by Hope
My homeschooling seems to rub lots of people the wrong way, especially those that have no personal experience with it. And earlier this year, I wrote about how the cost of our co op really had me re-thinking my plans. So I wanted to give everyone an update from both a schooling and financial update on this topic.
First, as I have kind of mentioned around, I am happy to announce that I will be teaching two classes at our local homeschool co op. And currently the classes are almost half full – yeah! They are both high school classes for high school credit and each student pays $140 per semester. I have high hopes that the classes will fill.
Second, my children have each selected and registered for their courses through the co op for next year (with a few nudges from me.) And after reviewing what they have chosen and what everyone “needs” to stay on course, I will only be teaching math and Spanish here at home. Everything else will be taken at the co op. This is a good compromise allowing me to take on the additional “work” hours of teaching a few hours a week.
In reviewing these two, the monies I make from teaching at co op will just cover the costs of their co op classes – woot, woot!!!
Third, schedule wise this is going to work out fantastic! I have already consulted with my largest client for whom I have dedicated work hours, and the two hours a week I will be teaching are outside of my work hours for them…so no conflicts. AND even better, since the kids are taking so much more at the co op, that will free me up approximately 10 hours a week to work on other stuff.
For those of you that are uncomfortable with the thought of homeschooling, think of this like college. They will go to class two days a week and then have the remaining days to complete homework. It is very much like that, and the test results (we test at a local private school so there is no manipulation on my part) continue to show that they are all on or above grade level in almost every subject.
Fourth, I haven’t set up a teaching schedule for my online classes for the fall yet, but they are willing to work around whatever my availability is…awesome! And I will be teaching some of the same classes at both places so only one set of lesson plans, etc. for me to design.
So essentially school costs will be minimal this coming year…I will still have to buy books and supplies. But essentially I am knocking $5,000 off my yearly budget by teaching for 2 hours a week for 6 months. I am okay with that, and even the better, the kids are super excited that they are getting to take more classes. And if I had my druthers…math and Spanish are the two classes I enjoy teaching to them so I anticipate lots of good times!
