Tutoring Homeschoolers
If you are starting a tutoring business there are many places to recruit your first students. One is to start tutoring homeschoolers.
We have found it hard to pinpoint the exact number of homeschooled students in the USA. That is to say, some students are not reported, and therefore stats have to be estimated through census data. A2Z Homeschooling put together a detailed analysis by state over the last few years and currently estimates that there are between 1.5 and 1.6 million children being homeschooled.
Number of Homeschoolers
The reasons that parents choose to homeschool are myriad. Therefore adapting your resume, marketing and tutoring to the reasoning behind the parental decisions will be key to tutoring homeschoolers.
A 2001 Study by the US Census Bureau (additional information on conservapedia) discovered this. That the single largest reason to homeschool was providing a better education at home than within a traditional school. This apparent dissatisfaction with the public school system is growing. For example, parents are rejecting the ‘teaching to the test’ environment and subsequent narrowing of the school syllabus. Also, the growing ‘anti-vaccine’ movement and religious or moral instruction are adding to parents choices.
How to Tutor Homeschoolers
Parents, no matter how qualified, are unable to instruct their children in every subject to the desired level. That is to say they may not know how to tutor homeschoolers. Therefore, opportunities for tutoring homeschoolers will arise. Furthermore, many teachers, themselves with public education, are deciding to start a tutoring business. Stepping in to cover the topics the parents feel unable or unqualified to tackle themselves.
In fact in 2006 The New York Times ran a story featuring parents who chose to homeschool and not act as instructor at all. Thus, hiring tutors to cover the entire curriculum in what they closely hinted as being a return to elitist Victorian Education. In Virginia for example, the state has a website setup to answer a multitude of questions and supply resources to parents who are considering homeschooling.
The Working Student
But taking a 180 turn away from any form of elitism is the student who works for a living. Alternatively, this student can be in training for a particular sport or endeavor. Film studios, television companies all hire tutors to instruct students who are unable, due to their current or future career, to attend a traditional school. This is also considered tutoring homeschoolers.
In some communities families choose to group together to teach or attend workshops and field trips. Use the internet to research the home schooling requirements in your state and local school district. Find all the points of contact for local home schoolers, then start the legwork. But remember, be the best, as that is what these parents want for their children and they are, for whatever reason, in a position to ensure tutoring for homeschoolers happens.
Once you have the tutoring business ready to go, don’t forget to market your service, be creative and ask for help from organizations who are here to support you.
And of course, software to manage your tutoring business should be in place before your first customer comes through the door. Oases Online is the complete tutoring management package. Check out the Features & Benefits of Oases Online.
Here are some other resources to get you started:
Interested in Oases for your Tutoring Business?
Love it and want it now?
Create your Oases database!