We all have been in the position where we are tired of homeschooling and sometimes even try to find a better way. What if hiring a homeschool teacher is the solution you are looking for?
Homeschooling can seem like a daunting task, especially if you are teaching multiple students at different school grades.
If you are a working mom then you need to look at The best Homeschool Curriculum For Working Moms
Some homeschooling parents also don’t feel qualified to teach some high school subjects. For this reason, some parents stop homeschooling once their children reach high school age.
There is an alternative though. You could hire a tutor or homeschool teacher to share the load with you.
What should you hire a tutor for?
There a many reasons why a parent might consider hiring a tutor to help with homeschooling.
- You have decided that homeschooling is the best option for your child, but you don’t want to do the homeschooling.
- You have a demanding job and can’t see yourself fit in enough time to do a proper job of homeschooling your children.
- You have been homeschooling for a number of years, but it’s taking a toll on your relationship with your children – you would like to simply be a parent again.
- There are one or two subjects that you don’t feel confident to teach effectively.
- Your child has hit a wall with a subject and you don’t seem to be able to help the child overcome their current difficulty with the subject.
- The workload has become too much for you and homeschooling is starting to affect the rest of your life negatively.
- You need extra help because you want to ensure that your child excels academically.
For these and any number of other reasons, hiring a tutor might be the answer for you. Take a look at this post on how to keep up with your kid’s grades while homeschooling.
Is it legal to hire someone to teach your kids?
Homeschool laws are not the same in every state or country.
You need to find out exactly what the legal situation is in your state or country before you hire someone to teach your child.
Within the U.S. different states have different laws. In some states, the law specifically allows only parents to homeschool their children and only their own children.
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Some states permit certified tutors to homeschool children, so they can be employed by parents to tutor their children.
Then there are states that explicitly require parents to retain full responsibility for the homeschooling of their children. They are allowed to hire tutors, but they retain responsibility for their child’s education.
If you are considering making use of the services of a tutor, consult your state education department for the correct information. Your local homeschool organization might also be able to point you in the right direction.
What is the average salary of a homeschool teacher?
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary of a homeschool teacher is $46,516 per year, or $22 per hour. Pay can be from $18 to $36 per hour.
How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Homeschool Teacher?
With the outbreak of COVID-19, there has also been an outbreak of agencies that offer to find homeschool teachers or tutors for parents and guardians.
This has made it very easy for homeschoolers to locate a homeschool teacher or tutor.
Depending on their experience, the cost of hiring a homeschool teacher can be anything from $26 to $40 per hour. Some teachers and tutors who are highly qualified and have a lot of experience demand higher fees.
How many hours per day are they going to be homeschooling?
This depends on what you are hiring the homeschool teacher or tutor for. If the person is going to do all the teaching, then he or she will probably teach 180 days per year which is what most states require.
If the tutor is only there to help out with one subject, you need to figure out how many hours per week tutoring your child will need.
It depends on the subject and how much help your child needs. Some students just need a little extra help to master some concepts, while others have a real problem with a specific subject that requires extensive tutoring.
Is the teacher going to be working full time?
Again, this depends on your situation. Keep in mind that if you decide to employ someone to work full time, there will be employment-related taxes, Christmas bonuses, and sick/vacation leave that you will be responsible for.
Benefits of hiring a homeschool tutor
- Alleviates stress in the family
Some children will behave better and work harder for a tutor than for a parent. Hiring a qualified tutor may remove added stress and tension for you and your children.
- Teaches accountability
Having to submit work to a tutor or other homeschool teacher teaches your child accountability to someone else other than you, which is something he will have to be capable of at university and in the workplace.
- Different approach helps
Having someone with a different approach else teach a concept to a child, can help a child to understand it better. Children benefit from being taught by different people with different skills and insights. It can help them to gain new insights into a topic and expose them to different perspectives.
- Helps to get a child past a hurdle
Sometimes a child is stuck on a concept or a subject and your teaching may not be helping the situation. This is when it’s better to get someone else to step in and take over so everyone can move on.
- Gives you a chance to rest and recuperate
Homeschooling your own children year in and year out can be exhausting. Getting someone to share the teaching burden can often feel like you’re getting your life back again.
- Normalizes roles in the family
Relationships in the family can become strained when a child is struggling with a concept or subject that comes easy to you. It’s often very hard to explain something that you don’t struggle with because you can’t see the problem the other person has with it. Hiring a tutor to teach your child will allow you to become a parent again and not a frustrated teacher.
- Less pressure on your children
It is completely different to be taught by an emotionally detached teacher than by a parent who has high expectations of you. For one thing, it’s way less stressful. Being taught by a parent puts extra stress on some children which they won’t experience with an emotionally detached tutor.
- Less pressure on you
If you take full responsibility for the education of your children, you have to be proficient in the subjects that your child chooses to study. It may be that you never did that specific subject at school and simply can’t teach it, or it was one of those subjects that you hated.
Taking on a tutor means you don’t have to be an expert in every subject. You can hire someone who is and give your child the best learning opportunity.
- Lessens your teaching load
Hiring a tutor to help you out with some of the teaching, frees up your time for other duties you have. Especially if you are teaching multiple students, a tutor’s help can be invaluable.
Should you hire a college student as your child’s tutor?
Many parents hire college students to tutor their children. This practice works especially well with teenagers. College students were teenagers not so long ago themselves and can relate to the issues teenagers are facing in that difficult life stage.
Your college student tutor might have a lot in common with your teenager which can help to build a relationship of trust.
Being taught by a college student might also be more fun and something your child looks forward to.
Final thoughts
Homeschooling your own children can be very challenging. It becomes even more so if you do it year after year and if you teach multiple students at different levels. It’s practically impossible to be a good teacher, mother, and wife all the time in these circumstances.
Hiring a homeschool teacher or a tutor to help you out from time to time is a sensible thing to do for you, your children, and your family.
