How to Tutor at Home

In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn. Phil Collins

Unsurprisingly, the online private tutoring market is growing, but so is private tuition at home. Whether it is homework help, maths tutorials or group sessions, the options are endless when it comes to tutoring.

In this article, we discuss the benefits of meeting this demand by teaching from the convenience of your own home. Regardless of whether you are teaching primary, high school or even university learners, there are great advantages to setting up face-to-face or private tutoring online and being your own boss.

It could be algebra, calculus, biology, maths, English, Afrikaans or Zulu, you can be sure that there are plenty of students out there who need your help.

Dedicated Space for Tutoring

Regardless of whether you’re teaching languages, maths or preparing a learner for their Matric exams, private tutoring at home has more advantages than teaching at a student’s home. Here is why.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to work from home, try to keep your personal and professional life apart. Not only that, use the fact that you are in control of the environment to your benefit.

A private tutor usually travels to their students’ houses and then has to adapt to each environment. It can add another layer of stress which is why so many tutors want to know how to tutor at home.

If you truly want to feel at ease and teach in the best conditions, keep reading to find out how to tutor at home.

When the tutor is teaching in their home, the relationship between them and their students becomes less formal. There are also a few things you can do to make your home more conducive to a teaching environment.

Firstly, try to separate where you eat, live and sleep from where you teach your students. Create a space that is well set up for teaching.

In doing so, you will notice several benefits that will help you to develop a better relationship with your students. Firstly, students tend to feel more of a rapport with the tutor when they are taught in their homes.

If you’re a chemistry tutor, you can set up your equipment in one place and not have the burden of lugging it around with you. All your books, whiteboards and wall diagrams can be put in one place. It is extremely convenient to have all your teaching resources in one space.

On a nice day, to break the monotony, there is nothing stopping you from giving a lesson outdoors.

Private Tuition at Home is Easier

How to tutor at home is entirely up to you. From your first discussion to preparing your student for exams, your methods should suit your style and personality. Your environment can be as relaxed or formal as you want it to be. The more it is reflective of you, the more authentic the sessions will feel.

When a student senses that you are at ease, they will be too.

As opposed to to teaching students in their homes or even private tutoring online,  it is much easier to teach from your own home for a number of reasons:

• Unlike online private tutoring, you are physically closer to the student which makes it easier to help them.
• You’ll save on travelling time.
• You’ll feel more comfortable, making it easier to explain concepts.
• You can create a dedicated space in your home reflective of your style and personality.
• You can save by not having to budget for fuel or other transport costs.

Offering private tuition at home has so many advantages to creating an atmosphere designed to help a student to succeed. Find out more about cooperative learning here.

Remember that regardless of your qualification, whether that is in music, maths, science or languages, being a good teacher is also about being able to communicate effectively.

It’s far easier to communicate from the convenience and comfort of your own home. At the same time, knowing how to tutor from home means that you will need to set boundaries with your students so that you don’t feel they are invading your space.

Whether it is face-to-face, or private tutoring online, your home should reflect professionalism and legitimacy. Even if you have a friendly relationship with students, or are a student yourself, remember that good teachers must remember that, first and foremost they are the teacher.   

Setting Limits When Tutoring at Home

Like all things in life when it comes to how to tutor home, things can still go wrong. Remember that to make a living, you will need to teach a lot of students. To do this you need to set up your space correctly and set good boundaries.

Even if you offer private tutoring online, your digital availability should have its limits.

From the beginning, make it clear that your teaching relationship will be as professional and neutral as possible. Also communicate to your students that your classroom is your home, regardless of which room you are using to teach.

While you want to create a friendly atmosphere, you also want to ensure with your student that there is not an expectation that you are friends who are hanging out.

Try to remain as professional as possible and keep your private life separate.

Sometimes this can be difficult, especially when everything in your life is an indicator of your private life. It may be a family photograph, a pet or children’s toys laying around. Do your best to make sure that you prepare everything adequately before commencing your lessons.

Whether you are offering online private tutoring or in-person lessons, this should always be par for the course for a private tutor. Apart from getting word of mouth to work for you, you will also need to make sure that your home is a suitable option for teaching. Make the most of being able to teach from home by offering lessons in the best possible environment.

Once you have set the appropriate boundaries, you will find that there are many more benefits to teaching in a home environment than compared to a formal classroom. You’ll notice that students learn better when they are relaxed and that this, in turn, will enhance your teaching capabilities.

There are many advantages to teaching at home that can improve the private tuition that you offer. Not only does it make your life easier, but having more time means that you can make your lessons more interesting. Always remember to keep the relationship more on the formal side even if the environment is not.

If and when your student cannot make a lesson, you could also offer private online tutoring as an option for catching up on the class. To make this happen, all you will need is a good internet connection, webcam, microphone and computer.

Besides the online space, there are also other interesting places that you could host lessons.

An online tutor will not have to pay for transport, this means that these savings can be passed on to their students.

Remember that many tutors on Superprof offer their first lesson for free to help the student. This is an excellent practice for many reasons, but it also helps the tutor to get more tutoring jobs in the end.

Online tutorials are popular for anyone studying languages as there is still the opportunity to practise the language with the tutor even though they may not be in the same room. When it comes to grammar, pronunciation and comprehension, it is very beneficial to have a tutor to help.

Finally, one of the most important things you will have to establish whether you offer online or in-person tutoring is how much to charge for your lessons. Believe it or not, this is less random than you think and there are several important things to consider before you set your fee.

Private tuition at home can be a lucrative business, remember that like most things in life, what you decide to put into something will be directly related to what you get out.