I Want to Homeschool Your Child!

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

On homeschool email groups I keep seeing messages that say, "I want to homeschool your child". Some of these job seekers are parents who need money but want to continue homeschooling, and others are teachers who have decided that they need a change of pace.

It is a good idea, and a great niche market; homeschooling for pay, that is. However, as I mentioned before, unless you are homeschooling your own child, it is not technically not homeschooling. It is tutoring. Many states allow parents to hire homeschool tutors, but not homeschool teachers.

If you are looking to work for a single homeschooling family or several families, there are some potential challenges of which you will want to be aware.

Casual Nature: Teachers coming out of public school to homeschool may be put off by the casual nature of the homeschooling family. If you teach in the child's home, do be surprised to find them in their pajamas with no inclination to change clothes. If you are teaching in a rented or borrowed space, do not be surprised to find a child barefoot. (This really happened last year in a class my son was taking. One child was so used to getting in the car barefoot, that she forgot to bring her shoes to class. Clothing is not the only thing likely to be casual. Homeschooled kids do not generally see the invisible line between them and adults. They will talk to you just as any other adult does, so brace yourself. These things might make a rigid teacher uncomfortable.

Your level of tolerance: This is most likely to be a problem with homeschooling parents taking on additional children. You may find that you have a harder time ignoring the offenses of someone else's child than your own. Former teachers are often surprised to find that they had an over inflated ideal of homeschoolers in their mind. When you find that these kids are really kids, they will have to adjust expectations.

These are just two of the challenges that someone looking to make homeschooling their business might face. I will address other issues, challenges, and advice in the following posts.

*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.

*Want to know more about homeschooling? Start here!

Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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