Are you a teacher at home on childcare leave?
Do you miss the interaction with students and
being in the classroom?
Or, are you still in the classroom and want to work with students in a slightly different capacity?
There are a million ways to do it, but for me, tutoring has been an awesome way of staying on top of my teaching game while at the same time adding to my family’s income. And the tiny bit of extra money coming in makes it a tiny bit easier for me to stay home with my children–for which I am beyond grateful.
I’ve had a number of people contact me about the in’s and out’s of tutoring. They’ve wanted to know how I began, what materials I use, how I organize the time with each student, and a ton of other really smart questions.
I’m a big fan of not re-inventing the wheel, so here it is. . .
Remember, though, my posts here are just suggestions and ideas.
- Tutoring–Getting Started: I knew that if I wanted to work with students in Reading or Language Arts, then I needed to figure out a way of letting the world (or my little part of it) know that I was able and willing to do so.
I needed to advertise. So I made several fliers–one full page, one half page, and a bunch of business cards that I printed out from home.
My fliers and business cards, modified just a bit, are here to share: large flier, half-page flier, business cards. If they work for you, that’s great. Please just make sure to adapt them for your own qualifications and experiences before you throw them around your town. (Some were created on Publisher and others on Word.)
Then I hit the streets. Well, kind of. . .
I grabbed a sitter for one morning to sit with my one and only bambina, who was only about 9 months old at the time, and I literally hit the town with pushpins, fliers, cards, and patience in hand.
- I posted the half-pager on the boards where only half-page ads were permitted, and I posted the big guy on all the other boards. I hit grocery stores, coffee shops, doctors’ offices, gyms, dance studios, martial arts centers, tanning salons–literally anywhere I could think of where community notices were posted.
- I went into each and every elementary, middle, and high school in my area, and I asked the main secretary if I could meet with the school counselor. If I was able to, I did, and during my short meeting with him or her, I introduced myself and asked that my name, flier, and/or card be handed to any parent who requested tutoring information. (Most schools cannot recommend tutors outright to parents, but if a parent asked for one, I wanted them to have mine!)
- Finally, I searched for online community message boards, and I posted my information there–only the free ones–and there were about three or four at the time. Times were tough for us at this point, so my budget for advertising was pretty darn slim.
And then I waited and waited and waited. And soon, believe it or not, (woo-hoo!!) some calls trickled in.
Next time: My procedure for handling calls and dealing with that important first conversation with parents and meeting with students. . .
