  I would think (and some of this I have evidence of) that there is some parental concern and even anxiety around this, so there might be need. 

[catz]

Oh gotcha!  I will say I do know someone who had group success with math problem solving groups on Saturdays.  Those were primarily schooled kids.  This was a lot of highly educated and at least middle class parents sending their kids to stuff like this.  Was attractive to GT groups, etc.

We are urban-ish, so I don't think I could be successful with a format like this.  Affordability and access would be an issue for the kids who would need it most.  And parents with money, would be more apt to pay for private tutoring.  Possibly if it were funded by a group affiliated directly with high risk schools.  

[Kidlit]

Yeah, I think that may be the case here, too--those who need it can't afford it, etc. I don't know.  I feel like I don't even know how to get started or even send out feelers to see if there would be any interest.  

[Wishes]

I have tutored as my sole income for over a decade. My first few years I tutored all week because I was single and had gaps ( I did some homeschooled kids and public/private schooled kids. I have done individual and group tutoring. One thing I have done was since I do a slightly reduced rate for group tutoring, I had the group pay upfront and monthly installments and did not do refunds for missed group lessons. Because one person or the other might always miss a lesson or two, and then that would reduce my overall take home pay.

once I had kids, I tightened my schedule. I work from 3 to 8 on four weekdays, and I choose to work on one weekend all day.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Wishes

[Kidlit]

6 minutes ago, Wishes said:

I have tutored as my sole income for over a decade. My first few years I tutored all week because I was single and had gaps ( I did some homeschooled kids and public/private schooled kids. I have done individual and group tutoring. One thing I have done was since I do a slightly reduced rate for group tutoring, I had the group pay upfront and monthly installments and did not do refunds for missed group lessons. Because one person or the other might always miss a lesson or two, and then that would reduce my overall take home pay.

once I had kids, I tightened my schedule. I work from 3 to 8 on four weekdays, and I choose to work on one weekend all day.

I know this varies greatly by region, but can you give me a ballpark on how much your group rate is?  (Feel free to PM if you'd rather, or ignore the question. 🤣)

 

ETA: Also, are your students typically in traditional school or homeschooled?

Edited June 10, 2023 by Kidlit

[katilac]

I started limiting my tutoring a lot a few years ago, but I did it for years.

You can make more money with small groups. If you have four students, they are all paying less than they would for individual tutoring, but nowhere near 75% less, lol. People aren't willing to pay for elementary math the way they are for high school math, so you almost certainly want small groups.

It's also much easier to make small group classes/sessions more fun. Even for ACT prep, the kids would look forward to seeing each other rather than just me 😄and you can play skill-based games and throw in a few silly things. The teens rolled their eyes at picking a mascot, but always got into it within 5 minutes. 

You could do groups for different grades of math (and hopefully get kids in the same class, lol), and that's likely going to be a mix of helping with homework and building skills - but never, ever use a title that implies it's homework help. People don't want to pay decent money for that.

You could also do specific topics that most people don't have a great grasp on teaching/helping with: place value, fractions, decimals, percents. 

If your district does any 'weird' math that makes parents throw up their hands, you're going to want to get your hands on the book they are using. 

I have a friend who tutored full-time for about a decade, but it was mostly high school (which pays more). Also it was evenings and Saturdays. 

I did so some mixed tutoring for the lower grades, which was basically let's get this kid passed to the next grade, but the pay wasn't great. Of course, that was before I built up the nerve to simply state a price and say take it or leave it, I also have bills to pay. 

Oh, one more thing about small group classes:  I always built in an additional week for 'make-ups' for kids that missed classes. So if a kid misses bc they are sick and the parent asks for a make-up, you remind them that the make-up and catch-up week comes at the end. This was usually 2 classes for me. You can have a policy of no make-ups, but parents really liked the make-up week, bc the ones who did miss felt like they still got their money's worth, and the ones who never missed felt like they got a bonus. 

Don't forget to factor in time you spend prepping. 

[Wishes]

When I started doing group lessons, $20 per kid. Now, $25. I live around the Seattle area so higher COL. I usually didn’t have more than 3 kids at a time. When I started I had lower rates and did sibling discounts as well as discounts for multiple lessons. That was until I had a strong base. I don’t do any discounts any more and don’t need to as I have a waitlist. It has helped to become known around certain communities as well as had some recommendations from neuropsychs or things like International Dyslexia Association.

[Wishes]

I would also recommend making sure your prices aren’t too low. For some reason people respect your value more if you charge what you’re actually worth I would also say you should charge upfront because you will have people that either forget or intentionally stiff you.

[Wishes]

Didn’t see your other question: I have had a mix of homeschoolers and privates/public schools students for my entire duration. I found that once I had students in one group or community, word of mouth would grant me new clients. The bulk of my students currently are from private or public school.

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, Kidlit said:

I have considered starting a tutoring business.   I have ten years of homeschooling under my belt, plus I'm certified to teach 7-12 English and history, 4-8 math, and library media for all ages.  I'd want to focus on upper elementary math.  Here are my questions:

1.  What does your week looks like in terms of scheduling?  
2. Do you only do one-on-one sessions or do you offer small groups?3. Do you offer specific skill-based lessons or just try to be a homework helper? 
My dh has 25 years in curriculum and administration and he has envisioned a small-group kind of situation based on skills, and I am wondering specifically  if anyone has ever done that.  
 

Really, any insight is appreciated. 

I used to have my own tutoring business. The bulk of my hours were late afternoon and evenings. Some on Saturday. 
 

I did skill based tutoring. I was very specific about not doing homework help though on occasion I would help a bit. 
 

Most was one-on-one. Sometimes a sibling’s group at different levels (much like homeschooling). My small group classes were in Japanese language. 
 

I ended up having to require payment up front. Ie. Pay for X amount of lessons, which I then provided. This was after some nightmare experiences with collecting payments and no shows. People are a lot more likely to show up if they’ve already paid for it. 

[Kidlit]

Where do you all tutor?  (Home, other free facility, someplace you have to pay for?)

Edited June 10, 2023 by Kidlit

[Dmmetler]

I'm a music teacher, so a similar business. I teach through/at a community center, so they handle the payments and collect registrations up front, for a percentage, which is well worth it for me. If I were teaching out of my home, I'd probably spend as much as the percentage they take on accounting, probably having to have a cleaning service, handling piano tuning and maintenance, website management, and all that stuff, 

 

During the school year, I do three types of classes

 

1) large group classes (up to 15 students). These are for homeschoolers and are multi-age. (Beginning is 5+, intermediate 9+). These are cheap for parents-they're paying 25% of my 30 minute private lesson rate for 90 minutes/week, and I already own the materials I need, so the biggest expense is my time. (Similarly, the center is just as happy to get whatever they get, even if it's well under the outside rental rate for that room, because no one is demanding room space from 1:00-2:30 on Wednesdays!). 

 

2) small group classes. These are 3-6 kids, usually 4 kids, age 6-12, level 2 and below. I do high school music theory/composition and piano at a couple of levels. I offer these during the school day and after school/Saturday mornings. Small group classes cost 2/3 of the 30 minute lesson rate for 60 minutes, and about half the time the kids spend working on their own while I circulate. The break even point is 3 students/group, so usually I'm making more than my private lesson rate even after accounting for the fact that each student needs consumable materials. I am gradually moving my new beginners completely to this model-the kids have more fun, parents pay less, and since there is built in practice time, it works better for overscheduled kids. 

 

3) private lessons. I do three nights a week of privates. (4-7 PM) and a handful of homeschoolers during the day. This is what most parents want. I do 30 and 60 minute lessons, with books and recital included. 

 

My goal is $25/hr profit (after expenses and taxes). 

[Kidlit]

54 minutes ago, katilac said:

 

You could also do specific topics that most people don't have a great grasp on teaching/helping with: place value, fractions, decimals, percents. 

 

This is exactly what I had in mind!

[Jean in Newcastle]

49 minutes ago, Kidlit said:

Where do you all tutor?  (Home, other free facility, someplace you have to pay for?)

I've done it at home and at the library.  At the library, I would reserve a private room.  It was a bit of a pain - you can only reserve it one week ahead and it's first come, first serve.  But if I reserved it for the next week right when I came in to use it for that week, usually I got the room.  If I didn't get the room, then I would tutor at a table in the main library but we had to be very careful about noise volume and it was a bit stressful.  But - and I think that this might be key - I only used the library room once a week.   I have a feeling that if I tried to hog the room every evening and the weekends, that they would have told me that I couldn't do that. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

I have done it for years, and still do it part-time; it's been an excellent supplemental income for home schooling, in my experience. 

My students are almost all public & private schooled kids, and usually 1-on-1, though I do offer small groups (2-4). I'm more laid back about scheduling because the flexibility benefits me as well as the students. One way I've been able to reach to a wider geographical area is to offer a "hybrid" option; student meets with me in person for 1-2 sessions, and then we switch to online. 

[Kidlit]

5 minutes ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

I have done it for years, and still do it part-time; it's been an excellent supplemental income for home schooling, in my experience. 

My students are almost all public & private schooled kids, and usually 1-on-1, though I do offer small groups (2-4). I'm more laid back about scheduling because the flexibility benefits me as well as the students. One way I've been able to reach to a wider geographical area is to offer a "hybrid" option; student meets with me in person for 1-2 sessions, and then we switch to online. 

What is your subject area?

[Dmmetler]

On single topics, during the summer I do small group mini-camps. 3 days, 2 hours/day, focused on one skill or topic. The price per hour is the same as my small group classes, but since they're shorter, they look less expensive. Incoukd see that working really well for tutoring/academics where parents want to shore up weak areas before fall. 

 

I've had less good luck with four week short courses during the school year because parents tend to get their schedule set and not want to change it.  

[Kidlit]

1 minute ago, Dmmetler said:

On single topics, during the summer I do small group mini-camps. 3 days, 2 hours/day, focused on one skill or topic. The price per hour is the same as my small group classes, but since they're shorter, they look less expensive. Incoukd see that working really well for tutoring/academics where parents want to shore up weak areas before fall. 

 

 

That's actually what dh had in mind--a skills based boot camp. 

[katilac]

3 hours ago, Kidlit said:

Where do you all tutor?  (Home, other free facility, someplace you have to pay for?)

Home, and the rule is parents can't stay 😄

I don't dismiss concerns at leaving kids at somebody's house, but parents hanging about annoyed me and definitely distracted the kids. I don't have a foyer or such where they could wait, either. So, if people had that concern, then no hard feelings, I'm just not the person for you. 

I don't know how dedicated you are to upper elementary math, but I will tell you that standardized test prep is a gold mine in my area. I haven't done a class in 2+ years, but I still get the occasional call/request. 

[Kidlit]

15 minutes ago, katilac said:

Home, and the rule is parents can't stay 😄

I don't dismiss concerns at leaving kids at somebody's house, but parents hanging about annoyed me and definitely distracted the kids. I don't have a foyer or such where they could wait, either. So, if people had that concern, then no hard feelings, I'm just not the person for you. 

I don't know how dedicated you are to upper elementary math, but I will tell you that standardized test prep is a gold mine in my area. I haven't done a class in 2+ years, but I still get the occasional call/request. 

Just to clarify--when you say standardized test prep, do you mean high school test prep like ACT/SAT or something like other achievement tests that could determine promotion to the next grade?

[Wheres Toto]

I run a homeschool science center and one of the things I offer is a Math Workshop class.  It meets twice a week for an hour at a time.   I will do Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, and Consumer Math.   I generally have about 6 students.    I start the year with a placement test and set up written notes/lessons for each student.  I meet with each for about 5 minutes (depending on if they are struggling), then they work on their homework in class so they can ask questions if they need to.   They are also able to text or email questions between classes and I will help.   If they come in without homework, I have review pages for each chapter to check if they understood it before moving on.   If they need something to do while waiting, I have various bell ringers and "fun" practice pages.  

I charge the same as my other classes, which is $100 for an 8 week session.  If they come twice a week, they pay for it as 2 classes.  

I've considered offering it for younger kids but there's such a wide range of what they could be working on, and I feel like they wouldn't be able to work independently the way the older kids can.   Plus my daughter is 16 and this makes sure she is getting her math done too.   

[Ausmumof3]

I do but I work for someone else who does all the running side for things which is nice though obviously the pay is a bit lower. I don’t have a teaching degree though. It could be worth doing some specific training like multi sensory learning or OG or something as people are willing to pay more for that. We are starting to have cancellations after the latest interest rate rise as I think people can’t afford it anymore. 

Where I work there’s a shed with sound proofed cubicles for different tutors and then I do one day a week in school where I take kids for one-on-one out of class and we use a room in the library. Parents don’t do much follow-up at home so sometimes progress is quite slow.

[footballmom]

On the “consumer” side, I’ve had kids in homeschool, public school and private school - and each of them have needed math tutoring at one point or another. Because our tutoring needs were more situational, we only did 1:1 tutoring. For elementary and early middle school math, we paid $25 an hour. For Algebra and beyond, it was $55-65 an hour. 
 

If I were in your shoes, I would look to see what commercial centers there are in your area ie Kumon or Mathnasieum and what their offerings are to see if you can see a gap in what they offer versus what someone would want / need and build your “go to market” from there. 

[Kidlit]

7 minutes ago, footballmom said:

On the “consumer” side, I’ve had kids in homeschool, public school and private school - and each of them have needed math tutoring at one point or another. Because our tutoring needs were more situational, we only did 1:1 tutoring. For elementary and early middle school math, we paid $25 an hour. For Algebra and beyond, it was $55-65 an hour. 
 

If I were in your shoes, I would look to see what commercial centers there are in your area ie Kumon or Mathnasieum and what their offerings are to see if you can see a gap in what they offer versus what someone would want / need and build your “go to market” from there. 

The only tutoring centers we have locally are SCORE Plus, which to my knowledge is used primarily for ACT prep. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

5 hours ago, Kidlit said:

What is your subject area?

SAT & ACT Prep, Essay Writing, high school math (LOTS of basic algebra and geometry, boring for me, but easy and pays well enough), and all elementary subjects if the parents are willing to pay my fee. 😉 Have lately accepted a couple of jobs for "study skills," which is basically executive functioning.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Lucy the Valiant