Personalized Tutoring Services
Happy new school year everyone!
I hope all have enjoyed their summer. Leave a comment on wherever you find this post about something you’ll miss from the summer but also something you’re looking forward to for the school year.
Remember that learning is effort, so take breaks and let your brain rest. Especially since if you haven’t exercised it in a long time.
Good luck to all!
I remember the lead up to the first day of school. for me, it was always dreadful. The anticipation for change can help us mentally and emotionally prepare for what is to come, but the process of change can still be overwhelming and even frightening.
Students have always hated school from what I remember. They often dread school for the amount of responsibilities suddenly thrown on them, the social pressure to perform or to behave, and the freedom they lose for the sake of conformity, control, and ease. Teachers too can face the same feelings as the school year creeps up. Often times, each side may blame the other for making school what it is, instead of cooperating and cohabitating in an educational and fun environment.
With the new school year approaching, all I ask is for you to take time and find one thing you enjoy about the school year, one thing you can change to make it better, and one thing you would like to keep to make it familiar.
When I was in college, I would often find myself dreaming of traveling the country. I would imagine myself hiking the Appalachian Trail or living in a van while on the road to nowhere. To this day, it is often one of my escapisms.
One thing that I dream about is making a living while being a private tutor and traveling the country. It’s difficult, because part of the job is building a reputation with the community. So if I start traveling, I would have to spend a year or two in a single place before I can go off to somewhere new, and wherever I go, I am not guaranteed the income that I need to support myself. The only other option would be to be an online tutor, but that has it’s own troubles. The demand for online tutoring is high, but the supply is even higher. I would be competing with everyone across the nation. Although I have the experience to back up my hourly rates, my rates could never compare to a high schooler who took the class once and made an A. So even then, it would be a matter of building a reputation on whichever platform I find myself on.
Some other options I thought of would be to live stream the sessions. I have always been able to get a laugh out of students, especially if I let my brain go off the rail, but doing live streams while on the road can be difficult. I have also just thought of providing my own private tutoring outside of well known platforms, but I would still need to advertise myself and build some rapport with communities.
It’s a lot to think about, and I have a couple of years to figure it out. I have something stable for me right now, so I might just try to save up some money, and in a year, I could set sail and try something new. Or I might end up sticking with what I know because it’s safer. I am a creature of habit after all.
The world has been moving more and more towards virtual dependency for a while now. As internet access and computer access has become more ubiquitous, people have been leaning more and more into the online realms, and yet education still remains.
From what I have seen, education has always been resistant to change. It was COVID-19 that pushed it into a completely virtual environment, but without the proper infrastructure and training necessary, I believe that push did more harm than good. Although it made education more accessible to everyone, the quality took a hit. People were rushed to make last minute changes to lesson plans and curriculum in order to compensate for the sudden shift. And because of that forceful, demanding nature that it was, people did not receive it well.
Now, I am slowly starting to find people wanting in-person classes more and more. I don’t know if it is from the negative association with that forcefulness of COVID-19 or if education is necessarily a physical, in-person experience. Although online education is more convenient, it for some reason is not enough. Maybe we just don’t have the right platform for it. Maybe we don’t have the right medium. Maybe we just aren’t ready for it.
Whatever the case, I see online education becoming the norm. I think it is just a matter of when. What do you think?
I am trying to reach out to local communities and tutors, but I haven’t had much luck. Maybe it is just my approach because all I have been doing so far is emailing people. Do people really not check their emails? I know we live in a spam filled world, but I’d like to think that my emails sound at least somewhat human. I like to think that my writing has a voice, but maybe I’m wrong.
Regardless, I am going to have to start visiting these communities. Although it makes me anxious to, I need to give them a face to the name. I need to let them know that I am not some automated, ai-generated message that is trying to scam them. I am an actual person trying to help the local community and build a business.
Happy Friday!
Schools are starting back up pretty soon. Some of them are even starting next Friday!
With that, I wanted to say good luck to all of the students. Hopefully the transition back to school won’t be too rough. And also good luck to the teachers currently in prep mode! Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the community.
Appointments for the fall semester are opened, but my availability will change starting August 12th, so please keep that in mind. Other than that, have a good weekend everyone! Subscribe to the blog to receive emails and updates or follow me on Facebook. I am currently working on other social media platforms, but WordPress is being difficult.
Anyway, thanks again!
Does anyone know someone who is a professional tutor?
I have been thinking of starting a small network of people for the north Georgia region. People dedicated to tutoring and education. Honestly, I have even thought of rebranding my website to be more general and to have a page where local tutors are listed.
If you or anyone you know would be interested, feel free to reach out!
i have been trying to reach out to local churches to see if anyone is looking for a private tutor for their homeschoolers. My availability in the fall is looking to be in the mornings during the weekdays, so I figured that would be a great time for homeschoolers, but I have no idea on how to reach out to those parents.
I am planning to visit the church offices to see if they are willing to work with me, but in the meantime, does anyone have any ideas? I am always open to suggestions!
I am constantly re-evaluating my hourly rates. My goal is to be fair to the community, but I also need to be fair for myself. If it were entirely up to me, I would do this for free. However, I need to make a living.
To give you an idea of how I came up with the numbers for my current rates, I am using my wages from my full time tutoring job at the university as a base line. to get the lower end, I gave myself time and a half since I would be working more than forty hours a week as is. For the upper, I took the time and a half and included half an hour of prep time. With all rates, I include half an hour of prep time. I also help the students develop a learning plan as well as giving them and their parents/guardians 12 hours a day to contact me with any quick questions. even after all of this, I still get some people telling me that I am undercharging for my services, but in my eyes, this is what my time is worth.
To some, these rates are egregious, but given my experience, my education, and the services I provide, it should be more. High school tutors who took the class once and made an A usually charge around $15-20 according to what I can find on Care.com, Wyzant, and by word of mouth. I on the other hand have a bachelors degree, 5 years of experience in secondary and post-secondary education, and I am offering prep work and accommodations in order to meet the student where they are and to bring them to the next level. So with that, I believe that my pricing is fair; however, I still wish I could do better.
If I could, I would start a nonprofit. I would find a grant to help fund this project and to pay myself what I need. I would crowdfund to get a tutoring center open for the rural North Georgia region. I would be more than happy to do this for free. But for now, I’m stuck with the current rates.
If you know of anyone who could help with this dream, feel free to reach out. Leave comment about your thoughts on this. I’d like for this to be a discussion, not just a rant.
So for the past few weeks, I have been figuring out the logistics of opening a walk-in tutoring service here in Dahlonega. Here is what I have so far.
Short term goals would be to rent a small house near the downtown area and charge around $950 per year for access. I would have the capacity help around 3-5 students at a time for the hours of 3pm-8pm Sunday through Friday. Students can show up for any math with limited science tutoring offered. I would also be open to private tutoring should somebody want to reserve an hour for their student. The main downsides I can think of would be the limited subjects being offered and the limited capacity.
With that in mind, I have a vision for the next few years. I would try to obtain a bigger space, maybe in the Walmart shopping center. I would also try to find other professional tutors for ELA and for Chemistry/Biology. The three of us would work together to handle a greater workload and to provide a high quality service for a reasonable price. It sounds ambitious, but it doesn’t stop there.
Now, let’s take a moment to talk about motivations and virtues. I believe that a democracy can only function properly with a well educated voting populous. Therefore, I believe in free, high-quality education, and it is my goal to work towards that ideal. With that, I would love to work towards some grant funding in order to make these services free to all of Lumpkin County. I would work with the local school district and the university in order to make this dream a reality. Although some will have criticisms for such ideals, I still believe in putting in the effort to strive for my virtues. Because I like to aim for the moon, and if I miss, at least I’d be among the stars.
Bachman Tutoring