Have any of you ever opened your own private school, either brick and mortar or online?

Question

If so, what was the greatest headache you encountered? Advice or suggestions? I teach/tutor online and am considering venturing further. I am a certified K-8 teacher for all subjects. Thanks.

Answer 1

I co-ran a local facility - biggest headache was finding good people to co-teach.  I also tried virtual and ran a web-design class for a group of 8 kids....headache there was figuring out how to handle missed lessons....I did it through chat and a MB, so another challenge would have been solidifying it into a full scale virtual classroom - also a challenge was working with the various computers and operating systems the kids had.  The other challenge is the payments - most homeschoolers only have one salary so they are hesitant to pay for the class...and sometimes on top of that also purchase materials.

I recently relocated and once I get on my feet I am thinking of starting either a co-op or something virtual for extra income.  If you need a partner for your venture let me know....maybe we can put our heads together.

Good luck

Answer 2

Yes, dh and I opened a b&m school.  I already owned the building.  One generous supporter located and donated about twenty discarded public-school desks!  Others have donated books and various other materials, and I've bought things here and there as I could.

We live in a very small town, and public school is about all that's going on here -- so people are very "public school" if you know what I mean.  However, there have been parents who have not been particularly thrilled with public schools, and some of them have trusted us to do better for their kids.  Some of them see us as private school, but others see us a more homeschooling FOR them because they can't for one reason or another.  Most of them see us as more of a tutoring service for a year or less, to "catch the kids up" so they can then succeed in the public schools that let them get behind in the first place.....

The hardest part to overcome has not been those lean years when we've had only one or two students, but the lack of motivation on the part of the kids.  Most of them have been so "public schooled" that they have no initiative, and wait to be told every single thing.  They don't know how to study, don't think they should study, and have no connection yet between what they do now and what they'll do as an adult in the future.  Another hard thing to deal with is those who just up and leave without notification and without paying up to the date they leave.  If they leave a public school owing lunch money or library fines, the school will hold up transferring their records until they pay up, but when they leave me to go back to public, public doesn't want or care anything about my records so I have no leverage.

Make sure you've thoroughly checked out the applicable state and local laws concerning your venture.

Answer 3

We are running a national/international online homeschool course co-op. Wow, but isn't that a mouthful. LOL

We are not quite what you are looking for because we are donor supported and volunteer driven, but some of the experience we have had may be helpful.

Headache - Staffing! Think it is hard to find help when you pay a salary. Try finding help when you are looking for volunteers. Yet, we are currently busting at the seams with volunteers right now. I keep expecting to wake up and find out it is a dream. Our classroom is live, and online with a course management system for 24/7 access materials. That means we can pull from all over the US and from other countries for volunteer teachers. That is a big help.

Advice - I know you said you already teach online, but explore the online tools out there! The tools now are very sophisticated. We use Elluminate for our live classroom and Moodle for our course management system. With these tools you will have live, duplex audio, whiteboard, webcam, application sharing, quizing, gradebook, so much to technologically do the job that needs to be done. I know of many homeschool parents that have taken their passions to the homeschool market. One homeschool father is a professor of human anatomy in a North Carolina university. He teacher anatomy and physiology to homeschool students during the school year and then runs anatomy camps in the summer. the kids stay in the dorms, boys with him on one floor and girls and his wife on another floor. They dissect a cadaver and much more. He seems like a lively and fascinating instructor and the photos of the kids at the camp show how much fun the kids are having despite the 'ewwww!' effect. LOL.

Good luck :)