A lot of you know me from the board here, and most of you know I work as a private tutor.
I see a lot of people talking about taking their child for intensive summer programs.
It occurred to me that I could offer an intensive summer one-to-one tutoring session:
I have the office in my house (well, will have when the workers finish putting the walls back in this week). I could show the parents how to continue working with their child after they go home, so there would be continuity and hopefully retention. I live in one of the most beautiful regions of the world, a tourist area anyway, and there would be lots of things for the families to do after the tutoring so they could combine this with a family holiday.
Problems I foresee:
People would have to take me on faith and pay me at least a reasonable amount in advance. In hourly tutoring I find that a lot of people lose momentum, when they find that work is involved and it isn’t all fun and games. What could I do about people who sign up and then cancel at the last minute, and those who start and then quit? How much non-refundable deposit? What sort of guarantees can I send people to know that I’m not fly-by-night either?
If I let people stay in a spare room on a B&B basis, when this is included with the tutoring work would that be too much intense contact and lead to too much friction? Especially since the second bathroom isn’t in yet.
Comments and suggestions welcome.
I would look at how colleges charge tuition. You pay a flat rate for so many hours of tutoring. College professors also supply a syllabus at the beginning of the semester. The syllabus would state the objectives that will be covered in the hours of tutoring.
I don’t think I would offer lodging for the student and/or parent. Trust me, it will get on your nerves and not be a conducive learning environment. PLUS, you need a break sometime!
Hope this helps,
AMY